The real story of Queen Victoria and the Irish Famine

Popular English drama “Victoria” overplays the extent to which Queen Victoria sought to aid the famine Irish in the 1840s, exaggerating her interest in Ireland.

On August 2, 1849, British Queen Victoria, oft dubbed “The Famine Queen” visited Ireland after the country had already suffered through years of the Great Hunger. Yet to what extent did she go towards helping the Irish in their pain and poverty? 

An episode of the hit show “Victoria” drew surprise from British viewers in 2017 for the extent to which the Irish suffered both during the 1840s famine and, while under English rule which was finally brought to their attention. 

While a defining period in Irish history, it is sadly widely uncovered by the British educational system. The role that Britain’s Queen Victoria played in coming to the aid of her then-subjects, however, was pushed into the spotlight with the airing of the episode,s.

British viewers were truly shocked to discover the brutality of the Great Hunger. Many of them had not previously known of the death of at least one million and the emigration of a further million of their closest neighbors in what must be regarded as the darkest and most horrifying seven years in Irish history.

Many commended the episode for finally portraying the devastating horrors of the Irish famine on British TV screens for the first time. Much praise was heaped onto screenwriter Daisy Goodwin for not shying away from the rather unpalatable role played that the British landlords and government played in the disaster.

However,  the portrayal of Queen Victoria, quite commonly known as The Famine Queen throughout Ireland and who was depicted as berating her government ministers for not doing enough to help the Irish, did draw some criticism.

“There is no evidence that she had any real compassion for the Irish people in any way,” said historian Christine Kinealy, founding director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University.  

While it wasn’t until the later years of her reign that a new generation of Irish nationalists, including Maud Gonne and James Connolly, began to blame Queen Victoria for the famine, historical records show that the British monarch did little to aid the Irish at the time. Prime Minister Lord John Russell even called on the queen to do more to end the starvation.

Kinealy has studied Queen Victoria’s diaries as well as the writings of Prime Ministers Peel and Russell, and she believes that “Victoria” may be overplaying the real queen’s empathy.

“We know that really she had no interest in Ireland and so to imagine she wanted to do more doesn’t really ring true,” Kinealy told IrishCentral.

“In her very long reign, she only visited Ireland four times and one of those times was 1849 when the famine was still raging but coming to an end. At that point, she didn’t do anything, so it’s hard to imagine that what they’re portraying is really based on fact.”

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Not only did Queen Victoria fail to rise to the challenge of protecting the Irish people, the monarchy and those working for it also went out of their way to prevent others from outshining the queen’s own mediocre attempts, preventing a significant amount of money from making its way to Ireland from Turkey.  

“She was urged by her Prime Minister Russell to do something for Ireland and so, in January 1847 she issued a Queen’s letter asking protestants to raise money for the Irish,” explains Kinealy.

“In January 1848, she also made her own donation, significantly to a British agency, but she gave £2,000. She is the first person named on their records as having given money but because she gave £2,000, it was the Royal protocol that nobody could give more than the monarch. 

“We do have documentation that the Sultan of Turkey, who was himself a very young man at the time, offered to give £10,000 but in Constantinople, the British embassy went to his people to say that it would offend royal protocol so he reduced his donation.”

The offer from the Ottoman Sultan, Khaleefah Abdul-Majid I, would be worth approximately £800,000 ($1.7m) today and could have greatly benefited the Irish people.

While Prime Minister Peel in the first year of the famine implemented policies that prevented mass death in Ireland, his successor Lord Russell was not as successful, and thus, in 1846 mass mortality began.

“I am sure poor Peel ought to be blessed by all Catholics for the manly and noble way in which he stands forth to protect and do good to poor Ireland. But the bigotry, the wicked blind passions it brings forth is quite dreadful, and I blush for Protestantism!” Queen Victoria wrote in a letter to her uncle, the Belgian King, on April 15, 1845, the first year that the blight destroyed the potato crop.

By 1846, the tide was turning, however,  and it was becoming apparent that  Queen Victoria would have to make her first official trip to Ireland.

“As this is not a journey of pleasure like the Queen’s former ones, but a State act, it will have to be done with a certain degree of State, and ought to be done handsomely,” she wrote to Lord Russell in August 1846.

However, she didn’t make the trip until 1849. The young queen was accompanied by her children, journeying mainly to the east coast of the country where the worst of the Irish famine was over.

“She didn’t see it first hand in that sense and we know that there was a very high military presence and that any trouble was suppressed and people were arrested … I don’t think at that time people blamed her for the famine to some extent, that interpretation comes a bit later,” Kinealy states.  

In fact, it wasn’t until her fourth and final visit to Ireland as an old lady in 1900, just a year before her death, that the well-known nickname of The Famine Queen came to be. The almost blind, wheelchair-using monarch was branded as such by Maud Gonne, Irish revolutionary, suffragette, and muse of W. B. Yeats who worked alongside Irish labor leader and 1916 Easter Rising revolutionary James Connolly to protest the arrival of the British Queen in Ireland.

In a scathing article titled “The Famine Queen,” Gonne accused Queen Victoria of failing to help “the survivors of sixty years of organized famine.” Although quickly banned by the British authorities, the article’s damning nickname for Queen Victoria stuck. The queen found herself shouldering some of the blame for the approximately one million deaths.

“I think Britain has yet to confront its past and its unpalatable past and the famine is definitely an unpalatable aspect of that relationship,” Kinealy states of the recent development of the Irish famine finally at least being recognized in British TV programming.

“English and British people, in general, have very little knowledge of Irish history and that’s a real shame because so much of our history is intertwined and that’s really something that should be addressed.”

* Originally published in February 2018. Updated in March 2024. 



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Baltimore bridge collapse | All six workers missing presumed dead

A cargo ship lost power and rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore early on March 26, destroying the span in a matter of seconds and plunging it into the river in a terrifying collapse that could disrupt a vital shipping port for months.

Six people were missing and presumed dead, and the search for them was suspended until Wednesday morning.

The ship’s crew issued a mayday call moments before the crash took down the Francis Scott Key Bridge, enabling authorities to limit vehicle traffic on the span, Maryland’s governor said.

As the vessel neared the bridge, puffs of black smoke could be seen as the lights flickered on and off. It struck one of the bridge’s supports, causing the structure to collapse like a toy, and a section of the span came to rest on the bow.

Also Read | Crew of cargo ship that lost power and collided with bridge in Baltimore, U.S. are all Indian

With the ship barrelling toward the bridge at “a very, very rapid speed,” authorities had just enough time to stop cars from coming over the bridge, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.

“These people are heroes,” Mr. Moore said. “They saved lives last night.”

In the evening, Col. Roland L. Butler Jr., superintendent for Maryland State Police, announced that the search and rescue mission was transitioning to one of search and recovery.

He also said the search was being put on pause and divers would return to the site at 6 a.m. Wednesday, when challenging overnight conditions were expected to improve. No bodies have been recovered, Mr. Butler said.

The crash happened in the middle of the night, long before the busy morning commute on the bridge that stretches 2.6 kilometres and was used by 12 million vehicles last year.

Ground report from Baltimore bridge collapse site

The six missing people were part of a construction crew filling potholes on the bridge, said Paul Wiedefeld, the state’s transportation secretary.

Guatemala’s consulate in Maryland said in a statement that two of the missing were citizens of the Central American nation. It did not provide their names but said consular officials were in contact with authorities and assisting the families.

Honduras’ Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Antonio García told AP that a Honduran citizen, Maynor Yassir Suazo Sandoval, was missing. He said he had been in contact with Suazo’s family.

Explained | Why did the Baltimore bridge collapse and what do we know about the ship?

And the Washington Consulate of Mexico said via the social media platform X that citizens of that nation were also among the missing. It did not say how many.

A senior executive at the company that employed the workers also said, in the afternoon, that the workers were presumed dead given the water’s depth and how much time had passed.

Jeffrey Pritzker, executive vice president of Brawner Builders, said the crew was working in the middle of the bridge when it came down.

“This was so completely unforeseen,” Mr. Pritzker said. “We don’t know what else to say. We take such great pride in safety, and we have cones and signs and lights and barriers and flaggers.”

Jesus Campos, who has worked on the bridge for Brawner Builders and knows members of the crew, said he was told they were on a break and some were sitting in their trucks.

“I know that a month ago, I was there, and I know what it feels like when the trailers pass,” Mr. Campos said. “Imagine knowing that is falling. It is so hard. One would not know what to do.”

People pray for officials including Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, centre, during a vigil near the scene where a container ship collided with a support on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Dundalk, Md. on March 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit:
AP

Father Ako Walker, a Roman Catholic priest at Sacred Heart of Jesus, said he spent time with the families of the missing workers as they waited for news of their loved ones.

“You can see the pain etched on their faces,” Father Walker said.

