Arqit Sets Fiscal Year 2024 Conference Call for Thursday, December 5, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. ET
NEW YORK, Nov. 26, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Gross Law Firm issues the following notice to shareholders of Iris Energy Limited (NASDAQ: IREN). Shareholders who purchased shares of IREN during the class period listed are encouraged to contact the firm regarding possible lead plaintiff appointment. Appointment as lead plaintiff is not required to partake in any recovery. CONTACT US HERE: https://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/iris-energy-loss-submission-form/?id=113424&from=3 CLASS PERIOD: June 23, 2023 to July 11, 2024 ALLEGATIONS: The complaint alleges that during the class period, Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) defendants overstated Iris Energy’s prospects with data centers and high performance computing, in large part as a result of material deficiencies in Iris Energy’s Childress County, Texas site; and (2) as a result, defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. DEADLINE: December 6, 2024 Shareholders should not delay in registering for this class action. Register your information here: https://securitiesclasslaw.com/securities/iris-energy-loss-submission-form/?id=113424&from=3 NEXT STEPS FOR SHAREHOLDERS: Once you register as a shareholder who purchased shares of IREN during the timeframe listed above, you will be enrolled in a portfolio monitoring software to provide you with status updates throughout the lifecycle of the case. The deadline to seek to be a lead plaintiff is December 6, 2024. There is no cost or obligation to you to participate in this case. WHY GROSS LAW FIRM? The Gross Law Firm is a nationally recognized class action law firm, and our mission is to protect the rights of all investors who have suffered as a result of deceit, fraud, and illegal business practices. The Gross Law Firm is committed to ensuring that companies adhere to responsible business practices and engage in good corporate citizenship. The firm seeks recovery on behalf of investors who incurred losses when false and/or misleading statements or the omission of material information by a company lead to artificial inflation of the company's stock. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: The Gross Law Firm 15 West 38th Street, 12th floor New York, NY, 10018 Email: dg@securitiesclasslaw.com Phone: (646) 453-8903CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Quimari Peterson had 16 points in East Tennessee State's 75-55 win over Charlotte on Wednesday. Peterson had five rebounds for the Buccaneers (5-2). John Buggs III went 6 of 12 from the field (3 for 5 from 3-point range) to add 15 points. Karon Boyd shot 3 for 8 (1 for 3 from 3-point range) and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line to finish with 14 points, while adding seven rebounds. Jaehshon Thomas led the way for the 49ers (3-3) with 13 points. Charlotte also got 13 points from Nik Graves. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by and data from . The Associated Press
An Israeli airstrike flattened a multistory building in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more, according to Palestinian medical officials, after strikes Thursday across the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 others. The latest deadly strike hit the urban Nuseirat refugee camp just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem that the recent ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for a potential deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the deadly strike in Nuseirat. Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine in some of the hardest-hit parts of the territory. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, just hours after President Joe Biden’s national security adviser raised hopes about a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Photos from the scene of the blast that circulated on social media showed a completely collapsed building with people walking through its mangled and charred remains, smoke rising from piles of belongings strewn over the rubble. Officials at two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Awda Hospital in the north and al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, reported they received a combined total of 25 bodies from an Israeli strike on a multistory residential building in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian medics also reported that over 40 people, most of them children, were receiving treatment at the two hospitals. The al-Aqsa Hospital said that the Israeli attack also damaged several nearby houses in Nuseirat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. food agency is trying to deal with massive needs in Syria not only from escalating war-related food insecurity and an upsurge in displaced people fleeing Lebanon but also the dramatically new environment following the ouster of Bashar Assad, a senior U.N. official says. “It’s a triple crisis and the needs are going to be massive,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, in an interview with The Associated Press late Wednesday. The WFP estimated that 3 million people in Syria were “acutely food insecure” and very hungry. However, that estimate was made before the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon pushed many Syrian refugees back to their home country, plus the instability caused by the overthrow of Assad. Due to funding cuts, the WFP had been targeting only 2 million of those people, he said. Because WFP has been working in Syria during the 13-year civil war, he said, it has pre-positioned food in the country. It has 500 staff in seven offices nationwide and has operated across conflict lines, across borders, and with all different parties, he said. Skau said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, has promised to provide security for WFP warehouses. Humanitarian aid supplies had been looted at U.N. warehouses in the disorder after Assad fell. “We’re not really up and running in Damascus because of the continued kind of uncertainty there,” he said. WFP initially thought of relocating non-essential staff but the situation in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been “quite calm and orderly," he said. In the short term, Skau said, “what we’re seeing is that markets are disrupted, the value of the currency dropped dramatically, food prices are going up, transport lines don’t work,” and it’s unclear who will stamp required papers for imports and exports. This means that a bigger humanitarian response is needed initially, he said, but in the next phase, the U,N. will be looking at contributing to Syria’s recovery, and ultimately the country will need reconstruction. Skau said he expects a new funding appeal for Syria and urged donors to be generous. JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel’s ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for another deal to end the war in Gaza. He plans to travel next to Qatar and Egypt — key mediators in the ceasefire talks — as the Biden administration makes a final push on negotiations before Donald Trump is inaugurated. Sullivan said “Hamas’ posture at the negotiating table did adapt” after Israel decimated the leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and reached a ceasefire there. “We believe it puts us in a position to close this negotiation,” he said. Sullivan dismissed speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was waiting for Trump to take office to finalize a deal. He the U.S. believes there are three American hostages still alive in Gaza, but it’s hard to know for sure. He also said “the balance of power in the Middle East has changed significantly” since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, especially with the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of Hezbollah and Iran. “We are now faced with a dramatically reshaped Middle East in which Israel is stronger, Iran is weaker, its proxies decimated, and a ceasefire that is new and will be lasting in Lebanon that ensures Israel’s security over the long term,” he said. KHIAM, Lebanon — An Israeli strike killed at least one person Thursday in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, the Health Ministry said, less than a day after Israeli troops handed the hilltop village back to the Lebanese army in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers, Khiam is the first Lebanese town Israel has pull out of since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, and marks an important test of the fragile truce . Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency did not provide details on who was killed, and did not report airstrikes elsewhere on Thursday. The Israeli military said an airstrike targeted Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, without saying if the strike was in Khiam. Lebanese troops deployed in the northern section of the town on Thursday morning and were coordinating with U.N. peacekeepers to finalize Israel’s withdrawal before fully entering into other neighborhoods. An Associated Press reporter who visited Khiam on Thursday observed widespread destruction, with most houses reduced to rubble. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, with collapsed walls and debris scattered across the streets. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, sharply criticized Israel for striking the town less than 24 hours after the Lebanese army returned, saying it was “a violation of the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, who must act to curb Israeli aggression.” The truce was brokered by the U.S. and France. Israel has previously said the ceasefire deal allows it to use military force against perceived violations. Near-daily attacks by Israel during the ceasefire, mostly in southern Lebanon, have killed at least 29 people and wounded 27 others. Khiam, which sits on a ridge less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the border with Israel, saw some of the most intense fighting during the war. The Lebanese army was clearing debris and reopening roads in the northern section of the town. Civilian access to other areas remained challenging as the army clears roads and works alongside the U.N. peacekeepers to ensure the area is free of unexploded ordnance. AQABA, Jordan -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging the many players in Syria to avoid taking any steps that could lead to further violence. Blinken spoke to reporters in Jordan on Thursday shortly after meeting King Abdullah II as he opened a trip in the region to discuss Syria's future after former President Bashar Assad's ouster. Blinken will next visit Turkey, a NATO ally and a main backer of Syrian rebel groups. Blinken called this “a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors.” He said he was focused on coordinating efforts in the region “to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad’s brutal dictatorship” and establish a government that isn’t dominated by one religion or ethnic group or outside power. Blinken was asked about Israel’s incursion into a buffer zone that had been demilitarized for the past half century. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the move is temporary and defensive, but also indicated Israel will remain in the area for a long time. Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. supports the move, but said the U.S. would be speaking to Israel and other partners in the region. “I think, across the board, when it comes to any actors who have real interests in Syria, it’s also really important at this time that, we all try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts,” he said. ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, arrived in Damascus on Thursday, according to Turkish media reports. Kalin was seen arriving at the Umayyad Mosque to pray, surrounded by a large crowd, according to video shown on Turkish television. The visit is highly symbolic. Turkish officials, who supported the opposition against Syria’s government, had predicted at the start of the civil war in 2011 that President Bashar Assad’s government would fall, allowing them to pray at the Umayyad Mosque. JERUSALEM — Paraguay reopened its embassy in Jerusalem Thursday, becoming one of a small handful of nations to recognize the city as Israel’s capital and marking a diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel’s international isolation has increased as the war in Gaza drags on, and Paraguay was the first country to move its embassy to Jerusalem since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that kickstarted the war. The United States, Honduras, Guatemala, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea are among the few countries with Jerusalem embassies. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 but it wasn’t recognized by the international community, and most countries run their embassies out of Tel Aviv. Spirits were high at the ceremony marking the embassy’s inauguration Thursday, with Netanyahu and Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar lavishing praise on Paraguayan President Santiago Pena. “My good friend Santiago,” said Netanyahu, addressing Pena. “We’re a small nation. You’re a small nation. We suffered horrible things but we overcame the odds of history...we can win and we are winning.” Paraguay had an embassy in Jerusalem in 2018, under Former President Horacio Cartes. That embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv by Cartes’ successor, Mario Abdo Benitez, prompting Israel to close its embassy in Asuncion. Saar said Israel and Paraguay shared a “friendship based not only on interests but also values and principles.” He and the Paraguayan foreign minister, Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, signed a series of bilateral agreements and Saar said he would soon visit Asunción with a delegation from the Israeli private sector. “Israel is going to win and the countries we are standing next to Israel, we are going to win," Pena said. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is renewing calls for Syria’s new leadership to respect women and minority rights, prevent extremists from gaining new footholds in the country and keeping suspected chemical weapons stocks secure as he makes his first visit to the Mideast since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad . Making his 12th trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted lasted year but amid fresh concerns about security following the upheaval in Syria, Blinken emphasized Thursday to Jordan’s King Abdullah II U.S. “support for an inclusive transition that can lead to an accountable and representative Syrian government chosen by the Syrian people,” the State Department said. Blinken also repeated the importance the outgoing Biden administration puts on respect for human rights and international law, the protection of civilians and stopping terrorist groups from reconstituting. Blinken met with the monarch and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Aqaba before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the urgency of securing a long-elusive deal to release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Abdullah told Blinken that “the first step to reach comprehensive regional calm is to end the Israeli war on Gaza." GENEVA — The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling on authorities to save evidence from detention centers that were a hub of “unimaginable barbarity” that Syrians have faced for many years and cooperate with international investigators looking into such crimes. Geir Pederson referred to new images from the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital, Damascus, after President Bashar Assad fled Syria as armed groups stormed in to overthrow his government over the weekend. “The images from Saydnaya and other detention facilities starkly underscore the unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured and reported for years,” Pedersen said in a statement. Documentation and testimonies “only scratch the surface of the carceral system’s horrors,” he added. Pedersen urged authorities to cooperate with U.N. bodies like an independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which was created in 2011, and an independent group known as the IIIM that was set up five years later to also compile evidence of crimes. ROME — Leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations offered their full support for an inclusive political transition in Syria and invited all parties to preserve the country’s territorial integrity. In a message released by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office, the leaders said they were ready to support a transition that “leads to a credible government, inclusive and not sectarian, that guarantees respect for the state of law, universal human rights, including rights for women, (and) the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.” The leaders also underlined the importance that ousted President Bashar Assad’s government is held responsible for crimes, citing “decades of atrocities.” They said they would also cooperate with groups working to prohibit chemical weapons “to secure, declare and destroy” remaining chemical arms in Syria. Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-7, which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it struck Hamas militants in two locations in the southern Gaza Strip who planned to hijack aid convoys. Palestinian Health officials had earlier said that the two strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid deliveries. The committees have been organized in cooperation with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza. It was not possible to independently confirm either account of the strikes, which occurred overnight into Thursday. Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid deliveries, while U.N. officials have said there is no systemic diversion of aid . U.N. agencies and aid groups say deliveries are held up by Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and movement within Gaza, as well as the breakdown of law and order more than 14 months into the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, which maintained internal security before the war. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza, said a U.N. convoy of 70 trucks carrying humanitarian aid in southern Gaza “was involved in a serious incident,” resulting in just one of the trucks reaching its destination. It did not provide further details on the incident but said the same route had been used successfully two days earlier. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, leaving the territory heavily reliant on international food aid. DAMASCUS, Syria — An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago. Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule. As video emerged online of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago. In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home. The Biden administration is working to bring Timmerman home, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan, without offering details, citing privacy. Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago, before being detained. He said he was treated well in detention but could hear other men being tortured. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan on his 12th visit to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year and his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad that has sparked new fears of instability in a region wracked by three conflicts despite a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. Blinken was meeting in Aqaba with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on Friday. The meetings will focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Blinken is the latest senior U.S. official to visit the Middle East in the five days since Assad was deposed as the Biden administration navigates more volatility in the region in its last few weeks in office and as President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of the Syrian conflict. Other include national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a top military commander who traveled there as the U.S. and Israel have launched airstrikes to prevent the Islamic State militant group from reconstituting and prevent materiel and suspected chemical weapons stocks from falling into militant hands. Blinken “will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” the State Department said. The U.S. would be willing to recognize and fully support a new Syrian government that met those criteria. U.S. officials say they are not actively reviewing the foreign terrorist organization designation of the main Syrian rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, which was once an al-Qaida affiliate, but stressed they are not barred from speaking to its members. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone until a new force on the other side of the border can guarantee security. After the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli forces pushed into a buffer zone that had been established after the 1973 Mideast war. The military says it has seized additional strategic points nearby. Israeli officials have said the move is temporary, but Netanyahu’s conditions could take months or even years to fulfill as Syria charts its post-Assad future, raising the prospect of an open-ended Israeli presence in the country. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Thursday that Assad’s overthrow by jihadi rebels created a vacuum on the border. “Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th style attacks,” it said, referring to Hamas’ 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there. “That is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic sites near Israel’s border.” The statement added that “this deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.” The buffer zone is adjacent to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, except for the United States, views the Golan as occupied Syrian territory. JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Thursday that the attacker who fatally shot a 12-year-old Israeli boy in the occupied West Bank overnight turned himself in to authorities. The attacker opened fire on a bus near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, critically wounding the boy, who hospital authorities pronounced dead in the early morning. Three others were wounded in the attack, paramedics said. The shooting took place just outside Jerusalem in an area near major Israeli settlements. JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government has evacuated 37 citizens from Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government, officials said Thursday. The evacuees were taken by land from Damascus to Beirut, where they boarded three commercial flights to Jakarta, said Judha Nugraha, director of citizen protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus said all 1,162 Indonesian citizens in Syria were safe. Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Wajid Fauzi said the situation in Syria has gradually returned to normal. “I can say that 98% of people’s lives are back to normal, shops are open, public transportation has started running,” Fauzi said, adding that most Indonesian nationals living in Syria had chosen to stay. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children and a woman. One of the strikes overnight and into Thursday flattened a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies at the hospital’s morgue. Two other strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid convoys . The committees were set up by displaced Palestinians in coordination with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. The Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies and an AP reporter counted them. The hospital said eight were killed in a strike near the southern border town of Rafah and seven others in a strike 30 minutes later near Khan Younis. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved resolutions Wednesday demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and backing the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees that Israel has moved to ban . The votes in the 193-nation world body were 158-9 with 13 abstentions to demand a ceasefire now and 159-9 with 11 abstentions to support the agency known as UNRWA. The votes culminated two days of speeches overwhelmingly calling for an end to the 14-month war between Israel and the militant Hamas group . General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, though they reflect world opinion. There are no vetoes in the assembly. Israel and its close ally, the United States, were in a tiny minority speaking and voting against the resolutions.Election results on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean have set the background for the final stretch of campaigning for Irish parties ahead of polling day on Friday. Donald Trump’s presidential election victory in the US has brought heightened concern that his administration’s proposals around corporation tax and tariffs would significantly impact Ireland’s economic model. Mr Harris, leader of Fine Gael, has argued Ireland and other EU countries need to prepare for the possibility of trade shocks as he criticised the scale of Sinn Fein’s spending pledges as well as their saving plans. He said: “I think that is irresponsible, I think it is dangerous and I think it is reckless.” He accused Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald of not being able to say what her party was prepared to do in the event of an economic crash, adding that Fine Gael would borrow and stop putting money towards a rainy-day fund. Asked if the party was engaging in “project fear” to dissuade voters against Sinn Fein, Mr Harris said: “I call it ‘project truth’. It’s telling people what’s being discussed right across European capitals.” Ms McDonald told an RTE interview on Wednesday morning that a Sinn Fein government would also be prepared to start borrowing in the event of an economic downturn. Both Mr Harris and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, who were partners in the last coalition government in Ireland, have made clear they will not countenance Sinn Fein as a potential partner in the next administration in Dublin. One day after the only three-way debate featuring the leaders of the main parties, Mr Martin accused Sinn Fein of being “dishonest” about how they will fund their manifesto plans. Speaking in Dublin on Wednesday, he said he is anxious to get clarity on the issue. “I think Sinn Fein have been very dishonest, frankly, in terms of the funds, because if you go through their figures, and this is a matter of fact, not opinion, they’re predicting a surplus of a billion in 2026, a billion in 2027. “Even in 2025, they’re talking about a mini budget, which would mean reducing the surplus that we’re anticipating in 2025. “There’s a legislative obligation now on any new government to put 0.8% of GDP to one side, and into the funds. There’s no way you can do that with a surplus of a billion in 2026 or 2027, and we would argue they would not have enough funds next year either to put into the funds.” He added: “It means they have no room to manoeuvre if things go wrong, if there’s headwinds come externally, or there are shocks internationally, Sinn Fein is not allowing any headroom at all in terms of room to respond or to move it.” Ms McDonald accused the other two parties of conspiring to keep Sinn Fein out of government and prevent change in Ireland. She said the two men were now “indistinguishable” from each other as she claimed they were suffering “acute amnesia” in regard to their records in government. On a visit to Naas fire station in Co Kildare, she said: “To listen to them, you’d imagine they had just arrived on the scene and that they were going to come up with all of these solutions. “They have had ample chances, ample opportunity, to make things better, and they have failed, and in between the two of them I make the case that now we ask for our chance, with our plans, with our team, to demonstrate how change can happen, how your community, your family, yourself, can be supported when the government is actually on your side.” Mr Martin’s and Mr Harris’ coalition partner Roderic O’Gorman, the leader of the Greens, issued a warning to the public over a future government without his party. On Wednesday, he said it is looking likely that Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will be returned to government – but cautioned they may not want the Greens to continue “fighting hard” on policies. He told reporters: “My sense is certainly the mood music from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael is that they’d like an easier life in the next government – and my concern is they use these small populist parties and right-wing independents.” Mr O’Gorman argued that the Greens could continue to provide stability to government at a time when economic shocks may be around the corner. As the Green leader suggested that relying on independents would be unstable, Mr Martin has also argued that “too much fragmentation would lead to incoherence in government”. Reflecting on Tuesday night’s debate, the Fianna Fail leader said the race remained “too close to call” while Mr Harris said it is “all to play for”. The leaders of Ireland’s three main political parties clashed on housing, healthcare and financial management in the last televised debate before Friday’s General Election. The tetchy debate, which was marked by several interruptions, saw the parties set out their stalls in a broadcast that commentators said did little to move the dial before polling day. The latest opinion poll on Monday put the parties in a tight grouping, with Fianna Fail slightly ahead of Sinn Fein, and Fine Gael in a close third after a significant slide in a campaign marked with several hiccups for Mr Harris’s party. After the 2020 general election delivered an inconclusive result, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, two parties forged from opposing sides of Ireland’s Civil War of the 1920s, agreed to set aside almost a century of animosity and share power – with the Greens as a junior partner. From 2016 to 2020, Fianna Fail had supported Fine Gael in power through a confidence-and-supply arrangement from the Opposition benches in the Dail parliament. Sinn Fein won the popular vote in 2020 but a failure to run enough candidates meant it did not secure sufficient seats in the Dail to give it a realistic chance of forming a government.
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Legendary ESPN "College GameDay" analyst Lee Corso won't be on the show forever, but president Burke Magnus made it clear the network plans to keep him on the show through the playoffs and then reassess. “I think we’re going to do what we’ve done now for a couple years running, which is we’re gonna have a conversation with him after the season and see where things are,” Magnus said . “You know, he’s a special guy," the ESPN boss continued. "I mean, he’s one of the nicest men you or any of your listeners or anybody on Earth could ever come across. And he’s been absolutely iconic on the show. So we’re going to get through the playoff this year, let everybody decompress, and then we’ll have some time to figure out what we’re going to do for next season.” Sara Diggins/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images On Saturday Corso and the rest of the "College GameDay" crew took to Columbus, Ohio ahead of a top five showdown between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Indiana. The former Hoosiers coach received a shout out from former NFL coach Jon Gruden, whose father coached with Corso. In the shout out, Gruden admitted Corso lost five straight....oops. "My dad coached running backs for Lee Corso at Indiana from 1973 to 1977. Willie Jones was my favorite player. Ohio State beat us five years in a row! Go Hoosiers!!!" Gruden said on social media . My dad coached running backs for Lee Corso at Indiana from 1973 to 1977. Willie Jones was my favorite player. Ohio State beat us five years in a row! Go Hoosiers!!! pic.twitter.com/Zd2HBuT8qa Gruden's message had fans ready for today's game. "Let’s go," one person said . "Knock on wood if you’re with me!" added another . "So cool to have that memory with your dad and Coach Corso. My dad and I have alot of memories together for when I played college football in the 90s. Hopefully Indiana upsets Ohio state today," offered a third. Gruden will be rooting for the Hoosiers today as the team enters this afternoon's game as a 13.5-point underdog. Indiana sits at 10-0 on the season but hasn't faced a ranked team until today. Can Curt Cignetti and company pull off the upset?
