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Australia in Sri Lanka: Every *********** plater rated after historic sub-continent triumph Australia in Sri Lanka: Every *********** plater rated after historic sub-continent triumph For the first time in more than a decade, Australia has won a Test series in Sri Lanka in one of their most dominant performances on the sub-continent. Here’s who starred and who struggled in this series. Source link #Australia #Sri #Lanka #*********** #plater #rated #historic #subcontinent #triumph Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Expert explains how a firing squad works Expert explains how a firing squad works (NewsNation) — Idaho lawmakers have advanced a bill to make a firing squad the state’s primary method of execution, as the trial of accused University of Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger approaches. “It’s very rapid. You’re completely unconscious very quickly,” firing squad expert Dr. James Williams said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “Banfield.” Williams, who joined host Ashleigh Banfield to discuss what could happen during a firing squad execution, said blood flow from the heart ceases immediately, comparing it to the instant effects of a guillotine. According to Williams, during an execution, the target is placed on the inmate’s chest, with witnesses surrounding the scene. The method is based on the expectation that bullets will hit the heart, causing it to rupture, leading to immediate unconsciousness and rapid blood loss, resulting in death. Are Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers following Lori Vallow’s playbook? Bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Skaug told Fox News a firing squad has less appellate issues and is “more humane” than other forms of execution. The new legislation would make the firing squad the primary means of execution in Idaho, rather than a backup. The proposed Idaho firing squad would be “mechanized” and automated, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. Mississippi, Utah, Oklahoma and South Carolina currently authorize firing squads as a form of execution. Bryan Kohberger can face death penalty if convicted Kohberger, accused of killing four University of Idaho students Nov. 13, 2022, can face the death penalty if convicted, a judge ruled last November. Kohberger’s defense team sought to remove the death penalty as a possible punishment, but Hippler denied its request. The deaths of Madison Mogen, 21; Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, shocked the small town of Moscow. Initially, investigators had few leads and spent considerable time tracing the activities of the four students in the hours prior to their deaths. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NewsNation. Source link #Expert #explains #firing #squad #works Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump, DeepSeek in focus as nations gather for Paris AI summit – Yahoo Finance Trump, DeepSeek in focus as nations gather for Paris AI summit – Yahoo Finance Trump, DeepSeek in focus as nations gather for Paris AI summit Yahoo FinanceSam Altman, CEO of OpenAI: ‘On AI, France has created a playbook that other European nations should follow’ Le Monde OpenAI CEO to issue warning to world leaders at AI Action Summit AxiosDefense secretary to meet troops in Germany, Poland during first overseas trip Stars and Stripes Source link #Trump #DeepSeek #focus #nations #gather #Paris #summit #Yahoo #Finance Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Super Bowl LIX: Watch the incredible half time show in full, featuring Kendrick Lamar Super Bowl LIX: Watch the incredible half time show in full, featuring Kendrick Lamar It was a half-time show for the ages, and arguably more exciting than the game itself. Super Bowl LIX’s much-vaunted half-time entertainment featured an incredible performance from Kendrick Lamar, along with longtime collaborator SZA. Samuel L Jackson also featured in the show, with the actor portraying Uncle Sam. Even tennis legend Serena Williams made a cameo. But it was Lamar’s performance of Not Like Us, his Grammy-winning diss track written about hip-hop rival Drake, that really stole the show. Watch the performance in full in the video player above. Source link #Super #Bowl #LIX #Watch #incredible #time #show #full #featuring #Kendrick #Lamar Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Court grants request to block detained Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo Court grants request to block detained Venezuelan immigrants from being sent to Guantanamo Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal court on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba as part of the president’s immigration crackdown. In a legal filing earlier in the day, lawyers for the men said the detainees “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantanamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.” It asked a U.S. District Court in New Mexico for a temporary restraining order blocking their transfer, adding that “the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction.” Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. During a brief hearing, Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary order, which was opposed by the government, said Jessica Vosburgh, an attorney for the three men. “It’s short term. This will get revisited and further fleshed out in the weeks to come,” Vosburgh told The Associated Press. A message seeking comment was left for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center. The Tren de Aragua gang originated in a lawless prison in the central Venezuelan state of Aragua more than a decade ago and has expanded in recent years as millions of desperate Venezuelans fled President President Nicolás Maduro ‘s rule and migrated to other parts of Latin America or the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said last week that flights of detainees had landed at Guantanamo. Immigrant rights groups sent a letter Friday demanding access to people who have been sent there, saying the base should not be used as a “legal ****** hole.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 8,000 people have been arrested in immigration enforcement actions since Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump has vowed to deport millions of the estimated 11.7 million people in the U.S. illegally. Source link #Court #grants #request #block #detained #Venezuelan #immigrants #Guantanamo Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Nippon Steel declines to comment on Trump opposition to majority stake in U.S Steel Nippon Steel declines to comment on Trump opposition to majority stake in U.S Steel Japan’s Nippon Steel on Monday declined to comment on U.S. President Donald Trump saying that no one can have a majority stake in acquisition target U.S. Steel. Issei Kato | Reuters Japan’s Nippon Steel on Monday declined to comment on U.S. President Donald Trump saying that no one can have a majority stake in acquisition target U.S. Steel. Trump made the comment on Sunday when speaking to reporters on Air Force One. He also said the U.S. will impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports on top of existing duties, and that he will announce the new metals tariffs on Monday. Shares in Nippon Steel fell more than 2% in early trade, compared with a 0.3% decline in the Nikkei index. On Friday, Trump said Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel would take the form of an investment instead of a purchase. Two people familiar with the matter said the Japanese biggest steelmaker had not withdrawn its bid. Nippon’s pursuit of U.S. Steel has stretched on for more than a year, with Trump condemning the proposal on numerous occasions, before Friday’s more tempered remarks at the Oval Office with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at his side. It was unclear if the investment referred to a new deal structure or what the details of the transaction would be, but Trump said on Friday he would meet with the head of Nippon Steel this week and he would be involved “to mediate and arbitrate”. Ishiba, on returning from the U.S., told broadcaster Nippon TV on Sunday that there are legal questions regarding the distinction between acquisition and investment, including the extent of stock ownership. He said such details are likely to be discussed between Trump and Nippon Steel. “The key point is whether Americans will feel that U.S. Steel will remain an American company,” Ishiba said. Nippon Steel on Monday declined to issue a statement on Ishiba’s comments or any management meeting with Trump. Nippon Steel’s bid for U.S. Steel is central to the Japanese company’s global expansion plan. It was blocked last month by then-U.S. President Joe Biden citing