Rescuers pulled two people out of the water, one of whom was treated at a hospital and discharged hours later. Multiple vehicles also went into the river, although authorities did not believe anyone was inside.

“It looked like something out of an action movie,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said, calling it “an unthinkable tragedy.” A police dispatcher put out a call just before the collapse saying a ship had lost its steering and asked officers to stop all traffic on the bridge, according to Maryland Transportation Authority first responder radio traffic obtained from the Broadcastify.com archive.

One officer who stopped traffic radioed that he was going to drive onto the bridge to alert the construction crew. But seconds later, a frantic officer said: “The whole bridge just fell down. Start, start whoever, everybody … the whole bridge just collapsed.”

On a separate radio channel for maintenance and construction workers, someone said officers were stopping traffic because a ship had lost steering. There was no follow-up order to evacuate, and 30 seconds later the bridge fell and the channel went silent.

From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to ship or barge collisions, according to the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure.

Tuesday’s collapse is sure to create a logistical nightmare along the East Coast for months, if not years, shutting down ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore, a major hub. The loss of the bridge will also snarl cargo and commuter traffic.

“Losing this bridge will devastate the entire area, as well as the entire East Coast,” state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling said.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said at a news conference that it was too soon to estimate how long it will take to clear the channel, which is about 15 metres deep.

“I do not know of a bridge that has been constructed to withstand a direct impact from a vessel of this size,” he said.

The Dali, which was headed from Baltimore to Colombo, Sri Lanka and flying under a Singapore flag, is about 300 metres long and about 48 metres wide, according to according to data from Marine Traffic.

Synergy Marine Group, which manages the ship, confirmed that it hit a pillar of the bridge at about 1:30 a.m. while in control of one or more pilots, who are local specialists who help guide vessels safely into and out of ports. The ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd.

Synergy said all crew members and the two pilots on board were accounted for, and there were no reports of any injuries.

The ship was moving at 8 knots, roughly 9 mph (14.8 kph), the governor said.

Inspectors found a problem with the Dali’s machinery in June, but a more recent examination did not identify any deficiencies, according to the shipping information system Equasis.

Danish shipping giant Maersk said it had chartered the vessel.

Jagged remnants of the bridge could be seen jutting up from the water in the aftermath of the collapse. The on-ramp ended abruptly where the span once began.

Donald Heinbuch, a retired chief with Baltimore’s fire department, said he was startled awake by a deep rumbling that shook his house for several seconds and “felt like an earthquake.” He drove to the river’s edge and couldn’t believe what he saw.

“The ship was there, and the bridge was in the water, like it was blown up,” he said.

The bridge spans the Patapsco River at the entrance to the busy harbour, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Opened in 1977, the bridge is named for the writer of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Mr. Wiedefeld said all vessel traffic into and out of the port would be suspended until further notice, though the facility was still open to trucks.

President Joe Biden said he planned to travel to Baltimore and intends for the federal government to pick up the entire cost of rebuilding.

“This is going to take some time,” Mr. Biden said.

Last year the Port of Baltimore handled a record 52.3 million tons of foreign cargo worth $80 billion, according to the state.

The head of a supply chain management company said Americans should expect shortages of goods from the collapse’s effect on ocean container shipping and East Coast trucking.

“It’s not just the port of Baltimore that’s going to be impacted,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport.

The collapse, though, is not likely to hurt worldwide trade because Baltimore is not a major port for container vessels. Its facilities are more important when it comes to goods such as farm equipment and autos, said Judah Levine, head of research for global freight booking platform Freightos.

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The best of Irish music and dance – Gradam Ceoil TG4 2024 award recipients announced

Recipients of the seven Gradam Ceoil TG4 2024 awards were announced on Tuesday, March 26 during a concert at the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy.

Gradam Ceoil TG4 was established in 1998 to honour and celebrate individuals who have made significant contributions to Irish traditional music.

Through its prestigious awards ceremony, Gradam Ceoil TG4 highlights the richness, depth, and dynamism of the traditional music landscape, providing a platform for both seasoned veterans and emerging talents alike. 

“I am just so lucky to love the music of our ancestors”

Seoladh Gradam Ceoil 2024 🎵 #Gradam pic.twitter.com/EUxfpTsd46


— TG4 (@TG4TV) March 26, 2024

The selection process for Gradam Ceoil TG4 recipients is undertaken by an independent panel, some of whom are past awardees and all of whom play or work within the tradition. 

Proinsias Ní Ghráinne, TG4 Commissioning Editor, said: “TG4 is delighted to be afforded this opportunity to recognise these stars that shine bright within our tradition.

“Gradam is a token of gratitude from us to the many performances who grace our traditional music programs week in, week out.

“We are delighted that we can help bring their music to global audiences through the live broadcast of Gradam Ceoil 2024 on TG4’s broadcast platforms.

Comhghairdeas leis na faighteoirí uilig.”

This year’s Gradam Ceoil TG4 concert will take place at The University Concert Hall in Limerick on Sunday, May 5, and will be broadcast live on TG4 and around the globe on the TG4 player. Award recipients will be joined by an array of musical guests and award presenters for a night of vibrant music, fun, and entertainment. 

Gradam Ceoil TG4 2024 award recipients

Gradam Ceoil TG4 2024 / Musician- Derek Hickey

Derek Hickey is from Adare in County Limerick. Both his grandfathers played fiddle and his own musical career began at the age of ten, when his uncle left an accordion in the family home. Derek progressed to dance tunes within weeks though he didn’t begin lessons – under the tutelage of Dónal de Barra – until he was 12. His professional career began three years later when he joined the Shannonside Céilí Band, founded by the Liddy family. The band toured extensively in England and throughout Europe.

In 1991 Frankie Gavin asked Derek to join him for regular sessions in his then leased hotel in Kinvara, Co. Galway. One year later, at just eighteen, Derek joined Arcady, Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh’s band, along with Frances Black, Brendan Larrisey and Patsy Broderick. Other guest members of this band included Sharon Shannon, Cathal Hayden and Gerry O’Connor.

In 1995 he joined De Dannan, recording two albums and touring until they disbanded in 2003. Derek is the button accordion tutor on the BA Irish Music and Dance at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. In 2023 he performed at the National Concert Hall Dublin, as part of the third series of the Irish Traditional Music Archive’s ‘Drawing from the Well’ series. Widely acknowledged as one of Ireland’s most prominent and influential master accordion players, his eponymous 2022 album was deemed by fellow box player Dermot Byrne as “a recording of a pure genius.”

Derek Hickey. (Alan Place)

Amhránaí TG4 2024 / Singer– Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin is a Dublin-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. His musical roots are in sean-nós singing, in the style of his father Peadar and he grew up listening to the likes of Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Seán Mac Dhonncha, Colm Ó Caoidheáin amongst other greats from the tradition. He is also influenced by folk singers from the English language tradition such as Liam Weldon, Luke Kelly, Anne Briggs, Margaret Barry and Thomas McCarthy.

Eoghan is a member of the band Skipper’s Alley. He has worked with Mary Ann Kennedy from Scotland and Ruth Keggin from the Isle of Man on their Aon Teanga: Un Chengey album (2015). He has performed with folk/electronica band Jiggy, featuring on both their albums, Translate (2017) and Hypernova (2020). He also collaborates with Clare fiddle and viola player Ultan O’Brien, their debut album Solas an Lae won best album at the RTÉ Folk Awards in 2021.

In recent years, Eoghan has come into his own as a solo artist and songwriter. His songs – written in both English and Irish – build on his sean-nós singing foundations but combine hard-hitting lyrics with other musical influences to create a rich, contemporary sound. His debut solo album, ‘The Deepest Breath’ was released in November 2022, receiving four star reviews from The Irish Times, Songlines and Hot Press. 

“(Eoghan has) a creative streak on par with some of this country’s greatest ever songwriters. The lyrics of The Deepest Breath are proof and testament to that. Incredibly powerful words which not unlike the great Liam Weldon are words that belong to and represent the working people…” – Myles O’Reilly

 “…once you hear his voice, you’re unlikely to forget it” – Folk Radio UK

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin. (Alan Place)

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin. (Alan Place)

Ceoltóir Óg TG4 2024 / Young Musician – Macdara Ó Faoláin

Macdara Ó Faoláin is a multi-instrumentalist and instrument maker from An Rinn, County Waterford. He started learning tin whistle and the fiddle at the age of 5 but discovering the music of Andy Irvine and Planxty and being mesmerised by it, he progressed on to the mandolin, under the instruction of Peter O’Connor. He received a bouzouki for Christmas when he was 8 and it quickly took over as his main instrument, receiving lessons from Seán Ó Fearghail. He has recorded and performed with some of the best-known names in Irish traditional music, including Derek Hickey, The Friel Sisters, Nell Ní Chróinín, Cormac McCarthy, Victoria Adiiye and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. His intimate knowledge of harmony and instrumental technique come together to create his own unique style of accompaniment on the bouzouki.

