By the time Najah al-Shalmeih walked toward her family at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Saturday night, at the end of her long trip from her native Syria, the crowd of protesters and supporters numbered in the dozens—and her son's emotions had grown beyond his ability to handle. Hisham Yasin cried as he embraced his mother and as the crowd cheered. Jubilant, he led them in a chant: "USA! USA! USA!"

Yasin kept chanting as he walked his mother—detained for nine hours despite having a US green card—toward a scrum of media wanting to get her story.

The grandmother opened her bag and gave her grandchildren candy.

Yasin, his wife, and their children made up one of at least nine families waiting for their loved ones who flew in on Emirates flight EK221 from Dubai. They were one of an untold number of people across the country who waited on Saturday to learn the fate of their family members and friends who had been detained following an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Friday night that banned travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries and temporarily suspended all refugee admissions.

Over the weekend there was confusion about how the order was supposed to be interpreted—initially, the White House indicated that it would apply to lawful permanent residents of the US (a.k.a. green card holders, like al-Shalmeih) returning from these countries, but White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus seemed to contradict that on Sunday morning.

Unlike most of those in Dallas last night, Yasin was was able to leave the airport with some semblance of closure, his mother safely on the right side of a security barrier.

Samar Mustafa wasn't so lucky.

"I don't know how the president can just decide something like this and it can immediately happen," Mustafa told VICE.

Mustafa's mother, Shadia Osaman, could be seen lying down every time the doors opened to let people into the US side of the international terminal. "Go in there and get her mom out!" Mustafa's family yelled throughout the night. Osaman is from Sudan, which like Syria is one of the countries included in the executive order, and was traveling to Dallas to see her daughter and her granddaughter. As of midnight there was still no sign of her.

"If he knew this was going to happen, why didn't he say so before?" Mustafa asked of Trump. "Is this how it's going to be as president?"

Despite an order from a federal judge declaring a stay on Trump's executive order on Saturday night, Mustafa's mother remained in detention late Saturday night, as well as several other travellers on the flight from Dubai.

"No word," on them, Alia Salem of the local chapter of the Council on Islamic-American Relations, or CAIR, texted VICE late Saturday.

The families of nine detained passengers waited for hours to learn their fate. At one point, Yasin's oldest child, no more than five, began to offer candy to the growing group of family members, advocates, journalists, and attorneys. His younger brother slept in his Yasin's arms while another brother cried for a balloon that had gotten away. Salem put out the word to supporters and media. Men and women showed up and began making signs. Cameras arrived. Yasin and his family fretted nonetheless.

By the time his mother arrived, Yasin was beside himself. She emerged from the double glass doors in a white hijab, running and smiling at her daughter, Mariam, wearing a similar white silk hijab. They embraced and cried. For a moment in Terminal D on this strange night of fear and uncertainty there was joy.

That lasted only so long.

Mustafa approached Najah al-Shalmeih after she greeted her jubilant daughter. The 47-year-old wanted to know about her mother, detained on the other side for being from Sudan.

"Have you seen her? How is she doing?" Mustafa asked.

Mustafa was told that her mother was fine—though she hadn't been able to text her daughter for several hours due to a dead cell phone—and that she along with several others was waiting to hear her fate.

Everyone back there is tired, al-Shalmeih reported. They have been waiting for so long and have been sitting on chairs, some of them lying on the floor, going to sleep, al-Shalmeih said. But they are there, for now.

Al-Shalmeih made her way through the media scrum, past multiple interviews, and eventually out the door with her family. Salem stayed around waiting. Her daughter had brought flowers for her grandmother, visiting from Sudan for the first time in years.

"She brought flowers," Salem said of her daughter. "We have been here long enough that the flowers have died."

Navigating online news media in 2017 is at best a disorienting experience. Teen Vogue is woke, most people only click on whatever pops up in their social feed, and if you ask the newest leader of the free world, apparently the New York Times is "fake news." Unfortunately for everyone, the people who have the massive followings necessary to reach wide audiences seem to rarely post about anything but themselves or the products they are getting paid to promote.

