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Georgetown academic freed from immigration detention Georgetown academic freed from immigration detention Georgetown University researcher Badar Khan Suri has been freed from a Texas detention centre after he was arrested as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on activists across college campuses. A federal judge ordered the release of Mr Suri, who was a postdoctoral fellow at the prestigious Washington DC institution on a student visa. An Indian national, he was arrested outside his Virginia home on 17 March by immigration agents. His lawyers say he was targeted “for speech in support of ************ rights and family ties to Gaza”. US authorities accuse him of “spreading ****** propaganda” and having “connections to a known or suspected terrorist”. The Justice Department argued the government had a right to detain him until court proceedings finished. However US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ruled on Wednesday his detention violated his right to free speech and due process. She refuted the government’s claims he had ties to ****** through his wife Mapheze Saleh, a US citizen whose father was a government official in Gaza. “There was no evidence submitted to this court regarding statements that he made” in support of ******, the judge said according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News. Mr Suri’s father-in-law is a former adviser to ****** leader Ismail Haniyeh who was killed in July last year, the Washington Post and New York Times reported. In her court statement, Ms Saleh said her father lived in the US for nearly 20 years while studying. “Afterward, he served as political advisor to the Prime Minister of Gaza and as the deputy of foreign affairs in Gaza,” she said. Ms Saleh said he left the Gaza government in 2010 and started an institute to encourage peace and conflict resolution in Gaza in 2011. “Hearing the judge’s words brought tears to my eyes,” Ms Saleh said in a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is involved in Mr Suri’s defence. “I truly wish I could give her a heartfelt hug from me and from my three children, who long every day to see their father again,” she said. “Speaking out about what’s happening in Palestine is not a crime.” The Trump administration is still seeking to deport Mr Suri in separate proceedings, the ACLU said. Several students and academics have been investigated by US immigration officials in recent weeks, accusing them of advocating for “violence and terrorism”. Among them was Columbia University graduate and permanent US resident Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested on 8 March after being involved in pro-************ protests on campus. He was accused of having ties to ******, which he denies. Badar Khan Suri’s release comes days after Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was released on bail after a court order. Ms Ozturk was kept in a Louisiana detention facility after officials arrested her on the street in Massachusetts in March, and accusing her of “engaging in activities in support of ******”. Source link #Georgetown #academic #freed #immigration #detention Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Emergency services levy set to pass after ‘dirty deal’ Emergency services levy set to pass after ‘dirty deal’ Contentious legislation to raise an extra $2.1 billion for emergency services is set to pass with last-minute funding guarantees and rebates for drought-hit farmers. Ahead of delivering her first state budget next week, Victorian Treasurer Jaclyn Symes on Thursday unveiled a raft of amendments to the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund bill. The fund would replace the Fire Services Property Levy from July 1 and expand coverage to other emergency and disaster response services. It was projected to lift the average annual bill for residential home owners by $63 and $678 for primary producers, sparking backlash from some farmers and firefighters. Needing to woo upper house crossbenchers to pass the bill, the Labor government has agreed to reduce the rate for primary production land. It would save the average farmer $3 a week, Ms Symes said. Partial rebates will also be available for farmers eligible for a state drought support package, on top of previously confirmed rebates for eligible State Emergency Service and Country Fire Authority volunteers and life members. The legislation will explicitly guarantee 95 per cent of SES and CFA’s annual funding will be drawn from the levy, and 90 per cent of Fire Rescue Victoria’s. How the money is spent will be reported annually and the government has already earmarked $110 million for a SES, CFA and FRV rolling fleet replacement program. “Obviously it’s a new cost – no one likes paying more,” Ms Symes told reporters at state parliament. Debate on the bill has resumed in the upper house and it is expected to pass parliament later on Thursday. The expanded levy was originally forecast to raise an extra $2.14 billion over the next three financial years, but the changes will likely lessen the tax take. Ms Symes said she was waiting for revised figures but bristled when asked if it would eat into the state’s projected surplus of $1.6 billion for 2025/26. “I’m good mate,” she quipped. The original levy had serious problems but the amendments would address concerns raised by farmers and firefighters, Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said. “With increased bushfires, floods and droughts, we need fully funded emergency services to keep us all safe, so we don’t face a horrific situation like the Los Angeles fires,” she said United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall accused Labor, the Greens, Animal Justice and Legalise Cannabis parties of “selling out” Victorians. “It’s all about retiring this government’s debt,” he said. “Have your little fun today, do your dirty deals, I guarantee you, we will make you accountable.” Mr Marshall said the militant union would reconsider its support for the minor parties ahead of the next election in November 2026. Victorian Nationals leader Danny O’Brien agreed the levy was mainly about digging the government out of a financial hole instead of better funding emergency services. “This is a great new big tax and all Victorians are going to have to pay,” he said. The latest forecast from December showed Victoria’s net debt was expected to climb to $187.3 billion by mid-2028, pushing up interest repayments to $9.32 billion a year. Source link #Emergency #services #levy #set #pass #dirty #deal Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Once ‘dead’ thrusters on the farthest spacecraft from Earth are in action again Once ‘dead’ thrusters on the farthest spacecraft from Earth are in action again Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Engineers at NASA say they have successfully revived thrusters aboard Voyager 1, the farthest spacecraft from our planet, in the nick of time before a planned communications blackout. A side effect of upgrades to an Earth-based antenna that sends commands to Voyager 1 and its twin, Voyager 2, the communications pause could have occurred when the probe faced a critical issue — thruster failure — leaving the space agency without a way to save the historic mission. The new fix to the vehicle’s original roll thrusters, out of action since 2004, could help keep the veteran spacecraft operating until it’s able to contact home again next year. Voyager 1, launched in September 1977, uses more than one set of thrusters to function properly. Primary thrusters carefully orient the spacecraft so it can keep its antenna pointed at Earth. This ensures that the probe can send back data it collects from its unique perspective 15.5 billion miles (25 billion kilometers) away in interstellar space, as well as receive commands sent by the Voyager team. Within the primary set are additional thrusters that control the spacecraft’s roll, which enables Voyager 1 to remain pointed at a guide star so it can remain oriented in space. If Voyager can’t control its roll motion, the mission could be threatened. But