Twin-tracking with his playing and performing, he developed a keen interest in woodwork at a very early age, after receiving a children’s woodwork set from his parents. Aged 14, he made his first instrument – a ukulele – as part of a Junior Certificate programme.  

He is now a professional luthier, building beautiful, fretted instruments – primarily bouzoukis and mandolins – for clients internationally from his studio at An Sean Phobal, close to the family home at An Rinn. He is a founding member of the group Nuadán, along with his brothers Cárthach and Pax, with whom he has recorded two albums, “Lá Laindí Lugha” and “Dén Díobháil”. He continues to have a busy performing career and recently completed an honours degree in the Cork School of Music. 

Mac Dara Ó Faoláin. (Alan Place)

Mac Dara Ó Faoláin. (Alan Place)

Gradam Saoiltg4 2024 / Lifetime Achievement – Jean Butler 

Dancer, choreographer and Our Steps Artistic Director Jean Butler is a leading figure in the world of contemporary Irish dance performance. Her most recent production, a site -specific promenade piece entitled ‘What We Hold’ premiered at the Dublin Theatre Festival in October 2022 NY to critical acclaim. In February 2024, ‘What We Hold’ had its North American premiere at Irish Arts Center with a sellout run of 30 shows. Past works have been supported and presented by The Arts Council (Ireland), Abbey Theatre (Dublin), Baryshnikov Arts Center (N.Y.), Danspace Project (N.Y.), Dublin Dance Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Irish Arts Center (N.Y.), Jacobs Pillow (MA), The Joyce (N.Y.), Kennedy Center (D.C.), Project Arts Centre (Dublin), and Seamus Heaney Homeplace (Northern Ireland).

In 2018 Butler founded Our Steps, a not- for-profit organization committed to expanding the way we think about history, practice, and performance of Irish dance. Partnering with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, ‘Our Steps initiated Our Steps, Our Story: An Irish Dance Legacy Archive.’ To date, this ever -expanding archive has created over 200 hours of video and audio resources of never before documented solo set dances and oral history interviews spanning seven decades of history from Ireland, England, Scotland, the United States and Canada.

Butler has taught at Princeton University, University College Dublin, University of Notre Dame Global Center, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick and Glucksman Ireland House, NYU. Her performance career started in NY with Mick Moloney’s Greenfields of American. Butler went on tour with the Chieftains for six years before choreographing and starring in the original Irish dance productions, Riverdance and Dancing on Dangerous Ground. She is the recipient of many prestigious awards and honours. 

Jean is the proud daughter of Josephine Byrne Butler, who hails from Ballyhaunis, County Mayo and student of NY based dance master Donny Golden.

pic.twitter.com/s8OJIEM5TO


— TG4 (@TG4TV) March 26, 2024

Cumadóir TG4 2024 / Composer – Ryan Molloy

Ryan Molloy is a composer and performer from Pomeroy, Co. Tyrone, currently resident in Co. Kildare. His music has been recorded on over thirty albums and his repertoire spans numerous genres from traditional Irish music to contemporary classical music. He has worked with a host of internationally renowned artists such as Fergal Scahill, Seán Óg Graham, Paddy Glackin, Iarla Ó Lionáird, North Cregg, Barry Kerr, the Danish String Quartet, the Ulster Orchestra, and Irish Chamber Orchestra, amongst many others. 

He has written over fifty works and his music has been performed to audiences on four continents for over twenty years, as well as featuring regularly in national and international TV and radio broadcasts (including BBC, RTÉ, TG4 and RnaG). As a composer, Ryan has represented Ireland at the prestigious ISCM World New Music Days festivals in Hong Kong (2015), Vancouver (2017) and Auckland/Christchurch (2022). 

Described as a ‘milestone’ in traditional piano performance, Ryan’s critically acclaimed first solo recording pianophony was released in 2019 and earned him two RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards nominations in 2020 and 2021. That year also saw the release of Tempered, a new CD of music for uilleann pipes and piano, as well as a digital EP featuring the 30-minute song cycle Buaine na Gaoithe performed by its commissioners, the Damselfly Trio. Ryan is currently Associate Professor of composition at Maynooth University. He is also reported to own a fiddle.

Ryan Molloy. (Alan Place)

Ryan Molloy. (Alan Place)

Grúpa Ceoil TG4 2024 / Music Group – The Kane Sisters

From North Conamara, Liz and Yvonne Kane, known as The Kane Sisters, are much respected musicians and educators. Born in Letterfrack, they were educated in Kylemore Abbey School. They were taught music by the great Sligo musician and music teacher, Mary Finn and by their grandfather, Jimmy Mullen.

From a young age, they have been very influenced by the traditional music of Sligo and East Galway, in particular the music of the master composer and fiddle player Paddy Fahey. Liz and Yvonne first came to national and international prominence during the three-year period in which they toured with accordion player, Sharon Shannon as members of her band, The Woodchoppers. They travelled all over the world with her band and are featured artists on Sharon’s album ‘The Diamond Mountain Sessions.’

Following this period of touring with Sharon Shannon, they decided to embark musically on their own and they recorded their first album in 2002 entitled ‘The Well Tempered Bow’. The Kane Sisters toured Ireland and the United States following the release of their first album and they followed up with a second album ‘Under the Diamond’ in 2004 and third album in 2010 called ‘Side by side’. In 2022 they released their fourth album ‘In Memory of Paddy Fahey’ featuring 15 of his compositions as well as newly written tunes from both Liz and Yvonne. Based in Letterfrack they have a solid teaching schedule with a large number of fiddle students both locally and virtually.

Yvonne and Liz Kane. (Alan Place)

Yvonne and Liz Kane. (Alan Place)

Gradam Comaoine TG4 2024 / Outstanding Contribution – Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí

This organisation was formed in the early 1980s to help support and promote the art of fiddle playing in the Donegal tradition. Led by musician/researcher/author Caoimhín MacAoidh and fiddle-maker, Rab Cherry, the organisation’s core mission is to strengthen Donegal fiddle playing at its roots, and to improve standards, promote participation in all aspects of Donegal fiddle music and encourage the transmission of the Donegal styles and repertoire. The organisation’s main events include the annual Donegal Fiddlers’ Summer School in Glencolmbcille and the October Donegal Fiddlers’ Meeting Glenties. Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí has issued a substantial body of recordings by fiddle players, past and present, and shares a wealth of information about fiddle styles and associated history and folklore on its website, Donegal Fiddle Music Donegal Fiddle Music 

This site also offers a suite of fiddle lessons by contemporary Donegal fiddlers as well as the unique Musical Landscape project, a cartography mapping fiddlers and their stories across the county. 

Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí’s monumental efforts in preserving local traditions and nurturing a vibrant musical community have left an indelible mark in Donegal and beyond. Its influence extends to every fiddle player in the county, from legendary figures like Tommy Peoples to contemporary icons like Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, and rising stars like Megan Nic Fhionnghaile. The diverse and dynamic crop of contemporary fiddle players across Donegal stands as a testament to the profound impact of this organisation’s contribution.

Cairdeas na bhFidléirí operates as a not-for-profit voluntary organisation and any income generated is invested directly into their events, programmes, publications, projects and support for living artists. Its mission is supported by An Chomhairle Ealaíon/The Arts Council who provide vital financial support for this work.

Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí. (Alan Place)

Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí. (Alan Place)



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US Supreme Court hears arguments in abortion pill case

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday did not appear ready to limit access to the abortion pill mifepristone, in a case that could have far-reaching implications for millions of American women and for scores of drugs regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. 

It’s the first abortion-related case the court has taken since a majority of the current justices struck down the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

A group of anti-abortion doctors had asked the court to restrict access to mifepristone and to limit when in a pregnancy it could be used. 

Key moments from the arguments:

The FDA approved mifepristone in 2000 as a safe and effective way to end early pregnancies. Last year the pill was used in more than six in 10 of the abortions in the U.S.

The central argument of the conservative group challenging mifepristone is that the Food and Drug Administration overlooked serious problems with the drug when it eased restrictions on the drug, including making it available via mail in 2021. 

Erin Hawley, who represented the doctors suing the agency, argued the FDA “failed to consider or explain … its wholesale removal of safeguards” on the pill.

Read moreThe long and winding history of the war on abortion drugs

But the FDA has long argued its decision to drop in-person appointments to get mifepristone, among other requirements, came after 20 years of monitoring its safety. In that period the agency reviewed dozens of studies in thousands of women in which serious problems — including hospitalization — occurred less than 0.3% of the time.

Hawley pointed out that FDA’s own prescribing label mentions that 2.9% to 4.6% of women taking the drug go to the emergency room. But Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar pointed to studies showing that half of women who go to the emergency room don’t get any treatment at all.