As a woman in her forties, a mother of two children, Emily may not have expected to be targeted on a night out but, as she explains, this is an issue which impacts all women. More than 100 incidents of drinks being spiked were reported to gardai last year. Pic: Stock image Figures show a five-fold increase in drink spikings over the past five years Drink spiking has been in the headlines in recent years (Stock image) Cllr Aoife Rose O'Brien. Pic: Jim Campbell In times past the biggest concern for a young person on a night out was perhaps drinking too much, overdoing it, blacking out, and wondering how they got home. The proliferation of street drugs has since changed the face of Irish nightlife, seen young people play Russian roulette with their bodies of a weekend, willingly imbibing substances which may or may not cause them serious harm. But what about those who imbibe those substances unwillingly? Who head out for a few drinks with their friends and are exposed to these drugs through no fault of their own? Although the most recently-published garda figures show there were just 52 reported instances of spiking in the country in 2023 the real figures are believed to be much higher. With no clear protocols in place for victims, many cases are going unreported, leaving women, and men, frustrated by the system, by the lack of support from not just the gardai, but also the HSE and publicans. We spoke to victims of spiking, a local politician who has first-hand experience of this issue, and a member of a Wexford drugs-based initiative to learn more about a problem which, in many ways, has become an accepted part of a night out in Ireland in 2024. EMILY* When she reported being spiked at a Wexford bar Emil received a lot of negative reactions. But there was one which hit hardest. "Who’d be spiking her, the age of her.” As a woman in her forties, a mother of two children, Emily may not have expected to be targeted on a night out but, as she explains, this is an issue which impacts all women. “It happened In April of this year, I was with a couple of my friends and we went into a pub and the first thing I said to one of my friends was ‘there’s a weird atmosphere in here tonight, a horrible vibe’.” The three friends got their drinks, put them on a table, and joined the edges of the dancefloor, staying near their table, within eyeshot of their drinks. They returned to the table, back to the dancefloor, trying to enjoy their night out, when Emily began to feel unwell. “At one point I tried to walk off the dancefloor and suddenly it just felt like there were fireworks going off in my head, I could see bright lights coming towards me. I held onto my friend straight away and said ‘there’s something wrong with me, I think I’m after being spiked’. “She asked me was I sure, did I feel alright; I just gave her my phone and told her to call my husband.” Amid her growing sense of panic, Emily remembers a man lingering in the background and then making his presence known, approaching the women and “getting in our faces” while they tried to get help. While they waited for Emily’s husband to arrive, a member of staff came to offer some assistance, asking if she could sit down. “I told him I had to stand, I was holding onto my friend, I couldn’t move, I felt like I had to wait for my husband, that it wouldn’t be safe to move until he arrived.” The manager of the pub was then alerted to the scene. “I told him what happened and he said, ‘no, you’re just drunk’. I said, ‘I’m not drunk, I’m not drunk, I have been spiked. I know I’m not drunk, there’s something wrong with me.’” Stock image Eventually Emily’s husband arrived and they managed to get her out of the pub. At this point she says she was literally paralysed; she was paranoid, frantic, and anxious. From there they went to Wexford General Hospital. “They said we’d have to wait 12 hours to have the toxicology assessment, even the nurse said we’d be better off going home because we’d only be sitting there for 12 hours,” Emily says. “I was holding my husband’s hand so tight that my wedding ring was bent out of shape. I made a show of myself in the hospital, he was trying to check me in and I was shouting and roaring, that’s not me.” “I’d never seen her like that before,” Emily’s husband says. “As soon as I saw her in the pub I knew there was something really wrong.” With such a lengthy wait in front of them, the couple chose to go home, hoping that the effects of the drug would ease overnight. However, some 12 hours after she was spiked, Emily was still feeling the worse for wear. “I went to bed, I barely slept, I was crying, I couldn’t believe it had happened to me. Then, at about 1 p.m., I started going downhill again, we contacted our neighbour Mike, who’s a paramedic, and he came in to see me. "I remember sitting at the kitchen table going, ‘that’s not Mike, this is someone pretending to be Mike’, I was looking at my husband to see if his face would change as well, I was having hallucinations. Mike said it was likely a very strong form of acid I had been spiked with.” Finally, after Mike put her on a drip, Emily began to come round. Then began her search for answers. “A couple of days later I went back to the pub and asked to speak to someone. I met with the co-manager and told him my drink had been spiked on the premises. He asked me for the toxicology report and I told him I didn’t have it, that we couldn’t stay in the hospital for 12 hours waiting for them to carry out the tests. He told me spiking didn’t happen in their pub.” Reporting the incident to the guards yielded similar, unsatisfactory, results. “They said they’d examine the CCTV from the pub, it took them two weeks to come back to me, and they said there was nothing on it.” And that was as far as it went. The person who spiked Emily's drink was never identified and the pub where it happened was never investigated. In the intervening months Emily has made a full recovery, at least physically, but rarely goes out now and never back to that pub. What frustrates her most is the attitude of the publican and their staff. “They need to start taking people seriously when they say they don’t feel right, and there should be a duty of care for publicans to have a trained paramedic on the premises, someone who would know the difference between someone being drunk and someone who’s been drugged.” Considering herself fortunate to have had friends with her on the night, someone who could collect her from the bar within minutes, Emily genuinely fears for the current generation of women and teenagers hitting the towns of Ireland every weekend. “I’ve told my younger daughter about it, I want her to be aware of it, to understand that it doesn’t matter what age you are, these things can happen to you. It’s not right, young girls now having to look after their drinks and be told (if something happens) ‘no, you were just drunk’.” Drink spiking has been in the headlines in recent years (Stock image) MARIE* "I could hear voices in the background, but