During the week leading up to Trump's inauguration and the Women's March on Washington there was sure to be no shortage of important news. In an effort to understand how much famous people spread real world information, I vowed to only receive my news exclusively through celebrity tweets.

I read the news constantly on a normal day. It's literally my job. I use a news aggregator app, and click a lot of articles from the liberal echo chamber that is my Facebook feed. I also try to fly away from the nest once in awhile to see what the other side's got going on. I visit pages like Fox News and watch Ezra Levant's ridiculously right-wing Rebel Media YouTube channel on a semi-regular basis.

As for Twitter, I'm an avid user. I use it way too much. Sometimes I catch myself with it open on my desktop and phone at the same time. I wasn't exactly looking forward to limiting my intake sources to actors, YouTubers, and pop stars, but I thought disconnecting from the constant, shitty Trump news that regularly fills my feed might be a necessary break.

After panicking for over an hour while trying to choose a new username, I got locked out of my account. I ended up with the handle @baeoblivion. With my Beyonce-floating-in-space header in place, I was ready to start following celebs. The sample size had to be limited yet broad in variety of political backgrounds, ages, and washed-upness.  

I tried taking on the mindset of a stereotypical millennial and immediately followed The Rock, Ariana Grande, Zayn Malik, Taylor Swift, Drake, and the entire Kardashian bloodline. After realizing how out of touch I am with millennial culture, I turned to this Forbes most followed list. Most of the celebs on the list didn't show propensity for posting political content, so I sought out politically-minded celebs like Tom Arnold, Alec Baldwin, Kirstie Alley, Mark Ruffalo, Tyler Oakley, Scott Baio, and of course, Cher.

DAY ONE: HONEYMOON

I'd discovered a whole new world, like a stay-at-home-mom discovering daytime soap operas for the first time. Tom Arnold seemed to never leave Twitter, constantly tweeting about the alleged tapes he had of Trump dropping an N-bomb, while also throwing some serious shade at Steven Seagal. Sinbad was getting into it with right-wing trolls. The Kardashians tweeted about their own shows, products, and family members. YouTubers tweeted about their latest videos. Mark Wahlberg put out a vague tweet of American pride that turned out to be a promo for his hammy new movie about the Boston Marathon bombings.

There were a couple people on my feed tweeting about things other than themselves. Fifth Hamony's Lauren Jauregui tweeted about the importance of saving Obamacare from repeal, though she didn't link to any articles so I had no way of knowing if there was any updates on the issue. Mark Ruffalo was one of the only celebs tweeting articles, RTing posts about the Women's March and offering ways for people to participate who live outside Washington.

On day one, I can't say I learned anything new, other than DJ Kahled was working on something "TOP SECRET" and Ariana Grande has a big dog.

DAY TWO: REGRET

The second day didn't get much better and I was starting to feel detached already, drawn to Twitter for the spectacle rather than for news. I already wanted to end this experiment. The trending section reminded me that it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and celebs posted famous quotes to prove that they know who he is and that they aren't racist. Not all celebs though...

Rob Schneider was whitesplaining what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for to Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights leader. I got pretty upset at first, but then I realized I was taking Rob Schneider seriously, and that's a slippery slope.

Tom Arnold likely didn't sleep a fucking wink. He was still ranting about Trump in a stream of about 30 tweets that were very difficult to decipher. From what I gathered, Arnold had fake news reported about him that he was afraid of being assassinated for knowing about alleged Trump tapes.

I managed to find three good articles. Sinbad posted a link to a Huffington Post article about gun control, John Lewis, and a racist judge. The Hulk posted a link about protests against the Louisiana Access Pipeline, and a piece from CNN about Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary.

On day two, I learned that Trump's cabinet was still filled with corrupt white dudes, and DJ Khaled was still "UP TO SOMETHING".

DAY THREE: GETTING THE HANG

The Rock was fucking pumped about his new Mustang, while Reese Witherspoon tweeted about her clothing line sale. Jaden Smith and Shia LaBeouf both tweeted "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US," and I got excited because it meant Shia was up to something crazy again and I love him unabashedly, without irony or shame. This alone kept me coming back.