as the thrusters fire, tiny amounts of propellant residue have built up over time. So far, engineers have managed to avoid clogging by commanding Voyager 1 to cycle between its original and backup thrusters for orientation, as well as a set of thrusters that were used to change the spacecraft’s trajectory during planetary flybys in the 1980s. The trajectory thrusters, however, do nothing to contribute to the spacecraft’s roll. Voyager 1’s original roll thrusters stopped working more than two decades ago after power was lost in two internal heaters, which means the spacecraft has been relying on the backup roll thrusters to remain pointed at a guide star ever since. “I think at that time, the team was OK with accepting that the primary roll thrusters didn’t work, because they had a perfectly good backup,” said Kareem Badaruddin, Voyager mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in a statement. “And, frankly, they probably didn’t think the Voyagers were going to keep going for another 20 years.” Now, Voyager 1 engineers are concerned that clogging from the residue could cause the spacecraft’s backup roll thrusters to stop working as soon as this fall — and they had to get creative, as well as take risks, to revive the long-defunct primary roll thrusters. Fixing broken equipment in space When the heaters on the primary roll thrusters failed in 2004, engineers thought they couldn’t be fixed. But with the threat posed by clogging looming, the team returned to the drawing board to see what had gone wrong. Engineers considered the possibility that a disturbance in the circuits controlling the power supply to the heaters flipped a switch to the wrong position — and flipping it to the original position might restart the heaters, and in turn, the primary roll thrusters. But it wasn’t a straightforward solution for a probe that’s operating so far away. The spacecraft is currently beyond the heliosphere, the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and particles that extends well beyond the orbit of Pluto. The mission team had to take a risk by switching Voyager 1 to its primary roll thrusters and turning them on before attempting to fix and restart the heaters. The heaters could only function if the thrusters are also switched on. If Voyager 1 drifted too far from its guide star, the spacecraft’s programming would trigger the roll thrusters to fire — but if the heaters weren’t turned on yet at that moment, the automatic sequence could have triggered a small explosion. A nail-biting test In addition to the risk, the team, which began its work earlier this year, was facing a time constraint. A giant Earth-based antenna in Canberra, Australia, went offline May 4 for upgrades that will be ongoing until February 2026. NASA’s Deep Space Network enables the agency to communicate with all of its spacecraft — but its Canberra antenna is the only one with enough signal strength to send commands to the Voyager probes. “These antenna upgrades are important for future crewed lunar landings, and they also increase communications capacity for our science missions in deep space, some of which are building on the discoveries Voyager made,” said Suzanne Dodd, Voyager project manager and director of the Interplanetary Network at JPL, which manages the Deep Space Network for NASA, in a statement. “We’ve been through downtime like this before, so we’re just preparing as much as we can.” While the antenna will briefly operate in August and December, the mission team members wanted to command Voyager 1 to test its long-dormant thrusters before they could no longer communicate with the spacecraft. This way, if they need to turn on the thrusters in August, the team would know whether that was a viable option. On March 20, the team waited to see the results return from Voyager 1 after sending a command to the probe the day before to activate the thrusters and heaters. It takes more than 23 hours for data to travel back from Voyager 1 to Earth due to the sheer distance between the two. Had the test failed, Voyager 1 may have already been at risk. But the team watched the data stream in, showing the temperature of the thruster heaters rising dramatically, and knew it had worked. “It was such a glorious moment. Team morale was very high that day,” said Todd Barber, the mission’s propulsion lead at JPL, in a statement. “These thrusters were considered dead. And that was a legitimate conclusion. It’s just that one of our engineers had this insight that maybe there was this other possible cause and it was fixable. It was yet another miracle save for Voyager.” For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Source link #dead #thrusters #farthest #spacecraft #Earth #action Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump’s Pledge to the Middle East: No More ‘Lectures on How to Live’ Trump’s Pledge to the Middle East: No More ‘Lectures on How to Live’ When President Trump declared from the stage of an opulent ballroom in Saudi Arabia that the United States was done nation-building and intervening, that the world’s superpower would no longer be “giving you lectures on how to live,” his audience erupted in applause. He was effectively denouncing decades of American policy in the Middle East, playing to grievances long aired in cafes and sitting rooms from Morocco to Oman. “In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday, during a sweeping address at an investment conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. “And the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand.” He urged the people of the region to chart “your own destinies in your own way.” Reactions to his speech spread swiftly on mobile phone screens in a Middle East where the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan — and more recently, U.S. support for Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza, which is on the brink of starvation — are ingrained in public consciousness and criticized by monarchists and dissidents alike. Sultan Alamer, a Saudi academic, joked that Mr. Trump’s remarks sounded like they came from Frantz Fanon, a 20th century Marxist thinker who wrote about the dynamics of colonial oppression. Syrians posted celebratory memes when Mr. Trump announced that he would end American sanctions on their war-ravaged country “in order to give them a chance at greatness.” And in Yemen — another country mired in war and subject to American sanctions — Abdullatif Mohammed implied agreement with Mr. Trump’s notion of sovereignty, even as he expressed frustration with U.S. intervention. “When will countries recognize us and let us live like the rest of the world?” Mr. Mohammed, a 31-year-old restaurant manager in the capital, Sana, said when asked about the speech. American airstrikes pounded his city under both former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Mr. Trump, targeting the Iran-backed Houthi militia, until Mr. Trump abruptly declared a cease-fire this month. “Who is Trump to grant pardons, lift sanctions on a country, or impose them?” Mr. Mohammed said. “But that’s how the world works.” Mr. Trump’s remarks came at the start of a four-day jaunt through three wealthy Gulf Arab states: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He was focused in large part on business deals, including more than $1 trillion in investment in the United States pledged by the three Gulf governments. But his address in Riyadh made clear that he had broader diplomatic ambitions for his trip. He expressed a “fervent wish” that Saudi Arabia follow two neighbors, the Emirates and Bahrain, to recognize the state of Israel. (Saudi officials have said that will happen only after the establishment of a ************ state.) He said he had a keen desire to reach a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, adding that he “never believed in having permanent enemies.” And on Wednesday, he met the new leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Shara — a former jihadist who led a rebel alliance that ousted the brutal strongman Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Trump posed for a photograph with Mr. al-Shara and the Saudi