In an outstanding piece of political-theoretical writing, titled 'The Threat of Big Other' (with its play on George Orwell's 'Big Brother') Shoshana Zuboff, succinctly addresses the main issues of her book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power (New York: Public Affairs, Hachette, 2019), explicitly linking it to Orwell's 1984. Significantly, at the time she reminded readers that Orwell's goal with 1984 was to alert British and American societies that democracy is not immune to totalitarianism, and that "Totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere" (Orwell, quoted by Zuboff, p. 16). In other words, people are utterly wrong in their belief that totalitarian control of their actions through mass surveillance (as depicted in 1984, captured in the slogan, "Big Brother is watching you") could only issue from the state, and she does not hesitate to name the source of this threat today (p. 16): For 19 years,...

Minnesota lawmakers on Thursday advanced legislation that would establish the state as a "trans refuge" for children who are seeking transgender medical procedures but who may be denied "gender-affirming care" in other states. In a party-line 68-62 vote, the Minnesota House passed HF 146, which had been introduced by Rep. Leigh Finke of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. Finke is the state's first transgender lawmaker. Democrats supporting the bill say the legislation will protect transgender people, their families and healthcare providers from facing legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota to obtain cross-sex hormone prescriptions or sex-change procedures. Similar legislation has been introduced in California and other states with Democratic-controlled legislatures, which seek to counter Republican states that have sought to ban transgender procedures for minors. "Gender-affirming care is lifesaving health care," Finke told reporters ahead of debate on the bill....

Last week, the city of Philadelphia agreed to pay $9.25 million to 343 left-wing protesters who alleged they suffered "physical and emotional injuries" when police used tear gas and pepper spray to clear them off a major highway in downtown at a Black Lives Matter-style direct action in 2020. Videos recorded at the time showed the mob shut down the highway while vandalizing public property. As a journalist who reports on the militant far-left and its rioters, the question I'm asked most often is, "Who funds them?" Some believe billionaire George Soros is responsible. And they would be partially correct. Soros funds groups that form part of the support apparatus of left-wing militants district attorneys, biased media and legal groups. But his money doesn't directly reach the pockets of militants on the street. Who ends up paying far-left rioters like Antifa? Too often, taxpayers like you and me.

An Iranian parliamentarian says the government's new strategy to enforce the compulsory wearing of the hijab will eliminate physical punishment for women and instead carry financial and administrative penalties that have been approved by the leader of the Islamic republic. Iranian parliament member Hossein Jalali said on March 27 that the new plan includes a financial penalty of up to 30 billion Iranian Rials ($60,000) for those who breach the compulsory hijab law, while additional penalties consist of revoking a person's driver's license, canceling their passport, and prohibiting Internet access for those women who do not adhere to the hijab requirement. Under the new proposals, physical punishment will not be allowed, Jalali said. Violators instead will be punished according to a predetermined table.

Different parts of Odisha have been witnessing rains and thunderstorms under the influence of western disturbance. While heavy rain lashed several districts of the state for over a week, more than 5,000 lightning strikes have been reported in Basudevpur area of Bhadrak district within half-an-hour on Wednesday. Five people are stated to have been killed in this event, sources said. Meteorologist Umashankar Das of Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre said in a tweet that more than 5000 lightning strikes occurred in Basudevpur area of Bhadrak in just 30 minutes. Quoting local source, he said unfortunately five people died because of this severe lightning event.

The offspring of Indonesia's infamous Krakatoa volcano erupted several times on Tuesday, sending a huge volcanic ash tower some 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) into the sky. Mount Anak Krakatoa, which means Child of Krakatoa, erupted four times, officials said, with the biggest followed by another that sent a column of smoke and ash 1,500 meters above its crater. "This is part of an eruption phase associated with the formation of a new body for the volcano," Oktory Prambada, an official at the Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, told AFP. In 2018, its crater partly collapsed when a major eruption sent huge chunks of the volcano sliding into the ocean, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 400 people and injured thousands. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage on Tuesday.

Spain's first major wildfire of 2023 has scorched more than 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of forest in the Valencia region. Footage shows emergency services battling the raging flames on Sunday (26 March), with 500 firefighters supported by 20 planes and helicopters in an attempt to bring the blaze under control near the village of Villanueva de Viver. Ximo Puig, president of the Valencia region, said the fire was made more "voracious" by summer-like temperatures of 30C. Around 1,500 people have been forced to leave their homes as the fire rages.

A statement by Sen. Rand Paul confirmed on Monday that a member of his staff was viciously stabbed in broad daylight in Washington, DC over the weekend. As per the police report, the staff member was repeatedly stabbed with a knife on the 1300 block of H St. NE.