national security. The firm, together with U.S. Steel, filed a number of lawsuits challenging Biden’s decision. Nippon Steel Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori last week said the Japanese company had no plan to change the acquisition structure. Source link #Nippon #Steel #declines #comment #Trump #opposition #majority #stake #U.S #Steel Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Asia-Pacific markets fall as tariff worries dent investor sentiment – CNBC Asia-Pacific markets fall as tariff worries dent investor sentiment – CNBC Asia-Pacific markets fall as tariff worries dent investor sentiment CNBCStock market today: Asian shares trade mixed after Wall Street slumps on Trump tariff worries The HillAsian markets mixed as traders weigh Trump’s latest tariff salvo Yahoo FinanceAsia stocks mixed after fresh Trump tariffs, China extends gains on AI boost Investing.comS&P 500 Gains and Losses Today: Palantir Stock Pops as Results Show AI Strength Investopedia Source link #AsiaPacific #markets #fall #tariff #worries #dent #investor #sentiment #CNBC Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Coalition attempts to silence Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus during comments against anti-Semitism Coalition attempts to silence Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus during comments against anti-Semitism A failed attempt to silence Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus over a speech on anti-Semitism has prompted furore in parliament, with Anthony Albanese labelling the move as “completely unacceptable”. Mr Dreyfus, who is Labor’s most senior Jewish minister and whose great-grandmother died during the Holocaust, was speaking about his actions against anti-Semitism following the October 7 terror attacks before Liberal MP Michael Sukkar called on him to “no longer be heard”. At the time, Mr Dreyfus had been answering a question from Mr Sukkar on recently passed laws legislating minimum mandatory sentencing terms for terror offences. The laws were, in part, passed in an attempt to combat the rising wave of anti-Semitic attacks across Australia. “In the past few months, I’ve stood in the shadow of the main gate at the Auschwitz death camp,” Mr Dreyfus told parliament. “I’ve stood on the field where a music festival in Israel was turned into a bloodbath, and I’ve stood in the ruins of a burnt out synagogue in my home town. “But those opposite have taken every opportunity since the seventh of October 2023 to politicise the trauma and the experiences of the Jewish people.” Camera IconMark Dreyfus was answering a question on minimum mandatory sentencing terms for terror offences when Michael Sukkar called on him to be silenced. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia While the extraordinary call prompted outrage from Labor, Mr Sukkar’s motion was defeated 91 to 52. Following the vote, the Prime Minister condemned Mr Sukkar for attempting to silence Mr Dreyfus. “The idea that the minister should withdraw a statement is totally inconsistent with things that have been said by those opposite over a considerable ******* of time,” Mr Albanese said. “(Mr Dreyfus) is someone who feels (anti-Semitism) this very personally and deeply, he was being interjected against by those opposite in behaviour that I regard as completely disorderly and completely unacceptable.” The Coalition then attempted to get Mr Dreyfus to withdraw his comments that the Opposition was “politicising anti-Semitism”. Camera IconMichael Sukkar made the call for Mr Dreyfus to no longer be heard. NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Continuing his remarks, Mr Dreyfus called for “unity” “I’m the son and the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. I went to the commemoration of the liberation about the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a place where a million Jews were murdered, a place where my great grandmother was murdered on the 13th of October 1942,” he said. “I say to members of this house that we’ve had a wave of anti Semitism in this country, and right now, what we need is unity. “We need bipartisanship, and that’s the effort that our government made.” Source link #Coalition #attempts #silence #AttorneyGeneral #Mark #Dreyfus #comments #antiSemitism Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Japan runs record current account surplus in 2024 on foreign investment returns Japan runs record current account surplus in 2024 on foreign investment returns By Makiko Yamazaki TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s current account surplus jumped to a record last year, data from the finance ministry showed on Monday, as a weaker yen boosted returns on foreign investments that helped to comfortably offset a trade deficit. The surplus in the current account stood at 29.3 trillion yen ($192.67 billion) in 2024, the largest since comparable data became available in 1985. It represented a 29.5% increase from the previous year. Primary income from securities and direct investment overseas remained the biggest driver with a record 40.2 trillion yen in surplus, as Japanese companies pursue growth abroad, including acquisitions of foreign firms. The trade deficit narrowed by 40% to 3.9 trillion yen on brisk exports of automobiles and chipmaking equipment as well as lower costs of energy imports. The surplus from travel rose to 5.9 trillion yen, reflecting thriving inbound tourism. For December, Japan’s current account surplus stood at 1.08 trillion yen, down from the previous month’s 3.35 trillion yen. The country’s current account surplus was once considered a sign of export might and a source of confidence in the safe-haven yen. But the composition has changed over the last decade with trade no longer generating a surplus due to a surge in the cost of energy imports and an increase in offshore manufacturing by Japanese companies. Japan now offsets the trade deficit with the robust primary income surplus, which includes interest payments and dividends from past investments overseas. But the bulk of such income earned overseas is re-invested abroad instead of being converted into yen and repatriated home, which analysts say may be keeping the Japanese currency weak. “There is no reason to repatriate because overseas investments yield higher returns than at home,” said Norinchukin Research Institute chief economist Takeshi Minami. Japan is now facing pressure from the United States, its largest export destination, to close its $68.5 billion annual trade surplus, a call that President Donald Trump made during Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s first White House visit on Friday. ($1 = 151.5700 yen) (Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Source link #Japan #runs #record #current #account #surplus #foreign #investment #returns Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump directs Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing cost Trump directs Treasury to stop minting new pennies, citing cost President Trump says he has directed the Treasury Department to stop minting new pennies, citing the rising cost of producing the one-cent coin. “For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!” Mr. Trump wrote in a post Sunday night on his Truth Social site. “I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies.” The move by Mr. Trump is the latest in what has been a rapid-fire effort by his new administration to enact sweeping change through executive orders and proclamations on issues ranging from immigration, to gender and diversity, to the name of the Gulf of Mexico. Mr. Trump had not discussed his desire to eliminate the penny during his campaign. But Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency raised the prospect in a post on X last month highlighting the penny’s cost. The U.S. Mint reported losing $85.3 million in the 2024 fiscal year that ended in September on the nearly 3.2 billion pennies it produced. Every penny cost nearly $0.037 — up from $0.031 the year before. The mint also loses money on the nickel, with each of the $0.05 coins costing nearly $0.14 to make. It is unclear whether Mr. Trump has the power to unilaterally eliminate the lowly one-cent coin. Currency specifications — including the size and metal content of coins — are dictated by Congress. But Robert K. Triest, an economics professor at Northeastern University, has argued that there might be wiggle room. “The process of discontinuing the penny in the U.S. is a little unclear. It would likely require an act of Congress, but the Secretary of the Treasury might be able to simply stop the minting of new pennies,” he said last month. Members of Congress have repeatedly introduced legislation taking aim at the zinc coin with copper plating. Proposals over the years have attempted to temporarily suspend the penny’s production, eliminate it from circulation, or require that prices be rounded to the nearest five cents, according to the Congressional Research Service. Proponents of eliminating the coin have cited cost savings, speedier checkouts at cash registers, and the fact that a number of countries have already eliminated their one-cent coins. Canada, for instance, stopped minting its penny in 2012. It wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. eliminated its least valuable coin. The half-cent coin was discontinued by Congress in 1857. Mr. Trump’s new administration has been sharply focused on cutting costs, with Musk, who has been brought on to lead the task, targeting entire agencies and large swaths of the federal workforce as he tries to identify a goal of $2 trillion in savings. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” Mr. Trump wrote in his post. Mr. Trump sent the message as he was departing New Orleans after watching the first half of the Super Bowl. Source link #Trump #directs #Treasury #stop #minting #pennies #citing #cost Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Here’s how the pros are investing in China amid trade tensions Here’s how the pros are investing in China amid trade tensions The tariff tussle between the U.S. and China has made many investors wary of the country’s stock market , but some still see opportunities in it. China launched ****-for-tat measures on Feb. 4, in a rapid response to new U.S. tariffs on ******** exports, stoking fears of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economic powers. The additional 10% tariffs on ******** goods by the U.S. were well telegraphed by President Donald Trump, though they’re far lower than the 60% he threatened during his campaign. Beijing’s response also appears modest, prompting investors to focus more on the direction and intensity of further policy stimulus to aid the faltering economy and support corporate earnings. So far, ******** policymakers have largely kept investors guessing on the scale and specifics of their stimulus plans. Still, some investors already see promise in ******** stocks. Reasons for optimism “We are adding to China,” as it is better positioned than other emerging markets in terms of cushioning the impact of U.S. tariffs, Louis Luo, head of multi-asset investment solutions for Greater China at Abrdn, wrote in a Feb. 6 note. ******** stocks have an additional buffer compared with their emerging market peers, given their cheap valuations and an “already-light positioning” by investors, in light of uncertainty over how the economy will perform, he added. Meanwhile, Ivy Ng, chief investment officer for Asia-Pacific at asset manager DWS Group, notes “there are at least initial signs of a bottoming out” in the ******** market. Tariff-induced uncertainty, geopolitical risks and weak domestic demand are likely to keep investors cautious, but a potential breakthrough in Washington-Beijing relations later this year could provide some relief, Ng said, adding that the key driver of market sentiment will be the rate of change in corporate earnings. The mainland’s blue-chip CSI 300 index advanced nearly 2% last week, narrowing year-to-date losses to around 1%, but still over 8% below the 52-week high reached in early October. In contrast, Hong Kong-listed shares had an upbeat start to 2025, with the Hang Seng index up over 5% year-to-date and Hang Seng China Enterprise Index up over 6% — outpacing the MSCI World Index which rose 3.4% year-to-date. The HSCEI, which closed at 7,784 last Friday, is at the top end of an anticipated price range, Abrdn’s Luo said. “If (the) market agrees with us and HSCEI is able to break higher from this range, we are looking at around 10% [upside],” he added. 2828-HK 5D mountain Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Beijing adopted several measures in the last year to support China’s stock market. For instance, its central bank launched a swap facility to increase market liquidity and directed state-backed institutions to buy more stocks. Such measures have put a floor on the stock market, and more policy details and implementations are expected to stabilize growth, support corporate earnings and drive more equity gains, Goldman analysts wrote in a Feb. 4 note. ******** stocks are still relatively cheap, with a forward price-to-earnings ratio of around 10 , compared with nearly 28 for the S & P 500 . Goldman expects any further policy boost from Beijing to lift the P/E ratio of ******** equities to 11 in the next 12 months. The P/E ratio measures the valuation of a stock; the lower the number, the more attractive the stock is. Goldman Sachs predicts a 14% upside in MSCI China, which tracks stocks traded in Hong Kong and the mainland, by end-2025. Corporate earnings could see a 7% pick-up this year, it projects. Sectors and stocks to watch Looking ahead, Bernstein is playing the ******** market with a “barbell approach,” with a higher exposure to the tech, consumer discretionary and financials sectors. A barbell strategy strikes a balance between risk and reward, involving investments in both high and low-risk assets. “We started the year with a tactically positive view on ******** equities … Unlike the first trade war, when momentum suffered because of peak valuations, earnings and crowding; the trade now has reasonable valuation with expected revival in both analyst/investor sentiment,” the bank’s analysts wrote in a Feb. 4 note. Shares they are overweight on include e-commerce players JD.com and Meituan as well as automakers Li Auto and Geely Holdings. Analysts at CGS International, meanwhile, are betting on “high-dividend stocks that have the characteristics of a safe haven.” The investment bank recommends trading around scientific and technological innovation themes, and China’s version of the “cash for clunkers” consumption-boosting program. Eugene Hsiao, head of China equity strategy at Macquarie Capital, remains cautious and prefers sectors benefiting from Beijing’s stimulus support while being insulated from trade concerns, such as electronics, white goods and autos. With the exception of the energy sector, which faces geopolitical risks and oversupply concerns, other stable-yield sectors like banks and utilities could provide some shelter for investors, Hsiao added. Source link #Heres #pros #investing #China #trade #tensions Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Donald Trump Brings Big Entourage To Super Bowl — With 1 Key Person Seemingly MIA – Yahoo Donald Trump Brings Big Entourage To Super Bowl — With 1 Key Person Seemingly MIA – Yahoo Donald Trump Brings Big Entourage To Super Bowl — With 1 Key Person Seemingly MIA YahooView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Donald #Trump #Brings #Big #Entourage #Super #Bowl #Key #Person #Seemingly #MIA #Yahoo Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

West Coast Training Notes: Jack Henderson trains for list spot, Campbell Chesser set for positional switch West Coast Training Notes: Jack Henderson trains for list spot, Campbell Chesser set for positional switch West Coast looked happy as they hit the track under cloudy skies as pre-season games draw closer. Here’s what we saw… Source link #West #Coast #Training #Notes #Jack #Henderson #trains #list #spot #Campbell #Chesser #set #positional #switch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Australia’s Global Lithium seeks government help, alleging ******** control attempt Australia’s Global Lithium seeks government help, alleging ******** control attempt By Melanie Burton MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia’s Global Lithium Resources is pressing the government to halt what it calls a takeover attempt by ******** investors of its cornerstone asset ahead of a shareholder meeting this week. The company is counting on government intervention after the nation’s Takeovers Panel declined last week to review what Global Lithium says may be an unlawful association among China-linked shareholders seeking to control its Manna lithium project in Western Australia. The company’s campaign poses a test for a government that is pushing for critical minerals projects to drive economic growth and boost security links with the United States, its key global ally, while not wanting to anger its top resources customer, China. Global Lithium management wants Australia’s treasurer, who receives advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board, to force the shareholders pushing for board changes to sell down their stakes. The treasurer could block them from voting at Thursday’s shareholder meeting, the Western Australia Supreme Court said in a ruling in November. The company froze development of its Manna lithium project late last year amid a protracted downturn in the battery raw material market. Global