Just because your family flees their home doesn’t mean the usual griefs of adolescence give you a pass. Years in a refugee camp don’t lessen the heartbreaks of youth. Walking for miles through hostile territory, dodging bandits, won’t make school any easier when you finally get there. You can reach your goal, America, and yet feel out of place and alone. And then your father, whom you adore, dies. “My family had to move from Syria and go to Jordan when I was 4 years old because of the civil war,” said Sebba Saad Allah, 16, standing before assembled classmates, teachers and community members Wednesday evening at Sullivan High School. “I was raised in Jordan for six years with my parents and my two brothers ... In 2019, I moved to the U.S. with my family and I was very unsure if I wanted to be here or not. I wasn’t ready for new beginnings ... It was a hard year for my family and I ... I started learning English and helped my family, translating. When I was only 11 years old, COVID hits, and I stopped my education because I didn’t know how to use technology to study; 2022, I was back to school, but it was the most challenging year for me because I lost one of the most important people in my life. I lost my father because of cancer. A truly remarkable person for my family and I, who touched the lives of everyone fortunate enough to know him. I miss listening to him saying the prayers before we break our fast...” Here the sophomore started crying. People clapped, encouragingly, calling out, “You’ve got this!” Enfolding teens as they struggle to be who they are and become who they will be, moving from strangers in a strange land to seasoned Americans, has long been a specialty at Sullivan, in Rogers Park, famous as Chicago’s immigrant high school. Two-thirds of Sullivan’s 724 students are refugees, immigrants or enrolled in their “English Learners” program. As many as 10% live in unstable housing situations. Add to that an ever more threatening political climate. The event Sebba Saad Allah was speaking at was Sullivan High School’s 8th Annual Thanksgiving Celebration, begun in 2016 after Donald Trump was first elected president on a wave of xenophobia. This year feels even more ominous. “There is a fear,” said Evelyn Levin, the English language program teacher at Sullivan. “There’s a lot that is unknown right now. There have been a number of students who just dropped out. There’s no way of tracking them to see if they’re still living in shelters.” More parents are reluctant to tell the school where they live. “Being listed in any sort of database is frightening to them,” Levin said. The school is trying to be proactive, to simultaneously assuage student fears while preparing them for whatever might occur next month — Trump has promised to begin deporting immigrants, including legal citizens, “on Day One.” “We have given students and families information about legal services that are available,” Levin said. “There was a legal clinic here right before Thanksgiving break.” As winter arrives, difficulties mount. “We have kids living on the train,” said STLS advocate Cindra Hart. “I’ve got kids living on the street. When it first got cold outside, I had to get coats, boots, hats, gloves.” How? “I’m begging,” she said, adding that gift cards, such as from McDonald’s, are helpful for impoverished students trying to get through Christmas break. “I need to be able to feed a kid while they’re gone from me for two weeks, because I know they’re going to eat while they’re here.” Hart said the city’s aid to her students was abruptly shut off. “All of a sudden they stopped,” she said. “They stopped . The city bum-rushed me. A whole bunch of kids who need stuff. The need is so great.” Anyone inclined to help Sullivan students is encouraged to contact the school’s clerk/treasurer, Bianca Rivera at barivera6@cps.edu. Not that the Thanksgiving event was grim. There was traditional turkey and trimmings, plus pizza and international dishes, contributed by local restaurants. The evening began with greetings were from half a dozen students in half a dozen languages, including Swahili, French, Turkish and Dari, an Afghan language, and Dinka, a language of South Sudan. Levin, who came to Sullivan this year from a West Side elementary school, spoke about how the immigrants here helped her see the city through fresh eyes — how one day she fought her way through a snow squall to get to Sullivan, only to find her students crowded around the window, transfixed. They had never seen snow. That said, the sense of festivity was muted compared with past years. “It’s a different kind of celebration this year,” said Michael Glasser, president of the Friends of Sullivan, the alumni group hosting the celebration. “We want to teach the kids the beauty of this American holiday ...” The good news is that Sullivan High School is in Chicago, a city in Illinois, where elected officials have no intention of rolling over in the face of whatever is to come from Washington. “Let me just say, anybody who goes after the students of Sullivan High School and the 9th congressional district will have to come through me,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Sullivan class of ’62. “We’re going to fight back. The entire community is going to be there to protect these students and protect their families. We are a diverse community, in the city of Chicago and in Illinois, and proud of it. That’s what the United States of America is about. A country of opportunity, not throwing people out. Not scaring them. I pledge that I will be there every step of the way to make sure these families are protected. We’re ready for the challenge and ready for the fight. I understand the fear, and I want them to feel brave and strong. We are ready to push back.”
