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TRANSGENDER PEOPLE WHO move to Ireland from other countries are being told by the National Gender Service (NGS) they must join the waitlist and go through their assessment process before accessing healthcare in Ireland.

This is despite having legally changed their gender and previously accessed gender-affirming care in their home countries.

The NGS is requiring people who have already transitioned to join a years-long waitlist and prove they are ‘transgender enough’ once again.

The Journal Investigates has spoken to almost 20 transgender adults about their experiences with accessing transgender healthcare in Ireland.

Earlier this week, people told us the questioning that takes place during NGS assessments can feel traumatic and upsetting. These questions include asking about what pornography they watch or details about their sexual lives with their partners.

The NGS is the only provider of healthcare to transgender adults in Ireland.

The clinical lead for transgender healthcare in Iceland, Dr Beth McElrea, told The Journal Investigates that in her expert opinion, questions like these are “completely inappropriate”. This is because best practice, informed by the WHO guidelines, has moved away from this type of evaluation.

Since 2019, the World Health Organisation no longer views being transgender as a mental or behavioural disorder. Instead, they now see it as relating to a person’s sexual health.

The assessments were also described as “interrogations” by those who went through them and they felt compelled to share intimate details about themselves for fear of being denied healthcare.

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The socialist regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro rejected claims made by far-left Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday that Colombian drug trafficker Jobanis de Jesús Ávila Villadiego has formed an alliance with the National Liberation Army (ELN) Marxist terror group in Venezuelan territory.

Villadiego, also known as Chiquito malo (“Bad Little Boy”), is the current leader of the Colombian Clan del Golfo drug cartel, succeeding its previous leader Dairo “Otoniel” Úsuga David after he was arrested in 2021 and sentenced to 45 years on numerous drug trafficking charges in 2023.

Petro, through a Wednesday Twitter post, asserted that Villadiego had formed an alliance with ELN inside the territory of neighboring Venezuela. Petro added that Colombian authorities have already seized 32 tons of cocaine from the Catatumbo region and arrested “several mayors and politicians who were helping the drug traffickers.”

“Crop substitution in Catatumbo is essential to achieving peace. Violence in the Caribbean revolves around ports and extortion. I’ve decided to change the entire port administration,” Petro’s message said.

“There will be a special meeting today to intensify the offensive against Clan del Golfo,” he continued. “I expect from the Caribbean citizens, and with due confidentiality, information to find the leaders of the Clan.”

Petro’s statements drew fierce criticism from the socialist Maduro regime.

The Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported on Wednesday that it had obtained a copy of an official letter sent by the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry to its Colombian counterpart protesting Petro’s social media post and rejecting being held responsible for “dynamics that have their origin and expansion in Colombian territory.”

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Pakistan's information minister said early Wednesday that Islamabad had "credible intelligence" that India was planning an imminent military strike and he vowed a "decisive response", as worries of spiralling conflict grew over a deadly attack in Kashmir.

The statement by Attaullah Tarar – issued shortly before 2:00 am local time (2100 GMT Tuesday) – came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a closed-door meeting the previous day with army and security chiefs, at which he gave the military "complete operational freedom" to respond to the attack, a senior government source told AFP.

"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext," Tarar said on X.

Pahalgam is a tourist hub in Indian-administered Kashmir where 26 men were killed on April 22 in the deadliest attack on civilians in the contested region in years.

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Washington and Kiev have signed a minerals deal granting the US access to developing Ukraine’s natural resources, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian Economy Minister Yuliya Sviridenko announced on Wednesday.

The agreement comes as Ukraine seeks security guarantees from Washington as part of a potential peace deal with Moscow that US President Donald Trump is working to negotiate.

The deal sees the establishment of the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. “President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine,” Bessent said in a statement.

The full text of the agreement has not yet been released. Sviridenko said the fund will be jointly managed by Ukraine and the US “on a 50/50 basis,” and that “neither side will hold a dominant vote.”

She said that 50% of the revenue from new licenses in the fields of critical materials, oil, and gas will be directed to the fund.

