Category: News

Gustavo Alfonso Garcia Olivares died at 24, drowning in the Rio Grande not far from where he was buried Thursday at the Maverick County Cemetery in Eagle Pass, a Texas border town of about 30,000 people. About 10 people attended the service, which was streamed live to his parents in Venezuela.

It was the first funeral service for a migrant by Border Vigil, a human rights organization on the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the world’s deadliest.

“Today we’re trying to bring back some of that humanity not just by giving his name but also by having his photo and having his family in the service,” said Amerika Garcia Grewal with Border Vigil, which is supported by Fronteras Fund.

It came a day after Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Eagle Pass, which became a flashpoint between the Biden administration and Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, over who polices the border and how. The Trump administration and Abbott are closely aligned on border policy.

Border Vigil started in 2023 amid an increase in border crossings that led to many migrant deaths. The International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project has tallied 6,438 dead and missing on the U.S.-Mexico border since 2014.

The U.S. Border Patrol’s published data goes through the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2022, when 895 bodies were discovered by its own agents and other government agencies.

Garcia Olivares’ parents last saw their son alive in a video shared by a friend showing him crouched in a corner of a fast-moving train heading to Mexico’s northern border in 2023.

Victor Garcia recalled their last conversation: “Dad, I’m going to make it, Dad. Don’t worry because you won’t be in need anymore. I’ll buy Mom a house and I’ll help improve your business.”

He described his son as brave and ambitious, having learned to become a barber at 14. He encouraged his son to go to college, but he decided to seek a life in the United States. His mother never had a chance to say goodbye. Not until Thursday.

The ceremony “was very sentimental, sad, but at the same time we are able to breathe a sigh of relief,” the father said.

Garcia Olivares’ body was swept up in the river and identified through Operation ID, an academic organization that partners with state, federal and international agencies. Although his family preferred to have him buried back home, they could not afford the nearly $9,000 cost.

A church volunteer built the white pine paneled coffin. As the ceremony closed, a backhoe shoveled dirt into the grave and a placard was placed by a simple, white cross near two dozen similar crosses laying nearby in a corner lot of the cemetery near a maintenance shed.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

Machine Gun Kelly is sharing his grief over the death of his friend, Luke ‘The Dingo’ Trembath in a heartfelt tribute.

The singer, 34, shared a touching tribute to the late Australian snowboarder via Instagram on Friday, March 7.

In the emotional caption, Kelly (real name Colson Baker) opened up about how much Trembath meant to him and went on to explain why his death will add a “bittersweet” element to the upcoming birth of his child with ex Megan Fox. (Trembath died in February at age 38. His cause of death was not disclosed.)

“Crazy…i didn’t even cry this hard when my dad died. 💔😞🕊️ I’ve lost a lot of friends, but I’ve never lost a brother,” Kelly wrote along a carousel of images of the longtime friends over the years. “We’ll never get another Dingo on this planet. A true rockstar without ever needing to make a song, the most loyal, loud, charismatic, funny, and annoying human I’ve ever had the honor of knowing.”

Kelly shared how hard it was to break the news of Trembath’s death to his daughter, Casie, 15, with whom the snowboarder seemingly formed a bond with. (Kelly shares Casie with ex Emma Cannon.)

“Telling my daughter you’re gone was one of my hardest phone calls, because she loved you so much. And I’ll never forget when she was too young to understand your name was Dingo so she called you Ping Pong,” Kelly reflected.

He added, “I feel like you’re up there with my new child, dressed up in a hilarious costume making them laugh, getting ready to send them down. I couldn’t ask for a more bittersweet birth blessing.”

Concluding the post, Kelly wrote. “Life will always be less without you, but legends never die. we’ll all miss you brother. DINGO FOREVER. EST 4Life.”

Kelly and Fox are currently expecting their first child together. The pair quietly broke up in November 2024, shortly after the Transformers actress announced her pregnancy. Fox is already mom to three sons: Noah, 12, Bodhi, 10, and Journey, 8, whom she shares with ex-husband Brian Austin Green.

The former couple has broken up several times since they first got together after connecting in 2020 while working together on the film Midnight in the Switchgrass. However, their most recent split appears to be for good and Fox is putting her energy on maintaining a healthy pregnancy.

“Megan is moving forward independently and is not interested in revisiting the past,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in February. “Megan is focused on her pregnancy and not looking back. She is deeply hurt by how things ended but is focusing on healing.”

