Latest news with #homeland
The Sun
5 hours ago
- The Sun
Ex-Premier League star Ronnie Stam jailed for seven years in multi-million pound drug-smuggling probe
FORMER Premier League star Ronnie Stam has been jailed for SEVEN YEARS after being found guilty of drug smuggling. The former Wigan Athletic ace was charged with conspiring to smuggle more than TWO TONNES of cocaine into his homeland. The street value of the cocaine, which was set to arrive from South America, was a whopping £48.6MILLION. Stam was facing a total of 13 years behind bars as prosecutors deemed him to be a major player in the operation. But the 41 years has been handed a seven-year custodial sentence instead. THIS IS A DEVELOPING STORY..
BBC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
How cycling is providing hope to Rwanda's female riders
Olivia Maniragena has been racing through life, dealing with a lot at a young at 14 and responsible for raising three siblings, she also became a mother of two before reaching 21, the Rwandan has found stability through cycling and is gearing up for the UCI Road World Championships in her homeland next month, where she is hoping to compete in the inaugural women's Under-23 Maniragena, life on two wheels has always meant a level of first learned how to ride a bike at the age of seven, and over the years cycling became more than just a skill. It became her means of survival."Cycling helped me take care of my family. Fetching water, collecting firewood, running errands and as a mode of transport," Maniragena tells BBC Sport Africa when discussing her early life."It brings me happiness. When I ride, it takes away my anxiety and my depression."But her freedom was the death of her mother in 2013 and her father five years later, she struggled to support herself, taking on various jobs that eventually led to two teenage pregnancies."I believed the father of my children would be my support system, but after three years, just after our second baby, he left," she recalls."I was left to care for my three siblings and my two children alone. Life was hard." Finding purpose on two wheels Maniragena's journey into elite cycling began when she joined Bikes for Future, an all-female team backed by humanitarian group Plan International and Learn Work Develop (LWD), a non-profit organisation implementing the schemeThe initiative seeks to challenge gender stereotypes and empower young Rwandan women through sport."What makes Olivia unique is her determination," says her coach Niyonsaba Elidad. "She knows what she wants. Every time we train, she gives it her all."Women's cycling in Rwanda is still in its infancy and often marginalised in a sport long viewed as the domain of men."In the past, if a girl was seen riding a bike, people would ridicule her. They would say, 'You are not a boy, why are you cycling?'" explains Mbabazi Fillette, programs and partnership manager at LWD."If they saw a young girl getting a bike and riding it, it would be an abomination."We're proving that girls can not only ride, but also compete at the highest level."At the Bugesera Cycling Centre, Maniragena has gained more than racing skills. She has also mastered bike mechanics."I can dismantle and reassemble a bike in five minutes," she says. "It's something I truly value. It brought back the hope I had lost in my life."While other members of the 30-strong team have specialised in things like welding, tailoring and communications, Maniragena's trade has become her financial lifeline."What keeps me going is knowing I can earn an income."On a good day in the bike shop, I make about $7. When I race, I can earn even more."But financial barriers continue to pose a significant challenge.A decent racing bike costs between 60,000 and 150,000 Rwandan francs (approximately $42 to $104) - an unattainable amount for many from low-income these obstacles, the passion for cycling among Rwanda's youth continues to grow. Growth in women's cycling In just 15 months Maniragena has transformed from a novice rider to a local champion, winning races in the Rwanda Youth Racing rapid rise has sparked hopes that she could one day stand on the podium in national colours."I see Olivia as a future champion," her coach Elidad predicts with pride."She has the talent to compete at an elite level. She just needs the right opportunities and support."If Maniragena and her team-mates at the Road World Championships miss out on the start list for the U23 race, they will instead take part in a social race linked to the event."I see growth. I can't wait to see more women competing," says Fillette with excitement."This is a huge opportunity for my country." Sportswashing claims As Rwanda prepares to act as host, international tensions have eased on its border following a declaration of principles between the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel deal, signed in Qatar last month, aims to stop hostilities in eastern Congo. The conflict has strained relations between the DRC and Rwanda, with the latter denying accusations, including from the United Nations, that it backs hosting the Road World Championships, alongside other major events, some critics have accused Rwanda of 'sportswashing' - the process of investing in sport to enhance a nation's global UCI has vehemently denied such claims when asked about its decision to choose Rwanda, pointing to the country's strong cycling tradition, with the gruelling Tour du Rwanda held annually since running the Bikes for Future project, which was launched to capitalise on Rwanda's role as the first African nation to host the Road World Championships, agree there are greater benefits."There's now a stronger belief that bicycles can change lives," says Solomon Tesfamariam, Plan International's director for Rwanda."Our focus is to engage and support more girls, and cycling is becoming increasingly popular among women."For Maniragena and her team-mates, it has certainly created fresh ambitions."We want to be champions," she says."One day, we want to race among the world's best."
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ex-‘Superman' star Dean Cain joining ICE to support Trump's mass deportations
Dean Cain, an actor known for playing Superman on TV, has gone full-on Super MAGA with his announcement that he's becoming an ICE agent. The 'Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman' star revealed in a social media video that he enlisted as an officer in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. 'For those who don't know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it,' he said in the Instagram clip shared Wednesday. The 59-year-old also took the opportunity to encourage recruitment to the federal agency, which has become a lightning rod amid President Donald Trump's controversial mass deportation agenda. 'If you want to help save America, ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America's streets. I like that. I voted for that,' Cain said. 'They need your help. We need your help, to protect our homeland and our families.' ICE announced last month that it was shooting to recruit an additional 10,000 personnel, doubling the agency's headcount as it ramps up deportations across the United States. The agency promised sign-on bonuses of up to $50,000 and student loan forgiveness. In an appearance on Fox News Wednesday night, Cain told host Jesse Waters: 'I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP.' Explaining his motivation, Cain talked about how the 'country was built on patriots stepping up, whether it was popular or not, and doing the right thing.' The former Buffalo Bills free agent said he 'truly believe[s]' he's doing the right thing. 'We have a broken immigration system,' Cain added. 'Congress needs to fix it, but in the interim, President Trump ran on this. He is delivering on this. This is what people voted for. It's what I voted for and he's going to see it through, and I'll do my part and help make sure it happens.' An outspoken Trump supporter, who previously admitted he voted for Bill Clinton and John McCain, the actor extolled the virtues of the MAGA leader in an interview with Variety last month. 'I love President Trump. I've been friends with him forever,' he said. 'Trump is actually one of the most empathetic, wonderful, generous people you'll ever meet.' Cain starred as the Man of Steel opposite Teri Hatcher between 1993 and 1997 in the 'Lois & Clark' TV series. His other acting credits include 'Out of Time,' God's Not Dead,' and 'OBAMAGATE: The Movie.'
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Kristi Noem's DHS is posting 1800s-style ‘fascist propaganda' art to encourage Americans to ‘Protect the Homeland'
The Department of Homeland Security is accused of sharing thinly-veiled nativist propaganda on social media through art as it pursues a sweeping campaign of mass deportations. Throughout July, the X account of the department run by Kristi Noem posted a steady stream of paintings exemplifying a very particular version of the 'homeland.' That has included posting the 1872 work American Progress by John Gast, in which an ethereal Lady Liberty floats above the Western landscape, as white settlers advance across the frame with stage coaches and rail lines, while Native Americans and buffalo run to the margins. Another X post features the contemporary painting A Prayer for a New Life, by Morgan Weistling, a close-up of a white pioneer couple clutching a baby in the back of a covered wagon, along with the caption, 'Remember your Homeland's Heritage.' A third such post includes Morning Pledge, a nostalgic mid-20th century scene of kids in a small town walking towards an American flag, as painted by Thomas Kinkade. The creators and guardians of these works have expressed outrage over being drafted into DHS publicity — and history and politics experts have also raised concerns over this art being used as 'propaganda'. Weistling said he wasn't consulted prior to the Trump administration using his work. The Kinkade Family Foundation, meanwhile, said Morning Pledge was also being used without permission, perverted to 'promote division and xenophobia associated with the ideals of DHS.' The foundation told The Independent that Kinkade, who died in 2012, struggled in life with poverty as a child and substance abuse as an adult. He viewed his paintings, known for their soft, glowing light, as a way to 'imagine a different kind of world, where warmth, safety, and belonging are human rights for all.' Beyond the canvas, Kinkade helped raise millions for the poor, while his foundation has handed out thousands of therapeutic art kits, including in farmworker communities. 'That vision wasn't meant for a select few, but for everyone,' the foundation said in an email. 'Throughout his life, Thomas sought to respond to moments of hardship with compassion and solidarity, standing with communities made vulnerable.T o see his work used in ways that promote exclusion and division betrays the very heart of what he stood for.' The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the agency 'honors artwork that celebrates America's heritage and history, and we are pleased that the media is highlighting our efforts to showcase these patriotic pieces.' 'If the media needs a history lesson on the brave men and women who blazed the trails and forged this Republic from the sweat of their brow, we are happy to send them a history textbook,' Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement. 'This administration is unapologetically proud of American history and American heritage.' According to Richard White, a distinguished historian of the West and professor emeritus at Stanford University, DHS's use of works like American Progress is as ironic as it is revealing. The painting depicted a highly nostalgic, mythologized version of the country even at the moment it was created. In reality, instead of the peaceful scene, violence was everywhere, with the U.S. Army (not pictured in the painting) involved in violent, dispossessing wars with indigenous tribes across the West, and groups like the KKK carrying out racist terror campaigns against newly emancipated Black people after the U.S. Civil War. 'It's not about history,' White said of American Progress, but rather a 'mythic narrative' of America. 'The original picture erased the reality around it.' White suspects the Trump administration is using the painting now for a similar purpose. The historian lives in Los Angeles, where masked federal immigration agents and military troops spent weeks conducting dragnet immigration operations, an effort he compares to the Nazi regime's Gestapo secret police. 'The real problem is what's actually happening on the streets of Los Angeles and other cities,' he said. Journalist Spencer Ackerman, author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump, sees similar far-right currents in DHS's images, strains of nativism he argues have existed just below the surface at the department since its founding in 2002 after the 9/11 terror attacks. 'It was definitely a crypto-right wing move from the start after 9/11 to use a word like 'homeland' in particular in the context of security,' he told The Independent. Prior to this point, he said, the term 'homeland' was not in mainstream use in this way in the U.S. It had the ring of European-style nationalism (and worse) back then, a poor fit for a pluralist democracy in which most of the population, at some point in history, came from somewhere else. Trump's DHS, however, has taken this implicit ideology to the explicit extreme, Ackerman argued, using the tools of 'far-right internet culture' to provoke people by using jarring memes plus the 'classic fascist propaganda' of armed agents kicking in doors to arrest mostly non-white people. 'This is a turn. This is different,' he said. 'This is very racialized, very essentialized propaganda that DHS did not previously explicitly traffic in, even if this probably reflects the id of the Department of Homeland Security that whole time.' The administration's immigration PR efforts have extended beyond the DHS X account and its selection of pioneer paintings. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has earned the derisive nickname 'ICE Barbie' from critics for her frequent photo-ops in cowboy oufits and combat-ready gear matching with the various agencies under her purview. Both Trump and Noem have featured in wartime-style recruiting posters urging viewers to 'Defend the Homeland, Join ICE Today,' as the administration offers $50,000 sign-on bonuses for new ICE officers. Trump has long leaned into a nostalgic aesthetic as a notable part of his politics. One of his final executive orders in 2020 involved a demand that all new federal buildings in Washington be built in the 'beautiful' neo-classical style, with marble and columns meant to evoke the temples of ancient Greece and Rome, while his signature political slogan, 'Make America Great Again,' includes an unmistakable nod to a heroic past. Government officials have long trafficked in tropes and propaganda about disfavored groups, too, White said, pointing to the virulently racist popular depictions of the Japanese during WWII. What stands out in this present era, however, is the seeming commitment of whole government departments to producing such images. In time, however, White said even these purposely exclusionary images of national propaganda reveal their limitations. 'In myth, nothing ever changes,' he said. 'In history, things do change.'
CBC
02-08-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Hamilton restaurateur returns to Syria after 12 years for bittersweet reunion with family, former staff
After 12 years away from his homeland, Mohamad Tomeh said being back in his mother's arms made him feel "safe" and young again. She was the first person the 42-year-old Hamilton restaurateur went to see after his July 11 return to Syria, where he was born and raised. He has a restaurant in the Ontario city called Tomah: A Taste of Syria and used to run a cheese factory in his hometown of Al-Nashabiyah. "She was very happy," he said 12 days after his arrival. Bashar al-Assad was ousted as Syria's president and his government overthrown late last year after a rapid offensive by armed factions. At the time, then prime minister Justin Trudeau wrote on social media: " The fall of Assad's dictatorship ends decades of brutal oppression." Tomeh said he felt "very happy" when he heard the news and gave away free baklava in December following Assad's ouster. "Now I think my country is on the right path to be safe [again] and friendly with the world," he said. Tomeh said he hopes to stay in his hometown for a few more weeks. The trip has been full of bittersweet moments of reunions and happiness, but also sadness and loss. "I didn't find my friend and some people from my family because I lost people," said Tomeh, who left his hometown in 2013. "But … I am happy because I saw my family, I saw … so many friends." Tomeh's restaurant is at 242 King St. W. in downtown Hamilton, the Ontario city's he's called home since immigrating to Canada in 2018. Tomeh said he had worked in the cheese-making industry in Syria most of his life. His factory, which he owned for 15 years before leaving, had been destroyed along with the city's commercial area. Among the rubble, however, what have remained standing are his old pomegranate and olive trees — in which he's found symbolism and motivation as they, "Don't die, bloom again." Syria still facing struggles Over two million Syrians — about 600,000 from neighbouring nations and 1.5 million who were displaced within Syria — have returned home since December, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. Tomeh is among those who left Syria in 2013 due to ongoing conflict. According to the 2021 census, over 97,000 people in Canada list Syria as their birthplace. Between November 2014 and December 2015, 44,620 Syrian refugees arrived in Canada, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Tomeh remains hopeful about Syria's future, but wants to bring awareness to the enduring issues. "Life is very, very hard [here]. No electricity, no gas, no water." Last week, for instance, parts of Syria's south and Damascus were hit by Israeli airstrikes in the worst fighting since Assad's fall, as Israel heightened its campaign to support the Druze minority people, claiming it's working to keep southern Syria demilitarized. Syria's new government has also been grappling with clashes between militias linked to the Arab minority group and local Bedouin fighters. Some experts argue Israel's involvement is intended to challenge the new state's authority and maintain its own ability to exert influence over Syria. Many Syrians return to a country largely destroyed Basit Iqbal, an associate professor in McMaster University's department of anthropology, spoke to CBC Hamilton about the uncertainty Syrians returning to the country still face. "Many have houses that have been destroyed, or bombed or whatnot, and if they don't have the funds to rebuild, because there's an economic crisis, and I think it's like 80 per cent of the country is under the poverty line," said Iqbal. His upcoming book, The Dread Heights: Tribulation and Refuge after the Syrian Revolution, is based on fieldwork around Syria and looks at people's different relationships with Islam during times of war. Iqbal said he was doing research for the book, near the southern Syrian border in Jordan, and spoke to one man with whom he still communicates. "He spoke constantly about just his dream to go back ... that he couldn't return, even though he was so close by," said Iqbal. "His whole life was shaped by this proximity to the border that he couldn't cross." Iqbal recalled seeing bombing taking place in Syria from the border. His friend was unable to do anything for his family and friends just 20 minutes away. Now, that friend sends Iqbal a message any time he crosses the border, something that's not taken for granted. Rebuilding his hometown Iqbal said he saw many videos of individuals like Tomeh whose return to loved ones "immediately became a time of new mourning." "What does it mean to go back to your home, where even if your home is still standing, it's right next to a world that's been turned to rubble?" Tomeh said he wants to help, even if it's in a small way. His old cheese factory is already being rebuilt, he said. "I want to open an opportunity for the people, for my family," he said, adding he has reconnected with former employees there who are looking for work. Tomeh wants to help contribute to the economy and the rebuilding of his hometown, and hopes to get visits from his Canadian friends. "I hope they meet the people there. Syrian people are very kind." Tomeh hopes to stay in his hometown for now but has no plans to move there permanently. He's deeply grateful to the Hamilton community he loves and appreciates for supporting him through highs and lows. "Sometimes my business is very slow. I don't make good money sometimes, but I'm very happy with people, with my community. You know why? Because [they are] kind people," said Tomeh.