Lithium management alleged in filings with regulators that director Dianmin Chen was working with a group of foreign-linked investors holding between 30% and 40% of shares to take control of the board and its main asset. ALLEGATIONS OF POTENTIAL ILLEGALITY Led by Executive Chairman Ron Mitchell, Global Lithium management has advised shareholders to reject proposals to reappoint Chen, appoint other ********-born directors and cap the board at three directors. Chen did not respond to requests for comment. Mitchell alleges an undisclosed association among shareholders may violate Australia’s takeover laws and the foreign takeovers act. He made the accusations in filings to the *********** Securities Exchange, the Western *********** Supreme Court, and in a report to Australia’s Treasury last year. “The concerns include the potential for transfer of effective control of Global Lithium’s 100% owned Manna Lithium Project…without a control transaction taking place or premium being paid,” Global Lithium said in a November 15 ASX filing, adding Treasury is treating the allegations “very seriously”. Global Lithium and Mitchell said they could not comment on the board fight beyond their public statements as the issues are before regulators. The Treasury said it could not comment on any foreign investment cases due to protected information provisions under the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act of 1975. Story Continues The Takeovers Panel declined to review the company’s request for a finding of unacceptable circumstances, saying evidence pointed to “shareholder pressure rather than combining for taking of control.” In 2023, Australia blocked a ******** investor from raising its stake in a rare earths mining company on advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board. The review board did not respond to a request for comment on the Global Lithium dispute. CHINA TIES With close to 10% each, Global Lithium’s top two shareholders are Australia’s Mineral Resources and Canmax Technologies, which is controlled by ******** billionaire Pei Zhenhua who made his fortune in battery giant CATL. Canmax did not respond to requests for comment for this story. Mineral Resources declined to comment. In August, ********-born property developer Liaoliang (Leon) Zhu who controls Sincerity Group, Global Lithium’s third biggest shareholder, pushed to join the board in a letter to shareholders. “We need to stay focused on our core lithium assets and stop pretending that a short term strategy of exploring for gold and copper is a valid response to the shocking decline in shareholder value,” he said on his website. Zhu, through a lawyer, pointed to the Takeovers Panel’s findings and declined to comment further. A board controlled by Zhu and Chen could overrule Mitchell at a crucial time as the company looks to ink a new sales deal after a ten-year supply deal with Canmax lapsed in December. ($1 = 1.5924 *********** dollars) (Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Sonali Paul) Source link #Australias #Global #Lithium #seeks #government #alleging #******** #control #attempt Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump describes Gaza as a ‘big real estate site’ as he doubles down on plans to redevelop the enclave – CNN Trump describes Gaza as a ‘big real estate site’ as he doubles down on plans to redevelop the enclave – CNN Trump describes Gaza as a ‘big real estate site’ as he doubles down on plans to redevelop the enclave CNNTrump wants US to own Gaza, could let Middle East states help rebuild ReutersTrump repeats pledge to take control of Gaza even as pressure mounts to renew ceasefire The Associated PressOpinion | The Political Future of Palestinians, According to Palestinians The New York TimesThe ****** of Ethnic Cleansing Has Been Let Out of the Bottle in Israel Haaretz Source link #Trump #describes #Gaza #big #real #estate #site #doubles #plans #redevelop #enclave #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ramaswamy’s Celebrity and Trump Ties Give Him a Jump in Ohio Governor’s Race Ramaswamy’s Celebrity and Trump Ties Give Him a Jump in Ohio Governor’s Race On Monday morning, as Vivek Ramaswamy was soft-launching his campaign for governor of Ohio, Dan Merenoff sat at a coffee-shop counter in Delaware, a suburb of Columbus, weighing the prospect of Mr. Ramaswamy, a political celebrity but a governing novice, running the state. “I like his views,” said Mr. Merenoff, 44, an operations manager for a pallet company. But he also liked Mr. Trump, and was not sure what to make of Mr. Ramaswamy’s exit from Mr. Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency task force two weeks earlier. “I’d still like to read a little bit more, because he was backed by Trump for a little bit, and then all of a sudden that changed gears,” he said. Mr. Ramaswamy, 39, is expected to formally announce his campaign for governor late this month, according to a spokesman, a move that follows a brief appointment to the second Trump administration that ended before Inauguration Day. He has never occupied a government office in Ohio, or even run for one. He moved his investment firm out of the state, to Texas, last year. Still, as long as Mr. Ramaswamy is a Trump ally in good standing, he appears to have a leg up. To many Ohioans, he needs no introduction after two years of dogged scrambling across the landscape of Republican politics, a blur of Fox News hits and county committee meet-and-greets that has made him one of the party’s most visible figures. “There’s a lot of momentum behind him,” said Barbara Orange, the executive chairwoman of the Lucas County Republican Party. In an interview on Friday, Dave Yost, the state’s attorney general and Mr. Ramaswamy’s main rival for the nomination — whose forthcoming book has a promotional blurb from Mr. Ramaswamy on the cover — pointed to his depth of government experience in the state, and to Mr. Ramaswamy’s lack of it. “I’ve got results,” he said, “and he quit on the first day of his one federal job.” But political observers in the state generally agree that Mr. Ramaswamy’s fate most likely turns on whether he receives the endorsement of Mr. Trump, whose backing has become a decisive factor in statewide races across the country. Mr. Ramaswamy, who declined to comment through the spokesman, built his political brand on the critique of environmental, social and governance investing that he advanced in his 2021 book, “Woke, Inc.” After dropping his presidential bid last year, he became an indefatigable champion of Mr. Trump on the campaign trail. He is running for governor only after finding himself at odds with Mr. Trump’s administration, but he is also presenting himself as an extension of many of its goals, telling The Wall Street Journal that if he is elected, he will focus on trying to “shred the regulatory barriers to new business creation” in Ohio and put the state on the “bleeding edge of a new kind of industrial revolution.” Greg Moss, a retired farmer and construction worker in Kingston, Ohio, said that as a fan of Mr. Ramaswamy, he looked forward to voting for him for governor. But Mr. Moss added that Mr. Trump’s endorsement was important to him. He would vote for “everybody he endorses, hands down — it doesn’t matter.” The singular weight of Mr. Trump’s endorsement is a familiar story in most states by now, but it is still a relatively new one in Ohio, where Republican politics remained stubbornly old-school well into the Trump era. The party’s nominations for prominent offices have tended to go to well-established politicians who have woodshedded for years in county and lesser state offices, and built relationships with local power brokers across the state’s 88 counties. The state’s term-limited governor, Mike DeWine, is a relatively moderate figure by current Republican standards. In 2020, he broke from Mr. Trump — who endorsed him in 2018 only after he had won the primary — over Covid-19 restrictions. Mr. DeWine nonetheless beat back a primary challenge from the right in 2022. But this old order was battered in the state’s 2022 and 2024 Senate races, when Mr. Trump’s endorsement propelled JD Vance and Bernie Moreno, both political newcomers, to primary victories over better-established rivals from the state party’s moderate and right wings alike. “We now have these MAGA outsiders who’ve done nothing in state politics getting in front of people who’ve been in state politics for years,” said David Pepper, the former chairman of the state’s Democratic Party. Mr. Ramaswamy would seem to fit a similar bill. Like Mr. Vance, whom he has known since they were classmates at Yale Law School, he grew up in the state but has little record in Ohio politics. By his own account, he did not vote in presidential elections between 2008 and 2016, and was registered to vote