A 19-year-old former FedEx employee named Brandon Scott Hole returned to a FedEx facility in Indianapolis and started shooting indiscriminately, killing eight people and wounding a number of others before killing himself. Politicians across the country called for stricter gun control in the wake of the massacre.
In other news, business owners in major American cities boarded up their establishments and braced for a weekend of rioting and looting by BLM activists.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Dean, DV, Reader from Chicago, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.
Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. I check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.
70-Year-Old Mexican Woman Badly Beaten on LA Bus by Racist Black Woman Who Thought She Was Asian
A 70-year-old Mexican woman was badly beaten by a 23-year-old racist black woman who thought she was Asian.
The elderly Mexican victim suffered a concussion, broken nose, black eyes and had her hair yanked out.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Andrew Yang Has Commanding Lead in NYC Mayoral Race, Poll Shows
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang holds a commanding lead over his Democratic opponents in New York City’s mayoral race, according to a Thursday Data for Progress poll.
The poll found Yang with 26%, double the support of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. City Comptroller Scott Stringer was third with 11% and MSNBC analyst Maya Wiley was fourth with 10%, while every other candidate had single-digit support.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
As reported earlier — The Biden Justice Department announced Wednesday it has closed the investigation into the homicide death of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt that took place inside the Capitol during the January 6 riot. This was while Congress was meeting in joint session to certify the November presidential election in favor of Joe Biden.
Babbitt, who was unarmed, was shot and killed without apparent warning by a plainclothes Capitol Police officer as she climbed through a broken window in a door at the Speaker’s Lobby. The name of the officer was not released.
The DOJ stated that shooting her dead without warning was appropriate. Evidently, this is the new standard for murder in our country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Black Lives Matter Activist Charged With Anti-Asian Hate Crime
A Black Lives Matter activist was arrested in Seattle for allegedly committing two separate hate crimes against Asian people, once again contradicting the media narrative that Donald Trump’s rhetoric on coronavirus was primarily to blame for the hate crime wave.
Pamela Cole, who is Asian, told KIRO 7 News about her experience on March 16 during which she and her young children were subjected to a frightening and abusive attack by a man who later turned out to be 51-year-old BLM protester Christopher Hamner.
Hamner had posted multiple photos of himself attending BLM protests and was also involved in the Seattle CHOP encampment that was populated by Antifa and BLM demonstrators.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
BLM Activist Calls ‘Rioting & Looting’ ‘Legitimate’ Response to ‘State Violence’
Bree Newsome, a longtime activist and Black Lives Matter supporter, is condoning rioting and looting as a ‘legitimate’ response to what she claims is ‘state violence’ against blacks and other minorities.
Newsome gained the national spotlight in 2015 for scaling the flag pole at the South Carolina Statehouse to cut down a Confederate flag and now posts her radical ideas daily on Twitter where she goes by the handle Defund & Abolish Police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
BLM Protesters Tell ‘White Ally’: “You’re White, You Don’t Belong!”
A group of Black Lives Matter protesters were caught on camera telling a white liberal ally, “You’re white! You don’t belong!” before demanding that he leave the area because he asked that other protesters stop throwing objects at the police.
The incident occurred during more protests that took place last night outside the Brooklyn Center Police Department.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
California Weighs ‘Equitable Math’: Goal of Obtaining Correct Answer is Racist
The California education department is considering implementing a statewide math framework that promotes the concept that working to figure out a correct answer in math is an example of racism and white supremacy invading the classroom.
The framework, titled “A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction: Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction,” is intended to be “exercises for educators to reflect on their own biases to transform their instructional practice.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Thursday night Chicago police released extremely graphic bodycam footage of a police officer shooting a 13-year-old gang-banger.
An unidentified police officer fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29. Chicago officials only released the video on Thursday night.
Adam Toledo, AKA “Lil’ Homicide,” was armed as the officer chased him down an alley.
Adam Toledo threw his hand gun moments before the police officer fatally shot him.
CBS News fanned the flames and shared deceptively edited police bodycam footage where they trimmed the right and left edges away to omit the portion of the video that shows Toledo holding a firearm.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Chelsea Clinton Demands Facebook Ban Tucker Carlson — Carlson Responds
After Tucker Carlson asked why Americans are still being forced to live under restrictions after the rollout of COVID vaccines, renewed calls from leftists for the host to be censored and banned surged. One such voice was Chelsea Clinton. Carlson responded Thursday by tripling down on his questions.