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department has released the body-worn camera footage of the heroic officers who took down 28-year-old transgender shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a former Covenant School student who went by the trans name "Aiden." In the six-minute video posted to YouTube, two points-of-view are compiled, showing the perspectives of Officer Rex Engelbert, a four-year MNPD veteran, and Officer Michael Collazo, a nine-year MNPD veteran, the officers credited with fatally shooting Hale:

Seven people, including four children were on Monday killed by a flash flood that rocked Kambi Hindi village in Ol-jorai in Gilgil Sub County. Confirming the incident, Gilgil Sub- County Police Commander Mr. Francis Tumbo said the families were in their houses at around 8:00pm when a downpour set in causing flash floods in the area. He said among those killed include three women and four children aged between eight months and 10 years. The floods left in its wake a trail of destruction including killing tens of livestock. The floods displaced about 25 families who have now been left homeless. They are among families that have settled on the former Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) farm in Ol-jorai. But experts now say the affected families had settled on a waterway and need to be moved.

Oman witnessed heavy to moderate rain in most regions on country beginning on Monday evening and carrying on till Tuesday afternoon. The police have warned residents and tourists to stay away from valleys. Oman Meteorologists said that the governorates of North Al Batinah, Musandam, and Al Dhahirah experienced heavy rain, which led to floods in low areas.

The Kremlin has blasted what a Russian official called the United States' "vivid example of hypocrisy" as part of the latest war of words in the wake of President Putin's announcing he has stationed tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov on Tuesday called out Washington's "extremely short memory" - given it "has long been systematically destroying the legal basis of bilateral relations in strategic sphere," which is a reference to the collapse of multiple nuclear treaties of late, including 'Open Skies' and the INF Treaty in 2019. New START is also looking to come to an end at the rate things are going. At the start of this week Western officials sounded the alarm over Putin's fresh announcement, which many within NATO countries interpreted as but the latest 'expansionist' threat.

Have you heard of the "International Rules Based Order?" Russia, according to Washington and NATO, is violating those rules (China too) and must be punished. We can't have "rule breakers" mucking up global tranquility can we? Since 1945, the United States has pursued its global interests by building and maintaining various alliances, economic institutions, security organizations, political and liberal norms, and other tools often collectively referred to as the international order. . . . Building an international order has been a formal program of U.S. foreign policy since at least the 1940s and an aspirational goal since the nation's founding. According to its post-World War II architects, the international order protects U.S. values by maintaining an environment in which the ideals of a free and democratic society like that of the United States can flourish. The United States has used both power and idealistic notions of shared interests to underwrite the rules-based order....

Parts of Western Australia received over 500,000 lightning strikes due to severe storms over the weekend with the weatherman predicting the conditions to continue with rainfall accompanied by thunderstorms. The meteorological department on Wednesday issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the eastern ranges, which caused 60mm of rainfall overnight. The multiple lightning strikes occurred within 200 kilometers of Perth and thunderstorms led to the heaviest rainfall in several months across parts of southwestern Australia.

Pope Francis is ready to act as an intermediary in negotiations between the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) and the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in the situation involving the eviction UOC monks from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra monastery, Leonid Sevastyanov, the chairman of the World Union of Old Believers, told TASS on Tuesday, while speaking about the details of his personal conversation with the pontiff. "He told me that he is ready to become a go-between to let the UOC and the OCU discuss all personal issues. He could serve as a mediator, he could help the UOC defend its stance. <...> If there is a problem with establishing relations and communicating positions, he is ready to act as an intermediary," Sevastyanov said.

The Ukrainian leadership demonstrates readiness to intervene in the Transnistrian situation, including with the use of force. Russia will proceed from its security mandate, the country's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told TASS in an interview on Tuesday. "The Ukrainian leadership is also playing its extremely negative, subversive role, clearly siding with Chisinau in violation of its mediator status in the '5+2' format. The Kiev authorities support its belligerent, destructive policy towards Transnistria, dig defenses, fortifications between Ukraine and Transnistria and demonstrate in every way its readiness to interfere in this process, including with the use of force," the top diplomat said.

During the tenth day of protest against the Macron's pension reform, the spirits of the French continue to burn throughout the country. Comment: This is actually the 15th consecutive day (give or take a day) of protests and strikes. On the 23rd of March over 3 million were in attendance. On Tuesday, thousands of French citizens continued to stage protests against the pension reform proposal that President Emmanuel Macron persists in imposing by force. "France is not ruled by sticks... As most people say, this is all madness," said Senator Jean-Luc Melenchon, who is also the historical leader of the leftist organization "Unsubmissive France." He made reference to the refusal of the Macron administration to accept the "mediation" proposed by the leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Laurent Berger, who seeks a dialogue to "find a way out" of the prevailing social crisis.

Russia and China are determined to hold the American perpetrators of the Nord Stream sabotage to account. Uncle Sam's days - indeed decades - of wanton criminality are over. There's going to be hell to pay as the imperialist tyranny in Washington hits a wall of reality. Several weeks have gone by with the United States and its Western lackeys stonewalling at the United Nations Security Council, squirming and resisting calls from Moscow and Beijing for an international criminal investigation into the sabotage of the Baltic Sea pipelines that were blown up in September. A swathe of independent observers, such as American economics professor Jeffrey Sachs and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, have concurred with the investigative report published on February 8 by renowned journalist Seymour Hersh which claims that U.S. President Joe Biden and his senior White House staff ordered the Pentagon to take out the natural gas pipeline that runs along the Baltic Sea bed from Russia to Germany....

