List of All Articles with Tag 'rica'

The fanfare around Narendra Modi’s visit to the US has been punctuated by protests over accusations that his right-wing administration is cracking down on human rights in India. Several trucks bearing banners calling upon Joe Biden to question the Hindu leader were seen in the streets of New York on Wednesday even as several Democratic lawmakers urged Mr Biden to “directly” put across questions about human rights violations to Mr Modi. Addressed to Mr Biden, digital posters on the trucks carried slogans like “Did you know mob lynching of Muslims, Christians and Dalits have surged under Modi’s rule. With almost no accountability” and “Hey Joe! Ask Modi why student activist Umar Khalid has been in prison for 1000+ days WITHOUT Trial?” Another banner addressed to Mr Biden asked “Why was Modi banned from the USA from 2005-2014?” and provided an answer for him. It read, for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” and added that the Indian prime minister was the “only person ever to be denied a visa on these grounds”. The banners also labelled Mr Modi as the “Crime Minister of India”. As Mr Biden and Mr Modi enter the second day of the latter’s high-profile state visit and look to ink new partnerships in defence, semiconductor manufacturing and more, the visit has been overshadowed with calls to address violence and crimes against minorities in India. Notable progressive voices, like Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, have said they will boycott Mr Modi’s address to the US Congress, stating that a “joint address is among the most prestigious invitations and honours the United States Congress can extend”. “We should not do so for individuals with deeply troubling human rights records – particularly for individuals whom our own State Department has concluded are engaged in systematic human rights abuses of religious minorities and caste-oppressed communities,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. More than 70 lawmakers earlier wrote to Mr Biden and called on him to use his meeting with Mr Modi to raise concerns about the erosion of religious, press and political freedoms. “It is an important country to me, and we must call out some of the real issues that are threatening the viability of democracy in all of our countries,” said representative Pramila Jayapal, who was born in India and helped organise the lawmakers’ letter. “If India continues to backslide, I think it will affect our ability to have a really strong relationship with the country.” A week before Mr Modi was due to arrive in the country, US rights groups planned protests over what they call India’s deteriorating human rights record. The Indian American Muslim Council, Peace Action, Veterans for Peace and Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition planned to gather near the White House when the two leaders were expected to meet. The protesting groups prepared flyers that said “Modi Not Welcome” and “Save India from Hindu Supremacy”. Another event is planned in New York, featuring a show titled “Howdy Democracy”, a play on Mr Modi’s 2019 “Howdy Modi!” rally in Texas with Donald Trump. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch invited policy makers, journalists and analysts to a screening in Washington of India: the Modi Question, a BBC documentary that questioned Mr Modi’s leadership during the 2002 communal Gujarat riots. The documentary was banned in India, with the Indian government calling it a “propaganda piece” that displays “bias, [a] lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset” on the part of the BBC. The BBC defended itself and said it adhered to the “highest editorial standards”. Since Mr Modi came to power in 2014, India has plummeted from 140th in the World Press Freedom Index, to 161st this year, its lowest dip ever, while also topping the list for the highest number of internet shutdowns globally for five consecutive years. Advocacy groups have also raised concerns over alleged human rights abuses under Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Read More Biden and Modi to unveil new science and defence cooperation between US and India India's Modi is getting a state visit with Biden, but the glitz is shadowed by human rights concerns Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Modi on side trip before Thursday's White House visit Biden ‘won’t lecture Modi’ on India’s human rights record even as 75 US lawmakers differ Modi US visit: Amnesty calls for human rights to be central in talks with Joe Biden

Today's USMNT rumors includeChristian Pulisic being linked with AC Milan, Feyenoord could make a move for Ricardo Pepi and Konrad de la Fuente is attracting interest from Standard Liege.USMNT rumors: Christian Pulisic to AC MilanChristian Pulisic starred for the USMNT in their Nations Leagu...

Zambia’s currency and dollar bonds traded near multi-month highs, having chalked up double-digit gains so far this month

French President Emmanuel Macron called on investors to provide a massive increase in financing to the poor countries

China’s Cnooc Ltd. is planning offshore oil and gas exploration with state-owned Tanzania Petroleum Development Corp. as the

It was a long time coming, but a shift back to normality after the years-long Covid pandemic is