Clinton begged for Facebook to ban Carlson after video of his comments went viral, suggesting that it is “Especially troubling given Republican men are currently most likely to say they’re not interested in being vaccinated.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
On Thursday night Chicago police released extremely graphic bodycam footage of a police officer shooting a 13-year-old gang-banger.
An unidentified police officer fatally shot 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29. Chicago officials only released the video on Thursday night.
Following the shooting, the Chicago Latin Kings threatened to retaliate against the Chicago police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Eight Dead in Mass Shooting at Indianapolis FedEx Facility Near Airport — Shooter Dead
Eight people were killed late last night after a shooter opened fire inside a Fedex Facility near the Indianapolis Airport on Thursday night.
Two witnesses and FedEx workders described the shooting.
The gunman, who took his own life, has not been identified.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Epic Video: Rep. Jim Jordan Demands Answers From Fauci — is Told ‘Shut Your Mouth’ By Dem Waters
During a House subcommittee hearing Thursday, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio demanded answers from White House medical advisor Anthony Fauci to basic questions about COVID restrictions, but was told he was ‘making the matter personal’, that he was ‘ranting’, and to ‘shut his mouth’.
Jordan charged Fauci of flip flopping on restrictions such as masks and distancing, and demanded to know exactly when the mitigation measures would be put to bed.
“15 days to slow the spread turned into 1 year of lost liberty,” Jordan urged, adding “What metrics, what measures, what has to happen before Americans get more freedoms back?”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
The attorney for Capitol protester Christopher Worrell has filed an emergency motion with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to seek the release of his client, who has cancer, after he contracted COVID-19 in the jail where he is being detained.
Worrell has been held for over a month after firing pepper spray during the chaos on January 6, which he says was aimed at people who he believed to be Antifa that were targeting police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook has reportedly stopped users from sharing articles by New York Post and DailyMail.com about a BLM founder’s property empire while it could be shared from other outlets.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Facebook Censors New York Post Over Story on BLM Co-Founder’s Expensive Real Estate Purchases
Facebook prevented users from sharing a story Thursday where the New York Post detailed the multiple property purchases of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors over the past few years.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
FedEx Shooting in Indianapolis: What We Know About Shooting That Left 8 Dead
What happened at 8951 Mirabel Road in Indianapolis?
Officers arrived to a “chaotic and active” crime scene, according to IMPD Deputy Chief of Investigations Craig McCartt.
Eight people, plus the suspected gunman, were found dead in and around the facility. It’s believed the shooter died by suicide shortly before police arrived.
McCartt said at a Friday morning news conference that the shooter arrived at the building and began “randomly” firing in the parking lot — with no confrontation or argument before the shooting started. He then went inside the building and continued shooting. Four people were found dead outside and four were found dead inside.
| — Hat tip: Dean | [Return to headlines] |
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis Joins Rumble After Big Tech Censorship
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has embraced the growing video sharing platform Rumble and created a channel where he’ll be posting video updates and live streams.
“Gov. Ron DeSantis is a longtime proponent of free speech and has been at the forefront of the effort to demonopolize Big Tech,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said in a statement. “He understands firsthand Americans’ distrust of monolithic tech companies and the danger they pose to free expression and free markets. In fact, YouTube recently removed from its platform a video of the governor and a handful of Ivy League-educated medical experts discussing the downsides of prolonged pandemic-related lockdowns. Rumble, on the other hand, invites robust and civic dialogue on our platform, including Gov. DeSantis’ insights and expertise.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ironic: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Receives Free Expression Award From Pro-First Amendment Group
After an unprecedented year of YouTube censorship, the Freedom Forum Institute, a group which states that its mission is “to foster First Amendment freedoms for all,” has given YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki a Free Expression Award.
The homepage for the 2021 Free Expression Awards and Festival states that it recognizes individuals “for their courageous acts of free and fearless expression” and lists YouTube as a “signature sponsor” of the event.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
It seems like it was just last week (because it was) that Michigan’s Chief Operating Officer Trician Foster was caught on the beach in Florida sunning herself while the rest of the Wolverine State was warned to stay away from the Sunshine State.
And now less than a week later another Gretchen Whitmer official was also caught
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A Minneapolis Black Lives Matter militant that has been glowingly covered by the media has been arrested after failing to register as a child sex offender.
