Tag: Report

Nex Benedict: Trans activists, WH seize on 'non-binary' teen's death as full report awaited

The death of a nonbinary student one day after a fight inside an Oklahoma high school bathroom has led to national outcry and White House condemnation.

Owasso police say the investigation into 16-year-old Nex Benedict’s death on February 8 is ongoing, with the state medical examiner’s office ruling it a suicide. Family members have said that their child was a victim of bullying at the school because Nex identified as nonbinary, neither male nor female. A complete report on Benedict’s death is scheduled to be released on March 27. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed the preliminary autopsy report from the podium at Friday’s press briefing, calling Benedict’s death “devastating.” 

“As the president said yesterday, every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities,” Jean-Pierre said. “Bullying is completely unacceptable, and it is on all of us to take reports of bullying seriously.” 

RESEARCHERS ARGUE ‘RAPID ONSET GENDER DYSPHORIA’ DOES EXIST, DESPITE NARRATIVE AGAINST IT

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

The Benedict family released a statement through an attorney emphasizing that though Nex’s death was ruled a suicide, there are “other pertinent portions of the report” that should not be “overshadowed by the ‘classification’ of Nex’s death.” 

“Rather than allow incomplete accounts to take hold and spread any further, the Benedicts feel compelled to provide a summary of those findings which have not yet been released by the Medical Examiner’s office, particularly those that contradict allegations of the assault on Nex being insignificant,” the family attorney said. 

Details released by the family include that the teen suffered non-lethal head and neck trauma, including contusions, lacerations and abrasions. An Abraded contusion on Nex’s chest was consistent with having occurred during CPR, according to the portion of the full medical examiner’s report released by the family. 

“The Benedicts continue to call on our schools, administrators, lawmakers, and communities to come together to prevent any other family from having to suffer through the heartache now borne by Nex’s loved ones,” the attorney said. “Reforms creating school environments that are built upon the pillars of respect, inclusion and grace, and aim to eliminate bullying and hate, are the types of change that all involved should be able to rally behind.” 

REPUBLICANS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM NIH DIRECTOR AFTER 2 INVOLVED IN TRANSGENDER YOUTH STUDY ‘DIED BY SUICIDE’

LGBTQ+ advocates have blamed Nex’s death on gender identity-based bullying and harassment, as well as “rhetoric and policies” advanced by Republicans in Oklahoma — such as bills that prohibit children from receiving cross-sex hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery. They have called for the resignation of Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, who has said there are only two genders — male and female — and that Oklahoma schools would not allow students to use preferred names or pronouns that differ from their birth sex. 

“We want to be clear, whether Nex died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the brutal hate-motivated attack at school or not, Nex’s death is a result of being the target of physical and emotional harm because of who Nex was,” Freedom Oklahoma, the state’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said in a February statement reacting to Benedict’s death.

“This harm is absolutely related to the rhetoric and policies that are commonplace at the Oklahoma Legislature, the State Department of Education, and the Governor’s office, with regard to dehumanizing 2STGNC+ people,” the group said.

Walters has said Benedict’s tragic death has been exploited by the left for political purposes. 

“I think it’s terrible that we’ve had some radical leftists who decided to run with a political agenda and try to weave a narrative that hasn’t been true,” he told the New York Times in an interview in February. “You’ve taken a tragedy, and you’ve had some folks try to exploit it for political gain.”

“We’ve been told [Benedict’s] death wasn’t directly related to the fight at school,” he added. 

STUDENT DETAILS ‘TERRIBLE’ BULLYING AT SCHOOL WHERE CLASSMATE COMMITTED SUICIDE: ‘I WAS TERRIFIED’

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s report said the teen died from a combined overdose of Prozac and Benadryl. The fight in the school bathroom happened on the previous day. 

In video footage from the hospital on the day of the altercation, February 7, Nex tells a police officer that the teen and a friend group were the subject of ridicule over the way they dressed. Benedict, who preferred they/them pronouns, claims that in the bathroom the students said “something like: Why do they laugh like that?” referring to Nex and friends.

“And so I went up there and I poured water on them, and then all three of them came at me,” the teen tells the officer from a hospital bed.

“They came at me. They grabbed on my hair. I grabbed onto them. I threw one of them into a paper towel dispenser, and then they got my legs out from under me and got me on the ground,” the teen says in the video, according to the Associated Press. 

