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Former parliamentary speaker Andriy Parubiy shot dead as EU ministers meet to discuss measures to force Moscow to the negotiating tableA Ukrainian former parliamentary speaker was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, authorities said, as European foreign ministers met to discuss increasing pressure on Moscow to end its war against Ukraine.Andriy Parubiy, a member of parliament who served as parliamentary speaker from 2016 to 2019 and a key figure in Ukraine’s 2013 pro-European Maidan revolution, was shot dead, prosecutors said. A murder investigation has been launched and the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned the killing as a “horrific murder”. Continue reading...

The former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease raised a “red flag” on Saturday morning, accusing Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promoting eugenics.Appearing on MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned in protest over the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, hammered at RFK Jr’s purge of scientists at the CDC, which has plunged the department into chaos.Toward the end of the segment, co-host Jackie Alemany noted something that Daskalakis wrote in his resignation letter that was made public.“There was a line in your resignation letter that really stood out to me,” she prompted her guest by reading, “’Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.’. Can you spell out for our viewers what exactly you mean by that?”“I’ll start by saying this is sort of in my in my sort of personal experience,” he began. “You know, my grandfather was in Greece; he died because he stood up against sort of fascist regimes in his country. And when I see the secretary [RFK Jr] go on television and, you know, talk about the first time I was like, ‘Oh, no,’ when he was talking about the H5N1bird flu and chickens, and he said in an interview, all of the chickens should get bird flu. and the ones that survive are genetically superior and they should reproduce and they should reestablish the flock. ““So fast forward to West Texas and measles, where he says, you know, getting the infection is fine, really, because only the strong will survive. You know, like it makes your immune system stronger, which is false,” he added. “It actually makes your immune system weaker.”“So I really hear the echoes of the words ‘superior genetics,’” he elaborated. “He referred to very high members of this administration and their improving health status and said, well, that person has superior genetics. That is eugenics. Wake up, that is a red flag.”You can watch below or at the link. - YouTube youtu.be

Eleanor Lyons will interview women who say they have been trafficked into sex work and advertised onlineThe independent anti-slavery commissioner has launched an investigation into so-called pimping websites amid concern at the level of exploitation of trafficked and vulnerable women on those platforms.Eleanor Lyons will interview women who say they have been trafficked into sex work and advertised on adult services websites such as Vivastreet that allow users to browse images and videos of women selling sex in their local area. Continue reading...

The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), enacted in 1977, gives the US President broad authority to regulate economic transactions once a national emergency is declared.

‘Citizen patrols’ and self-styled protective forces are fuelling social fears and the far right, say expertsSporting black shirts emblazoned with an iron cross, a dozen or so men marched through the centre of Reykjavík, courting attention on a buzzy Friday night. In Poland and the Netherlands, vigilantes thronged along the German border, ready to turn back any asylum seekers they came across. In Belfast, they roamed after sunset, demanding to see the identity documents of migrants and people of colour.Each of the groups, who are part of a renewed wave of anti-migrant vigilantes that have sprung up in recent months across Europe, have sought to cast themselves as a sort of protective force. But those who have studied vigilantes warn that their actions often exacerbate security concerns, sow fear and fuel the far right. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closedAndriy Parubiy, a Ukrainian politician who previously served as the parliament speaker, has been shot dead in western city of Lviv, say officials.Confirming the news, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X:Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko and prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko have just reported the first known circumstances of the horrendous murder in Lviv. Andriy Parubiy was killed.My condolences to his family and loved ones. All necessary forces and means are engaged in the investigation and search for the killer. Continue reading...

Amid the stalled peace talks kicked off by President Donald Trump to end the Russo-Ukraine War, a number of Trump officials are now casting blame elsewhere in a move that has left some of America’s allies “puzzled,” Axios reported Saturday."The Europeans don't get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost," said a top Trump official, speaking with Axios on the condition of anonymity. "If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory."The stalled progress on ending the war comes after Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this month in Alaska, which was followed shortly thereafter with his meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A third meeting was announced by Trump – set to be between Putin and Zelenskyy – but ultimately never materialized, with tensions rising among the two nations as the war wages on.Now, Trump officials appear to be trying to get ahead of the peace talks’ failures by shifting blame to European nations, with some going as far as to alleged European leaders want the war to continue."Getting to a deal is an art of the possible," the Trump official said. "But some of the Europeans continue to operate in a fairy-tale land that ignores the fact it takes two to tango."Progress toward ending the war has been so unsuccessful that one insider, described by Axios as a “senior White House official,” said that Trump is heavily weighing the idea of stepping back from peace talks all together, at least until either Russia or Ukraine show an openness to making major concessions.“We are going to sit back and watch,” the senior White House official told Axios. “Let them fight it out for a while and see what happens.”Having been waged since 2014, and escalated in 2022 with Russia’s invasion, the Russo-Ukraine War has seen more than one million casualties as of June.

Cities in Indonesia rocked by protests after motorcycle taxi driver run over by police tactical vehicleProtesters have torched parliamentary buildings in three further Indonesian provinces, a day after at least three people were killed by a fire started by demonstrators at a council building in the city of Makassar.Protests erupted across Indonesia after footage spread showing a motorcycle taxi driver being run over and killed by a police vehicle on Thursday night during earlier demonstrations over low wages for workers and perks for lawmakers. Continue reading...