“Police have arrested a Sydney author on child abuse material charges following global outrage over her book entitled: ‘Daddy’s Little Toy.’ Christian charity marketing executive Lauren Tesolin-Mastrosa, who writes erotic fiction under the pen name ‘Tori Woods,’ caused an online furore following the release of her latest novel, which outlines the relationship between an 18-year-old and her father’s friend. Readers said that in the book, whose cover features children’s building blocks, the man speaks about how he has desired the teen since she was three years old. ‘About 12:30 pm [on Friday] detectives attended a home on Penn Street, Quakers Hill and arrested a 33-year-old woman before being taken to Riverstone Police Station,’ NSW Police wrote in a statement. ‘At the home, police executed a search warrant – seizing several hard copies of the novel – to be forensically examined.'” (03/25/25)
“Honeybee deaths have hit record highs in the US, with the unprecedented loss of colonies pushing many beekeepers close to ruin as scientists scramble to identify the main cause of the huge declines. Commercial beekeepers have reported losing more than 60% of their colonies, on average, over the winter, according to an ongoing Project Apis m. survey that covers more than two-thirds of America’s managed bees. … The loss of bees, both captive and wild, in the US is already starting to limit the supply of some food crops and is reducing the yield of honey. The declines are part of a broader crisis in the insect world where species are being wiped out at an alarming rate. Researchers warn that the loss of insects imperils basic functions of life on Earth, such as food production, the flowering of plants and waste disposal.” (03/25/25)
“The head of Turkey’s main opposition party visited jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Tuesday after six nights of massive protests calling for his release. Imamoglu, arrested on March 19 on corruption charges, is seen as the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 22-year rule. His arrest has been widely viewed as politically motivated and sparked demonstrations, some turning violent, across the country. The government insists Turkey’s judiciary is independent and free of political influence. Ozgur Ozel, the leader of Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, held a two-hour meeting with Imamoglu at Silivri prison, west of Istanbul. Ozel told reporters that he was ‘ashamed on behalf of those who govern Turkey of the atmosphere I am in and the situation that Turkey is being put through.'” (03/25/25)
“The U.S. Customs and Enforcement agency (ICE) announced that a massive operation in Massachusetts resulted in nearly 400 [abductions], including over 200 [kidnappings] of illegal [sic] immigrants who had serious criminal convictions or charges. … The raids came despite Boston’s status as one of several so-called ‘sanctuary’ cities across the country, jurisdictions that restrict local cooperation with [the ICE gang]. … ICE [thugs] were joined by personnel from several other federal [gangs], including the FBI, DEA, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service and DSS.” (03/25/25)
“The Trump administration can’t deport alleged Venezuelan gang members after a federal judge Monday rejected a request to lift the temporary halt on the practice. The legal battle being waged over the high-stakes immigration case promises to test the limits of Trump’s deportation powers and the power of the executive branch itself. In a Monday opinion, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg took aim at the Trump administration for invoking an 18th-century wartime law to justify the deportations. Each plaintiff ‘vehemently denies’ being part of the Tren de Aragua gang, as the administration claimed, he noted. As such, each plaintiff is ‘entitled to individualized hearings’ to determine whether the Alien Enemies Act of 1789 — which would allow them to be deported with little to no due process — can be applied to them, Boasberg wrote.” (03/24/25)
“The US has removed millions of dollars in bounties from senior members of the Haqqani militant network in Afghanistan, including one on its leader Sirajuddin Haqqani who is also the Taliban government’s interior minister. It is a significant move given that the Haqqani network is accused of carrying out some of the most high-profile and deadly attacks in Afghanistan during the US-led war in the country, including attacks on the American and Indian embassies, and NATO forces. Currently, the network is a key part of the Taliban government …. The move to lift the bounties comes weeks into President Trump’s second term, and just days after US officials met with the Taliban government in Kabul to secure the release of an American tourist, detained since 2022.” (03/25/25)
“European sales of Tesla electric cars dropped 49 percent in January-February compared with the same period a year earlier, the ACEA manufacturers’ association said. Ageing models are one factor behind the plunge so far this year, but e-vehicle clients may also be refusing to buy in protest of Tesla’s billionaire owner Elon Musk since he became a key supporter of US President Donald Trump. … In Europe, he has also been increasingly vocal about his support for far-right parties, throwing his weight behind for example Alternative for Germany (AfD), just before the country’s February elections. New Tesla registrations in the European Union fell to 19,046 in the first two months of the year, giving the company a market share of just 1.1 percent, the ACEA said.” (03/25/25)
“Belarus'[s] authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in Tuesday to a seventh term, and he mocked those who derided him as ‘Europe’s last dictator’ by saying his country has more democracy ‘than those who cast themselves as its models.’ ‘Half of the world is dreaming about our ‘dictatorship, the dictatorship of real business and interests of our people,’ Lukashenko, 70, said in his inauguration speech at the Independence Palace in the capital of Minsk. Hundreds of opposition supporters living abroad held anti-Lukashenko rallies Tuesday to mark the anniversary of Belarus’ short-lived independence in 1918 following the collapse of the Russian Empire. Lukashenko marked three decades in power last year, and his political opponents have denounced the tightly orchestrated Jan. 26 election as a farce. The Belarus Central Election Commission declared he won with nearly 87% of the vote after a campaign in which four token challengers on the ballot all praised his rule.” (03/25/25)
“A father of three in Spanish Fort shot a 17-year-old boy who was breaking into his home shortly after midnight on Saturday, according to police. The teenager survived and is in serious condition. Spanish Fort Police Chief John Barber said a woman heard someone outside her Caisson Trace home and woke her husband. They then heard glass breaking in a front window. … The father, acting in self-defense, fired one shot with a pistol, hitting the teenager in the upper abdomen. … The teen was flown to University Hospital and remains in serious condition.” (03/24/25)
“US officials reacted with shock — and in many cases, horror — to revelations in The Atlantic that top members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet sent detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified information about US military strikes on Yemen to a group thread on a messaging app to which a reporter had accidentally been added. The Trump administration acknowledged the messages, sent over the nongovernment encrypted chat app Signal, seem to be authentic without offering any explanation for why senior officials were discussing national defense information outside of approved classified government systems. … Using a Signal chat to share highly classified information and accidentally including a reporter on the discussion also raises the possibility of violations of federal laws such as the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to mishandle national defense information.” (03/24/25)
