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UPI
an hour ago
- Politics
- UPI
Florida religious leaders ask Gov. Ron DeSantis to pause executions
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in 2024. Religious leaders across Florida have penned a letter asking DeSantis to pause executions. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI | License Photo July 2 (UPI) -- Religious leaders across Florida have penned a letter asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to pause executions after more prisoners were put to death in a single year since the death penalty was reinstated half a century ago. The letter will be sent to DeSantis on July 8, when hundreds of faith leaders are expected to gather at First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee before marching to the State Capitol to deliver the letter. The demonstration will be livestreamed beginning at 11 a.m. local time. The demonstration comes after Florida scheduled its eighth and ninth executions for the year. Last month, Florida executed its seventh prisoner of the year, Thomas Gudinas, who was convicted for the 1994 rape and murder of a woman outside an Orlando bar. "We ... are deeply troubled by the expansion of Florida's death penalty and the pace of executions under your administration. We stand together to call on you to pause the signing of death warrants and make space for dialogue around whether the people of the State of Florida are being served by the current pace of executions," the letter reads. "Though we come from different backgrounds and spiritual traditions, our shared belief in the sacred value of every human life unites us. Our faiths teach us that no person is beyond redemption and that true justice must reflect both accountability and compassion." The religious leaders said that Florida's death penalty system "is plagued by racial disparities" and that its processes can retraumatize families. They also said that Florida has a "troubling history of wrongful convictions." "Florida leads the nation in death row exonerations -- proof that the risk of executing an innocent person is not hypothetical but real," the letter reads. "Executions also inflict moral injury on correctional staff and divert resources away from the kinds of investments that truly improve public safety." The letter was signed by 82 faith leaders from various Christian faiths, including more than 40 Catholic leaders, some 25 mainline Protestant leaders, about five from evangelical or non-denominational churches, two from Quaker congregations, a Mennonite leader and several interfaith leaders. They represented churches throughout all of Florida's major cities. "Florida cannot claim to be a state that values life while it continues to carry out executions," Demetrius Minor, the preacher at Tampa Life Church, said in a statement. "As someone who serves on Gov. DeSantis' Faith & Community Initiative and is a supporter of many of his policies, I urge Governor DeSantis to honor life by pausing executions."
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ten fascinating facts about York chocolate giant and its iconic bar
YORK creators of one of the nation's favourite chocolate bars upset some of their sweet-toothed customers this week by discontinuing one of its sweet treats. Nestlé has axed its KitKat Dark Mint chocolate bar to the dismay of many chocoholics who took to social media to lament the decision. But all is not lost as the confectionery giant softened the blow by announcing the launch of two brand-new chocolate bars in the UK. Watch out for KitKat Chunnky Funky (crispy cocoa wafer wrapped in swirls of milk and white chocolate coating) and KitKat Chunky Duo Salted Caramel as they hit the shelves across the UK. With yet another adaptation of this iconic chocolate bar, it seemed timely to look back at Nestlé over the years and share ten fascinating facts from our archives. 1. York's premier chocolate factory was founded in Castlegate by Quaker Henry Isaac Rowntree in 1862 after he bought out the Tuke family. It has since operated from Tanner's Moat in 1864 then, after the purchase of 20 acres of land at Haxby Road in the 1890s, to its present site. It has gone through several names and owners - Joseph Rowntree and Co; Rowntree Mackintosh; and, most recently, Nestlé. Undated aerial view of the 'new' Rowntree factory off Haxby Road (Image: Submitted) 2. A Rowntree employee had the idea of 'a chocolate bar that a man could take to work in his pack-up' and popped it in a staff suggestion box. This led to the four-finger Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp - a bar that would be more affordable for a working man, using wafer to fill the product and keep the price below that of a solid chocolate bar. Made in York since 1935, it was originally sold in London and the South East only, priced at 2d. A Kit Kat from 1935 (Image: Submitted) 3. Rowntree bosses felt the name was cumbersome so added KitKat to the pack in 1937 - the same year the idea of the KitKat 'break' was introduced in advertising, along with slogans such as 'the biggest little meal in Britain'. An early advertisement for KitKat.4. The brand's name has a longer history than the bar itself. 