The students allegedly beat the teen to the point of blacking out. 

The next day, paramedics responded to a 911 call at the Benedict family’s house and performed CPR on an unresponsive Nex before rushing her to the hospital, where the teen later died.

On Thursday, the day after Nex’s death was ruled a suicide, the White House released a statement saying that President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were “heartbroken” by the loss. 

“Every young person deserves to have the fundamental right and freedom to be who they are, and feel safe and supported at school and in their communities. Nex Benedict, a kid who just wanted to be accepted, should still be here with us today,” Biden said. 

The president called on the nation to stand in solidarity with nonbinary and transgender people and “recommit to our work to end discrimination and address the suicide crisis impacting too many nonbinary and transgender children.”

“Bullying is hurtful and cruel, and no one should face the bullying that Nex did. Parents and schools must take reports of bullying seriously,” Biden said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Iran's arch-terrorist was architect of Hamas massacre of 1,300 people: report

The Iranian’s regime organized plan to aid Hamas in its massacre of 1,300 people, including 27 Americans, was front-and-center in the thinking of the dictator who rules over Iran, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to claims in a new think tank report.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) recently published a shocking report, noting the Islamic Republic leader “Khamenei Hinted In August 2022, August 2023 At ‘The Complete Conquest’ Of Israel.” 

According to a MEMRI translation from Khamenei’s propaganda outlet, Kayhan, the plan of mass murder was engineered by the late Iranian global terrorist Qassem Soleimani in 2020. The U.S. military assassinated Soleimani in early January 2020 for his overseeing the killing of over 600 American military personnel.

Kayhan wrote, according to the translation, that in August 2023 “The significance is that, last year, the Leader [Khamenei] gave ‘the promise of the imminent conquest,’ and this year he gave ‘the announcement of the complete conquest,’ and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is part of this imminent conquest. This promise and announcement, along with the clarity and power of [Khamenei’s] statements and positions in his meeting [with leaders and ambassadors of Islamic countries] on the occasion of the Prophet [Muhammad’s] birthday, have profound significance and content.”

ISRAELI PM NETANYAHU DECLARES ‘WAR AFTER HAMAS TERRORISTS LAUNCH MASSIVE ATTACK: LIVE UPDATES 

When asked about the MEMRI report, a U.S. State Department spokesperson referred Fox News Digital to a media interview with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

America’s top diplomat said, “Iran has had a long relationship with Hamas, and Hamas wouldn’t be Hamas without the support that it’s gotten over many years from Iran. Having said that, when it comes to this specific attack, right now, as we speak, we haven’t seen direct evidence that Iran participated in or helped plan the attack. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t; we just don’t have the evidence to show it. And as I said, there’s a long relationship between the two.”

Hamas’ statements conform to the MEMRI Iran report that the planning of the massacre goes back several years. “In the past couple of years, Hamas has adopted a ‘rational’ approach. It did not go into any war and did not join the Islamic Jihad in its recent battle,” senior Hamas official Ali Baraka said in an interview that aired on Russia Today TV on Oct. 8. MEMRI located and translated the Baraka report.

The U.S. has designated Hamas a foreign terrorist organization. Iran’s theocratic state has been designated the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism, according to the U.S. State Department.

Lior Haiat, the spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, told Fox News Digital on the first day of the war last week, “Those terror organizations [Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad] are working as proxies of the Ayatollah regime,” in Iran. Haiat added that Tehran is “without a doubt… behind the scenes” of this war against Israel. 

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MEMRI’s staff of Persian and Arabic language experts scour the media in the Muslim world for trends and indications of possible terrorist attacks. The president and founder of MEMRI, Yigal Carmon, is a retired Israel Defense Forces colonel who served as a counterterrorism adviser to two Israeli prime ministers. Fox News Digital reported last week that Carmon predicted the outbreak of the war in an Aug. 31 article titled “Signs of Possible War in September-October.”

In the preamble to its infamous 1998 Hamas Covenant, the Islamist terrorist movement laid out its principal goal: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

Hamas declares in article 7 of its manifesto, “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.’”

A prescient MEMRI article from May, 2018, headlined its article: “The ‘Great Return March’ Campaign: An Initiative Sponsored By Hamas, Whose Goal Was To Breach The Border Fence, Penetrate Israeli Territory.” 