“Full ownership and control remain with Ukraine,” the Ukrainian minister added. “It is the Ukrainian state that determines what and where to extract. Subsoil remains under Ukrainian ownership – this is clearly established in the Agreement.”

According to Sviridenko, the deal does not alter privatization processes or the management of state-owned companies. She said that the oil and gas giant Ukrnafta, as well as Energoatom – the operator of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants – will remain under government ownership.

While the Biden administration approved large aid packages for Ukraine, including the supply of advanced weaponry, the current US president has focused on shifting the burden of assistance to Kiev’s European supporters. In February 2025, the US went so far as to halt all military support to the country following a tense Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump, US Vice President J.D. Vance, and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.

According to various estimates, Washington has provided at least $170 billion to Kiev. The White House insists those expenses should be compensated via access to Ukraine’s mineral resources, including rare earth elements critical to high-tech industries.

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Air India expects to face about $600m in additional costs if a ban from Pakistan’s airspace lasts for a year and has asked the Indian government to compensate it for the hit.

The New Delhi-based air carrier on Sunday asked the government for a “subsidy model” proportionate to the economic hit, estimating a loss of more than $591m (50 billion Indian rupees) for each year the ban lasts, according to a letter sent by the airline to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and seen by the news agency Reuters.

Indian airlines are bracing for higher fuel costs and longer journey times after Pakistan shut its airspace to the country’s carriers in a tit-for-tat retaliation following an attack on tourists in Kashmir last week.

“Subsidy for affected international flights is a good, verifiable and fair option. … The subsidy can be removed when the situation improves,” the letter said according to the report.

“The impact on Air India is maximum due to airspace closure, due to additional fuel burn, … additional crew.”

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Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has announced sanctions against his former top adviser. Alexey Arestovich has frequently criticized both Ukraine’s leadership and its military strategy in its conflict with Russia.

Arestovich was among several Ukrainians mentioned in a decree released by Zelensky’s office on Thursday. Penalties imposed include asset freezes, restricted trade and financial transactions, travel, and the revocation of state awards.

Arestovich served as an adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine between 2020 and January 2023. He resigned in controversy after claiming that a Russian missile hit a residential building in the city of Dnepr only because it had been downed by Ukrainian air defenses. Following public outrage and accusations that he had discredited the Ukrainian army, Arestovich backtracked, apologized, and submitted his resignation.

He has since become a prominent commentator on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, often presenting views that diverge from the official Ukrainian narrative. Last month, he suggested that Kiev should agree to cede land to Russia as part of a potential US-brokered peace deal, warning that any attempts to reclaim lost territories would only backfire.

“Why should we give up four regions? So that in six months or a year we don’t lose another six or eight,” he said, referring to four former Ukrainian territories that in 2022 voted in public referendums to join Russia.

Kiev has consistently refused to acknowledge any territorial losses, however..

Arestovich has also accused the Ukrainian leadership of corruption. He has claimed that Zelensky is personally involved in numerous graft schemes and that Kiev’s Western backers are well aware of his activities.

He has also signaled that he wants to run for president of Ukraine. Zelensky, whose term expired last year, has refused to call new elections, citing martial law, which has been extended more than a dozen times.

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The detention of RT correspondent Chay Bowes in Bucharest proves to the entire world that the upcoming Romanian election is a “meme,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RT in a phone interview on Thursday.

Bowes was detained by the Romanian authorities on Thursday after his plane landed in Bucharest. He was traveling from Ireland to Romania to cover the upcoming presidential election. The vote is a re-run, since the election first round was controversially annulled last year following a surprise win by NATO-skeptic independent candidate Calin Georgescu.

“The Romanian election really is a meme,” Zakharova told RT when asked to comment on Bowes’ detention.

The RT correspondent was arrested despite “not having violated anything, having followed all formal procedures and having crossed the border legally,” she said.

Romanian security personnel were on hand to arrest him before he even exited the plane, she added.

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South Korea’s top court has cast doubt on frontrunner Lee Jae-myung’s eligibility to run in next month’s snap presidential election, while the resignations of the prime minister and finance minister shook the interim government in place since December’s martial law.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho took over as acting president, the third since the martial law decree, in advance of the June 3 snap election. The vote was called after the Constitutional Court removed former President Yoon Suk Yeol from office over his brief martial law attempt.

