List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

The Philippine economy expanded much slower than expected in the second quarter, reeling from the impact of above-target

When John Green’s book, The Fault in Our Stars, was first published in 2012 it rose to the top of bestseller lists. The love story about two cancer stricken teenagers won the hearts of teenagers globally and was soon turned into a movie starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. Now the book, a favourite of older teenagers, has been moved to the adult section in a library in the suburbs of Indianapolis. Green took to X, formerly called Twitter, to voice his frustrations. “This is ludicrous. It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers. Teenagers are not harmed by reading TFIOS. This is such an embarrassment to the city of Fishers,” he said. “I only have a small voice in these decisions, of course, but you won’t catch me alive or dead in Fishers, Indiana until these ridiculous policies are revoked,” he added. “Which I guess means no Top Golf or IKEA for a while.” At the local library, staff have spent hours rummaging through books and moving those that don’t comply with the board’s policy to the general section from the young adult section. Books have been targeted for language about sexuality and reproduction, profanity and criminal acts. This isn’t the first time one of Green’s books has irked administrators and parents. His book Looking for Alaska, also aimed at older teenagers, has become a regular feature on the American Library Association’s top 10 most challenged books, making the list in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2022, for being sexually explicit. In 2008, the author filmed a YouTube video titled “I Am Not A Pornographer” explaining that a school in Buffalo, New York was planning to teach Looking for Alaska to 11th graders. But some people, he said, found the book controversial so the school administrators gave parents the choice: their children could read the book or find an alternative. “But there were a few people who weren’t happy with this solution,” Green said in the clip. “These people didn’t actually have kids in the 11th grade, but no matter. They think that my book is pornographic, and that it will cause immoral thoughts and actions in children. These people believe that no one should be allowed to read the book, even those people whose parents signed the permission slip.” And now with book bans on the rise across America (2022 saw the highest number of attempted book bans), Green told The Independent earlier this year that these parent groups have rallied “to take over America’s school systems”. “There are attempts not just to ban books, but to ban entire subjects from high school curricula,” he said. “There are attempts to rewrite American history to better fit contemporary narratives around America’s purported greatness.” The book, a coming of age story with themes of loss and forgiveness, features a scene in which the main character Miles, receives oral sex from Lara, a friend. A few pages later, in a highly emotional scene, Miles kisses another character, Alaska. By juxtaposing the two scenes, Green said in the YouTube video, he attempts to show “that physical intimacy can never stand in for emotional closeness.” Yet, it’s these very scenes that have led to some seeking to ban the book. “It’s always a bummer to have your work read in bad faith,” Green told The Independent in an interview earlier this year. “It’s always a bummer when people read your work to find out what they hate about it, because that’s not, of course, why anyone writes.” Having this specific section read out of context, he adds, is “especially troubling,” because “removed from its context, it can’t do its work – which is to point out that the romantic encounter that Miles and Lara have is awkward and unfulfilling, precisely because they don’t have the emotional connection they need to have a fulfilling romantic encounter.” Read More John Green on book bans, bad faith, and the ‘history of folks trying to control what other folks can read’ Book bans in US schools increased by 28 per cent in the first half of the school year, says new report Texas county moves to restrict ‘explicit’ and ‘objectionable’ books at public libraries Tennessee educators file lawsuit challenging law limiting school lessons on race, sex and bias Jacqueline Wilson says censorship of children’s books is ‘a huge worry’ Biden reelection campaign offering joint meeting with Obama as ex-president enters 2024 fray early Biden wants to compensate New Mexico residents sickened by radiation during 1945 nuclear testing Trump campaign runs ad attacking Georgia DA who’s expected to indict him

A Portuguese court ordered Novo Banco SA to reimburse around €1.35 billion ($1.48 billion) to nine entities controlled

The share of new Black directors at S&P 500 companies fell by nearly in half in 2023, returning

The US and Saudi Arabia continue to work on a framework aimed at Saudi recognition of Israel in

A bipartisan group of four US senators wants the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department to investigate whether

