Drill rappers who Trump invited on stage at huge Bronx rally have been indicted over conspiracy to commit murder

By STEPHEN M. LEPORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED:  24 May 2024


Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow, the two drill rappers Donald Trump welcomed on stage at his massive rally in the Bronx Thursday, are charged as co-conspirators in a 2023 murder case.

Trump campaigned before thousands of fans in one of the most heavily Democratic and non-white areas of the US on Thursday in a push to do what his critics believe is unthinkable: win New York in 2024.

At the rally, he brought the pair of rappers on stage. Trump admired the dazzling diamond grills on their teeth, with the bling-loving Republican joking he wanted to get one for himself.

Sheff G - real name Michael Williams - is a 25-year-old rapper whose songs and videos have millions of YouTube views and Spotify streams.

He's also a central figure in the gang case unveiled by Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez over a year ago, while he was serving a separate attempted weapons possession sentence.

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Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow, the two drill rappers Donald Trump welcomed on stage at his massive rally in the Bronx Thursday, are charged as co-conspirators in a 2023 murder case
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Donald Trump brings huge crowd to Bronx as he invites rappers on stage

Sleepy Hallow - real name Tegan Chambers, 24 - has close to 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He faces conspiracy charges in the gang case. Both he and Sheff G have pleaded not guilty.

Images captured on Thursday show Sheff G walking into the park where the rally took place with cameras following him as teenage boys seem visibly excited at spotting the rapper. One of them said, 'Oh my God. It's Sheff G.'

Toward the end of his speech on Thursday, Trump asked his supporters, 'Does everybody know Sheff G? Where is Sheff G?' before also introducing Sleepy Hallow.

'President Trump, my man,' Sheff G was heard saying before Trump gestured to him to approach the microphone.

'One thing I want to say: They are always going to whisper your accomplishments and shout your failures. Trump is going to shout the wins for all of us,' Sheff G told the crowd before Sleepy Hallow moved to the microphone to utter Trump's slogan 'Make America Great Again.'

A spokesman for Trump´s campaign was asked about whether the campaign knew about the charges and whether it was the former president who sought the rappers´ support or the other way around.

'As Sheff G said: `They always whisper your accomplishments and shout your failures.´' campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded in an email.

A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, which provides protection for Trump and secures his rallies, did not respond to a request for comment about Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow's appearance on stage.

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Sheff G - real name Michael Williams - is a 25-year-old rapper whose songs and videos have millions of YouTube views and Spotify streams

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Sleepy Hallow - real name Tegan Chambers, 24 - has close to 11 million monthly listeners on Spotify. He faces conspiracy charges in the gang case

Both Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow are due back in court next month. Sheff G´s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Friday that 'intense litigation' was ongoing and 'we´re cautiously optimistic that Mr. Williams will be exonerated.'

A message seeking comment on the case was left with Sleepy Hallow´s attorney.

After being paroled in his weapons case in June 2023, Sheff G was held on the new charges until last month, when a judge set bail at $1.5 million cash.

Sleepy Hallow was released on $200,000 bail in May 2023.

Prosecutors say Sheff G´s money fueled and rewarded multiple shootings as members of the 8 Trey Crips and affiliated 9 Ways gangs affiliates battled foes.

He treated Sleepy Hallow and others to a steak dinner to celebrate an October 2020 shooting that killed a purported member of a rival gang and injured five others, prosecutors say.

'It is how, in part, Sheff G and Tegan Chambers - Sleepy Hallow - assert influence, right? Because they take people out, and they´re able to spend money, and they´re able to encourage others to do some of the gang violence that´s just critically important to them and their status in the community,' Gonzalez said at a May 2023 news conference with New York Mayor Eric Adams. Both are Democrats.

Prosecutors have said they have surveillance video, text messages, social media posts, cell phone data and more to back up the allegations.

While Gonzalez has noted that the rappers´ songs refer to gang retaliation and some of their rivals, he has said the lyrics weren´t used as evidence.


Rappers Sheff G, right, also known as Michael Williams, and Sleepy Hallow, also known as Tegan Chambers, join the Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in the south Bronx

Both Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow are due back in court next month. Sheff G´s attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Friday that 'intense litigation' was ongoing and 'we´re cautiously optimistic that Mr. Williams will be exonerated'

Prosecutors also say Sheff G chauffeured three co-defendants to and from an April 2021 shooting that targeted a gang rival but instead hit two bystanders.

The DA´s office declined to comment Friday on the case.

U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Democrat who represents the Bronx in Congress, said it is an offensive strategy for Trump to associate with people who are accused of violent crimes in order to appeal to Black voters.

'The conflation of communities of color with criminality is a racist trope that Donald Trump repeats,' said Torres, who is Black.

Trump called other speakers to the stage Thursday, including Republican Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and the Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr., a former Democratic city council member in New York and state senator.