Donald Trump was left speechless during his latest interview with Fox News journalist Bret Baier when the host pointed out that, had Mr Trump’s proposed policy of executing convicted drug dealers been active during his presidency, among its victims would have been Alice Johnson, a woman to whom Mr Trump granted clemency after being persuaded to do so by a campaign led by Kim Kardashian protesting her innocence. “No, no. No. Under my pl.... Under that? UHHHHHHHHHHH...” Mr Trump flubbed, subsequently accusing the host of being “hostile” to him. Meanwhile, a new CNN poll has recorded a six point drop in support for the former president among conservatives, his approval rating down from 53 per cent in mid-May to 47 per cent in mid-June in the wake of his 37 criminal count federal indictment over the classified documents scandal. All of which follows Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon moving on Tuesday to set a trial date of 14 August 2023 to hear that case in Fort Pierce, Florida. A federal grand jury indicted Mr Trump for allegedly willfully mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements, to which he pleaded not guilty at his Miami arraignment last week. Read More Trump drops below 50 per cent among GOP voters in new CNN poll following second indictment Fox News’s Bret Baier hits back at Trump conspiracy theorist after ex-president appears to incriminate himself in interview Attorneys spar in case of ex-Trump adviser who devised strategy to keep former president in power Trump claimed the Durham report would uncover the ‘crime of the century.’ Here’s what it really found

Three women were attacked in a string of Manhattan subway slashings in New York on Sunday, 18 June. Police on 19 June said they believed the same man was responsible for all three attacks, and released Metropolitan Travel Authority (MTA) surveillance footage of the alleged perpetrator. According to the New York Police Department (NYPD), the man attacked two women at the 86th Street and Lexington Avenue station, before slashing the leg of a third woman while riding a southbound 4 train. The first attack took place shortly after 4pm on Sunday, when a man wearing a Boston Red Sox cap approached 19-year-old Bianchelli Diplan and slashed her right leg with a sharp object. “I started up the steps and then I felt something [on] the back of my leg. So I like, hold on to it. And I saw there was blood.” Ms Diplan, who was on her way to buy a Father’s Day cake, told ABC7. “So I turned around I saw him and, like, he just stared at me and I was crying. And he just walked away.” She reportedly needed 19 stitches and is recovering at home. The NYPD believes he also attacked a 48-year-old woman at the same station before riding the 4 train to Brooklyn Bridge Station where he slashed a 26-year-old woman’s left leg at around 4.32pm. The cut was so deep that a tourniquet had to be applied on her leg before she was rushed to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to the New York Post. Surveillance footage shows the suspect jumping the turnstile at the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall station after slashing his third victim. During a briefing on 19 June, NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said he was confident the perpetrator’s “identity will be obtained shortly”. “I’m also confident that he’ll be apprehended shortly,” Mr Kemper said. Ms Diplan urged commuters to “be aware of your surroundings” while travelling on the subway “because this could happen to anybody”. Anyone with information about the attacker, who is 5ft 8in and weighs 220 pounds, can send the NYPD a direct message on Twitter or call 800-577-TIPS. The attacks come one day after the death of a man who was found with fatal stab wounds on a 4 train at Union Square Station. Police have charged Claude White, a 33-year-old homeless man, with the murder of Tavon Silver. Charges against Mr White also include criminal possession of a weapon. While Mr White didn’t know the victim, police believe they became embroiled in a dispute which ultimately led to Mr Silver’s death. Read More Russia tried to kill ‘CIA informant’ in Florida, report says Missing Titanic submarine with five onboard may have 50 hours left as US accused of hampering rescue – live Inside Titan: Titanic-spotting submarine steered by video game controller Where is the Titanic wreckage? British Navy expert warns ‘timescale’ of missing Titanic sub is ‘very concerning’

The drive south from the ancient city of Tangier spans decades of economic development in half an hour,

Florida governor and 2024 candidate Ron DeSantis continued his long-running rivalry with California governor Gavin Newsrom on Wednesday, claiming on Fox News that Californians are fleeing the state for Florida. “For decades in this country, people have beaten a path to California. It’s a beautiful state, great topography, all kinds diversity in terms of the different communities you can live in, and yet they never lost population until their current governor took office,” Mr DeSantis said. “Now they’re hemorrhaging wealth, now they’re hemorrhaging people…I never saw California license plates [in Florida] until the last 4 years.” Indeed, states like California and New York lost population in 2022, while Florida saw the biggest gains in in-migration, adding nearly 319,000 people, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Experts attribute the changes to factors like the pandemic and taxes. Mr DeSantis also claimed he witnessed shocking street crime during a recent visit to what he’s taken to calling the “once-great city” of San Francisco. “I saw people defecating on the side walk. I saw people in an open-air drug market using fentanyl,” Mr DeSantis said. In a campaign ad released on Tuesday, Mr DeSantis blamed vague “leftist policies,” including a supposed refusal to prosecute criminals, and “riff raff running around” for San Francisco’s “collapse.” The remark was a likely reference to the false notion that progressive prosecutors in San Francisco refused to go after crime because they sometimes sought prison diversion programmes. Analysis from Mission Local shows that prosecutors like the recalled Chesa Boudin filed about as many charges as any other prosecutor in the city since 2011, while city police data shows overall crime and larceny theft on a downward trend in the years before and during when Mr Boudin was in office. In fact, violent crime rates have largely been declining in San Francisco since peaking in the 1990s, with the beginning of 2022 marking the lowest level of reported violent crime since 1985, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. According to data compiled by the CDC, Florida has a higher homicide rate per capita than California and a higher rate of drug overdose mortality. Read More ‘Small, pathetic man’: Inside the bitter rivalry between Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom New study says high housing costs, low income push Californians into homelessness Trump faces questions about whether he'll drag down the Republican Party after his indictments

