Some ski areas have reported snowfall totals of up to a metre (40") on their higher slopes above 2,500m, and particularly above 3,000m, in the Alps over the last five days. The cold, snowy weather has led skiers and boarders in the mountains at present to compare mid-April to mid-Spring. About 80% of ski areas in the Alps have already ended their 22-23 seasons however and more will close from Monday.

In the CCTV footage shared on social media, a man could be seen attacked by at least 7-8 dogs before he succumbed to his injuries. A man, out on a morning walk in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh on Sunday, was bitten to death by a pack of stray dogs. In visuals shared on social media, more than half a dozen dogs attacked the retired doctor, identified as Safdar Ali. The incident happened at around 6 am inside the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus of Thana Civil Line area, according to Pravesh Rana, station house officer (SHO), Civil Lines. (WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT)

Cyclone Ilsa smashed into a remote stretch of coast in Western Australia around midnight Thursday local time with wind speeds that broke previous records set more than 10 years ago in the same place. After brewing off the coast for days, Cyclone Ilsa made landfall between De Grey and Pardoo Roadhouse as a category 5 storm, according to Australian Bureau of Meteorology - the equivalent of a category 4 Atlantic hurricane. The cyclone has since weakened and is moving southeast across the state, bringing heavy rain and sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour (74 miles per hour). Just before it hit the mainland, Ilsa sped over Bedout Island, a tiny uninhabited island, where its sustained wind speeds reached 218 kph (135 mph) over a 10-minute period.

A 72-year-old man's leg was bitten off by an alligator in Titusville Friday afternoon, according to Brevard County Fire Rescue officials. The man, who officials did not identify, was attacked by the alligator off Windsong Way, at Great Outdoors RV resort in Titusville, just before 2 p.m. Friday, according to a statement from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The bite amputated the man's leg just below the knee, said Don Walker, a spokesperson for the county. The man was airlifted to Holmes Regional Medical Center for his injuries, and a nuisance alligator trapper was dispatched to the location, the FWC statement said. No specifics regarding the circumstances that led up to the attack have been released. The FWC is actively investigating and is the lead agency regarding the incident.

In their latest Geo Economical Report economists Radhika Desai and Michael Hudson discuss Russia's move away from the 'West'. The points on Russia are certainly interesting. But they also remark on the tussle between China and 'multilateral' international lenders about debt forgiveness. This is a theme that played out in Washington DC last week during a high-level sovereign debt roundtable on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund Spring meetings in Washington. In their talk Radhika Desai explains the basic problem with international debt: RADHIKA DESAI: Well I think that the whole issue of debt, world debt in particular, has become a really important issue at this point, and it's become an important issue because precisely now China is such a large part of the scene. I remember going back to the earliest days of the pandemic when Third World debt had also figured as a major issue. Already at that point, the key reason why the debt issues were not going to...

Oleh Nikolenko, speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, criticised the French channel France 24 for a story from the occupied territory of Ukraine about the training of the Russian military. Source: European Pravda, Nikolenko's post on Twitter. Quote: "The France 24 report on Russian troops preparing to kill Ukrainian people is [a] disgrace to journalism. Going to occupied territories without Ukraine's consent violates Ukrainian legislation, and those who participate in such actions will be held accountable by the law," he said.

The Bank of Italy confirmed on Saturday that the country's sovereign debt skyrocketed by 21.6 billion euros in February to hit a historical high of 2.772 trillion euros ($3.075 trillion). The debt number was described as rampant by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which added that in 2022, goods and services amounting to 1.909 trillion euros were produced by the country, resulting in a massive 145% ratio between Italy's GDP and debt. Italy is facing a mammoth deficit this year of 5.6% of GDP, which Italy PM Giorgia Meloni stated in December that she intends to progressively cut down to 4.5% in 2023 and then 3% in 2025. However, funds will result from a higher windfall tax on energy companies and worthy cuts in citizens' income.

Locals are reporting that a bright "bolide" meteor was sighted over Israel. The bolide crossed the sky at a fast speed going northeast, and was seen for approximately three seconds before exploding. Many locals reported hearing a supersonic boom. The Israeli Astronomical Association says it received reports of an explosion that was heard after the bolide was sighted. "We heard a boom like from a plane," commented one Facebook user on the association's post concerning the meteor. Another Facebook user wrote: "It was heard well above Ramat Gan," "What a boom!" wrote another. Other users shared that they thought it was a missile or an Iron Dome interception.

