Latest news with #Geronimo
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
National Grid Renewables to Move Forward as Geronimo Power
Minnesota-based company has deployed nearly 7 GW of power across America's Heartland MINNEAPOLIS, May 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the previously announced acquisition of National Grid Renewables by Brookfield Asset Management ("Brookfield") and its institutional partners, the company will move forward and transact business under the brand name, Geronimo Power ("Geronimo"). "We're honored to rebrand the company in a way that celebrates and recognizes the roots we established under the Geronimo brand back in 2007," said Blake Nixon, President and CEO of Geronimo Power. "We're proud to have earned a reputation for putting landowners and communities first, and we'll carry that legacy forward as Geronimo Power, continuing our commitment to deliver reliable, innovative power solutions to meet growing demand in the US." Since its inception by founder Noel P. Rahn, a rural Minnesota native and landowner, Geronimo Power has become a well-respected business in the renewables industry, known for its dedication to American farmers and rural communities. Geronimo's projects empower landowners with new revenue opportunities, foster sustainable development within local communities, and provide resilient power solutions critical to a future-ready American economy. Geronimo develops and operates vital electric infrastructure projects that deliver dependable domestic energy, while powering American economies and strengthening local economies. From Minnesota down to Texas, the company successfully operates more than 2 gigawatts (GW) of power generation, with another 1 GW under construction and a development portfolio of more than 20 GW. Collectively, its current operating and construction portfolios are poised to provide approximately $840 million in direct economic benefits for American communities over their operating lives. As further commitment to its values, Geronimo also initiates charitable funds for each of its owned and operational large-scale projects. The purpose of these funds is to engage with and contribute money to charitable activities and organizations within project host communities. These charitable funds exemplify the company's pledge to be a good neighbor within their project communities and take direction from local community members themselves. About Geronimo PowerGeronimo Power (formerly National Grid Renewables) develops, owns and operates large-scale power assets throughout America's Heartland, including solar, wind and energy storage. As a farmer-founded and community-focused business, Geronimo Power equips landowners and rural communities with sustainable revenue to ignite local economic growth. To learn more about Geronimo Power, visit or follow the company on LinkedIn. Media InquiriesContact: Emily MorissetteSenior Manager, Marketing & CommunicationsGeronimo Powerpress@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Geronimo Power Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mail
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Australian Indie-pop band Sheppard CANCEL their US tour for heartbreaking reason - after selling just 59 tickets to show in Poland
Australian indie-pop band Sheppard have made the shock decision to cancel their upcoming American tour for a heartbreaking reason. The band shared a sad statement to social media on Friday confirming the scheduled concerts would not be going ahead, due to the challenging reality of touring. 'To our beautiful fans, I'm afraid we have some rather upsetting news. We've had to make the incredibly difficult decision to cancel our upcoming US tour,' they began. The Geronimo hitmakers had been performing across Europe earlier this year and were set to bring their shows to the States in June. They revealed a combination of the high touring costs and challenging concert logistics meant it was no longer feasible for them to perform in America, and reassured those who had already bought a ticket they would be refunded. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'A combination of sky-high touring costs, ambitious production standards so that we can give you the show you deserve and complex logistics have made this tour impossible,' they wrote. 'We're heartbroken. Being on stage in front of our fans - watching you not just sing but feel every word in our words - is always the greatest experience of our lives. 'Please know this isn't the end. It's just a pause. We're taking time to reset, to rebuild a more sustainable path forward.' Devastated fans took to the comment section to share their sadness over the band's shock decision. 'I was so looking forward to this concert, but it's okay! Next time,' one person wrote. 'Guys, better times will come, you've worked so hard this past year,' a second added. It comes after the band made the shock decision to not cancel their recent concert in Poland, despite selling just 59 tickets to the show. The Brisbane-based band were performing across Europe and had a scheduled performance in Warsaw on April 12 that sold below expectations. However, the band decided the show must go on and played their hearts out to a small yet passionate crowd. They later shared a clip to social media revealing why they made the decision to continue with the performance. '59 people showed up to our show in Poland. We knew we had only sold minimal tickets but also knew the people that would show up would be our biggest fans,' they began. 'We knew that no matter what we had to show up for them. So we got on stage and gave it 100 per cent.' Sheppard formed in 2009 and the current line-up comprises of siblings Amy, Emma and George Sheppard and Jon Butterworth. The band shot to fame in 2014 with the song Geronimo. The track reached number one in Australia and also charted in America and the UK. They have released four studio albums, all of which have made the top ten in Australia. They are still scheduled to perform two shows in Queensland, Australia and will take the stage in Port Douglas on May 24 and Logan Central on May 31.