'Kit Kat' was originally the name of a 17th Century literary and political club that met in the pie shop of a pastry cook called Christopher Catling - Mr Catling's names being more easily shortened to Kit and Cat. Rowntree's first registered the names Kit-Cat and KitKat as early as 1911, but waited until the 1920s before launching a boxed chocolate assortment with the name. KitKat workers outside the York plant in the early days of the bar.5. During the turbulent war years, the site in Haxby Road became a munitions factory. 6. Rowntree's merged with Mackintosh's in the 1960s and was taken over by Nestlé in 1988. During the 1980s and 1990s, the production of Easter Eggs, Rolos and Yorkies relocated from Norwich to York, but making Smarties, Dairy Box and Black Magic shifted to the European mainland. Now, the York site also produces Aero, Milkybar and Polo. 7. The site now employs about 2,000 people, with York being home to KitKat and Nestlé Confectionery with its own Nestle's product technology centre, meaning all its product development is done in the city. KitKat has evolved over the years with new flavours (Image: Submitted) 8. A Press reader, back in 2010, snapped a photo of a York squirrel chomping on the Nestlé wafer bar near Rowntree Park in York. The pensioner saw it had come from the park and threw it a KitKat. KitKat-eating squirrel spotted near Rowntree Park (Image: Submitted) "It just picked it up and started eating it," she said. There was some speculation that the squirrel may have been attracted to the KitKat because the wrapper warned it 'may contain nuts' - or was the cuddly rodent simply having a break? 9. Nestle has invested £22 million in the Haxby Road site in recent years, which included a new two finger packing line in 2023, which boosted production capacity by 20 per cent. Mark Davies, managing director for Nestlé Confectionery UK & Ireland, told The Press last year that the investment had gone into upgrading the machines, allowing the factory to operate at a much higher speed and have the capacity to produce 1.2 billion KitKat bars every year here in York. 10. The York-born bar gained a cult following in Japan where a KitKat boutique sold quirky flavours such as Pickled Plum, Bubblegum (made with blue chocolate), Mango (made with yellow chocolate), Rose, and Iced Tea.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Eerie Stonehenge replica built and it is not in the UK
Stonehenge in the UK is one of the most famous landmarks in the world, but there's also a modern version Stonehenge, one of the UK's most iconic landmarks, attracts roughly 1.4 million visitors annually. The stones have evolved significantly over the millennia they've been standing, with the initial construction thought to date back to around 3000 BC. Interestingly, three pits within the site are even older, dating between 8500 and 7000 BC. Throughout its existence, additional stones have been incorporated, and some removed, but it has always maintained its commanding position on the Salisbury Plains. It's a particularly favoured spot for Winter and Summer solstice celebrations. Given Stonehenge's profound impact on many people's imaginations, it's not surprising that replicas exist elsewhere, varying in their accuracy - a 1987 replica in Nebraska was built using vintage American cars rather than stones. However, there is a complete replica in America, commissioned in the early 20th century by affluent entrepreneur Sam Hill, reports the Express. In 1907, Sam acquired a settlement near the Columbia River in Washington State, which he named Maryhill after his wife Mary and his daughter, also called Mary. This is where he would later build his Stonehenge replica. A passionate traveller, the businessman is thought to have made at least 50 trips to Europe and even several to Japan. Naturally, he visited Stonehenge during his travels. He rubbed shoulders with the elite, including Queen Marie of Romania who honoured him with the Order of the Crown, and King Albert I of Belgium, who appointed him Commander of the Crown and Honorary Belgian Consul for Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Sam held the belief that Stonehenge was initially erected for human sacrifices, a theory that many historians now disagree with. As a Quaker and pacifist, Sam equated the conflicts of the First World War to human sacrifice, constructing a Stonehenge replica in Washington as a tribute to Klickitat County's fallen servicemen. He embarked on creating this memorial, consulting top experts in archaeology, astronomy, and engineering, intending it to serve as a stark reminder of the "folly of war." The stones of the real Stonehenge hail from across the British Isles, some sourced locally near Salisbury Plains, while others were brought from Wales, Scotland, or possibly even further afield. British legends even claim that some of the stones originated from Africa, carried to Britain on the backs of giants. In the US, Hill was keen to use local Washington State stones for his replica, but when these proved inadequate, he resorted to using reinforced concrete. Instead of modelling it on the current appearance of Stonehenge, Hill chose to design his memorial based on how Stonehenge might have looked in its complete form, with a full circle of outer stones. Sam Hill passed away in 1933 and was cremated, with his ashes interred in a crypt beneath his Stonehenge monument.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What to Expect From PepsiCo's Q2 2025 Earnings Report