Editor's note: The following is adapted from the author's remarks at a debate arguing the resolution, "Resolved, that academic DEI programs should be abolished," co-hosted by the MIT chapter of the Adam Smith Society and the MIT Free Speech Alliance on April 4. I start from the following proposition: being female is not an accomplishment. My being female should play no role in my being hired for a job. Of course, my sex undoubtedly has made me the target of sex preferences on numerous occasions, thus casting doubt on any actual qualifications I might presume to possess. My being female should be particularly irrelevant in a university. Until recently, universities were dedicated to the Enlightenment ideal of universal knowledge. A male Chinese engineer and a female Nigerian engineer may have no spoken language in common, but they can communicate through the universal languages of mathematics and physics. Whether the buildings they erect stand or fall depends not on their...

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is visiting Vietnam, where he will delve into the diplomatic tussle between Vietnam and China over the right to develop oil and gas reserves off Vietnam's coast in the South China Sea . Blinken's visit was preceded by a March 29 phone call between US President Joe Biden and the leader of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, in which they agreed to expand bilateral cooperation. The United States is counting on a reduction in Russian arms purchases by Vietnam and other countries, said one of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's aides.

The Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has escaped unhurt after he was apparently targeted by an explosive device on Saturday morning. It comes less than a year after the country's former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, was shot dead while making a campaign speech. Kishida was safely evacuated after the incident, while a suspect - named by Japanese media as Ryuji Kimura, 24, a resident of Hyogo prefecture - was arrested at the scene, reports said. Kishida was visiting Saikazaki port in Wakayama prefecture, western Japan, to support his ruling Liberal Democratic party's candidate in a local election when a device exploded.

ICC prosecutor general Karim Khan raised millions from NATO states by crafting an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin while freezing investigations into well-documented US and Israeli war crimes. Along the way, he won powerful friends in Washington, London, Kiev and Hollywood. Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, stood before a podium on March 3, 2023, and issued an unusual qualifier in British-accented English: "Of course the prosecutor of the ICC does not, whatever affection and regard I may have for my dear friends in Ukraine - has no special affinity to any particular country. We're not a party to any hostilities. We have an affinity to legality. We have an affinity and commitment to the rule of law." Khan made his declaration of legal independence while headlining the "United for Justice" conference, an event personally organized in Lviv, Ukraine, by President Volodymyr Zelensky. There, he pressed the flesh with Ukraine's president and...

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has revealed to Fox News on Wednesday that there is a "small U.S. military presence" at the American embassy in Ukraine. Kirby was asked about leaked Pentagon documents suggesting there are U.S. Special Forces operating inside the war-torn country. Referencing the weapons and other support the U.S. has been sending to Kyiv, Kirby said: "I won't talk to the specifics of numbers and that kind of thing. But to get to your exact question, there is a small U.S. military presence at the embassy in conjunction with the Defense Attachs office to help us work on accountability of the material that is going in and out of Ukraine. So they're attached to that embassy and to that the defense attache."

The ex-Russian president lashed out over the politician's confidence in the US-led military bloc's superiority... Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that Poland would cease to exist if a direct war were to occur between Russia and NATO, regardless of the outcome. He was responding to remarks by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who expressed confidence that the Western alliance would win such a conflict. Morawiecki, who is currently visiting the US, commented on the Ukrainian conflict in an interview with NBC News on Friday. Host Kristen Welker asked whether he was concerned that Ukrainian strikes outside its territory risked "a wider war, drawing Poland... into the conflict." The prime minister replied that he was not concerned: "It would be "a war between Russia and NATO, and Russia would lose this war very quickly. They believe that fighting with Ukraine they are fighting with the West and fighting with NATO, whereas the fact of the matter is that we...

Analyst and financial writer John Rubino said in February: "We are in a debt and death spiral" that will force dramatic changes on the world. It was a direct hit because in March, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) tanked, and the FDIC and the U.S. Treasury were forced to basically back-stop the entire banking system. The financial problems are far from over as Rubino explains: "Basically, interest rates have been artificially low for a decade . . . . In that time, crazy numbers of office buildings went up and were financed at really low rates. . . . Now, office vacancy rates are spiking, which means office building are not profitable anymore. "The debts they have at 2% to 3% now have to be rolled over at 5%, 6% or 7%. This means an already unprofitable office building is going to be even more unprofitable because of rising interest rates. Now, they want to sell this office space, and the price cuts that have to be done to get a deal done is 30% to 50% . . . . Some are down by 80%. . . ....