“Many women might go because they’re experiencing heavy bleeding, which mimics a miscarriage, and they might just need to know whether or not they’re having a complication, ” Prelogar said.

Because of the highly technical nature of reviewing drug data and research, courts have long deferred to FDA’s scientific judgements on safety and effectiveness.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pressed Hawley on the legal basis for second-guessing the agency’s regulators.

“So what deference do we owe them at all with respect to their assessment that these studies establish what it is that they say they do about safety and efficacy?”

Hawley ran into questions as she argued that a nationwide rule curtailing mifepristone use was needed. 

She was repeatedly interrupted by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who voiced objections to such sweeping injunctions.

The case “seems like a prime example of turning what could be a small lawsuit into a nationwide legislative assembly on an FDA rule or any other federal government action,” said Gorsuch.

Normally when a court issues an injunction about a government policy it only applies to the individuals or groups in the case. But in recent years a growing number of justices on lower courts have issued “universal injunctions,” blocking federal regulations nationwide.

Gorsuch noted that there have been roughly 60 such rulings in the last four years.

Chief Justice John Roberts also seemed skeptical that a ruling reversing the FDA’s scientific judgments was necessary.

“Why can’t the court specify that this relief runs to precisely the parties before the court as opposed to looking to the agency in general and saying, ‘Agency, you can’t do this anywhere?’”

The Biden administration argued that the plaintiffs — a group called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine — didn’t have the right to challenge the FDA’s actions on mifepristone. 

The doctors who brought the suit argued that they might have to treat emergency room patients who experience serious complications after taking the drug. 

But Prelogar told the court that the doctors don’t have to prescribe mifepristone and they can abstain from treating patients who have taken the pill if they oppose abortion.

“They don’t prescribe mifepristone,” Prelogar said. “They don’t take mifepristone, obviously. The FDA is not requiring them to do or refrain from doing anything. They aren’t required to treat women who take mifepristone.”

Justice Samuel Alito, however, repeatedly pressed the government on who did have the right to sue over FDA’s decisions. 

“Is there anybody who can sue and get a judicial ruling on whether what FDA did was lawful?” Alito, who wrote the 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, asked. 

Several justices pressed Hawley to provide real-life examples of doctors who oppose abortion being forced to treat patients who had suffered from abortion pill complications.

They also took issue with how many hypothetical problems Hawley raised in her argument against the FDA’s loosening of abortion pill restrictions.

“I don’t want to hypothesize,” Jackson said to Hawley, asking her to provide an example of a doctor who was unable to object to providing an abortion.

At one point, Justice Amy Coney Barrett also questioned an example one of the doctors provided of a colleague who had to perform a “dilation and curettage” procedure on a patient with complications. Barrett pointed out that those procedures are not just performed in cases of abortions but for miscarriages as well. 

Some of the justices also pointed out that doctors are already protected from performing abortions when they don’t want to by voicing conscience objection. 

Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised that point early on: “Under federal law, no doctors can be forced against their consciences to perform or assist in an abortion, correct?”

For more than a century, the FDA has had sole authority over assessing the safety of drugs and approving their sale in the U.S.

The agency first approved mifepristone in 2000 following a four-year review, including detailed safety studies submitted by the French manufacturer. In 2016, FDA loosened restrictions on the drug to allow it to be prescribed up to 10 weeks of pregnancy and allowed nurses and other medical professionals to prescribe it. In 2021, the agency said the drug could be sent through the mail, doing away with a longstanding requirement that women to pick the drug up in person.

Jessica Ellsworth, an attorney representing the New York-based Danco Laboratories, which makes mifepristone, asked the justices to consider how the case could upend the FDA’s decades-old system for regulating drugs, vaccines and other life-saving medicines.

“I think this court should think hard about the mischief it would invite if it allowed agencies to start taking action based on statutory responsibilities that Congress has assigned to other agencies,” she said.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s decision last year marked the first time a court had issued a decision to revoke approval of a drug FDA had deemed safe. An open letter signed by nearly 300 biotech and pharmaceutical company leaders last year slammed the ruling as undermining Congress’ delegated authority to the FDA to approve and regulate drugs. If justices can unilaterally overturn drug approvals, they said “any medicine is at risk.”

(AP) 

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2 gambling scandals are now threatening pro sports, and the problems may run deeper | CBC Sports

This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports’ daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what’s happening in sports by subscribing here.

Yesterday in Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani issued his first public comments since last week’s explosive news that the Dodgers had fired the Japanese superstar’s longtime interpreter after some investigative reporters asked why $4.5 million US had been wired from Ohtani’s bank account to an illicit bookmaking operation.

The interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, initially explained that he’d asked Ohtani to pay off his gambling debts for him. But Ohtani’s lawyers denied that, claiming Ohtani was instead “the victim of a massive theft” by his friend, and Mizuhara changed his story to match. As Major League Baseball announced it was opening an investigation, fans spent the weekend wondering what the truth really was. Did the sport’s biggest star actually get robbed by his pal? Or just help him out of a jam? And what about the reverse (and much darker) possibility: was Mizuhara taking a bullet for Ohtani?

According to Ohtani, it was a theft. Sitting next to a new interpreter yesterday in front of a packed room of reporters and reading in Japanese from prepared notes, Ohtani said he has never gambled on sports and did not instruct Mizuhara to wire money from his bank account to a bookie. “Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has been telling lies,” Ohtani said through the new interpreter. “I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do it on my behalf.” He did not take questions.

WATCH | Ohtani claims he was victim of theft by friend, interpreter Mizuhara:

Shohei Ohtani addresses gambling scandal, says he’s the victim

L.A. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is addressing the gambling scandal involving his former interpreter. Ohtani says he has never bet on sports, claiming Ippei Mizuhara stole millions from his accounts to cover his gambling debts.

At about the same time Ohtani gave his statement, ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter was under investigation by the NBA due to “irregularities on prop betting involving him.”

If you’re not familiar, prop (short for proposition) betting involves wagering on things like whether a certain player will score over or under, say, 14.5 points in a particular game. Or get over or under 5.5 rebounds. Or 3.5 assists, etc. You get the idea.

It may surprise you that bookmakers would offer props on someone as insignificant as Porter, a fringe NBA player who’s averaging about four points, three rebounds and a couple of assists in 14 minutes per game this season for the struggling Raptors. But player props are popular with novice gamblers, making them a big profit centre for sports-betting apps like DraftKings, FanDuel and the like that cater to such (mostly money-losing) bettors.

According to ESPN’s reporting, two Porter games — on Jan. 26 vs. the L.A. Clippers and March 20 vs. Sacramento — raised red flags. In both instances, bookmakers noticed a sharp increase in action on the “unders” for various Porter props. And those unders paid out after Porter left both games early for medical reasons. He cited an eye injury after playing just four minutes against the Clippers with zero points, three rebounds and one assist, and an illness after only three minutes against Sacramento with no points, no assists and two rebounds.

ESPN reported that a sportsbook industry source said multiple betting accounts tried to bet large amounts on Porter unders for the Clippers game — “upward of $10,000 and $20,000,” though bettors are typically limited to a thousand bucks or two on such bets. Porter’s salary with the Raptors this season is $415,000. But it’s a two-way contract, meaning he makes less if he’s demoted to a minor-league team.

The Porter controversy lacks the staggering dollar figures of Ohtani’s, but it’s arguably much worse. In Ohtani’s case, it’s plausible that his interpreter indeed simply stole from him and Ohtani has never placed a bet (or asked someone to place a bet for him) with an illegal bookie. And no evidence has emerged tying Ohtani to betting on baseball. But there seems to be pretty compelling circumstantial evidence that Porter may have manipulated his stats in those two games in question. If that turns out to be the truth, it cuts to the very core of the NBA’s integrity — even to the essence of pro sports itself. If fans don’t believe that games are on the level, the whole thing falls apart.

Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter is reportedly under investigation for betting on games. The team offered no comment on the report on Monday. (David Zalubowski/The Associated Press)

The Ohtani and Porter scandals are the two biggest stories in North American sports right now, and for good reason. But they’re also making us forget a bunch of other troubling gambling-related items that made headlines just this month.

On March 10, the NBA fined Minnesota Timberwolves centre Rudy Gobert $100,000 US for mocking a referee’s technical-foul call on him by doing that “money” gesture where you rub your thumb and two fingers together, implying that ref Scott Foster was paid off. Later, Gobert said he believes the recent proliferation of sports betting is having an impact on the outcome of games. “I think it’s hurting our game,” Gobert said. “I know the betting and all that is becoming bigger and bigger, but it shouldn’t feel that way.”

Last week, Tyrese Haliburton, one of the NBA’s rising young stars, vented to reporters about the dehumanizing effect that gambling can have on players. “To half the world, I’m just helping them make money on DraftKings or whatever,” the Indiana Pacers guard said. “I’m the prop, you know what I mean? That’s what my social media mostly consists of.”