Despite the usual narcissism, there seems to be more news on the third day. Either that or I was getting better at sifting through the garbage. Leonardo DiCaprio tweeted a thanks to Obama, linking to an article about establishing new national monuments just days before he's out of office. Susan Sarandon tweeted a link to a BBC News piece about Obama pardoning Chelsea Manning. This felt like the first essential piece of news I'd read in three days and I remembered how much I was going to miss Obama.

Sarah Silverman's account was continually awesome. Not only funny, but informative and trying to speak sense to the entire political spectrum. She quoted a tweet from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the insane Wyoming bill that outlaws renewable energy. I was left wondering what other fucked up stuff the government was up to that I didn't know about yet so I dug a little deeper into my feed. Tom Arnold is STILL going off about the fucking tapes. Ugh. Not living his best life.  

On day three I felt I was actually able to get some decent news thanks to Sarah Silverman, Leo, and Ruffalo. I learned that Vincent D'Onofrio doesn't give a fuck what you think.

DAY FOUR: SETBACK

Just when I felt that I was getting some good news—very left-leaning albeit—the People's Choice Awards hit and my feed was nothing but congratulations and fashion photos for about 24 hours. There were a lot of people tweeting about The Rock, Kevin Hart, and Lilly Singh because she won some YouTuber award. I send her a congratulatory tweet in a sad attempt to connect. I get no response.

Tom Arnold got into a Twitter feud with Roseanne Barr, which put me back on the love side of our love/hate relationship.

On day four, I learned that the People's Choice Awards are still a thing, and Gary Busey sells dope "Buseyisms" on his website.

DAY FIVE: WORLD ON FIRE

People were still talking about the fucking People's Choice Awards that morning.

Kirstie Alley was the first celeb to tweet about the inauguration. She was excited for Trump, believing he will unite America. She's wrong. Russell Brand, who I used to think was rather intelligent, tweeted a nonsense new video he made comparing Trump and Obama that is almost impossible to comprehend because he insists on showcasing his unnecessary vocabulary.

Mark Ruffalo continued to be amazing on Twitter. Without him, I'd be lost. He was at the We Stand United pre-inauguration rally, which he linked to, and offered up his snapchat so you could follow along throughout the day. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to be on Snapchat.

I couldn't handle the lack of articles in my feed. I had a moment of weakness and switch over to my regular account. In excitement, I retweeted a VICE article about overdoses in Vancouver, BC. The person I RTd happened to be my editor. She immediately DMs me, telling me to get off my normal account. I apologize and begrudgingly go back to being @BaeOblivion.

On day five, Hulkamania ran wild on my childhood.

DAY SIX: INAUGURATION SHITSHOW

I was really worried I wouldn't catch President Sausage Skin's inauguration, but thankfully Twitter had their own livestream that I watched while taking in celeb reactions. The main accounts live-tweeting the event were Sarah Silverman and Kirstie Alley. Silverman's jokes were spot on, while Alley's praise for Trump was vague.

Britney Spears tweeted a photo of a dog.

The Shia Labeouf hype paid off. He launched an anti-Trump art project called "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" in New York that will last for the duration of Trump's presidency. It consisted of him chanting on a live stream with a horde of followers. I rejoiced, wishing I could be there.

Once again, Mark Ruffalo to the rescue. He was retweeting journalists and reporters, trusted sources all talking about the inauguration, the crowd size compared to Obama's, Mike Pence being a threat, and links to alternative programming.

On Trump's inauguration day I learned—Holy shit, he's really the President now and it was largely met with apathy in the celebrity world. Scott Baio loves good ol' American hot dogs.

DAY SEVEN: WOMEN'S MARCH AND THANK GOD THIS IS OVER

My Twitter experiment concluded on the same day as the Women's March, and my feed was inundated with posts of solidarity, photos of participation, and links to articles about crowd turnout. I was quite surprised that more people were tweeting about the peaceful protest than about the inauguration. It was uplifting to see so many celebrities standing in solidarity with plebeians around the world. The sad part is that based on what I've seen over the past week, most of them will not tweet about equality issues again until the next big event that demands them to show face.  