Washington Post
19-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
How a Salvadoran prison became a political human zoo
At the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, amid pavilions featuring X-ray machines and edible curiosities (including a butter sculpture of President Theodore Roosevelt), there were 'anthropological' displays in which Indigenous people from around the world inhabited elaborate dioramas designed to resemble their native lands. These 'human zoos' — a popular form of entertainment at the time — featured Tehuelches from Patagonia and Mbuti 'pygmies' from the Congo region of Africa, as well as Apache leader Geronimo, who was required to pose for photographs with fairgoers — when he wasn't playing Hunkpapa leader Sitting Bull in daily reenactments of the Battle of Little Big Horn. Among the most notorious of these displays was the Philippine Exposition, a 47-acre exhibit that featured various ethnicities from the United States' newly acquired territory in Southeast Asia. A star attraction was the display of Igorot people from the island of Luzon, presented in a village of thatch huts and identified in the related literature as 'head hunters.' As part of ritual ceremony in their homeland, the Igorot occasionally sacrificed and ate dogs, and the fair's organizers turned this sacred tradition into an attraction, requiring the Igorot to eat up to 20 dogs a week for the benefit of prurient crowds. The spectacle promoted the idea that some races were more 'advanced' and others more 'primitive.' It courted fairgoers with the promise of an exotic encounter that came with a whiff of menace. One image from the exhibit shows White men in suits milling about a group of Igorot men and boys in loincloths who look as though they would rather be anywhere else. A group Igorot men and boys at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. (Jessie Tarbox Beals/Missouri Historical Society) Igorot men kill a dog at the 1904 World's Fair. (Jessie Tarbox Beals/Missouri Historical Society) The demeaning spectacle of the human zoo comes to mind as one U.S. official after another has traveled to El Salvador for photo ops inside the notorious prison known as CECOT (in English, the Terrorism Confinement Center). Opened in 2023 and designed to incarcerate top-level gang members, this maximum-security detention center has become infamous for its austere conditions — partly because Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele loves to share slick social media videos about it that show prisoners being frog-marched to warehouse chambers where they reportedly never see the light of day. In late March, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem (and her $50,000 Rolex) made an appearance at the prison, where she stood before a cell stuffed to the rafters with tattooed inmates on metal bunks to deliver a message to would-be immigrants to the United States: 'If you come to our country illegally, this is one of the consequences you could face.' Less than a month later, she was followed by Republican Rep. Riley Moore of West Virginia, who used the opportunity to throw a double thumbs-up and take selfies in front of a similar cell. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement They are not the first outsiders to use CECOT as a place to manufacture content. Last year, then-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) appeared on Bukele's TikTok feed praising the prison as he walked between rows of cells. And social media stars such as Luis Villar Sudek, a Mexican influencer better known as Luisito Comunica, along with Nick Shirley from the United States, have also toured the prison (at least, the parts the Salvadoran government allows them to see). Both posted breathless videos about the facilities — which featured the now-obligatory footage of crowds of men peering stoically from behind bars. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem tours CECOT in El Salvador on March 26. (Alex Brandon/AFP/Getty Images) In these videos, the inmates, most of whom have Indigenous features, remain, for the most part, mute — removing their shirts at the command of the wardens to reveal for the cameras the gang tattoos that cover their bodies. 'This group alone, which is behind my back,' Shirley exclaims, as he stands in front of one such cell, 'is very possibly directly or indirectly responsible for more than 200 homicides. What a bloodcurdling piece of information.' Though how exactly Shirley arrived at this information is unclear. Later, as he babbles on about the lack of privacy in the crowded cells, the camera cuts to a man attempting to urinate. The grotesque images that have emerged from CECOT, like the human zoos that preceded it, are about presenting a barely contained savagery, reinforcing the idea that some people don't qualify as fully human. I don't mean to apologize for gang members who have, over the years, held El Salvador in their violent grip — running drugs, extorting business owners and mercilessly killing or kidnapping those who have gotten in their way. Permanently seared into my brain is a 2018 episode of the podcast Radio Ambulante in which a young woman in San Salvador relayed a harrowing tale of being targeted for the color of her hair. In a photo released last year by the press office of El Salvador's president, alleged gang members are held at CECOT. (El Salvador presidential press office/AFP/Getty Images) In a photo released by the press office of El Salvador's president, an alleged gang member deported by the United States kneels down as his hair is cut at CECOT on April 12. (El Salvador presidential press office/Reuters) In this photo provided by El Salvador's presidential press office, a prison guard transfers deportees from the U.S., alleged to be Venezuelan gang members, to CECOT on March 16. (El Salvador presidential press office/AP) But the display of these men — in a prison that flouts international standards of incarceration, under a regime where due process can be more rumor than fact — is not only unseemly. It has turned them into props in a propaganda war that visually conflates undocumented immigration with membership in a criminal organization. In his video, Gaetz states ominously, 'A lot of the people behind me would have found a way to make their way to the United States and harm Americans.' Never mind that the reason many Salvadorans have fled the country has been to evade gangs. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Noem described the prison as 'one of the tools in our tool kit that we will use if you commit crimes against the American people.' Before her arrival, the U.S. government had sent 238 Venezuelan migrants to CECOT — without due process — alleging they were 'Tren de Aragua terrorists' (a Venezuelan gang), along with almost two dozen Salvadorans it accused of being members of the MS-13 gang. In a post on X, accompanied by a video set to ominous music, Bukele described the detainees as 'murderers and high-profile offenders.' Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego García was deported to CECOT in April, spurring nationwide protests. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images) Yet, as '60 Minutes' reported in April, the overwhelming majority of the Venezuelans who were shipped to CECOT have 'no apparent criminal convictions or even criminal charges.' And at least one of the Salvadorans — Kilmar Abrego García — has no verifiable connection to a gang; federal officials admit that his deportation was an 'administrative error.' (Abrego García has since been sent to a low-security prison within El Salvador, as the Trump administration continues to defy an order affirmed by the Supreme Court to facilitate his return.) In sending these men to CECOT, then using the prison as a public stage from which to issue public statements about immigration, officials such as Noem and Moore deliver the message that to be undocumented or to seek asylum is to be a criminal — especially if you are a brown man with tattoos. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement And what a stage CECOT is. Inmates share stark concrete cells and sleep on triple-stacked bunks without bedding. Lights are kept on day and night, and there is no outdoor exercise space. The prison's director told the BBC last year that external nongovernmental organizations are not allowed to enter the prison to evaluate conditions, but he insisted that CECOT complies with international standards. An extensive report published by BBC Mundo in 2023, however, calculated that the cells do not meet the minimum floor space requirements as established by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Moreover, the prison violates a number of the standards put forth by the United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Nelson Mandela Rules, which require access to daylight, fresh air and a prison library, as well as space for outdoor exercise. In 2023, Spanish media outlet El País described El Salvador's prisons as 'a hell,' and a 2023 report issued by the U.S. State Department describes 'harsh and life-threatening prison conditions.' A prison officer guards a cell at CECOT last month. () In a photo released by the press office of El Salvador's president, guards arrange alleged gang members at CECOT on March 16. (El Salvador presidential) Prisoners look out of their cell at CECOT on April 4. () Bukele has said in the past that CECOT has space for '40,000 terrorists' — namely, high-level gang members who had been running their organizations remotely from other, less-punitive prisons. But there is little transparency about who is housed at CECOT and why, partly because inmates are held incommunicado. Since 2022, Bukele has governed under a 'state of exception' that has suspended basic rights such as freedom of assembly and has undermined due process. Along with gang members, plenty of innocent people are imprisoned on the flimsiest of allegations — and they remain in prison until their cases are heard. Human Rights Watch estimates that 1.7 percent of the Salvadoran population is incarcerated. The State Department's travel advisory regarding El Salvador, updated last month, notes that 'tens of thousands of people are currently in prison under the State of Exception,' including 'several U.S. and other foreign citizens' who 'have yet to face trial.' Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Worse yet: The Salvadoran government has negotiated with gangs to tamp down the violence, allegedly offering 'financial incentives,' as well as prison privileges to jailed gang leaders that include cellphones and visits from prostitutes. In 2021, the U.S. government sanctioned two Salvadoran officials for their roles in such negotiations, which included requests to have gang leaders back Bukele's political party. This month, the Salvadoran news outlet El Faro published eye-popping interviews with two high-ranking leaders associated with the Barrio 18 gang, who described coercing the inhabitants of their territories into voting for Bukele. One gang member, who goes by 'Liro,' told the cameras: 'From the gang, it became obligatory to say, 'You're going to tell your mother, you're going to tell your uncle, you're going to tell your nephew, you're going to tell your grandmother, you are going to tell your wife, and your wife's family, to vote for Nayib. If you don't do it, we'll kill them.'' President Donald Trump greets President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador at the White House on April 14. (Al Drago/For The Washington Post) The allegations, if true, transform CECOT into a bit of a fiction. Bukele has held up the prison as evidence of how he has cracked down on gang violence and made El Salvador safer. But an election pact with gang leaders would suggest that the president has simply weaponized gang violence to his benefit. The degrading display of the tattooed men in cages is therefore a show — for the benefit of his supporters and an international right wing enamored of his theatrical displays of mano dura (hard hand) policies. It's perhaps no coincidence that many of the available images of CECOT are supplied by the Salvadoran government itself. And this raises the question: Who are the prisoners who don't get trotted out before the cameras? In what conditions do they languish? Inside CECOT, as in the human zoos of old, the display takes fragments of the truth, then twists and sensationalizes them to transform reality into something brutish, inhuman and extreme — all for entertainment on TikTok.