With a market cap of $179.7 billion, PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) is a global food and beverage leader headquartered in Purchase, New York. Best known for its iconic soft drink Pepsi, the company has built a diverse portfolio that spans beverages, snacks, and convenience foods. Its major brands include Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Tropicana, Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos, Quaker, and Aquafina, many of which generate over $1 billion in annual sales. The food and beverage giant is set to unveil its second-quarter results before the market opens on Thursday, July 17. Ahead of the event, analysts expect PEP to report a non-GAAP EPS of $2.03, down 11% from $2.28 reported in the year-ago quarter. The company has surpassed the Street's bottom-line expectations in three of the past four quarters, while missing on the last quarter. Holiday Trading, Trade Negotiations and Other Key Things to Watch this Week Alphabet's Strong Free Cash Flow Makes GOOG Stock a Value Buy Alibaba Is Restructuring Its E-Commerce Unit. How Should You Play BABA Stock Here? Get exclusive insights with the FREE Barchart Brief newsletter. Subscribe now for quick, incisive midday market analysis you won't find anywhere else. For the current year, analysts project PepsiCo to deliver a non-GAAP EPS of $7.86, down 3.7% from $8.16 in fiscal 2024. However, in fiscal 2026, PepsiCo's earnings are expected to grow 5.2% year-over-year to $8.27 per share. PepsiCo's stock prices have plunged 21.2% over the past 52 weeks, significantly underperforming the S&P 500 Index's ($SPX) 12.6% returns and the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund's (XLP) 8.7% gains during the same time frame. The beverage titan has lagged the broader market over the past year due to weakening performance in its North American Foods division, particularly Frito-Lay, amid softening consumer demand and persistent macroeconomic pressures. PepsiCo shares dropped 4.9% on April 24 following the release of its Q1 2025 results. While revenue came in at $17.9 billion, slightly above analyst expectations, it marked a 1.8% decline from the prior year. Adjusted EPS of $1.48 fell short of forecasts, and performance in the North American market also weighed on results, with food volumes slipping 1% and beverage volumes down 3%. Instead of the previously projected mid-single-digit growth, PepsiCo now expects flat core constant currency EPS growth, citing rising supply chain costs, particularly from tariffs, and continued weakness in consumer demand. On the bright side, the consensus opinion on PEP is moderately bullish, with a 'Moderate Buy' rating overall. Out of the 20 analysts covering the stock, opinions include six 'Strong Buys,' 13 'Holds,' and one 'Strong Sell.' Its mean price target of $147.63 suggests a 12.7% upside potential from current price levels. On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Scroll.in
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Emergency history: The arrest of socialist leader George Fernandes, and those who defended him
Leila Kabir Fernandes, the wife of the firebrand trade unionist and a top socialist leader George Fernandes, was at a total loss after her husband had vanished from Gopalpur-on-sea in Orissa, immediately after the Emergency was declared. The couple were holidaying with Sushanto, their toddler son, at Leila's family home when George had to leave to avoid arrest. He had not always been present and available in the marriage and the Emergency had forced a new, yet familiar loneliness on Leila. George went underground and remained undiscovered for nearly a year. When he was betrayed and finally caught, and was in a solitary cell at the Hissar prison, he reflected that the longest period he had spent with his wife, 'uninterruptedly', was during the four months in 1972, when they toured the US and Canada, meeting friends and extended family. When Leila returned to 'ominous' Delhi after George had escaped, she realised that the only option left for her was to leave India. She feared that if she stayed back, they would imprison her and that would leave their son alone. Her husband was a high-value target; he was to become the 'most-hunted man' in India's democratic history, and hence her fears and premonitions at the very start were not out of place. She did not want herself and her son to be made emotional pawns in a ruthless regime. Leila left India 'unnoticed' and managed to reach her brother in Charlottesville, Virginia. She instantly became part of the Indians for Democracy (IFD) and the democracy work they were engaged in. She made contact with US trade unions. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) had already expressed solidarity with IFD and that made her job easy. A few months after she reached the US, Leila's passport was impounded. According to Fernandes' biographer, Leila was not happy about George going underground 'seemingly unconcerned' about her and their toddler. George and Leila had married four years ago, in 1971, and Indira Gandhi had attended their wedding reception at the India International Centre in New Delhi. A Quaker couple had pronounced them husband and wife in Hindi. It had never been an easy marriage between the two. In fact, it was in the US that Subramanian Swamy had spoken to Leila about George's infidelity. While Leila was in the US, George was arrested in Calcutta on 10 June 1976. The IFD newsletter said it was a 'culmination of a yearlong manhunt, one of the most massive ever launched in India.' While underground, he had published newsletters, 'copies of which were duly mailed to Mrs Gandhi'. George was accused of 'selective sabotage' as part of the resistance to the regime. Some of his closest associates in the underground had already been arrested, in March 1976, in what had come to be known as the Baroda Dynamite Case. The newsletter also said that it had reliably learnt that one of those arrested in the case, CGK Reddy, had been 'brutally beaten and tortured' in custody, in an effort to get him to reveal the whereabouts of George. It further revealed that a communication, dated 10 June, from Bombay, had informed IFD that George's brother Lawrence Fernandes had similarly been tortured for twenty days in a Bangalore lock-up from 1 May 1976. Given this history of torture, Leila was obviously concerned for George's safety in custody when the arrest was announced. She addressed a press conference in Washington DC and said that her husband would 'become a victim of personal vendetta'. IFD stood by her and did a telegram campaign, urging Indira Gandhi to apply utmost restraint and fairness in the treatment of George. They also asked for an open trial. IFD ensured that Eugene McCarthy, the independent presidential candidate at the time, and former democratic senator from Minnesota, also sent a telegram. Leila and IFD swiftly got Hans Janitschek, the secretary general of the Socialist International, based in London, to put out an appeal for the release of George. In his statement, Janitscheck said he had reason to believe that George's life was in danger. Soon, top European leaders, Willy Brandt, former German Chancellor and Nobel laureate, Olaf Palme, the Swedish prime minister, and Bruno Kreisky, the Austrian Chancellor, sent a cable to Indira Gandhi asking her to intervene personally to 'safeguard the physical well-being' of George. The International Transport Workers' Federation, to which the All India Railwaymen's Federation headed by George was affiliated, went a step ahead and warned that if anything happened to George in police custody, they would 'most probably respond by organising an international boycott of Indian ships and aircraft.' The phrase 'most probably' made their draft curious, uncertain and to a cynical eye, an unimplementable threat, but still it was a big statement that carried in it a large-hearted solidarity. Leila also wrote to the home ministry in India, seeking details about her husband's arrest and condition. The home ministry wrote to her in a curt fashion, 'How can you not be aware of the activities of your husband who has for the past months been moving about instigating people to commit acts of violence, subversion, sabotage and other serious crimes prejudicial to public order and security of the country.' They also informed that he had been arrested on 10 June in Calcutta and was in legal custody, and his health was just fine. In this response, they added that allegations of custodial torture of Lawrence Fernandes, George's brother, was 'totally false, baseless and mischievous.' The clarification about Lawrence Fernandes was because the 65-year-old Alice Fernandes, George's mother, had written a long letter to the President of India, a couple of weeks before George was arrested. The letter, which gave a heart-wrenching graphic account of Lawrence Fernandes's physical condition, after being taken away by the police, was reprinted in Indian Opinion, the IFD newsletter. The letter was actually about her three sons – Lawrence, Michael and of course, George. Michael, her third son, had been in jail, without trial, under MISA, since December 1975. Lawrence, her second son, had been picked up from their Bangalore home on 1 May 1976, under the pretext of finding out about Michael's habeas corpus petition in the Karnataka High Court. But he was tortured in custody, seeking the whereabouts of George, her eldest son. Alice wrote, [The police] in a most inhuman, reckless and ruthless manner to third degree methods of physical torture … Besides beating him with clubs (until five of them were broken to pieces) they used a banyan tree root to clout him with and booted him and slapped him … [they threatened] he would be thrown on the railway tracks and killed under a moving train leaving no evidence of their hand in his death. On 20 May 1976, when she went to see him, Alice said, I found him looking dead. He was unable to move except without two persons helping him about, and then too with great pain and limping. His left side is without use as if crippled, and both his left leg and hand are still swollen. He is in a mentally and physically wrecked condition and is unable to talk freely without faltering. He is terribly nervous and mortally afraid of police, of anyone in khaki uniform, of the approaching sound of anyone walking with shoes on, or of any other person, all of whom he fears to be interrogators and tormentors. He looks completely haggard and he has lost twenty kilos during these twenty days. Alice then mocked what had happened in the Supreme Court. …When the Supreme Court judgement of April 28 in the Habeas Corpus petitions case insists that no instances of misuse of executive power have come to the notice of the Supreme Court, etc., am I to believe that the torture of [my] son is a humane act on behalf of the Government? Or