Five Proud Boys charged with committing seditious conspiracy on Jan. 6 were denied a mistrial Thursday, CNN reported, in a case marked by allegations that dozens of government informants were embedded with the Jan. 6 defendants on the day of the Capitol riot. Former Proud Boys National Chairman Enrique Tarrio, and members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, are being tried together for allegedly conspiring to oppose the January 2021 transfer of presidential power and related charges. Rejecting their request for a mistrial, Judge Timothy Kelly said that all jurors had indicated they could maintain fair judgement in the case, despite several claiming in March that civilians had approached them outside the courthouse, with one juror expressing worries this month that someone might be following her, according to CNN The individual juror said she was once outside a Washington, D.C. metro station when a stranger asked if she was serving on a jury, and she saw...

A dairy farm in Texas was rocked by a massive explosion that resulted in the deaths of thousands of cattle, reported local media outlet KFDA. Fire crews in Dimmitt, Texas, responded to an explosion and fire that engulfed multiple building structures at South Fork Dairy on Monday evening. Reports suggest over 18,000 cattle were killed in the blaze. Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera said the fire resulted from an explosion that spread to the building where the cows are housed before bringing them into the milking area and holding pen. KFDA quoted the Animal Welfare Institute, saying this is the deadliest barn fire in Texas since 2013. "We hope the industry will remain focused on this issue and strongly encourage farms to adopt commonsense fire safety measures. It is hard to imagine anything worse than being burned alive." - Margie Fishman, Public Relations Manager with AWF Videos of the explosion are absolutely shocking.

Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna called on Sen. Dianne Feinstein to resign Wednesday. "It's time for [Sen. Feinstein] to resign," Khanna tweeted. "We need to put the country ahead of personal loyalty. While she has had a lifetime of public service, it is obvious she can no longer fulfill her duties. Not speaking out undermines our credibility as elected representatives of the people." Feinstein, 89, announced in February she would not seek reelection in the 2024 race, noting her 30 years of service. Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and has represented the Golden State (California) ever since. There has been growing concern among Democrats as Feinstein has continually been absent from votes since February despite her crucial vote on the Judiciary Committee, announcing in March she had been diagnosed with shingles.

Research revealed 93% of participants with Parkinson's had an abnormal test... An international group of researchers has discovered a new tool that can reveal a key pathology of Parkinson's disease in brain and body cells. The identification of the new biomarker, known as abnormal alpha-synuclein, opens a new chapter for research, according to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The foundation led the coalition and its landmark clinical study, Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). The findings were published Wednesday in the scientific journal The Lancet Neurology. The tool, also known as the -synuclein seeding amplification assay, is able to detect pathology in spinal fluid both for those diagnosed with the disease and individuals who are at high risk of developing it but have not yet been diagnosed or exhibited clinical symptoms. The laboratory testing can confirm the presence of abnormal alpha-synuclein, which is detected in most people who have...

Senior executives at Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch were reportedly not informed about the company's partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, with one source claiming the move "was a mistake." Earlier this month, Mulvaney revealed a partnership with Bud Light, sharing an image of a personalized beer can depicting Mulvaney's face. In the days that followed, a spokesperson for the company confirmed the partnership stating Mulvaney was just one of "hundreds of influencers" the company worked with in order to "authentically connect" with consumers. "From time to time, we produce unique commemorative cans for fans and for brand influencers, like Dylan Mulvaney. This commemorative can was a gift to celebrate a personal milestone and is not for sale to the general public," the spokesperson continued.

This is the tale of two pilgrims following the road that really matters in the young 21st century; one coming from NATOstan and another one from BRICS. Let's start with Le Petit Roi, Emmanuel Macron. Picture him with a plastic grin in his face strolling alongside Xi Jinping in Guangzhou. Following the - long and gentle - sound of classic "High Mountain and Flowing Water", they enter the Baiyun Hall to listen to it played by the 1000-year-old Guqin (a beautiful instrument). They taste the fragrance of 1000-year-old tea - and muse on the rise and fall of great powers in the new millennium. And what does Xi tell Le Petit Roi? He explains that when you hear this eternal music played by this eternal instrument, you expect to be in the company of a bosom friend; you are in synch as much as the high mountain and the flowing water. That's the deeper meaning of the ancient tale of musicians Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi, 25 centuries ago in the Kingdom of Chu: bosom friendship. Only bosom friends...