The following night, Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff revealed that he’s been threatened by gamblers. “They got my telephone number and were sending me crazy messages about where I live and my kids and all that stuff,” Bickerstaff said.

The Cavs’ home arena now contains a sportsbook. And, of course, fans in most U.S. states as well as Ontario can legally place bets on the gambling apps right on their phones. Bickerstaff lamented how that’s changed the way people watch games and treat players and coaches. “It’s crossed the line,” Bickerstaff said. “The amount of times where I’m standing up there and we may have a 10-point lead and the spread is 11 and people are yelling at me to leave the guys in so that we can cover the spread, it’s ridiculous.”

WATCH | Ohtani’s interpreter fired following theft, gambling allegations:

Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter fired after alleged illegal gambling, theft from superstar

Shohei Ohtani’s long-time friend and interpreter Ippei Mizuhara has been fired by the Los Angeles Dodgers after allegations of illegal gambling totalling several million dollars. Initial reports said the MLB superstar paid off that debt, but there are now accusations the money was stolen.

Gambling controversies aren’t limited to the NBA and MLB. Several NFL players have been suspended recently for betting on the league’s games — including star receiver Calvin Ridley, who sat out a full year. In October, the NHL banned Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto for 41 games for unspecified “activities relating to sports wagering,” though the league was sure to include that it “found no evidence” he bet on the NHL.

I want to avoid moralizing too much here, especially because I’ve been betting on sports since I was a kid, but all of these stories speak to a certain rot in the whole sports-industrial complex.

The widespread legalization of sports betting in North America, combined with incredibly easy access to it via smartphones, opened the floodgates for leagues to accept oceans of sponsorship money (or “partnerships,” in the parlance of our times) from online betting companies. These outfits are desperate to attract new customers in an extremely competitive industry, and most leagues and teams will sell them anything — including ads right on the court, ice or boards; on players’ jerseys and helmets; and of course on the glorified billboard that is the Jumbotron.

Much of the sports media is no better. In some ways, gambling ad money is keeping the struggling industry afloat. Which is why you can hardly watch a game anymore without being bombarded with ads for betting apps, sponsored gambling lines in the ticker at the bottom of the screen and strained betting “content” during studio segments. It’s much the same on sports radio shows, websites and podcasts. Gambling cash seems to rule everything around us.

But at what long-term cost? Leaving aside the moral element for a second, all these gambling ads and “information” are clearly turning off some longtime fans. Maybe the leagues have decided it’s worth it to alienate these loyal customers for now, but at what point do they lose the connection for good?

Meanwhile, the rise of sports betting and its increased acceptance in mainstream society has surely created more problem gamblers. And it would be naive to think athletes, coaches, referees and the people around them are immune. So it’s not a question of if there’s another Ohtani- or Porter-like scandal coming, but

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Supreme Court asked to reconsider hearing case of Canadian men detained in Syria | CBC News

In a rare move, lawyers representing four Canadian men held in prisons in northeastern Syria have asked Canada’s top court to reconsider its decision not to hear their claim that Canada has a duty to bring them home.

The detained Canadian men include Jack Letts, who ended up in Syria after becoming a devoted Muslim as a teenager and then going on holiday in Jordan.

They are among tens of thousands of Syrians and foreign nationals being held in the region by Kurdish-led forces at camps and prisons for ISIS suspects and their families. Kurdish-led forces reclaimed the region in 2019 from the extremist group.

Letts’s family received proof their son was alive this past summer after years of uncertainty. That same year, the Supreme Court of Canada chose not to hear the appeal of the four men.

The court says it considers such judgments to be final and won’t reconsider them unless there are “exceedingly rare circumstances.”

Ottawa lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said this is the first time in his more than 40 years in law that he’s been involved in asking the Supreme Court to consider such rare circumstances.

“The rare circumstances are that it’s a matter of life and death for Canadians in a foreign jurisdiction that has encouraged Canada to repatriate its citizens,” said Greenspon, who represents two of the men.

“Those circumstances have never been replicated before.”

Jack Letts has been detained for years in northeastern Syria, according to court documents. (Facebook)

The U.S. warned in December that the Syrian Democratic Forces coalition manages the “largest concentration of detained terrorists in the world” and there could be a “possible resurgence of ISIS” if countries fail to repatriate their citizens.

Five lawyers, including Greenspon, have now asked the Supreme Court to reconsider hearing a challenge of a Federal Court of Appeal ruling in May that concluded Canada does not have a legal obligation to rescue and repatriate citizens who get themselves into trouble abroad.

The federal government argued at the Federal Court of Appeal that the men went to Syria against the government’s travel advice and Ottawa doesn’t have to bring them home. A lower court had ruled the four men were entitled to have the federal government make a formal request for their release as soon as reasonably possible.

Lawyer says clients living in ‘horrendous’ conditions

Greenspon said the case is without precedent in Canadian jurisprudence, so the Supreme Court should hear it. He said he’s aware of two other successful cases where the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge after being asked to reconsider, he said.

“Canada has consigned these men to exile,” says the motion to reconsider an application for leave to appeal.  “And there is a good likelihood that Canada will be consigning them to their deaths.”

Greenspon said the Canadian men are living in “horrendous” conditions in Syria indefinitely without “any charges being laid.”

“We’re talking malnutrition, willfully overcrowded cells, medically compromised health that’s being untreated, unattended,” he said.

Aside from Letts, the men’s identities are protected by a publication ban, Greenspon said.

WATCH/ Captured foreign members of ISIS in Syria face uncertain future 

Captured foreign members of ISIS in Syria face uncertain future

Thousands of captured foreign ISIS fighters face an uncertain future in Kurdish prison camps as some want to return home, including several Canadians.

Letts was a dual Canadian-British citizen who has been held in northeastern Syria since 2017. The U.K. stripped Letts of his citizenship in 2019 in response to allegations he left his home in Oxfordshire to join ISIS. Letts’s family has denied the allegations and said there is no evidence he ever fought for the extremist group.

Sen. Kim Pate and adjunct professor of international human rights law Alex Neve were part of a delegation that travelled to northeastern Syria for a five-day visit in August 2023.

Neve submitted an affidavit as part of the lawyers’ request for the Supreme Court to reconsider hearing the case. He wrote that the delegation met with Letts and fellow Canadian Muhammad Ali during their visit.

Global News has reported that Ali, a former Toronto-area resident, told the news outlet he was part of an ISIS sniper team. Neve confirmed the Ali the delegation met with is the same person cited in Global’s reporting, which CBC News has not independently verified.

Two women and two men pose for a photo.
From left to right, Sen. Kim Pate, social justice advocate Matthew Behrens, Jack Letts’s mother Sally Lane and former Amnesty International Canada secretary general Alex Neve. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

Neve wrote that during roughly 90-minute interviews with each of the men, the delegation confirmed they have both been “imprisoned, without charge or trial, for over six years” and are ready to respond to any allegations against them in Canadian courts.

“Mr. Ali and Mr. Letts both confirmed to our delegation that they are prepared to respond to any accusations that they have been involved in terrorist or any other criminal activity through fair legal proceedings in Canada,” wrote Neve, the former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.

“They told us that they do not believe that any such proceedings will be made available to them in NE Syria.”

Neve said Ali and Letts told the delegation they had been interrogated without legal representation by foreign intelligence agencies and police, but not to their knowledge by Canadian authorities. He also said that both men require treatment for health problems and haven’t received any consular support from Canada.

“They have not received any consular visits or support from Canadian government officials during that time,” Neve’s affidavit said. “They have not been able to meet with or consult with a lawyer while they have been held in detention. They have not had any contact with their families for more than three-and-a-half years.”

Letts’s mother Sally Lane, who lives in the Ottawa area, wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly almost a year ago saying she was “desperately concerned about his well-being.” She asked Joly to give the delegation in which Neve participated official government status so that it could secure her son’s release.

In response, Global Affairs Canada said that only government officials could support any repatriation efforts. The department also said in a letter to Lane that it has requested proof-of-life and information about the well-being of the Canadian men “on many occasions in the past,” and would continue to “provide [Letts] with consular services to the extent possible.”

WATCH/ Ottawa to repatriate 19 women and children held in Syria, lawyer says 

Ottawa to repatriate 19 women and children held in Syria, lawyer says

The federal government has agreed to repatriate 19 Canadian women and children held in Syrian detention camps for suspected ISIS members and their families.

The latest request to the Supreme Court argues the international debate over whether countries are legally required to repatriate citizens is continuing, with mixed outcomes. A federal court in Australia ruled last year the nation didn’t have to repatriate its women and children, while an appeal court in Germany upheld a lower court ruling ordering the repatriation of a woman and her three children.

Last year, Canada repatriated 19 women and children as part of a last-minute agreement struck with Global Affairs. The deal came ahead of a Federal Court decision that said Canada must repatriate detained Canadians. The U.S. helped Canada and other countries repatriate thousands of their citizens.

