Author: Emmanuel

37 minutes agoShareSaveIan YoungsCulture reporterShareSaveGetty ImagesUS singer Chris Brown has been freed on bail by a court in London after being charged with inflicting an “unprovoked attack” in a nightclub in 2023.The Grammy-winning star, who has not yet been asked to enter a plea in the case, is able to begin his world tour next month as planned as part of his bail conditions.He was arrested last week and later charged with grievous bodily harm over an incident in which he allegedly attacked a music producer with a tequila bottle at the Tape nightclub in London’s Mayfair.The 36-year-old was not present at Southwark Crown Court for Wednesday’s bail hearing, at which the judge said he must pay a £5m security fee to the court.A security fee is a financial guarantee to ensure a defendant returns to court. Mr Brown could be asked to forfeit the money if he breaches bail conditions.The musician had been held in custody since being arrested in Salford last Thursday, and was initially refused bail on Friday.But bail was granted on Wednesday, on the condition that he pay £4m immediately, with a further £1m due in seven days.His tour is scheduled to start in Amsterdam on 8 June, with stadium and arena dates in Manchester, London, Cardiff, Birmingham and Glasgow later that month and in July.The two-time Grammy-winner is known for hits like Loyal, Run It and Under the Influence.His next court date is 20 June, between shows at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He must surrender his passport if he is not travelling on tour, Judge Tony Baumgartner said.Other bail conditions include living at a specific address known to the court, not contacting the alleged victim, not visiting the Tape nightclub, and not applying for international travel documents.He will appear at court next month with his co-defendant, Omololu Akinlolu, a 38-year-old who performs under the name HoodyBaby, also from the US.

Cat used in attempt to smuggle drugs into prison in Costa Rica

Video shows cat trying to smuggle drugs into Costa Rica prison

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Guards in Costa Rica have intercepted an unusual prison drug delivery, catching a cat as it jumped over the periphery fence at night with marijuana and crack taped to its body.The black-and-white feline, carrying over 230 grams of marijuana and 67 grams of crack cocaine in two packages, was captured this month at a prison in the canton of Pococi, the justice ministry said in a statement last week.The ministry shared a video of a guard climbing a perimeter fence to catch the cat.Later, the feline is seen on a prison table while guards carefully cut the packages from its tiny body and remove the drugs from its fur.”Thanks to the quick actions (of the guards) the feline was caught and the packages were removed, thus preventing them from reaching” the inmates, said the ministry.

According to BBC, prison officials handed the cat over to the National Animal Health Service for an evaluation.Some social media commenters poked fun at the incident. “And how many years in prison will the cat get?” one person commented.Others voiced outrage and sympathy for the cat.”How cruel,” on commenter wrote. “Poor little kitty.”

Video showed the cat on a prison table while guards carefully cut the packages from its body.

Costa Rica justice ministry

The State Library of Queensland has suspended its national Indigenous fellowships and withdrawn the award to one of this year’s recipients over a social media post about Gaza.The First Nations writer Karen Wyld, who now writes under the name K A Ren Wyld, was stripped of her Creative Australia-funded $15,000 black&write! fellowship, less than five hours before it was to have been awarded to her, over comments she made on social media in October about the conflict in Gaza.The entire ceremony, due to take place in Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon, was cancelled without notice.The future of other awards and fellowships is now also under a cloud, including the David Unaipon award for an emerging Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writer, as the library launches “an independent review of the suite of awards and fellowships we administer”.A library spokesperson told the Guardian its review would include “all awards and fellowships administered by State Library of Queensland, including the Queensland Literary Awards and the Queensland Memory Awards”.But the spokesperson denied the David Unaipon award, which is part of the Queensland Literary Awards, had been put on hold.The black&write! ceremony would be rescheduled for a later date, she said.Speaking to Guardian Australia, Wyld said she would not be silenced by authorities intent on “bullying nobodies like me” over their stance on the Gaza war.The Indigenous Adelaide writer had been awarded the fellowship for her 110,000-word manuscript documenting seven generations of stolen Indigenous children.But just after arriving on Tuesday morning in Brisbane at the State Library of Queensland, which was bestowing the award, she received an email from a News Corp journalist asking for comment on the decision to rescind her fellowship.