Rosemont Seneca vice president visited Obama White House at least 17 times, met with Joe Biden aides Four business partners, a vice president, and two assistants at Hunter Biden's now-defunct firm visited the White House more than 80 times when his father was vice president in the Obama administration, Fox News Digital has found. President Biden has repeatedly insisted he had no knowledge of Hunter's business dealings amid dual criminal and congressional investigations into the first son and his family. However, Joan Mayer, who says she was the vice president of Hunter's now-defunct investment firm Rosemont Seneca Advisors from 2008 to 2017 on Linkedin, made at least 17 visits to the White House during that time, according to visitor logs reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is well into its second year. While valiant, brave and committed, Ukraine's army is David to Russia's Goliath military force. Expelling Russia from Ukraine and bringing an end to this deadly, costly conflict will take more than NATO tanks and the determined hearts of Ukrainian fighters, according to a new report exclusively obtained by CTV National News. Three retired NATO soldiers, who've spent the last nine months in Ukraine training its military, have co-authored what they've dubbed the "White Papers." The lengthy report outlines a Ukrainian military command structure that, at times, is in disarray and a crumbling military communication system that could result in losing "generations of Ukrainians" if intervention in military tactics isn't taken.

While investigating at Waskiri, near the Lauca River and the Bolivian-Chilean border, archaeologists found an impressive circular construction on a small hill at the site. The Waskiri structure, which surprised researchers with its large dimensions and design, is a pre-Hispanic ceremonial center with unknown features in the Andes, according to the researchers. The study authors say the "surprising" construction is unlike any other ever found in the Andes. Although Waskiri has never been mentioned in the archaeological record, a priest from Spain named Bartolom Alvarez, who visited Carangas in the 1580s, does seem to have made a reference to it. Describing the rituals that took place at the site, lvarez wrote of attendees in a state of "solemn drunkenness" entering what he called the "house and business of hell.

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison Empire's proxy war on Russia is rapidly coming to a head in Ukraine and the imperial guard might urgently need a new war. Their next target is China and once more we witness a relentless escalation of provocations and hostility. In his Wall Street Journal column this week, former National Security Advisor John Bolton laid out his "grand strategy" to confront Russia and China. His genius idea is to give Taiwan "much more military aid" from western nations and "embed Taipei into collective-defense structures." Preparations for war Bolton's warmongering is only the last in the long sequence of proclamations by US officials indicating the direction of their foreign policy. Last month, U.S. Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth told an audience at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) that the United States has "to prepare, to be prepared to fight and win that war"...

An academic turned fighter believes those who think the fighting can be contained are misguided For a philosopher, the military path - the path of war - is quite natural. In reality, such a scholar is always engaged in this process - the conflict of ideas. He understands that war is the forefather of all things and since he is looking for the origin of everything, turning to war, both as a subject and an element of existentialism, is natural. Of course, it is also a great honor for me to be part of the armed forces of Novorossiya and the Donetsk People's Republic. There were a lot of theoretical discussions on this before the start of the military operation in Ukraine, last year, when the new realities of combat first emerged on such a grand scale. There is a military saying that generals always prepare for the previous war. So, in a way, no one knew how this would look. Of course, the robotization of fighting develops new means of combat and warfare. This especially concerns...

Local parents Tim and Julia Yoder were understandably upset when their 17-year-old daughter Carlie came home drunk last weekend. However, their anger quickly turned to relief upon learning that Carlie had not, in fact, been consuming Bud Light. "I mean, we were certainly disappointed that she was drinking while underage," her father Tim noted. "But at the same time, we're glad that she was responsible enough to choose a less-woke brand of alcohol." Carlie's mother Julia said they tried hard to raise their daughter right and instill her with strong values. "I'm not proud of this, but both Carlie's father and I experimented with Bud Light when we were younger," Julia said. "I'm very proud that we raised our daughter to make better life choices and avoid some of the mistakes we made in the past." For her part, Carlie said the temptation to drink woke beer was definitely there. "Some of the kids had Bud Light at the party. Someone even brought some of those commemorative Dylan Mulvaney...