Prosecutors also say Sheff G chauffeured three co-defendants to and from an April 2021 shooting that targeted a gang rival but instead hit two bystanders
Supercut: Trump boasts about his history and future plans in the Bronx

The rally crowd in the South Bronx's Crotona Park extended far beyond the 3,500 slated to appear, and thousands were forced to wait outside the fenced in area hoping to catch a glimpse of the 45th president.

Worryingly for the Democrats, the rally was packed with black and Hispanic people - two groups who Joe Biden has been accused of taking for granted - and who make up most of the population of the surrounding area.

As Trump fights to win minority voters, the real estate mogul delivered an hour-and-a-half speech about the decline of a city he loves - vowing to 'make New York City great again' and be the first Republican to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

'Everyone wanted to be here,' he told the crowd who waited for six hours to hear Trump. 'But sadly this is now a city in decline.'

'But if a New Yorker can't save this country, no-one can.'

UN human rights office decries beheadings, other violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state


The fighting comes in the context of a civil war in Myanmar that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / May 24, 2024

A Myanmar police officer stands on a road as they provide security at a checkpoint in Buthidaung, Rakhine State, western Myanmar on May 28, 2017. The (AP Photo, File)

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights office warned Friday of “frightening and disturbing reports” about the impact of new violence in Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, pointing to new attacks on Rohingya civilians by the military and an ethnic armed group fighting it.

Spokesperson Liz Throssell of the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights cited the burning of the town of Buthidaung, as well as air strikes, reports of shootings at unarmed fleeing villagers, beheadings and disappearances as part of the violence in the northern part of Rakhine in recent weeks.

“We are receiving frightening and disturbing reports from northern Rakhine state in Myanmar of the impacts of the conflict on civilian lives and property," she told a regular briefing in Geneva. “Some of the most serious allegations concern incidents of killing of Rohingya civilians and the burning of their property.”

She said tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced in recent days amid fighting in Buthidaung, citing evidence from satellite images, testimonies and online video indicating that the town has been largely burned. A battle begun in neighboring Maungdaw presented “clear and present risks of a serious expansion of violence," she added.
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Throssell denounced signs of new attacks on Rohingya civilians by Myanmar's military and the Arakan Army, the well-armed military wing of the Rakhine ethnic minority movement that seeks autonomy from the central government.

She pointed to one survivor's account about dozens of dead bodies as he fled Buthidaung, while others spoke of abuse and extortion from the Arakan Army forces.

A statement issued online late Friday by the United League of Arakan, the political arm of the Arakan Army, said civilians in the battle zone had taken refuge in areas controlled by its forces, adding that it "has been doing its utmost to safeguard and care for these Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as valued citizens, irrespective of race or religion.”

However, Rohingya activists have blamed the Arakan Army for most of the current destruction. The ethnic Rakhine nationalists whose cause the armed group espouses have long expressed antipathy towards the Rohingya.

The fighting comes in the context of a civil war in Myanmar that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to an armed resistance opposing military rule.

The pro-democracy fighters are allied with several of the ethnic minority groups that have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades, and have well-trained military forces.

The Arakan Army had a loose cease-fire with the military government until last October, when it joined with two other ethnic armed groups to capture territory in northeastern Myanmar.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday said the United States was “deeply troubled” by reports of increased violence in Rakhine state, and called on the military and armed groups to protect civilians and allow humanitarian access.

The Rohingya were the targets of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign incorporating rape and murder that saw an estimated 740,000 flee to neighboring Bangladesh as their villages were burned down by government troops in 2017.

They have lived in Myanmar for generations, but they are widely regarded by many in the country’s Buddhist majority, including members of the Rakhine minority, as having illegally migrated from Bangladesh. The Rohingya face a great amount of prejudice and are generally denied citizenship and other basic rights.

SPACE

See Five Dazzling New Images of the Cosmos, Captured by Europe’s Space Telescope

With its visible and infrared photography, Euclid—known as the “dark universe detective”—is helping astronomers better understand dark matter and dark energy

Euclid’s new image of star-forming region Messier 78, a nebula that lies in the constellation Orion. ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi


SMART NEWS | MAY 24, 2024
Christian Thorsberg
Daily Correspondent
SMITHSONIAN

Launched into space last summer, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid telescope is imaging the universe and shedding light on cosmological mysteries. Now, scientists have offered a new glimpse of its photographic and scientific potential.

This week, the agency released five new images—the telescope’s second batch—which included breathtaking views of galaxy clusters, a dust-wrapped stellar nursery and one of the largest spiral galaxies beyond the nearby universe.

“I’ve been absolutely amazed at the images I’ve seen,” Mark Cropper, the lead scientist on Euclid’s visual imaging camera and an astrophysicist at University College London, tells the Guardian’s Ian Sample. “These are not just pretty pictures; these images are packed with new information.”

Euclid has been nicknamed the “dark universe detective” for what astronomers hope will be its ability to glean new information about dark matter, which composes 27 percent of the cosmos and helps to bring galaxies together, and dark energy, which makes up an estimated 68 percent of the universe and is the force behind its mysterious expansion.