crown prince in an image that dropped jaws in the region and beyond. “Dude, what happened is truly unbelievable,” said Mr. Mohammed, the Yemeni restaurant manager. Mr. Trump’s address was a sometimes-rambling speech that lasted more than 40 minutes. In Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, he neglected to mention that he has said before that “Islam hates us” and that the Quran teaches “some very negative vibe.” Instead, he praised the kingdom’s heritage. His friendliness in front of the Saudi crowd stood in contrast to Mr. Biden’s chillier approach to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto Saudi ruler who directed a yearslong bombing campaign in Yemen and has overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent. When Mr. Biden visited Saudi Arabia, he said that he told the crown prince he believed he was responsible for the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist critical of the royal family’s rule. Mr. Trump instead heaped plaudits on the Arabian Peninsula and Prince Mohammed, calling him an “incredible man.” “In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins,” Mr. Trump said. His remarks left some Arab listeners worried about what the potential evaporation of American pressure over human rights violations could mean for their countries. Ibrahim Almadi is the son of a 75-year-old American-Saudi dual national who was arrested in the kingdom over critical social media posts; his father was released but is not allowed to leave Saudi Arabia. In an interview, Mr. Almadi said he had hoped Mr. Trump would speak to Saudi officials about his father’s case during his visit — and that he had tried without success to reach out to officials across his administration. He sees it as the type of human rights violation that previous U.S. administrations would have pressed Saudi officials on. “They are normalizing my dad’s case, which is not normal,” he said of the Trump administration. A White House spokeswoman did not answer questions about whether the president or his aides had raised human rights issues with Saudi officials. Asked about the reaction to his address, the spokeswoman, Anna Kelly, said, “The president has received widespread praise for his speech.” Abdullah Alaoudh, a member of a Saudi opposition party in exile and the son of a prominent cleric imprisoned in the kingdom, called the speech a public relations stunt for the benefit of Prince Mohammed. He added that he found it ironic that Mr. Trump was praising a Middle East built “by the people of the region” when he was speaking to an audience dotted with foreign billionaires and “in front of an authoritarian leader who has brutally silenced all dissent.” In the ballroom in Riyadh, Mr. Trump received a standing ovation. “The president’s speech was actually quite consequential,” Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said at a news conference on Wednesday, describing it as an “approach of partnership, of mutual respect.” Mr. Alamer, a senior resident fellow at the New Lines Institute, a Washington research group, said in an interview that the president’s words reflected themes “that are normally associated with leftist and anti-imperialist intellectuals.” “While this is surprising in the sense that we, as Arabs, used to be the subject of American lecturing and interventionism, it is also not surprising when we consider that new right-wing populist movements — both in the Gulf and the U.S. — have borrowed some of this rhetoric from leftists and socialists and repurposed it to advance a conservative worldview,” said Mr. Alamer. Negad el-Boraie, a prominent Egyptian human rights lawyer, said he was reluctant to read much into Mr. Trump’s speech, given that he was in Saudi Arabia primarily to talk about investments. But for Mr. el-Boraie, Mr. Trump was merely being honest about what U.S. presidents had always really cared about — American interests — regardless of how much previous presidents draped their agendas in comments about human rights and democracy. “The U.S. prioritizes its own interests,” he said. “Trump expresses his opinions frankly, and that’s clear in all his speeches.” Shuaib Almosawa contributed reporting from Sana, Yemen; Rania Khaled from Cairo; Ismaeel Naar from Dubai; Hwaida Saad and Jacob Roubai from Beirut; and Muhammad Haj Kadour from Damascus. Source link #Trumps #Pledge #Middle #East #Lectures #Live Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Will Putin Attend Ukraine Peace Talks in Turkey? Kremlin’s List Indicates Not. Will Putin Attend Ukraine Peace Talks in Turkey? Kremlin’s List Indicates Not. Russia on Wednesday released a list of officials who will attend peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey. But a key person was missing: President Vladimir V. Putin. The absence on the list of the Russian leader, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 that began the war, was a strong indication that Mr. Putin would not come face to face this week with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has called him a *********. The Kremlin said Mr. Putin himself had signed off on the delegation. President Trump, who began pushing for peace talks before he took back the White House, had said he would consider joining the meeting in Turkey. “I was thinking about actually flying over there,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a White House news conference on Monday. But on Wednesday, Mr. Trump, who is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, indicated that he, too, would skip the talks and would instead visit the United Arab Emirates as planned. But he said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would attend. “Tomorrow, we’re all booked out, you understand that,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re going to U.A.E. tomorrow. So we have a very full situation. Now that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t do it to save a lot of lives and come back. But, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it.” Of Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump added: “I don’t know that he would be there if I’m not there. We’re going to find out. Marco’s going and Marco’s been very effective.” Along with Mr. Rubio, Mr. Trump’s special envoys Steven Witkoff and Keith Kellogg were expected to travel to Turkey. In a social media post on Wednesday, Mr. Zelensky said he was “waiting to see who will come from Russia” before deciding what steps Ukraine should take regarding the peace talks. He also urged the “strongest” Western sanctions against Russia if Mr. Putin rejected the meeting. The Kremlin said that the Russian delegation would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a hard-line aide to Mr. Putin. It would also include Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin, who was part of the Russian delegation in talks held between Moscow and Kyiv in the weeks after the 2022 invasion; and other senior military and intelligence officials. The stakes could not be higher for both sides in the largest land war in Europe since World War II. After more than three years of war, Mr. Putin’s stance is that Russia is winning on the battlefield. But analysts estimate Moscow has lost hundreds of thousands of troops to death and injury. Its soldiers and brigades have been so depleted that it turned to North Korea for troops, and Moscow has struggled to replace destroyed equipment, analysts say. Ukrainian forces, which made an audacious invasion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024, have since pulled out almost entirely. They have also been steadily losing ground in their country’s east. As Mr. Trump has pushed for peace talks, Kyiv has stressed that it needs security guarantees from the United States. Ukraine even signed a deal last month that gives America a share of future revenues from its reserves of rare earth minerals. But the final deal did not include explicit guarantees of future U.S. security assistance. As the pressure for peace has grown, the White House said in March that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to cease fighting in the ****** Sea and to work