MEMRI wrote at the time, “An examination of statements coming out of Gaza about the ‘Great Return March’ campaign, by Hamas officials, by campaign organizers, and by participants and supporters of the campaign, reveal that it was not merely a popular civilian campaign but was fully supported by Hamas, and that its goal was to breach the border fence in order to penetrate Israeli territory and march on Israeli communities.”

The MEMRI investigation added “Reports mentioned that special units had been established for the purpose of penetrating Israeli territory, such as the Fence-Cutting Unit and the Border-Storming Unit. Although the campaign organizers stressed that the marches would be peaceful, some Gazan social media users called to fight the ‘infidels’ in these communities and to murder them.”

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A deadly Act 2 of the Hamas’s so-called “Great Return March” to conquer Israel would unfold five years later in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

Numerous Fox News Digital press queries to Iran’s Foreign Ministry and U.N. mission were not answered.

DOJ pressuring journalists to aid its prosecution against Julian Assange: report

The U.S. Justice Department is pressuring some British journalists to cooperate with the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of publishing classified U.S. military documents leaked to him by a whistleblower.

The DOJ and the FBI are using “vague threats and pressure tactics” in their efforts to receive journalists’ help in building their case against Assange, according to Rolling Stones’ James Ball, who said he is among the journalists being pressured to cooperate. Ball is sought by the DOJ as someone who had briefly worked and lived with Assange, and was a whistleblower revealing what he described as “WikiLeaks’ own ethical lapses.”

The first attempt at receiving Ball’s cooperation in Assange’s prosecution came through London’s Metropolitan Police in December 2021, he wrote. He remained silent at the time, on the advice of counsel, but has since learned that more journalists have had police show up at their doorsteps in the last month. Former Guardian investigations editor David Leigh, transparency campaigner Heather Brooke and writer Andrew O’Hagan have all been approached by police.

Assange is facing an uphill legal battle over his potential extradition from London, where he has been held at the high-security Belmarsh Prison, to the U.S. over Wikileaks’ 2010 publication of top secret cables detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp, Iraq and Afghanistan. The materials, which were leaked to him by then-U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, expose instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition. Wikileaks also published a video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists.

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The Australian journalist would face 17 charges for receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the espionage act and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion if he is extradited to the U.S., and could be sentenced to as many as 175 years in an American maximum security prison. Manning was convicted by the Obama administration’s DOJ in 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses over the Cablegate leak.

Assange has been held at Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy four years ago for breaching jail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not promise him protection from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.

Ball was first contacted about helping in the Assange case by a Metropolitan Police officer on the special investigations team, who had called him on a blocked number Ball failed to answer. He then received a “deliberately innocuous” email from the police.

“James, I would like to meet with you to ask if you would be willing to participate in a voluntary witness interview,” the officer wrote. “You are not under investigation for anything. It is a delicate matter that I am only able to discuss with you face to face.”

A lawyer spoke to police on Ball’s behalf and learned that U.S. and U.K. authorities were asking him to testify about a story he wrote on Assange’s relationship with Israel Shamir, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ball wrote, adding that, without his testimony, the “U.S. government cannot make much use of what I revealed in the article in a court of law.”

Ball said he was “more than willing” to write about his relationship with Assange in the media, but he does not believe “it should be used to help a vindictive prosecution of Assange.”

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An officer told Ball’s lawyer that U.S. intelligence agencies claimed to have discovered that “‘James Ball’ doesn’t exist,” which Ball said was a false accusation as the name is his actual birth name that has never changed. After seeking further legal advice, Ball was told by multiple attorneys not to travel to the U.S. or speak out publicly over concerns about potential prosecution for his refusal to cooperate.

“That uneasy truce has come to an end,” Ball wrote. “As a journalist, I need to be able to travel to the U.S. to work, and I am doing so this week. Also, other journalists are now being contacted in relation to the case. Both together make continued silence impossible.”

Ball said the two years he avoided traveling to the U.S. on legal advice has “stifled stories I would otherwise have written for U.S. outlets. I had a real and credible fear of prosecution.”

Last year, the editors and publishers of U.S. and European news outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak — The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País — wrote an open letter calling for the U.S. to end its prosecution of Assange.

The Obama administration elected against indicting Assange after Wikileaks published the cables in 2010 because it would have had to give the same treatment to journalists from other major news outlets that worked with Assange on the documents. But former President Trump’s DOJ later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution.

