News & Current Events

[ad_1] ISLAMORADA, FLORIDA: The Everglades is more than just swamps, fan boats and alligators and restoration efforts impact more than the land between Florida's east and west coasts.Florida Bay, a body of water located between the southern end of mainland Florida and the Florida Keys, makes up about a third of Everglades National Park. High salt levels during dry periods can have fatal consequences for the plants and animals living in the region, though experts are hopeful an early rain season this year will prevent a massive sea grass die-off like those experienced in the past. Estuary of the Everglades Steve Davis, chief science officer with The Everglades Foundation, called Florida Bay the estuary of the Everglades, which is actually a giant, slow-moving river starting around Orlando and running toward the southern end of the Florida peninsula. "What that meant […]

[ad_1] KYIV: Russia and Ukraine on Sunday accused each other of violating an Easter truce announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin.Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were continuing their shelling and assaults along the front line despite Putin announcing the surprise truce.The 30-hour truce starting Saturday evening to mark the religious holiday would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.But Zelensky accused Russia of having maintained its attacks on the front line after the truce started.Russia's defence ministry in turn said it had "repelled" attempted assaults by Ukraine and accused Kyiv of launching drones and shells, causing civilian casualties.Zelensky said Sunday, citing Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky, that "an increase in Russian shelling and the use of kamikaze drones has been observed since 10:00 am (0700 GMT)".Earlier he said that the first six hours of […]

[ad_1] HILTON HEAD ISLAND: The vibe at Hilton Head Island is all about ease and relaxation. It felt like anything but that to Justin Thomas in the RBC Heritage. His two-shot lead was gone in two holes, partly because he of a one-shot penalty on the par-5 second hole when he informed the rules official his golf ball might have moved a little more than a dimple (it did).His worst swing of the day on the 11th hole put him in shallow water inside a red hazard line. He tried to play the shot and barely moved it 15 yards, but not before the mud and muck splashed into his face and led his caddie to tell him he smelled like a wet dog (he did). "That didn't seem worth it," Thomas said, loud enough for the gallery to hear […]

[ad_1] Renaud Camus, a French writer and philosopher known for his anti-immigration views, has been barred from entering the UK, British newspaper The Telegraph reported, noting that no official reason was provided for the ban. Camus had planned to visit the UK later this month for a speaking engagement. He also said he was scheduled to participate in a future debate at the Oxford Union. The author is planning to appeal the ban with help from the Free Speech Union, an organisation led by Lord Young, a Conservative peer in the House of Lords. Lord Young said, “We’ve reached out to him to see if he’d like any help in appealing this decision, and he said yes. So I anticipate that we are going to be getting an immigration lawyer on the case.” He also criticised the timing of the […]

[ad_1] File photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote a message of unity and faith on the occasion of Easter Sunday, as he accused Russian forces of breaching a temporary ceasefire, earlier declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin.“Evil may have its hour, but God will have His day,” Zelenskyy posted on X. In the post, he invoked the suffering and resurrection of Christ to inspire hope for peace and victory. “May evil’s hour end. May the day of life arrive. The day of peace. The day of Ukraine. The day that lasts for centuries,” he wrote. “Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”, he further wrote.His message came as both sides accused each other of violating the 30-hour ceasefire announced by Moscow from Saturday, 6:00 pm to Sunday midnight. Despite the declaration, Zelenskyy said Russian troops continued […]

[ad_1] At least 249 dead as Syria’s land mines continue to kill civilians months after civil war ends (Picture credit: AP) More than four months after Syria’s civil war ended with the fall of Bashar Assad on December 8, 2024, the country remains haunted by a hidden threat, land mines and unexploded remnants of war. These devices have killed at least 249 people and injured 379 more, including 60 children, since the conflict officially ceased, according to data shared by the International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO).Suleiman Khalil, 21, from Qaminas village in southern Idlib, is one such victim. While harvesting olives with two friends, Khalil stepped on a mine. “At first, I thought I’d died. I didn’t think I would survive this,” he told AP. His left leg was wounded in the first blast, and his right leg was blown […]

[ad_1] Pope Francis did not meet US vice president JD officially in Rome; instead, Vance had a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin on behalf of the Vatican.The pope, who recently recovered from pneumonia, also skipped the Good Friday service at St Peter’s Basilica attended by Vance, although he has returned to limited public engagements—including a surprise visit to a Roman prison on Holy Thursday.Inside Vatican sources later told Sky News that Vance briefly greeted the pope at his residence, but no details were released. Vance officially, and the Vatican made no mention of any private meeting in its formal statements.Why didn’t the Pope meet Vance?Tensions have been high since Vance accused the Church of using migrant advocacy for financial gain. In response, the pope called mass deportations a “disgrace” and reaffirmed the Church’s duty to love all, without exception.” In […]

[ad_1] Kerry Kennedy, daughter of former senator Robert F Kennedy Sr, criticised the Trump administration and her brother, Robert F Kennedy Jr, for releasing records related to her father’s 1968 assassination. The files, made public on Good Friday, included over 10,000 pages of documents, handwritten notes by convicted killer Sirhan Sirhan, and graphic autopsy images. Kerry was just eight years old when her father was shot dead at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California Democratic primary. "It was hard to be an eight-year-old girl who lost her father to a man with a gun," she wrote in a heartfelt post on X.. “As of yesterday — Good Friday — it will be hard in a new and unimaginable way.” She said that the newly released images make it painful for family members to see their father […]

[ad_1] US president Donald Trump has called ranked-choice voting a "fraudulent joke" and a threat to democracy, shortly after Democrat Barbara Lee was elected as mayor of Oakland, California, through this very system."Ranked-choice voting is one of the greatest threats to democracy. It is totally and very fraudulent joke," president Trump posted on Truth Social.Barbara Lee, known for her progressive stance and long-standing service in California politics, defeated former city councillor Loren Taylor. The final result came after nine rounds of vote tabulation, giving Lee just over 52% of the vote to Taylor’s 47%, according to Alameda County election officials.Barbara Lee wins tight race to become Oakland's next mayor-elect with Loren Taylor concedingWhat is ranked-choice voting?Ranked-choice voting, also called preferential voting, allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference instead of picking just oneIf a candidate receives more than […]

[ad_1] A small aircraft with four people on board crashed Saturday morning in a field near Trilla, a rural part of Illinois, around 65 miles south of Champaign, New York Times reported. The crash occurred at approximately 10:15 a.m. and prompted an immediate response from emergency crews and state police. Illinois state police described the incident as “an active and ongoing fatal aircraft investigation” but did not specify how many of the four individuals died. Debris from the single-engine Cessna 180 was found scattered across a nearby roadway, which remained closed for several hours.Deadly plane crash under investigation in central Illinois The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed that the aircraft went down about 12 miles from Coles County Memorial Airport in Mattoon. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched investigations to determine the cause of […]