Following a recent assisted dying debate in parliament, the Mirror hears from a mother whose daughter made the devastatingly difficult decision to end her life on her own terms
The University of Amsterdam canceled classes Tuesday and shut buildings for two days after the latest pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the war in Gaza turned destructive.
Protests continued to simmer at several European universities where students faced off with academic authorities on whether relations with Israel should be broken off or drastically reduced, as the death toll continues to climb during the seven-month Israel-hamas war. Overall, the protests in Europe have failed to reach the intensity of demonstrations at several U.S. universities.
In the Netherlands, the board at the nearly 400-year old University of Amsterdam issued a statement saying it could not guarantee the safety of anyone on campus after a group of masked agitators barricaded doors and spray painted slogans on the walls. The mayhem on Monday followed a peaceful walkout of staff and students against the Israel-Hamas war and the university’s response to earlier protests.
“They (the university) called in the police after people wouldn’t remove their face coverings but the police came in balaclavas,” political science professor Enzo Rossio told The Associated Press, describing Monday’s events. He had returned to his office following the walkout, only for the building to be evacuated minutes later. While standing outside the building, Rossio said he and his wife, who also works for the university, were repeatedly hit by police with batons.
A new viral trend is emerging on TikTok — and not only are celebrities uninvited, they’re blocked.
Recent videos uploaded to TikTok, some gathering millions of views apiece, are urging social media users to block celebrities including Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian and others on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Spotify.
The reason for the “Celebrity Block Party,” as it’s been dubbed?
TikTok users are saying they feel disillusioned with famous pop figures over the Israel-Hamas war, in which they complain celebrities aren’t using their platforms to speak out against violence in the Middle East. A flashpoint in their anger also involves the recent Met Gala in New York City.
On Tuesday at Google I/O, Google‘s much relied-upon — but rarely loved — Google Workspace software suite got a major injection of additional AI features that are coming soon.
Gemini 1.5 Pro, from the language model family formerly known as Bard, is being plastered into the side panel in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides — not to mention Drive and Gmail. These applications are already interconnected, but this slate of features aims to automate those connections via a chirpy AI-powered assistant with the power to — in theory — teleport from app to app, doing work tasks that used to be labor-intensive.
Google is clearly envisioning a more seamless and integrated experience across Workspace, enabled by the centralization of all the user’s documents and data. With Gemini functionality perpetually available on the screen, users are being encouraged to ask the bot quotidian questions or request little favors. While in Docs, Gemini can dig up details found in emails, or organize lists into spreadsheets automatically.
Mashable Light Speed
Users also aren’t required to specify exactly which applications they expect Gemini to use to perform the functions in question. In the demo, a user simply asks the AI assistant to help them organize, and it invents a system in which it will place files in a new folder, and organize the data from said files into a spreadsheet.
Credit: Mashable screenshot from Google’s presentation
If you’re excited by the prospect of an AI-assisted workflow, it’s worth pausing for a moment to consider data security. Last year, a New York Times report notes, there was a great deal of internal discussion at Google when the company attempted to rework its privacy agreement to begin mining users’ publicly available Google Docs for AI training data. Google can now use such data according to its user agreement, but only chooses to incorporate data from users who opt into experimental Google features, the Times reported.
It’s also worth noting that we’ve only seen a demo so far. AI assistants have, thus far, been buggy, lying robots, seemingly rushed to the market way too quickly. With OpenAI nipping at Google’s heels, Google’s new AI-enabled glow-up for Workspace can’t just be on trend. As the name implies, it has to work.
Michael Cohen’s Testimony Gets Off To A Rough Start
Deputies to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg began the quizzing with relatively innocuous questions about Cohen’s work history with Trump, who allegedly paid him $525,000 annually toward the end of the 2016 election. Cohen has maintained that he personally paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who testified last week, to silence her from speaking with reporters about a tryst with Trump more than a decade ago…
Cohen further stepped on the prosecution’s case when he described the atmosphere of his former workplace. Working for Trump, “was fantastic… working for him of those 10 years was an amazing experience… there were great times, there were less than great times, but for the most part, I enjoyed the responsibilities given to me,” he testified.