At least 7 people have lost their lives after flooding in the Rukwa Region in western Tanzania. The overflow of the Talanda River caused extensive flooding in areas of the Sumbawanga District on 12 April 2023. Dozens of people were left homeless after houses were completely destroyed. Infrastructure, crops and livestock were also damaged. The 7 deceased were from 2 families and included children. Several people were also injured in the floods. The Red Cross reported that 6 people may still be missing, although the situation is unclear.

A 22-year-old man has died after four dogs he was caring for attacked him in the backyard of a home in the 5700 block of Halifax Avenue in Brooklyn Center on Thursday. The Hennepin County medical examiner identified the man as Dezmond Ray Thomas Trawick. Authorities say he was watching the dogs, which were identified as American pit bull terriers, at the house for a family member.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) imposes punitive additional fees on struggling economies - because they are struggling economies. In the MENA region, the fund has hiked the loan costs of Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan, by adding so-called surcharges, putting the countries under increased financial strain. The justification for the policy is invalid and must be called out by European Union states for being discriminatory. Without additional loan fees, Egypt could pull hundreds of thousands of people out of poverty. The country pays more than $167m in surcharges every year, in addition to its annual debt servicing and loan fees to the IMF. The country is also one of several in the region at serious risk of defaulting.

Parents in the Netherlands can now euthanise their terminally ill children aged 12 and under plans to widen the countries existing end of life laws. The Dutch Government announced plans to expand euthanasia regulations to include doctor-assisted death for terminally ill children between one and 12 years old on Friday. The rules would apply to an estimated five to 10 children per year, who suffer unbearably from their disease, have no hope of improvement and for whom palliative care cannot bring relief, the government have said. Comment: Similar claims were made about assisted suicide in Canada, except that one can now qualify for simply being poor or suffering from a mental illness: Canada euthanising 1000s of people who aren't terminally ill 'The end of life for this group is the only reasonable alternative to the child's unbearable and hopeless suffering,' the government said in a statement.

Russia's Foreign Minister has slammed the United States military-biological activities in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), citing it as a security threat. Speaking at a news conference following his visit to Uzbekistan on Friday, Sergei Lavrov warned that "there are threats of terrorism and threats posed by military-biological activities in our space by the United States and its allies, which create very dangerous precedents in terms of biological security. Also, there is a direct threat to public health and the environment." Lavrov pointed out that removing dangers threatening peace and safety in the region was of utmost importance and required a joint effort.

On Friday evening the Constitutional Council ruled in favour of the majority of Emmanuel Macron's planned pension reform - representing the last step on the legal and political process to challenge the highly controversial reform bill. Within hours manifestations sauvages (unplanned or unlicenced demonstrations) erupted in French cities including Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Rennes and Nantes. In Paris there were some, isolated violent moments, with barriers and waste bins set alight while police used tear gas and baton charged demonstrators.

Astronomy used to be so simple. Comets had tails, and planets did not. Mercury is making things complicated. When Dr. Sebastian Voltmer of Spicheren, France, photographed the planet this week, it exhibited a magnificent plume of gas flowing behind it: "Mercury is NOT a comet, but it sure looks like one," says Voltmer. "Solar wind and micro-meteorites hitting the planet eject sodium atoms from Mercury's surface. This creates a yellow-orange tail of sodium gas that is around 24 million kilometers long." First predicted in the 1980s, Mercury's tail was discovered in 2001. The gaseous plume is made of many elements from Mercury's rocky surface, not only sodium. Sodium, however, dominates the scattering of sunlight and gives the tail its striking yellow hue.

Despite claims from conservative media pundits that President Joe Biden's tour of Ireland was a disaster due to several verbal gaffes and nonsensical statements, a group of intoxicated Irishmen released a statement saying they were able to understand every word of what Biden said. "That Biden fella sure can spin a good yarn, don't ya know?" said Seamus O'Reardon after finishing his seventh pint of Guinness before lunch. "I know he catches a lot of flack for not bein' able t'speak clearly and all, but I've never heard such perfect pronunciation of our old traditional Connacht Irish dialect. T'was just the way me dear old mother would speak when she was three sheets t' the wind every marnin'!" Critics of the Biden administration were calling the trip an embarrassment after the President had confused New Zealand's "All Blacks" rugby team with the "Black and Tans," a brutal British police force deployed against Irish rebels in the 1920s. This was followed by Biden saying he was never...