on details for halting strikes on energy facilities. Later that month, after meetings were held in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine said it would support a Trump administration proposal for a 30-day cease-fire. That gave new momentum to truce negotiations, which had faltered after a public confrontation at the White House between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump. Then, in April, Mr. Putin declared an “Easter truce,” ordering his forces to “stop all military activity” against Ukraine for the holiday. It was apparently aimed at showing an impatient Trump administration that Moscow was still open to peace talks. But Kyiv said Russia broke its own truce. After Mr. Trump expressed frustration with Russia’s refusal to stop the war, Mr. Putin ordered a three-day cease-fire to begin on May 8, in order to mark the May 9 celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Mr. Zelensky described that pledge as a “manipulation.” Britain and France promised to muster a “coalition of the willing” to secure a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. Then a coalition of European allies gave Russia a deadline this month to agree to a 30-day cease-fire or face new sanctions. In his social media post on Wednesday, the Ukrainian president said he was “ready for any format of negotiations” with Russia in Turkey. “Russia is only prolonging the war and the killings,” Mr. Zelensky added. “I want to thank every country, every leader who is now putting pressure on Russia, so that the shelling finally stops.” Cicely Wedgeworth and Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting. Source link #Putin #Attend #Ukraine #Peace #Talks #Turkey #Kremlins #List Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Celts steamroll Knicks, send series back to N.Y. – ESPN Celts steamroll Knicks, send series back to N.Y. – ESPN Celts steamroll Knicks, send series back to N.Y. ESPNKnicks vs. Celtics odds, prediction, start time: 2025 NBA playoff picks, Game 5 best bets by proven model CBS SportsSix Celtics score in double figures to step up in Jayson Tatum’s absence and crush Knicks, 127-102, in Game 5 The Boston GlobeThe Knicks’ big bets are paying off, and it has them on the verge of dethroning the Celtics Yahoo SportsHeroes, zeros of Game 5: OG Anunoby no-shows in Knicks’ blowout loss New York Post Source link #Celts #steamroll #Knicks #send #series #N.Y #ESPN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Vanishing Cousins Episode 1: The Vanishing Vanishing Cousins Episode 1: The Vanishing Social commentator Jane Caro describes the 1970s beach culture and why young women had to be vigilant against predatory behaviour. In the last ever sighting of the teenagers, the doorman at The White Sands recounts seeing the cousins talking to older, scruffy strangers who were out of place amongst the beach crowd. WATCH EPISODE 1 IN THE VIDEO PLAYER NOW Source link #Vanishing #Cousins #Episode #Vanishing Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Unusual-looking rattlesnake found in Arizona backyard: ‘This is a first’ Unusual-looking rattlesnake found in Arizona backyard: ‘This is a first’ SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – An Arizona homeowner’s discovery of a rattlesnake exhibiting an unusual color pattern left some snake experts rather amazed. The western diamondback rattlesnake was uncovered in the backyard of a Scottsdale home on Friday. Rattlesnake Solutions, a pest control service, posted the colorful photos on Facebook, stating that a pattern mutation may be the reason for the odd appearance. “In the many thousands of diamondbacks we’ve seen over the years, this is a first,” a business spokesperson wrote in the post. The snake’s tail stands out compared to the rest of its body as the base of the tail is bright white with ****** spots. According to the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW), the typical pattern of a western diamondback rattlesnake is outlined in white and ******, and the tail has alternating ****** and white banding. The Arizona Game and Fish Department says that Arizona has more rattlesnake species than any other state. The pest service remarks that the area where the snake was found is not a hybridization zone, ruling out any possibilities of breeding with other snakes. According to the NDOW, the western diamondback rattlesnake is a venomous species that uses its venom to subdue its prey. Western Dioamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) Southern Arizona “We want people to know that there is a higher than average chance that they might encounter a rattlesnake when they are out recreating,” said Thomas Jones, amphibians and reptiles program manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Alligator Made Famous In ‘Happy Gilmore’ Dies At More Than 80 Years Old If bitten, MedlinePlus.gov suggests restricting movement to the affected area. If bitten by a rattlesnake, copperhead, or cottonmouth, keep the affected area at heart level. If bitten by a coral snake, cobra, or exotic snake, keep the affected area below heart level to reduce the flow of venom. Original article source: Unusual-looking rattlesnake found in Arizona backyard: ‘This is a first’ Source link #Unusuallooking #rattlesnake #Arizona #backyard Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Bayesian Superyacht Carrying Mike ****** Sank After ‘Extreme’ Wind Gust, Report Says Bayesian Superyacht Carrying Mike ****** Sank After ‘Extreme’ Wind Gust, Report Says The majestic Bayesian superyacht, which foundered last year off Sicily, killing seven people, was likely knocked over by an intense gust of wind and sank within minutes, according to a preliminary investigation by British maritime authorities. As the storm approached, a young deckhand on watch delayed waking up the captain and instead posted a video of the squall on his social media feed, the investigation found. The result was a fast-moving catastrophe — just minutes, from when the skipper was roused to the ship going down — in which the storm ripped apart a protective awning on the bridge, pushed the enormous yacht all the way over onto its side and sent passengers and crew members scrambling in the dark for their lives as water began to cascade through the cabins. “The findings indicate that the extreme wind experienced by Bayesian was sufficient to knock the yacht over,” said Capt. Andrew Moll, the chief inspector of marine accidents for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, a British agency. “Once the yacht had heeled beyond an angle of 70 degrees, the situation was irrecoverable.” The report noted that the Bayesian’s signature feature, its gigantic single mast, one of the tallest in the world, increased the vulnerability of the boat capsizing in high winds. The New York Times published similar findings last year in its own investigation of the accident and found that the Bayesian was an outlier. All the other boats in the same series, from the same Italian manufacturer, had two masts instead of one. The company claimed that when operated properly, the Bayesian was “unsinkable.” Outside experts who read the government agency’s report also pointed to the mast and said that the overall stability of the boat — from its ballast to its superstructure — was questionable at best. “You have this obscenely tall mast, so the center of gravity of the boat is very high,” said Tad Roberts, a ********* naval architect with decades of experience designing yachts. “The reality is that you’ve set up this system to fail.” Several passengers who survived the capsizing were badly injured before being dumped into the sea, the report said. One couple escaped their cabin by climbing on top of a set of drawers to reach the cabin’s door. With the boat turned completely on its side, that door was now a hatch in the ceiling. As the boat went down, crew members thrashed through the sea and helped save any passengers they could reach. Seven people trapped below deck died: Michael ******, a British tech tycoon; his teenage daughter, Hannah; four of Mr. ******’s friends, including a prominent lawyer and his wife; and the sailboat’s