On day seven, I learned that more people showed up to protest Trump than showed up at his inauguration. DJ Khaled still doesn't want anyone to know about his "TOP SECRET" new album.

Over the course of the week, it was tough to get any real news. Even when celebrities were talking about current events, most of them didn't link to articles. While I was able to follow some major news stories, there were only a few accounts that delivered quality stories from reliable sources on a regular basis.

To nobody's surprise, most celebrities use their social media simply as another form of brand promotion. I'm not naive enough to believe it's anyone's inherent duty to use their power and influence on social media for the betterment of mankind, but I do wish some more celebrities had the balls to post informative content and fight against the polluted media landscape of 2017. In the eternal words of President Trump, "There should be nothing you should be ashamed of" when posting on Twitter.

Follow Lonnie on Twitter.

The first time I traveled on British Columbia's Highway of Tears, I don't think I realized it until weeks later.

In a rush of too-earnest journalistic curiosity I'd piled into a van full of activists headed for Nak'azdli territory. The group was paying last respects to Mount Milligan before it was split open by a copper and gold mine in 2013. (In the back seats there was much talk of Enbridge protest, since the proposed Northern Gateway line would cut right through there, too).

Driving through those valleys and forests, I hadn't stopped to think we were also passing through a place notorious for missing and murdered Indigenous women. I had read about the stretch of BC road known for abduction, killing, and police indifference. I just hadn't put it together in my brain.

I wasn't expecting it, but those memories came back Tuesday while plugged into a virtual reality documentary about Highway 16 and the families still mourning lost relatives. The short piece, followed by a conversation with Anishnaabe filmmaker Lisa Jackson, helped me understand the disconnect between the landscape and the violence.

After chatting with Jackson about why she jumped on board with CBC's The Current for this project, I figured this was part of her plan all along. "One of the things I really wanted to show was the beauty of the territory," she told VICE.

You can see that intent in sweeping drone shots of the highway from well above the tree line, mountain ridges the far distance. It doesn't look like BC's typical postcard vistas, with some scarring from fire or pine beetle, but it's raw wilderness nonetheless.

Jackson says it's a city-centric view that paints remote parts of the province as an inherently dangerous places for women. She says it's systemic issues of poverty, racism and policing that leave Indigenous women vulnerable to abuse. "The problem isn't that these Indigenous communities are in the middle of nowhere—they're actually in the middle of their territory."

As many as 50 Indigenous women have disappeared along the highway since 1970, according to advocates. Jackson's film focuses on one.

Jackson told me she wanted to "get out of the way" and let viewers have a "direct experience" with the land and Matilda Wilson, mother of Ramona Wilson, who disappeared in June 1994 at age 16. The setting flips between those soaring road shots to Matilda's living room. It's a space brimming with trinkets, family photos, CDs and a well-used water cooler.

In many ways Ramona's story echoes those of other women who disappeared. Transportation options were limited. She was on her way to a friends' house, but never arrived. When Matilda tried to file a missing person's report, police told her Ramona probably just ran off to another city, and recommended she sit and wait until her daughter called back. Over a year later, Ramona's body was recovered along the highway, and her murder remains unsolved today.

Though Jackson says it would have been easy to fall into the patterns of true crime and suspense, she resisted any over-dramatization. "I feel very strongly as an Indigenous filmmaker that it's important to convey the story as directly as possible," she told VICE. "It's not the place for fancy stylistic maneuvers."

Part of that neutral structure comes out of the medium itself, which doesn't allow for conventional film editing. "You can't edit shots, you choose environments," she said. "In some ways it's a lot more stripped down, less directed."

So far that approach hasn't stopped viewers from having widely different reactions—some feeling unsettled by the bare imagery and Matilda's description of the search for her daughter's body as "a needle in a haystack." Another viewer told me she was moved nearly to tears by Matilda's direct eye-contact.

"It's really striking how people react to the experience of being in an intimate space with the mother of one of the murdered and missing," Jackson said. "In a sense we all feel this is our community, and to be in Matilda's space, and to listen to her, it really shows her full humanity—it doesn't just make her a statistic."