We were waiting for the end of the world Waiting for the end of the world, waiting for the end of the world Dear Lord, I sincerely hope You're coming 'Cause You really started something - Elvis Costello, Waiting for the End of the World, 1977 We cannot even begin to fathom the non-stop ripple effects deriving from the 2023 geopolitical earthquake that shook the world: Putin and Xi, in Moscow, de facto signaling the beginning of the end of Pax Americana. This has been the ultimate anathema for rarified Anglo-American hegemonic elites for over a century: a signed, sealed, comprehensive strategic partnership of two peer competitors, intertwining a massive manufacturing base and pre-eminence in supply of natural resources - with value-added Russian state of the art weaponry and diplomatic nous. From the point of view of these elites, whose Plan A was always a debased supposed to happen. In fact, blinded by hubris, they never...

"We are fueling a proxy war in Ukraine in order to defend freedom, such as the freedom to censor dissenting views on our proxy war in Ukraine" Aaron Mat How long do we have to wait before Volodymyr Zelensky opens a disco in Boca Raton? That's one of the questions raised by the secret CIA documents leaked last week, supposedly by a 21-year-old National Guard airman in Massachusetts named Jack Teixeira. Since that's about the lowliest rank in the whole US military, you have to wonder how Jack got his mitts on all that embarrassing info, and what it says about the Pentagon's command structure and its relations with the Intel "Community." I guess our cyber-security isn't what it's cracked up to be. But then, neither is our war effort in Ukraine. Yes, our war effort. We own this war from tail to snout, lock, stock, and barrel, the whole shootin' match. We started it (in 2014, when we began the preps there), we goaded the Russians into it in bad faith, and now we're losing it. Why?...

US President Joe Biden's administration is in a serious bind after officials were made aware last week that a cache of secret documents was leaked in March showing the US spied on allies. One of the most damning leaks revealed extensive details of US military support in Ukraine and the exact location of troops, supply specifications and other information related to Kiev's upcoming spring offensive against Russia. But another important leak surfaced too. Korean media reported that the CIA files revealed that the US appears to have been spying on the South Korean National Security Office (NSO) in Seoul. The NSO is described as the "control tower of South Korea's security decision-making." Additionally, the leaked reports show that the US has also been spying on the UK, Canada and Israel.

Former President Trump is giving a deposition as part of New York State Attorney General Letitia James' years-long investigation into his businesses and his family. The former president is being deposed in Manhattan this is his second deposition as part of James' investigation, which has been ongoing since James took office in 2019. Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during the first deposition in August. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has said the investigation is politically motivated and a "witch hunt." Trump attorney Alina Habba said Thursday: "President Trump is not only willing but also eager to testify before the Attorney General today. He remains resolute in his stance that he has nothing to conceal, and he looks forward to educating the Attorney General about the immense success of his multi-billion dollar company."

The judge presiding over a defamation case against Fox News admonished its attorneys Wednesday for potentially withholding evidence and said he is inclined to order an independent review by a special master that could lead to sanctions. The move by Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis came amid a burst of fresh revelations in the $1.6 billion defamation case filed by Dominion Voting Systems against the conservative network and its parent company, Fox Corp. The judge expressed anger and frustration during a pretrial hearing after learning that Fox only recently turned over recordings of Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo talking with two lawyers for then-President Donald Trump, Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani. That came after the disclosure a day earlier that Fox lawyers had withheld critical information about the role company founder Rupert Murdoch, who is chairman of Fox Corp., played at Fox News. "I am very concerned that ... there have been misrepresentations to the court,"...