Australia is set to see its biggest-ever surge of immigrants with government figures revealing 650,000 migrants are predicted to arrive this financial year and next. The sudden population boom is likely to put even greater pressure on the national housing crisis which has seen record rent rises as too many tenants compete for too few homes. But it will also ease workforce shortages which have caused chronic job vacancies where employers have struggled to find staff to fill positions, especially in healthcare, hospitality and tourism.

The U.S. Air Force's March 13 test of a hypersonic weapon was "not a success," the service secretary told lawmakers Tuesday. Frank Kendall indicated the Lockheed Martin-made AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon program may be in jeopardy. The service, he said, is "more committed to HACM [the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile, the service's other major hypersonic weapon program] at this point in time than we are to ARRW." The ARRW effort "has struggled a little bit in its testing program," Kendall told the House Appropriations Committee's defense panel during a hearing on the fiscal 2024 budget request. He said an ultimate decision on whether to continue with the program could come as part of the FY25 budget process next year following a study of the failed March test and possibly two more test launches.

A 13-sided shape called 'the hat' forms a pattern that never repeats A 13-sided shape known as "the hat" has mathematicians tipping their caps. It's the first true example of an "einstein," a single shape that forms a special tiling of a plane: Like bathroom floor tile, it can cover an entire surface with no gaps or overlaps but only with a pattern that never repeats. "Everybody is astonished and is delighted, both," says mathematician Marjorie Senechal of Smith College in Northampton, Mass., who was not involved with the discovery. Mathematicians had been searching for such a shape for half a century. "It wasn't even clear that such a thing could exist," Senechal says. Although the name "einstein" conjures up the iconic physicist, it comes from the German ein Stein, meaning "one stone," referring to the single tile. The einstein sits in a weird purgatory between order and disorder. Though the tiles fit neatly together and can cover an infinite plane, they are aperiodic, meaning...

Millions of Brits are still taking Covid tests and wearing masks, three years after the nation was plunged into its first lockdown. Four in 10 people in the UK are swabbing at least once a month, exclusive polling for MailOnline reveals. The same proportion have also worn a face covering in the past 30 days, despite mandatory mask rules being dropped last January.

Russia and China are shaping global politics while the US dominates its partners across the Atlantic, leaving European countries as mere passengers... The meeting of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Moscow last week was met with predictable accusations in Western circles that Moscow was becoming "subservient" or even a "vassal" of Beijing. MEP Guy Verhofstadt, a Euro-fantasist and former prime minister of Belgium, jeered on Twitter, "Putin's appalling legacy now includes turning Russia more and more into a Chinese vassal state," oblivious to the irony of his own words. As the United States took the lead in denouncing China's peace plan for the Ukraine conflict, publicly setting out the conditions on which it should end, the European Union was nowhere to be seen, or at least had nothing original to say. This makes Verhofstadt's comments a damning display of lacking self-awareness. Russia and China are setting out their vision for a new...

Washington will reportedly demand that Mexico open its energy markets or face a formal dispute and possible tariffs... President Joe Biden's administration has reportedly opted to escalate a trade dispute with Mexico, making plans to demand that its neighbor to the south opens up its power and oil markets to US suppliers or face an arbitration and the threat of retaliatory tariffs. The demand will be made in the coming weeks through an "act now or else" notice to Mexico City from US trade officials, Reuters reported on Monday, citing unidentified people familiar with the discussions. At issue is Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's decision to roll back reforms aimed at opening Mexican energy markets to outside competitors - allegedly in violation of the 2018 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USCMA), a trade deal that requires the countries to curtail protections of state-owned enterprises. The US and Canada last July requested settlement talks with Mexico on the energy...

Donald Trump has once again claimed that he would need just 24 hours to negotiate peace in Ukraine. Speaking to Fox News, the former US president warned of a possible nuclear escalation and urged the hostilities to be ceased immediately. "The key to that is that war has to stop now, because Ukraine is being obliterated," Trump told host Sean Hannity in an interview on Monday. Trump compared footage from the conflict to "hundreds of these demolition sites" that he used to see as part of his construction business. "There was not a building standing," the former US leader explained. Trump repeated his assertion that he could reach a peace deal in Ukraine within 24 hours if elected back into office. However, he declined to explain his strategy, claiming it would be "very easy" but would not work if revealed prematurely. Trump suggested that the US presidential election might not even happen next year, arguing it was "possible we'd be in World War III with these idiots that are doing...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired his Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant Sunday after he pressed for a pause on plans for a judicial overhaul. Netanyahu's office announced it would "dismiss" Gallant from his post but did not immediately specify if he will receive a new position elsewhere in the administration. Gallant called for halting Netanyahu's controversial judicial reform plans due to widespread unease within the military. Gallant said, per the Times of Israel: "I hear their voices, and I am worried. The growing rift in our society is penetrating the IDF and security agencies. This poses a clear, immediate, and tangible threat to the security of the state. I will not lend my hand to this." Under the plan championed by Netanyahu, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, would gain the ability to overrule Supreme Court rulings. Netanyahu argued the reforms were necessary to streamline the legislative process and stave off judicial overreach. The proposal has sparked...

