Ukraine's Anti-Graft Crackdown Sparks Protests Against Zelenskiy
Hundreds of mostly young people joined rallies in the capital of Kyiv, the western city of Lviv, and the southern city of Odesa on Tuesday evening in protest against legislation that placed the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine under the control of the Prosecutor General's Office, whose head is appointed by the president.
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New York Post
9 minutes ago
- New York Post
Mass shooting on Park Avenue shows how dangerous a Mayor Mamdani would be for NYC
New Yorkers' collective sense of safety was bruised and rattled this week — a chilling wake-up call. On Monday, a deranged gunman waltzed into a Park Avenue skyscraper toting an M4 rifle. There he killed four innocents, including 36-year-old NYPD Officer Didarul Islam. The flood of frantic 9-1-1 calls reporting an active shooter drew an immediate and robust police response, led by officers in its specially trained Strategic Response Group, who arrived on the scene within six minutes. Both Officer Islam's sacrifice and the selfless professionalism of the hundreds of officers who bravely rushed to the scene brought home a crucial reality: The NYPD is an institution the city simply cannot live without. None of this is good for the victor of the Democratic mayoral primary, Zohran 'Nature Is Healing' Mamdani, who has a long and troubling history of statements deriding, taunting and calling to defund and dismantle the NYPD — whose officers are often the ones holding the very thin line between good and evil, order and chaos. Perhaps sensing a vibe shift, the mayoral hopeful called a press conference Wednesday to do some damage control. His performance struck me as contrived, insincere and deeply misguided. The policy proposal at the center of Mamdani's prepared statement — stronger national gun controls and a nationwide assault weapons ban — was especially frustrating. After all, how effective will additional gun controls be in a city with fewer police, and fewer opportunities to enforce those laws? During his campaign, Mamdani declared his intention to get the NYPD out of traffic enforcement. Yet more than 40% of the NYPD's gun arrests begin as traffic stops, as former NYPD executive John Hall explained in a 2021 Manhattan Institute report. And what would a Mayor Mamdani propose be done with gun-toting lawbreakers who are caught in a city without the jail space to house them? Seems like something he should think about, given his full-throated support for the plan to close the Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with a system whose maximum capacity is approximately half of the current jail population. Mamdani on Wednesday repeatedly turned up his nose at opportunities to retract any of his many troubling anti-NYPD statements. Rather than exhibiting sincere contrition for his anti-cop extremism, Mamdani chose deflection and indignation when reporters asked whether would explicitly disavow his prior calls to defund and dismantle the NYPD, or his smearing of its officers as racist. In fact, Mamdani merely restated the idea undergirding many of the 2020 calls to defund the police: That other actors — like violence interrupters, social workers and, as Mamdani has proposed, community safety agents — are better suited to take over NYPD functions like traffic enforcement, mental health crisis response and even domestic violence calls. He continued to defend his calls to dismantle the SRG unit, despite its admirable response Monday. Worse yet, he actually thought it appropriate to reiterate criticisms of the unit for its handling of unruly protests, accusing officers of First Amendment suppression and excessive force. Even in the wake of tragedy, Mamdani couldn't fully conceal his inner NYPD critic. If Wednesday's event was meant to make Mamdani's candidacy more palatable to those who had reservations about his history of anti-police stances, it missed the mark. From beginning to end he was, in every way, the wrong man for the moment. Cop-haters like Mamdani fail to acknowledge a fact the rest of us recognize: Our police are our protectors. The work they do — whether it's arresting armed gang members, taking fire from mass shooters or enforcing the subway fare — shields us from the crime and disorder that once defined this city. The calls coming from those Park Avenue offices on Monday were not asking for mediators, or social workers, or unarmed safety agents. They were pleading for armed police officers. This attack reminds us that the public rarely has control over whether or when evil will darken our doorsteps. But we do have some control over who will be there to meet it when it does. For that, those of us who live or work in the Big Apple will always owe the police our thanks and support. But from Mamdani, they are owed an apology. Rafael A. Mangual is the Nick Ohnell fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a contributing editor of City Journal, and author of the book 'Criminal (In)Justice.' All views expressed are those of the author and not the Manhattan Institute.
CNN
40 minutes ago
- CNN
EU welcomes Ukrainian law restoring independence to anti-corruption agencies
European Union RussiaFacebookTweetLink Follow A host of European leaders welcomed the news that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law restoring independence to his country's main anti-corruption agencies. A total of 331 out of 340 lawmakers present voted in favor of the bill on Thursday, forming an overwhelming constitutional majority. Last week, major anti-government protests broke out across Ukraine after the country's parliament approved a bill that brought the two main bodies – the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) – under government control. The large-scale demonstrations were Ukraine's first major anti-government protests since Russia's 2022 invasion. When approving the bill last week, Zelensky called it a necessary step to rid the two agencies of 'Russian influence.' Two employees of one of the bodies were arrested last week 'on suspicion of working for Russian special services.' But on Thursday, the president about-faced, saying in a statement posted to X that he had listened to the Ukrainian people and that the 'right decision' was to reverse the controversial bill. The law he signed Thursday is a 'guarantee of the proper independent functioning of Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies and all law enforcement agencies,' Zelensky said, adding that the new law will ensure regular polygraph checks for 'all law enforcement personnel who have access to state secrets or have relatives in Russia.' 'This is the right decision. It is very important that the state listens to public opinion. That it hears its citizens. Ukraine is a democracy – without a doubt,' he said. Ukraine had long been seen as one of the most corrupt countries in Europe. The European Union warned Kyiv that it must implement strong anti-graft measures if it wants to join the bloc. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and António Costa, the president of the European Council, both said in identical posts on X that the new law signed Thursday was a 'welcome step.' 'Ukraine's rule of law and anti-corruption reforms should continue. They remain essential for Ukraine's progress on the European path. The EU will continue to support these efforts,' they said. Kaja Kallas, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also wrote on social media that 'Ukraine's move to restore powers of anti-corruption bodies demonstrates its resolve to quickly get back on course when European democratic values are at stake.' 'The rule of law and fighting corruption are crucial for any country aspiring to join the EU,' she said. Diplomats from the EU countries of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden also welcomed the move. CNN's Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.
Newsweek
40 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Trump Reacts To $50 Million Brown University Settlement
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump has celebrated the $50 million settlement deal his administration reached with Brown University to restore its funding. "There will be no more Anti-Semitism, or Anti-Christian, or Anti-Anything Else!" Trump said in a Thursday post on Truth Social about the deal. "Woke is officially DEAD at Brown." In exchange for the restoration of government funding, Brown has agreed to several policy changes, including to dismantle its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The Ivy League school will also pay $50 million in grants over 10 years to Rhode Island workforce development organizations. This is a breaking news story, updates to follow.