Syria will reopen its embassy in Tunisia after the North African country announced the appointment of a new ambassador to Damascus, Syrian state media reported Wednesday. Tunisia has become the latest Arab state to reestablish diplomatic ties with Syria, after cutting off relations a decade ago. The move by Tunisian President Kais Saied to appoint a new ambassador was immediately approved and reciprocated by the Syrian government, a joint statement from the two countries' foreign ministries read, according to Syrian state news agency SANA. The announcement is the latest step in a regional trend of rapprochement with the war-torn country, which has picked up pace since the deadly Feb. 6 earthquake in Syria and Turkey and the Chinese-brokered reestablishment of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Many Ukrainian soldiers are not convinced the town of Artyomovsk - which they call Bakhmut - is worth clinging to, as Russian forces are advancing street-by-street, the German outlet Bild reported on Wednesday. "Bakhmut is hell," wrote freelance journalist Jan Humin, who visited the town last week and wrote about one 28-year-old soldier who was badly injured. The armored ambulance refused to start, so the soldier from western Ukraine had to be evacuated by a jeep on a dirt road, dodging Russian artillery fire. "The positive energy that surprises you everywhere in Ukraine, even when things are going badly, cannot be felt in Bakhmut. Few soldiers feel like talking; while the sound of constant impacts is heard, they sit still and wait for what is to come. "The mood among the military is tense, focused, and worried. Many wonder what they are fighting for in Bakhmut. Is it really still worth defending this devastated city against the repeated attacks of the Russian armed forces." The...

The field of plate tectonics is not that old, and scientists continue to learn the details of earthquake-producing geologic faults. The Cascadia Subduction Zone the eerily quiet offshore fault that threatens to unleash a magnitude-9 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest still holds many mysteries. A study led by the University of Washington discovered seeps of warm, chemically distinct liquid shooting up from the seafloor about 50 miles off Newport, Oregon. The paper, published Jan. 25 in Science Advances, describes the unique underwater spring the researchers named Pythia's Oasis. Observations suggest the spring is sourced from water 2.5 miles beneath the seafloor at the plate boundary, regulating stress on the offshore fault. The team made the discovery during a weather-related delay for a cruise aboard the RV Thomas G. Thompson. The ship's sonar showed unexpected plumes of bubbles about three-quarters of a mile beneath the ocean's surface. Further exploration using an...

The president is using his Irish identity to bully Brexit Britain. Power often wears the mask of weakness in the 21st century. Think of those strapping, angry 'transwomen' who cry victimhood even as they harass real women. Or privileged students in the luxury surrounds of Oxford or Yale heaping pressure on hapless administrators to decolonise the curriculum so that they might be spared the pain of reading Shakespeare, Chaucer and other long-dead white men. Or Hillary Clinton depicting herself as a victim of sexism even as she wielded her extraordinary power to brand half her compatriots as deplorables. Julie Burchill calls them 'cry-bullies' - a 'hideous hybrid of victim and victor, weeper and walloper'. Now there's President Biden, the most powerful cry-bully in the world. He's taken the grievance machine global. He speaks of his historic pain even as he impresses his imperial power across the Earth. Witness his visit to Ireland. He's hyping up his status as a descendent of the...

The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food has published two papers in which it is said that food has been weaponised by Israel in order to force Palestinians to abandon their legitimate rights. The papers were prepared by the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) and detail the nature, degree and impact of Israeli violence on Jordanian and Palestinian food systems. In the paper on the situation, as it affects the Palestinians, the various tactics adopted by the Israeli occupation to use food as a weapon are described. The intention is to make the Palestinians dependent on Israel for food as well as force them to give up their rights. These tactics include "systematically uprooting trees, preventing Palestinians from accessing their lands, and then illegally confiscating fallow lands, in addition to routinely poisoning Palestinian water and soil."

NPR becomes first major news organization to abandon the platform NPR has decided to stop using Twitter on the heels of Elon Musk's social media juggernaut temporarily labeling its account "state-affiliated media." The move is significant as the left-leaning outlet is the first major news organization to essentially quit the platform. "NPR's organizational accounts will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking actions that undermine our credibility by falsely implying that we are not editorially independent," NPR said in a statement.

With high resolution microscopes and 3D technology, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology captured an unprecedented view of feathers from the desert-dwelling sandgrouse, showcasing the singular architecture of their feathers and revealing for the first time how they can hold so much water. "It's super fascinating to see how nature managed to create structures so perfectly efficient to take in and hold water," said co-author Jochen Mueller, an assistant professor in Johns Hopkins' Department of Civil and Systems Engineering, who specializes in smart materials and design. "From an engineering perspective, we think the findings could lead to new bio-inspired creations." The work is published today (April 11) in Journal of the Royal Society Interface.