WASHINGTON D.C. ⸺ When Tom Durkin was alerted in November 2012 that James Foley, a friend of more than two decades, had been kidnapped by ISIS while working as a freelance war correspondent in northwest Syria, he went to work with a group of friends to try and bring Foley home. On Aug.19, 2014, Durkin received a text. It read, “I’m so sorry about what just happened.” “I just knew what I was going to find out.” Durkin flipped on his television and saw an image of his longtime friend kneeling in the sand moments before he was beheaded. Now details for a new memorial in the nation’s capital honoring people like Foley who lost their lives while working in journalism are being shared with the public. The Fallen Journalists Memorial, planned to be completed in 2028, will be located on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol. At least 3,100 journalists have been killed around the world since 1837 according to a Capital News Service analysis of databases of fallen journalists maintained by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonprofit that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists, and the Freedom Forum, the nonprofit organization that operated the Newseum in Washington, D.C., prior to its closure at the end of 2019. Nearly 90% of those recorded deaths have occurred over the last 50 years. The databases created by both organizations are a result of extensive research into each reported death and require verification before names can be added to their lists, though their parameters are different. The Freedom Forum’s database extends as far back as 1837 (and concludes in 2019), and includes names of individuals tied to newsrooms who died while in the field or otherwise as a result of their work, while CPJ’s efforts began in 1992 and includes only journalists confirmed murdered in direct reprisal for their work; in combat or crossfire; or while carrying out a dangerous assignment. When the Newseum closed, the country lost its only memorial commemorating journalists who lost their lives as a result of their work. Journalist fatalities reached a high in 2017 with 126 recorded fatalities before falling below 50 deaths per year from 2019 through 2022, according to the CNS analysis. “I commend people, especially young people, that still are determined to be journalists and talk truths to power and expose things, because it’s becoming riskier,” said Durkin, who is now the director of safety education for the James Foley foundation, an organization that promotes journalist safety and helps Americans who have a family member taken hostage overseas. The Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation formed in the wake of the Capital Gazette massacre. In June 2018, a gunman stormed into the publication’s newsroom in Annapolis, and killed four journalists and one staff member, the deadliest attack on journalists in American history. In 2021, Jarrod Ramos was given multiple life sentences for the shooting. Congress approved legislation for the memorial in 2020. In September, six years after the shooting, the first public images of the planned Fallen Journalist Memorial in Washington were unveiled. The memorial’s construction will be funded by a nonprofit organization created by former Republican U.S. Rep. David Dreier, who served as the chairman of the Tribune Publishing Company (the former owners of the Capital Gazette) from January 2019 through February 2020. The memorial will be between the National Museum of the American Indian and the Voice of America at Independence Avenue, Maryland Avenue and 3rd Street Southwest, putting it close to the three branches of government. Each of the memorial’s entry points lead to a circular Remembrance Hall that has the First Amendment inscribed in a glass lens. If the foundation meets its fundraising goals on schedule, the memorial will be completed and dedicated in June 2028, the 10th anniversary of the Capital Gazette shooting. “The memorial is dedicated not only to the journalists who lost their lives, but also in the words of the legislation ‘to commemorate America’s commitment to freedom of the press,’” Barbara Cochran, the president of the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation, told CNS. Iraq leads the world in journalist fatalities by nearly double the next country on the list, with 288 incidents compared to the Philippines’ 165. Ten countries – including Syria, Mexico and Russia – make up 49% of all media-related deaths since 1975. War and civil unrest are prevalent issues among the top 10 countries. When Durkin sees reports of journalists dying in combat zones like Gaza or Ukraine, he said it reminds him of the friend he lost. “Instances like this makes me think of Jim, and like, the risks that he was willing to endure to cover things in Syria, to cover things in Libya, and now you’re seeing it in Gaza,” Durkin said. “It’s this really difficult catch 22 because we need journalists to tell us what’s going on, but those journalists are increasingly putting their life at risk to tell us this.” The risk journalists face while working in a war zone is evident in the current conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Prior to October 2023, just 25 journalists