All posts tagged: focuses

Supreme Court birthright citizenship case focuses on birth tourism

Supreme Court birthright citizenship case focuses on birth tourism

Published by Sam Flores

D. John Sauer, then special assistant to the Louisiana attorney general listens during a hearing with the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Capitol Hill on July 20, 2023. Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images A lawyer for the Trump administration during arguments at the Supreme Court on Wednesday leaned hard into his claim that so-called birth tourism is strong evidence that the U.S. policy of automatically giving citizenship to babies born in the country needs to end. The lawyer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, said there are many companies, particularly ones that cater to Chinese and Russian elites, that offer to help them enter the U.S. so their children can be born there and gain citizenship. “The congressional report that we cite in our brief talks about certain hot spots, like Russian elites coming to Miami through these birth tourism companies,” Sauer told the high court’s justices as President Donald Trump looked on from the gallery. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order that would …

‘Hex’ Documentary Focuses on Female Black Metal Band Witch Club Satan

‘Hex’ Documentary Focuses on Female Black Metal Band Witch Club Satan

Published by Daniella Wilson

Three young Norwegian women form a coven and start the black metal band Witch Club Satan. They don’t know how to play music, but they paint their faces and grab instruments, and before long, they are playing at major international festivals. But the battle has only just begun. No, that wasn’t the pitch for a fiction feature film. It is the real-life story of Nikoline, Victoria, and Johanna, which director and cinematographer Maja Holand tells us in the feature documentary Hex, which celebrates its international premiere at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival on Friday and next hits CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. In Norway’s macabre, male-dominated black metal scene, the new female, and feminist, stars face criticism, opposition and other challenges, press notes highlight. But by trying to tap into witches’ power, they scream and shout like hell to shake up the world by bringing the noise and show their raw and often hidden powers as women. Cat&Docs is handling sales on Hex, which was produced by Mari Nilsen Neira and edited by Holand and …

Casey Means focuses on chronic illness and research funding in her opening statement

Casey Means focuses on chronic illness and research funding in her opening statement

Published by Sam Flores

IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Vance announces suspension of Medicaid payments to Minnesota 01:18 Chicago mayor: Trump used State of the Union speech ‘to divide people’ 07:37 GOP congressman praises ‘vision from President Trump’ in State of the Union speech 22:04 Means faces Senate questioning over qualifications and vaccines for surgeon general role 03:35 Mullin calls out Sanders on healthcare crisis: ‘You should have fixed this a long time ago’ 00:43 Now Playing Casey Means focuses on chronic illness and research funding in her opening statement 06:58 UP NEXT Key Takeaways From Trump’s 2026 State of the Union Address 06:09 Treasury Secretary Bessent responds to Trump’s State of the Union address 12:36 How Trump’s State of the Union speech did and did not address affordability for Americans 04:26 Trump makes claims about Iran’s weapons capabilities during State of the Union 03:22 Watch President Trump’s full State of the Union address  01:47:58 Trump awards Medal of Honor to pilot in Maduro raid 06:45 Virginia Gov. Spanberger …

After ‘Adventure Time,’ Ako Castuera focuses on ceramics

After ‘Adventure Time,’ Ako Castuera focuses on ceramics

Published by Sam Flores

Artist Ako Castuera is best known for her work on the award-winning animated series “Adventure Time.” As a writer and storyboard artist, she helped intrepid heroes Jake the Dog and Finn the Human become iconic toon characters. Though she brought flying rainbow unicorns and a platoon of plotting penguins to life on screen, there’s more to Castuera’s resume than hyper-imaginative animation. Ako Castuera’s work is often called whimsical, but she feels as if the word doesn’t capture the depth of her artistic experience. (Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times) The Echo Park-based creative is also a professional ceramicist whose hand-built vessels and sculptures have been on display at the Japanese American National Museum of Art, Oxy Arts and the Oakland Museum of Art. In this series, we highlight independent makers and artists, from glassblowers to fiber artists, who are creating original products in and around Los Angeles. While Castuera’s studio is filled with its fair share of playful “Pee-wee’s Playhouse”-themed ceramic charms and anthropomorphic banana figurines, her craft is just as much devoted to highlighting …

France’s demographics debate focuses on birth rates while ignoring touchier measures

France’s demographics debate focuses on birth rates while ignoring touchier measures

Published by Sam Flores

OLIVIER BONHOMME Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu acknowledged the situation on January 13: “The demographic challenge is practically a presidential campaign issue.” Recently, French politicians have been closely scrutinizing demographic data. In January, INSEE, France’s national institute of statistics, announced that the country’s birth rate has fallen to its lowest level since the end of World War II, and that its natural population balance turned negative in 2025. This has forced the country’s political parties to take a stand on a new perspective: By 2030, one in three people in France will be aged 60 or older. Report after report has delivered the same verdict: France’s demographic aging, combined with declining birth rates, threatens the country’s welfare model, which relies on a balance between working and non-working generations. In December 2025, the Court of Auditors, the national administrative court that oversees public finances, called on lawmakers to factor the country’s demographic trends into budget debates, stressing the “profound effects” they entail. This new factor raises questions about how sustainable the country’s healthcare system is, how to …

Appeals trial for murder of teacher Samuel Paty focuses on defendants’ personal lives

Appeals trial for murder of teacher Samuel Paty focuses on defendants’ personal lives

Published by Sam Flores

The lawyers for the accused Brahim Chnina, Frank Berton and Louise Tort, at the Paris courthouse on January 26, 2026. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP An overwhelmed Brahim Chnina and a combative Abdelhakim Sefrioui were separated by only a few meters in the defendants’ box at the Special Criminal Court appeals trial in Paris. Their demeanor during the hearing could not have been more different. From January 26 to 30, the first week of the appeal trial for the murder of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020 by a young jihadist of Chechen origin, focused on the backgrounds and personalities of the four defendants. The backgrounds of Naïm Boudaoud and Azim Epsirkhanov, the two alleged accomplices of the attacker Abdoullakh Anzorov, who was killed by law enforcement immediately after the murder, revealed little due to their youth. But the life stories of Brahim Chnina and Abdelhakim Sefrioui, sentenced respectively to 13 and 15 years in prison for participation in a terrorist criminal conspiracy, offered more insight. Chnina, 53, and Sefrioui, 66, were a study in contrasts. Deeply …