I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn't do anything, I just turned into a ragdoll. Anyone could have done anything to me. I wouldn’t have remembered what happened. I wouldn’t have been able to fight back.” And so began Marie’s experience of being spiked while on a night out in Wexford. Like Emily she had been out with her friends, enjoying herself, unwinding after a week’s work, when her night quickly began to unravel. “Everything was grand, I was absolutely perfect, and the next minute, as if with the flip of a switch, I started feeling weird,” she recalls of that night out in August of last year. “I went straight to the bathroom, I was falling round the place, I came back out and spoke to one of the bouncers, told them I wasn’t feeling well. Things gets blurry after that.” From that point on, Marie can only remember snippets from the evening, has had to rely on friends to fill in the blanks. “I can remember them saying ‘this girl needs a chair’. I put my head down between my knees, one of my friends said she came over to me and was smacking me in the face trying to get me to come round and there was no response at all. I had no use of my arms and legs, I was paralysed, I didn’t have the strength to open my eyelids, my eyes closed at that point and they didn’t open until the next day.” Taken outside the pub, Marie began to get sick, her teeth chattering as her friends tried to get her to her feet. “They said I was just dancing away to the music, acting normal, and then just like that I was gone. I hadn’t had very many drinks, three or four at that point, it was as if my body was going into shock, I’ve never taken a drug in my life – the person who did this didn’t care what happened to me, it could have killed me.” Yet, after being brought back to her friend’s house, and being monitored all night, Marie says she woke up feeling “bright as a button”. "It was so weird, usually if you’d had a few drinks or whatever you’d have a sore head, but I woke up like nothing had happened.” As with Emily’s story, returning to the scene of the crime did not prove useful. “I went back to the pub the following day and told them about it, they didn’t even seem surprised,” she says. “I asked them to check their cameras, they said they could see me at the start of the night, but as it got busier it was harder to pick me out, they asked me had I contacted the guards, I said I hadn’t. I should have.” Accepting that she should have gone to the guards, should have gone to the hospital, Marie says she was put off by her experience with the bar staff, fearing she wouldn’t be taken seriously, that nothing would come of her complaints. Yet the fact remains that she was targeted by someone intentionally. Does she feel that person intended to rape her? “I don’t know what they were at, why someone would have wanted to do that, but anyone could have done anything to me. It frightened me so much, I was thinking about the Nicola Furlong case, they brought her into a hotel with a wheelchair, someone could have easily done that to me too. I was terrified for a long time after, it took me a while to go out after that because I was terrified the same thing would happen again.” With no resolution, Marie, like so many others, has had to deal with what happened to her in her own way, come to terms with it as best she can. And she says that young people today can’t be careful enough when on nights out. “It’s not enough to leave your drink with your friends any more, girls, fellas, they’re all chatting, they’re not thinking about minding your drink. I really think they need to introduce those containers with the plastic seal on top of it, but then they might just go around pricking people with needles. Just get rid of glasses altogether. But at the end of the day, you’re not going out and having the craic like you would have years ago, you’re going out and you’re worrying.” Most worrying of all, she says, is the lack of action from those in positions of authority. “The guards aren’t taking these cases seriously enough, nothing is ever done when it happens to someone, and that’s a girl’s life ruined forever if she gets raped or sexually assaulted.” ‘Whether it’s a form of disturbing entertainment or to sexually abuse another person, the culprits need to be seriously reprimanded’ – says Wexford councillor It could be said that Sinn Féin councillor Aoife Rose O’Brien’s involvement in local politics came about as a direct result of her experience of spiking. That experience, and her interactions with survivors of sexual abuse, inspired her to write her debut novel Bronagh , a semi-autobiographical account of her fight for justice. From there she became an advocate for all survivors of abuse, whether emotional, physical, or sexual, and, in her efforts to help others, found herself thrust into the role of public representative. Having been elected in the summer, she immediately questioned Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly on the current protocols in place for those presenting to hospitals with cases of spiking. The response, which came from the HSE rather than the minister, informed Cllr O’Brien that “attendance at an emergency department (ED) is . . . unnecessary where a suspected spiking victim feels that they may have sustained such an injury but are feeling well. Such incidents should be reported promptly to An Garda Síochána and advice on the HSE’s spiking page should be followed.” The HSE went on to say that “blood and other tests for forensic purposes, rather than when clinically indicated, should be taken by a doctor working on behalf of An Garda Síochana. This can be done in a Garda Station if the alleged victim does not need to attend an ED or in the ED if the treating medical staff feel the patient has the capacity to consent to such testing. “Where a victim of such an incident is acutely unwell, the Emergency Services should be accessed in the usual way and such patients will be brought to the ED for further medical management.” As someone who has been through the process herself, Cllr O’Brien said she was “very disappointed, very shocked” with the HSE’s response and argued that the definition of “acutely unwell” required further clarification. But her main point of contention surrounded blood tests and the ability of an “under-resourced” policing division to carry out these tests within a suitable timeframe. Cllr Aoife Rose O'Brien. Pic: Jim Campbell “Whether it’s five minutes or five days after someone becomes aware a substance was put into their body, the absolute minimum should be a blood test,” she says. “This will do two things, identify the drug – and I understand this is not always straightforward with the type of drugs circulating – and also determine if that drug has caused any lasting physical harm. "The response I received was appalling, it essentially said that if someone isn’t physically unwell they won’t receive medical intervention. But spiking isn’t that clean cut, from the people I have spoken to and from my own experience, there can be a whole range of