Argentina’s best chance of making a comeback from the brink and taming spiraling inflation is the economy minister

The special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results obtained a search warrant for the former president’s Twitter account in January, according to newly unsealed records. Twitter was prohibited from telling Mr Trump about the search, but the platform – now called “X” – was fined $350,000 for failing to meet the deadline to produce records under court order. The company ultimately produced the records three days after that deadline, according to the filing. Twitter and the office of US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith spent several months debating whether to inform Mr Trump about the warrant, a dispute that surfaced with a Washington DC appeals court’s unsealing of a decision that upheld a lower court ruling to prohibit the platform from telling the former president about the case. A federal court agreed there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that disclosing the warrant would “seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation” by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates,” according to the decision. A footnote adds that the court “found reason to believe” that Mr Trump could “flee from prosecution”. “The government later acknowledged, however, that it had ‘errantly included flight from prosecution as a predicate’ in its application,” the footnote adds. “The district court did not rely on risk of flight in its ultimate analysis.” Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to three criminal conspiracy charges and a charge of obstruction for his attempts to overturn 2020 election results. This is a developing story Read More Trump 2020 election plan detailed in ‘fake elector’ memo as Chris Christie reacts to ‘fat pig’ attack - latest

Disgraced ex-NFL star Henry Rugs has been sentenced to between three and 10 years in prison for a fiery DUI crash that killed a woman and her dog in Las Vegas. The former Raiders wide receiver was speeding down a road in the city at up to 156mph when he smashed his Chevrolet Corvette Stingray into the back of 23-year-old Tina Tintor’s SUV in November 2021. Tintor’s vehicle was consumed by flames and she was trapped inside with her pet and died from injuries caused by the fire and the crash.

Failed Republican gubernatorial candidate and election denier Kari Lake is reportedly considering jumping into Arizona’s Senate race, Axios reported. The former news anchor and darling of the MAGA Republican right rose to prominence thanks to her promoting lies about the 2020 presidential election and calling for the decertification of election results. Last year she lost to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs but has refused to concede and has taken her complaints to courts, which have summarily rejected her attempts to overturn the election. In May, Maricopa Superior Court Judge Peter A Thompson said Ms Lake failed to prove that Maricopa, where Phoenix is located, did not verify signatures on mail-in ballots. Since then, she’s become a fixture in right-wing media and at conservative gatherings such as the Conservative Political Action Conference, where she gave the Reagan Dinner speech. Earlier this week, she campaigned for Bernie Moreno, who is running for Ohio’s Senate seat, and praised fellow MAGA Republican Sen JD Vance, who won his race. “I'm really, really excited about [Mr Vance], I'm super excited that Bernie Moreno's going to be in the Senate. And if they're in the Senate, I just might have to join them,” she said. Former president Donald Trump’s campaign praised Ms Lake and the idea of her running for Arizona’s Senate seat. “When President Trump gets back in the White House he's going to need fighters like Kari Lake in Washington, DC to help enact his Agenda 47,” senior Trump adviser Caroline Wren told Axios. Arizona’s incumbent Sen Kyrsten Sinema has not indicated whether she will seek another term in the Senate. In 2018, she became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Arizona in 30 years. But Ms Sinema left the Democratic Party to become an independent in December. Rep Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) announced he would run for Arizona’s Senate seat as a Democrat and outraised Ms Sinema in the last fundraising quarter. But despite her consistent opposition to many parts of his agenda, Ms Sinema joined President Joe Biden when he designated the greater Grand Canyon as a national monument on Tuesday. But a poll from Noble Predictive Insights showed that Ms Sinema would trail both Mr Gallego and Ms Lake in a hypothetical three-way matchup. Read More Biden to announce historic Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit Senator who once worked at a Planned Parenthood warns that Republicans are planning a national abortion ban Sinema cites bill targeting leaders of failed banks after criticism of her Wall Street ties Trump ‘fake elector’ memo details 2020 election plan as Christie reacts to new insult Ron DeSantis removes Florida’s only Black woman state prosecutor from office Senator Dianne Feinstein briefly hospitalised after fall

