Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslims said poor mental health made him admit to crimes

The Australian white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019 has been prevented from appealing against his guilty pleas, after one of New Zealand’s highest courts said his bid was “utterly devoid of merit”.

Brenton Tarrant, who is responsible for the worst mass shooting in New Zealand’s history, asked the court of appeal in February to allow him to appeal against his guilty pleas, claiming harsh prison conditions had affected his mental health and compelled him to admit to the crimes.

Claudio Neves Valente, who killed himself after deadly attack, began planning for violence in 2022, authorities say

The gunman behind a deadly shooting at Brown University in December appeared to have been aggrieved by personal failures and sought retribution against those he deemed responsible, federal authorities said on Wednesday.

More than four months after Claudio Manuel Neves Valente opened fire on the Ivy League campus, killing two students and injuring nine others, officials with the FBI’s Boston division announced they had concluded a significant portion of their investigation into the shooter.

BERLIN, April 30 — A special barge carrying a humpback whale that was stranded in Germany had entered Danish waters by yesterday afternoon and is expected to reach the North Sea in two days, local officials said.

The whale, dubbed “Timmy” by German media, was coaxed into the vessel in a last-ditch rescue attempt on Tuesday after a weeks-long struggle for survival on the Baltic Sea coast.

The ship Fortuna B, which is towing the barge, was located between the islands of Langeland and Lolland in southeastern Denmark at around 1400 GMT, according to the VesselFinder website.

“If everything goes well, he’ll be in the North Sea in two days. The very worst is already behind him now,” Till Backhaus, environment minister for the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, told the Bild daily.

Speaking to reporters on the island of Poel, where the whale was most recently stranded, Backhaus said the animal was “doing well” and had made sounds during the night.

Backhaus thanked rescuers for their “wonderful” effort in “an exceptional situation that is hardly comparable anywhere in the world in this form”.

The whale had been struggling for more than a month around the German coast, getting stuck on sandbanks and then managing to free itself again several times.

At the start of April, officials gave up on trying to rescue the animal, saying they believed it could not be saved.

But this triggered an outcry and authorities were persuaded to approve a privately financed rescue plan proposed by two wealthy entrepreneurs.

The barge idea was hatched after their initial attempt to save the whale with inflatable cushions and pontoons was unsuccessful.

The rescue effort was seen as a long shot and criticised by experts who said it would only cause the animal more distress.

The whale’s ordeal has sparked a media frenzy — with non-stop coverage from TV channels, online outlets and social media influencers — but has also led to angry spats and conspiracy theories. — AFP

Paul M Walsh posted a photo:

1930-1931 Litchfield High School Band
The Years Gone By, Tabloid 1972 Litchfield High School

Paul M Walsh posted a photo:

The Years Gone By, Tabloid 1972 Litchfield High School

People with meniscus tears who underwent surgery had poorer knee function and worse osteoarthritis after 10 years than those who did not

A common knee surgery for cartilage damage does not benefit patients and may lead to worse outcomes, a 10-year trial suggests.

The study tracked outcomes for patients treated for a meniscus tear, who were given a partial meniscectomy, one of the most common orthopaedic surgeries. Their trajectories were compared with patients who had randomly been assigned to receive “sham surgery”, in which no procedure was carried out.

Tangled Bank posted a photo:

The history of American railroading in an old magazine from 1949. And some advertisements.

Tangled Bank posted a photo:

The history of American railroading in an old magazine from 1949. And a few advertisements.