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Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) burns a paper replica of a Confederate flag as he walks through a state Capitol hallway on Thursday. Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner.

• BBC;
• ANSA;
• Al Jazeera;
• Middle East Eye;
• The New Arab;
• Times of Israel.

“They investigated me for month -- found nothing!!!” said the short note, which is hard to decipher in some places. “It is a treat to be able to choose” the “time to say goodbye,” the note continues. “Watcha want me to do -- Bust out cryin!!”

“NO FUN,” the note concludes, with those words underlined. “NOT WORTH IT!!”

Via Mastodon.

Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for May 1.

The construction took place between 1933 and 1936 following a project from 1926 during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. It's a Spanish National Heritage Monument since 1985.

World Press.

Luis’s distraught daughters cling to their father as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detain him after an immigration hearing in New York City, New York, United States.

“Please understand we are coming here for a better opportunity, not just for ourselves, but for our children,” said Cocha, after her husband, Luis, was detained by ICE agents following an immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. Luis, an Ecuadorian migrant living in the Bronx, served as his household’s sole provider. According to his family, he has no criminal record. Cocha and their three children – ages seven, 13, and 15 – were left inconsolable, facing immediate financial hardship and profound emotional trauma.

In 2025, a dramatic escalation in US immigration policy transformed the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Lower Manhattan from a courthouse into a focal point for mass deportation. Following a January 2025 executive order, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reversed “sensitive locations” protections, authorizing arrests at schools, hospitals, and courthouses. This shift turned the city’s immigration courts into sites where masked agents in balaclavas wait outside hearings to identify and detain undocumented migrants, regardless of whether a judge has granted a stay or legal continuance.

This strategy, fueled by an unprecedented $75 billion of federal funding for ICE, has resulted in a 2,450% increase in the detention of individuals with no prior criminal record. The humanitarian cost of such an expansion is visible on the 10th floor of the Jacob K. Javits Building. While officially classified as a “processing center” to bypass Congressional inspection, a 2025 policy waiver allowed the floor to function as a long-term detention site. A successful class-action lawsuit led to a preliminary injunction in August 2025, compelling ICE to address “deplorable” conditions, including forcing detainees to sleep on concrete floors without access to soap, toothbrushes, or medical care.

Beyond the legal battles, Carol Guzy’s photos capture the deep trauma of “interior separations.” Unlike border enforcement of previous years, these arrests occur in the heart of the city, separating families in public spaces, often in front of young children. This image, and the story it is a part of, serves as an important record of the reality for many people in the United States, where fear of separation and deportation pervades in the places where immigrant families once sought protection and justice.

Near the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster, a string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain stretches across this telescopic field of view. Anchored in the frame at bottom right by prominent lenticular galaxies, M84 (bottom) and M86, you can follow the chain's gentle arc up and toward the left. Near center you'll spot the pair of interacting galaxies NGC 4438 and NGC 4435, known to some as Markarian's Eyes. An estimated 50 million light-years distant, the Virgo Cluster itself is the nearest galaxy cluster. With up to about 2,000 member galaxies, it has a noticeable gravitational influence on our own Local Group of Galaxies. Within the Virgo Cluster at least seven galaxies in Markarian's Chain appear to move coherently, while others may appear to be part of the chain by chance.

A luminous swirl set against the deep black of space, the barred spiral galaxy IC 486 glows with a soft, ethereal light in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image from April 13, 2026.

IC 486 lies right on the edge of the constellation Gemini (the Twins), around 380 million light-years from Earth. Classified as a barred spiral galaxy, it features a bright central bar-shaped structure from which its spiral arms unfurl, wrapping around the core in a smooth, almost ring-like pattern.

NASA.