Author: James Martin
Placeholder while article actions loadThe Russian exclave of Kaliningrad — known until 1946 by its German name of Koenigsberg — is a microcosm of all that’s ever gone wrong in Europe. So it’s hardly surprising that this strip of land by the Baltic Sea has become the latest flashpoint in the wider conflict between Moscow and the West. The clash was probably inevitable. Kaliningrad is a part of Russia implausibly wedged between Lithuania and Poland, two countries that belong to the European Union and NATO. Rail links between mainland Russia and the exclave must go through Lithuania, which has started enforcing EU sanctions against Moscow.…
Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka is launching a new media company in partnership with four-times NBA champion LeBron James aimed at telling stories that cross cultural barriers, the former world No 1 announced.Hana Kuma, which translates to “flower bear,” will produce stories that are “culturally specific but universal to all audiences” and already has multiple projects lined up, according to the Hollywood Reporter.“There has been an explosion of creators of colour finally being equipped with resources and a huge platform,” Osaka, who has a Haitian father and Japanese mother, said in a press release about her newest venture. “In the…
Last year Owen Diaz, a former contracted elevator operator at Tesla’s Fremont assembly plant, successfully sued the automaker for creating a hostile, racially abusive work environment, and was awarded $137 million by the jury. That award was winnowed down to just $15 million by a judge who gave Diaz two weeks to accept or reject the new amount. As reported by Bloomberg, lawyers for Diaz have taken the latter option. “In rejecting the court’s excessive reduction by asking for a new trial, Mr. Diaz is again asking a jury of his peers to evaluate what Tesla did to him and…
Australia’s national security monitor has said it is “odd” that powers to detain terrorist offenders after their sentence expires do not include consideration of rehabilitation.Grant Donaldson, the national security legislation monitor, made the comments at the start of an inquiry hearing about continuing detention orders on Tuesday.Donaldson signalled he will probably call for a major shake-up of national security laws, including raising the bar for detaining people after their sentence expires and, in agreement with the Australian Human Rights Commission, that “control orders”, for people not convicted of crimes, should be abolished.Under the current law, a court can order the…
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday held talks with opposition leaders on ending the deadlock sparked by his failure to secure a majority in parliamentary elections.Macron met right-wing, Socialist and Communist party chiefs at the Elysee, including rare talks with far-right leader Marine Le Pen – whom he beat in an April presidential run-off – as he seeks solutions to a tricky situation that risks plunging his second term into crisis two months after it began.The spectre of political paralysis and the breakthrough performance by the far-right under Le Pen has also raised questions over Macron’s leadership in Europe as…
Following a series of protests by local Muslim women, the city had passed an edict in May 2021 allowing bathers at public pools in Grenoble to use the swimwear. But later that month, the city’s administrative tribunal overruled the decision — a ruling upheld on Tuesday by France’s highest administrative court.In its ruling, the French Council of State invoked principles of religious neutrality, concluding that permitting the “burkini” would undermine “the equal treatment of users, so that the neutrality of the public service is compromised.””Contrary to the claimed objective of the city of Grenoble,” the city’s initial decision to authorize…
Sky TV subscribers will find they have even more content to choose from with Paramount+ finally arriving in the UK today. This hugely popular streaming service, which first launched in the United States back in 2014, lands in Britain on Wednesday June 22 and brings access to blockbuster films, classic movies, and a swathe of original TV shows.But while Paramount+ subscribers will need to spend £6.99 per month to access the library of boxsets and blockbusters from Paramount Pictures, some Sky customers will find every show and film from Paramount+ added automatically on their Sky Q box and Sky Glass TVs.…
A mother whose 50th birthday party erupted into a brawl has told of how she was ‘punched in the boobs’ while a guest who started the scrap ended up with a tooth knocked out. As the number of people watching a video of the mayhem on social media soared to more than a million, Lisa Keegan, from Colne, Lancashire, insisted today: ‘We are not a rough family – but that day it all got out of hand.’Lisa said her birthday celebration started off in a civilised way with 15 guests enjoying a spread of food including a cheese board, sandwiches…
This decline isn’t just about the pandemic either since the downward trend was happening before 2020.So just what the heck is going on? I wanted to find out if love is really dead — and if so, who killed it? That’s why I decided to dig deeper in this week’s episode of my podcast, “Margins of Error.” What I found is that love isn’t necessarily dead. It’s just presenting itself in different ways than before. If you look around, you’ll quickly see that the yearning for love and romance is manifesting itself in different ways these days. One such place…
Australia’s looming challenge of “extreme” turning Sri Lankan Test wickets has been laid bare, after being spun out of the one-day series with a four-run defeat in Colombo. Chasing 259, David Warner played a lone hand with 99 as Australia capitulated from 189-4 in the 36th over to be all out for 254 and down 3-1 in the five-match series.The margin could also have been far worse, if not for Pat Cummins’s 35 and Matthew Kuhnemann scoring 14 from the final over off Dasun Shanaka before being caught in the ring on the final ball. But it could not paper…