“If President Biden wants his Department of Justice to reverse the decision of the Obama DOJ on prosecuting Assange for his 2010 actions, he should at least explain it, and say why it is worth the silencing effect it is having on mainstream journalism,” Ball wrote.

“As it stands, Biden’s DOJ is threatening the U.S. media’s First Amendment rights, even as it claims to be standing up to a Supreme Court that is threatening many other rights. The hypocrisy should not stand,” he continued.

Assange’s case has received the attention of some lawmakers on Capitol Hill, with Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., leading a letter to the DOJ demanding the charges against him be dropped. Lawmakers in Australia and other countries have also pushed the U.S. to end its prosecution of Assange. Pope Francis recently met with Assange’s wife, Stella, who said the Pope expressed support for her family’s situation and concern about Assange’s suffering.

The Trump administration CIA reportedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as “Vault 7,” which the agency said represented “the largest data loss in CIA history,” according to a 2021 Yahoo report. The agency had discussions “at the highest levels” of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London. Acting on orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo, the agency had also drawn up kill “sketches” and “options.”

The CIA had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange and had made a political decision to charge him, according to the report.

Man in China jailed for scaring neighbor's 1,100 chickens to death amid feud: report

A man in China was sentenced to prison after he snuck onto his neighbor’s property and scared 1,100 chickens to death.

The man, identified only by his last name Gu, snuck onto his neighbor Zhong’s chicken farm and used a flashlight to frighten the chickens, causing them to kill each other, China Daily reported.

The light from the flashlight terrified the chickens, causing them to flee to a corner of the coop where they trampled over one another trying to get away.

The incident came during a feud between the two neighbors that began in April 2022, when Gu cut down Zhong’s trees without his permission, the outlet reported. Zhong’s wife then towed the trees away, which infuriated Gu.

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Gu then snuck onto Zhong’s property one night and startled the chickens by shining a flashlight on them, causing 500 chickens to flee into a corner and die from crushing one another.

Police arrested Gu and ordered him to pay Zhong 3,000 yuan, or roughly $436, but Gu was not deterred.

Gu returned to Zhong’s property a second time and used the same tactic, which caused an additional 640 chickens to die, according to China Daily.

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According to Chinese authorities, the roughly 1,100 chickens that died in the two incidents were worth about 13,840 yuan, or about $2,015. 

A court in Hengyang County, located in central China’s Hunan province, ruled Tuesday that Gu had intentionally caused Zhong to suffer property loss, according to China Daily.

The court sentenced Gu to six months in prison and one year of probation.

Suspended Grizzlies star Ja Morant's nightclub incident could cost him $39 million: report

Ja Morant has quickly become a superstar. The Memphis Grizzlies guard has a unique skill set and is often the most gifted athlete on the basketball court on any given night.

His high-flying slam dunks have taken the internet by storm over the past couple of years, and he has helped lift his team to multiple playoff appearances and a division title. Last July, the Grizzlies rewarded Morant with a five-year supermax contract extension.

The contract included incentives which entitled Morant to nearly a quarter-billion dollars if he met certain thresholds this season.

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Now, Morant has garnered a significant amount of attention on the internet, but for reasons that have nothing to do with his on the court feats. 

Morant briefly flashed a handgun at a strip club near Denver in an Instagram Live video on March 4. The ensuing fallout resulted in an eight-game suspension without pay for conduct detrimental to the league, the NBA announced Wednesday.

But the impact of Morant’s actions could further cost the star athlete an estimated $39 million.

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Per an NBA rule known as the “Derrick Rose Rule,” a team can pay 30% of its salary cap to any player that signs a maximum Designated Rookie extension, if that player meets certain qualifications.

The select qualifications include a player winning the MVP award, two Defensive Player of the Year awards in the past three seasons or two All-NBA team appearances. At least one of those qualifications has to be met before the max contract kicks in for the player to receive the salary bump.

Morant already has one appearance on the All-NBA team to his credit, and appeared to be on his way to a second appearance until the incident earlier this month.

JA MORANT’S LATEST BEHAVIOR STEMS FROM ‘PARENTING’ AND MUSIC, FELLOW NBA PLAYER PATRICK BEVERLEY SAYS

According to Spotrac, a second All-NBA team appearance would result in the value of Morant’s extension jumping from $194 million to $233 million.

