List of All Articles with Tag 'cs'

Ted Cruz is accusing the highly anticipated Barbie film of “pushing Chinese propaganda,” after a trailer for the Warner Bros release appeared to show a map referencing China’s disputed claims to the South China Sea. “Senator Cruz has been fighting for years to prevent American companies, especially Hollywood studios, from altering and censoring their content to appease the Chinese Communist Party,’ a spokesperson for the Texas Republican told The Daily Mail. The issue stems back to the so-called “nine-dash line” used on Chinese maps, illustrating what it claims are its posessions within the South China Sea. The line, first published on Chinese maps in the 1940s, demarks an area 1,200 miles from the Chinese mainlaind comprised more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea, according to The Los Angeles Times. Parts of the territory within the line, a busy fishing and trade corridor with valuable oil and gas deposits as well as strategic importance, are claimed by nations including Vietnam and the Philippines. About a minute into the Barbie film’s main trailer, a map of the world can be seen with a line of eigh dots jutting off a cartoonish drawing of Asia. The Independent has contacted Warner Bros for comment. The Republican Texas senator isn’t the only one upset about the map. Vietnam reportedly banned the movie over the apparent reference to the Chinese claims. The decision was issued by the country’s Central Council of Film Evaluation and Classification, Vi Kien Thanh, head of the Vietnam Cinema Department, told theTuoi Tre newspaper on Monday. The film was set to premiere in the country on 21 July, the same time as it hit US screens. It’s not the first time the territorial claims have impacted a Hollywood release. Showings of the action film Uncharted in Vietnam were halted last year for the same reason. The map dispute also led Vietnam to cut a scene from the 2018 smash Crazy Rich Asians, according to the Mail. The territorial dispute over the South China Sea territory at issue was brought before The Hague in 2016, where China lost on most of its claims. Beijing has not accepted the judgment. Read More Barbie director Greta Gerwig reveals she rejected ‘terrifying’ idea for Margot Robbie film Vietnam bans 'Barbie' movie due to an illustration showing China's territorial claim John Legend and Chrissy Teigen sleep over at Barbie’s Malibu dreamhouse: ‘So jealous’ Trump and DeSantis to hold dueling campaign events in New Hampshire after squabbling over timing Analysis: Donald Trump's war on truth confronts another test with voters Judge blocks Biden agencies from communicating with social media platforms

A spokesman for a super PAC backing Ron DeSantis acknowledged that the Florida governor and GOP presidential candidate is "way behind" in national polling and is "fighting uphill" to defeat former President Donald Trump in the 2024 primary.

Suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will not testify in his impeachment trial, according to his attorney, who called the proceeding a "sham" that would "encourage future kangaroo courts."

Most presidents, current and former, typically spend America’s Independence Day celebrating the values of US society that bring its citizens together, joining in the festive and unifying themes of the national holiday. And then there’s Donald Trump. The twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president spent his 4 July morning fuming at his enemies from behind a keyboard, re-”Truth”-ing a vulgar message aimed at President Joe Biden and the tens of millions of Americans who voted for the Democratic commander-in-chief in 2020. ““F**k Biden and f**k you for voting for him”, read the post. It was just another pebble in the avalanche of bizarre behaviour that Mr Trump has long known for; the attack was amplified by the former president at roughly 2am, hours before he would apparently wake up and decide to share a slightly-less caustic message to his followers. “Happy FOURTH OF JULY to everyone. We are working hard, we will take back our Country, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN”. Though, he added that the 2024 election would be “our LAST GREAT CHANCE” to do so. Read More Trump’s own words about an indicted president come back to haunt him Ex-Trump spokesperson claims she saw him show off documents on Mar-a-Lago dining patio Chris Christie reacts to ‘control freak’ Trump’s classified documents comments: ‘He’s scared’

Georgia's Foreign Ministry criticized Ukraine on Tuesday for urging the Georgian ambassador to return to Tbilisi for consultations over the poor health of imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is also a Ukrainian citizen. The Foreign Ministry called Ukraine's action “an extreme form of escalation.” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry had summoned Georgian Ambassador George Zakarashvili to express its protest over the apparent significant deterioration in the health of Saakashvili, who was convicted of abuse of power while he was president in 2004-2013. “The decision of the Ukrainian authorities causes serious damage to the strategic relations between the two countries and represents a direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said in its statement. Saakashvili appeared severely emaciated Monday during a videolink testimony to a court considering a new abuse-of-power case against him. Saakashvili and his supporters claim that he has been poisoned while imprisoned and that he now weighs about 60 kilograms (132 pounds), half of what he weighed when he was arrested in October 2021. Speaking from a private clinic where he is being held, he told the court that despite his poor health, he is “spiritually fit and determined to serve the country,” according to local news site Agenda. Saakashvili, who became Georgia’s president after leading the Rose Revolution protests that drove the previous president out of office, left for Ukraine after the end of his second term. He was later convicted in absentia of abuse of power and sentenced to six years in prison. He was arrested in October 2021 after returning to Georgia to try to bolster opposition forces before nationwide municipal elections. He is now on trial on charges connected to the violent dispersal of an opposition rally in 2007. Saakashvili holds Ukrainian citizenship and was governor of that nation’s Odesa region in 2015-16. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday called on Georgia to send Saakashvili to Ukraine for medical treatment. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