Over the next six years, the powerful space telescope will peer as far as ten billion light-years across the cosmos, constructing the largest 3D map of the universe to date. Because dark matter bends and warps light, a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, astronomers will study light in Euclid’s images to get a better idea of how dark matter is distributed in space.

A close-up from within Euclid's full image of galaxy cluster Abell 2390. Some galaxies appear as distorted arcs and others appear multiple times—both are effects of dark matter's gravity warping light. ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

This distortion effect was captured in the new image of Abell 2390, a galaxy cluster 2.7 billion light-years away in the constellation Pegasus. Some 90 percent of the cluster’s mass is attributed to dark matter. Several of the 50,000 galaxies in Euclid’s photograph are impacted by the invisible substance, which can also create mirror images of a single object.

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“One of the things we see is these giant arcs here, these smooth arcs that are curved, those are actually very distant galaxies that have their shapes hugely distorted by the gravity of the dark matter in the cluster,” Jason Rhodes, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said during an ESA broadcast, reports Space.com’s Robert Lea. “And some of these arcs are even multiple images of the same very distant galaxy.”

Euclid’s new view of galaxy cluster Abell 2764 ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Euclid’s new image of galaxy cluster Abell 2390 ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

In another scene closer to home—roughly 1,300 light-years away and still within the Milky Way galaxy—Euclid photographed newly formed planets and stars within Messier 78, a star-forming nebula in the Orion constellation. The telescope captured more than 300,000 new objects within this single image, and astronomers are now examining the ratio of newly formed stars to other objects.

Euclid’s image of the nebula also uncovered free-floating “rogue” planets just four times the mass of Jupiter, which could also shed light on the effects of dark matter. Messier 78’s dusty clouds would normally shield these subjects from view, but the telescope’s infrared vision can peer through the wispy matter.Euclid’s new image of star-forming region Messier 78, a nebula that lies in the constellation Orion. ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Other discoveries include a never-before-seen dwarf galaxy, found within a new image of NGC 6744, a spiral galaxy 30 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo. This discovery was “a surprise, given that this galaxy has been intensively studied in the past,” according to the ESA. The movement of NGC 6744’s dust, gas and stars will help researchers glean a better understanding of how spiral galaxies get their shape—and how these components are linked to star formation.Euclid’s new image of spiral galaxy NGC 6744, which is 30 million light-years away. ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Finally, Euclid imaged the Dorado galaxy group, which lies 62 million light-years away. The photograph’s centerpiece comprises the group’s two main galaxies, which are “evolving and merging… with beautiful tidal tails and shells visible as a result of ongoing interactions,” per the ESA.

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The new observations underscore how common interactions between galaxies are.

“It’s very rare to find an isolated galaxy,” Jean-Charles Cuillandre, an astronomer at CEA Paris-Saclay, tells the New York Times’ Katrina Miller. “That’s what we’re finding out.”

Euclid’s new image of the Dorado group of galaxies captures galactic interactions. ESA / Euclid / Euclid Consortium / NASA; Image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

These images and others were acquired in just 24 hours of observation, ahead of the telescope’s main survey of the sky. With these new views, Euclid captured 11 million objects in visible light and five million objects in infrared light. Its next batch of images is set to be released in March 2025.

“Euclid is a unique, ground-breaking mission, and these are the first datasets to be made public—it’s an important milestone,” Valeria Pettorino, a physicist and Euclid project scientist with the ESA, says in a statement. “This space telescope intends to tackle the biggest open questions in cosmology… And these early observations clearly demonstrate that Euclid is more than up to the task.”




Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.

NASA will soon provide advanced training to Indian astronauts for joint mission to International Space Station: Eric Garcetti

Garcetti made these remarks while speaking at the 'US-India Commercial Space Conference

PTI Washington Published 25.05.24

Eric GarcettiFile

NASA will soon provide advanced training to Indian astronauts to send a joint mission to the International Space Station this year or shortly thereafter, US envoy to India Eric Garcetti has said.

Garcetti made these remarks while speaking at the "US-India Commercial Space Conference: Unlocking Opportunities for US & Indian Space Startups," hosted by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and the US Commercial Service (USCS) in Bengaluru on Friday.

“NASA will soon provide advanced training to Indian astronauts, with the goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station, hopefully, this year or shortly thereafter, which was one of the promises of our leaders' visit together," Garcetti said.

"And soon we will launch the NISAR satellite from ISRO's Satish Dhawan Space Center to monitor all resources, including ecosystems, the Earth's surface, natural hazards, sea level rise, and the cryosphere,” Garcetti said, according to a USIBC press statement issued here.

NISAR is a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

“You see whether it's the pursuit of peace and the peaceful use of space, things like the Artemis Accord, we are hand in hand, arm in arm. When it comes to prosperity and jobs, which is a big part of this conference today, it can be produced by startups in this sector, good-paying, high-tech jobs for Indians and for Americans. Space is right there,” Garcetti said.