Chaz Neal, 44, was arrested earlier this month over a complaint issued in 2018 for failing to register as a sex offender when he moved. He has been convicted three times for failing to register.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Expands Mask Mandate to 2-Year-Olds
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) doubled down on her restrictive coronavirus strategy by requiring young children to wear masks.
Michigan Capitol Confidential reported the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), headed by Elizabeth Hertel, who just returned from an Alabama beach vacation, issued the order.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hunter Biden’s memoir “Beautiful Things” sold under 11,000 copies in its first week despite Hunter’s media blitz which included appearances on late night talk shows and fake news networks.
According to Publishers Weekly, Biden’s book sold 10,638 copies (Soros probably purchased at least half).
Hunter’s book focused on his addiction to meth and booze and other stories about the dysfunctional and trashy Biden family.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Oakland Businesses Seen Boarding Up Ahead of Friday Night Protests
OAKLAND, Calif — Businesses in downtown Oakland are boarding up their storefronts ahead of a protest set to take place at Frank Ogawa Plaza Friday night following the police killing of Daunte Wright.
On Monday, officer Kimberly Potter of the Brooklyn Center, Minn. police department shot and killed Wright, a 20-year-old African-American man. Potter, who has since resigned, says she mistakenly grabbed her gun instead of her taser. She has since been arrested on second-degree manslaughter charges.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Professor Gets $150k Settlement in Islamic Terrorism Quiz Controversy
Three questions on a May 2020 college quiz about Islamic terrorism at Arizona’s Scottsdale Community College led to public outcry and a lawsuit from a Muslim student, who charged that “correct” answers would amount to a denial of his faith.
Now, the college system has paid $150,000. However the money went not to the student but to the professor of that course to forego his own legal action, the Phoenix New Times reported.
The quiz was part of an Islamic terrorism module of Professor Nicholas Damask’s world politics course.
Damask has taught at Scottsdale Community College for more than 20 years. He received his “PhD in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, where he concentrated in American Political Thought and Contemporary Political Violence,” according to his official college bio.
Just the News reported the questions that offended student Mohamed Sabra. They were, in summary:
1. Who do Islamic terrorists “strive to emulate”?
2. Which verses of the Quran are used to encourage terrorism?
3. When is terrorism justified in Islam?
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Protesters Build Embattlements During Seige of Minnesota Police HQ
Protesters in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, began placing embattlements on the streets outside the police headquarters building as the city’s curfew approached. They also carried improved shielding to allow protesters to hide from police projectiles while they throw objects at the police.
Washington Examiner reporter Nic Rowan tweeted a video showing protesters erecting “embattlements” on the street to provide cover for protesters attacking police.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ted Cruz Says He Will No Longer Wear a Mask at the Senate, Claims They’re Unnecessary
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said he will no longer wear a mask in the Capitol building, CNN reported Wednesday.
Cruz said he believed that masks are no longer necessary, as lawmakers and aides have been vaccinated. “At this point I’ve been vaccinated. Everybody working in the Senate has been vaccinated,” Cruz said, according to CNN.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Antifa terrorists in Portland are panicking as one of their own has supposedly turned against them, ratting out criminal behavior to the police.
After Tuesday night’s torching of the police union headquarters building, one of the rioters, Alma Raven-Guido, has been arrested and charged with Arson, Riot, and Criminal Mischief. If you can believe it, pro-antifa district attorney, Mike Schmidt, is actually holding her to the charges. Turns out one of their own ratted her out to police. And this isn’t the first time this person has snitched!
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Watch Live: Thousands Marching in Logan Square for Adam Toledo Protest
CHICAGO — Thousands of protesters have flocked to Logan Square Park over the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo’s death by a Chicago police officer.
The protest, sponsored by several community organizations, started at around 5:30 p.m. As of 8 p.m., the protesters are still marching north on Milwaukee Avenue.
The roads are closed around Logan Square Park. Before it started, Chicago police estimated around 600 people will gather. An estimated several thousand people are currently taking part in the protest.
It’s expected the group will march toward Mayor Lightfoot’s home at some point, which is near Kimball and Wrightwood. Chicago police officers have the area around her home blocked off.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
What We Know About the Indianapolis FedEx Mass Shooting Suspect
INDIANAPOLIS — The suspect in the Indianapolis FedEx Ground facility mass shooting is Brandon Scott Hole, according to NBC News. The 19-year-old’s home was searched by federal agents early Friday morning.
