A Quebec law that critics say unjustly targets Muslim, Jewish and Sikh people will be challenged at Canada’s Supreme Court, reigniting a sweeping debate over the province’s brand of secularism.The law, known in Quebec as Bill 21, bars civil servants like teachers, prosecutors and police officers from wearing, while at work, the garments or accessories associated with their faith, such as skullcaps, turbans, head scarves and crosses.Freedom of expression and religion are enshrined in Canada’s constitution. But governments at all levels, including federal, can set aside certain rights in favor of their own policy objectives, through the rarely used “notwithstanding…
Author: usaeverydaylife
Hamas released four female Israeli army soldiers on Saturday as part of a hostage-for-prisoner exchange, more than a year after the women were taken captive during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that started the war.In a choreographed release, the four hostages wore military-style fatigues as they walked onto a stage in Gaza City. They waved and smiled at a cheering crowd, grinning at one another as Hamas fighters in balaclavas surrounded them.The hostage release is part of a 42-day cease-fire deal that went into effect on Sunday, pausing the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Hamas…
Mike Hynson, who epitomized the image of the bronzed surf god as a star of the hit 1966 surfing documentary “The Endless Summer” and, with his outlaw instincts, embodied the rebel ethos of the sport on his way to being hailed a colossus of the curl, died on Jan. 10 in Encinitas, Calif. He was 82.His death, in a hospital, was confirmed by Donna Klaasen Jost, who collaborated with Hynson on his 2009 autobiography, “Transcendental Memories of a Surf Rebel.” She said the cause was not yet known.Hynson arose in an era when surfing was often marginalized as a curious…
Photo illustration shows the TikTok logo displayed on a mobile phone screen.Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesThe administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is working on a plan to save TikTok that involves tapping software company Oracle and a group of outside investors to effectively take control of the app’s global operations, National Public Radio reported on Saturday.Under the deal being negotiated by the White House, TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, would retain a minority stake in the company, but the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates would be overseen by Oracle, which already provides the foundation of TikTok’s…
OK, we heard you — at least a vocal portion of you — who want a little bit of a stepped up trivia challenge as we head into the AFC and NFC title games on Sunday. Plenty were stoked about last week’s quiz on Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, yet some of you wanted the questions to be a bit tougher.This quiz is inherently more difficult, just like the games for the teams on the cusp of the Super Bowl.It’s about all four contenders and we’re going deeper — you’re not going to just see a bunch of questions about…
A sudden and sweeping halt to U.S. foreign aid by the Trump administration does not apply to weapons support to Israel and Egypt and emergency food assistance, according to a memo issued by the department to bureaus and U.S. missions overseas on Friday.The same day, the White House told the Pentagon it could proceed with a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel that President Biden abruptly halted last summer to try to dissuade the Israeli military from destroying much of the city of Rafah. Israeli forces went ahead with bombing the city.The shipment has 1,800 MK-84 bombs, said a White…
The U.S. Capitol building is seen bellow a stormy sky on July 22, 2024 in Washington, DC. Samuel Corum | Getty ImagesWASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday invited President Donald Trump to deliver an address to Congress in March, a speech that would mark Trump’s first joint address to Congress of his second term.In the letter, Johnson asked that Trump speak to both chambers of Congress on March 4 “to share your America First vision for our legislative future.””I eagerly await your response,” added Johnson, R-La.Joint sessions or meetings of Congress are often reserved for the president or other…
Everybody wants to cover sports media, but maybe everyone shouldn’t.Mike Florio, “Pro Football Talk” aggregator/insider/gadfly extraordinaire, is on the most watched pregame show, NBC’s “Football Night in America,” every Sunday night, but he fashions himself a little bit of the league’s and media’s police. Some of the stuff he does can be pretty good.Others, not so much.This week, on the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast, Florio praised NBC over its rival network, Fox, regarding Tom Brady, the $375 million TV game analyst who owns a 10 percent stake in the Las Vegas Raiders.“I’ve been with NBC for 15 years…
Hamas on Saturday released four female Israeli soldiers held hostage in the Gaza Strip, in a choreographed ceremony that was the latest sign of the group’s effort to project power despite Israel’s 470-day military campaign to dislodge them.It was the second release of hostages as part of a cease-fire deal that went into effect nearly a week earlier. Per the agreement, Israel released 200 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday who had been held in Israeli jails.A line of white buses carrying prisoners left Ofer prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Prisoners were also released from another facility near Beersheba in southern…
Hannah Holscher, a registered dietitian and microbiome researcher, teaches classes about nutrition at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also the Director of the Nutrition and Human Microbiome Laboratory.At the lab on the school’s campus in Champaign, Holscher and her team analyze biological samples like blood, stool and urine, and sift through large data sets from existing microbiome research to better understand “how the microbes in our body are able to break down components in foods that our own human enzymes can’t digest,” she says.Holscher’s work helps inform how one should eat to maintain or improve their health and…