New York Post
28-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
San Francisco State University slammed for hosting Palestinian terrorists
San Francisco State University sponsors a program that has included Palestinian terrorists as guest speakers, The Post has learned. The university's Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) course also organized a student trip to Jordan to meet with a convicted Hamas financier and the first woman to hijack an airplane – in the name of Palestinian liberation – according to sources. The controversial guests and other incidents have led to lawsuits being filed by Jewish students and the university being dubbed 'the most antisemitic college campus in the country' in 2018 according to a study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI). Advertisement The study comes amid the Trump administration's crackdown on universities, threatening to cease billions federal funding from schools that do not comply with efforts to protect Jewish students. 7 Rabab Abdulhadi teaches ethnic studies at San Francisco State University, where she has hosted webinars featuring members of terrorist groups, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas. C-SPAN Rabab Abdulhadi, a professor and the director of the AMED program, has close ties to pro-Hamas groups such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the People's Forum, the report obtained by The Post says. Advertisement People's Forum, which is financed partly by the Chinese Communist Party, organized many of the New York demonstrations in support of Hamas immediately following the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel that left 1,200 Israelis dead. Three days after the Hamas terror attacks, AMED posted on its official Facebook page honoring 'all resistance fighters from Geronimo to #Gaza, Huwarra and Al Aqsa.' Geronimo refers to a 19th century Native American resistance fighter; Huwarra is the name of a Palestinian town located in the West Bank and Al Aqsa is a network of Palestinian militias, named for the holiest site in Jerusalem. 7 Leila Khaled, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, made history in 1969 as the first woman to hijack a commercial airplane. AP In June, 2024, Abdulhadi — who has been on the faculty of the school since 2007 — attended the People's Conference for Palestine in Detroit and expressed full support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which was designated a foreign terrorist group in 2021 by the State Department, according to NCRI. Advertisement Among the speakers at the conference were Wisam Rafeedie, a PFLP member and Sana Daqa'a, the wife of PFLP terrorist Walid Daqu'a, who was convicted of commanding an operation that kidnapped and killed an Israeli soldier in 1984. A month after the Detroit conference in July 2024, AMED sponsored a webinar honoring Ghassan Kanafani, a leader of the PFLP who was assassinated by Mossad in 1972. Among the speakers was Marwan Abdel Al, a member of the PFLP based in London. 'If taxpayer-funded universities repeatedly host operatives from US-designated terrorist organizations, at what point does academic freedom cross into material support for terror?' said an analyst at NCRI. 7 San Francisco State University hosted a webinar featuring featuring hijacker Leila Khaled. Zoom as well as YouTube and Facebook prevented the organizers from using their software and equipment after Jewish students at the school protested. The event was cancelled. Advertisement 7 After October 7, 20203, pro-Palestinian demonstrations broke out in New York City, organized by the People's Forum, an anti-Israel group partly funded by the Chinese Communist Party. REUTERS In 2014, AMED sponsored a delegation to Palestine led by Abdulhadi in which students met with Sheikh Raed Salah, who has previously been jailed for raising funds for Hamas. In January, Israeli authorities shut down his Afsha'a Al-Islam committee, citing its alleged ties to the outlawed Northern Faction of the Islamic Movement, which is linked to the terrorist group. On that trip, students also met with Leila Khaled, a member of the PFLP who hijacked an El Al flight from Amsterdam to New York City in 1970, becoming the first woman to do so. In 2020, Khaled was scheduled to speak at a webinar organized by Abdulhadi, but the Zoom event was cancelled following protests from Jewish students and outrage from lawmakers. Zoom Video Communications as well as Facebook and YouTube prevented the organizers from using their software and platforms, citing antiterrorism legislation, according to reports. 7 An entryway to San Francisco State University, which was dubbed 'the most antisemitic college campus in the country' in 2018 according to a new report. San Francisco State University 7 Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi moderated a panel featuring Wisam Rafeedi, who is associated the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Facebook 7 Ghassan Kanafani was one of the first leaders of the PFLP. His book is promoted by the Samidoun Network, which the Israeli government named a terrorist organization in 2021. Last year, the US Department of the Treasury, named Samidoun a sham charity. Professor Rabab Abdulhadi contributed to the English translation. X Two years later, in Sept. 2022, Abdulhadi traveled to Beirut to moderate a panel that included Salah Salah, a co-founder of the PFLP as well as Khaled. Advertisement SFSU and Abdulhadi did not respond to requests for comment from The Post. The University was sued by Jewish students in 2017 for inciting antisemitism and discrimination against Jews after the disruption of a speech by the mayor of Jerusalem at the school a year earlier. In settlement negotiations, the school agreed to hire a Jewish student life coordinator. The lawsuit was sponsored by the Lawfare Project, a New York-based non-profit that provides pro-bono legal services to protect Jewish rights around the world.
Gulf Today
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Gulf Today
'UAE is a beautiful country where books bring people together'
The Reading Corner at the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival 2025 (SCRF) – that opened at the Sharjah Expo Centre on Wednesday – went abuzz as acclaimed Italian author behind the globally adored Geronimo Stilton series wowed children, parents, and teachers alike with a lively and heartwarming reading session. Elisabetta Dami's interaction with her young fans brought a touch of nostalgia for some and wide-eyed wonder for many, as the prolific author — whose books have sold over 180 million copies worldwide — read aloud from one of Geronimo's latest adventures with Geronimo and her sister Thea Stilton dancing in front of an amused audience. Speaking to young readers about the values at the heart of her beloved character, Dami shared one simple principle she believes every child should live by: respect. 'If there's one secret to becoming a true hero — like Geronimo — it's this: respect everybody. 'Respect your teachers, your parents, your friends. That's where real courage and kindness begin,' she said. The 67-year-old from Milan then went on to praise UAE as 'a beautiful country where books bring people together,' calling the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival 'a magical place where stories come alive and children become the stars.' A global voice in a local setting For 20 years, Geronimo Stilton has transported children into a world of cheese-chasing adventures and heartwarming lessons about kindness, resilience, and imagination. But for Dami, it's not just about entertaining kids — it's about empowering them. 'Children are the heroes of today, not just tomorrow,' she said during an informal Q&A session. 'They are brave, creative, and full of surprises. We need to listen to their voices and encourage their imaginations.' During a one-on-one interaction with her young fans, the author – who as an adventure lover got her aircraft pilot and parachutist licences at 20 before travelling around the world on her own and running the 100-km Sahara ultramarathon and New York Marathon thrice – also shared personal anecdotes about how Geronimo, the mild-mannered mouse who finds himself in wildly unexpected situations, was inspired by her own love of storytelling and desire to uplift children facing challenges. The festival is hosting 133 guests from 70 countries and will stage more than 50 cultural sessions featuring a distinguished group of international writers and illustrators, in addition to 85 theatre and roaming performances. For more information, visit Stories meet technology The 16th edition of the Sharjah Children's Reading Festival (SCRF), the region's leading literary celebration for young minds, has opened its doors to a world where stories meet circuits and technology becomes a tool for creativity. This year's festival features more than 600 creative workshops and activities, with the Digital Cube workshop – designed around the globally popular game Minecraft – proving to be one of the highlights. The session reimagines a pixelated universe into a hands-on experiment, where children craft glowing, LED-lit cubes that blend art, mathematics, and technology. 'This is a digital LED pixel cube. It's a project that brings together technology education, mathematics, engineering, and art,' said Mahmoud Hashem, a computer scientist from Lebanon and a first-time SCRF participant representing Room 94, known for its inventive workshops. 'Here, we're trying to blend mathematical thinking with practical skills, enhancing creativity and sparking curiosity. We want children to know that technology can be fun and approachable.' Equipped with printed templates, coin batteries, copper tape, LEDs, and scissors, participants set to work building their own digital cubes. The process involved cutting out paper circuits, applying copper tape, inserting the electronics, and colouring and assembling their glowing cubes. 'The beauty of this experiment,' added Hashem, 'is its simplicity. Every element is readily available from a local stationery shop, and the children can take the idea home to invent something new.' For 11-year-old Sana Siddiqui, the session was a revelation. 'It was such a fun way to learn about circuits,' she said. 'I want to use LEDs in the cards I make for my family and friends - the lights could be candles on a cake.' Twelve-year-old Akil Ashraf took it a step further, experimenting with two LEDs in a single circuit. 'I want to make a castle and light it up, just like in the game,' he shared. SCRF's 2025 edition, running until 4 May at Expo Centre Sharjah, stands out for championing digital literacy and creativity in equal measure.