Senator Dianne Feinstein was briefly hospitalised on Tuesday after suffering what a spokeperson said was a “minor fall” in her California home. The fall, first reported by TMZ, is just the latest incident in a climbing number of health-related issues that have troubled the 90-year-old Feinstein in recent months and is likely to contribute to growing concerns about her ability to serve. The senior California lawmaker only recently returned to Congress after an extended absence due to illness; that departure left Democrats unable to subpoena members of the Supreme Court for a spring hearing about ethics in the nation’s highest judicial authority — though it’s unclear whether she and others on the panel had the stomach for such a move to begin with. “Senator Feinstein briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home. All of her scans were clear and she returned home,” a spokesperson told the San Francisco Chronicle. Ms Feinstein is set to retire at the end of her term next year. Her succession has sparked a major primary fight in the state of California, with three prominent members of California’s congressional delegation all vying for the job. Her staff, meanwhile, remains adamant that the aging senator remains active and completely able to perform her duties as senator. Those assertions have brushed up sharply against reports in the media of her frequent bouts of confusion throughout the halls of Congress, including numerous instances where she has been heard asking aides where they are guiding her and a recent episode during a committee hearing when the senator began calling for a vote that was already underway. Defenders of the Democratic veteran have claimed that criticisms of her performance and reports of her bouts of confusion are rooted in sexism, arguing that the same concerns are not applied equally to male politicians of similar ages. To be clear, those criticisms are far from only centred around Ms Feinstein; they recently were vocalised in regards to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell by Republicans like Nikki Haley after the former appeared to freeze and become unable to speak at a press conference, before being led away by a colleague. The latest news about Ms Feinstein comes only a week after it was revealed in a news report that she has ceded power of attorney to her daughter. Read More Nikki Haley urges McConnell and Feinstein to ‘walk away’ after recent health concerns Dianne Feinstein faces fresh pressure to step down as she passes power of attorney to daughter Mitch McConnell’s abrupt silence at press conference spurs fresh calls for term limits

Mike Pence’s ex-national security adviser praised the former vice president’s actions on January 6 despite the fact he has now criticised Mr Pence and endorsed Donald Trump, CNN reported. Retired Gen Keith Kellogg blasted Mr Pence in his endorsement of Mr Trump on Tuesday and said the former VP had displayed a “laissez-faire style unworthy of the presidency.” He specifically expressed his “his dissatisfaction with Mr Pence’s actions towards the former president.” But Marc Short, a former top aide to Mr Pence, read an email from Gen Kellogg on CNN during the assault on the Capitol telling Mr Pence that he needed to certify the 2020 presidential election results that evening. Mr Short read the email from Gen Kellogg saying he would “recommend you stay on Hill and finish the Electoral College issue TONIGHT.” When Mr Short said that was their plan, Gen Kellogg said it was “not a good… but a GREAT plan” and encouraged the former vice president to “close this thing out.” Gen Kellogg specifically criticised Mr Short in his endorsement of Mr Pence. But Mr Short said Gen Kellogg supported their actions during the assault on the Capitol. “On January 6th, Keith was clearly supporting the vice president’s actions,” Mr Short told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I know that he’s still on Donald Trump’s payroll and perhaps that’s why he’s saying something different today.” Gen Kellogg now works for the America First Policy Institute, a pro-Trump outlet that has many former Trump administration officials. But Gen Kellogg’s attorney John Coale told CNN that Mr Short’s comments were “BS” and wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Mr Short “failed” the then-vice president on January 6. Gen Kellogg endorsed Mr Trump in a statement on Tuesday that criticised Mr Pence. “While President Trump has consistently put America first, prioritizing its citizens, our economy, and global standing, Pence’s actions have often seemed more focused on political maneuvering and maintaining his image,” he said. Read More Former Trump lawyer slams ex-president’s latest legal strategy Ex-Pence adviser hammers his old boss as ‘unworthy of the presidency’ and endorses Trump