The Artemis Accords lay out a framework for collaborating nations' safe exploration of the moon and beyond.

The day-long event in Bengaluru saw the participation from senior officials from both the US and Indian governments, including Garcetti, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Dr. S Somanath, representatives from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Government of India, as well as prominent leaders from the commercial space industry, industry stakeholders, venture capitalists, and market analysts.

“I must salute the visionary leadership that we have in both nations in India and the US for engaging in such an accord which looks at the moon as a sustainable place for all of us to come and work together,” Somnath said in his remarks.

“The connection between the Indian partners and also the US partners in critical technologies and specifically in the space sector is really becoming stronger. And I’m very happy about that type of engagement and the options available to the industries and the US business indigenous to connect with India in the emerging space sector as well,” he said.

Expressing optimism about the prospects of US-India collaboration in space, USIBC president Atul Keshap described it as a new chapter in the US-India space partnership. This week has been particularly fruitful, with USIBC and USCS joining forces to champion these two iCET space deliverables, he said.

“The conference highlights the deepening synergy between our two free nations in pioneering space exploration and innovation by the leading democracies. Through strategic alliances and collaborative efforts, we're on the brink of achieving extraordinary milestones and expanding the horizons of space exploration beyond what we once imagined," Keshap said.

The US-India Commercial Space Conference underscores the importance of fostering strategic partnerships to drive innovation and propel the space industry forward,” said USIBC managing director Alexander Slater.

“This is the next step in USIBC’s continued commitment to fostering bilateral cooperation among leading companies and startups from both countries to unlock new opportunities for economic growth, job creation and technological leadership. It builds on our work in February when we hosted the second edition of INDUS-X in New Delhi, which promoted similar opportunities for innovation and cooperation in new and emerging defence technologies,”he said.

Meanwhile, senior defence officials from India and the US have met in Washington to discuss opportunities to strengthen space cooperation and identified potential areas for collaboration with the American industry.

Meeting for the second annual US-India Advanced Domains Defence Dialogue (AD3), the officials discussed a wide range of bilateral cooperation.

The American team was led by Vipin Narang, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defence for Space Policy, and the visiting Indian delegation was led by Vishwesh Negi, India's Joint Secretary for International Cooperation.

During this year's Dialogue, Narang and Negi discussed opportunities to strengthen space cooperation and identified potential areas for collaboration with US industry, said Department of Defence Spokesperson Cmdr. Jessica Anderson.

Among a group of US and Indian defence officials, the two co-chaired the first US-India principal-level tabletop discussion that explored areas to enhance cooperation in the space domain.

They agreed to advance AD3 through regular working group discussions.

The visiting Indian Government delegation also engaged with the US Space Command, the Joint Commercial Operations Cell, and artificial intelligence experts from across the US Department of Defence, Anderson said.

EU Policy. Key Commission space law proposal expected in weeks

Copyright ESA-P. Carril

By Paula Soler

Published on 24/05/2024 - 

First awaited in April, the so-called 'EU space law', one of Commission president Ursula von der Leyen's priorities for 2024, will be proposed "in the coming weeks", a senior EU official told reporters during a space ministerial meeting on Thursday (23 May).

The proposal aims to create the first common rules for member states to ensure Europe's role as an enabler of space services, protect EU infrastructure against security threats and ensure safe satellite traffic to avoid increasing the risk of collisions.

Member states have urged the Commission to adopt it swiftly, given the current geopolitical context and the fact that 11 EU countries, including Belgium, France and Germany, already have space legislation at national level.

“We believe that there is clearly a momentum to reduce the heterogeneity of legal frameworks in the EU in order to create a European single market for space,” Thomas Dermine, Belgium's state secretary for recovery and strategic investment told a press conference.

But when asked for a concrete timeline for the proposal, the European Commission's director-general for space, Timo Pesonen, noted that the institution is working "intensively" to have it ready in the coming weeks.

Pesonen did not rule out the possibility of publishing it before the start of a new mandate, arguing that the EU executive has powers until the last day of the legislature, so the decision on when to table the proposal will depend on the current or next European Commission president.

Earlier in April, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton told MEPs that the EU executive would need more time to prepare the proposal because of the election campaign, scheduled for 6-9 June.

Europe must increase investment in space

Member states also discussed competitiveness in the space sector, looking at the challenges and opportunities for Europe to secure a position in the new era of the space economy, where countries such as the US and China are leading the way.

“We have an issue. Access to money in Europe is much more difficult than in the US, for example,” European Space Agency (ESA) head Josef Aschbacher told a small group of journalists, including Euronews, on Thursday.

Aschbacher stressed his concern about not attracting funding at the same speed and scale as other global players, noting that both commercialisation and attracting capital are his top priorities for 2025.

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The senior Commission official echoed the same sentiments: "We need a lot more investments in our space industry. We are still dependent on non-EU supply chains, including, for example, a temporary lack of autonomous access to space."

