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Two people have been killed and another 28 injured in a shooting in the US city of Baltimore, Maryland, police say. A spokesman said that three people remained in a critical condition. The incident happened just after midnight (05:00 GMT) in the Brooklyn Homes area, where people had gathered for an event called Brooklyn Day. There are no details about suspects. More than a dozen of the victims were aged under 18, the city's acting commissioner reported. Officials have said that more than one assailant opened fire at the celebration. The motive behind the shooting is still unclear and police have appealed for people to come forward with any information about the incident. "This was a reckless, cowardly act that happened here," Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told a news conference. "We will not to stop until we find you and we will find you. Until then I hope that with every single breath that you take that you think about the lives that you took and you think about the lives that you impacted here tonight," Mr Scott said. FULL STORY

The picture of three Jewish girls fleeing Nazi Germany became an iconic image appearing in museums, exhibitions and publications. It was taken at London's Liverpool Street station, but for more than 80 years the girls' identities were a mystery. Until now. Inge doesn't remember the picture being taken and for decades did not even know of its existence. The five-year-old had fled her home in Breslau, Germany, now Wroclaw in Poland, with her 10-year-old sister Ruth. Their mother and younger sister had stayed behind and were murdered at Auschwitz. It was not until she was a pensioner that Inge even realised she and Ruth, who died in 2015, had been forever immortalised as an icon of the Holocaust and Kindertransport, the mass evacuation of Jewish children from Nazi Germany in 1939. Listen to the full story here

Amend the Constitution! Touch the third rail! Think big and make things better! This is the big ideas period of American politics – a time that occurs roughly every four years in the lead-up to a presidential election – when candidates push expansive proposals, usually short on specifics. While the big ideas generally have little chance of becoming law, they speak to what the people who want to be president think will move primary voters. With President Joe Biden currently a lock for the Democratic nomination, most of the intellectual action this year is among Republicans. Below are some of the big ideas of the moment, which are usually unique to one or two candidates as opposed to positions that are standard for the party. I view these as distinct from the daily political issues – things like abortion rights, foreign policy, border security and gender rights, where there is a sliding scale of positions. A ‘mental competency’ test for candidates over 75 Read More

You were told.... PLEASE DO NOT post images of alchohol ! 42. You will not advertise, display, promote, review or endorse, directly or indirectly, the name or trademark of any alcoholic beverage. Such actions are potentially in contravention of Section 32 of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act (2008). You persisted CLOSED

House Republicans are grappling over whether to move forward with impeaching President Biden and a host of his top officials, putting a spotlight on how the conference has turned to impeachment as a tool to target administration officials. Republicans disagree over how hard to push for impeachment because some are worried the efforts could backfire after the party heavily criticized Democrats for their House impeachments of former President Trump. Here’s a look at who House Republicans are targeting for impeachment, and why they are doing so. FULL STORY

Former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) are engaged in an escalating back-and-forth over their respective immigration plans, competing over who presents the more hawkish vision on the border. On Tuesday, DeSantis rolled out his immigration proposal, titled “Mission Stop the Invasion No Excuses,” a clear jab at Trump’s handling of the issue during his administration. DeSantis’s plan calls for an end to birthright citizenship, and he has endorsed the use of “deadly force” against migrants suspected of drug trafficking. The plan has drawn Trump’s ire, with the former president accusing DeSantis of ripping off his policy. “Well, his plan is my plan,” Trump told Semafor on Tuesday. “I mean, he’s basically copied everything I said — catch and release, finish the wall.” STORY

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student's preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province. In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July. The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy - also known as Policy 713 - removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity. More controversially, the changes - as explained by the province's education minister Bill Hogan - also forbid teachers from using the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents. FULL STORY

Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia will be difficult and "very bloody", the US' highest-ranking military officer has said. Gen Mark Milley said he was unsurprised that progress had been slower than predicted - but added that Ukraine was "advancing steadily". "It goes a little slow, but that is part of the nature of war," he said. It comes as Volodymyr Zelensky accused "some" Western partners of delaying promised training for Ukrainian pilots. Several Western countries have pledged to train Kyiv's pilots on US-made F-16 fighter jets, but the Ukrainian president said some allies had been "dragging their feet" on the promise. President Zelensky has previously acknowledged that the Ukrainian offensive was making slow progress. Gen Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told an audience at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday that the counter-offensive was "advancing steadily, deliberately working its way through very difficult minefields... 500m a day, 1,000m a day, 2,000m a day, that kind of thing". FULL STORY

Police and rioters have clashed in the French city of Marseille as the country battles with a fifth night of unrest after the death of a teenager shot by police at point-blank range. Videos show police using tear gas, as officials say at least 56 arrests have been made in the southern city. But a heavy police presence in central Paris seems to have deterred protests. Large crowds turned out for the funeral of Nahel M, 17, who was killed as he drove away from a traffic stop. Many French cities have descended into chaos since Tuesday after the killing happened in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted that there had been 427 arrests overnight and praised law enforcement for their "resolute action" which had led to a "calmer night". Around 45,000 police were deployed across the country for a second night on Saturday. More than 1,300 arrests were made on Friday night and more than 900 on Thursday. FULL STORY

Have you tried it ? Would you go ? Let us know !

For comparison, here is the 2nd Class Train.

Have you been ? Would you go ? Let us all know !

Multiple posts bickering/Flaming etc have been removed. Anymore disruption of this nature and this topic will be shutdown.

Look at the premise of No Hard Feelings and you would rightly expect to be scandalised. The film is a broad, affable comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence as a cash-strapped thirtysomething who is hired to “date” a 19-year-old introvert (Andrew Barth Feldman) at the behest of his wealthy helicopter parents. It’s a movie that sells itself on raunch: the button-pushing age-gap romance at its heart leads to plenty of sexually-tinged misadventure, including a much-discussed full-frontal fight scene involving Lawrence. But, as The Independent’s critic noted in our review, No Hard Feelings is ultimately a character piece dressed in sex-farce clothing. Its attitude towards sex all too often resembles that of a sniggering teenager. And it speaks to a problem that is rampant in Hollywood cinema today. ARTICLE

Donald Trump set off speculation that he expects to be criminally charged in an election tampering probe in Georgia, ranting on social media about “all charges against me” in the high-profile case. That’s even though no such charges have been formally announced. On Friday, Mr Trump posted on Truth Social that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will be “dropping all charges against me for lack of a case.” The former president has been under investigation in the Georgia county since February 2021, after he was recorded pressuring top Georgia officials to “find” him enough votes to win the 2020 election. In his post on Friday, Mr Trump defended the 2 January, 2021, call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, as “perfectly legal” “I made a PERFECTLY LEGAL PHONE CALL, AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ABOUT AN ELECTION THAT I STRONGLY FEEL WAS RIGGED AND STOLLEN,” Mr Trump wrote. “NONE of the MANY LAWYERS on the call minded my words, or even hinted at wrongdoing.” STORY

Conservatives – despite their limited federal elected power – racked up another huge win in the great political battle of the early 21st century. The Supreme Court’s gutting of affirmative action in college admissions on Thursday toppled another pillar of America’s liberal social infrastructure. Two more setbacks followed on Friday: the high court struck down the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program and dealt a blow to LGBTQ rights when it sided with a Christian web designer in Colorado who refuses to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections. Democrats have had their successes over the last 20 years – including earlier this month with decisions ordering the redraw of Alabama’s congressional map and rejecting a Trump-backed election law theory – but it often seems as though conservatives have the momentum. Republicans only control one chamber of Congress, and narrowly so, while Democrats hold the White House and the Senate. And yet Thursday’s ruling further weakened a core principle of Democratic politics that unites the party’s presidents dating to Franklin Roosevelt – that the government should use its power to ease social injustices and lift up the disadvantaged. Civil rights advocates saw the decision as re-erecting barriers based on race that their forbears fought for decades to remove and a step back into tortured history. FULL STORY