symptoms and side effects, and you have to consider how long and how much of that drug is inside the person’s body. Aside from that, there’s the question of whether the individual is on any other medications; I work in the health industry and I understand how different medications can interact with one another. Putting an unknown substance into someone's body could result in death.” Although the HSE was unable to provide figures regarding instances of spiking in Co Wexford over the last three years, Cllr O’Brien said that, anecdotally at least, the numbers are continually rising. “I’ve started working with the Ferns Diocesan Youth Service (FDYS) on this and its staff have discussed serious figures (of spiking) with me,” she says. “On a personal level I’ve had multiple amounts of people come to me with cases, and those cases aren’t being reflected in any figures. There’s not a whole lot there to encourage someone who’s been a victim of spiking to reach out for help, when they’re seeing that you can’t even get a blood test done or you’re going to have to wait for 12 hours. To expect a person who could be suffering from a range of symptoms to go in and fight for treatment it’s madness. I hope when the new government is formed that this is going to be addressed. But I’m never going to stop fighting for it.” Her own experience of spiking had a lasting effect, both physically and emotionally. “In my case, I was spiked around the hours of 12-1 a.m., I rang the care doc when I began to come around – this would have been at 2-3 p.m. the next day. The care doc said they couldn’t assist in any case of spiking and referred me to Wexford General Hospital. I went in there and was left on my own in a room for around an hour. When I was seen there, the staff said they couldn’t touch me because I’d been assaulted, by the time they told me this it would have been 6-7 p.m. in the evening. "They had to ring the guards who then transported me to the victim assessment unit in University Hospital Waterford (UHW) where a blood test was finally taken. So it was maybe 18-20 hours before the test was taken. And then it took six months for the results to come back.” Those results found that she had a “seriously high rate of sedative” in her blood, a rate three times in excess of what a body of her size could tolerate. "And that was taking into consideration the test was taken 18-20 hours after I was spiked,” she continues. “Up to that point I had never had any liver condition of any kind. A year to the day after that I ended up in WGH where they diagnosed me with acute liver failure, and later with auto-immune hepatitis. I can’t prove it was linked to the spiking but I was a young woman, a personal trainer, very health-orientated, never touched drugs; I’d have my few drinks at the weekend or whatever; to then be told I had liver failure, I believe there’s a link there.” Cllr O’Brien is now putting all her energies towards changing the narratives around spiking, starting with the current legislation, or lack thereof. “There needs to be deterrents in place; when you consider the reasons why someone might spike another person, whether it’s to humiliate someone or a form of disturbing entertainment, or to sexually abuse another person, the culprits need to be seriously reprimanded. I can’t recall a case in this country where someone found guilty of spiking has been sentenced, that’s a scary statement to have to make.” Because many cases are going unreported and because victims aren’t undergoing toxicology tests to determine what was slipped into their drink, it can be difficult to ascertain what substances are being used in spiking cases. In order to change that narrative all parties need to to take their share of responsibility, including those who run the bars and clubs where the majority of spiking cases occur. “So often when someone reports that they’ve been spiked to bar staff they’re either laughed at, been told they’ve drank too much, or not received the appropriate assistance,” says the Sinn Féin councillor. “The first action of bar staff should be to take the drink as evidence, then ring for medical intervention; bring the person somewhere safe, ring the guards, and make sure they deal with it professionally. I understand publicans have a business to run but this needs to be a priority for them too. If I was a publican I wouldn’t want to have a reputation of having a business which isn’t safe for women.” ‘We’re hearing benzodiazepines, you’d also hear ketamine, GHB, Rohypnol’ – community worker says young people of Wexford need to be more aware of risks Although he primarily supports people with substance abuse issues, John Paul O’Neill from the FDYS says he and his staff are coming across many unreported cases of spiking in their roles with the organisation’s community-based drugs initiative. “The vast majority of people who are spiked are not presenting to services, but anecdotally, we would have come across a lot of situations, a lot of people are telling us they’ve been spiked or their friends have been spiked,” he says. “There is some shame attached to it, and people aren’t presenting as a result. "But if someone gets spiked and they’re not assaulted, if their friends bring them home and the effects wear off and they eventually come round, they’ll still have been spiked. They might consider it be a lucky escape and, in a lot of cases, they don’t go to the guards or the hospital, they will just put it down to experience.” Because many cases are going unreported and because victims aren’t undergoing toxicology tests to determine what was slipped into their drink, it can be difficult to ascertain what substances are being used in spiking cases. However, John Paul believes there is no one drug being used and that it varies from one case to the next. “It’s difficult (to say) because not everyone’s coming forward, when they do present to the hospital any test that’s done has to be done before the substance leaves the system, so it’s not easy. But we’re hearing benzodiazepines, you’d also hear ketamine, then there’s other date rape drugs: GHB (an odourless, colourless designer drug), Rohypnol, there’s a number of different things that could be used.” Responding to the concerns of young people around the county, John Paul and his team recently conducted a survey where they asked people across Wexford to detail their biggest concerns while on a night out. This, in turn, has led to a campaign which will be launched in early 2025. “We conducted a survey to gauge young people’s attitude towards safety on night outs, what they felt were the main risks and potential harms. Through that survey a significant number of people recorded instances of spiking,” he says. “So, now we’re putting a campaign together, called ‘Sound Out’, in which we’re encouraging young people to be more aware of the risks around spiking, we’re looking for people to plan their nights out, to let people know where they’re going, make arrangements to get home before they go out. “Then, when they’re out, to make