Since last year, Europe's access to space has relied on the services of SpaceX, a project of US billionaire Elon Musk, following repeated delays of the European launcher Ariane 6 since 2020.

At Thursday's meeting, member states agreed to call for a stronger development of Europe's space industry by increasing both public and private investment through public procurement and a good risk management framework.

"Europe has a limited capacity to rapidly upscale production when needed, and limited access to global space markets," Pesonen argued.

The ESA's director general believes the bloc's model needs a transformation that ensures speed and access to money - and relies on good ideas and talent.

“We have the last one, but the other two, we are ready to work on,” Aschbacher said.

UK 

Building society buys Co-op Bank for £780m

22 hours ago
Lee Bottomley,

BBC News, West Midlands
PA Media
Coventry Building Society has bought Co-op Bank in a deal worth £780m

Coventry Building Society has finalised its £780m deal to buy the Co-operative Bank, but will not be giving its members a vote.

The purchase is subject to approval from financial regulators, but is expected to be complete in early 2025.

The financial institutions combined will have millions of customers and about £89bn worth of assets.

Both organisations will continue to operate under their current names and branding while they are integrated, which is expected to take several years.

The deal means Co-op Bank will return to a mutual structure, where it is owned by individual members rather than shareholders and investors like most UK banks.

THIS IS THE CREDIT UNION MODEL ADAPTED FROM NORTH AMERICA

Co-op Bank was part of the wider Co-op Group more than 10 years ago, before splintering off when it fell into deep financial difficulty.

It was rescued by American hedge funds and is currently owned by a group of private equity investors.

'More customers'

Both brands will stay on the high street during the time it takes to join them together, but said there will "inevitably be change over time."

Eventually they want Co-op Bank customers to become Coventry society members.

Coventry Building Society said it would benefit from having more customers, mortgage and savings balances, a wider set of finance products including current accounts, and more branches spread across the country.

It said it "considered carefully" whether to give its members the chance to vote over the acquisition, but had "conclusively determined" that it was not required.

"In coming to this decision, the CBS (Coventry Building Society) board has been informed by member surveys and focus groups which clearly signalled their priorities as maintaining our value proposition and service quality," the business said.

Coventry Building Society chief executive Steve Hughes said the two institutions combined "will be able to deliver more value to more people in the coming years."

Nick Slape, Co-op Bank's chief executive, said the deal was a "natural next step and presents an exciting opportunity".

Coventry Building Society manages about £50bn worth of mortgages and £48m worth of savings.

Co-op Bank has about 2.5m retail and business customers, and 50 branches across the country.

More than 300 buried in Papua New Guinea landslide, says local media

CLIMATE CRISIS OVERWET SOIL

A locals gather amid the damage after a landslide in Maip Mulitaka,

 Enga province, Papua New Guinea May 24, 2024 in this obtained image.]

Saturday, 25 May 2024 1

SYDNEY, May 25 — More than 300 people and over 1,100 houses were buried by a massive landslide that levelled a remote village in northern Papua New Guinea, local media reported today.

Hundreds are feared dead in the landslide that hit Kaokalam village in Enga Province, about 600 km (370 miles) northwest of capital Port Moresby, around 3am on Friday (1900 GMT on Thursday).

The landslide in the Pacific nation north of Australia buried more than 300 people and 1,182 houses, the Papua New Guinea Post Courier said, citing comments from a member of the country’s parliament, Aimos Akem. Akem did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment via social media.

More than six villages had been impacted by the landslide in the province’s Mulitaka region, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said today.

“Australia’s High Commission in Port Moresby is in close contact with PNG authorities for further assessments on the extent of the damage and casualties,” a DFAT spokesperson said in a statement.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp reported today that four bodies had been retrieved from the area after emergency teams reached the sparsely populated area, where the death toll is expected to rise.

The landslide has blocked highway access, making helicopters the only way to reach the area, the broadcaster reported.

Social media footage posted by villager Ninga Role showed people clambering over rocks, uprooted trees and mounds of dirt searching for survivors. Women could be heard weeping in the background.

Prime Minister James Marape has said disaster officials, the Defence Force and the Department of Works and Highways were assisting with relief and recovery efforts. — Reuters

UK

Voting Intention: Con 22%, Lab 44% (23-24 May 2024)

Latest YouGov Westminster voting intention figures

The latest YouGov/Times voting intention poll - our first conducted after Rishi Sunak called the general election - has the Conservatives on 22% (+1 from our previous poll on 21-22 May) while Labour are on 44% (-2).

Elsewhere, Reform UK are on 14% (+2), the Lib Dems are on 9% (no change) and the Greens are on 6% (-1).

These changes are all within the margin of error from our last poll. One noticeable change we have observed, however, is a five point increase in the proportion of people rating their likelihood to vote as a 10 out of 10, from 53% prior to the election announcement to 58% now.

This includes a full 17pt increase in the number of 18-24 year olds saying they are certain to vote. In our poll on Tuesday 35% of this age group had rated themselves 10/10 to vote, now it stands at 52%.

