Latest news with #Gai
Boston Globe
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Volunteers flock to immigration courts to support migrants arrested in the hallways
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up A diverse group — faith leaders, college students, grandmothers, retired lawyers, and professors — has been showing up at immigration courts across the nation to escort immigrants at risk of being detained for deportation by masked ICE officials. They're giving families moral and logistical support and bearing witness as the people are taken away. Advertisement The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project was inundated by so many community members wanting to help that they made a volunteer training video, created 'Know Your Rights' sheets in several languages, and started a Google sheet where people sign up for shifts, said Stephanie Gai, a staff attorney with the Seattle-based legal services nonprofit. Advertisement 'We could not do it without them,' Gai said. 'Some volunteers request time off work so they can come in and help.' Robby Rohr, a retired nonprofit director, said she volunteers regularly. 'Being here makes people feel they are remembered and recognized,' she said, 'It's such a bureaucratic and confusing process. We try to help them through it.' Volunteers and legal aid groups have long provided free legal orientation in immigration court, but the arrests have posed new challenges. Since May, the government has been asking judges to dismiss deportation cases. Once the judge agrees, ICE officials arrest them in the hallways and put them in fast-track deportation proceedings, no matter which legal immigration pathway they may have been pursuing. Once in custody, it's often harder to find or afford a lawyer. Immigration judges are executive branch employees, and while some have resisted Homeland Security lawyers' dismissal orders in some cases, many are granted. Masked ICE agents grabbed the Colombian man and led him into the hallway. A volunteer took his backpack to give to his family as he was taken away. Other cases on the day's docket involved immigrants who didn't show up. Parchert granted 'removal in absentia' orders, enabling ICE to arrest them later. When asked about these arrests and the volunteers at immigration courts, a senior spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said ICE is once again implementing the rule of law by reversing '[President Joe] Biden's catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets.' Some volunteers have recorded arrests in courtroom hallways, traumatic scenes that are proliferating online. How many similar scenes are happening nationwide remains unclear. The Executive Office for Immigration Review has not released numbers of cases dismissed or arrests made at or near immigration courts. Advertisement While most volunteers have done this work without incident, some have been arrested for interfering with ICE agents. New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested after locking arms with a person in a failed attempt to prevent his detention. Lander's wife, attorney Meg Barnette, had just joined him in walking migrants from a courtroom to the elevator. The volunteers' act of witnessing has proven to be important as people disappear into a detention system that can seem chaotic, leaving families without any information about their whereabouts for days on end. In a waiting room serving New York City immigration courtrooms, a Spanish-speaking woman with long, dark, curly hair was sitting anxiously with her daughter after she and her husband had separate hearings. Now he was nowhere to be found. The Rev. Fabián Arias, a volunteer court observer, said the woman, whose first name is Alva, approached him asking, 'Where is my husband?' She showed him his photo. 'ICE detained him,' Arias told her, and tried to comfort her as she trembled, later welling up with tears. A judge had not dismissed the husband's case, giving him until October to find a lawyer. But that didn't stop ICE agents from handcuffing him and taking him away as soon as he stepped out of court. The news sparked an outcry by immigration advocates, city officials, and a congressman. At a news conference, she gave only her first name and asked that her daughter's be withheld. Brianna Garcia, a college student in El Paso, Texas, said she's been attending immigration court hearings for weeks where she informs people of their rights and then records ICE agents taking people into custody. Advertisement 'We escort people so they're not harassed and help people memorize important phone numbers, since their belongings are confiscated by ICE,' she said. Paris Thomas began volunteering at the Denver immigration court after hearing about the effort through a network of churches. Wearing a straw hat, he recently waited in the midday heat for people to arrive for afternoon hearings. Thomas handed people a small paper flyer listing their rights in Spanish on one side and English on the other. One man walking with a woman told him, 'Thank you. Thank you.' Another man gave him a hug. Denver volunteer Don Marsh said they offer to walk people to their cars after court appearances, so they can contact attorneys and family if ICE arrests them. Marsh said he's never done anything like this before but wants to do something to preserve the nation's 'rule of law' now that unidentifiable government agents are 'snatching' people off the streets. 'If we're not all safe, no one's safe,' he said.