sure they look out for one another and take on a collective responsibility, and if there is a concern that they’re not letting their friends drift off at the end of the night on their own.” Part of this campaign is to not just offer advice for those who find themselves at risk on a night out, but also to educate and inform those who may not fully comprehend the seriousness of their actions. “I’ve gone to different youth services around the county and I’ve brought the posters to the groups and talked them through it, we’re looking to make people more conscious that if someone in your party is going out and spiking someone that's not okay. You need to act on that, you can’t ignore it or think it’s funny if your friends are doing it, we are definitely looking to target that. Associate Professor in Pharmacology and Toxicology, Tara McMorrow says one of the biggest problems in proving cases of spiking is the length of time a substance spends in a person’s body before it becomes undetectable. “Unfortunately most drugs can be broken down (metabolised) by the liver and kidneys within 1-2 days and in many cases, in 12 hours. Therefore it can be almost impossible to determine if drugs are present in the urine of a suspected victim, unless urine samples are taken within a few hours of exposure to the drugs. “For example, the most common drugs implicated in drink spiking, ketamine and GHB (Gamma Hydroxybutyrate), have short half lives in urine. GHB is usually only detectable for a maximum of 12 hours, so in most cases where GHB may have been used, it won't be detectable in urine samples, as many victims may not have a urine sample available for testing during the 12-hour detection window. Also it will depend on the concentration of GHB used to spike the drink and how much is ingested, it may be undetectable as early as five hours post ingestion. “Ketamine may remain detectable for up to five days, however, this will depend on the dose taken, body mass and other factors such as liver function or long-term use. Rohypnol can be detectable for five days. However, again it will depend on the dose given and in many cases individuals may not seek a test to determine if they have been exposed to the drug.” *Names have been changed to protect the identity of interviewees Helplines: If you have been affected by the contents of this article, click here for more information
What the heck is going on with Sen. John Fetterman?CleanSpark, Inc. Announces Proposed Private Offering of $550 Million of Convertible Notes
REGINA — A Saskatchewan legislature member says his transgender children were targeted in an election campaign promise about school change rooms and he wants an apology from Premier Scott Moe. Opposition NDP member Jared Clarke told the legislative assembly this week his daughters were subjects of a complaint for using a girls’ change room at a southeast Saskatchewan school. “The premier put a target on the backs of my two 12-year-old kids,” Clarke said in the house. He said a news article of the complaint was published Oct. 16 and later that day a photo of his family was shared on social media linking them to the article. The next day at a campaign stop in Regina, Moe was asked about the complaint and announced he would ban “biological boys” from using girls change rooms at schools if his Saskatchewan Party won the Oct. 28 election. Moe had touted the proposal as his first order of business, but it was not in his party's campaign platform. "He held a press conference to stoke fear and outrage about two kids at an elementary school, while my children’s picture was circulating on social media, identifying them, while unimaginable hate was raging down on my family," Clarke told the assembly. "The premier owes my children an apology. He owes all transgender people in this province, especially kids, an apology for how he has made them feel so unsafe over the last year." Moe’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moe said during last month’s election campaign he did not know the identity of the children. He told reporters a week after the Saskatchewan Party was re-elected the ban would no longer be a legislative priority. He said school boards are being consulted on a change room policy that would support all students. Clarke asked if it would be acceptable for the children of other legislature members to be used as political fodder. “What do you think would be going through a 12-year-old’s mind when they hear the premier of their province targeting them?” he told the assembly. He said it wasn’t easy when his children came out as transgender, and that he and his wife had to do a lot of learning, reading, talking and thinking. “As a parent of a transgender child, you are presented with a stark choice: to outright reject the feelings and words of your child when they tell you who they are or to choose to embrace your child and love them with all your heart,” he said. “My wife and I decided to love our kids with all our hearts. “Transgender kids are not scary. Transgender people are not scary. They are not people that we should be afraid of. They are people who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and love.” He said his kids are kind and smart, and they play sports and music. They are also fond of Taylor Swift and airplanes. "They have the incredible strength to live as their authentic selves." Clarke said it’s the second time the Saskatchewan Party government has gone after transgender kids. Last year, the province passed a law using the notwithstanding clause to require parental consent when children under 16 want to change their names or pronouns at school. "I don’t expect everyone to understand the journey that we have been on as a family, but I hope that my words today can be heard by those who have an open heart and a willingness to learn about the different lived experience than perhaps their own," he said. "I hope something good can come from this terrible experience." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024. Jeremy Simes, The Canadian Press
The Department of Justice has taken a historic step against Google's monopoly in the online search market. Prosecutors have outlined a series of radical measures, including selling its Chrome browser and Android system, to foster competition. The landmark case in Washington could redefine how users access information. The proposed remedies target Google's exclusive agreements that favor its search engine, demanding an end to practices where Google pays billions to dominate default positions on devices. A court-appointed committee could see these measures implemented for a decade, ensuring competition and addressing what the DOJ calls an illegal monopoly. Google responded critically, with Chief Legal Officer Kent Walker labeling the plans as an overreach that risks harming various American stakeholders. Amidst a substantial drop in Google's shares, the future course of this case remains uncertain with potential interventions from the upcoming administration. (With inputs from agencies.)