2026-05-28T21:49:28Z https://yabu.me babysandpiper https://yabu.me/npub18dmla6a0qa3ez4llhdeengtn4lntrz46tzk4hzwymcmjmkg74tvqm5p5hr https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs8n75ezk8xcs38v0t4p9d3hzeltfxk3e2l0qg79t38lcwx9d7799gzyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dskhsmtn France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at reducing the country’s ballooning deficit, boosting its economy and preventing it being “crushed” by debt.<br/><br/>Outlining the 2026 budget on Tuesday, Bayrou suggested Easter Monday and 8 May, when France commemorates Victory Day, marking the end of the second world war, although he said he was open to other options.<br/><br/>The centrist prime minister said: “The entire nation has to work more so that the activity of the country as a whole increases, and so that France’s situation improves. Everyone will have to contribute to the effort.”<br/><br/>France is under pressure to bring its public deficit, running at 5.8% of GDP, under the 3% figure required by EU rules, and to rein in €3.3tn of public debt – on which the annual interest, of €60bn, could soon become its biggest budget outlay. 2025-07-15T22:54:30Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsxve9w2kzqhns03gksrlnqkt5umy6c6f4fd2m7066hyaflgsyqf6gzyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dssn3xp8 Rosie O’Donnell fired right back at Donald Trump after he threatened to revoke her U.S. citizenship in a post on Truth Social on Saturday morning.<br/><br/>The comedian and former talk show host, a longtime critic of the president, was — like Trump — born in New York to one American-born parent and one immigrant parent.<br/><br/>In a blistering response to his threat, she called him “King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan,” a reference to a much-hated, sadistic, authoritarian character from _Game of Thrones._ 2025-07-12T23:14:23Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsyrdzxllxsn869cp3xh764s8ay2cs38ktjt8w52hupgp4qk59sewgzyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64ds7jftgz Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist who was detained by the Trump administration for months, have filed a claim for $20m in damages against the administration, alleging Khalil was falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted and smeared as an antisemite as the government sought to deport him over his prominent role in campus protests.<br/><br/>The filing – a precursor to a lawsuit under the Federal Tort Claims Act – names the Department of Homeland Security, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the state department.<br/><br/>Khalil, 30, was released from US immigration detention last month after having been held for more than three months over his activism against Israel’s war on Gaza. He has become the most high-profile of the students who have been arrested by the Trump administration for their pro-Palestinian activism. 2025-07-10T22:34:44Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs2v9sj875j6lp625ha8lsn0x0fdxwr2wymspg6k30t7rj0aynx8mszyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64ds082led If Arpineh Masihi could vote, she would have cast her ballot for Donald Trump. She&#39;s a devout supporter of the US president – even now that she&#39;s locked up as an illegal immigrant.<br/><br/>&#34;He&#39;s doing the right thing because lots of these people don&#39;t deserve to be here,&#34; Arpineh told the BBC over the phone from the Adelanto immigrant detention centre in California&#39;s Mojave Desert.<br/><br/>&#34;I will support him until the day I die. He&#39;s making America great again.&#34;<br/><br/>In 2008, she was convicted of burglary and grand theft and was sentenced to two years in prison. An immigration judge revoked her Green Card, which is a common practice. But because she is a Christian Armenian Iranian, the judge allowed her to remain in the country instead of being deported. 2025-07-10T03:04:57Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsrsh5806w8kh998nwj9qlukgtpf8rfchngdrh2gw89j0dfnpxe2aczyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64ds868gne **Diquat is banned in the UK, EU, China and other countries. The US has resisted calls to regulate it**<br/><br/>The herbicide ingredient used to replace glyphosate in Roundup and other weedkiller products can kill gut bacteria and damage organs in multiple ways, new research shows.<br/><br/>The ingredient, diquat, is widely employed in the US as a weedkiller in vineyards and orchards, and is increasingly sprayed elsewhere as the use of controversial herbicide substances such as glyphosate and paraquat drops in the US.<br/><br/>But the new piece of data suggests diquat is more toxic than glyphosate, and the substance is banned over its risks in the UK, EU, China and many other countries. Still, the EPA has resisted calls for a ban, and Roundup formulas with the ingredient hit the shelves last year. 2025-07-06T15:25:39Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsdky87xtudstcyujg3xwfrr04px7pn6mztyemth0ejun2a4n2a0zszyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dsxzplk3 **What the senator claimed was a difficult decision was just a case of backroom deals and abandoned principles.