"Blatantly Unconstitutional": Judge Blocks Trump Citizenship Order

01/24/25 12:15 AM

A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump's administration from implementing an executive order curtailing the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the United States, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional."

"Don't Continue": UK Teen Shouts, Interrupts His Sentencing For 3 Murders

01/23/25 5:48 PM

A British teenager on Thursday repeatedly interrupted the start of his sentencing for murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event last July, shouting from the dock that he was unwell before being removed.

"Falsely Smeared...": Netanyahu Defends "Great Friend" Musk Over Salute Row

01/23/25 9:33 PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk was being "falsely smeared" in a row over a gesture he made at Donald Trump's inauguration that critics described as a Nazi salute.

"Infra Ready, Airlines Have To Catch Up": Civil Aviation Minister At Davos

01/23/25 7:48 PM

One of the most exciting sectors in India is civil aviation. Just a couple of years ago, Indian consumers had little choice, but now with several large airlines flying and proactive government policies, Indian aviation is one of the largest in the wo

"People Don't Realise...": At Davos, HCL Tech Chief Makes Prediction On AI

01/23/25 10:46 PM

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the focus points of the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos. HCL Tech Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra, recognising the role that AI plays and will play in the years to come.

'Did not push hard enough': Navalny lawyer speaks of regrets

01/22/25 11:23 AM

by Anna SMOLCHENKOThe top lawyer of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February last year, told AFP she regretted not finding the right words to stop him returning to Moscow in 2021.Olga Mikhailova, who defended Navalny for 16 years, said his return to Russia sparked a "tragic" chain of events leading to his death -- and to the jailing last week of three of his legal team on extremism charges.February 16 will mark the first anniversary of the charismatic politician's death in an Arctic penal colony, which his supporters regard as murder sanctioned by the Kremlin."Today I very much regret that I didn't do everything possible, everything in my power to prevent him from returning to Moscow," Mikhailova said in an interview in Paris. "I feel like I did not push hard enough."Navalny barely survived a poisoning in 2020 with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok. Following treatment in Germany, he returned to Russia on January 17, 2021 and was immediately arrested and subsequently jailed. He died in a remote Arctic prison on February 16, 2024 in unclear circumstances. His allies and family say he was murdered on President Vladimir Putin's orders. Navalny himself predicted in his memoir he would be poisoned in jail."This decision to return on January 17 has had irreparable, tragic consequences," Mikhailova said. "For him, for his lawyers, for their families, for everyone."Last Friday, a Russian court found three members of Navalny's defense team guilty of participating in an "extremist organisation". Vadim Kobzev was sentenced to five and a half years, Alexei Liptser was handed five years and Igor Sergunin three and a half years.Even the fact that the three lawyers were sentenced on January 17 -- the day four years ago Navalny had chosen to return to Russia -- was not a coincidence, Mikhailova said."He was such a danger to them, they hated him so much that they continue to take revenge against his lawyers," she added.Mikhailova was on holiday abroad when the three lawyers were arrested in 2023. She decided against returning to Russia where a court subsequently ordered her arrest in absentia.- Wiretaps - She said the imprisonment of her colleagues was the toughest blow to legal advocacy in Russia since dictator Joseph Stalin, noting that for the first time in modern Russia lawyers faced accusations "along with their client"."A lot of lawyers were purged in 1937. And afterwards there were no more cases like that in the Soviet era," she said. She said authorities had wiretapped confidential conversations between Navalny and his lawyers in prison, later using those recordings against the defence team."Not only were they wiretapping, as I understand, there was a person behind the wall who was writing everything down," she said.Attorney-client privilege no longer existed in Russia, Mikhailova added.The lawyer also said the West made a "very big political mistake" by excluding Russia from the Council of Europe after Putin invaded Ukraine, meaning Russians could no longer take cases to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).Prison conditions for Navalny worsened after that, she said."The authorities did what they wanted. They realized that they could act with absolute impunity. Before, they had been held accountable," the lawyer added."Had Russia continued to remain in the Council of Europe and the European Court, perhaps the tragedy would not have happened to Alexei or to his lawyers."- 'Was not to be' -Mikhailova, 51, received asylum in France and is adjusting to her new life in Paris."All this time I've been talking myself into thinking that I am in a good city, a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful cities," she said. "It just wasn't my choice, right? I just found myself in this situation and when it's not your choice, it's very hard indeed."She is studying French every day."Alexei always told me 'learn foreign languages, learn foreign languages'," she said. "And so now I have to learn foreign languages."Navalny's death had crushed her, but she admitted "it has become a little bit easier to breathe now".She has not however mustered enough courage to read "Patriot", Navalny's posthumous memoir published last October."I started reading several times, and I knew some of the texts. I would literally start reading the first page, and I would know when it was written and how. And I would close the book, I just couldn't do it," she said. "When you read it, well, it's unbearably hard," she said, adding she had already read a few pages.Despite everything Mikhailova does not regret taking on Navalny as a client."For many years I was close to this absolutely amazing man," she said. "I've always loved my job very much. And a sense of duty always trumps all fears."In prison Navalny read a lot and changed a lot, Mikhailova said."He had toughened up so much, had grown up so much in every sense that I thought he would make an incredible leader for our country," she said."But this was not to be."© Agence France-Presse