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Ten minutes later, she said, she was ushered into a private room, where the library’s chief executive, Vicki McDonald, informed her that the contract for her fellowship, which had previously been signed by the writer and the library’s board, had been cancelled.“She wouldn’t tell me why or who was doing it … whether it was from the minister or the board [of the library],” Wyld said. “She just said it didn’t come from her.”Wyld said she told McDonald the withdrawal of the fellowship would add to an increasingly divisive public debate over the right of artists to speak out about Gaza.McDonald said it had been decided that was a risk worth taking, Wyld claimed.A spokesperson for McDonald said the decision to rescind Wyld’s fellowship had been “respectfully communicated to the writer at that time”.When asked if the fellowship had been withdrawn at the request of the Queensland government, the spokesperson said in a statement the decision had been made after the arts minister, John-Paul Langbroek, told parliament he had “taken the decision that this award should not be presented” at the state library.“Based on that decision, State Library of Queensland yesterday postponed the black&write! ceremony,” the statement said.A story published in The Australian on Tuesday afternoon said the grant had been withdrawn after Langbroek and the Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, wrote to McDonald and the library’s chair, Debbie Best, voicing concerns about social media posts made by Wyld.Wyld said at their meeting McDonald referred to a tweet Wyld had posted about the death of the Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in October, which referred to him as a martyr. Wyld deleted the tweet shortly after posting it.“I probably could have worded it less emotional,” Wyld told the Guardian. “It was mostly me being really devastated at the Albanese government’s approach to the whole [Gaza] situation.”Wyld said the tweet bore no relevance to her hefty manuscript on the Stolen Generations, funded to the tune of about $40,000 from Creative Australia, for which she was awarded the fellowship.“I wrote it to highlight that the Bringing Them Home report is 28 years old next week, and only 6% of the recommendations have been actioned,” she said.“I wrote it to bring awareness to the stories of the Stolen Generations, to propose some positive features, because it ends in the future, and to talk about justice. It has nothing to do with anything else.”A statement posted on the State Library’s website on Tuesday said the black&write! fellowships, “awarded solely on the literary merit of submitted manuscripts”, were designed to encourage and support First Nations writers in fiction and poetry genres and facilitate publication.“Regrettably, media coverage and commentary today in relation to the personal views of the recommended recipient has overshadowed the intent of the awards,” the statement said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“This has significantly impacted the individual artists and people involved.”The statement did not name Wyld or state that her fellowship had been withdrawn. The library’s statement said it would undertake an independent review of the awards and fellowships it administered.“It will have specific focus on how we balance our strong commitment to freedom of expression and our role as a state government funded cultural institution,” the statement said.Crisafulli’s office did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Langbroek referred the Guardian to his speech delivered to the legislative assembly on Monday, less than two hours before the ceremony was due to begin, confirming the Queensland government had intervened.Langbroek told parliament it was incumbent on the State Library’s board to ensure that the activities and associations of the library reflected community standards and upheld the integrity of the institution.“Whilst I support the principles of free expression and creative diversity, any perception that taxpayer-funded awards being granted to individuals who justify terrorism undermines public trust, both in our institutions and in the cultural sector more broadly” Langbroek said.“Whilst individuals are free to hold and express their views, we must ensure that publicly funded arts programs and venues are held to the highest standards, promoting artistic excellence and fostering social cohesion … Words matter, and that’s why we’ve taken the decision that we have said to this board that this award should not be presented at the State Library.”The federal arts minister, Tony Burke, said in a statement on Wednesday the decision was a matter for Creative Australia.“On support for artists, I never interfere with the decisions of Creative Australia,” he said.“We brought back arm’s-length decision-making in the arts.“The moment you start [interfering], you become George Brandis,” he said, referring to a previous Liberal government decision on arts funding that redirected $104.7m from Creative Australia – then called the Australia Council – to a separate kitty, to be dispensed at the discretion of the then arts minister, Brandis.However, Creative Australia told the Guardian it was not consulted about the decision to withdraw Wyld’s fellowship.“Decisions about recipients are made independently by the library,” its statement said.“Creative Australia provides funding to the State Library of Queensland’s black&write! program, but plays no role in selecting, approving, or rescinding individual fellowships.”A library spokesperson told the Guardian its review would include “all awards and fellowships administered by State Library of Queensland, including the Queensland Literary Awards and the Queensland Memory Awards”.But the spokesperson denied the David Unaipon award, which is part of the Queensland Literary Awards, had been put on hold.The black&write! ceremony would be rescheduled for a later date, she said.The national black&write! fellowships have furthered the careers of more than a dozen First Nations writers since Creative Australia began funding them in 2014. The fellowships also come with a publishing contract, which this year was to have been signed with University of Queensland Press.The Guardian has sought comment from UQP.