Neurohubs are a network of facilities in towns across Derbyshire which offer help and support to youngsters with conditions like ADHD, autism and dyspraxia.

They are funded by a partnership between NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, Derbyshire Autism Services, Citizens Advice Mid Mercia and a range of other charities.

Among them is Chesterfield-based Fairplay, which welcomes people up to the age of 30 with a range of activities including play sessions, cooking classes and a sensory room.

Maria Moore from Inkersall, whose 10 year-old-son attends sessions there, believes what is on offer is just as important for families.

“He’s quite shy but they do things that he’d like to do,” she said.

“A lot of places that are for ‘normal’ children don’t want our kind of children there. They make too much noise or touch things they shouldn’t.”

Her praise for the Neurohub is echoed by her friend Rachel Oxer from Holme Hall in Chesterfield, whose 11-year-old-son lives with autism and also attends sessions at the venue.

“It makes you feel like you’re not alone,” she said. “My son got his diagnosis quickly but others face many hurdles and it can take a long time.

“Until you have the diagnosis there’s a lack of empathy or support from doctors and teachers”.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, advice and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

Indians staying in Canada, wanting to bring their parents and grandparents to stay with them, can sponsor them for the Parents and Grandparents visa, also called the Super Visa. In 2025, Canada intends to accept up to 10,000 complete applications for sponsorship under the Parents and Grandparents Program.

The Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) allows Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor their parents and grandparents for permanent residence. Sponsors must be at least 18, meet an income threshold, and sign an undertaking to support their parents and grandparents.

Immigrants who have obtained Canadian citizenship can sponsor their parents and grandparents to reside and work in the nation. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)’s Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) allows individuals to sponsor their parents and grandparents to become permanent residents of Canada.

As of February 5, 2025, processing times for PGP Program applications were approximately 24 months for those destined outside Quebec. They are 48 months for Quebec-destined applicants due to the province’s more limited family class admission targets.

For those interested in reuniting with their parents and grandparents for extended periods of time, the super visa remains available. This allows parents and grandparents to visit their children or grandchildren for 5 years at a time and provides multiple entries to Canada for up to 10 years. IRCC recently made the super visa more accessible by implementing a change to the health insurance requirement.

The Super Visa is a multiple-entry temporary resident visa (TRV), issued with a validity of up to 10 years. The period of authorized stay is 5 years for each entry. An applicant is eligible for a Super Visa if they apply from outside Canada, and meet the requirements for temporary residence in Canada as a visitor.

The Super Visa is a multiple-entry temporary resident visa (TRV), issued with a validity of up to 10 years. The period of authorized stay is 5 years for each entry. An applicant is eligible for a Super Visa if they apply from outside Canada, and meet the requirements for temporary residence in Canada as a visitor.

A Super Visa application may include a host child or grandchild who is a registered Indian. In such cases, officers should process the Super Visa application as usual and should not require additional proof of Canadian citizenship or permanent residence in Canada from the host; the Certificate of Indian Status is the only proof required to prove that the host is a person registered under the Indian Act. Once all the requirements for a Super Visa are met, officers should issue a Super Visa, which allows for a stay of 5 years for each authorized entry.

The parents or grandparents must provide satisfactory evidence that they have valid health insurance from a Canadian insurance company or an insurance company outside Canada that is approved by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.

There are specific requirements for a super visa, including the need for health insurance. You must meet all the criteria to be eligible.

If you want to stay for 6 months or less, apply for a visitor visa.

As a super visa holder, you need to renew or maintain your health insurance while in Canada and on re-entry make sure your passport is valid while you’re in Canada

The super visa is a multiple-entry visa that allows parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to visit their family in Canada for longer periods: five years per visit, with the option to extend their stay while in Canada.

Super visa applicants must prove they have a minimum level of private health coverage to be granted a super visa, as they are not eligible for provincial or territorial health care plans. Previously, proof of health insurance could only be from Canadian health insurance providers.

As of today, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is allowing super visa applicants to purchase a private health insurance policy from companies outside Canada.

Super visa holders should have a valid health insurance policy for the duration of their stay in Canada. If coverage expires before they leave Canada, super visa holders may need to renew their health insurance during their stay. Private health insurance must be valid for each entry to Canada.

Machine Gun Kelly is feeling the weight of both joy and sorrow.

As he prepares to welcome a baby with ex Megan Fox, the musician is also grappling with the devastating loss of his close friend, pro snowboarder Luke “The Dingo” Trembath, who recently passed away at age 39.