After censoring experts who found that the victims in Douma could not have been killed by chlorine gas, the OPCW's new IIT report continues the cover-up and baselessly accuses the Syrian government. On April 7th 2018, gruesome images of an alleged chemical attack emerged from the Syrian town of Douma. Dozens of dead bodies, including children and infants, appeared heaped in piles inside of an apartment building. Others lay on the street in front as if trying to escape deadly gas. Strikingly, many of the victims displayed copious foam oozing from the mouth and nose. Along with their proximity to a clear escape route, these visible symptoms suggested that something extraordinarily poisonous had killed them instantly. US officials immediately promoted the allegations of insurgent-tied groups that the Syrian army had killed the victims with chlorine gas or the nerve agent sarin, or even a combination of both. One week later, the US, along with the UK and France, bombed Syria in...

Washington was captured by corporate interests and is pushing their agenda on the world stage, Nikolay Patrushev has said... The US is not really a democracy, nor does it seek to promote democracy in its relations with other nations, contrary to Washington's claims, senior Russian security official Nikolay Patrushev has said. He made the remarks while commenting on the upcoming 'Summit for Democracy' hosted by the US government. Patrushev, who is the secretary of the Russian Security Council, described the US economy as "dependent on corruption and lobbying connections going to the White House and Capitol Hill." Corporate interests have hijacked the levers of political power in the US and use the country's international clout to pursue their own agenda, he said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper, to be published in full later today. "Their democracy is a pretty facade for the political system, which serves to hide the neglect of the rights of ordinary Americans."...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly had difficulty concealing his disappointment today after meeting Orlando Bloom and finding out he is not actually a fearsome elf warrior. "This is not what I expected," Zelensky was overheard telling his aides when the actor arrived. "I told you I wanted to meet Legolas. Where are the pointy ears? The long, flowing blonde hair? He is not even carrying a bow and arrows! I wanted the fierce elven warrior to inflict heavy casualties on the Russian army, not this effeminate man with whispy facial hair! I was at least hoping to have access to some mithril to armor my soldiers!" The Lord of the Rings star became the latest in many Hollywood entertainers who have made public relations pilgrimages to pay homage to the Ukrainian President. "It is truly a great honor to meet the great President Zelesnky," Bloom said to reporters who were brought in to document the meeting. "I came here to show respect and support for Ukraine and also to...

Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries have original passages reworked or removed in new editions published by HarperCollins. Agatha Christie novels have been rewritten for modern sensitivities, The Telegraph can reveal. Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries have had original passages reworked or removed in new editions published by HarperCollins. The character of a British tourist venting her frustration at a group of children has been purged from a recent reissue, while a number of references to people smiling and comments on their teeth and physiques, have also been erased. It comes after books by Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming were edited by modern publishers.

Scientists are taking a closer look at the afterglow left by the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded, and what they see doesn't fit with any theoretical models. The brightest gamma-ray burst ever detected is revealing new mysteries as scientists study it in greater detail. In two new papers - one published today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, and another published on the preprint server arXiv and submitted for publication in the journal Nature Astronomy - astronomers found that the evolution of the radio waves released by an enormous stellar explosion seen in 2022 was slower than models predicted, raising questions about how the release of energy evolves during ultra-powerful gamma-ray bursts. "[I]t is very difficult for existing models to replicate the slow evolution of the energy peaks that we observed," James Leung, a doctoral student at the University of Sydney who co-authored the Nature Astronomy paper, said in a statement. "This means we have to refine and develop...

There's a lot more to the news that India-based defense company BrahMos Aerospace will soon close a deal to sell Indonesia supersonic cruise missiles worth at least $200 million than meets the eye. The India-Russia joint venture via BrahMos could have lasting geopolitical effects in Southeast Asia and on the current American hegemony. Another India-Russia joint venture was just clinched last year when the Philippines ordered $375 million in shore-based anti-ship missiles. This deal was part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition to triple India's defense exports. And for Russia, every partnership sealed in Asia is a thorn in the side of the so-called western alliance. The Philippines have indicated their deal is a kind of "icebreaker" for potential further corporations. And the India component of the negotiations going on is both vital, and brilliant from the Russian standpoint. The United States has been busy trying to torpedo direct Russian sales to the Philippines and...

Widespread environmental benefits are becoming increasingly evident after recent flooding down the Murray in South Australia with fish, birds and other wildlife flourishing. High flows which peaked across December and January provided much-needed water to some parts of the river and its floodplain for the first time in more than 60 years. That's resulted in a surge in the number of wood ducks and black swans at Chowilla near the NSW border, with surveys also finding large numbers of other water and woodland birds making the most of the flood-enriched breeding and feeding habitats. Pacific black ducks and nankeen night herons have also been observed in numbers with groups of young emerging after the flood.

Lightning strikes Van Wert truck.

Yesterday, Snowbasin broke its all-time snowfall record of 475 set in the winter of 1981-82. Today, the resort broke 500. 22 fell in roughly 12 hours last night so sneakily. The culprit? Lake-effect.