China said Wednesday that the Trump administration’s plan to construct a so-called “Golden Dome” missile defense system to protect the U.S. from missile attacks carries “strong offensive implications” and will increase the risks of a global arms race and militarizing outer space. President Trump said Tuesday that his administration had “officially selected an architecture for this state-of-the-art system,” and that a budget package currently being deliberated by Congress would provide an initial $25 billion in funding for the project.An unclassified assessment by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency shows the military expects to be contending with missile threats that are greater in “scale and sophistication in the coming decade,” noting specifically that “China and Russia are developing an array of novel delivery systems to exploit gaps in the current U.S. ballistic missile defenses.””North Korea has successfully tested ballistic missiles with sufficient range to reach the entire homeland, and Iran has space launch vehicles it could use to develop a military-viable ICBM by 2035, should Tehran decide to pursue the capability,” the DIA assessment said, warning that already, “there is no part of the homeland which cannot be struck by existing ICBMs.”

President Trump speaks alongside Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office at the White House, May 20, 2025, in Washington, as he announces plans for a “Golden Dome” national ballistic and cruise missile defense system.

Getty

But China, which has been deepening its ties with Russia while rapidly developing its missile and other military capabilities, including its nuclear weapons, accused the Trump administration of obsessing over U.S. defense at the risk of endangering global security.”The United States, in pursuing a ‘U.S.-first’ policy, is obsessed with seeking absolute security for itself. This violates the principle that the security of all countries should not be compromised and undermines global strategic balance and stability. China is seriously concerned about this,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Wednesday during a regular briefing in Beijing, according to multiple international news agencies. The White House plan “heightens the risk of space becoming a battlefield, fuels an arms race, and undermines international security,” she said. “We urge the United States to abandon the development and deployment of a global missile defense system as soon as possible.”

The U.S. military has said for years that China and Russia are already deploying weapons in space, with reports suggesting everything from laser weapons to Chinese satellites with the ability to disable or even capture American satellites. Last year, the U.S. warned Russia against deploying a nuclear-capable anti-satellite weapon that analysts believe could loiter in space for long periods of time before emitting a burst that would disable all satellites around it.In Russia’s capital, meanwhile, the Kremlin said Wednesday that Mr. Trump’s plans would require consultations between Moscow and Washington, but a spokesperson said it was largely a “sovereign matter” for the U.S.It was a softer stance than taken previously by the regime of President Vladimir Putin, which had recently published a statement saying the new American missile defense system would explicitly give Moscow an impetus “for a significant strengthening of the arsenal for conducting combat operations in space.”Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, as he made his announcement, that he’d not yet spoken with Putin about his plans, but he said he would, “at the right time.”

China and Russia, in a joint statement issued earlier in the month, called the Golden Dome project, “deeply destabilizing in nature,” and the two U.S. adversaries said it would turn space into “an arena for armed confrontation.”