The issue is that Morant might not play in enough games this season to qualify for an All-NBA team. If he plays in every remaining game after he returns from his suspension, Morant would finish the season with 65 games played.

“I feel like in the past we didn’t know what was at stake,” Morant said during a sit-down interview with ESPN’s Jalen Rose on Wednesday.

The Grizzlies have managed to hold onto the No. 2 spot in the Western Conference while Morant has been away from the team. Memphis is hoping to make a deep playoff run this upcoming postseason — with the help of Morant.

Ex-Eagles RB Miles Sanders lands with Panthers, agrees to multi-year deal: report

Pro Bowl running back Miles Sanders will reportedly join the Carolina Panthers.

The defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles selected Sanders in the second round of the 2019 draft, and the 25-year-old is coming off his first 1,000-yard rushing season.

Sanders was a key part of Philly’s rushing attack last season and scored 11 touchdowns.

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He became the first Eagles running back to surpass the 1,000-yard mark in a season since LeSean McCoy in 2014.

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The Panthers have yet to re-sign D’Onta Foreman, so the addition of Sanders adds some certainty to the running backs room.

ESPN reported Sanders and Carolina agreed to a four-year deal. 

Sanders will be taking handoffs either from the recently signed Andy Dalton or from the quarterback Carolina is likely to select with the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s draft.

The Bears sent the top pick in this year’s draft to the Panthers in exchange for a package that includes two first-round picks and receiver D.J. Moore.

Sanders’ 5.1 yards per carry ranks third among running backs in rushing average since 2021.

Sanders played college football with Saquon Barkley at Penn State for two seasons and became the lead running back for the Nittany Lions in 2018 with 1,413 scrimmage yards and nine touchdowns.

Explained: What's next for USMNT as report finds Reyna 'bullying,' Berhalter told truth

After an investigation exposed Claudio Reyna’s “bullying” and Gregg Berhalter’s past, what’s next for the USMNT and U.S. Soccer’s insular culture? The post Explained: What's next for USMNT as report finds Reyna 'bullying,' Berhalter told truth appeared first on Buy It At A Bargain – Deals And Reviews.

Giants agree to terms with budding star linebacker Bobby Okereke: report

The New York Giants had a need at middle linebacker, and like many others teams on Monday, they snatched one off the free-agent market. 

Former Indianapolis Colts star linebacker Bobby Okereke reportedly agreed to a four-year, $40 million deal with the Giants with $22 million fully guaranteed. 

All deals agreed to can be signed once the new league year begins on March 15.

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The 26-year-old Stanford product has been a standout for the Colts since assuming a full-time starting role two seasons ago. A former third-round pick, Okereke hit 132 tackles in 17 games in 2021 as well as two interceptions, four passes defended and one sack.

He followed that up last season by breaking his career-high in tackles with 151 in 17 games. He had five passes defended and two forced fumbles as well.

GIANTS GIVE STERLING SHEPARD ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY WITH NEW ONE-YEAR CONTRACT: REPORT

Under defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, the Giants tried different combinations of linebackers last season, including Jaylon Smith, Micah McFadden, Landon Collins and Jarrad Davis.

While the Giants’ defense was a solid group, their linebacking corps was viewed as a mediocre unit. They didn’t have the speed necessary to compete with teams, especially in their own division.

GM Joe Schoen, armed with a good amount of cap space despite inking quarterback Daniel Jones long term as well as franchise tagging running back Saquon Barkley, made the move to shore up that position as linebackers went off the board early.

The Giants’ defense could still use a cornerback, but they return most of their group from last season, including their front four of Jihad Ward, Dexter Lawrence, Leonard Williams and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Adoree’ Jackson, Xavier McKinney, Julian Love and others man the secondary. 

The Giants are hoping to continue building toward a consistent playoff contender after surprising many with their 9-7-1 record that was good enough for a wild-card spot. They ended up defeating the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the playoffs on the road.

Report into Dutch protections of 3 murder victims finds security services didn't always act on threat tips

A critical report into the protection of three murder victims, including a celebrated Dutch journalist gunned down in central Amsterdam, said Wednesday that security services in a “fragmented” protection system didn’t always act on tips about possible threats.

The conclusions highlighted flaws in a network involving police and prosecutors that is intended to offer protection to people facing threats ranging from stalkers to possible attacks by criminals and terrorists.