Taking to Instagram on March 7, MGK (real name Colson Baker) poured out his emotions in a moving tribute.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends, but I’ve never lost a brother,” he wrote. 

“We’ll never get another Dingo on this planet. A true rockstar without ever needing to make a song, the most loyal, loud, charismatic, funny, and annoying human I’ve ever had the honor of knowing.”

The pain of losing someone so close comes at a bittersweet time for the Lonely Road singer, as he also prepares for a new chapter in his life.

In his tribute, MGK imagined his late friend already playing a role in his child’s life from beyond.

“I feel like your [sic] up there with my new child, dressed up in a hilarious costume making them laugh, getting ready to send them down,” he shared. “I couldn’t ask for a more bittersweet birth blessing.”

Despite the grief, he found solace in the idea that legends like Dingo never truly leave.

“Life will always be less without you, but legends never die. We’ll all miss you brother.”

Beyond his own heartbreak, MGK revealed how difficult it was to share the news with his 15-year-old daughter, Casie, whom he shares with Emma Cannon.

“Telling my daughter you’re gone was one of my hardest phone calls, because she loved you so much,” he wrote. “And I’ll never forget when she was too young to understand your name was Dingo so she called you Ping Pong.”

MGK’s words paint a picture of deep friendship, loss, and the ways we hold on to those we love—even as life continues moving forward.

A tale of broken dreams and a family shattered by desperation.

Faizan Rasool, a 28-year-old from Safakadal locality in central Kashmir’s Srinagar, had stepped out of his home with big dreams for a good future. But instead of securing employment, he landed in the clutches of traffickers in Myanmar.

Now, his family is weeping for his safe return, unable to arrange for the ₹4.5 lakh demanded by his abductors. Her cries echo in their small house, each corner of which is filled with memories of the son she will never see. “He departed with dreams in his eyes… Now we don’t even know if he is alive,” she cries holding his photograph from years back.

Faizan was enticed by his friend, who assured him of a job in Thailand. He was smuggled in and dumped in Myanmar, and kidnappers now control his future. The family manages to survive just enough and lacks the capacity to arrange the ransom.

In a heartless irony, another Kashmiri man—named Faizan, no less—had returned home only moments before having paid the same sum. His family is one of the poorest in the area, and now they are mired in debt after bailing him out.

This fear is becoming increasingly prevalent. Desperate young men are being lured into employment scams, getting them to cross perilous borders. Others are being coerced into working in cybercrime groups; some are just being held for ransom.

Faizan’s father, his voice shaking, begs in desperation: “We are helpless. If the government does not act, we may never see our son again.”

With the traffickers growing more bold and families rendered helpless, some action must be taken now before another Kashmiri youth disappears into the black hole of such scams. Faizan’s family hopes, prays, and begs—for a miracle that is unlikely to occur — (KB)

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The crematorium’s Book of Remembrance Room will be open on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30, from 10am to 4.30pm, for quiet reflection.

Visitors can also collect flowers to place on a memorial or take home.

Manager Laura Williams said: “We will also provide cards throughout the Mother’s Day weekend which people can write personal messages on and then deposit in our Letters to Loved Ones memorial post box.

“We know, from feedback we’ve had since the memorial post box was installed, that the bereaved can take great comfort from posting messages to loved ones, and it helps them maintain a feeling of connection with them.”

The crematorium is open to anyone wishing to remember their loved ones, regardless of where their funeral took place or if there is a memorial on the grounds.

Ms Williams added: “Mother’s Day is one of those annual occasions when a loss can be felt more and we want to ensure people know that they are very welcome to take comfort in paying tribute to their loved ones at our crematorium.

“It can equally be a particularly difficult time for mothers who are bereaved of a child, and they are also extremely welcome to visit us.”

The cries of Liliana Olivero watching from Venezuela through a cellphone pierced through the somber Christian music and gusts of wind as her son’s casket was lowered into the ground.

Gustavo Alfonso Garcia Olivares died at 24, drowning in the Rio Grande not far from where he was buried Thursday at the Maverick County Cemetery in Eagle Pass, a Texas border town of about 30,000 people. About 10 people attended the service, which was streamed live to his parents in Venezuela.

It was the first funeral service for a migrant by Border Vigil, a human rights organization on the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the world’s deadliest.