A federal judge has blocked key agencies within President Joe Biden’s administration from communicating with social media companies about certain online speech in an extraordinary ruling as part of an ongoing case that could have profound impacts on the First Amendment. The preliminary injunction granted by Donald Trump-appointed US District Judge Terry A Doughty in Louisiana on 4 July prohibits the FBI and the US Department of Health and Human Services from speaking with platforms for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” The ruling – which could obstruct the administration’s attempts to combat false and potentially dangerous claims about vaccines and elections – is a victory for Republican attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri who have alleged that the federal government was overreaching in its attempts to combat Covid-19 disinformation and baseless election fraud narratives. Judge Doughty, who has yet to issue a final ruling, stated in his injunction that the Republican plaintiffs “have produced evidence of a massive effort by Defendants, from the White House to federal agencies, to suppress speech based on its content.” He did make some exceptions that would allow the government to warn platforms about national security threats, criminal activity or voter suppression. This is a developing story Read More Suspicious powder found at the White House when Biden was gone was cocaine, AP sources say Biden renews call for assault weapons ban after spate of July 4 shootings Watch live: Joe Biden addresses National Education Association

Lots of low-wage workers just received a boost in pay, as more than a dozen states and localities increased their minimum wages.

A powdery substance that was discovered at the White House Sunday evening, prompting a temporary evacuation of the complex, has been sent for further evaluation and testing, the Secret Service said.

A small amount of white powder which authorities now believe is cocaine was found in the White House on Sunday, according to multiple media reports. The US Secret Service began an investigation after the substance was discovered Sunday evening. A source familiar told the newspaper that preliminary testing revealed the powder to be cocaine. Separately, The Daily Mail reported that the powder had been found in the library of the White House — an area frequented by many staffers as well as some tours. A source with knowledge of the situation characterised the area where it was found as a work area of the West Wing. Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service’s chief spokesman, told The Independent on Monday that agents were beginning “an investigation into the cause and manner” of how the powder entered the White House. He added that it was discovered during a routine sweep of the room. “On Sunday evening, the White House complex went into a precautionary closure as officers from the Secret Service Uniformed Division investigated an unknown item found inside a work area. The DC Fire Department was called to evaluate and quickly determined the item to be non-hazardous. The item was sent for further evaluation and an investigation into the cause and manner of how it entered the White House is pending,” said Mr Guglielmi said. The president was not in the residence at the time of the investigation, according to the spokesman. Mr Biden spent the weekend at the Camp David residence, returning to Washington on Monday for an event with the National Education Association. Read More Watch live: Joe Biden addresses teachers and representatives of National Education Association Trump marks Independence Day by sharing vulgar attack on Biden and ominous 2024 warning Rudy Giuliani grilled by prosecutors about 'shouting match' in fight to overturn election

By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON Suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will not testify in his upcoming impeachment trial

Robert F Kennedy Jr was left grasping for answers after being confronted with a lengthy list of his conspiracy theories in a new interview. The Democratic presidential candidate, 69, sat last week for a wide-ranging interview with Nick Gillespie and Zach Weissmueller from Reason, which bills itself as the nation’s leading libertarian magazine. Mr Kennedy told the publication he had “always been aligned with libertarians on most issues”, and that he would consider appointing Tulsi Gabbard as his secretary of state. Towards the end of the hour-long interview, Mr Gillespie, Reason’s editor-at-large, noted that RFK Jr routinely trafficked in conspiracies and displayed a “kind of conspiracist mindset where almost everything that we take for granted is bad”. Mr Gillespie went on to list the numerous conspiracies that RFK Jr has peddled, including his anti-vaccine stance and claims that 5G and Wi-Fi are “controlling our mind”, that AIDs is not caused by HIV, that boys are becoming transgender due to chemicals in the drinking water, and that his cousin Michael Skakel was not guilty of a murder he had been convicted of. “It kind of goes on and on,” Mr Gillespie says. “How do you answer people who say, you know, like this is the sign of somebody whose thinking is fundamentally conspiracy-minded rather than kind of dealing with brute reality?” Mr Kennedy responded that the questions were “very unfair”. “You made a series of characterisations of my beliefs that you read in the newspapers. Many of which are just wrong.” When pushed, Mr Kennedy offered to go through each one individually and challenged the interviewers to “show me where I get it wrong.” Mr Gillespie then brought up a now-retracted article published by Rolling Stone and Slate in 2005 which made scientifically disproven claims linking childhood vaccines to autism. Mr Kennedy falsely insisted that he had not been shown “one mistake” in the articles. Mr Kennedy, who is running a longshot candidacy to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024, has been repeatedly called out by the scientific community for spreading dangerous misinformation about vaccines. Last month, former Salon editor Joan Walsh said publishing Mr Kennedy’s article was the “worst mistake of my career” and that she should have been fired for it. The nephew of John F Kennedy and son of Robert F Kennedy recently appeared on the controversial Joe Rogan podcast where he continued to spread baseless claims about vaccines. The pair challenged Dr Petez Hotez, a noted medical expert and virologist, to debate the science behind vaccines. Dr Hotez declined, saying he’d be happy to speak with Rogan but didn’t want to create a talk show-style spectacle. “I’ve offered to come and talk to Joe Rogan again, and have that discussion with him, but not to turn it into the Jerry Springer with having RFK Jr on,” he told MSNBC. Read More Trump news – live: Truth Social SPAC agrees to SEC settlement as Trump’s past comments on indictment resurface Editor apologises for publishing RFK Jr anti-vaxx screed: ‘I should have been fired’ Scientist pressured by Musk and Rogan to debate RFK Jr over anti-vaccine misinformation says he won’t be part of ‘Jerry Springer’ show

London rent is now so high that a woman on an average salary would need to double her