CBC News reported that one of those women the government repatriated was a Canadian who was married to a notorious ISIS fighter.

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AFL defends illicit drugs policy after claims of off-the-books drug tests by federal MP

The AFL says it is “unapologetic” about its illicit drugs policy amid claims by a federal MP that Melbourne Football Club conducted off-the-books drug testing of players to help them avoid failing tests on match days.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie used parliamentary privilege to make accusations of serious misconduct against the AFL and the Melbourne Demons. 

In federal parliament last night, Andrew Wilkie said the allegations were provided by former Melbourne football club president Glen Bartlett, former Melbourne football club doctor Zeeshan Arain and Shaun Smith, father of Melbourne player and now alleged drug trafficker Joel Smith.

Mr Wilkie aired allegations of prevalent drug abuse in the AFL and off-the-books drug testing of players at Dorevitch Pathology in Heidelberg, which he said was “facilitated by the former chief medical officer of the AFL, Peter Harcourt”.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie says the allegations were described to him by a whistleblower involved with the club.(ABC News: Nick Haggarty)

Mr Wilkie said that players testing positive for illicit drugs were often asked to fake injuries to cover up their result.

“They are advised to lie about their condition, while the results of the off-the-book tests are kept secret and never shared with Sports Integrity Australia or WADA,” he said.

“In other words, hundreds of thousands of Australians will watch the game not knowing that the game has been secretly manipulated by the AFL.

“Thousands of Australians will also bet on that game not knowing that the game has been secretly manipulated by the AFL.”

No illicit drug problem in AFL, CEO says

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon did not refute Mr Wilkie’s claims, but said testing for illicit drugs by club doctors had been part of the AFL’s illicit drugs policy since 2005.

“What we have is testing under the clinical intervention model done by the doctors,” he said.

Andrew Dillon standing in front of microphones at a podium.

AFL CEO Andrew Dillon says doctor-patient confidentially is paramount.(AAP Image: Joel Carrett)

Mr Dillon did not directly address claims made by Mr Wilkie that players who had tested positive faked injuries to cover up test results.

“The private medical information of the players is private medical information and that’s what we prioritise above anything else,” he said.

“If there’s a chance that they may have something in their system, we don’t want them training and we don’t them taking part in matches for their health and welfare above anything else.”

The AFL is reviewing its illicit drugs policy and hopes to have a new model in place by the end of the year.

The AFL Player’s Association said it supported the AFL’s position and it was committed to reviewing the policy alongside the AFL to ensure it remains best practice. 

Mr Dillon denied that there was an illicit drug problem in the sport.

Former AFL player Shaun Smith stands with his hand on a bedside table in a workshop.

Former AFL player Shaun Smith says he hoped the allegations were taken seriously. (ABC News: Scott Jewell)

But former player Shaun Smith disagreed and said it was a “massive issue in the AFL”.

He accused the AFL of “covering up” the alleged use of drugs and that it created an unsafe workplace.

“I was pretty shocked that the AFL would go to that length to cover up cocaine use in the game,” he said.

“Covering up stuff and not dealing with issues firsthand really just reeks of an unsafe workplace.

“The employer, which is the AFL and the Melbourne Football Club or any other football club, have the duty of care to make it a safe working place.”

Allegations ‘news’ to Melbourne coach

Melbourne Football Club coach Simon Goodwin said he had no knowledge of any such behaviour at the club.

“It’s news to me. I think it’s a surprise to everyone in the industry because there’s no line of sight for me as a head coach,” he said.

“I think it’s a question you’ll have to ask the AFL, about what the policy looks like moving forward.

“I’ve got enormous trust in our doctor in terms of them being able to do their job so I’m not going to question how they go about their business.”

The shopfront of Dorevitch Pathology

The AFL has a contract with Dorevitch Pathology to conduct illicit drug testing of its players.(Supplied: Kennington Village)

Dr Arain was sacked by the club in 2020, after media reports claiming he had raised concerns about the club’s culture.

Mr Bartlett stood down as club president in 2021, and has launched legal action against the club in the Federal Court of Australia.

In his speech, Mr Wilkie claimed Mr Bartlett “was dumped by the AFL just eight weeks after a meeting with AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan and AFL chair Richard Goyder where he suggested mandatory drug testing for AFL executives”.

On Wednesday, Mr Wilkie tried to reintroduce the issue and put statements and serious allegations on the parliamentary record for a second time.

He called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to study the documents provided to him and to “do everything he can to restore and protect the reputation of our beloved game”.

Anthony Albanese speaking at parliament.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed Mr Wilkie’s comments during Question Time on Wednesday. (ABC News)

Mr Albanese responded to accusations that the government was participating in the cover up of an alleged drug problem within the AFL. 

“My job … isn’t the control of the Australian Football League. But if issues are raised, the Sport Integrity Australia is aware of the issue, and they have begun their assessment,” he said.

Sport Integrity Australia confirmed it had commenced an assessment of the allegations made by Mr Wilkie but would not comment further. 

Misconduct rife in the AFL, MP claims

Mr Wilkie alleged he was told the problem was widespread in the sport.

“Dr Arain also explains, this isn’t just a Melbourne problem; it’s an AFL problem, with multiple players coming to Melbourne from other teams with pre-existing cocaine dependencies, more than suggesting that drug testing workarounds are in fact commonplace elsewhere in the AFL,” he said.

“The documents in my possession also indicate a shocking unwillingness by senior AFL executives to address drug abuse by players and executives, particularly in relation to cocaine usage.”

Melbourne AFL fans sit in the stands at the MCG waving flags and floggers during a premiership celebration.

The former president and club doctor are among those making allegations of serious misconduct at the Melbourne Demons.(ABC News: Tom Maddocks)

AFL Doctors Association president Barry Rigby said the club doctors’ prime responsibility “is, and always will be, the health and wellbeing of the athletes”.

“The suggestion that this unique privilege has been somehow manipulated is simply not true,” Dr Rigby said.

“Such comments are disappointing, and represent a distortion of a process aimed at supporting player welfare.”

He said doctors “maintain transparent communication with the AFL, ensuring that any substance use concerns are managed with discretion and in accordance with medical ethics, the AFL’s guidelines, and WADA’s code”.

Under current AFL rules, players caught using illicit drugs are subject to a three-strike system.

On the first detection, a player will receive a $5,000 fine while also undergoing counselling and target testing.

Following the second strike, a player’s name is made public and they serve a four-match suspension.

A third strike incurs a 12-match suspension.

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Israel’s largest land seizure since Oslo Accords deals fresh blow to Palestinian statehood

Israel declared 800 hectares of land in the West Bank as property of the state on Friday, a move that will facilitate use of the ground for settlement construction. The area covers large swaths of the Jordan Valley, a vital region for a future Palestinian state, and is the largest piece of land to be seized by Israel since the early 1990s.

When far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Israel would seize 800 hectares of land in the West Bank last Friday, it did not come as a surprise to Hamza Zbiedat. 

Though he is based in Ramallah, his family live in a small village close to the border between the West Bank and Jordan called Zubaydat, just north of the vast area now declared Israeli state land.

“Israel has fully controlled the Jordan Valley for the last 15 years at least,” says Zbiedat, who works as an advocacy officer for the Ma’an Development Center, a Palestinian civil society organisation. “The only thing left for Israel to do was to announce it.”

The Jordan Valley is a rich strip of land that runs along the West Bank, east of the central highlands. Sparsely populated, it has many open and undeveloped areas – making it a precious reserve for the future development of the West Bank.

According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, almost 90 percent of the Jordan Valley region has been designated Area C, meaning it remained under full Israeli control after the 1995 Oslo II Accord.

“While there are those in Israel and the world who seek to undermine our right over the Judea and Samaria area and the country in general,” Smotrich declared, referring to the West Bank region by its biblical name, “we promote settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over the country”.

The area covers 8,000 dunams (800 hectares) between three Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – Masu’a, Ma’ale Efrayim and Yafit. 

A few weeks earlier, on February 29, Israel appropriated an additional 300 hectares near the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. 

Together, these areas represent the largest zone to be designated Israeli state land since the first Oslo Accords in 1993, according to Peace Now, an Israeli organisation documenting settlement activities.

A losing battle

Now that Israel has declared swaths of the Jordan Valley as its own, Palestinians can longer use the land.

“We guess it will help to expand Israeli settlements,” says Yonatan Mizrachi, co-director of the settlement-monitoring branch at Peace Now.

Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law.

Read moreFrom 1947 to 2023: Retracing the complex, tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict

In 2016, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2334 and demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory”, underlining that it would not “recognise any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines … other than those agreed by the two sides through negotiations”.

But the Israeli administration has repeatedly used orders like declarations of state land to take over Palestinian territories.