'Easy way is always better': Trump promises to do Putin 'a very big favor'

01/22/25 4:47 PM

President Donald Trump campaigned on the idea of ending the war against Ukraine quickly once entering office by using his relationship with President Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday, Trump sang the praises of Russia on Truth Social saying, "Russia helped us win the Second World War, losing almost 60,000,000 lives in the process."He then called on Putin to end the war, if for no other reason than it has destroyed their economy.ALSO READ: Trump intel advisor Devin Nunes still dismisses Russian election meddling as a 'hoax' "All of that being said, I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."A country cannot tax another country. Tariffs are paid for by the people buying the products in the U.S. Sanctions already exist against Russia since Feb. 2022. "Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with!" Trump exclaimed Wednesday. "We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better. It’s time to 'MAKE A DEAL.' NO MORE LIVES SHOULD BE LOST!!!"

'Emilia Perez' lauded in Hollywood but criticized in Mexico

01/23/25 4:36 PM

by Samir TounsiDespite its huge international success, including a leading 13 Oscar nominations, "Emilia Perez" faces criticism in Mexico, where the transgender narco-musical has been accused of trivializing raging drug-related violence.French director Jacques Audiard's Spanish-language production shattered the record for the most Academy Award nominations for a non-English-language movie on Thursday, after winning four Golden Globe Awards.It will vie for the Oscars for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best international film, as well as multiple song, score and sound nods.But in Mexico, where a spiral of cartel-related violence has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, the reaction has been less enthusiastic."The film trivializes the problem of the missing in Mexico," argues a petition on the Change.org website that had more than 11,000 signatures calling for the movie to be pulled before its scheduled Mexican release on Thursday."It is an insensitive film, disrespectful to our culture that goes far beyond drug trafficking and the pain of thousands of families," it added.Angie Orozco, mother of one of the more than 100,000 people missing in Mexico, told local media that while she did not object to "Emilia Perez" being a musical, "it should be approached in a respectful way.""I hope that we can make use of all this noise, going beyond the superficial," she said.The film stars Karla Sofia Gascon as a bloodthirsty narco who, after transitioning to life as a woman, helps relatives of the missing. The movie also features "Avatar" star Zoe Saldana, singer-actress Selena Gomez and Mexican actress Adriana Paz.Gascon became the first openly trans acting Oscar nominee, in the best actress category, while Saldana was nominated for best supporting actress.In stark contrast, the frosty reception in Mexico began in October at the Morelia Film Festival, where the film drew lukewarm applause.Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto ("Barbie," "Killers of the Flower Moon"), launched an early salvo late last year against "Emilia Perez," which was mainly filmed in a studio in France.Apart from the presence of Paz, the film "feels inauthentic and it really bugs me," he said in an interview with Hollywood news outlet Deadline."Especially when the subject matter is so important to us Mexicans. It's also a very sensitive subject," he added in reference to drug-related violence.Audiard has rejected criticism that the film misrepresented Mexico, but acknowledged on Thursday in an interview with AFP that he perhaps "handled it clumsily."Ahead of the nominations, he told AFP in Bogota said that some scenes in the film deliberately sought to "defy credulity" and that his goal was to tell stories that are "both local and universal.""It's a Spanish-language film that was shot in Paris. It's a mongrel film," he said.- 'Clumsy prejudices' -Mexican writer Jorge Volpi called the production "one of the crudest and most misleading films of the 21st century."In an article in the newspaper El Pais, Volpi argued it "embodies all the clumsy prejudices against gender transitions," while still praising Gascon's "meticulous work."In contrast, Gomez -- a third-generation Mexican American -- raised eyebrows in the land of her ancestors for her accent when speaking Spanish.Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez described her performance as "indefensible," though he later apologized.The film has also been roasted by some social media users."'Emilia Perez' is everything that is bad in a film: stereotypes, ignorance, lack of respect, making money from one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world (mass disappearances in Mexico)," Cecilia Gonzalez, a Mexican journalist living in Argentina, wrote on X.There have been some notable exceptions, however: Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro described Audiard as "one of the most amazing filmmakers alive.""It's so beautiful to see a movie that is cinema," he gushed in a conversation with Audiard at the Directors Guild of America, according to a video posted by The Hollywood Reporter.Audiard said he spent more than four years researching for "Emilia Perez."But "at some point you have to stop doing research because...otherwise you end up doing a documentary," he added.In a nod to the criticism, he said at a recent presentation in Mexico: "If things seem shocking in 'Emilia,' I would be ready to apologize.""It's an opera and an opera is not very realistic."© Agence France-Presse