Although Matilda is still waiting on justice for her daughter, the overall story of the Highway of Tears is still active and ongoing. In December, a CBC investigation uncovered new leads for the unsolved murder of Alberta Williams. And just a few weeks ago the province installed new webcams and bus shelters as part of a plan to improve safety for women traveling the route.

As for the VR adaptation of it, Jackson and The Current will be taking the installation to Toronto next month, and Montreal sometime in March.

Follow Sarah Berman on Twitter.

"I wasn't in no way where I am now, but I remember that line," said Destiny Frasqueri, pausing for only a moment before quoting Lauryn Hill's "Final Hour" about international articles and coming up on a hater. "And I was like, 'that's gon' be my revenge.' And I'm gon' let them fuckin' know." On January 15, Toronto's DJ Nino Brown and Thank You Kindly, a Toronto-based production and curation company, hosted Princess Nokia's two-part event in the city. On the first night, she performed to a crowd of fans who recited every word off her latest album 1992 with her in perfect unison. The next day, she sat with Anupa Mistry, FADER Canada editor in an informal, chill lecture and discussed the myriad of people, experiences and places that make up Destiny, the woman, and sustain Princess Nokia, the artist. After wrapping up the Q&A due to her need for vocal rest before her upcoming European tour, Princess Nokia committed to hanging back and invited every single attendee to a hug of appreciation. "I'm never gonna forget what this feels like. This is new to me every time," she said to a congregation of people hanging onto her every word. In a little over two hours, Destiny had made believers of everyone in the room.

Princess Nokia isn't really someone who needs an introduction. She identifies as a bruja and a tomboy, a classic New York Boricua shorty, a feminist, a queer woman who isn't burdened, but empowered by her complexity. Her podcast Smart Girl Club Radio, is the clearest distillation of Princess Nokia as the artist, woman and friend. The show is comprised of just one mic and her carefully shared musings on her life as she knows it to be true, only interrupted by sweet, fatherly check-ins or short recitations of original poetry. On the latest episode, she spoke on her accomplishments of 2016, the best and most prosperous year of her life. "See? She does many things, wears many hats. Doesn't even need to talk about it… Power to the people, and power to my paycheque," she ends with a little laugh. This is the essence of who she is: a hustler, a charismatic spirit, and someone who plays no games. As Destiny Frasqueri, as Wavy Spice, and, finally, as Princess Nokia.

Read more over at Noisey.

Ottawa is promising that anyone stranded in Canada as a result of President Donald Trump's immigration ban on seven Muslim-majority countries will be "accommodated and made to feel welcome."

But while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has reiterated its commitment to being a safe haven for refugees the world over, it is refusing to criticize or condemn Trump's executive order, which also indefinitely bars Syrian refugees from the United States, and blocks all refugees for 120 days.

Speaking with reporters on Sunday afternoon, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen provided an update—with the caveat that it was "what we know so far"—but dodged multiple questions asking him to weigh in on, or condemn, the intensely controversial ban.

"We welcome those fleeing persecution, terror, and war," Hussen reiterated.

Canada intends on settling 25,000 refugees, many of them coming from Syria, in 2017. It has taken in more than 50,000 Iraqi and Syrian refugees in recent years.

Read more on VICE News.

A shooting at a mosque in Quebec City Sunday evening has left many people wounded and multiple dead, according to police.

A police perimeter has been set up around the Islamic Cultural Center of Quebec, located in the Sainte-Foy neighborhood. A few dozen people were in attendance when the shooting reportedly began around 8 o'clock.

Quebec police told reporters that there have been "multiple victims" and "there are deaths," although exact numbers are still yet unknown. The director of the center says that at least five people were killed, but police have yet to confirm that. Le Soleil newspaper is reporting four deaths. 

This is a developing story. Read more on VICE News.

I went to New York's JFK Airport on Saturday not because I thought there would be photos to be made, but because I am an American, with a background that is only possible in America: My mother is from Mexico, my father is from Egypt, and I am a practicing Muslim. I was there, along with so many others, because Donald Trump signed an executive order that blocked refugees—and citizens from several Muslim-majority countries—from coming to the US. When something like that happens, you don't stay home.