The Biden administration is ordering a CCP-owned cryptocurrency mining company to sell land it owns which is located near a U.S. military base. The question is, how did they get permission to buy this land in the first place.
Based on congressional testimony from top military officials, Kash Patel, the former chief of staff of Donald Trump, is claiming that the military flat out ignored orders by President Trump to call the national guard to assure the January 6 protests didn’t get out of hand.
A newly published cyber threat report from Avast has revealed substantial dominance of social engineering in cyber threats during the first quarter of 2024. Per the report, nearly 90% of cyberattacks on mobile and 87% on desktop devices involved scams, phishing, and malvertising, exploiting human vulnerabilities more than technical weaknesses.
A significant rise in scams using sophisticated technologies like deepfake videos and AI-manipulated audio was noted. These scams often utilize hijacked YouTube channels and other social media platforms to spread fraudulent content. The report highlighted that such deceptive practices are becoming more complex, with cybercriminals leveraging high-profile events and figures to enhance the credibility of their scams.
YouTube, in particular, has emerged as a critical vector for these threats. Avast’s telemetry indicated that in the previous year, four million unique users were protected against YouTube-based threats, with around 500,000 users shielded in the first quarter alone. Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting YouTube’s automated advertising and user-generated content features to sidestep traditional security measures, deploying a variety of attack vectors from phishing campaigns to malware distribution.
Dazzling aurora borealis showed power of smartphones, while shedding light on more ‘fundamental questions’
Benjamin Shingler – CBC News
Posted: 2 Hours Ago
The northern lights as captured from Vancouver on Saturday. Many night sky enthusiasts reported seeing the northern lights more clearly on their phone or camera than with the naked eye. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)
The promised northern lights over the weekend did not disappoint, producing a dazzling light show across Canada and around the world.
Social media platforms were filled with hues of purple, green, yellow and pink skies in Canada, the United States, England, Switzerland and beyond.
CBC News spoke to experts about what transpired, and why it was even more dramatic than expected — especially when seen on your phone.
Why was it so powerful?
As you may have heard by now, the sun is near the end of what’s called a solar maximum , an 11-year cycle where it’s more active, producing plenty of sunspots on its surface. These sunspots are an entanglement of magnetic fields that can sometimes erupt with a solar flare.
The sun produced a series of strong solar flares last week, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Northern lights appear over the Dreisamtal valley in the Black Forest near Freiburg, Germany, on Friday. (Valentin Gensch/dpa/The Associated Press)
Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), can contain billions of tonnes
of plasma from the sun’s outer atmosphere. In this case, the CMEs headed toward Earth and arrived around the same time, enhancing the power of the geomagnetic storm on Friday and through the weekend.
The NOAA declared a G5 magnetic storm on Friday, one that was even stronger than expected and the highest level since 2003.
“I think the intensity surprised a lot of people,” said Trevor Kjorlien, a Montreal-based space educator who runs the company Plateau Astro.
Such events are difficult to predict ahead of time, given the distance involved and all the variables considered, said Nikhil Arora, an astrophysicist and postdoctoral researcher at Queen’s University.
“It’s a very chaotic process. It can’t perfectly predict how much material is actually going to reach Earth,” he said. “So it ended up being a bigger one than we previously thought.”
Why did it look clearer on my phone?
Many night sky enthusiasts reported seeing the northern lights more clearly on their phone or camera than with the naked eye. The reason for that is simple, said Arora.
“Your phone is actually collecting light for a longer time than your eyes do,” he said.
“For our eyes, the collection time is very, very small, and so very dim things don’t come out as clearly to us.”
The aurora borealis, caused by a coronal mass ejection on the Sun, illuminates the sky over Jericho Beach in Vancouver on May 10. (Chris Helgren/Reuters)
Kjorlien noted that this most recent event was the first time where people were equipped with a smartphone camera capable of capturing the northern lights in all their glory.
“That, to me, is a really, really cool thing, that this is … probably the most photographed northern lights spectacle that we’ve seen,” he said.
I missed it. When will I get another chance?
These events aren’t quite as rare as the full solar eclipse that captivated many Canadians last month.
The solar maximum is expected to continue through the end of 2025, Arora said, which means the northern lights could soon be visible in more southern parts of Canada.