as an independent as recently as 2021. The governor’s mansion is the latest of several offices sought by Mr. Ramaswamy during his brief time in politics. He publicly mused about running for Senate in 2022, and after he dropped his presidential bid in early 2024, speculation abounded that he would be in line for a cabinet post in a future Trump administration. But instead, he was named along with Elon Musk to help lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, the para-governmental task force that has upended Washington in recent weeks with its rapid infiltration and drastic transformation of the federal bureaucracy. Mr. Ramaswamy reportedly clashed with Mr. Musk and some Trump aides, and in the days before Mr. Trump took office, both he and the president began exploring possible exit paths. Mr. Trump encouraged Mr. Ramaswamy to seek appointment to Mr. Vance’s Senate seat, and Mr. Ramaswamy met with Mr. DeWine to discuss the matter in mid-January. But Mr. DeWine chose his lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, for the seat. Three days after that announcement, sources close to Mr. Ramaswamy said he was leaving Mr. Trump’s task force to run for governor. There are indications that the decision was a quick one. The domain name vivekforgovernor.com was registered by an unknown party only days after Mr. Ramaswamy’s meeting with Mr. DeWine. When Mr. Ramaswamy joined a live conversation with Mr. Musk on X this month, Mr. Musk seemed to be struggling to keep up with his political ambitions, wishing him well as “perhaps one day Senator Ramaswamy — or Governor Ramaswamy.” “Yeah, that’s kind of the direction we’re headed,” Mr. Ramaswamy replied. A poll circulated in late January by Tony Fabrizio, the Trump-aligned pollster who also worked for Mr. Vance’s Senate campaign in the state, found Mr. Ramaswamy with a 34-point lead over Mr. Yost for the nomination. Unaligned political observers in the state considered that finding credible, and in interviews across several Ohio counties last week, Republican-leaning voters were broadly supportive of his candidacy. “He’s not a career politician, and 99 percent of what we have now is corrupt,” said Pam Minardo, 62, who works filling orders for Instacart and other delivery services in Delaware County, where Mr. Yost built his political career. “Columbus needs to be cleaned up.” Bryan C. Williams, the chairman of the Summit County Republican Party and a former acting chairman of the state party, said Mr. Ramaswamy’s position most likely reflected his outsize profile in national politics. “The first poll is not the last poll,” he said, noting that the primary election was over a year away. Still, Mr. Williams said he had recently advised other candidates in the race that “if Vivek Ramaswamy declares, he’s an immediate front-runner.” The field has already thinned in advance of his announcement. Robert Sprague, the state treasurer, had filed papers to run for governor, but last week he announced he was running for secretary of state instead and endorsed Mr. Ramaswamy. The only Democrat to join the race so far is Amy Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health. Supporters of Mr. Yost argue that the attorney general, who sued the Biden administration over a range of federal policies in recent years, has a path to Mr. Ramaswamy’s right, and suggest that Mr. Ramaswamy’s quick departure from his Trump appointment makes his endorsement by Mr. Trump a less-than-done deal. Mr. Yost has hired Justin Clark, a strategist and lawyer who served on Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign team, as an adviser. “I am very hopeful to earn his endorsement,” Mr. Yost said of Mr. Trump. But he added, “Anybody that tells you that they know what the president is going to do before he announces it is probably spinning you.” Still, Mr. Ramaswamy’s nascent campaign team includes several strategists close to the White House, including Mr. Fabrizio, Jai Chabria, a political strategist who worked on Mr. Vance’s Senate campaign, and Andy Surabian, a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — a strong indication of Mr. Trump’s approval of his bid. Ryan Stubenrauch, a Republican strategist and a former senior policy adviser to Mr. DeWine, suggested that a matchup between Mr. Ramaswamy and Mr. Yost, a three-decade veteran of state and local government, stood to reveal what, if anything, remained of the old ways of the state’s Republican politics in the age of Mr. Trump. “If it’s a two-person race, it’ll be the ultimate test,” he said. “Thirty years in politics, the years of experience that used to be required — is that over and done with?” Source link #Ramaswamys #Celebrity #Trump #Ties #Give #Jump #Ohio #Governors #Race Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

From club to captain and why Harry hesitates to dream From club to captain and why Harry hesitates to dream Harry Wilson looks back on a Brothers premiership and some brotherly love when he’s trying to explain how he kept the faith. Exploding onto the Wallabies scene in 2020, the Queensland Reds No.8 was all the rage until he wasn’t. Shunted back down the backrow pecking order despite his regular Super Rugby Pacific brilliance, there was no room for Wilson in the 2023 World Cup squad. So the 23-year-old went and won a Brisbane club premiership with older brother Will for Brothers, claiming player of the final honours for good measure. A year later, despite breaking his arm late in the season, Wilson was captaining Australia to a one-point victory on a rainy Buenos Aires night against Argentina. The side’s eighth captain in 15 Tests was immense, his try-saving tackle and solid fundamentals the lead-by-example football coach Joe Schmidt had asked for and enough to keep him in the job for the spring tour. That campaign started with an after-the-siren defeat of England at a packed Twickenham that offered some hope ahead of a huge domestic Test season headed by the visiting British and Irish Lions. The no-fuss Wilson finds it impossible not to return to that sunny afternoon at Ballymore for Brothers when he reflects on it all. “It was probably the most enjoyable footy I’ve played and winning that competition with Will is something I never thought I’d get to do,” Wilson told AAP. “One of my best rugby memories … maybe along with beating England over there.” Second-rower Will, three years Harry’s senior, was in third grade when his little brother was carving up first grade on his way to a Super Rugby debut. They hadn’t played together since U7s, Will forcing his way into the top side for their 2023 title and then captaining Brothers to a title defence last year, hours after Harry had captained Australia in Argentina. “When you’ve been out of the team for two years, everything goes through your head about whether you can get back there,” Harry said. “But he’s been such a good influence on me because he doesn’t get paid, he’s there two nights a week training, gym the other three, just showing his commitment to rugby. “He just does it because he loves it. “You realise that life’s still pretty good, even if you aren’t getting picked in a few teams. “I’ve got two older brothers and we’re so close. When I’m on tour they’re ringing me every second, third day, I’m ringing them. “A lot of the times I’ll just vent to them and then they’ll offer a good bit of advice … they’ve helped me so much.” The photo of the pair with the premiership cup takes pride of place in their parent’s house. “Dad’s pretty fond of that one,” Will told AAP. “That title was so special to us; it came at a time Harry could have easily just put his head down. Instead he came back to us and got stuck in. “He’s had mixed messages, ups and downs. but he kept positive, was so passionate and never cracked the s****. “And it all came together.” Backrow buddy, longtime tour roommate and fellow Wallabies star Fraser McReight has had a front-row seat for Wilson’s rise, fall and rise again. “The impostor syndrome, I suppose, like whether he was good enough,” McReight reflected of the internal battles his good mate had faced. “Obviously he always was good enough for it, but him finding his feet as a player first was important for him, and then knowing that as a captain didn’t need to change anything.” Reds and Wallabies teammate Tate McDermott can relate. He too has been in and out of the Test side, the halfback thrust into the captaincy in late 2023 but used predominantly off the bench last year. “There’s been a couple of guys in the exact same boat,” McDermott told AAP. “It’s always an interesting one where you juggle what your strengths are and what you can bring to your team, versus what people think you need to work on. “We’ve had quite a few different coaches at the Wallabies level that will tell you different things. “Some may see you in a different light to how others see you. “It’s hard to get that juggling act right, but Harry’s done it brilliantly. “Bang, straight into the hot seat, and there’s even more of an edge now to how he’s gone about his work. “He’s always been incredibly skilful but just how tough he is, everyone is beginning to notice.” There is a Super Rugby Pacific season to play out before Australia welcome the Lions, a tour that remains purposely out of mind for the likes of McDermott and Wilson. “From my experiences in the past, the moment I got ahead of myself, I’ve shot myself in the foot,” he said. “I honestly don’t want to think about it because it would break me if I’m not a part of it.” Source link #club #captain #Harry #hesitates #dream Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Federal Workers Grapple With Trump’s War on Bureaucracy Federal Workers Grapple With Trump’s War on Bureaucracy One was fired by email at 12:47 a.m. Another wept with colleagues as security escorted her from the office. A third frantically tried to fill a prescription after she got a 24-hour notice that her health care was ending. Then there is Jacqueline Devine, a contractor in the office of H.I.V.