See full results here

WORKERS CAPITAL

UK

What will the election mean for your pension: Is the state pension 'triple lock' safe?

By TANYA JEFFERIES
, 24 May 2024

+1

Election under way: What pension promises will be made and will they be kept?

A comfortable retirement will be on the wishlist of most voters, even if it is not typically cited as a top political priority when they are polled.

The Tories and Labour will be going all out to reassure people their financial prospects are safe on their watch during the general election campaign.

But in a time of straitened public finances, both parties will also be looking to scrape up cash to fund their main priorities wherever possible in the future.

We look at the promises they are making about pensions, what they will avoid talking about during the campaign, and what they might really do after the polls close.

Find out the big issues facing pension savers and retirees.

State pension triple lock

Labour and the Tories both promised before the election was even announced they would keep the state pension 'triple lock' for the whole of the next parliament.

That is an indication of how seriously they take the fight for the support of older people, who tend to vote in higher numbers than the rest of the electorate.

The triple lock means the state pension is set by whichever is the highest of inflation, average earnings growth or 2.5 per cent.

Pensioners should therefore carry on getting decent increases in payments every year until nearly the end of the decade.

Thanks to the popular pledge, the elderly got an 8.5 per cent rise in their state pension in April, boosting the headline rate to £221.20 a week or £11,500 a year.

The basic state pension for those who retired before 2016 went up to £169.50 a week or £8,800 a year. However, older pensioners often receive hefty top-ups, via S2P or Serps, if these were earned during their working lives.

Pension industry experts are divided over the triple lock. The 2.5 per cent element keeps pushing the rate higher, even in years when earnings and inflation are flat.

Critics point out it is expensive and that pensioners are often treated more generously than the working population.

However, workers have recently seen large cuts in National Insurance which pensioners haven't benefited from, though admittedly that is because it isn't levied on people once they reach state pension age.

Meanwhile, triple lock supporters say many older people depend solely on the state pension, and are having a tough time paying food and energy bills after a nasty bout of inflation.

The UK also has the lowest state pension among rich countries based on one of the most cited international measures, although that does not tell the whole story because some nations roll their state and workplace schemes into one system.

The Tories broke the triple lock once during the pandemic, when they could credibly plead special circumstances, and it is unlikely either party will risk pensioners' wrath by doing this again. Do you agree? Take our poll.
State pension age

To afford the triple lock bill, the next Government might have to bring forward increases in the state pension age, penalising today's workers who are funding the payment increases.

The state pension age is already scheduled to rise from 66 to 67 between 2026 and 2028.

In 2028, the minimum pension age for accessing workplace and other private retirement savings will also go up, from 55 to 57.

The timing of the next rise to 68 is officially meant to happen between 2044 and 2046, which would affect those born on or after April 1977.

Several reviews have taken place, but the Tories eventually postponed a decision until the other side of the election.

The stated reason was the current level of uncertainty about the data on life expectancy, labour markets and the public finances.

During the campaign both parties will probably do their best to avoid this topic for fear of riling voters in their 40s and early 50s.
Lifetime allowance

The Tories and Labour could be at odds over the recent abolition of the £1,073,100 lifetime allowance - the total limit people can have in their pension pot without facing tax penalties.

Labour initially said that if elected they would bring it back, but then went quiet on the issue. We will probably have to wait for their manifesto to learn more.

There is a possibility the party will specifically earmark any money they would raise from well off pension savers for funding other priorities voters are likely to consider more worthy: children's school meals, training nurses, extra police officers, take your pick.

And they could try to carve out an exemption for at least some essential public sector workers like doctors and judges, but this would be contentious and challenging to implement.

Labour might yet drop the idea of reinstatement to retain the good will of doctors whose support they need to overhaul the NHS.

Meanwhile, the legacy rules after the abolition of the lifetime allowance are complicated, especially regarding tax-free lump sums.

If you have a large sum saved in a pension already you should seek financial advice from a professional to avoid costly mistakes.
Pension investing

Both main parties are likely to stick with Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Mansion House plans for using people's pension savings to help boost UK economic growth.

Labour's Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has expressed similar sentiments on unlocking pensions to support the economy, so she is expected to continue with some version of Hunt's plan should she succeed him at the Treasury.

Reeves is planning a major review of pensions if there is a change of Government.

It is unclear how far this might go, but a raid on pension tax relief - something successive Tory Chancellors have shied away from - could be on the table as a significant source of cash for other cherished projects.

The generous pension tax relief system is based on people's income tax rates of 20 per cent, 40 per cent or 45 per cent, which tilts the system in favour of the better-off because they pay more tax.

Rumours about reform usually revolve around the introduction of a flat rate, where higher and additional rate taxpayers receive a reduced level of relief, and basic rate taxpayers either get the same or a bit more than now.

A Government would be stingier in setting a new single rate if it was trying to save money, and afterwards could probably move it up and down pretty much at will

Meanwhile, the fate of a consultation on giving workers a single 'pension pot for life', which they and all employers can keep saving into throughout their careers, is uncertain.