Riley Urschel, who took this photograph, said Friday’s display of northern lights in Grenfell, Sask., was the most intense he’d ever seen. (Submitted by Riley Urschel)
Arora himself wasn’t able to see the northern lights this time around, given the cloud cover in Kingston, Ont.
He said a trip to Yellowknife, where during the winter months the northern lights are even more dazzling, is “on my bucket list.”
Did it lead to any disruptions?
There had been concern the geomagnetic storm could lead to disruptions of satellites and communications equipment.
In some cases, farmers reportedly had to halt planting because of problems with self-driving tractors, which rely on GPS satellites.
But overall, there were no major problems, said Arora.
“Our satellites and our electronics are a lot better protected than they used to be.”
WATCH | What’s a solar storm, and why it matters:
Show more
Ian Cohen, a space physicist and deputy chief scientist of the space exploration sector at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, walked CBC’s Ben Shingler through what’s been happening on the surface of the sun and how it could affect our night sky. 6:08
Arora said the event will be studied to better understand the Earth’s magnetic field — and the universe beyond.
“It’s actually hugely important in better understanding planets in our solar system, and also the sun, as well,” he said.
“Within astrophysics, one of the biggest questions is: Why does our solar system, or our galaxy — or, more in general, our universe — look the way it does?
“So understanding these little details and better understanding these phenomena sheds light onto the fundamental questions of the universe.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Benjamin Shingler
Journalist
Benjamin Shingler is a senior writer based in Montreal, covering climate policy, health and social issues. He previously worked at The Canadian Press and the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal.
JEFFERSON CITY — Democrats blocked business in the Missouri Senate overnight, preventing Republicans from sending voters a ballot question that, if approved, would limit future changes to the state constitution.
Republicans brought up the plan shortly before 2:40 p.m. on Monday. Democrats then began holding off action through a talking filibuster, which reached the 15-hour mark at about 5:40 a.m. Tuesday.
Stakes are high: legislators face a 6 p.m. Friday deadline to complete regular business for the year. With the potential ballot question pending before the Senate, the chamber cannot act on any unrelated bills.
The UK government on Tuesday said it had summoned China’s ambassador Zheng Zeguang, a day after a British court charged three people in the latest Beijing-linked alleged espionage case.
The foreign ministry was “unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behaviour directed by China against the UK, including cyber-attacks, reports of espionage links and the issuing of bounties is not acceptable”, a spokesperson said.
The UK government on Tuesday said it had summoned China’s ambassador Zheng Zeguang, a day after a British court charged three people in the latest Beijing-linked alleged espionage case.
The foreign ministry was “unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behaviour directed by China against the UK, including cyber-attacks, reports of espionage links and the issuing of bounties is not acceptable”, a spokesperson said.
Vladimir Putin has continued his Kremlin reshuffle by ousting a military general, who was stripped from his bed and arrested by armed police in the early hours of the morning.
The leader of the Russian Defense Ministry’s personnel official was then “taken away for interrogation” in the latest of Putin’s cabinet purge. His arrest, however, is reportedly in connection with his previous job guarding military state secrets.
The former bodyguard, who once saved Putin from being eaten by a bear, has previously held a high position in the federal Protective Service, which guards Putin and other VIPs
The power vacuum that America left behind in Afghanistan is fueling a resurgence of Islamist terrorists who have the will, and perhaps the capability, to target the U.S. and its interests abroad, according to a major report by the United States Institute of Peace, which argues that the Biden administration should consider unleashing more military strikes against terrorist targets in the country.
The head of personnel at Russia’s Defense Ministry has been arrested on suspicion of bribery after more than $1 million in cash and valuables were discovered at his properties, investigators said on Tuesday.
The state Investigative Committee said Kuznetsov was suspected of “receiving a bribe on an especially large scale.”
“According to the investigation, in 2021–2023, as the head of the 8th Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Kuznetsov received a bribe from representatives of commercial structures for performing certain actions in their favour,” the committee said.
At least five people have been arrested in the scandal, starting with the detention of deputy minister Timur Ivanov on the same charge on April 23.
