Author: Reporter

Abusive detentions of White American and European tourists fuels fear of traveling to America

Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas, one of the perks of their long-distance relationship. But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana in February. U.S. border agents handcuffed Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him to a crowded...

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Thousands of U.S. veterans who have been fired from federal jobs say they feel betrayed by Trump

Nathan Hooven is a disabled Air Force veteran who voted for Donald Trump in November. Barely three months later, he is now unemployed and says he feels betrayed by the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government that cost him his job. “I think a lot of other veterans voted the same way, and we have been betrayed,” said Hooven, who was fired in February from a Virginia medical facility for veterans. “I feel like my life and the lives of so many like me, so many that have sacrificed so much for this country, are being destroyed.” The...

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Netanyahu thrusts Israel back into war by breaking ceasefire with vows of expanding devastation

Israel’s renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to be even deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims with far fewer constraints. Israel resumed the war with a surprise bombardment early March 18 that killed hundreds of Palestinians, ending the ceasefire and vowing even more devastation if Hamas does not release its remaining hostages and leave the territory. President Donald Trump has expressed full support for the renewed offensive and suggested in February that Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians be resettled in other countries. Iran-backed militant groups allied with Hamas are in disarray. Israeli...

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Why Putin covets Ukraine’s territory and turned Crimea from a playground into a battleground

Russia’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine exactly 11 years ago on March 18, 2014, was quick and bloodless, but it sent Moscow’s relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War. It also paved the way for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which Moscow annexed more land from the war-torn country. A look at the diamond-shaped peninsula in the Black Sea coveted by both Russia and Ukraine for its naval bases and beaches: WHY IS CRIMEA IMPORTANT? Crimea’s unique location makes it a strategically important asset, and Russia has spent...

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A small Ukrainian theater reinvents itself with an all-female cast while male actors are away at war

The 43-year-old Ukrainian actor took to the stage wearing a black leather jacket and with a moustache painted on her face. Ruslana Ostapko was performing in multiple traditionally male roles in a recent production of the Chernihiv Regional Youth Theater. With so many men serving in Ukraine’s armed forces to repel Russia’s invasion, the theater has adapted to the realities of war, and women are taking the spotlight. “We were rehearsing Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ when suddenly our men were taken to the front,” said the theater’s 52-year-old director, Roman Pokrovskyi. “We only had the female part of the troupe...

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Ukrainian veteran amputees crippled by Russia’s full-scale invasion learn adaptive skiing in U.S.

Ukrainian war veteran Oleksandr Shvachka lost his left leg to Russian tank fire outside Kyiv. Three years on, the latest step in his physical and mental rehabilitation recently unfolded under a brilliant blue sky on a snow-covered mountain more than 5,000 miles away. Shvachka, 38, was one of five Ukrainian veterans who came to the Pacific Northwest for ski lessons in March with Oregon Adaptive Sports, an organization working to make sports more accessible to people with disabilities. On a recent day, he listened attentively to an instructor before launching himself down a slope at Hoodoo Ski Area in...

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