 

Trump ‘unified reich’ video reportedly

traced to Turkish designer’s template

Kari Paul

Fri, May 24, 2024 

A video posted on social media by Donald Trump referencing a “unified reich” has been traced to a template made by a Turkish designer more than a year ago, according to a report from CNN.

Critics, including Joe Biden, condemned Trump over a video posted to his Truth Social account on Monday featuring a hypothetical headline from his second presidential term reading “industrial strength significantly increased … driven by the creation of a unified reich”.

The German word “reich” is heavily associated with Nazism, as Adolf Hitler referred to his regime as the “Third Reich”. The video raised alarm for Trump critics, who note the former president frequently echoes Nazi rhetoric – particularly in his language surrounding immigration.

According to a new report from CNN, the video was made using a template from graphic designer Enes Şimşek, who lives near Istanbul. The template was available on stock footage and video effects resource Video Hive and was created at least a year ago, the network reported, confirming that it was not created by the Trump campaign for this specific use.

Related: RFK Jr attacks Trump and Biden as he makes 2024 pitch to Libertarian voters

The Trump campaign stated the post was not an official campaign video and was reposted by a staffer who had not noticed the word.

The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

The language in the video was reportedly copied verbatim from a Wikipedia article on the first world war, which read: “German industrial strength and production had significantly increased after 1871, driven by the creation of a unified reich”.

Şimşek confirmed to CNN he put in the Wikipedia information filler text for customers to replace with their own wording, which the video shared by Trump did not do. He said he had sold 16 copies of the template at a rate of $21 each.

“When I was doing this job, I never even thought that one day such an event would happen,” Şimşek said in a blogpost explaining the incident. “[Two] days ago this template was used as Trump’s campaign video. But I guess they forgot to change some of the text when they edited the project. And things grew very mad.”

Following Trump’s posting of the video, the Biden campaign cited other previous comments and actions from Trump sympathizing with Nazism, including his claims that Hitler “did some good things” and praising neo-Nazi marchers during the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

“Donald Trump is not playing games; he is telling America exactly what he intends to do if he regains power: rule as a dictator over a ‘unified reich’,” a Biden spokesperson, James Singer, said in a statement.

“Parroting Mein Kampf while you warn of a bloodbath if you lose is the type of unhinged behavior you get from a guy who knows that democracy continues to reject his extreme vision of chaos, division and violence.”

Şimşek was told by the video tool site to remove the language from his template, which he has now done. “By the way, thank you to Trump for choosing my template,” he said.

NEVER WERE PRO LIFE

Red states are using the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade to expand the death penalty

Death penalty states want the Supreme Court to throw out its precedents and allow the execution of child rapists

By AUSTIN SARAT
SALON
PUBLISHED MAY 25, 2024

Ron DeSantis | Prison Cellhouse interior (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Even as support for the death penalty wanes across the country, Republican governors, led by Florida’s Ron DeSantis, are signing into law legislation expanding the death penalty.

Earlier this month, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a bill authorizing the death penalty for aggravated rape of a child. The law goes into effect on July 1. Lee’s decision makes Tennessee the second state, following Florida, to apply capital punishment to cases where no one is killed. A third red state, Idaho, is now considering similar legislation.

These laws, as the Death Penalty Information Center explains, “contradict longstanding Supreme Court precedent holding the death penalty unconstitutional for non-homicide crimes.” In fact, they are intended to tee up a case allowing the Supreme Court’s conservative, activist majority to overturn long-established precedent, just as it has done in other high-profile cases.

What the Supreme Court did in overturning its own precedents when it allowed states to prohibit abortion, has sent a clear message and prompted Tennessee, Florida (and maybe Idaho) to defy its long-established precedents in the area of capital punishment.

Proponents of the new laws hope that the court will extend the reach of capital punishment. They also hope to put death penalty opponents on the defensive by painting them as soft-on-crime defenders of child rapists.

Death penalty opponents must work hard to avoid falling into that trap. Their best political strategy, though it might not be a winning legal strategy, will be to say that the court should respect its own precedent rather than mounting a full-fledged campaign to explain why child rapists should not be put to death.

Before looking more closely at the Tennessee law and the political strategy behind it and the others, let’s recall what the Supreme Court has said about using the death penalty for non-homicide cases like rape.In a 7-2 decision handed down in 1977, the court found that capital punishment was “grossly disproportionate” to the crime of rape. Justice Bryon White, who wrote the majority opinion in Coker v. Georgia, turned to history to help explain that judgment.

“At no time in the last 50 years,” White said, “have a majority of the States authorized death as a punishment for rape. In 1925, 18 States, the District of Columbia, and the Federal Government authorized capital punishment for the rape of an adult female. By 1971, … that number had declined, but not substantially, to 16 States plus the Federal Government.”

That situation changed dramatically in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s 1972 decision in Furman v. Georgia striking down the death penalty as then applied. Subsequently, more than 30 states reenacted their death penalty statutes, but few reauthorized it as a punishment for rape.