In recent years, the Israeli Housing Ministry even created subsidised home ownership programmes to combat the housing crisis and created a lottery system that lured Israelis to move into West Bank settlements.

The declaration of parcels as state land means the area can no longer be considered the private property of Palestinians by the Israeli state. The process facilitates settlers’ leasing or buying plots of designated land. 

Rights groups say it is near impossible for Palestinians to appeal these declarations. 

“There is a kind of bureaucracy that if you own the land, you can object in the next 45 days [following a declaration]. But it’s basically official,” says Mizrachi. “I would be surprised if Palestinians … go to court [to appeal].”

Up until 1967, the Jordan Valley was under Jordanian administration. After the war, Israel issued a military order that put an end to land registrations across the West Bank – meaning Palestinian families often lack the paperwork to prove they hold private ownership over their land. What’s more, Israeli authorities do not accept tax receipts, the only alternative recourse to prove property ownership.

Declarations of state land in occupied territories were halted in 1992 under former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. But two years after Netanyahu was first elected prime minister in 1996, he resumed the practice. Since then, around 40,000 dunams (about 4,000 hectares) have been designated state land by Israel, according to Peace Now.

“It might take years before [the land] is used,” says Mizrachi. “Then suddenly we might see a new outpost, a new settlement, new developments.”

The total area under direct control of Israeli settlements constitutes more than 40 percent of the entire West Bank, according to B’Tselem, which is also known as the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

In 2023, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that a total of 700,000 Israeli settlers were living illegally in the occupied West Bank.

Limiting chances for a two-state solution

Israel’s annexation of this vast piece of land could make it even more difficult for Palestinians in the West Bank to move from the north to the south of the territory.

The parcels claimed in the end of February near Ma’ale Adumim create a continuous strip of state land between Ma’ale and another settlement called Kedar, marking a divide between the southern West Bank and the Jordan Valley in the north.

Current restrictions on movement such as Israeli military checkpoints already make it difficult for Palestinians to travel within the West Bank.

“I live in Ramallah. If I want to go see my parents in the Jordan Valley for Ramadan, just to eat Iftar (the fast-breaking evening meal during Islam’s holy month) with them, it would take me three or four hours to get there,” says Zbiedat, who works as an advocacy officer for the Ma’an Development Center, a Palestinian civil society organisation. “I don’t have time to go there after work and drive another four hours back at night.”

Part of the area seized by Israel is located close to East Jerusalem, and is what Palestinians hope will become the centre of a future independent state. Since the Oslo Accords were signed in the early 90s, little progress has been made on achieving Palestinian statehood. Experts, as well as the UN Security Council, say the expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land is a major obstacle to a two-state solution.

Cases of settlements being built on land declared as state property by Israel have also grown exponentially in recent months. 

UN human rights chief Volker Turk published a report last month that found 24,300 housing units had been built within existing Israeli settlements in the West Bank between November 2022 and October 2023, the highest on record since the UN began monitoring the situation in 2017.

A natural greenhouse

“The Jordan Valley is very important for Palestinians in the West Bank. It is supposed to be one of the biggest areas to be part of the state of Palestine, with huge fertile land and a lot of resources,” says Zbiedat. “Two of the biggest aquifer basins of drinkable water in the West Bank are located in the Jordan Valley.”

Zbiedat says experts consider the Jordan Valley a “natural greenhouse”.

“For the last centuries, most of this land was an open herding area for Palestinian Bedouins or villagers with sheep, camels, cows, goats and so on. It was also cultivated by other Palestinians to grow lemons, oranges and other kinds of fruit,” says Zbiedat.

A few years ago, he travelled to the area now designated Israeli state land to take photos and saw that Israelis had begun paving roads and planting date trees.

“Dates have become the most famous crop in the Jordan Valley,” Zbiedat explains. “Agricultural expansion is important in this area … Now that the date trees are six or seven years old, settlers are making hundreds of thousands of shekels from this land.”

“And the workers are mostly Palestinians. But the owners are the settlers,” he says.

Though much of the region is uninhabited, more land confiscations would mean “less Bedouins, less animals, less Palestinian farms and a shrinking independent Palestinian economy,” Zbiedat sighs. “It means less Palestinians in the Jordan Valley.”

The same report published by UNHCHR chief Turk last month underlined the dramatic increase in settler and state violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, notably since the war in Gaza began on October 7. Since the conflict began, “a total of 1,222 Palestinians from 19 herding communities have been displaced as a direct result of settler violence”, it reported.

The West Bank has also seen frequent Palestinian attacks on Israelis since the war broke out.

‘All for the benefit of settlers’

“[Settlers] believe they need to expand and protect what they are calling ‘a state land’ or ‘our patriarch’s land’ from Palestinians. They believe that any new settlement brings more security to the region. That is the main philosophy,” says Mizrachi. “As long as Smotrich controls the civil administration, he will continue this policy.”

Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party, is a settler himself as well as the head of the Israeli Civil Administration.

Last year, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu offered Smotrich a sweeping monopoly on construction planning and approvals in the West Bank by granting him the power to handle land-use issues. Netanyahu decided it was no longer necessary for himself and Israel’s defence minister to provide their formal sign-off on West Bank settlement constructions at every phase.

As a result, Smotrich was designated a strong authority figure of the occupied West Bank – a move the UN warned could facilitate the annexation of the territory.

For Zbiedat, the most recent land seizure is “a message to the US to say, ‘OK, you don’t want us to invade Rafah [in the southern Gaza Strip]? Then don’t say anything about what we do in the West Bank’.”

Smotrich made the announcement on the day US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv for talks with Netanyahu about the war in Gaza.

The US State Department in March had also ordered financial sanctions against four Israeli settlers in the West Bank, marking a rare rebuke of Israel.

Blinken had also expressed his disappointment with Israel’s decision to approve 3,400 new homes in West Bank settlements on March 6. 

“It is a way to put pressure on the US government not to intervene when it comes to settlers,” Zbiedat says.

“But it is also an internal message to Israeli voters to say, ‘Look, we are expanding our settlements in the Jordan Valley’ … which they say will remain forever a part of Israel. They do not want to give Palestinians any kind of control to any kind of border [with Jordan],” he explains.

Palestinian authorities have condemned Smotrich’s announcement. The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs called the latest move “a continuation of the extermination and displacement of our people from their homeland”.

Read more‘Freedom is paid for in blood’: In the occupied West Bank, families long to bury their dead

“In any case, it is important for people to know we are also living a siege here,” says Zbiedat, referring to the ongoing war in Gaza. “And it’s all for the benefit of settlers.”

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Robert Habeck: ‘We have to be more pragmatic and less bureaucratic’

The Vice-Chancellor of Germany, Robert Habeck, discusses the upcoming European elections, economic decline, gaps in the job market and higher defence spending on the Global Conversation.

Germany aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, despite being one of Europe’s biggest polluters.

The powerhouse economy is also the third largest in the world after the US and China, however, Gross Domestic Profit shrank 0.3 per cent in 2023.

According to the German government, real GDP is forecast to increase just 0.2 per cent in 2024 and 1.2 per cent in 2025. 

Following a period of sluggish growth, the country fought to keep inflation down but can the Bundestag balance economic and climate policies? 

Euronews reporter, Olivia Stroud, spoke with Germany’s Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Robert Hack, to find out more.

To watch this episode of theGlobal Conversation, click on the video in the media player above or read the full interview below.

Euronews: What is at stake for Germany in the European elections in June?

Habeck: For Germany, it is important that Europe commits to being European, that we grow together. The internal market is extremely important for the German economy. The internal energy market, which has been created in recent years, is a part of this. This is the German perspective as an economic and energy-providing country in Europe.

As a European, I must say, that it is extremely important that Europe becomes a political, noticeable entity. At the moment, Russia, the US and China are at odds on the world stage. It remains to be seen if Europe has a role to play there.

If we divide, if we do not act united, then major geopolitical decisions will be made over our heads. Since Europe is fundamentally a continent of liberal democracy, decisions will be made against or at least without consideration of our values.

Therefore, our economic, energy policy and climate policy interests, are all valid and important. Ultimately, this is about keeping Europe – as a union of liberal democracies – strong within the global community.

The future of the world will not be decided by the competition that exists between Germany and France, Denmark and the Netherlands, or Sweden and Finland. The future of the world will be decided in the competition between the USA, China, and Europe – and potentially India and Russia.

EU member states must recognise that their role is in Europe and affirm it. The European rules, the subsidies, regulations for economic support, approval procedures, foreign policies, and the ability – as difficult as it is for me to say – to create a European arms industry.

We must face this realisation. If we understand Europe as a loose alliance of 27 states and do not equip it properly, saying that European integration must continue, then we will not be competitive globally.

Stuck in an economic rut

Euronews: Germany is facing an economic crisis, and people’s purchasing power has decreased. How do we get out of this?