The report came following an 18-month government-commissioned investigation by the Dutch Safety Board into the slayings of crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, lawyer Derk Wiersum and the brother of a key witness in the trial of an alleged Dutch crime gang.

De Vries, who was shot on an Amsterdam street on July 21, 2021, and died nine days later acted as a confidential advisor to the witness. Wiersum, the witness’ lawyer, was gunned down on Sept. 18, 2019, outside his home in Amsterdam. The witness’ brother, identified only Reduan, was shot and killed March 29, 2018.

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The witness played a key role in the prosecution of Ridouan Taghi, who is accused by prosecutors of multiple murders in the violent Dutch criminal underworld. Judges are expected to deliver verdicts later this year in the trial of Taghi and several alleged accomplices.

The report said that “command of the surveillance and protection of the persons under threat was fragmented across national and regional organisations” and the protection service “did not receive all the information about the threat that was available to the investigation.”

It added that “signals” of possible threats from the victims “were not regarded as concrete threat information and therefore did not fit into the usual system.”

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Both Wiersum and De Vries had police surveillance at their homes. De Vries “was not willing to share his schedule to make it possible to organize surveillance for his arrivals and departures. He also made no use of the option to personally notify any high-risk moments,” the report said.

The brother of the witness “insisted on protection for members of his family. When the attack on his life took place, no specific security measures had yet been taken for him,” it added.

Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said in a reaction to the report that the government has made investments to beef up the security apparatus in recent years.

“The increased threat, specifically from organized crime, means that the number of people and objects that are intensively monitored and secured for a long period of time — sometimes even many years — has increased considerably,” she said in a statement.

Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said that “the person to be protected is now more central, and tailor-made security measures are being developed.”

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SEO Expert’s Guide to a GA4 Landing Page Report

With the sunsetting of Universal Analytics (UA) on the horizon in 2023, it’s more important than ever to learn how to create a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) landing page report.

Change can be difficult. What steps are you taking to get ahead of the curve?

While this post is not an ultimate guide to Google Analytics, I’ll show you how to get GA4 set up and give you the best GA4 tips out there. From setting yourself up to best practices, by the time you’re finished, you’ll feel confident creating a landing page report in GA4.

What Is GA4?

Google Analytics 4 is the latest edition of one of the greatest web analytics tools on the market.

With so many awesome features and a smooth user interface, it’s no wonder that over 28 million websites worldwide count on Google Analytics to track their traffic.

With a landing page report in GA4, you can follow the digital path your customers travel along your branded content.

The best part? GA4 landing page reports track customer data from all the platforms your content is on to determine trends in traffic, engagement, product demand, predictions, and more.

It accomplishes these incredible analytic feats with the help of artificial intelligence. With the use of AI, GA4 helps you figure out how customers are currently using your content, as well as predict what customers will do next.

You don’t have to be a large business to make GA4 work for you. In fact, a recent survey by Enlyft found that roughly 71% of businesses that use Google Analytics are small companies with less than 50 employees.

While this may all sound similar to what you’re used to in Universal Analytics, the two function quite differently.

The biggest difference between UA and GA4 is the way data is collected and organized. While the former groups user interactions into time-blocked “sessions,” GA4 tracks each and every user interaction as its own event.

What does this mean? Well, because of this key switch, GA4 is better at predicting the behavior of customers in a wider variety of ways.

What Is A Landing Page Report in GA4?

Simply put, a GA4 landing page report is a detailed analysis of user interactions based on metrics that you choose.

For those who don’t know, a landing page is the page that is a user’s first interaction with your website or platform. For example, if you searched for information about landing page reports and clicked on the link for this article, then this page is your landing page for my site.

A landing page report in GA4 gives you deeper analytic tools that can really help you develop the best SEO strategy.

Neil Patel talking about advanced SEO tactics.

If you’re familiar with UA, you’ll remember that their landing page report was automatically generated. All you had to do was look for the report by clicking the Behavior drop-down menu. and from there. clicking Site Content and then Landing Pages.

GA4 is not automatic. Fortunately, it only takes a few steps to get your GA4 set-up.

Creating Your Landing Page Report In GA4

GA4 landing page reports must be generated manually. The good news is you can create your own preset landing page report, so you don’t have to set it all up each time you need information.

Follow these steps to create your own landing page report in GA4.