'Force this': Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks Britain for refusing 'Gulf of America' label

01/23/25 3:20 PM

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) lashed out at the United Kingdom after officials clarified that the Gulf of Mexico would not be labeled "Gulf of America" on British maps.The Telegraph reported Thursday that "Britain will continue to call the body of water by its current name unless the new title ordered by Mr Trump gains widespread usage in English.""The Telegraph understands the name will not change on official maps in Britain unless' Gulf of America' becomes the most commonly used name for it by English speakers. Officials believe that is not likely for some time, if at all."Greene responded with a rant on X (formerly Twitter).ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inauguration"This is why Congress must pass my bill renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America," the lawmaker said. "This funds the actual renaming on all mapping in our government. We have to force this to happen and we should!""We rename post offices all the time this isn't complicated."

'Hannity Vanity!' MAGA fans melt down over Fox News host's behavior in new Trump interview

01/23/25 5:18 PM

Conservatives had a bone to pick with Fox News' Sean Hannity for constantly interrupting President Donald Trump during an exclusive interview this week but they didn't seem to have a problem with Trump commandeering the interview and refusing to talk about the economy.Hannity, usually a favorite among conservatives, was chided up and down on social media Thursday.MAGA influencer @catturd2 posted, "Hannity loves to hear himself talk. Pathetic," in response to a regional Trump campaign official's complaint, "Why can’t Hannity just hush and stop interrupting? This character flaw aggravates me so much. Let @POTUS speak man!!!"A poster described as a "communications professional" wrote, "Yeah, there’s a difference between being a talk show host on the radio where you’re the only person in the room and the role of an interviewer. He hasn’t figured that out yet. Kind of a shame given the access he has."Yet another poster wrote, "Hannity Vanity - That's my President.. Let him speak."Hannity interrupted Trump several times to change the topic to the economy -- an issue pundits agreed helped Trump win the election. But Trump wasn't having it, causing Hannity to keep interrupting.ALSO READ: Inside the parade of right-wing world leaders flocking to D.C. for Trump's inaugurationTRUMP: Joe Biden has very bad advisers. Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.HANNITY: Let me get to the economy.TRUMP: Yeah, but Sean —HANNITY: I'm running out of time.TRUMP: I don't care.HANNITY: They're yelling at me.TRUMP: This is more important because right now the economy is going to do great. I'm here, so the economy —HANNITY: I want to know about the economy.TRUMP: But you have to understand, he had bad advisers on almost everything. It's like, in the old days when the secretary of state said he never made a correct decision on foreign policy. Joe Biden got very bad advice.A podcast host claimed Hannity was literally begging Trump to stay on track."Hannity begs Trump to shut the f--- up about his revenge tour and talk about the economy, Trump admits he doesn’t care about the economy: 1. It was only ever about revenge 2. Biden’s economy is good enough for Trump."Watch the clip below via X or click the link here.