cook. The report, released at midnight London time on Thursday, comes amid several simultaneous investigations. Sicilian prosecutors have launched their own inquiry and named the yacht’s captain and two crew members as suspects. British authorities cautioned that a fuller picture will emerge only after the Bayesian is lifted from its resting place in a cove 160 feet deep, just off the harbor of Porticello, a small fishing community in Sicily. Investigators want to inspect the hull, but the salvaging process that had started this month came to a halt last week after one of the divers died while working underwater. The basic finding of the report is that storm gusts striking the super-tall mast, which rose 237 feet, and its rigging, were sufficient to capsize and sink the vessel in minutes. The wind forces were powerful enough to knock over the yacht even though the sails were furled at the time, investigators found. Those calculations, with slightly different technical assumptions, closely follow a study by Guillermo Gefaell, a Spanish naval engineer, and one of his colleagues, Juan Manuel López, which was first reported by The Times. “The most important thing is that that vessel was not prepared to handle a wind of 60 knots or more,” Mr. Gefaell said in an interview on Wednesday, referring specifically to when the wind strikes the boat from the side, the sails are furled and the keel is up. “The crew could have done nothing. They did a lot, with the people that they saved.” According to analysis of the weather at the time of the accident, the winds likely reached speeds of at least 64 knots, or 74 miles an hour, enough to capsize the boat. The report also said that “tornadic waterspouts and downdrafts were possible.” The 10-page report is written in dry, technical language. Still, it delivers a sense of the impending doom. The drama began last June after Mr. ****** was acquitted in a high-stakes criminal trial in which he was accused of fraudulently inflating the value of his software company when he sold it to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion. To celebrate his win, he organized several cruises on the Bayesian, a gleaming blue, 184-foot-long superyacht that drew stares wherever it went. The boat was registered in the United Kingdom, one of the reasons British authorities are investigating. On Aug. 14, according to the report, the Bayesian set sail from the port of Milazzo in Sicily. Twelve passengers and 10 crew members were aboard. The cruise was set to end on the morning of Aug. 19. On the last night, the Bayesian’s crew received warnings of thunderstorms and decided to motor toward Porticello, which lies on a sheltered cove. The Bayesian’s captain, James Cutfield, an experienced New Zealand skipper, told his deckhands to wake him if the winds increased above 20 knots, or 23 miles per hour. At 3 a.m. on Aug. 19, just a few hours before Mr. ****** and his guests were supposed to get off the yacht and head home, the deckhand on watch saw thunderclouds moving closer, the report said. At 3:55 a.m., the deckhand, Matthew Griffiths, who is in his early 20s, recorded a video of the approaching storm and posted it to Instagram. He noted the wind had increased to 30 knots — 10 more than the threshold for waking the captain. At 4 a.m., he woke the captain. That began an intense scramble among the crew and guests. According to the report, the chief engineer readied the boat to maneuverer into the wind, which would make it more stable. The captain rushed up to the fly bridge, from where he could steer. Angela Bacares, Mr. ******’s wife and the Bayesian’s owner, left her cabin and headed to the bridge to check if the taxis arranged for 8 a.m. that morning would have to be canceled because of the weather. The wind suddenly increased, the report said, and before the captain had a chance to turn the boat in the right direction, it “violently heeled over to 90 degrees.” In the next few minutes, the superyacht sank. Several crew members were initially trapped underwater in air pockets but managed to free themselves and swim clear of the vessel. They then plucked passengers from the sea and pulled them onto a life raft, where they helped bandage wounds. The survivors were soon rescued by another yacht in the cove, an old, converted tugboat that weathered the storm just fine. An operating manual on board the Bayesian, called the “stability book,” did not contain critical data that the boat was dangerously prone to capsizing if it were struck by high winds while at anchor. In that condition, the boat’s guard was essentially down, with its retractable keel raised and engine vents open, which could let in water with the boat on its side. Investigators also found that the so-called “angle of vanishing stability” — the angle at which the boat can no longer right itself — was 70.6 degrees, far less than for many sailboats that can tilt all the way on their sides, to 90 degrees or more, and still recover. Mr. Roberts said the Bayesian’s design was “sadly lacking.” The Italian Sea Group, a ship building company that bought Perini Navi, the makers of the Bayesian, declined to comment. A representative for the Lynches said the family wasn’t commenting either. The report made no mention of the manufacturer’s claim, repeated for weeks, that a large hatch on the left side of the hull had been inappropriately left open by the crew, allowing water to rush in and sink the ship. The report made it clear that the ship sank on its right side and that the crew closed a number of hatches when the storm hit. The family of Recaldo Thomas, the cook who died, known as Rick, said they were troubled by the findings. They said in a statement provided by their lawyer that the report outlined a series of failures — “failures in the design, safety certification and seaworthiness of the Bayesian, as well as the management by some of the crew.” The Thomas family said that they “firmly believe that Rick died doing his job, and that his death was preventable.” Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting from Rome Source link #Bayesian #Superyacht #Carrying #Mike #****** #Sank #Extreme #Wind #Gust #Report Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Five Takeaways From Ravens 2025 Schedule Release – Baltimore Ravens Five Takeaways From Ravens 2025 Schedule Release – Baltimore Ravens Five Takeaways From Ravens 2025 Schedule Release Baltimore RavensView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Takeaways #Ravens #Schedule #Release #Baltimore #Ravens Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AFL Hall of Famer and former Carlton premiership coach Robert Walls has passed away aged 74 AFL Hall of Famer and former Carlton premiership coach Robert Walls has passed away aged 74 A star as a player, Robert Walls became one of the VFL then AFL’s leading coaches before a stellar media career and the football world is in mourning over his death. Source link #AFL #Hall #Famer #Carlton #premiership #coach #Robert #Walls #passed #aged Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Scientists think a hidden source of clean energy could power Earth for 170,000 years — and they’ve figured out the ‘recipe’ to find it Scientists think a hidden source of clean energy could power Earth for 170,000 years — and they’ve figured out the ‘recipe’ to find it When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Finding reservoirs of hydrogen in Earth’s crust could help accelerate the energy transition away from fossil fuels. | Credit: Simon Dux via Alamy Recent breakthroughs suggest that hydrogen reservoirs are buried in countless regions of the world, including at least 30 U.S. states. Finding such reservoirs could help accelerate a global energy transition, but until now, geologists only had a piecemeal understanding of how large hydrogen accumulations form — and where to find them. “The game of the moment is to find where it has been released, accumulated and preserved,” Chris Ballentine, a professor and chair of geochemistry at the University of Oxford and lead author of a new review article on hydrogen production in Earth’s crust, told Live Science in an email. Ballentine’s