In the early morning of March 27, netizens in Hebei, Beijing and many other places discovered two bright lights in the sky, and a car recorder took pictures of the suspected meteorites. Astronomy experts told the Jimu News reporter that what netizens saw was probably a fireball, and such an obvious phenomenon is relatively rare. Several netizens from Hebei and Beijing said that two bright lights flashed across the sky early on the morning of the 27th. They were fleeting, but they could light up the courtyard in an instant. In addition, Tongliao netizens also said that they had seen this phenomenon.

This bolide was spotted from Spain on March 25, at 0:41local time (equivalent to 23:41 universal time). The event was generated by a rock (a meteoroid) from a comet that hit the atmosphere at about 60,000 km/h. The fireball overflew the Mediterranean Sea and the region of Murcia (southeast of Spain). It began at an altitude of about 99 km over the Mediterranean Sea, moved northeast, crossed the region of Murcia, and ended at a height of around 72 km over the Mediterranean Sea. This bright meteor was recorded in the framework of the SMART project, operated by the Southwestern Europe Meteor Network (SWEMN) from the meteor-observing stations located at La Hita (Toledo), Calar Alto, Sierra Nevada, La Sagra (Granada), and Seville. The event has been analyzed by the principal investigator of the SMART project: Dr. Jose M. Madiedo, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC).0:41(Spanish peninsular local time). It flew over the Mediterranean and the Mar Menor (Murcia).

One chilly Monday morning I spotted, among the throng of pupils flooding into the playground, one of our male students standing alone, wearing a skirt. This quiet, gentle teenager had few friends and was known to teachers at the secondary school where I taught because he had been suffering from anorexia. I remember looking at this painfully thin, awkward 14-year-old in his ill-fitting school skirt and thinking: 'You're not a girl.'

A magnitude 6.1 quake struck off Aomori in northern Japan on Tuesday, the national weather agency said, but no tsunami warning was issued. The quake hit at 6:18 pm (0918 GMT) at a depth of 20 kilometres (12 miles), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Major Japanese media outlets carried no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The US Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 6.2. Earthquakes are common in Japan, which sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. The country has strict construction regulations intended to ensure buildings can withstand strong earthquakes, and emergency drills are routinely held to prepare for a major jolt. Source: AFP

NPR has deleted a tweet claiming that there was "limited scientific evidence of physical advantage" of male athletes over women athletes after backlash. The statement was in support of trans-identified males competing in women's sports. "The international governing body for track and field will ban trans women athletes from elite women's competitions, citing a priority for fairness over inclusion despite limited scientific evidence of physical advantage," the now-deleted tweet read. The tweet was republished on Sunday, with an update: "The international governing body for track and field will ban trans women athletes from elite women's competitions, citing a priority for fairness over inclusion, despite limited scientific research involving elite trans athletes."

Over 60 people are feared missing after a huge landslide buried homes in the community of Alaus, Chimborazo Province, Ecuador late on 26 March 2023. As of late 27 March, the government of Ecuador confirmed 7 fatalities. More than 30 people have been rescued and 23 people hospitalised. A team of more than 300 people from the Armed Forces, National Police, Fire Departments from different parts of the country and the Red Cross is working in the areas carrying out search and rescue operations and providing support and relief supplies to the affected communities. As of late 27 March (local time), 64 people were reported missing.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 jolted 73 km W of Buala, Solomon Islands, at 22:19:15 GMT on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 85.976 km, was initially determined to be at 8.2105 degrees south latitude and 158.9268 degrees east longitude.

The distressing footage from women's rights campaigner Kelly-Jay Keen's violent encounter with trans activists in Auckland has made one thing clear beyond doubt: the trans movement has a serious misogyny problem. At the weekend, Keen was pelted with tomato juice, jeered at and hounded by a crushing mob of trans activists. In the run-up to the event, she was demonised in the Australian and New Zealand media, who portrayed her as a crypto-Nazi. Attempts were made to have her visa revoked and to shut down her Let Women Speak tour. All this, because Keen campaigns for women's rights, because she does not mince her words about the need for single-sex spaces, and because she lends a platform to ordinary women who share her concerns about trans-rights activism. Keen joined Brendan O'Neill for the latest episode of The Brendan O'Neill Show to discuss her harrowing experience in Auckland. What follows is an edited extract from their conversation. You can listen to the full episode here.

President Joe Biden and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced a new migration deal as part of Biden's first visit to America's northern neighbor. The new agreement will allow Canada to send migrants who cross at unofficial ports of entry at America's northern border back to the U.S., a change to the Safe Third Country Agreement long-sought by Canada. The U.S. will also be able to turn back asylum seekers who travel across the border from Canada.

The truth about Jan 6 is being covered up by the Democrats, the Deep State and the media. The Democrats and very wicked individuals on the Jan 6 committee covered up the real truth behind the Jan 6 protests and how the government had infiltrated the Trump crowd and created a riot that day. Four Trump supporters were killed that day and there is reason to believe they were murdered.

Nashville police revealed that the 28-year-old who shot and killed six people at the Covenant School, including three children, identified as transgender and had a detailed manifesto to attack the Christian academy. Officials said Audrey Hale, a former student, entered the school Monday morning by shooting through a door on the side of the building. While inside, Hale killed Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, as well as custodian Mike Hill and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, both 61, and school head Katherine Koonce, 60.