13 Investigates has learned Hole had a previous encounter with police during a mental health call in 2020. A behavioral unit was called to his home in March of 2020 on reports of a man voicing suicidal ideas. The unit encountered Hole, who had purchased a shotgun within 24 hours of the call.
The behavioral unit immediately detained him and took Hole to the hospital…
| — Hat tip: DV | [Return to headlines] |
Watch: What Happened the Morning After the Montreal Police Raid on Rebel’s Temporary HQ
Remember the Irwin Allen disaster flick, The Poseidon Adventure? The soundtrack boasted Maureen McGovern’s “The Morning After,” as in, “there’s gotta be a morning after.”
Speaking of disasters and mornings after, after spending several hours in a filthy Montreal jail cell for allegedly assaulting a police officer, I returned to our Airbnb houseboat along with my cameraman Mocha. Yes, the boat that the Montreal Police Service had tried in vain to board and search without a warrant the previous day.
Not that the cops didn’t try to get a warrant over a 10 hour (!) period, mind you. It’s just that every judge they contacted told the boys in blue to take a long walk off a short pier. And with good reason: our houseboat was not ground zero for “an illegal gathering”; rather, it was a perfectly legal Airbnb rental (and it was actually four occupants UNDER capacity.) Oh, and last time I checked, even in Premier Francois Legault’s Quebec, practicing journalism is not a crime. Well, not yet.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
AI Used by 6% of Czech Companies
Last year, about 7 percent of EU companies with at least ten employees used artificial intelligence, according to the European statistical office Eurostat. Companies in Ireland are the most active in this respect, while companies in Latvia use artificial intelligence the least. With 6 percent, the Czech Republic is slightly below the EU average.
“Artificial intelligence is an area of strategic importance and a key driver of economic development. It can bring solutions to many societal challenges from treating diseases to minimizing the environmental impact of farming. Artificial intelligence gives machines the capability to analyze their environment and make decisions with some degree of autonomy to achieve specific goals,” Eurostat stated.
While 2 percent of companies used machine learning to internally analyze large data, 1 percent of companies analyzed data internally using natural language processing, natural language creation, or speech recognition. Two percent of companies also used a chatbot — a communication robot or a virtual assistant — to answer customers using natural language.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Berlin’s Rent Cap is Illegal, Germany’s Top Court Rules
Germany’s highest court ruled on Thursday that a rent cap introduced by the authorities in Berlin last year is unconstitutional.
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe said that German states do not have the authority to implement legislation on the issue. The legislative power residing exclusively with the federal government, it added.
The rent cap was introduced in February 2020 by Berlin’s ruling coalition comprising the Social Democratic, Greens and Left parties, which argued it was necessary to keep rent affordable in the German capital.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Czech Football Player Punished Without Evidence for Alleged Racist Remark
The UEFA disciplinary commission decision regarding the punishment for the football player Ondrej Kúdela for an alleged racist remark has provoked a bitter debate on the web. While Czech fans, including many politicians, do not understand the decision, in England, the perception of the case is much different. Many fans and football journalists demand a much harsher punishment, some even a lifetime ban on playing football.
The incident happened during the European League match between Slavia Praha and Glasgow Rangers in March, when, towards the end of the match, midfielder Glen Kamara accused the Prague defender of a racist insult, but the Czech player strongly denied the accusation. Ondrej Kúdela was later physically attacked by Kamara inside the stadium.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
A top French court has upheld a decision not to charge an “Allahu Akbar” yelling man accused of murdering a Jewish woman, claiming he was not criminally responsible because he was in a drugs-related “delirious episode” at the time.
France’s Court of Cassation ruled that Kobili Traoré would not be charged in the death of an Orthodox Jewish woman named Sarah Halimi. Halimi died in 2017 after Traoré, who was her neighbour, allegedly beat and pushed her out of the window of her Paris apartment while praying and shouting.
[Comment: That is b*******.]
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
France: Second Anniversary of Notre Dame Fire: Macron Insists Cathedral Meets 2024 Target
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral on the second anniversary of its near-total loss to fire, calling for it to reopen for 2024, apparently whether it was ready or not.
Speaking to the workers and craftsmen who have toiled around the clock since the April 2019 fire that gutted Notre Dame, President Emmanuel Macron congratulated those present — remarking “bravo” — but said “very demanding” work lay ahead because “we will have to meet our targets”.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hungarian Govt: Big Tech Wants to ‘Rule Our Life and Force Us Into a Bubble’
The Hungarian government has warned against Big Tech oligarchs’ moves to dominate the public square online through the arbitrary and opaque enforcement of community guidelines — in their view, a kind of “pseudo legal system”.