**<br/><br/>When the Republican-controlled Senate passed the disastrous megabill on Tuesday, the deciding vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The Alaskan lawmaker, who has long claimed to be a moderate, got over the finish line the bill for Donald Trump’s priorities, which would send billions of dollars to ICE, extend tax cuts for the wealthy, kick large abortion providers out of the Medicaid program, and knock millions of low-income people off their health insurance.<br/><br/>Murkowski cast this vote just a week after she suggested in a podcast interview that she’d consider becoming an independent and caucusing with Senate Democrats. She cast this vote, which could shutter nearly 200 Planned Parenthood clinics, after repeatedly painting herself as “pro choice.” She cast this vote after Planned Parenthood called the bill a “backdoor abortion ban” and said it could eliminate one in four abortion providers nationwide.<br/><br/>As Bolts Magazine Editor-in-Chief Daniel Nichanian noted after the vote: “The Senate’s small-state ultra-bias is never more maddening than when one senator uses it to get benefits for her 740,000 constituents while openly acknowledging the bill she’s supporting will harm the nation’s 339 million other residents.” 2025-07-04T11:06:29Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsgpv3n8z9s278gzvwdx9fafleaxf3zp9s7c76lfvghqxvpjuqq62szyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dserumr6 **Former president makes thinly veiled swipe at US president’s cuts to HIV and aids initiative**<br/><br/>George W Bush has issued a rare critique of Donald Trump over his shuttering of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).<br/><br/>The former president joined Barack Obama and U2 singer Bono in an emotional video call farewell with staff at the agency on Monday when it officially ceased operations.<br/><br/>After six decades, the humanitarian organisation created by former president John F Kennedy to promote US national security by boosting prosperity and goodwill abroad, is being absorbed into the State Department under the supervision of Marco Rubio. 2025-07-02T02:11:46Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs2t3ep3jgx5cjhnkkjhsz8tamde8w8utpankm9xtqrfmxzgyeskzczyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dstuq2nx **Three prominent researchers warn about the current existential threat in the United States**<br/><br/>Helmut Schwarz has been reading about what happened to science during the rise of Adolf Hitler, almost a century ago.<br/><br/>The German chemist just received the Frontiers of Knowledge Award from the BBVA Foundation in Spain, due to his contributions to the field of catalysis. For him, there are parallels between the situation in Nazi Germany and Trump’s United States.<br/><br/>“From 1900 to 1932, a third of all Nobel Prizes went to Germany, more than to the U.S. and the U.K. combined,” he tells EL PAÍS. He and two other scientists sat down with EL PAÍS in Bilbao, where they received their awards.<br/><br/>“When Hitler came to power,” he continues, “German science — which led the world — completely disintegrated. But Hitler thought that wouldn’t be a problem,” he continues. Now, Donald Trump’s administration views universities — supposed hotbeds of progressive ideology — as the enemy. He wants to bring them under his control. “In my opinion, the threat isn’t immediate, but it’s very important in the long term,” Schwarz adds. 2025-06-30T11:10:40Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqs2kl2aj2692kdc4gfkw9jngu8m6clehaefe2z5snrq09rlax3e7jgzyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dsjgu50w Gavin Newsom is taking a page right out of Donald Trump’s media playbook.<br/><br/>The California governor accused Fox News of defamation in a lawsuit Friday morning, alleging the network should fork over $787 million after host Jesse Watters claimed Newsom lied about his phone calls with Trump, who ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles this month. Newsom’s lawyers argue Watters’ program misleadingly edited a video of Trump to support the claim.<br/><br/>The Democratic likely presidential hopeful’s request for damages is nearly identical to the $787.5 million sum Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems in 2023 to settle another defamation case over election falsehoods. And it comes amid a spate of lawsuits from Trump against major media and other companies that resulted in multi-million dollar settlements. 2025-06-27T14:03:44Z https://yabu.me/nevent1qqsv0md6uz4hxy0lwdz9ap7vq88ka4t2wxmkvnmrmzh2csuzhrxf2xqzyqah0lht4urk8y2hl7ah8xdpwwh7dvv2hfv26kufcn0rwtwer64dsx8mwh2 **Mike German, an ex-FBI agent, said immigration agents hiding their identities ‘highlights the illegitimacy of actions’**<br/><br/>Some wear balaclavas. Some wear neck gators, sunglasses and hats. Some wear masks and casual clothes.<br/><br/>Across the country, armed federal immigration officers have increasingly hidden their identities while carrying out immigration raids, arresting protesters and roughing up prominent Democratic critics.<br/><br/>It’s a trend that has sparked alarm among civil rights and law enforcement experts alike.<br/><br/>Mike German, a former FBI agent, said officers’ widespread use of masks was unprecedented in US law enforcement and a sign of a rapidly eroding democracy. “Masking symbolizes the drift of law enforcement away from democratic controls,” he said. 2025-06-26T03:30:23Z