lost their lives in the area. As of November, that figure has risen to 156 – a more than 500% increase over a roughly 12-month period. The jump has landed Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory in third for media fatalities among all countries with at least one fatality reported since 1974. “At times, it feels like there’s indiscriminate bombing that journalists are just caught in the crossfire,” Durkin said. When the Fallen Journalists Memorial is fully erected, it will have the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop. At night, up-lit glass elements will release a glow with the dome of the Capitol visible, a choice the designers of the memorial made to pay homage to the role of journalism in democracy, the foundation said on its website. While a list of names will exist digitally, unlike many D.C. tributes, there will not be any on Fallen Journalists Memorial. “Because sadly,” Cochran said, “This is an unfinished story.”
In a surprising turn of events, one of the leading tertiary hospitals in Guangzhou has announced plans to suspend its medical services temporarily. The decision to temporarily pause medical services comes as part of a comprehensive renovation project aimed at enhancing the hospital's facilities and services to better meet the healthcare needs of its patients.
WASHINGTON — Pete Hegseth fought to save his nomination to be Donald Trump’s defense secretary Wednesday as the president-elect considered possible replacements in the face of growing questions about the former Fox News host’s personal conduct and ability to win Senate confirmation. Hegseth met with legislators on Capitol Hill and conducted a radio interview to deny allegations of sexual assault and excessive drinking, insisting he was “not backing down one bit” and that Trump still supports him. The president-elect’s team was looking at alternatives including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump remained quiet about Hegseth while issuing a flurry of statements on social media Wednesday about other nominees and his news coverage. Hegseth is the latest nominee-designate to be imperiled by personal baggage after the recent withdrawal of Trump’s initial pick for attorney general, former Rep. Matt Gaetz, whose vulnerabilities were well-documented. But Hegseth’s past, including the revelation that he made a settlement payment after being accused of a sexual assault that he denies, was not widely known. Hegseth paid a woman who accused him of sexual assault at a California hotel in 2017 after Hegseth had given a speech at a Republican event. His lawyer said the payment was to head off the threat of a baseless lawsuit. The Trump transition team was increasingly concerned about Hegseth’s path to Senate confirmation and actively looking at potential replacements, a person familiar with the matter said. Three other people said DeSantis, who competed against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, was being discussed as an option if Hegseth’s nomination does not move forward. The people spoke on condition of anonymity. Beyond DeSantis, there have also been discussions about shifting Michael Waltz, who was chosen by Trump for national security adviser, to the Defense Department, according to another person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. As he made the rounds on Capitol Hill, Hegseth told reporters that he had received a fresh message of support from Trump. He ignored questions about the allegations he faced. Hegseth, accompanied by his wife, held talks in private with GOP senators before shifting to the House to meet with legislators there. While House members have no direct role in the confirmation process, conservatives can hold outsize influence on the debate. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
In conclusion, the divide between Barcelona's core players and the club is a complex and multifaceted issue that has arisen from a combination of on-field struggles, managerial missteps, financial challenges, and off-field controversies. As the club navigates through these turbulent times, it is essential for all parties involved to come together, put aside their differences, and prioritize the best interests of the team and the institution. Only through unity, cooperation, and mutual respect can Barcelona hope to overcome its current challenges and return to the pinnacle of success that it once enjoyed.University of Michigan will no longer use diversity statements in faculty hiring, promotion, tenure
Despite Zhang's repeated attempts to contact the platform and clarify the misunderstanding, he has received little help or explanation so far. The lack of response from "Shuidi Credit: Xu" has only added to Zhang's frustration and raised concerns about the legitimacy of the messages he has been receiving.As Celine continues to evolve and expand its global footprint, the addition of Liu Shishi as its brand ambassador reaffirms the brand's commitment to excellence, creativity, and innovation in the world of luxury fashion. The pairing of Liu Shishi's timeless beauty and Celine's understated elegance is a match made in fashion heaven, promising to captivate and inspire fashion enthusiasts around the world.