Habeck: For Germany, it must be said that the country has been particularly hard hit for two reasons. We had this heavy dependence on Russian energy. Gas is over 50 per cent, 55 per cent, coal, but also oil, it comes from Russia.

And so it’s no wonder that the German economy has been hit particularly hard. All of our contracts had to be renegotiated. It was different in the likes of Spain, the UK or Denmark. And Germany is an export-oriented country.

So we rely on the global market, and the global economy is weak. China also has economic problems – which subsequently affect Germany much more than other countries.

But we’re fighting our way out of it. We have ensured energy security, we have now reduced energy prices, inflation is coming down, interest rates will soon fall again, and then investment will resume. And the global economy will pick up again. And then the country will have weathered this period of weakness.

Too many jobs, too few workers

Euronews: How can the labour shortage in Germany be addressed?

Habeck: Firstly, we need immigration. This is absolutely not a new insight. But for too long, conservative political parties have said, ‘No, no, we don’t need any of that.’ Secondly, we need to better integrate those with potential – the people who are already here – into the labour market.

This particularly concerns young people who do not have vocational qualifications or lack professional qualifications. This has to do with the education system, with the further education system.

To put it in numbers, there are 2.6 million Germans between the ages of 20 and 35 here, who do not have vocational qualifications. And that’s a political problem. It’s not an individual problem where you say, ‘You just have to try harder.’ Too many people fall through the cracks because they may have dyslexia or problems with math. But still, they might be good craftsmen, talented in nursing.

The same goes for female workforce participation. It’s worse in German-speaking countries – Switzerland, Austria, Germany – than the European average. Much worse than in Scandinavia. There is still a lack of childcare infrastructure so that one can balance family with work – also a political task.

And thirdly, I would say, in an ageing society, we need to work longer. Those who want to work longer should be allowed to do so.

Record high defence spending

Euronews: Military spending in Europe has increased significantly. What are the consequences for the economy?

Habeck: Either we didn’t see it or we didn’t want to see what Putin was doing, how he steadily built up his armies there.

I don’t like to spend money on armies and armaments. I can imagine it would be better for education, for research, for further education, and for climate protection and sustainability criteria. But we have to do it.

The time for not wanting to is over. Therefore, we have to increase military spending to be able to protect ourselves, for guaranteed European protection. We can’t rely on the Americans as the guarantors, but we have to become less dependent. Military spending has increased in the last two years because we have supported Ukraine so strongly.

In my opinion, however, it must be stabilised, also for… You almost have to say, the repair of the European and at least the German army in order to be able to do something.

Preparing for a carbon-neutral future

Euronews: According to a report by the European Environment Agency, the EU is not prepared for climate change and heatwaves. What do you plan to do to change this?

Habeck: Now, first and foremost, the aim is to limit global warming as much as possible. It’s solely about slowing down, containing the curve in a way that allows people to adapt, to withstand this significant change.

When you look at this from a biological and social perspective – relating to social cohesion and our communities, we must make our cities more resistant to heat and rain. We must make agriculture more sustainable. 

We need water reservoirs in arid regions. We must review water management. We need coastal protection measures along the coasts and significant investments.

Euronews: More speed in the energy transition in Europe: What needs to be done? And what does that mean for industry and people?

Habeck: In the next term of the European Commission, there needs to be less bureaucracy in the expansion of renewables. We are making our lives unnecessarily difficult in some ways when you read The Renewable Energy Directive, I don’t know if all of that needs to be so meticulously and extensively regulated.

So if we really want to make progress, we need to be more pragmatic and less bureaucratic.

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Moscow concert hall attack suspects appear in court as Russia defends security services – Egypt Independent

CNN  — 

The four men suspected of carrying out a brutal attack at a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 139 people have appeared in court on terror charges, as the Kremlin defended its security services criticized for failing to prevent the massacre.

Three of the suspects were bent double as they were marched into the Moscow courtroom late on Sunday night, while the fourth was in a wheelchair and appeared unresponsive.

The suspects, who are from the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan but worked in Russia on temporary or expired visas, were named by Moscow City Court as Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni and Mukhammadsobir Faizov. They face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

They are accused of storming Crocus City Hall in a Moscow suburb on Friday, shooting civilians at point blank before setting the building on fire, causing the roof to collapse while concert-goers were still inside.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the massacre and released graphic footage showing the incident – but Moscow has insinuated, without evidence, that the perpetrators planned to flee to Ukraine. Kyiv has vehemently denied involvement and called the Kremlin’s claims “absurd.”

At a meeting with other government officials on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin conceded the attack had been carried out by “radical Islamists,” but still tried to pin ultimate responsibility on Ukraine.

“We know that the crime was committed by radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries,” Putin said, but added that the attack “is a link in a series of attempts of those who have been fighting Russia since 2014 with the hands of the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime.”

The first suspect charged, Mirzoyev, had a black eye, bruises over his face and a plastic bag wrapped around his neck. Mirzoyev, 32, had a temporary resident permit for three months in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, but it had expired, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported.

Rachabalizoda, born in 1994, told the court through an interpreter that he has Russian registration documents but could not remember where they are. He appeared in court with a swollen eye and a bandaged ear.

The third defendant, Fariduni, born in 1998, was employed at a factory in the industrial city of Podolsk and registered in Krasnogorsk, both near Moscow.

The three men pleaded guilty to the terrorism charges, Russian media reported. It was unclear what the fourth man, Faizov, born in 2004, pled. He was pictured lying limp in a wheelchair inside a glass cage.

The men looked beaten and injured as they were brought into the courtroom. Videos and still images that appeared to show some of them being violently interrogated, including one apparent use of electrocution, circulated widely on Russian social media.

One video appears to show Rachabalizoda being held on the ground while having part of his ear cut off and stuffed in his mouth by a camouflage-wearing interpreter.

Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of Russian state propaganda network RT, posted a video of Rachabalizoda appearing in court with a heavily bandaged ear, which she wrote made her “feel nothing but pleasure.”

CNN asked the Kremlin about the “visible signs of violence” committed against the suspects, but spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.

The four have been remanded into pre-trial detention until May 2022, the court said.

Later Monday, Russia’s Investigative Committee asked the court to detain three other men – two brothers and their father – in connection with the attack, Russian state media TASS reported.

On Monday, three days after the attack, rescuers were still searching among the ruins of the collapsed concert hall and trying to clear rubble. Russia’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said more than 300 “specialists” were working at the site.

The attack, the deadliest on Russian soil in almost two decades, was met with outrage and disbelief in Russia, prompting calls for the harshest of punishments to be meted out.

While the concert hall roof was still burning, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and shared a video taken by the men as they stormed the building, where thousands of Russians had arrived to watch the rock group Picnic.

CNN has geolocated the 90-second video to the concert hall, where bodies and blood can be seen on the floor as fire rages above. The video also shows one of the attackers slitting the throat of a man lying on his back, and ends with the four attackers walking away inside the building with smoke rising in the distance.

Despite ISIS appearing to provide evidence that its fighters had carried out the attack, Putin and other senior officials have been keen to associate Ukraine with the terror attack.

In a national following the attack – more than 19 hours after it began – Putin on Saturday claimed that a “window” had been prepared for the attackers to escape to Ukraine. He did not provide evidence. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said: “Now we know in which country these bloody bastards planned to hide from persecution – Ukraine.”

Ukraine has vehemently denied any involvement and called the allegations a “planned provocation by the Kremlin to further fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria in Russia society” and further mobilize Russian citizens to participate in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at historic lows, the United States warned Russia that ISIS militants were planning to stage an attack in the country. The US embassy in Moscow said earlier this month it was “monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow,” including concerts.

US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienna Watson said the US had shared this information with Russian authorities under the “duty to warn” policy. The US also warned American citizens to avoid places like theaters and concert halls.

But in a speech Tuesday – just days before the attack – Putin dismissed the American warnings as “provocative,” saying “these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.”

Answering questions from reporters on Monday, Peskov refused to comment on whether Moscow had received warnings from Washington, and defended the “tireless work” of Russia’s security services.

Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian politics and security service the FSB, told CNN he thinks Putin “finds it hard to believe that the Americans, even with gritted teeth, would genuinely provide true intelligence about terrorist threats in the current environment.”

“Because he would have no qualms about issuing a fake intelligence warning in order to meddle with another country’s elections, I believe he may well have thought that in fact that’s what the Americans are doing,” Galeotti said.

A CNN team in Moscow spoke to mourners who had turned out to lay flowers for the victims of Friday’s attack.

Alexander Matveev, 37, told CNN that Russians feel insecure and worried that another attack could take place. He said he found Putin’s suggestion that Ukraine was involved to be plausible.

“He said they were trying to escape to Ukraine. This makes sense. They just found some halfwits who were eager for money,” Matveev said.

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