“If we are unable to control the activities of the tech giants that are building a pseudo legal system, they will rule our life and force us into a bubble,” warned Judit Varga, the Minister of Justice in the national-conservative government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Nearly Half of Brits Say They Will Struggle to Revert Back to Normal Life After Lockdown
Nearly half of Brits, including a majority of women, say they will struggle to revert back to normal life after lockdown, with only 37 per cent saying they would not miss anything about lockdown.
According to a YouGov poll, 49 per cent say they will find it hard to “adjust back to how life was before March 2020,” with only 42 per cent saying they would find it “easy.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
In an absolutely frightening display, UK police broke through a locked door and arrested a man for violating COVID quarantine rules.
The police are heard bashing the door in and then quickly entering the apartment to arrest the man.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK Government Advisors Call for MORE Lockdowns
Advisors to the government in the UK, which has mostly been under varying degrees of lockdowns for more than a year now and is supposed to be emerging from the last of the restrictions, have said that there may have to be further lockdowns in order to stop new coronavirus variants.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Buckingham Palace Hits Back After Details About Prince Philip’s Funeral Arrangements Come Out
Buckingham Palace hit back after details about Prince Philip’s funeral arrangements came out, revealing that Prince William and Prince Harry would not be seated or walk together to the service.
The order of the procession was “a practical change rather than sending a signal,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman shared with Peoplemagazine in a piece published Thursday about the funeral. The service for the late royal will be held Saturday at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BBC, C5 Presenter Asks: Is it ‘A Problem’ That Prince Philip Funeral Attendees Are White?
BBC and Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine has been panned for asking if it is “a problem” that those attending the Covid-restricted funeral of the Queen’s consort Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, are white.
Vine made the comments not on his long-running BBC Radio 2 show but on his Channel 5 television programme.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Woke National Trust to Force All Volunteers to Undergo Diversity Training
Britain’s National Trust is forcing all of its volunteers to undergo “everyday inclusion” diversity training tackling such alleged issues as so-called “unconscious bias”.
The state-backed conservation charity — the largest in all Europe — is responsible for almost 620,000 acres of land, close to 800 miles of coastline, over 500 “historic houses, castles, parks, and gardens”, and nearly a million works of art — but its leadership has become increasingly preoccupied with trendy, woke causes such as Black Lives Matter, LGBT activism, climate change, gender identity, and admonishing Britain for past links to slavery and colonialism in recent years, rather than its core mission of heritage preservation.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
An Italian MP has called for billionaire Bill Gates to face trial in the International Criminal Court for charges of “crimes against humanity.”
Sara Cunial, a member of Italy’s Parliament, is accusing Microsoft founder Gates of “working on depopulation and dictatorial control plans” around the world.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Police Kill Suspect Linked to Church Suicide Bombing in Makassar
Police in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province on Thursday shot and killed a man allegedly linked to last month’s suicide bombing outside a church in Makassar, a spokesman said.
Officers from the Densus 88 anti-terrorism police unit took the action after the suspect, identified only by his initials, M.T., lunged at them with two sickles during a raid of his home in the provincial capital Makassar, police spokesman E. Zulpan said.
“We wanted to arrest him because we suspected he was involved or had a role in the suicide bombing of the cathedral church,” Zulpan told BenarNews without providing details about the man’s suspected involvement in the attack on Palm Sunday.
The suspect ignored warning shots by police and lunged at them “aggressively,” Zulpan said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Tycoon Jimmy Lai, Others to be Sentenced for Illegal Assembly
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and nine other pro-democracy activists are expected to be sentenced on Friday after they were found guilty of participating in unauthorised assemblies during anti-government protests in 2019.
It would be the first time that Lai, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent democratic activists, who has been in jail since December after being denied bail in a separate national security trial, will receive a sentence.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Team of American and Chinese Scientists Announces Human-Monkey Hybrid Embryos Have Been Created
A team of U.S. and Chinese scientists have produced a series of human-monkey hybrid embryos in a study released Thursday that is raising critical bioethical questions about its experiments and their implications.
In the study funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and published in the journal Cell, scientists took six-day-old macaque monkey embryos and injected 25 human cells into each of them.