new paper starts to answer those questions. According to the authors, Earth’s crust has produced enough hydrogen over the past 1 billion years to meet our current energy needs for 170,000 years. What’s still unclear is how much of that hydrogen could be accessed and profitably extracted. In the new review, published Tuesday (May 13) in the journal Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, the researchers draw up an “ingredient” list of geological conditions that stimulate the creation and build-up of natural hydrogen gas belowground, which should make it easier to hunt for reservoirs. Related: Yellowstone holds potentially untapped cache of ‘carbon-free’ helium for rockets, reactors and superconductors “The specific conditions for hydrogen gas accumulation and production are what a number of exploration companies (e.g. Koloma, funded by a consortium led by Bill Gates Breakthrough Energy fund, Hy-Terra funded by Fortescue, and Snowfox, funded by BP [British Petroleum] and RioTinto) are looking at carefully and this will vary for different geological environments,” Ballentine said. Natural hydrogen reservoirs require three key elements to form: a source of hydrogen, reservoir rocks and natural seals that trap the gas underground. There are a dozen natural processes that can create hydrogen, the simplest being a chemical reaction that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen — and any type of rock that hosts at least one of these processes is a potential hydrogen source, Ballentine said. “One place that is attracting a lot of interest is in Kansas where a feature called the mid continental rift, formed about 1 billion years ago, created a huge accumulation of rocks (mainly basalts) that can react with water to form hydrogen,” he said. “The search is on here for geological structures that may have trapped and accumulated the hydrogen generated.” Based on knowledge of how other gases are released from rocks underground, the review’s authors suggest that tectonic stress and high heat flow may release hydrogen deep inside Earth’s crust. “This helps to bring the hydrogen to the near surface where it might accumulate and form a commercial resource,” Ballentine said. Within the crust, a wide range of common geological contexts could prove promising for exploration companies, the review found, ranging from ophiolite complexes to large igneous provinces and Archaean greenstone belts. An ophiolitic landscape in Italy’s Sondrio province. The rocks are rich in iron, which gives them a reddish-brown color. | Credit: Michele D’Amico supersky77/Getty Images Ophiolites are chunks of Earth’s crust and upper mantle that once sat beneath the ocean, but were later thrust onto land. In 2024, researchers discovered a massive hydrogen reservoir within an ophiolite complex in Albania. Igneous rocks are those solidified from magma or lava, and Archaean greenstone belts are up to 4 billion-year-old formations that are characterized by green minerals, such as chlorite and actinolite. The conditions discussed in the review are the “first principles” for hydrogen exploration, study co-author Jon Gluyas, a professor of geoenergy, carbon capture and storage at Durham University in the U.K., said in a statement. The research outlines the key ingredients that companies should consider when developing their exploration strategies, including processes through which hydrogen might migrate or be destroyed underground. RELATED STORIES —Huge lithium deposits are in Nevada. Here’s why. —Massive helium reservoir in Minnesota could solve US shortage —Scientists just discovered an enormous lithium reservoir under Pennsylvania “We know for example that underground microbes readily feast on hydrogen,” co-author Barbara Sherwood Lollar, a professor of Earth sciences at the University of Toronto, said in the statement. So environments where bacteria could come in contact with hydrogen-producing rocks may not be great places to look for reservoirs, Sherwood Lollar said. Hydrogen is used to make key industrial chemicals such as methanol and ammonia, which is a component in most fertilizers. The gas could also aid the transition away from fossil fuels, as hydrogen can power both cars and power plants. But hydrogen today is produced from hydrocarbons, meaning manufacture of the gas comes with huge carbon emissions. “Clean” hydrogen from underground reservoirs has a much smaller carbon footprint, because it occurs naturally. Earth’s crust produces “plenty of hydrogen,” Ballentine said, and it is now a question of following the ingredient list to find it. Source link #Scientists #hidden #source #clean #energy #power #Earth #years #theyve #figured #recipe #find Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment – AP News Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment – AP News Missouri lawmakers approve referendum to repeal abortion-rights amendment AP NewsMissouri Lawmakers to Put Abortion on Ballot Again, Seeking Another Ban The New York TimesMissouri lawmakers seek to repeal abortion-rights amendment approved by voters last year CBS NewsAbortion will go back on Missouri ballot in Republican effort to reinstate ban Kansas City StarMissouri voters to be asked to undo abortion protections passed last year The Washington Post Source link #Missouri #lawmakers #approve #referendum #repeal #abortionrights #amendment #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Stocks drift, dollar wobbles ahead of US data Stocks drift, dollar wobbles ahead of US data Market optimism fades amid US debt concerns, unclear trade policies; Oil prices drop on US-Iran deal expectations, crude inventory build. Source link #Stocks #drift #dollar #wobbles #ahead #data Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump will pardon Diddy if rapper convicted: Suge Knight Trump will pardon Diddy if rapper convicted: Suge Knight Suge Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records, suggested Tuesday that President Trump could pardon Sean “Diddy” Combs if the rapper is convicted in his ongoing federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial. “I still feel that Puffy’s gonna be all right and have a fair shot at it, because Puffy didn’t — he’s not a ******,” Knight said Tuesday evening, while calling into NewsNation’s “CUOMO.” “I’m quite sure somebody’s going to talk to those jurors and convince one or two of them — that’s all you need, is one,” he told host Chris Cuomo. “So, at the end of the day, it’s going to be a real exciting situation, but I think he’s going to be all right.” Cuomo asked Knight, who is serving a 28-year prison sentence in California for voluntary manslaughter, if thinks Combs will be “all right” because someone could tamper with the jury. The 60-year-old argued the rapper has “influence,” and it does not “seem like the prosecution is that bad against him.” “I think he got some favors with the government. I think they’re going to show him a little leeway. It might not seem like it when it’s all said and done, but I don’t think he had nothing to worry about,” Knight told NewsNation. “I don’t think he’s worried, because he’s going to be federal. And if he gets convicted, Trump’s going to pardon him.” Cuomo then inquired if Knight believed Trump would pardon Combs “for sex trafficking.” “S‑‑‑, he pardoned Michael Harris,” Knight said in response, referring to the music executive that helped found Godfather Entertainment, the parent company of Death Row Records. “They don’t care about that. It’s all about, you know, what’s in it for the long run,” he added. Harris was granted clemency in 2021 after spending 33 years in prison on drug charges. The music executive later endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid. 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 The Hill. Source link #Trump #pardon #Diddy #rapper #convicted #Suge #Knight Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