One of Fox News’s star journalists found himself battling his own viewers after an appearance by former President Donald Trump on his show that many independent observers said was damaging for the ex-president’s credibility. Bret Baier won compliments from his colleagues in the media this week for the no-ground-given interview with the ex-president, which aired in two parts over Tuesday and Wednesday. But the reaction from the twice-indicted ex-president’s fanbase was less enthusiastic. One commenter, a blue-check Trump supporter, wrote a tweet attacking both the interview and Baier’s upcoming gig moderating the first Republican primary debate, set to be held on 23 August. They attacked Baier as a “Murdoch mouthpiece” and suggested that Mr Trump should skip the Fox debate. A second commenter then seemingly admitted that Mr Trump had said something incriminating during their discussion, while questioning whether the journalist had coordinated with the Department of Justice. “Bret and Martha [MacCallum], two anti-Trumpers, will be moderating the first GOP debate. Why the hell would Trump show up to that? Especially after this interview that was actually a debate between Trump & Murdoch mouthpiece. Remember Murdoch’s are all in for DeSanctimonious!” wrote the first critic, Alex Bruesewitz. The second tweeter added: “The big question is did @BretBaier have any contact with the DOJ to try and entrap @realDonaldTrump into incriminating himself. Who wrote his questions. The DOJ will be using his interview against him.” Baier flatly rejected that conspiracy in a short statement: “I’ll answer that. No. I wrote my own questions. And frankly I didn’t know that I would get much on the indictment questions assuming he might say he couldn’t talk about it. Thanks for watching.” He would later go on to approvingly retweet another viewer who took a mocking shot at a third critic of the Trump interivew. The comments are a sign of the increasingly tight spot that Baier and others on Fox’s news side find themselves in. Their network faces a ratings slide following the ouster of star opinion host Tucker Carlson, and increasing disfavour from the channel’s largely pro-Trump audience over any journalism that conflicts with the former president’s conspiracy theories. Baier struck a nerve with the former president in the segment of the interview which aired on Tuesday, as he rejected Mr Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen and pressed him to admit that all of his efforts to prove otherwise had failed. But that wasn’t the only moment when the two men clashed during the discussion. Baier would also question Mr Trump about his new push to expand use of the death penalty to those convicted of selling narcotics, a plan that would likely have little if any chance of success of being passed into law. The Fox journalist noted that a woman Mr Trump took public credit and admiration for having her sentence commuted would have instead been executed under his plan, forcing the ex-president to back off his hardline stance and qualify that degrees of severity would ideally be considered under this imaginary system. Read More Trump claimed the Durham report would uncover the ‘crime of the century.’ Here’s what it really found Capitol rioter filmed shocking police officer with stun gun shouts ‘Trump won!’ as he is sentenced Ousted incumbents, key matchups set: Takeaways from Virginia's primary election Trump drops below 50 per cent among GOP voters in new CNN poll following second indictment Television veteran Geraldo Rivera says he's quitting Fox News' political combat show 'The Five' John Eastman’s expert witness in disbarment hearing is barred for not being an expert

Democrats booed and heckled Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday as the GOP voted to censure California representative Adam Schiff for his efforts to investigate the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. On cameras of the House floor, Democrats could be seen rallying near the lectern and chanting, “Shame!” as the Speaker announced the result of the vote, which he said was punishment for “misleading the American public.” On Wednesday, the House voted 213-to-209 largely on party lines to censure Mr Schiff. In a speech from the floor, the California Democrat remained defiant, saying he was being punished for pursuing the truth by a party that’s attached itself to conspiratorial thinking about the election. “You who are the authors of the big lie about the last election must condemn the truth tellers and I stand proudly before you,” Mr Schiff said. “No matter how many false justifications or slanders you level against me, you but indict yourselves,” he added. “As Liz Cheney said, there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone. But your dishonor will remain.” New York Democrat Dan Goldman agreed, calling the censure vote a “phony ploy to punish Adam Schiff for speaking truth to power” in a floor speech of his own. This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary