A historic Louisiana landscape, featuring centuries-old sugar cane plantations and Afro-Creole culture along the Mississippi River, has lost its eligibility for federal protection as a National Historic Landmark. The decision reverses a multi-year review by the National Park Service. State officials requested the withdrawal of the 11-mile Great River Road stretch, citing economic development priorities. Community organizations, however, decry the move as undermining efforts to preserve the area’s rich cultural heritage, particularly the legacies of free African American communities. The region, located in Louisiana’s heavily industrialized Chemical Corridor, has been a battleground between grassroots groups opposing industrial expansion and officials…
Author: Raja Zahid Khanzada
On a festive December evening in West Hollywood, Bamby Salcedo, surrounded by trans immigrants and allies, reflected on the stark contrast to her early days in the U.S. Decades ago, she struggled with homelessness, incarceration, and detention. These experiences fueled her dedication to co-founding the TransLatin@ Coalition, a support network for trans and gender non-conforming immigrants. However, with the Trump administration’s policies, Salcedo and her community now fear a return to marginalization. They express concern that the federal government is specifically targeting transgender individuals. While anti-trans violence persisted during the previous administration and saw high deportation rates, many feel that…
Investigations into two controversial lottery jackpots in Texas have highlighted the role of online lottery ticketing firms, known as lottery couriers, both within the state and across the nation. This week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott requested the Texas Rangers to investigate two Lotto Texas jackpots involving virtual ticket sales: an $83.5 million prize this month and a $95 million jackpot in 2023 won by an investor group. State officials have expressed concerns that these cases are eroding public trust in the lottery. Critics argue that some courier services can be used to purchase tickets in bulk. This practice faced scrutiny…
LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The European Central Bank (ECB) is likely to authorize Italy’s UniCredit to increase its stake in German competitor Commerzbank, according to a source familiar with the situation. This move could potentially lead to the largest cross-border banking merger in Europe since the global financial crisis. ECB staff are expected to finalize their review of UniCredit’s acquisition of a 29.9% stake in Commerzbank by early March, paving the way for the regulator’s Supervisory Board to approve the deal later in the same month, the source revealed. The most recent assessment by ECB supervisory experts, which considered…
KYIV, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Ukraine announced on Wednesday that it has reached a “preliminary” agreement to share revenue from certain mineral resources with the United States. This announcement comes before President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s scheduled trip to Washington on Friday. The agreement is pivotal for Ukraine’s efforts to secure strong support from the U.S. administration as it seeks a swift resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Parallel U.S.-Russian talks, excluding Kyiv, are set to continue on Thursday. “The main thing for me is we are not debtors. There is no $500 billion debt in the agreement, nor $350, nor $100…
Crude oil prices rebounded from an earlier decline this week, driven by a report from the American Petroleum Institute (API) indicating the first weekly drop in U.S. crude inventories in over a month. Brent crude rose to $73.21 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $69.13 per barrel following the API’s report, which showed a decrease of over 600,000 barrels for the week ending February 12. This decline contradicted analyst expectations of a substantial build, estimated at 2.3 million barrels, with some even predicting a 2.6 million barrel increase. The potential for a peace deal between the U.S. and…
A Chinese startup named DeepSeek, based in Hangzhou, caused a significant stir in global equity markets last month. Their cost-effective AI reasoning model, R1, outperformed many Western competitors, triggering a sell-off exceeding $1 trillion. Now, the company is accelerating the release of its successor, the R2 model. Originally planned for an early May launch, DeepSeek now aims to release R2 as soon as possible, according to sources. The company hopes the new model will enhance coding capabilities and expand language reasoning beyond English. This accelerated timeline has not been previously reported. DeepSeek has not provided official comments on this development.…
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its upward trend for the second consecutive trading day, with the KSE-100 index rising by 198 points, primarily fueled by positive earnings reports from various sectors. The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 114,528.09 points, marking a 0.17 percent increase from the previous day’s close of 114,330.10 points. The index reached a high of 115,889.60 points and a low of 114,178.56 points during the trading session. Analyst Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp attributed the market’s positive performance to strong financial results from fertilizer, cement, oil, and banking companies. He also highlighted expectations of…
“Justin Bieber’s representative is dismissing rumors about the singer’s health. Following recent photos where Bieber, a new father, appeared tired and somewhat thinner, online commenters speculated about his well-being. However, a representative for Justin and Hailey Bieber refuted these claims, telling TMZ that the pop star is focused on creating new music and being a father. They described suggestions about his mental and physical health as “exhausting and pitiful,” and indicative of people’s determination to perpetuate “negative, salacious, harmful narratives.” CNN has reached out to Bieber’s representatives for comment. The representative told TMZ that the past year has been “transformative”…
“Monica Lewinsky, revisiting the events with Bill Clinton that propelled her into the media spotlight over 25 years ago, believes the former president should have resigned from office at the time. In an interview with “Call Her Daddy” podcast host Alex Cooper, Lewinsky discussed how the situation should have been handled by the media and the White House after news broke of her affair with the former president during her White House internship. “I think the right way to handle a situation like that would have been to probably say it was nobody’s business and to resign,” Lewinsky told Cooper.…