The Red Devil Abandoned Hero's journey to stardom has been nothing short of extraordinary. After being let go by his former club, many doubted whether he would be able to rediscover his form and make an impact in a new league. However, the talented striker has proven all his critics wrong, consistently delivering standout performances week in and week out. His ability to find the back of the net with ease, his agility, and his remarkable work rate have made him a force to be reckoned with on the field.French lawmakers vote to oust prime minister in the first successful no-confidence vote since 1962
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Bombers GM Walters sees no need to blow up roster despite another Grey Cup lossOverall, experts agree that the optimization of fiscal and monetary policies is essential for meeting market expectations and strengthening extraordinary countercyclical adjustment. By coordinating actions, monitoring outcomes, communicating effectively, and remaining flexible, policymakers can effectively navigate the current economic landscape and support sustainable growth and development. Through continued collaboration and innovation, policymakers can shape a more stable and prosperous future for all.The justices’ decision, not expected for several months, could affect similar laws enacted by another 25 states and a range of other efforts to regulate the lives of transgender people , including which sports competitions they can join and which bathrooms they can use . The case is being weighed by a conservative-dominated court after a presidential election in which Donald Trump and his allies promised to roll back protections for transgender people, showcasing the uneasy intersection between law, politics and individual rights. The Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer warned a decision favorable to Tennessee also could be used to justify nationwide restrictions on transgender healthcare for minors. In arguments that lasted more than two hours, five of the six conservative justices voiced varying degrees of skepticism of arguments made by the administration and Chase Strangio, the ACLU lawyer for Tennessee families challenging the ban. Chief Justice John Roberts, who voted in the majority in a 2020 case in favor of transgender rights , questioned whether judges, rather than lawmakers, should be weighing in on a question of regulating medical procedures, an area usually left to the states. ”The Constitution leaves that question to the people’s representatives, rather than to nine people, none of whom is a doctor,” Roberts said in an exchange with Strangio. The court’s three liberal justices seemed firmly on the side of the challengers. But it’s not clear that any of the conservatives will go along. Justice Sonia Sotomayor pushed back against the assertion that the democratic process would be the best way to address objections to the law. She cited a history of laws discriminating against others, noting that transgender people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population, according to studies. There are an estimated 1.3 million adults and 300,000 adolescents aged 13 to 17 who identify as transgender, according the UCLA law school's Williams Institute. “Blacks were a much larger part of the population and it didn’t protect them. It didn’t protect women for whole centuries,” Sotomayor said in an exchange with Tennessee Solicitor General Matt Rice. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said she saw some troubling parallels between arguments made by Tennessee and those advanced by Virginia and rejected by a unanimous court, in the 1967 Loving decision that legalized interracial marriage nationwide. Quoting from the 57-year-old decision, Jackson noted that Virginia argued then that “the scientific evidence is substantially in doubt and, consequently, the court should defer to the wisdom of the state legislature.” Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote the majority opinion in 2020, said nothing during the arguments. The arguments produced some riveting moments. Justice Samuel Alito repeatedly pressed Strangio, the first openly transgender lawyer to argue at the nation's highest court, about whether transgender people should be legally designated as a group that’s susceptible to discrimination. Strangio answered that being transgender does fit that legal definition, though he acknowledged under Alito’s questioning there are a small number of people who de-transition. “So it's not an immutable characteristic, is it?” Alito said. Strangio did not retreat from his view, though he said the court did not have to decide the issue to resolve the case in his clients' favor. There were dueling rallies outside