Cephalotrocity

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27461502

Rumeysa Ozturk's lawyer believes she is being targeted over a school paper editorial she co-authored

snips from the article:

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin [...] did not specify what specific activities were engaged in by Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar and student in Tufts' doctoral program for Child Study and Human Development. Ozturk had been in the country on an F-1 visa to study.

[...]

Ozturk co-authored an opinion piece a year ago in the school's student paper, the Tufts Daily, that criticized the school's response to calls by students to divest from companies with ties to Israel and to "acknowledge the Palestinian genocide."

"Based on patterns we are seeing across the country, her exercising her free speech rights appears to have played a role in her detention," said Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk's lawyer. Khanbabai called the claims against Ozturk "baseless" and said people should be "horrified at the way DHS spirited away Rumeysa in broad daylight."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27464614

Around 1,000 disabled people and their supporters marched in central London Wednesday against the £5 billion in welfare cuts announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Spring Statement.

Quebec nationalism and provincial issues like language, immigration and secularism often loom large in federal election campaigns, but Trump's tariffs and threat of making Canada the 51st state has reshaped the campaign so far.

"It's weighing heavily on Quebecers the same way that it's weighing on Canadians," said Sébastien Dallaire, executive vice-president with the polling firm Leger.

"It makes it harder to talk about Quebec sovereignty when the whole country is being threatened by our giant neighbour."

I'll say this: I agree with the article. It's going to suck, but we need to reorganize our economy such that we cannot be afraid of US threats. Canadians need to come together and demonstrate the power of a social culture to overcome individualism.

Any politicians that express willingness to kowtow to Trump lose my support. Period.

cross-posted from: https://biglemmowski.win/post/5679173

The protests come after calls were made on Tuesday on social media platforms for Palestinians in Gaza to come out and express their frustration against Hamas and the endless war in the Gaza Strip. Last week, Israel resumed its air and ground assault on Gaza in order to pressure Hamas to release all remaining hostages.

Some Palestinians voiced caution about publicly speaking out against Hamas for fear of retribution, but many of the demonstrators said they were tired of living under their conditions and need their voices to be heard.

A Russian military court on Wednesday handed down long prison sentences to 12 members of Ukraine's Azov regiment, which led the defence of the city of Mariupol in the early months of the war and is designated as a "terrorist organization" by Russia.

The defendants, charged with "terrorist activity" and with "violently seizing or retaining power," were sentenced to between 13 and 23 years in prison, Russian state media reported.

There was no immediate Ukrainian comment on the verdicts. Ukraine's human rights envoy, Dmytro Lubinets, denounced the proceedings when they began in June 2023 as "another sham trial" held for Russia's "own amusement."

The protests come after calls were made on Tuesday on social media platforms for Palestinians in Gaza to come out and express their frustration against Hamas and the endless war in the Gaza Strip. Last week, Israel resumed its air and ground assault on Gaza in order to pressure Hamas to release all remaining hostages.

Some Palestinians voiced caution about publicly speaking out against Hamas for fear of retribution, but many of the demonstrators said they were tired of living under their conditions and need their voices to be heard.

Ukrainian forces will fight even with "their bare hands" if they do not receive conditions acceptable for lasting peace, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said during a U.S. Senate hearing on March 25.

"I want to say that with regard to the Ukrainian resistance, the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian military have been underestimated for a period of several years now," Ratcliffe said.

Five lions who were rescued from war-torn Ukraine are settling into their new home at the Big Cat Sanctuary in the UK. A fundraising effort of £500,000 has helped to bring the lions to safety.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Several thousand protesters blocked major thoroughfares and three bridges in the center of Hungary’s capital on Tuesday in opposition to a recent law that effectively bans LGBTQ+ Pride events and restricts Hungarians’ right to assembly.