2025 NFL strength of schedule for all 32 teams: Giants, Bears facing rough slates, 49ers have it easiest – CBS Sports 2025 NFL strength of schedule for all 32 teams: Giants, Bears facing rough slates, 49ers have it easiest – CBS Sports 2025 NFL strength of schedule for all 32 teams: Giants, Bears facing rough slates, 49ers have it easiest CBS SportsJudging five possible overreactions to the full NFL schedule: The 49ers have it easy, right? ESPNThursday night Cowboys: Dallas makes NFL history with four games in 2025 MARCARelease of 2025 NFL Schedule powered by AWS highlighted by NFL Network’s ‘Schedule Release ’25’ NFL.com2025 NFL schedule release live updates: Thanksgiving, Christmas, international games and more as full schedule is announced Yahoo Sports Source link #NFL #strength #schedule #teams #Giants #Bears #facing #rough #slates #49ers #easiest #CBS #Sports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lexus LBX Morizo RR: No limit on pocket rocket's availability for Australia Lexus LBX Morizo RR: No limit on pocket rocket's availability for Australia Demand for the Lexus LBX Morizo RR is thus far outstripping supply, and the luxury brand’s local arm says it’s working hard to increase supply. Source link #Lexus #LBX #Morizo #limit #pocket #rocket039s #availability #Australia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

CNN’s Jake Tapper Spills On Biden Meeting That Left WH Official ‘Shocked’ CNN’s Jake Tapper Spills On Biden Meeting That Left WH Official ‘Shocked’ CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday revealed new details from his upcoming book on Joe Biden’s reported health decline, including that a member of Biden’s administration was once left “shocked” by his behavior in the White House. Tapper — while previewing “Original Sin,” co-authored by Axios’ Alex Thompson, on CNN’s “The Lead” — referred to an unnamed Cabinet secretary who recalled Biden being seemingly “disoriented” and “out of it” in a “rare meeting” during his presidency. “The staff did him wrong,” recalled the former Biden administration official, per Tapper. “If you were with him every day and you knew this was a problem, why didn’t you go to him and say something?” A different Cabinet secretary noted that they didn’t think the president had “dementia” but recognized that he was “an old man,” according to Tapper. “The president can give you four to six good hours a day,” they said of Biden. “When he got tired, sloppy isn’t the right word, but his guard was down.” By last year, Tapper noted that Biden officials believed they couldn’t rely upon him to perform presidential duties around the clock, such as if an emergency came up at 2 a.m.. The CNN host reported that Biden’s cabinet secretaries — along with his aides — “didn’t have access” to or didn’t see the former president “for months” at a time beginning in 2023. “Others told us that in some meetings, Biden would mumble incoherently, something the public only got glimpses of,” continued Tapper before showing a clip of Biden doing just that in January 2024. A Biden spokesperson, in a statement on Tapper and Thompson’s reporting, said that the former president’s team continues to “await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job.” The statement continued, “In fact, the evidence points to the opposite. He was a very effective president.” The book — which accuses the Biden White House of covering up his condition before he dropped his reelection bid last year — reportedly explores how Biden once confused at least two of his officials and, at a June 2024 fundraiser, the former president failed to recognize his friend George Clooney. H/T: Mediaite Related… Source link #CNNs #Jake #Tapper #Spills #Biden #Meeting #Left #Official #Shocked Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Kingdom Hearts IV Development Update, New Screenshots Released By Square Enix Kingdom Hearts IV Development Update, New Screenshots Released By Square Enix Following its announcement in 2022, official updates for Kingdom Hearts IV have been few and far between. Though franchise fans are no strangers to waiting for information and, subsequently, game launches, Square Enix wanted to update fans on how development is progressing and provide a few new screenshots. The update came via the official Kingdom Hearts X accounts. Both the English and Japanese accounts shared multiple screenshots combined into one image. The smaller screenshots are the same, but the large header screenshots differ depending on the account. The screenshots were accompanied by a message from the development team. “To our Kingdom Hearts community,” the post reads, “We’re currently working hard on Kingdom Hearts IV and will continue pouring ourselves into the game’s development. We’re dedicated to making this an experience that lives up to your expectations!” “We’ve seen how excited you are, and we are truly grateful from the bottom of our hearts,” the account continues in a subsequent post. “We are equally excited and can’t wait to share more about Kingdom Hearts IV when the time is right. Until then, we appreciate your patience. Thank you for your continued support.” While the large screenshots are action shots of Sora in combat, the smaller visuals released by the Kingdom Hearts team tonight feature what appear to be cinematics and an enemy. However, one intriguing screen seems to indicate that Mickey could be playable, unless it’s just an unconventional camera angle. Kingdom Hearts IV was initially announced via a franchise 20th anniversary trailer in April 2022, but outside of an exclusive interview with Game Informer two months later, series creator and director Tetsuya Nomura and his team have remained quiet regarding updates. The most recent numbered entry in the franchise, Kingdom Hearts III, arrived in 2019, garnering widespread critical acclaim, including a 9.5 out of 10 from Game Informer. We do not currently know when Kingdom Hearts IV will be released. Source link #Kingdom #Hearts #Development #Update #Screenshots #Released #Square #Enix Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

2025 NFL schedule: Lions, Browns among seven teams with toughest 17-game slates – NFL.com 2025 NFL schedule: Lions, Browns among seven teams with toughest 17-game slates – NFL.com 2025 NFL schedule: Lions, Browns among seven teams with toughest 17-game slates NFL.comJudging five possible overreactions to the full NFL schedule: The 49ers have it easy, right? ESPNRelease of 2025 NFL Schedule powered by AWS highlighted by NFL Network’s ‘Schedule Release ’25’ NFL.comCowboys are first team in history with four Thursday games in a single-season NBC Sports2025 NFL schedule release, odds, betting: Cowboys-Eagles headlines full list of Week 1 spreads Yahoo Sports Source link #NFL #schedule #Lions #Browns #among #teams #toughest #17game #slates #NFL.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Western Bulldogs round 18 clash moved from Ballarat to Marvel Stadium Western Bulldogs round 18 clash moved from Ballarat to Marvel Stadium After being sledged by a former player about playing a game in front of less than 5000 people, the Western Bulldogs have moved a second match away from Ballarat. Source link #Western #Bulldogs #clash #moved #Ballarat #Marvel #Stadium Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