-AIDS at the United States Agency for International Development. Ms. Devine, a behavioral scientist who worked largely in sub-Saharan Africa on H.I.V. treatment, was among those affected by an abrupt mass firing in her Washington office on Jan. 28. She received no severance pay. “I’ve been going through the stages of grief, and it’s not a linear process, I’m finding out,” Ms. Devine said in an interview last week. “You kind of go back and move forward and go through anger and sadness.” Nights are difficult. “I either am not sleeping, or I’m sleeping to escape,” she said. “Or it’s waking up at 1 or 2 a.m. and not being able to fall asleep again.” One thing lost in the Trump administration’s war on the federal bureaucracy is the collective voice of the workers. Many of those fired or in limbo say they feel silenced by Elon Musk, whose gleeful, vengeful posts describing U.S.A.I.D. as a “criminal organization” that he fed “into the wood chipper” make them fear retribution. Others don’t want to speak publicly because of pending lawsuits or orders from their agencies. But a few from U.S.A.I.D., the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department spoke in interviews last week. Some gave their full names, and others asked that only their first names be used. U.S.A.I.D. workers worried about colleagues overseas abruptly ordered home, and said that gutting a $40 billion foreign assistance agency, though a judge has paused some of those plans for now, would mean lives lost to famine, disease and war. Experts and the workers themselves acknowledge that reforms are needed in the federal work force, which counts around 2.4 million people, excluding the uniformed military and the Postal Service. The numbers have not grown significantly in the past decade, though the total of federal contractors had ballooned to an estimated five million by 2020, according to a Brookings Institution scholar. But experts said that Mr. Musk’s tactics, including offering blanket deferred resignations to two million workers, amounted to an immolation of government without thought or strategy. “What if the people who resign are the people who process the Social Security payments?” said Terry Clower, an expert on the region’s economy at George Mason University. The pain is particularly acute in Washington, where an estimated 40 percent of the region’s economy — including federal workers, contractors, nonprofits and businesses — is tied to the federal government. And yet more than 80 percent of federal workers live in other parts of the country. “I heard from a forest worker in Idaho who feared for his job,” said Max Stier, a longtime expert on the federal work force who said that Americans were largely unaware of the work of civil servants across the nation. “The human story,” he said, “is getting ignored.” The Purged Prosecutor Jake Struebing, a federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, was fired by email on Jan. 31 in a purge of more than a dozen people. The email, Mr. Struebing said, “said explicitly that we were being fired for working on the Jan. 6 cases.” Mr. Struebing, 33, is one of the few fired prosecutors who have gone public and in recent days has made the rounds on CNN and MSNBC. Formerly in private practice in the Washington office of the powerhouse law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Mr. Struebing got his dream job in September 2023 at the Justice Department: He was hired to help handle the Jan. 6 cases, the largest prosecution in the department’s history. “It was everything that I imagined,” Mr. Struebing said in an interview. “I loved every second.” At his law firm job, he said, he “used to sit in front of the computer all the time,” but at the Justice Department he was in court multiple times a week and ultimately handled four trials. He was especially proud, he said, of getting a Jan. 6 defendant convicted on all counts for an assault on a police officer. That defendant, like all the others, has now been pardoned by Mr. Trump. Asked whether he still had faith in the criminal justice system, Mr. Struebing paused for a long time — and did not answer. But he did say this: “I signed up to do these prosecutions because I thought it was about defending the peaceful transfer of power and defending democracy. But after doing these cases for a while, it really became about defending the officers who stood in the breach for us that day.” The Aid Workers in Limbo A federal judge on Friday granted a temporary reprieve against President Trump’s plans to get rid of U.S.A.I.D. — “CLOSE IT DOWN!” the president had posted on social media — but that did not help three agency contractors who remain out of work. Mieka, who worked on gender-based violence, got a stop-work order at around 6 p.m. on Jan. 27. Four days later, she was furloughed without pay, and shortly after received a notice that her health insurance would be cut off 24 hours later. She had only two weeks left in medication she needs daily, so she raced to fill it at her Virginia pharmacy. When it didn’t arrive the next day, her first hope was that she could get on Medicaid before the two weeks were up. She also began applying for unemployment insurance. “I have four kids; I have a kid in college; I have twins graduating from high school, and my husband is retired,” she said. “The human cost to me personally is hard to wrap my head around.” Still, she was trying to be positive. “We work in places where there is no Medicaid and unemployment insurance,” she said. “So I’m grateful for those systems and I hope I don’t lean on them too hard.” Mieka, who asked that her last name not be used for fear of retribution online, said she had saved enough, so she was not in immediate financial crisis. But she saw prospects of another job in aid work as grim. The end of U.S.A.I.D., which funded nonprofits in Washington and development efforts around the world, has already led to large layoffs downstream. “Even during the pandemic I didn’t have the experience where every single person I knew didn’t have a job,” she said. “It’s just very bizarre when your entire sector gets tanked overnight.” One bright spot is that her prescription finally arrived last week. Sarah, a contractor who worked in the agency’s bureau of humanitarian assistance, got a stop-work order, like about a hundred others in her office, at 11:40 a.m. on Jan. 28. She was told to turn in her laptop and badge and leave with the others immediately, escorted by security. “We cried,” she said. By 12:30 p.m. everyone was on the sidewalk outside a U.S.A.I.D. annex building in downtown Washington, stunned. No one wanted to be alone, so a group headed to a nearby restaurant, the Smith, packed with other workers under the stop-work order. Sarah, who said she did not want her last name used for fear of threats against her family, got an email later that night saying she was furloughed without pay, with her health insurance ending in three days. She has tried to stay upbeat. “This is an extremely resilient group of people who work in disaster settings,” she said. “I think the coping skills for high-stress environments do carry over.” But this time, she said, “the stress we are feeling is for ourselves.” Kristina, a contractor in maternal and child health, nervously checked her email every five minutes on Jan. 28 as word spread about Mr. Trump’s planned cuts. She gave up at midnight and went to bed, only to learn first thing in the morning that the email firing her had landed at 12:47 a.m. She asked that her last name not be used out of fear of retribution against her husband, who works at another federal agency. “One of the saddest things about this is that it’s taken decades to earn the trust of our global peers,” Kristina said. “It totally undermines the gains that we’ve made.” “I’m just horrified,” said Nicole Cantello, a former lawyer for the Environmental Protection Agency who represents its union in Chicago. Ms. Cantello was reacting to emails that landed on Thursday putting 168 employees in the agency’s office of environmental justice on administrative leave, including a number in Chicago. The office, which is aimed at helping poor and ********* groups that often face disproportionate amounts of pollution, was created in 2022 under the Biden administration. The emails were a big first step in Mr. Trump’s expected plan to shut down the office. “These people came into an agency hoping to help Biden, and that turned out to be toxic,” Ms. Cantello said. She is not sure of her own future. Project 2025, the blueprint for a new Trump administration that has turned out to align with many of the president’s early actions, suggested eliminating unions of government workers entirely. In the meantime, Ms. Devine, the fired contractor from the U.S.A.I.D. office of H.I.V.