Several participants were disqualified from the Women's World Boxing Championship after DNA tests rendered them ineligible, Umar Kremlev, president of the International Boxing Association (IBA), wrote on Telegram on Saturday. The competition concluded in New Delhi, India on Sunday. Kremlev said that IBA executives had met towards the end of the championship to discuss "fairness among athletes and professionalism." He added that after "a series of DNA-tests" the association "uncovered athletes who were trying to fool their colleagues and pretended to be women." Kremlev claimed that the tests "proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded from the sports events."

One of Britain's leading climate 'experts', Professor Kevin Anderson, has provided a valuable insight into the increasingly bizarre demands that surround the promotion of the collectivist Net Zero political project. Writing in the Conversation, he argues for Net Zero within 12 years, complete with a refit of U.K. housing stock, a withdrawal of all combustion engine cars in favour of expanded public transport, electrification of industry, the roll out of 'zero-carbon' energy, and the banning of all fossil fuel production. To achieve his aims, Anderson suggests mobilisation on the scale of the post-war European reconstruction Marshall Plan. Others might suggest his crackpot schemes will leave the country facing a similar scale of destruction, ruin and poverty to that caused by the Luftwaffe. Anderson is currently a Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester and he has plenty of form when it comes to extremist claims and calls for widespread rationing. As...

"Inclusivity is more than a social cause; it's a business opportunity. It's time to maximize your business growth." - DMI Consulting Let me get this out of the way because it seems more than a few people still need to hear this. CORPORATIONS DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! "Diversity and inclusion "(D&I) comprise a new business mantra. Programs and language based on the normalization of body dissociation are being corporately cultivated worldwide. The programs being instituted appeal to our emotions, to entice us to believe that companies care about people and want to create one big happy, diverse work-family, which includes marginalized sectors of society - most notably, those who imagine they have a sex that is not male or female. The overlooked are finally being given a place at the table! Or are they? The new, new liberal left in America, the left that has emerged out of a traditional new left, which cared about the working class, blacks, and women's rights, who yearned for a more...

Western countries are seeking to put together new global alliances reminiscent of those forged by the Axis powers prior to World War Two, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. Speaking in an interview with Russia 1 TV aired on Saturday, the Russian leader dismissed claims that Moscow and Beijing are forming a military bloc that could threaten the West. He described the cooperation between the two as "transparent," adding that Russia and China make no secret about their ties in various spheres, including defense. Meanwhile, Putin continued, the US is creating new alliances, citing NATO's new Strategic Concept as an example of such efforts. "It directly stipulates that NATO is going to develop relations with nations in the Asia-Pacific region, including New Zealand, Australia and South Korea," he said. The bloc also announced that it would endeavor to create what Putin called "a global NATO," adding that the UK and Japan recently signed a reciprocal military access agreement.

The deepening cost-of-living crisis has pushed up bills in the UK, with households now spending 12% more on essentials than they were a year ago, Nationwide reports. According to the monthly analysis by Britain's biggest building society, spending on utility bills jumped by around a third (34%) last month in annual terms. Spending on mortgage payments surged by 17%, while rent payments were up by 11%. The report also showed that spending on loans and insurance rose by 8% and 7%, respectively.

Moscow will determine how its future relations with Western nations will develop only after they come to their senses, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday. Speaking at the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, which provides support to Russian and foreign NGOs and think tanks, Lavrov accused the US and its allies of being "mired in cave Russophobia, while sacrificing the glaring problems in their own societies." "When and if they sober up, we will decide on our position regarding further relations with them. But we will make this decision, of course, on our own and based on our terms," the foreign minister added.

Airports and bus and train stations across Germany were at a standstill on Monday, causing disruption for millions of people during one of the largest walkouts in decades in Europe's biggest economy as soaring inflation stokes wage demands. The 24-hour "warning" strikes called by the Verdi union and railway and transport union EVG were the latest in months of industrial action which has hit major European economies as higher food and energy prices dent living standards. Comment: Evidently this is much more than just a 'dent'; people are struggling to afford the absolute basics: (decent) food, and energy. They kicked off three days of wage talks which could lead to further strikes if they fail to yield a compromise.

US rap artist Kanye West has watched the comedy 21 Jump Street, starring actor Jonah Hill, and it has changed his outlook on Jewish people, he wrote on Instagram on Saturday. The musician has been at the center of multiple anti-Semitism scandals. "Watching Jonah Hill in 21 Jump Street made me like Jewish people again," West said. "No one should take anger against one or two individuals and transform that into hatred towards millions of innocent people," he elaborated, possibly referring to himself in the post that has already garnered 1.4 million likes. West concluded the post by thanking Hill and saying he loves him. The rapper, who legally changed his name to 'Ye,' is a multi-Grammy award winning artist and producer. In October 2022, Ye posted to Twitter that he was about to go "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE," a reference to the US defense readiness alert system. The tweet was removed and West's account was suspended. In December, West was a guest on the controversial InfoWars...