That race was rocked by a Supreme Court ruling that could threaten the candidacy of former opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung, who has dominated opinion polls.

The Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling that had cleared Lee, saying he had violated election law by publicly making “false statements” during his 2022 presidential bid. It sent the case back to the appeals court and ordered it to issue a sentence, which could bar Lee from running for office for up to five years.

South Korea has been led by a rotating cast of acting presidents since Yoon was impeached on December 14, hampering efforts to steer Asia’s fourth-largest economy through the choppy waters of US tariffs.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who has been serving as acting president, announced on Thursday he would resign before an expected entry into the presidential race.

But the person who was set to replace him as acting leader, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, then abruptly resigned as well, when parliament restarted impeachment proceedings against him for decisions he made when previously serving as acting president.

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A Trump-appointed federal judge has ruled that the US president cannot use the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants.

US District Judge Fernando Rodriguez said Donald Trump's use of the wartime power was "unlawful" and had been improperly invoked.

The law was written in 1798 to allow the removal of non-citizens in times of war or invasion. It has been used by Trump to deport Venezuelans to El Salvador on the basis they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and "conducting irregular warfare".

The judge said the act only applied when the US was facing an "armed organised attack", which it is not. The administration has not commented.

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The local business was previously raided as part of a stolen car investigation

https://www.foxnews.com/us/critic-embattled-dolton-illinois-mayor-sees-business-destroyed-suspicious-fire-officials

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Power has been restored to tens of millions but the cause of the power cut remains unknown

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/spain-portugal-power-outage-cause-cyberattack-live-updates-b2741957.html

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A glimpse into the future as the region forges ahead with the green transition

https://www.luxtimes.lu/europeanunion/germany-to-get-99-of-its-power-from-solar-and-wind-on-thursday/63610616.html

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UN rights chief says civilians ‘trapped in dire conditions’ in and around el-Fasher as RSF warns of further ‘bloodshed’.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/1/sudan-horror-knows-no-bounds-says-un-as-deaths-in-darfur-rise?traffic_source=rss

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Washington provides Amman assurances that annual financing for budgetary aid, water infrastructure and defense to remain intact

https://www.timesofisrael.com/jordan-to-continue-receiving-us-financial-support-despite-trumps-cuts-to-foreign-aid/

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IDF helps fire service, police fight wildfires in Jerusalem hills as towns evacuated, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road closed; dozens suffer smoke inhalation, burns, but nobody serious hurt

https://www.timesofisrael.com/163-crews-battle-flames-as-jerusalem-fire-chief-says-blaze-may-be-israels-largest-ever/

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The suspected driver was under the care of a mental health team, but was on an extended leave under the Mental Health Act, Vancouver Coastal Health said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/canada/suspect-vancouver-vehicle-attack-killed-11-was-extended-leave-mental-h-rcna203687

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Robert De Niro’s 29-year-old son Airyn (formerly Aaron) has come out as transgender after beginning hormone treatment in 2024.

Born via surrogate with the acclaimed actor’s ex-girlfriend Toukie Smith, Airyn told Them magazine that hormone treatment into becoming a woman began in 2024.

“I think a big part of [my transition] is also the influence Black women have had on me,” said Airyn. “I think stepping into this new identity, while also being more proud of my Blackness, makes me feel closer to them in some way.”

Airyn said that both Robert De Niro and Toukie Smith have been supportive since the transition began.

“Obviously, no parent is perfect, but I am grateful that both my parents agreed to keep me out of the limelight,” said Airyn. “They wanted it very private; they have told me they wanted me to have as much of a normal childhood as possible.”

“I wasn’t brought up having a side part in one of dad’s movies or going to business meetings or attending premieres. My dad was very big on us finding our own sort of path. I would want [success] to happen on my own merit,” Airyn added.

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A majority take Trump at his word when he talks about his potential actions.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/americans-oppose-trump-term-taking-control-greenland-canada-poll/story?id=121244234

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