-AIDS, said she was overwhelmed by all the chaos. When she’s not job-hunting, she said, she wonders where she can most make a difference. “Is it posting, writing, marching?” she said. “It’s, ‘Where do I put my energy?’” When she was asked why she was speaking out, her answer was swift. “I have nothing to lose,” she said. Source link #Federal #Workers #Grapple #Trumps #War #Bureaucracy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump to Revoke Security Clearances for Antony Blinken, Letitia James and Alvin Bragg Trump to Revoke Security Clearances for Antony Blinken, Letitia James and Alvin Bragg President Trump will revoke the security clearances of several current law enforcement figures and former national security officials, White House officials confirmed on Sunday. In an interview with The New York Post published Saturday, Mr. Trump said he would withdraw the clearances of former Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and others who served in top positions under former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. The president also said that he would be stripping clearances for Letitia James, the New York attorney general, and Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, both of whom have brought cases against him. Ms. James is also leading a group of 19 attorneys general in a lawsuit to stop Mr. Trump’s administration from allowing Elon Musk’s cost-cutting initiative from gaining access to the Treasury Department’s payment and data systems. The new list of targets is the latest round of retribution Mr. Trump has lodged against his perceived political rivals and others who participated in high-profile legal cases against him. For many of those identified, it would be a largely symbolic action, but it could prevent the officials from getting into federal buildings or retrieving classified materials. Mr. Blinken, the highest ranking official targeted, did not respond to a request for comment. Mr. Trump did not provide specifics about what he sought to restrict from the officials. Mr. Trump called Mr. Blinken, the former secretary of state, a “bad guy” and said he wanted to “take away his passes.” Of others, Mr. Trump said his intent was “to take away every right they have.” Taking questions from reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Mr. Trump confirmed his decision, and denied it was a form of retribution. “If there are people that we don’t respect, if there are people that we thought that were breaking the law or came very close to it in previous years, we do it,” he said of stripping clearances. “And we’ve done it with some people, we’ve done it with Biden himself.” Mr. Trump’s remarks came on the heels of an announcement in a social media post on Friday that he was revoking Mr. Biden’s security clearances as payback to Mr. Biden, who did the same to him four years ago. Mr. Biden cited Mr. Trump’s “erratic behavior” as the basis for his decision, after he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and incited a riot at the U.S. Capitol to overturn its results. On Friday, Mr. Trump accused the former president of setting the precedent in 2021, and cited a special counsel report that questioned Mr. Biden’s mental acuity. “JOE, YOU’RE FIRED,” he wrote on social media. Among other officials Mr. Trump identified in his New York Post interview for revocation were Jake Sullivan, the former national security adviser, and Lisa Monaco, the former deputy attorney general who coordinated the Justice Department’s investigation into Mr. Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Mr. Trump also targeted Andrew Weissmann, Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen, lawyers who have been outspoken critics of Mr. Trump. Some of those on the latest list expressed little concern that Mr. Trump’s actions would affect them or their duties. In a statement, Ms. James’s office brushed off the move as “just another attempt to distract from the real work the attorney general is doing to defend the rights of New Yorkers and all Americans.” “What security clearance?” the statement quipped. Mr. Zaid, in a statement Saturday, said that under existing law, he was entitled to due process, including being informed why he was being targeted after being trusted with classified information for more than 25 years. “I’m honored by President Trump bestowing upon me a Red Badge of Courage, but if he and his partisan minions think this will deter me from holding them accountable to the rule of law, they are sadly mistaken,” he said. “This highly politicized action reflects far worse upon the Trump administration than it does me,” he added. Michael Crowley contributed reporting. Source link #Trump #Revoke #Security #Clearances #Antony #Blinken #Letitia #James #Alvin #Bragg Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Court Blocks U.S. From Sending Venezuelan Migrants to Guantánamo Court Blocks U.S. From Sending Venezuelan Migrants to Guantánamo A federal judge barred the U.S. government on Sunday from sending three detained Venezuelan men to the Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, according to a lawyer for the migrants. Lawyers for the men, who are detained at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Mexico, asked the court on Sunday evening for a temporary restraining order, opening the first legal front against the Trump administration’s new policy of sending undocumented migrants to Guantánamo. Within an hour of the filing, which came at the start of the Super Bowl, Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales of the Federal District Court for New Mexico, convened a hearing by videoconference and verbally granted the restraining order, said Baher Azmy, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is helping represent the migrants. Immigration and human rights advocates have been stymied in immediately challenging the Trump administration’s policy of sending migrants to Guantánamo, in part because the government has not released the identities of the roughly 50 men it is believed to have flown there so far. But the three Venezuelan men were already represented by lawyers, and their court filing said they had a credible fear that they could be transferred. According to the filing, the men are being held in the same ICE facility, the Otero County Processing Center, where previous groups of men who were flown to Guantánamo in recent days had apparently been held. The men recognized the faces of some of those detainees from government photographs provided to the news media, the filing said. The filing also said that the men had heard rumors that more such transfers were coming, and that they “fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantánamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang.” President Trump issued a directive to the Homeland Security and Defense Departments on Jan. 29, ordering them to prepare to expand a migrant operations center at Guantánamo Bay to “provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States.” The military also sent troops to help expand a tent city on one side of the base there. Since then, five military flights have taken undocumented immigrants to Guantánamo Bay. So far, however, the men have been housed in an empty wing of the wartime prison complex erected by the Bush administration to hold terrorism suspects after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The legal challenge brought on behalf of the men is relatively modest. It does not seek to block the administration from sending any more migrants to Guantánamo in general — only the three specific detainees. And the filing acknowledges that a lawyer for the government told them that none of the three “are being