The term "pirated content" has a whole new meaning in the contemporary world, the Kremlin told journalists on Saturday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, was offering support to a suggestion by former President Dmitry Medvedev to allow Russians to download western entertainment content for free. It is Russia that has been outright "robbed" by the US and its allies, Peskov said, adding that Moscow has to deal with "pirates" in the West anyway. "They have seized our assets, stolen our assets," the Kremlin spokesman told journalists, saying that "before, such people were called 'pirates'; now, they are called 'bandits'." Earlier on Saturday, Medvedev suggested finding "proper pirates" and using them to obtain content from western entertainment companies that left Russia over its conflict with Ukraine. Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, also said that any such content should be put online for free to make the western entertainment giants suffer...

"The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government" Inscription on the pediment of the Manhattan Criminal Court. After wolfing down a heartburn-inducing Popeye's Shrimp Tacklebox Combo for supper, Manhattan District attorney Alvin Bragg retires to his four-poster Sleep Number bed beset with anxiety about the grand jury he has convened for fulfilling his campaign promise to stuff Donald Trump into a state prison cell. From the wall-mounted flat-screen across from his bed, the specter of a of giant rabbit emerges, gaunt and grizzled, draped in chains and weighty padlocks. "Who are you, spirit?" Bragg asks. "I am the ghost of prosecutions past," it moans. "This night you will be visited by three other spirits: The ghost of what you wish to be, the ghost of what should be, and the ghost of actually what-it-is." Oh, Gawd," Bragg groans, his esophagus on fire with acidified hot-sauce residue.

An enduring mystery for three years is how Donald Trump came to be the president who shut down American society for what turned out to be a manageable respiratory virus, setting off an unspeakable crisis with waves of destructive fallout that continue to this day. Let's review the timeline and offer some well-founded speculations about what happened. On March 9, 2020, Trump was still of the opinion that the virus could be handled by normal means. Two days later, he changed his tune. He was ready to use the full power of the federal government in a war on the virus. What changed?

Imran Khan says the threat to his life is "real," and that the current PM is "petrified" that he will return to power... Death threats will remain a constant part of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's life until he can return to power and hold his would-be killers accountable, he told Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi on Saturday. Khan told Rattansi that he has survived two attempts on his life in the last week - one which involved him being led into a "deathtrap" outside a court in Islamabad, and another in which agents of the state were to provoke police into opening fire on a crowd of Khan's supporters before "coming after" him to finish the job. "The threat is real because these people are sitting in power. They are petrified that if I win the elections they will be in trouble, or held accountable." He blames Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and Major General Faisal Naseer, a senior intelligence official, of plotting his...

The Telegraph's Lockdown Files have fizzled out. I fear they've had less impact than lockdown sceptics hoped. They did have some impact, including coverage by the BBC, though other media that advocated the harshest restrictions did their best to ignore the leak, or to attack Ms. Oakeshott personally. Now we're back to trivia: Lineker, Partygate, and a dredge through the lower sludge of the Met, which ignores their main deficiency: an inability to catch burglars. The Files reveal Matt Hancock as arrogant, vain and ignorant. He lacks curiosity. He entangles himself in his own spin, unable to reduce quarantine when he's told he can do so. He 'deploys' data on the Alpha variant to increase fear, not owing to its medical impact. He is drunk on power, mocking those paying to be imprisoned in Heathrow's Premier Inn. His supposed boss - Boris - emerges marginally better. Boris half-knows that it is all mad. He occasionally expresses alternative views, but he is too feeble, cowardly and...

Opposition politician laments ecological and economic effects of losing access to Russian energy... The sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines has turned Germany's dependence on Russian natural gas into an addiction to liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, a member of the German Bundestag, Andrej Hunko, has said. Germany has paid heavily for last year's explosions on the pipelines, which were built to deliver cheap natural gas from Russia, The Left party politician told China's Global Times newspaper in an interview on Thursday. He noted: "The sabotage left Berlin without an option to "choose which gas is better and cheaper and which is ecologically better. Before, it was a decision under political pressure, whether to use gas or not. But now there is no infrastructure to use gas, and this is the biggest impact." Germany used to meet up to 40% of its demand with gas from Russia. Last year, Berlin managed to reduce its reliance on the fuel from the sanctioned country...

The country is boosting its defense production capacity at a rapid pace, the president has said... Russia is set to drastically increase its munitions production, President Vladimir Putin has said, adding that Western arms shipments to Kiev will only delay the inevitable outcome of the Ukraine conflict. In an interview with Russia 1 TV aired on Saturday, Putin was asked to comment on Western plans to support Ukraine with a million additional artillery shells. While describing the amount as "very considerable," the president stated that according to Moscow's data, the US is currently producing 14,000-15,000 artillery shells a month, while the Ukrainian military uses up to 5,000 shells each day. "Next year... [the US plans] to produce as much as 42,000, and 75,000 in 2025." However, Putin said that Moscow's forces have been using far more munitions than Ukraine, and that the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff "even had to introduce certain limitations." "Russia's output level...

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets across the country on Saturday to protest against the government's controversial push to overhaul the judicial system. The organizers of the massive demonstrations - which took place in cities including Jerusalem, Haifa, Beersheba, and Tel Aviv - announced on Friday a 'Week of Paralysis' to resist what they called an "attempt to turn Israel into a dictatorship." According to figures provided by the organizers, a total of 630,000 people attended the rallies. In Tel Aviv alone, which was the main venue for the activists, around 200,000 protesters gathered, local media said.