When I arrived, I could hear the chants echoing off the parking garage. The protest extended from the entrance to Terminal 4's arrival area, where a dozen people were detained as a result of the ban.

I took this above photo of Mazeeda Uddin, founder of South Asian Fund for Education, Scholarship, and Training (SAFEST), an organization that provides educational support for the South Asian community, wearing a hijab, with an American flag in the background. I saw her standing with her sign and could not stop watching her chanting "FUCK TRUMP!" It was like seeing my own grandmother, full of passion, expressing herself unreservedly.

Whenever I watch interviews of Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway or Trump himself promoting the construction of a wall with Mexico or banning Muslims from traveling to the US, it makes me feel as if my community is not valued as much as others in America. A young man was carrying a sign that emotionally resonated with me. It said "NYC Jews Against Islamophobia," and it made me feel that other communities are coming together to protect my rights. I am very fortunate to have such a neighbor.

It's hard in normal circumstances to get someone to come all the way out to JFK to pick you up; Saturday night saw hundreds of people travel to the airport voluntarily. (There were more protests at airports around the country that night, and rallies at public spaces on Sunday.)

As the night went on, people ordered dozens of pizzas to be delivered to Terminal 4—a true New York moment.

VIew more of Mohamed Sadek's photos below:

When I told a friend I'd be writing a story about Fashion Nova, his immediate response was, "Oh, because of Cardi B.?" That's understandable, considering the reality star has churned out numerous social media posts within the last year championing the brand's $20 rompers and $50 dresses. No, I said, my reference point was Kylie Jenner, who, along with her sister Khloe, has advertised the brand's denim on her Instagram page, by posting a photo in December captioned "Obsessed with my new @fashionnova jeans." Even disclosing the post with a "#ad" couldn't keep it from gaining more than two million likes. My friend then remarked that his 14-year-old sister actually buys Fashion Nova thanks to YouTube star Tana Mongeau's fashion hauls, in which she tapes herself trying on the brand's clothes.

This is what Fashion Nova, a Los Angeles–based online retailer, does best: plant seeds on social media and watch as pop-culture influencers like Amber Rose, Blac Chyna, and even octogenarian Baddie Winkle post photos of themselves in the brand's body-con minidresses and high-waist distressed denim, convincing fans to buy into the fantasy of dressing like their favorite reality-TV star or Instagram model. "We work with 3,000 to 5,000 influencers," says Fashion Nova's founder and CEO, Richard Saghian, via phone in his first public interview since founding the company in a storefront in California ten years ago. "It's kind of like this ripple effect. The more people shout us out, the more their fans shout us out. Kind of like a viral Youtube video. We're a viral store."

Though Fashion Nova has five brick-and-mortar stores in California, its social media presence has made it a standout among other fast-fashion retailers. The brand reached six million Instagram followers last month, three years after launching the online store. Saghian says the company has experienced "explosive growth" in sales within the last year, claiming that three-quarters of its customers return to the site within 90 days. And according to Saghain, Fashion Nova has the supply to meet the demand. He says they add 400 to 500 new styles to the site each week.

Saghian claims he now employs more than 600 people and has a dedicated online and social media team that has perfected the art of selling to its customers, who are young women between the ages of 18 and 25. For example, one of its knit sets is called "Netflix and Chill." There's a skirt named "Internet Famous." The brand's followers willingly tag Fashion Nova in their selfies and "outfit of the day" posts on Instagram—and Fashion Nova engages with every customer-tagged photo, through likes, comments, and reposts. "We repost about 30 customer photos a week," Saghian says.

The brand is hyper-engaged on Instagram. They post hundreds of photos within a week's time. By comparison, competitor Asos, a UK-based online retailer founded 17 years ago, will post around 20 photos to its followers in the same time period.

"Instagram is so visual, and it's ripe for retailers to have direct access to their customers," says Gabriella Santaniello, a Los Angeles–based retail analyst and founder of A Line Partners. Social media allows brands to bypass fashion editors and use celebrities to directly connect with consumers. "Instagram takes it down to a very personal level," says Santaniello, explaining the appeal of Fashion Nova's use of influencers on the social network.