NewsFeedUS President Donald Trump has unveiled his plan for a multi-billion-dollar missile defence shield known as the ‘Golden Dome’ to shield the US from next generation missile attacks, relying on space-based defence systems. Here’s what we know so far.Published On 21 May 202521 May 2025

Getty Images35 minutes agoFive people have been handed suspended prison sentences for racially abusing Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr in an “unprecedented” ruling in Spain, La Liga said on Wednesday.Spain’s top division said it is the first time racist insults in a football stadium have been condemned as a hate crime in Spain.Vinicius, 24, appeared to be subjected to racist abuse during a game against Real Valladolid in September 2022 while he walked past fans after being substituted at Jose Zorrilla stadium.The Provincial Court of Valladolid gave the five offenders a one-year prison sentence, which has been suspended on the condition they do not commit any further offence in the next three years.They are also not allowed to attend any matches within the same period.The court also handed out fines to the five individuals that range between 1,080 euro (£913) and 1,620 euro (£1,369).”Thanks to the efforts of La Liga, which filed the complaint and initially acted as the sole private prosecution – later joined by the player Vinicius and Real Madrid, as well as the Public Prosecutor’s Office – this exemplary ruling has been achieved,” La Liga said in a statement.”This judicial decision represents an unprecedented milestone in the fight against racism in sport in Spain, where, until now, rulings had addressed conduct against moral integrity with a racial aggravating factor.”The fact that this ruling explicitly refers to hate crimes associated with racist insults reinforces the message that intolerance has no place in football.”Brazil international Vinicius has faced racist abuse several times during his time in Spain.In June 2024, Vinicius said “I’m not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor of racists” after three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for abusing him in May 2023.Related topicsEuropean FootballFootball

Video shows cat trying to smuggle drugs into Costa Rica prison – CBS News

Five Valladolid fans receive suspended sentences and are fined for racist chants against Real Madrid’s Vinicius in 2022.Five people have been handed prison sentences for racially abusing Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr during a match in a landmark first ruling in Spain to condemn racist insults in a football stadium as a hate crime, La Liga says.
On December 30, 2022, Brazil international Vinicius was subjected to abuse in Real’s 2-0 win away to Real Valladolid as he walked past fans after being substituted at the Jose Zorrilla Stadium.
The Provincial Court of Valladolid on Wednesday imposed on the five offenders a year in prison and fines ranging from 1,080 euros ($1,226.12) to 1,620 euros ($1,836).
The prison sentences were suspended on the condition they do not commit any offence in the next three years, and they are also not allowed to attend any matches in the same period.
“Thanks to the efforts of LALIGA, which filed the complaint and initially acted as the sole private prosecution – later joined by the player Vinicius and Real Madrid, as well as the Public Prosecutor’s Office – this exemplary ruling has been achieved,” La Liga said in a statement. Advertisement
“This judicial decision represents an unprecedented milestone in the fight against racism in sport in Spain, where, until now, rulings had addressed conduct against moral integrity with a racial aggravating factor.
“The fact that this ruling explicitly refers to hate crimes associated with racist insults reinforces the message that intolerance has no place in football.”
The racist chants directed towards Vinicius Jr, right, occurred during an away La Liga match at Real Valladolid’s Jose Zorrilla Stadium on December 30, 2022 [Angel Martinez/Getty Images]
Prison sentences of less than two years for nonviolent crimes in Spain rarely require a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.
In June, three Valencia fans were sentenced to eight months in prison for insulting Vinicius with “shouts, gestures and chants referring to the colour of his skin”.
In September, a fan who racially abused Vinicius and Villarreal player Samuel Chukwueze in two games at Mallorca in 2023 was found guilty and handed a suspended prison sentence.
The aggressor had a 12-month sentence suspended after apologising in a letter to Vinicius and undergoing antidiscrimination training and was also banned from stadiums for three years.

