Parents who fail to pay child support will face significant penalties. The U.S. Department of State will begin revoking the passports of citizens with significant child support debts, as part of a policy the Trump administration introduced as an effort to strengthen enforcement of federal laws and compel those with overdue payments to catch up.

Seguir leyendo

The Department of Defense began on Friday to comply with President Donald Trump’s order to release documents held by the U.S. government containing information on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). This first declassification includes dozens of PDF documents and images — but no sensational revelations about the existence of extraterrestrial life. Authorities have uploaded these files to a department website, war.gov/ufo, a URL that uses the classic designation UFO (Unidentified Flying Object), which has been superseded in recent years in the fields of defense and science due to the popular connotations of the acronym. Materials will be uploaded on a weekly basis, authorities have promised.

Seguir leyendo

Mali is under siege by two insurgent movements, the Tuareg rebellion and the jihadist insurgency, which have joined forces with the aim of overthrowing the government. Following last weekend’s joint offensive, which cost the life of the military junta’s Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, the jihadists have imposed a blockade on the capital, Bamako, attempting to prevent the entry of goods and people via the main roads. In the north, Kidal, a perpetually contested city, has fallen into rebel hands. The architect of this alliance is none other than Iyad Ag Ghali, the leader of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM), who has spread the jihadist threat throughout the central Sahel and whose life story could easily fill a novel.

Seguir leyendo

The first organ Montserrat Torrent ever played, at age 18, was in a chapel in Santa Coloma de Farners in the Spanish city of Girona, where her family spent their summers. “It was a simple organ, without pedal stops, but it was good,” she says. “I tried to play absurd things, like Chopin’s nocturnes, but there was no way to make them sound right.”

Seguir leyendo

The Central Market Square in Valencia, now filled with outdoor cafes and tourists photographing its modernist dome, was for centuries one of the main sites of the slave trade in the Spanish city. This is clearly documented by archival documents: from the late 15th century, this was one of the entry points for enslaved Africans. Just a few meters away, in the now-demolished Posada del Camell, more than a hundred people were sometimes crammed together in chains, waiting to be auctioned off. And yet, there is not a single plaque to commemorate it.

Seguir leyendo

It’s time for the interview and Dubliner Jim Sheridan, 77, has not yet appeared. The press pack have been warned. That morning, in the Madrid hotel where he is staying, there was no tortilla. And after asking at reception, he has sought out a pincho with his wife in the neighborhood. “He said that he loves it and wanted to get his hands on a good one,” the press was told. Through the windows of the hotel, you can see the man who made My Left Foot, The Field, In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, and In America, walking at a leisurely pace, which is reflected in his delivery during the interview. He likes to talk but calmly.

Seguir leyendo

When temperatures soar, it’s assumed that having more financial resources allows for more air conditioning and access to swimming pools to cool off. However, the reality is more complex, and wealth doesn’t protect against the heat. This is according to a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), which found that European regions with higher socioeconomic levels have a greater risk of mortality from high temperatures than less privileged ones.

Seguir leyendo

Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education (SEP) has announced “adjustments” to this year’s school calendar for elementary and high schools across the country, both public and private, due to the World Cup. Although in its official statement the ministry specified that its decision is also due to “the high temperatures” and “extraordinary heat waves,” there is no record of this happening before, regardless of the heat waves recorded in other years during Mexico’s summer months. Just a few minutes after the Secretary of Public Education Mario Delgado’s announcement, teachers took to social networks to complain that they had not been taken into account and to warn that it will now be practically impossible to teach the complete curriculum to the more than 29 million students in the country.

Seguir leyendo

In Miami, it’s essential to stay alert for tropical storm and hurricane warnings. Torrential rains and high winds are compounded by rising sea levels due to global warming caused by climate change. South Florida’s porous limestone foundations act like a sponge. As sea levels rise, groundwater rises to the surface. To prevent Miami from becoming Atlantis, the only option is to raise it above the water, a project underway in Sunset Harbour and other residential areas — see the MB Rising Above cell phone app for details. This strategic plan is part of the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.

Seguir leyendo

The United States is at the Venice Biennale with yet another example of Donald Trump’s cultural offensive: with an unexpected artist who was chosen after a fraught selection process, and with the pavilion in the hands of an individual with no experience in the art world but well-connected to the president’s inner circle. The major contemporary art event is itself also surrounded by political tensions sparked by the participation of Russia and Israel.

Seguir leyendo

The hantavirus outbreak on the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius has reignited old hoaxes and conspiracy theories on social media. As with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, hordes of misinformation and seemingly serious claims, lacking any scientific basis, have once again spread around this new outbreak, which is of a completely different scale and nature than the pandemic of six years ago.

Seguir leyendo

Bilateral relations between the U.S. and Mexico have entered a new phase — more critical, and with increasingly little room for manoeuvre for Mexico. After the U.S. Department of Justice indicted the governor of Sinaloa and nine other senior officials last week, everything suggests this is only the prelude to a more aggressive U.S. campaign against the links between politics and organised crime.

Seguir leyendo