Get Started

Log in to your account with GA4. From there, open your Reports (the button below the Home icon, with a bar graph inside a white square). Next, click on Acquisition and then look for and select Traffic Acquisition in the dropdown menu.

The traffic acquisition page on GA$.

Pull a Report

In case you don’t already know, dimensions are essentially the qualitative titles or categories being measured by GA4. When you choose Traffic Acquisition, GA4 will pull a report for you, automatically using the Session default channel grouping dimension.

While this is great info for you to know in order to increase traffic to your website, it’s not the data on user landing page interactions.

Customize Your Report

To create a custom landing page in GA4 to suit your analytical needs, click on the small pencil icon in the upper right corner of the user window.

Customizing the channel group on the traffic acquisition page on GA4.

In addition to adding new dimensions, the Customize Report button can add new metrics, rework charts and create summary cards.

For our purposes, we’ll focus for now on the dimension aspect.

Add a New Dimension

On the right side of the screen, click on Dimensions and then select Add dimension.

From there, you should be able to scroll through the options until you find one labeled Landing Page. Click it, and landing pages will be added to your primary dimensions.

Don’t forget to save when you’re done!

Set as Default

Let’s get real: do you actually want to go through those steps every time you want to analyze user interaction on landing pages?

No way! Follow this quick GA4 tip to make a shortcut for yourself.

Locate the Landing Page dimension once more. This time click on the three vertical dots and then select Set as Default.

When you are finished, click the Apply button in the lower right corner to save your new default setting.

If your goal is to replicate the UA report as close as possible, you will need to follow a few more steps.

Customize Metrics

Not all engagement metrics are created equal. As you become more familiar with the GA4 set-up, explore all the data at your fingertips to determine which data will help the most. You never know what new insights you’ll discover!

Customizing metrics is not all that different from dimension customization.

Instead of clicking on Dimensions, this time select Metrics.

From here, you can add and remove metrics that suit your needs. For a UA-style landing page report, make sure to choose the following metrics:

  • Sessions
  • New Users
  • Engagement Rate
  • Average Engagement Time
  • Event Count
  • Conversions
Customizing the metrics of the landing page report in GA4.

Create a New Summary Card

Summary cards are a great way to take a fast scan of your analytics when checking reports.

While they won’t show you everything, summary cards can help you streamline your review of the information you find most important.

To create a new summary card, simply click on Create a New Card. From there, you can customize the card to choose specific dimensions, metrics, and visualization style.

Save Your New Template

The key here is not to overwrite your other template that you used to get started. Instead, save your work as a New Report.

Make a Shortcut to Your Report

Remember, our intention is to make pulling GA4 landing page reports as quick and easy as possible.

That’s why I would recommend creating a shortcut for you to access this with just a couple of clicks going forward.

  • First, click on Reports.
  • Next, click on Library. There should be a folder icon next to the word.
  • Unless you’ve already created some collections, you should only see two collections. In the collection marked Life Cycle, click where it says Edit Collection.
  • A prompt on the left will ask you to drag reports to create collection. Find your report template and drag it into the topic labeled Acquisition.
Making a shortcut in the collections screen on GA4.

That’s it!

Now when you click on the Reports icon on the main menu, you can pull your latest landing page report with ease. Simply click the drop-down menus for Life Cycle and Acquisition, where you will find the template that we’ve been putting together.

Best Practices For Landing Page Reporting

The whole point of this practice is to understand what customers are driven towards and how we can improve our content to bring in more traffic.

When you run your GA4 landing page report, be on the lookout for pages that have a low number of visits, or worse, poor engagement. These are areas of growth for your brand.

Take advantage of landing pages that are doing well. Any time a landing page has a high click rate and engagement, you should be looking for ways to capitalize on that momentum.

Add more links to that page that direct users to more of your articles. Use those pages to advertise upcoming promotions. If at all possible, recreate that style of writing in new content.

Conclusion

Google Analytics 4 is a powerhouse of reporting. In the right hands, GA4 can revolutionize your marketing and content strategies.

Don’t wait until UA finally kicks the bucket for good in 2023. Learn about GA4 now to easily generate the reports that matter most. You should consider creating your GA4 tracking ASAP so you have as much data as possible to compare for reporting.

We’re also here to help!

If you need more information on how to best utilize the features of your GA4 landing page report, or if something doesn’t look right, just reach out and my team will get back to you ASAP.

How are you going to use Google Analytics to increase your web traffic? Let me know!