Aasis Subedi, a Bhutanese Nepali refugee, finds himself back in the same Nepal refugee camp he spent part of his youth, once again stateless.Last month, Subedi and two dozen community members from across the US were deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers to Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan country where they had never previously set foot. At least four, including Subedi, were immediately rejected by Bhutanese authorities and then expelled to India, where they fled to a refugee camp in Nepal.“I have nothing right now. They brought us in [to Bhutan] without any documents,” he says from one of the three Beldangi refugee camps in the southeast of Nepal, where he is using his father’s cell phone.Subedi had been serving jail time for a third-degree felony offense committed in Columbus, Ohio, before he was put on a plane and deported via New Jersey.Subedi is one of the more than 100,000 Bhutanese Nepalis who fled ethnic cleansing and were made stateless by the Bhutanese government who stripped them of their citizenship rights in the 1980s. Since 2008, more than 90,000 have been resettled in the US.But the Trump administration has upended life for the community.“Bhutan is still not safe for our community members to return [to]. It is a matter of putting our lives at risk … Now, people are going through the cycle of being stateless again,” says Robin Gurung of Asian Refugees United.Several of the deported people are believed to be missing in India.ICE told Global Press Journal that Subedi was deported under a ‘targeted enforcement operation.’ Green card holders – Subedi is a legal permanent resident – can be deported having been found guilty of a serious crime but only after having the opportunity to plead their case in court and once the US government has shown “clear and convincing evidence” that the person can be deported. US laws forbid the deportation of individuals to countries where their safety may be at risk.“Most of the folks who have been deported have already served their time. For me, that is the matter of concern,” says Gurung. “They served their time, they were in their communities, providing for their families, their children, and now they are gone.”Thousands of Bhutanese Nepalis have settled in parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania that faced major economic struggles and population loss due to the 2008 Great Recession. Around 8,000 Bhutanese Nepali people now live in Reynoldsburg, a city outside Columbus, making up around one-fifth of the population.Along the suburb’s main thoroughfare, East Main Street, Bhutanese Americans have opened up more than 30 businesses ranging from hair salons to restaurants.“A lot of the community works at local Amazon and FedEx facilities. Those kinds of jobs were very attractive for folks, and the schools in Reynoldsburg are good,” says Bhuwan Pyakurel who came to Reynoldsburg in 2016 and has since become America’s first-ever Nepali-Bhutanese elected official.“Many of those businesses were closed before we came here [and] we came and revived them. Cricket is a big thing for the Bhutanese community when it wasn’t known here in the past. Now the city is in the process of building a new cricket field.”While towns and cities across the Sun Belt have grown significantly in recent years, northern states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and beyond have struggled to retain and attract residents.As a result, immigrants have played an important role in helping local economies grow, creating a tax base for city authorities and adding vibrancy to a region working to shed its Rust belt past. Next door in Pennsylvania, around 40,000 Bhutanese Nepalis live in the cities of Harrisburg and Lancaster. Harrisburg has lost nearly half of its population since 1950, though in recent years that decline has been halted.But now a crippling fear has gripped immigrant communities across the country.Pyakurel, who was elected to Reynoldsburg’s city council in 2019 having lived in a refugee camp in Nepal for 18 years, says he now fields five to ten phone calls a day from worried local Bhutanese Nepali residents, many asking for guidance.“People are wondering if they should apply for their citizenship or wait for three years, if they should renew certain documentation,” he says. Last month, Palestinian green card holder and Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi was detained at a naturalization interview and deportation proceedings against him were enacted. On 30 April, Mahdawi was released.“Nowadays, I carry my passport with me all the time,” says Pyakurel. “Even though I’m a [city council] representative here, I don’t look like a citizen to many ICE officers.”Subedi came to the US through a government refugee relocation program in July 2016 and had been living and working as a machine operator in Pennsylvania before his arrest in Columbus last July.Now 7,700 miles from home, he has little to do but sit all day in the refugee camp, where he lives in a bamboo-made hut – the very same camp he spent the first two years of his life and where his father still lives. The arrival of him and three others deported from the US caused a stir at the camp, which drew the attention of the Nepali police, who detained him for several weeks as his legal status was investigated.This month, his daughter turns three years old. He says his family has no money to assist him in the refugee camp in part because his wife stopped working when their child was born.He says he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to come back to the US.“I want to come back. I have family, my kids,” Subedi says.“This is the second time we have become a refugee.”