The Star
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Closed-door RBNZ talk raises transparency concerns
WELLINGTON: An external member of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (RBNZ) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will be giving a rare presentation, but it will be behind closed doors. Prasanna Gai will speak at the Auckland Business Chamber on the topic of 'Monetary Policy and Trade Uncertainty.' It is an 'exclusive lunch gathering' where Gai will 'share his expert insights on interest rates,' according to the chamber's website. There will be a question-and-answer session after his speech, an RBNZ spokesman said. However, the event is closed to the media, will not be live-streamed and no speech notes will be published. 'There is no obligation for presentations by MPC members to be public or open to the media. That is up to MPC members to decide,' the spokesman said. Gai's remarks will be based on the May Monetary Policy Statement, 'so will not include any new information,' he said. Gai declined Bloomberg's request for an interview. His presentation follows a split on the MPC over whether to cut interest rates at the May 28 meeting, with one unidentified member voting to hold the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 3.5% and the remaining five electing to lower it to 3.25%. The dissenting vote was one of the factors that prompted financial markets to reduce bets on the OCR falling below 3% this year. 'On one hand it's quite encouraging to have an external member of the MPC speaking,' said Brad Olsen, chief executive and principal economist at consultancy Infometrics. 'But having an external speak to a closed audience that not everyone can go to and there aren't any speech notes, you do start to worry a little bit. 'What sort of information is going to be highlighted there that might be said off the cuff, spur of the moment, that gives you a bit more insight into what's coming next?' Fund manager Simplicity chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub has sympathy for RBNZ policymakers speaking at private events because unfiltered access builds trust in the institution, but he thinks live-streaming the speech or publishing a recording afterwards would aid transparency. 'This whole limiting access thing is a problem,' he said. — Bloomberg
News.com.au
25-04-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Gai Waterhouse shows faith in leading Adelaide apprentice Rochelle Milnes for Group 1 Australasian Oaks assault with Phenom
Adelaide's star apprentice Rochelle Milnes prefers to let her riding do the talking, and her riding has caught the attention of racing's first lady, Gai Waterhouse. Milnes, 23, will pilot the aptly named Phenom in Saturday's $1m Australasian Oaks at Morphettville, a Zoustar filly trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! It's the biggest race of Milnes' fledgling career, but her daring Adelaide Cup win aboard Silent Surrente in March, proved she has right temperament for the elite stage. 'I think you could call it the next challenge, whether or not I feel as prepared as I could be, is another thing,' Milnes, who grew up in Port Lincoln, said. 'I guess that's how my career has always been, kind of jumping in before I felt ready and taking on the challenge as it comes.' It's an approach that has served Milnes effectively, she won the Dux of the Racing SA Apprentice Academy in January, and leads the Adelaide jockeys' premiership with 37 wins. Milnes is unearthing herself as latest female prodigy to emerge from South Australia, and riding in her first Group 1 for 'Gai', the doyenne of racing, is an opportunity that isn't lost on Milnes. 'It's definitely a privilege, to have someone of Gai's status and respectability in the game have faith in me,' she said. 'Especially being an apprentice, that's something I go on about a lot, not only is it a great opportunity as a jockey, but as an apprentice jockey, it's even more special to me. 'It is a Group 1, and even though she's had plenty of Group 1 success, every (Group 1) is important – to be a part of that is pretty special.' • Milnes has been given the brief by Waterhouse, who saddles up two runners in the Group 1 Australasian Oaks (2000m), Phenom ($27 Sportsbet) and Too Darn Lizzie ($4.80). 'I've spoken to Gai a few times now, I've been riding her horses trackwork,' she said. 'I was up against her in the Adelaide Cup, and now I get to ride for her, so that's pretty cool. She makes me want to be better, she's not afraid to tell you what you're doing right or wrong, she's very well spoken, very well-mannered. 'Everyone knows that she's very flamboyant, she's a real character but a lovely, lovely lady and giving me an opportunity like this, it's very cool to be a part of.' An Adelaide Cup win was naturally good for self belief, but Milnes has maintained a level head throughout her achievements. 'I guess it's given me confidence in myself, but that never takes away from the challenges you face, there's plenty of room for improvement,' she said. Milnes got the better of star jockey Jamie Melham on the day, another South Australian, who finished second aboard Newfoundland. The pair meet again on Saturday with Melham piloting equal third favourite, Polymnia, for John O'Shea and Tom Charlton. Milnes holds a fond recollection of what Melham said to her after the Adelaide Cup. 'She definitely said some things I'm not allowed to say,' Milnes said. 'They were used in a good way, she's a really good sport, it came across in a very friendly, personal manner – we had a laugh after. 'I think that made it even sweeter. She's had lots of success herself, she could look at it and relate, she knew what it would mean to me, I had a lot of respect for her from that.' Milnes piloted Phenom to third last start in the Group 3 Auraria Stakes (1800m), and the hoop has been pleased with the filly's trackwork since.  'She's another class of horse that I've never ridden before,' she said. 'That last start, she was a little flat-footed mid-race but she stormed home really good, she picked up really nicely under riding and finished off so strong. 'Her work since then has given me nothing but confidence in her, she's quite a fizzy little mare, it would be nice to see her settle in her run and finish off strong like she did in the last race. 'It's been nice getting to know her not on race day, seeing a little personality and having that rapport with the horse.'
South China Morning Post
15-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's Kuaishou unveils ‘world's most powerful' AI video generator to rival OpenAI's Sora
Chinese short video giant Kuaishou Technology on Tuesday unveiled an upgraded version of its Kling video generation artificial intelligence (AI) model, touting it as 'the world's most powerful' as competition intensifies in the race to develop video-generating models. Advertisement 'This is the most powerful video-generation model available for you to use in the world,' Kuaishou senior vice-president Gai Kun said at the unveiling of Kling AI 2.0 during a corporate event in Beijing. Kling now has more than 22 million global users who have generated over 168 million video clips and 344 million images, according to Gai. Kuaishou is among a group of Chinese Big Tech firms rushing to claim new advances in AI tools capable of producing video, following developments from TikTok owner ByteDance and Alibaba Group Holding , as Chinese firms jostle for attention against OpenAI's Sora and Google DeepMind's Veo 2. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. Gai said the upgraded model has made improvements in areas such as instruction-following, prompt understanding, image and movement quality, as well as in the realistic and aesthetic feel of generated clips. Kuaishou senior vice-president Gai Kun unveils the new model at a Kuaishou corporate event. Photo: Handout Kuaishou, which is ByteDance's main short video rival in China, unveiled the new model just months after introducing the last generation of Kling models at the end of last year.