MAE SOT — Speculation is mounting that Myanmar’s military junta will launch a counter-offensive aimed at retaking swathes of territory in the east of the country that was lost to anti-regime forces over six months of heavy fighting and includes control of almost all of its borders.
But time is not on the military’s side with the annual monsoons due within weeks. Soldiers on all sides of the conflict share one intense dislike: fighting amid the heavy rains that flood the country between June and the end of October.
Ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and the anti-junta People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) waited until the dry season before launching their last offensive in October, culminating in the encirclement of the Irrawaddy Basin and the Yangon-Naypyidaw-Mandalay axis.
Their stunning success changed the military dynamics and blew away any lingering thoughts that the junta could win this conflict, and so Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing must retake the east if he is to save face and restore some confidence among his embattled troops.
The focus is on Kayin (Karen) State and in particular the town of Myawaddy, the country’s busiest border crossing with Thailand, through which more than a billion dollars in trade passes each year.
Estimates vary, but most sources say about a thousand troops have been dispatched from Yangon, about 400 kilometers to the west, but have failed three times in their attempts to cross the Dawna Mountain Range via established tracks that can be used to ferry supplies for an assault on Myawaddy Township.
“They are using fighter jets and they are throwing all their weapons at it but they still cannot cross the mountains. Until they can take that range they can’t take Myawaddy,” said a PDF source.
“About 100 junta soldiers have been killed. Another 50 have been wounded over the last month but only important officers have been evacuated to Yangon, the rest make do in overcrowded local hospitals or are being treated in the field,” she said.
Separate EAO-PDF sources said battle-hardened troops are being deployed into the east where the junta still has a toehold in strategic areas, including the Infantry Battalion 275 base about 14 kilometers west of Myawaddy and around Shwe Kokko, 20 kilometers to the north.
That might not be enough but more troops could be deployed if a Chinese-brokered ceasefire between the junta and the Arakan Army, fighting in western Rakhine state, is agreed to. At least one source said that could happen within the next two weeks.
Nevertheless, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) is in a commanding position and controls about 90 percent of Kayin State. Yet despite this Myawaddy is problematic and a source of irritation for troops on the ground.
No sooner had the KNLA taken the city of 200,000 people than it abruptly backed down and did a deal with defecting junta soldiers and the local Border Guard Force (BGF) in what amounted to an uneasy power-sharing agreement in mid-April. Some called it a strategic withdrawal.
KNLA leaders and the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) did fear Myawaddy would be mercilessly bombed by the junta’s air force. An uneasy truce still exists, amid pressure from Thailand, but this has upset the rank and file who have little to show for months of hard fighting.
“There’s something wrong. It’s too quiet. We were told in training; in war be true to yourself. We did this and fought but now we feel betrayed by the politicians. I am from Myawaddy, we won that battle and I can’t even go there,” a KNLA commando told this journalist in Mae Sot.
Nevertheless, he indicated the KNLA is braced for a counter-offensive, adding: “The political situation is complex and we can’t talk about the situation or the operations.”
Mae Sot sits on the Thai side of the border opposite Myawaddy, divided by the Moei River and is every bit a frontier town, or halfway house for troops from all sides of the conflict, refugees, and NGOs attempting to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of people who have fled Myanmar’s conflicts over the years.
And none of them want to get bogged down in the sodden mud, the steep ravines prone to landslides, or thick jungles that are difficult to navigate amid the torrential rains, where delivering supplies, deploying troops, and evacuating the wounded is almost impossible.
This was another reason why the 20-odd EAOs and the PDFs decided not to press home the advantage by attacking Naypyidaw, Yangon, and Mandalay towards the end of April and why many are saying the junta simply does not have the time to retake the east.
But not everyone agrees, as one observer, who declined to be named, put it: “Hlaing is embarrassed and the revolution is succeeding. He desperately needs a win and even in a monsoon, jets can keep bombing and I think the military will still battle it out for control of the road network,” the observer said.
“It might be difficult on the ground but I don’t think the fighting will stop for the wet season,” he added. “In fact, it could intensify because the junta has no choice.”
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hit out at Israel over killings of innocent Palestinians. He said Israel committed genocide by killing thousands of Palestinians and displacing more.