As White explained, it “should also be a telling datum that the public judgment with respect to rape, as reflected in the statutes providing the punishment for that crime, has been dramatically different. In reviving death penalty laws to satisfy Furman's mandate, none of the States that had not previously authorized death for rape chose to include rape among capital felonies.”

White recognized “the seriousness of rape as a crime.” As he put it, “It is highly reprehensible, both in a moral sense and in its almost total contempt for the personal integrity and autonomy of the female victim and for the latter's privilege of choosing those with whom intimate relationships are to be established. Short of homicide, it is the ‘ultimate violation of self.’”

Still, White insisted that “in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public,…(rape) does not compare with murder, which does involve the unjustified taking of human life…. The murderer kills; the rapist, if no more than that, does not…. We have the abiding conviction that the death penalty, which ‘is unique in its severity and irrevocability,’ is an excessive penalty for the rapist who, as such, does not take human life.”

Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justice William Rehnquist, who dissented in Coker, accused the majority of “engraft(ing) their conceptions of proper public policy onto the considered legislative judgments of the States.” They branded the decision to bar the death penalty in rape cases “very disturbing.”

Three decades after Coker, in a case called Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that ruling and extended it to cover the rape of a child. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a five-justice majority, conceded that “Petitioner’s crime was one that cannot be recounted in these pages in a way sufficient to capture in full the hurt and horror inflicted on his victim or to convey the revulsion society….”

But he argued that “in determining whether the death penalty is excessive, there is a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide crimes against individual persons, even including child rape, on the other. The latter crimes may be devastating in their harm, as here, but ‘in terms of moral depravity and of the injury to the person and to the public,’… they cannot be compared to murder in their ‘severity and irrevocability.’”

Justice Samuel Alito, in a blistering dissent, said that he found it incredible that that death could never be an appropriate punishment “no matter how young the child, no matter how many times the child is raped, no matter how many children the perpetrator rapes, no matter how sadistic the crime, no matter how much physical or psychological trauma is inflicted, and no matter how heinous the perpetrator’s prior criminal record may be.”

Understanding the political danger of supporting the court’s decision, in 2008 both of the major party presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, condemned it. “I think,” Obama observed, “that the rape of a small child, 6 or 8 years old, is a heinous crime, and if a state makes a decision that… the death penalty is at least potentially applicable, that that does not violate our Constitution."

This brings us back to the present.

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The fact that Kennedy and the other justices in the Kennedy v. Louisiana majority are no longer on the Supreme Court(Alito and two of the other dissenters remain) has not been lost on the people now openly defying the Coker and Kennedy decisions. They have also been spurred on by court’s increasingly cavalier attitude toward its own precedents. Nor has the political danger that Obama recognized for those who openly oppose the death penalty for child rapists escaped notice.

Tennessee State Sen. Jack Johnson, who sponsored the bill, highlighted that both when he wrote in an op-ed he wrote last month in The Tennessean. Setting the political trap, he asked “Was the life of a rapist more valuable than the life of an innocent child who will be permanently scarred forever? In Tennessee, the answer is no.”

“Child rape,” he continued escalating the rhetorical stakes, “is the most disgraceful, indefensible act one can commit, leaving lasting emotional and psychological wounds on its victims. As a legislator, and more importantly, as a human being, our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable comes first.”

Critics of this legislation, Johnson continued, “argue that the death penalty is an unjustifiable punishment and ineffective. However, in cases where a rapist is preying on the vulnerability of a child and inflicting permanent harm on them, a severe form of justice is the consequence they must face.”

Johnson was even more direct in talking about the difference the Supreme Court's composition might make when a challenge to the Tennessee law reaches the court.

“All five justices who supported the 2008 opinion are no longer members of the U.S. Supreme Court (Kennedy, Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Breyer). Three of the four justices who authored the dissenting opinion are still sitting justices (Roberts, Alito, and Thomas). Given the makeup of the current court, there is a strong possibility that Kennedy v. Louisiana could be overturned.”

As Johnson put it, “I feel very certain that the Supreme Court believes there is a strong, compelling state interest to protect children, and we believe this Court will support Tennessee's efforts."

He may be right.

What the Supreme Court did in overturning its own precedents when it allowed states to prohibit abortion, has sent a clear message and prompted Tennessee, Florida (and maybe Idaho) to defy its long-established precedents in the area of capital punishment. As Johnson made clear, they are banking that the court will now allow death penalty states to expand the reach of capital punishment.

Doing so would not only be a backward step in the ongoing effort to end the death penalty in this country, but it would also be another sign that, as former Justice Thurgood Marshall once noted, “Power, not reason, is the new currency of this Court's decision-making.”


By AUSTIN SARAT is William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. His most recent book is "Lethal Injection and the False Promise of Humane Execution." His opinion articles have appeared in USA Today, Slate, the Guardian, the Washington Post and elsewhere.