moved” to the naval base, though the filing argues that their status could change. While the U.S. government has taken migrants intercepted at sea to Guantánamo to be processed, it is different to take people who were already on American soil — and therefore covered by the Constitution, even if they were in the United States unlawfully — to the Navy base on Cuban soil to be held in continued immigration detention. The Supreme Court has ruled that the government may hold Qaeda detainees at Guantánamo under a law passed by Congress that authorizes the use of military force against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks. It is not clear what legal authority the Trump administration has to take migrants there and to hold them in continued immigration detention. The filing came as part of an existing lawsuit brought by the men that has been filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and the Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center. The men are subject to removal orders after their asylum requests were rejected. But they have not been repatriated because of the breakdown in relations between the U.S. government and that of their native Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro. That lawsuit argues that the men cannot be held in perpetual detention and so must be freed. Their filing says that any transfer to Guantánamo would make it difficult for them to continue to communicate with their lawyers and could open the door to the government’s arguing that the court no longer has jurisdiction. Carol Rosenberg contributed reporting from Miami. Source link #Court #Blocks #U.S #Sending #Venezuelan #Migrants #Guantánamo Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Super Bowl LIX ads: Seals, donkeys and donuts – CNN Super Bowl LIX ads: Seals, donkeys and donuts – CNN Super Bowl LIX ads: Seals, donkeys and donuts CNNSuper Bowl commercials 2025: Watch big game’s ads live, Budweiser Clydesdales return USA TODAYWhere you can watch the 2025 Super Bowl live today CBS NewsColumn | The best, worst and weirdest Super Bowl commercials of 2025 The Washington Post Source link #Super #Bowl #LIX #ads #Seals #donkeys #donuts #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Travis Kelce passes Jerry Rice for most career Super Bowl receptions in loss to Eagles Travis Kelce passes Jerry Rice for most career Super Bowl receptions in loss to Eagles Despite missing out on another championship ring, Travis Kelce added another accolade to his resume Sunday when he surpassed Jerry Rice for most career Super Bowl receptions in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 40-22 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Kelce, 35, logged four receptions for 39 yards to give him 35 total catches through five Super Bowl appearances, passing the Hall of Famer Rice’s mark of 33 receptions in four Super Bowls. The Super Bowl record comes one year after Kelce surpassed Rice’s career postseason receptions record. Kelce failed to tally a catch in the first half of Sunday’s lopsided game as the Chiefs quickly fell behind by three-plus scores. But the legendary tight end salvaged his stat line in the second half and broke Rice’s record after hauling in two late third-quarter catches and a nine-yard reception at the 7:54 mark of the fourth quarter. Rice still holds a host of other Super Bowl records, including single-game receiving yards (215), career receiving touchdowns (8) and career receiving yards (589). With his 39-yard night Sunday, Kelce moved past Lynn Swann and Rob Gronkowski into second place on the career receiving yards list, now sitting at 389. Required reading (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images) Source link #Travis #Kelce #passes #Jerry #Rice #career #Super #Bowl #receptions #loss #Eagles Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump Orders Treasury to Halt Minting New Pennies to Cut Waste Trump Orders Treasury to Halt Minting New Pennies to Cut Waste President Trump said on Sunday night that he had ordered the Treasury secretary to stop producing new pennies, a move that he said would help reduce unnecessary government spending. “Let’s rip the waste out of our great nations budget, even if it’s a penny at a time,” he said in a post on Truth Social. He characterized the production of pennies, which “literally cost us more than 2 cents” each, as wasteful. This is a developing story. Please check here for updates. Source link #Trump #Orders #Treasury #Halt #Minting #Pennies #Cut #Waste Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AMP Bank introduces numberless debit cards to combat fraud and scams AMP Bank introduces numberless debit cards to combat fraud and scams AMP Bank is introducing numberless debit cards for its small business and personal banking customers in a radical makeover designed to combat fraud and scams. The retail bank partnered with US payments giant Mastercard to deliver the striking new-look cards, which don’t present any front-facing numbers like standard issue bank cards. The back of the card presents a four-digit number. The bank claims by removing visible card numbers, small businesses will be “less susceptible” to fraud and scams. The cards are linked to the bank’s push for a new app-only service, meaning only customers operating through AMP’s mobile app-based bank can access the cards. AMP, unlike Commonwealth Bank or NAB, does not host any brick-and-mortar branches, and operates as a “digital bank”. Camera IconThe cards remove any front-facing digits. Supplied Credit: News Corp AustraliaCamera IconThe cards are linked to the bank’s new app-only banking service. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia Customers would access their 16-digit number online through the app, the bank said. The app will include other security features such as advanced fraud and scam protection systems to protect customers and multimodal biometric authentication, the bank said. Customers will be encouraged to use face ID and fingerprint ID to enter the app and then to record a video selfie when they first sign up to prevent identity theft. Mastercard Australasia division president Richard Wormald said the numberless cards represented a “significant step forward in payment security”. “Numberless cards represent a significant step forward in payment security, offering cardholders additional protection against fraud and account compromise,” he said. “Mastercard is proud to partner with AMP Bank to deliver these new safeguards to *********** entrepreneurs, empowering them to spend less time worrying about fraud and scams, and more time focusing on what they do best.” Camera IconAMP does not offer any in-person branches. NewsWire / Steven Saphore Credit: News Corp Australia The bank, part of ASX-listed AMP Limited, boasts more than one million customers across Australia and New Zealand. Sean O’Malley, AMP Bank Group Executive Sean O’Malley said the innovation would be “one of many firsts” for the digital first bank. “We all know that banks simply have to do a better job of supporting the millions of small businesses operating across Australia,” he said. “That’s why we’ve developed a new mobile banking platform with leading tech that is proven to make it easier and safer for business owners to operate and administer their businesses. “Mastercard’s numberless bank cards are one of many firsts for micro and small businesses that we expect to deliver with the digital-first AMP Bank.” Source link #AMP #Bank #introduces #numberless #debit #cards #combat #fraud #scams Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

I-71 N reopens following ****** involving multiple cars I-71 N reopens following ****** involving multiple cars CLEVELAND (WJW) — A ****** caused backup on I-71 North on Cleveland’s west side Sunday afternoon into the evening. 1 killed, 5 injured in Sunday morning ****** Cleveland police dispatchers told FOX 8 they received a call for a ****** involving at least five vehicles on I-71 near W. 25th Street and US-42 at around 4:15 p.m. ODOT camera phot The Ohio Department of Transportation confirmed the road was shut down in that area due to a ******, after previously saying there were just two lanes blocked. The road didn’t reopen until about 7 p.m. Cleveland Division of Fire then said that three vehicles were involved in the ******. One car was reportedly shielding another car on the side of the highway while a person was changing a tire. Then a third vehicle hit the two others. At least two people were taken to the hospital, the fire department said. The extent of the injuries are not clear. FOX 8 will continue to update this story as more is learned. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. Source link #I71 #reopens #****** #involving #multiple #cars Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]