the court in the hours before the arguments. Speeches and music filled the air on the sidewalk below the court’s marble steps. Advocates of the ban bore signs like “Champion God’s Design” and “Kids Health Matters,” while the other side proclaimed “Fight like a Mother for Trans Rights” and “Freedom to be Ourselves." Four years ago, the court ruled in favor of Aimee Stephens, who was fired by a Michigan funeral home after she informed its owner that she was a transgender woman. The court held that transgender people, as well as gay and lesbian people, are protected by a landmark federal civil rights law that prohibits sex discrimination in the workplace. The Biden administration and the families and health care providers who challenged the Tennessee law urged the justices to apply the same sort of analysis that the majority, made up of liberal and conservative justices, embraced in the case four years ago when it found that “sex plays an unmistakable role” in employers' decisions to punish transgender people for traits and behavior they otherwise tolerate. The issue in the Tennessee case is whether the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which requires the government to treat similarly situated people the same. Tennessee's law bans puberty blockers and hormone treatments for transgender minors, but allows the same drugs to be used for other purposes. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, called the law sex-based line drawing to ban the use of drugs that have been safely prescribed for decades and said the state “decided to completely override the views of the patients, the parents, the doctors.” She contrasted the Tennessee law with one enacted by West Virginia, which set conditions for the health care for transgender minors, but stopped short of an outright ban. Rice countered that lawmakers acted to regulate “risky, unproven medical interventions” and, at one point, likened the use of puberty blockers and hormone treatments to lobotomies and eugenics, now thoroughly discredited but once endorsed by large segments of the medical community. Rice argued that the Tennessee law doesn’t discriminate based on sex, but rather based on the purpose of the treatment. Children can get puberty blockers to treat early onset puberty, but not as a treatment for gender dysphoria. “Our fundamental point is there is no sex-based line here,” Rice said. While the challengers invoked the 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County for support, Tennessee relied on the court's precedent-shattering Dobbs decision in 2022 that ended nationwide protections for abortion and returned the issue to the states. The two sides battled in their legal filings over the appropriate level of scrutiny the court should apply. It's more than an academic exercise. The lowest level is known as rational basis review and almost every law looked at that way is ultimately upheld. Indeed, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati that allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced held that lawmakers acted rationally to regulate medical procedures, well within their authority. The appeals court reversed a trial court that employed a higher level of review, heightened scrutiny, that applies in cases of sex discrimination. Under this more searching examination, the state must identify an important objective and show that the law helps accomplish it. If the justices opt for heightened scrutiny, they could return the case to the appeals court to apply it. That's the course Prelogar and Strangio pushed for on Wednesday, though there did not seem to be much support for it. Gender-affirming care for youth is supported by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association. But Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh all highlighted a point made by Tennessee in its legal briefs claiming that health authorities in Sweden, Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom found that the medical treatments "pose significant risks with unproven benefits.” If those countries “are pumping the brakes on this kind of treatment," Kavanaugh said, why should the Supreme Court question Tennessee's actions? None of those countries has adopted a ban similar to the one in Tennessee and individuals can still obtain treatment, Prelogar said. Kavanaugh, who has coached his daughters’ youth basketball teams, also wondered whether a ruling against Tennessee would give transgender athletes "a constitutional right to participate in girls' sports.” Prelogar said a narrow decision would not affect the sports issue. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville, Tennessee contributed to this report.
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