The type of human cells used are extended pluripotent stem cells, which can help develop both embryonic and extra-embryonic tissues, according to a Cell news release.
One day following the injections, human cells were found alive in 132 of the hybrid embryos. Ten days later, 103 of them were still alive and growing. However, survival rates started dropping to the point that by day 19, only three of them were alive. The embryos that did survive, however, had a high percentage of human cells in their mix.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Western Fashion Brands Sued for Using Forced Labor in China
Four major European and American apparel and footwear manufacturers have been sued in a French court for allegedly using forced labor in Xinjiang, a mostly Muslim region in northwestern China.
Human rights groups, academic researchers and journalists have increasingly been sounding the alarm that the Chinese government is forcing more than 500,000 Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic and religious minorities to pick cotton in Xinjiang, one of the largest cotton-producing regions in the world.
On April 9, the European Uyghur Institute, in collaboration with a French human rights NGO called Sherpa, the Ethics on Labels Collective (Collectif Ethique sur l’étiquette), and a Uyghur detention camp survivor, all represented by Bourdon & Associe’s, a prestigious Paris-based law firm, filed the lawsuit at the Judicial Court of Paris (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Hidden away in South Australia’s red centre is the ‘completely lawless’ town of Fregon where horrific violence and sexual assault goes unchecked with no police presence.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
The mid-point average for house prices in Melbourne reached $1,004,500 by the end of March — a historic rise of 8.8 per cent, according to data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Mayrin Group director William Wu, 28, has bought a series of high-end properties in Sydney’s ritzy eastern suburbs — including a $11.08million home in Bellevue Hill in February 2020.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Mozambique Jihadists ‘Beheading, Skinning, Cutting Off Limbs’
The brutal violence of Islamist militants in northern Mozambique is “driving the local population from their homes in terror,” the Barnabas Fund reported Friday.
“What they do to the people they capture and kill I have never seen anywhere in Africa,” said one witness cited by the Barnabas Fund, a charity monitoring and assisting persecuted Christians.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Danish PM: Syrians From Damascus Area Should Return Home
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said that Syrian refugees from the area around Damascus should return home because Denmark has assessed the region to be safe.
Hundreds of Syrian refugees are scheduled to have their residency permits revoked in the coming months. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Frederiksen said she agreed with the move.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Migrant Departures Exceeded Arrivals in First Quarter of 2021
A positive balance of departures relative to arrivals continued in the first quarter of 2021, according to the monthly data released by the Migration and Asylum Ministry on Friday.
Specifically, in the period spanning January-March 2021, 3,072 migrants and refugees left Greece, while 1,597 arrived via the Aegean islands and Evros.
Flows decreased by 82% compared to the first quarter of 2020 and the decrease in pending first and second degree asylum cases was 48%.
Also, fewer than 60,000 asylum seekers and refugees were living in accommodation facilities throughout the country.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Demands 1 Million Migrants to Leave Country
MOSCOW — Russian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Gorovoy asked the leadership of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to work with their residents who are illegally residing in Russia.
“There are many of your citizens who are currently on the territory of my country illegally. And if we do not reduce this number by June 15, as the presidential decree implies, these people will be punished, up to the expulsion and closure of borders,” Gorovoy said at a plenary session of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly.
More than 1 million illegal immigrants from CIS countries currently live in Russia, according to Gorovoy.
A moratorium on the expulsion of illegal immigrants, introduced in Russia because of the pandemic, is effective until June 15.
Until that date, illegal immigrants can freely leave Russia and not receive penalties.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Two professors at Montclair State University in New Jersey are arguing that LGBTQ sex education should be taught to kids in elementary school before “cisnormative values” become “more deeply ingrained.”
The professors, Eva Goldfarb and Lisa Lieberman, believe that “substantial evidence supports sex education beginning in elementary school, that is scaffolded and of longer duration, as well as LGBTQ-inclusive education across the school curriculum and a social justice approach to healthy sexuality.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice will not be vetoing a bill aimed at making sure that biological girls will not have to compete against biological boys in school sports.
During a COVID briefing at the Capitol on Wednesday, Justice said that he will either sign House Bill 3293 or let the bill become law without his signature.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
“Artificial intelligence is an area of strategic importance and a key driver of economic development.”
Maybe we should call the “AI” for what it really is: A computerized management system for the whole of Mankind, animalkind, natural-resourcekind, and spirit-kind! When they speak about AI, “Economic Development” is really just a newspeak for the old word “enslavement”.