“Killing innocent Palestinian children in their bed is as wrong as killing of innocent Jews in concentration camps,” he said at the news conference in the capital Ankara on Tuesday. “International law and human rights being trampled by Israel, diplomatic efforts failed once again due to Rafah invasion,” he also said.
Fidan also reiterated Türkiye’s stance on Hamas, underlining that it was not a terrorist group as some members of the international community claimed but rather, a group “defending (Palestinian) lands.” He branded Israel as an occupying power in Palestinian lands.
A lethal junta airstrike targeting a monastery in Magway Region’s Saw Township last week was systematic and likely informed by intelligence gathered by the military, according to accounts from survivors and local rescue workers.
The aerial attack took place on May 9 in Akyi Pan Pa Lun village, around five miles north of the town of Kyaukhtu. It is claimed as a liberated area by the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF), whose members were attending a meeting alongside civilians in the monastery at the time of the assault.
At least 15 people were killed and 34 others—including. . .
BEIJING — Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, in the latest show of unity between the two authoritarian allies against the U.S.-led Western liberal global order.
Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit starting on Thurday, the ministry said, saying the two leaders would discuss “cooperation in various fields of bilateral relations … as well as international and regional issues of common concern.” No details were mentioned.
The Kremlin in a statement confirmed the trip and said Putin was going on Xi’s invitation. It said that this will be Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in as president and began his fifth term in office.
China has backed Russia politically in the conflict in Ukraine and has continued to export machine tools, electronics and other items seen as contributing to the Russian war effort, without actually exporting weaponry.
Chief Executive John Lee urged respect for Hong Kong’s overseas trade offices following the charges of a London staff member for alleged espionage.
Lee demanded an explanation from Britain about the charges, saying unwarranted allegations against Hong Kong are unacceptable.
He voiced the trade office’s role in fostering ties and warned against interference.
Hong Kong’s leader on Tuesday urged foreign governments to respect its overseas-based trade offices after a staff member in its London branch was charged in Britain for allegedly working for the Chinese city’s intelligence service.
Chief Executive John Lee said his administration had demanded the British government provide an explanation about the prosecution of Bill Yuen, the office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. Lee said any attempt to make unwarranted allegations against the city’s government is unacceptable.
A RUSSIAN general was dragged out of his bed at 5am to be taken into detention in Vladimir Putin’s latest purge.
Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov, 55, was arrested and now faces “criminal charges over state secrets.”
The arrest of Lt-Gen Yuri Kuznetsov, 55, by heavily armed counterintelligence officers in balaclavas indicates a purge is underway in the Russian Defence Ministry in the midst of the war with Ukraine.
They smashed their way into Kuznetsov’s red brick mansion using crowbars and the top MoD official was “dragged out of bed and taken away for interrogation”.
Kuznetsov is in charge of the ministry’s main personnel department but his detention is seen as linked to his previous role guarding military state secrets.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw the trial against former President Donald Trump for civil fraud, is now himself under investigation, after receiving unsolicited advice from a well known New York real estate attorney, according to NBC New York.
The controversial left-wing judge found Trump, two of his sons, his business associates, and the Trump Organization guilty and fined the former president $454 million for falsely inflating his assets.
Real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey admitted to NBC last week that he gave unsolicited advice to Engoron, three weeks before he made his decision on the case, which is strictly forbidden by law.
“I actually had the ability to speak to him three weeks ago,” Bailey told reporters on February 16, the same day as Engoron’s final decision.
The principal of an elementary school in Ocala, Florida has been arrested after being caught on camera assaulting a student. Dontay Akeem Prophet, 33, was subsequently charged with aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment of a victim under the age of 13.
According to WCJB, the incident took place on Friday at Destiny Leadership Academy, a private school in the northern area of town. That day, Prophet allegedly locked a male student in a classroom before abusing him. Footage showed the principal allegedly take the boy to the ground before pinning him down as he thrashes about.
According to police, footage allegedly caught him “using a charging cable to strike the child, causing the child to fall and sustain injuries.”
“Additionally,” the force added, “Prophet twisted the child’s ankle, slapped the child in the face, and subjected him to further physical abuse.” It wasn’t until law enforcement caught up with Prophet on Saturday that he found out that there was a security camera in the room.