“Today we’re trying to bring back some of that humanity not just by giving his name but also by having his photo and having his family in the service,” said Amerika Garcia Grewal with Border Vigil, which is supported by Fronteras Fund.

It came a day after Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Eagle Pass, which became a flashpoint between the Biden administration and Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, over who polices the border and how. The Trump administration and Abbott are closely aligned on border policy.

Border Vigil started in 2023 amid an increase in border crossings that led to many migrant deaths. The International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project has tallied 6,438 dead and missing on the U.S.-Mexico border since 2014.

The U.S. Border Patrol’s published data goes through the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2022, when 895 bodies were discovered by its own agents and other government agencies.

Garcia Olivares’ parents last saw their son alive in a video shared by a friend showing him crouched in a corner of a fast-moving train heading to Mexico’s northern border in 2023.

Victor Garcia recalled their last conversation: “Dad, I’m going to make it, Dad. Don’t worry because you won’t be in need anymore. I’ll buy Mom a house and I’ll help improve your business.”

He described his son as brave and ambitious, having learned to become a barber at 14. He encouraged his son to go to college, but he decided to seek a life in the United States. His mother never had a chance to say goodbye. Not until Thursday.

The ceremony “was very sentimental, sad, but at the same time we are able to breathe a sigh of relief,” the father said.

Garcia Olivares’ body was swept up in the river and identified through Operation ID, an academic organization that partners with state, federal and international agencies. Although his family preferred to have him buried back home, they could not afford the nearly $9,000 cost.

A church volunteer built the white pine paneled coffin. As the ceremony closed, a backhoe shoveled dirt into the grave and a placard was placed by a simple, white cross near two dozen similar crosses laying nearby in a corner lot of the cemetery near a maintenance shed.

Holly Child and Adam Robinson were dismayed after NHS Orkney refused funding for a second travel escort for their baby son Jaxon.

Relatives of SNP Health Secretary Neil Gray have blasted the NHS after it refused to grant funding for the parents of a sick baby to travel for lifesaving treatment.

Adam Robinson and Holly Child applied to their local health board for assistance with the cost of travelling from their home on Orkney to the Scottish mainland.

The couple recently spent three weeks in hospitals in Aberdeen and Glasgow while their baby son Jaxon underwent vital heart surgery.

Adam is Gray’s brother-in-law and previously worked in the SNP politician’s Westminster office.

Little Jaxon has a series of heart complications and underwent surgery three weeks ago.

The tiny tot will require further treatment meaning more travel for the family to appointments.

But the family was stunned after an NHS Orkney review panel ruled the exceptional circumstances criteria for “medical necessity” had not been met for both parents to receive funding to travel with their seriously ill child to his next appointment.

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The health board instead provided funding for just one escort – meaning the family must pay for a second escort out of their own pocket.

Their original application was supported by a GP and a health visitor but was still rejected by NHS Orkney.

The couple plans to write to the chief executive of NHS Scotland to highlight their concerns with paediatric care on Orkney.

“Our GP and health visitor had supported our request for an additional escort to travel due to Jaxon’s complex health needs,” Adam told The Orcadian.

“We had detailed all of Jaxon’s health needs on the travel funding form only to be refused without explanation.

“NHS Orkney expects my partner Holly to travel by herself with our five-month-old son, who only had heart surgery three weeks ago.

“He is currently on medication for at least three months and is required to be fed by an NG tube. At the same time, she is expected to travel with all of Jaxon’s medication and equipment, as well as his usual things, ie clothes, bottles, milk, car seat, pram, changing bag, and her luggage.”

Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman, said “This heartbreaking case lays bare the real human cost of the crisis in Scotland’s NHS.

“Families right across the country, including families like the Health Secretary’s own, are being asked to accept the unacceptable as services struggle to cope.

“The SNP must act with the urgency needed to support health boards so that every single child gets the standard of care they need and deserve.”

Laura Skaife-Knight, CEO of NHS Orkney, said: “I have spoken to Ms Child personally today to apologise profusely to her, Mr Robinson and their son Jaxon for the distress and upset caused by our communications this week.

“I confirmed in this phone call to Ms Child that NHS Orkney would support the requirement for two escorts accompanying Jaxon to his upcoming appointment.

“I have committed to learning from Ms Child’s experience and working with her and her family to make further improvements where this is necessary.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is clear that patient safety is absolutely paramount. We cannot comment on individual cases, and this is an operational matter for NHS Orkney.”

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