UnitedHealth under criminal probe for possible Medicare fraud, WSJ reports UnitedHealth under criminal probe for possible Medicare fraud, WSJ reports (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is carrying out a criminal investigation into UnitedHealth Group (UNH) for possible Medicare fraud, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The company’s stock slipped 8% in after-hours trade following the report, which follows a series of problems at the insurer. On Tuesday, UnitedHealth Group’s CEO, Andrew Witty, stepped down unexpectedly, and the company simultaneously suspended its 2025 financial forecast due to rising medical costs. The announcement sent shares plunging nearly 18% to a four-year low. While the exact nature of the criminal allegations is unclear, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter, the probe by the healthcare-fraud unit of the DOJ’s criminal division has been active since at least last summer. In February, the Journal reported a civil fraud investigation into UnitedHealth’s Medicare practices. The company had then said that it was unaware of any new probe. In the same month, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley launched an inquiry into UnitedHealth’s Medicare billing practices, requesting detailed records of their compliance programme and other related documents. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment to the Journal about the fresh criminal probe. The UnitedHealth Group and the DOJ did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments. The new investigation follows a broader scrutiny into the Medicare Advantage program. The DOJ, earlier this month, had filed a lawsuit accusing three of the largest U.S. health insurers of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in kickbacks to brokers in exchange for steering patients into the insurers’ Medicare Advantage plans. Nearly half of the 65 million people covered by Medicare, the U.S. programme for people aged 65 and older or with disabilities, are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans run by private insurers. The insurers are paid a set rate for each patient, but can be paid more if patients have multiple health conditions. Standard Medicare coverage is managed by the government. (Reporting by Bipasha Dey and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Arun Koyyur) Source link #UnitedHealth #criminal #probe #Medicare #fraud #WSJ #reports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

In Menendez Brothers’ Case, a Reckoning With the 1990s – The New York Times In Menendez Brothers’ Case, a Reckoning With the 1990s – The New York Times In Menendez Brothers’ Case, a Reckoning With the 1990s The New York TimesErik and Lyle Menendez are now eligible for parole after judge resentences them NBC NewsJudge grants resentencing bid by Menendez brothers for 1989 shotgun murders KSL.comJudge reduces Menendez brothers’ ******* sentences, putting them a step closer to freedom AP NewsAfter Tuesday’s Resentencing, What’s Next for the Menendez Brothers? The Hollywood Reporter Source link #Menendez #Brothers #Case #Reckoning #1990s #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NRW signals impairment hit as contractor now fears $113m Whyalla debt in doubt NRW signals impairment hit as contractor now fears $113m Whyalla debt in doubt NRW will cop a $113 million impairment charge after the contractor revealed it may now lose rights to property thought to be pegged as security over unpaid work at the collapsed Whyalla Steelworks. Source link #NRW #signals #impairment #hit #contractor #fears #113m #Whyalla #debt #doubt Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A mom is accused of buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son, who authorities say was planning ‘mass targeted violence’ at a Texas school A mom is accused of buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son, who authorities say was planning ‘mass targeted violence’ at a Texas school A Texas mother is accused of buying ammunition and tactical gear for her son, who investigators say was planning “mass targeted violence” at a San Antonio school, according to an arrest affidavit. Ashley Pardo, 33, was arrested Monday and charged with aiding in commission of terrorism. Authorities say she provided her son material support and resources with the knowledge they would be used to plan and carry out an attack. The alleged plot placed Jeremiah Rhodes Middle School “in further fear of serious bodily injury,” according to a Bexar County arrest affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate KSAT. Despite being contacted by local law enforcement, child protective services and school personnel – and knowing about her son’s desire to “commit acts of mass violence” – Pardo told the school she was not concerned about his behavior, the affidavit says. Authorities say she purchased tactical gear, ammunition and supplies for her son in exchange for babysitting his younger siblings. She “intentionally and knowingly aided” her son, the affidavit states. “The Defendant’s refusal to see [her son’s] concerning behavior and her assistance in gathering items for him that have been found to have been used in other acts of mass targeted violence, it is believed she is facilitating the [boy’s] desire to carry out his threats,” authorities said in the affidavit. Pardo’s bond was set at $75,000 and she was released from Bexar County Jail Tuesday after posting bail, county records show. Her next court appearance is set for July 17. She has requested a court-appointed attorney. CNN has reached out to Pardo and the public defender’s office for comment. According to the affidavit, on May 12, the boy went to school “wearing a mask, camouflage jacket and tactical pants,” then left shortly afterwards. When authorities were unable to locate him, school officials feared he might return to carry out an attack, the affidavit says. Extra security was put in place, including deploying additional police officers and sweeping the campus for potential devices, authorities said. The student was later detained off-campus, the school said in a Monday letter to parents. CNN has reached out to the San Antonio Police Department for more information. “Please know we take all potential threats seriously and act immediately to protect everyone in our care,” the school’s principal said in the letter. “We will always remain vigilant to ensure our learning and working environment is safe and secure. Student safety is a top priority at SAISD schools, and we want to keep families informed of situations as soon as we are able.” The affidavit says on Monday, the student’s grandmother reported to San Antonio police that she found troubling items in her home in her grandson’s bedroom. According to the affidavit, the grandmother learned the previous day that Pardo gave him ammunition. She told authorities Pardo had taken him to a local surplus store and bought him tactical gear including magazines, a tactical vest capable of concealing ballistic plates, a tactical helmet and army clothing. She also found magazines loaded with live ammunition, along with a homemade explosive device made from a mortar-style firework, according to the affidavit. Written on the device was “For Brenton Tarrant,” a white supremacist who shot and killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019. Authorities said it also included the phrase “14 words” and multiple “SS” symbols, all linked to white supremacist ideology. The boy’s grandmother also found a handwritten note with what appeared to be the names of mass shooters and the number of victims from each shooting, the affidavit said. On Monday morning, before going to school, he told her he was “going to be famous” and referenced “14 words,” the affidavit said. This was not the first time school officials had been concerned with the boy’s behavior. In January, school staff found concerning drawings from the student that included a map labeled “suicide route,” the school’s name written with a rifle, and several timestamps, according to the affidavit. When questioned, the student “described a fascination with past mass shooters, including their manifestos,” the affidavit said. About a month ago, the boy was suspended for using a school-issued computer to research the New Zealand mosque shootings, according to the affidavit. “It has been expressed to the Defendant the concerns of her child’s expression and desire to commit acts of mass violence,” the affidavit said about Pardo. “The Defendant expressed to the school her support of [her son’s] violent expressions and drawings and does not feel concerned for his behavior.” The student attended an alternative school in April, according to the affidavit. When he returned to Rhodes Middle School in May, officials implemented a security plan due to ongoing concerns about potential targeted violence, the affidavit states. CNN has reached out to the school and the San Antonio Independent School District for comment. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Source link #mom #accused #buying #ammunition #tactical #gear #son #authorities #planning #mass #targeted #violence #Texas #school Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]