am I to believe that all this is part of some deliberate, diabolical design against my family? Are my two sons being held hostages for George Fernandes whose present whereabouts or condition my entire family is totally unaware of? Is it moral or right that my family should be so harassed and tormented for the political views held by my son George Fernandes? Finally, Alice cursed, 'I am sure if I don't get justice from you, the Almighty God who is above all the almighty persons on this earth will punish the wrong doers or that Nemesis will take its toll sooner or later.' After the arrest of George, Leila remained tense. She told Indian Opinion that, in spite of repeated letters and cables to Indira Gandhi and the home ministry, she had not received any official information of her husband's condition. She had also learnt that George's lawyer had not been able to see him after his first and only appearance in court. She said, even the government prosecutor 'became embarrassed' that George's whereabouts were not revealed. Before George's arrest, his whereabouts were not known, now they were not revealed. 'The situation is very unnerving and causing me great distress,' Leila had confessed. Mavis Sigwalt (co-founder of the IFD) shared an interesting episode about Leila during the stressful days. Leila was in Chicago for a meeting and left her child with Mavis, only to be angry later. This is what happened: Mavis recalled: Since she was going for the meeting somebody had to look after the child, and since I had a child of almost the same age, it was understood that the child could stay back with me. But after she left for the meeting, I got a call from office that my boss had fallen in her apartment and had been admitted to the hospital. She had no support and no family. People who were her closest were the people who worked with her. I had to go and attend to her urgently. Therefore, I left my child and Leila's child with our babysitter. But when Leila returned, she was not very happy about what I had done, although both the kids were well taken care of. It is not that I had double standards, I left my child behind too. But her unhappiness was registered in my memory. While Leila was only a passing acquaintance to Mavis and SR, they really got to know Ram Jethmalani well. He stayed with them whenever he visited Chicago during the Emergency era, and from their recollection, he was a pleasant and jovial person. 'He stayed with us five or six times and we got to really know him. He was a great storyteller and was very funny. He could see humour in all the craziness that was going on. I learnt a lot from him,' Mavis said. The other itinerant, Subramanian Swamy, did not stay at Mavis and SR's residence but had dinner with them a couple of times. Like with Leila, that relationship, too, did not seem to blossom into a friendship for the couple. Mavis recalled: Our house was a kind of centre for people to come together. I was very open to people coming home and staying with us or sharing a meal. I would often put a vegetarian Indian meal on the table, and since my chapatti-making skills were poor, I made good poories. Anybody who came to my home would perhaps remember my poories. . There was a regular stream of people visiting them in connection with IFD during the Emergency. It was a standard joke in Mavis's office to count how many people would turn up for dinner each day, at short notice. Mavis, at the time, was working in Illinois' department of ageing. The funniest visitor story that Mavis narrated was about Ravi, who became the couple's lifelong friend. During one of his visits, Mavis recalled that Ravi had messed up her laundry. 'He put his green shirt with the load of my white clothes, and I had green clothes for months,' Mavis laughed as she recalled. In an embarrassing case, something that IFD leaders mentioned in a hushed tone, a certain person travelling from India for the anti-emergency cause demonstrated traits of pilfering. He stole small denomination dollar bills left on the mantelshelf in the house he was put up, much to the disappointment of his host in New York. This did not push them to judge him harshly. They continued their relationship with the person even years after this discovery. Except, they stopped keeping dollar bills on the mantel when he came visiting. Besides all the serious political talk and building a resistance strategy that was taking place within IFD, amidst all the gloom and despair, there was also food, travel, laughter, losses, victories, disappointments, generosity, friendships, marriages, mix-ups and misunderstandings. There was a capacious understanding and equanimity in IFD leaders about human situations that sprang up, unlike what was being reported from India, where the effort was to only generate fear and instil discipline. The Emergency and IFD brought people together. There were serious acquaintances and lifelong friendships that began at the time. There was also an in-between category of limited-edition friendships – of people who grew thick during the Emergency and then drifted apart when their common purpose and pursuit evaporated. But all those who met during that extraordinary phase had, by default, dropped a pin about each other in the vast spread of their mental maps. The place where those pins fell and remained, over the decades, became locators of a trough of special and specific memories.