The Saudi oil conglomerate has pledged its full support to the east Asian country's growing demand for fuel and petrochemical products. Saudi oil giant Aramco announced on 27 March that it has signed an agreement with China for the building of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex in the far-eastern country's northeast, aimed at supporting the growing Chinese demand for fuel and petrochemical products. According to the Saudi newspaper Sabq, the total cost of the project will amount to $12.2 billion. Construction is set to begin during the second quarter of this year, and the complex is scheduled to officially open by 2026. Currently, the project is awaiting the necessary administrative approvals. In a statement, Aramco announced that it will be supplying 210,000 barrels of crude oil to the complex, which is being constructed in Panjin city, in China's province of Liaoning. "This important project will support China's growing demand across fuel and chemical products. It also...

The Babylon Bee has had nearly 100 joke headlines turn into prophecies after the stories eventually came true, the CEO of America's largest right-leaning satire website told Fox News. "The problem isn't that our satire is too close to reality," Seth Dillon told Fox News. "It's that reality is too close to satire, so our jokes keep coming true." The Bee maintains a running list of its satirical headlines that became real or at least partially real stories after publication. The fulfilled prophecies include a wide range of topics and include jokes about Democrats and Republicans alike.

Kiev's actions targeting the largest religious denomination in the country "could be discriminatory" The Ukrainian state may be discriminating against the nation's largest religious denomination, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the UN's human rights watchdog said in a report published on Friday. The government of President Vladimir Zelensky is currently in the process of kicking UOC monks out of their homes. The apparent mistreatment of the church, which has historic links to the Russian Orthodox Church, was highlighted in a report released by the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). It cited several draft laws submitted to the Ukrainian parliament as well as the actions of the SBU, Ukraine's domestic security agency, against the clergy.

I recently proposed that COVID Warlord Fauci can and should be prosecuted for negligent homicide vis a vis the illicit gain-of-function research he funded in Wuhan Institute of Virology. Here, I would like to expand the indictment to include his vaxx-related criminality, which is legion. On the vaxx front, Fauci is culpable for an untold number of deaths which will become, perhaps, more concrete over time as the research unfolds into what exactly the long-term effects of the gene therapy are. As of March 2023, there are 19,476 preliminary reports of death from the COVID-19 shots reported to the CDC's and FDA's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). However - and this is a huge caveat - the figures reflected in VAERS are likely significant under-estimates of the actual death toll. Research indicates that less than 1% of adverse events are ever actually reported to VAERS.

Fact-finding mission says state security forces and armed militia groups have committed a wide array of war crimes and crimes against humanity. United Nations investigators say there is evidence that crimes against humanity have been committed against Libyans and migrants stuck in Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery. The investigators commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council also faulted the European Union for sending support to Libyan forces that they say contributed to crimes against migrants and Libyans.

A 70-car train hauling hazardous materials derailed in North Dakota late Sunday, according to local reports. The Canadian Pacific train derailed around 11:15 p.m. about a mile southeast of Wyndmere in Richland County, Valley News Live reported. No injuries were reported. Officials said 31 of the 70 cars derailed, with some leaking petroleum used in the making of asphalt, according to the report. Crews will allow the cold weather to solidify the leaked materials, which are expected to turn into a gel, WZFG reported, citing officials.

Israeli extremists have increased their attacks on Palestinian Christians and Christian institutions in occupied East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year, with police doing little to stop violent incidents, according to Israeli daily Haaretz. Church leaders say the spike in violence can be attributed to the Jewish supremacist rhetoric of the current far-right government, whose ministers have called for Palestinian villages to be "wiped out" and even denied the existence of a Palestinian people. On top of this, locals who spoke with Haaretz say the police "do not treat the situation seriously enough and refuse to identify the growing list of violent incidents as a trend."

Russia possesses advanced unique weapons capable of wiping out any enemy, including the United States, Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily on Monday. "Russia is patient and does not intimidate anyone with its military advantage. However, it possesses advanced unique weapons capable of destroying any enemy, including the United States, in case of a threat to its existence," the security chief said. The view held by US politicians that Russia won't be able to retaliate against a US pre-emptive nuclear strike is a short-sighted and dangerous stance, Patrushev stressed.

Comment: The following is the transcript to one video from George Simon's Character Matters series where he tackles what he terms, the biggest issue of our time, character disturbance, i.e. pathology and that what is sorely missing in our modern era is the development of true character. Introduction Hello, I'm Dr. George Simon and welcome to another edition of the new, Character Matters. This is the program where we talk about all things pertaining to character and character disturbances. And over the past couple of programs, we've been talking about, what I term, in the upcoming book on the subject, the second commandment of character which has to do with overcoming any sense of entitlement and developing a profound sense of gratitude and the resulting obligations that come with feeling inherently indebted for the many gifts that we have, that are in fact, unearned. Now, today I would like to focus a little bit more on some of the impediments that there are - especially in our day...