The brand's other appeal is, of course, its price point. Most items are less than $49.99. Buoyed by celebrity endorsements, consumers feel empowered, not ashamed, to shop within a realistic budget. Saghian cites a popular video by Cardi B. in which she flaunts a $100,000 watch, then reveals her $60 outfit from Fashion Nova, as proof. "I'm going to be on a budget 'til the day I die!" Cardi B. says in the clip.

"Basically she's saying, I can buy my expensive watch, buy the expensive shoes, but this dress is hot and it's only 30 bucks. Why do I have to lie about where I got it from?" said Saghian. "It's just not right for girls to pay that much money. They have enough problems as it is, you know… They shouldn't be brainwashed into paying a lot for clothes." Analyst Santaniello frames the advantage fast fashion retailers have this way: "The quality of rayon at Forever 21 is no different than the quality of rayon that you find in Splendid [clothing] that you buy at Neiman Marcus. Why are you going to pay twice or three times as much?"

Fashion Nova is clearly not the first to capitalize on this market. Online retailer Nasty Gal also specialized in less-than-$50 mix-and-match separates before branching off into premier lines at higher price points (some pieces are now priced as high as $500). In November the company filed for bankruptcy. "Nasty Gal opened retail stores in LA, and there's a little bit of a disconnect between the online and in-store for them," Santaniello says. "It's a beautiful store, I just think unfortunately price points are high." Nasty Gal may soon be acquired by British online retailer Boohoo, which owns PrettyLittleThing, another UK fashion startup specializing in nightclub-wear and flirty separates. There's also website Missguided vying for market share. Each of these brands uses the same caliber of celebrity endorsers as Fashion Nova. Last year Missguided used model Amina Blue in a campaign, and Boohoo turned to celebrity spawn Sofia Richie to star. Baddie Winkle has even advertised for both Fashion Nova and Missguided. But where Missguided's campaigns are professionally produced advertisements, there's something more guerilla about Fashion Nova's celebrity endorsements.

"I follow Cardi B. and K. Michelle and saw them wearing Fashion Nova, so I started following Fashion Nova," says Alexandria Williams, a 25-year-old customer. "I love what the brand stands for: all body types accepted and flaunted."

Mia Sand, a nurse in Denmark and one of Fashion Nova's influencers, says she contacted the company asking for an opportunity to advertise to her 400,000 followers. "It's very hard to find clothes for curvy girls in Scandanavia," she says. While Fashion Nova pays some lower-profile influencers a reported $500 to $2,000, most are given free stuff, which seems to be enough. "I've worn Fashion Nova pieces to red-carpet events, and just hanging out," says Desireé Mitchell, a 19-year-old actress and singer living in LA. who advertises the brand to her 147,000 followers in exchange for comped clothing.

For a fashion blogger, who must keep up with the demand of creating new content, or a reality TV star, who runs the risk of being captured by paparazzi in the same clothes, Fashion Nova's uber-trendy gear provides a solution. Perhaps that is why Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian were both spotted in Fashion Nova denim last year, despite Kardashian launching her own Good American denim line in October. "There's a lot of celebrities right now buying our stuff, from actresses to singers," Saghian says, though he declines to name names. "Hopefully, in the next couple of months, as we make it more popular for people to share where they buy their clothes, we can get those influencers to post."

Saghian isn't waiting for the fashion industry to knight him. He wants Fashion Nova to disrupt the status quo. "If you go to a hairdresser nowadays, no one cares about magazines anymore. They only want a phone charger so they can look at their feed, right?" he says. "Before, people were looking for fashion trends on the runway, but I think the runway is kind of dying. People are going to their feed and they want to buy what is on our feed and what is on our 3,000 influencers' feed. We're giving them what they want."

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On Game of Thrones, Conleth Hill plays the scheming "spider" and Master of Whisperers, Lord Varys, a character whose appeal owes everything to the North Irish actor's nuanced, stage-trained performance. The eunuch is neither a bloodthirsty warrior nor a highborn noble. Instead, he is the Game's canniest player. His mercurial presence, insinuating line delivery, and often-inscrutable and debated loyalty to "the realm" has, over the course of six seasons with a seventh due over the summer (perhaps June?), resulted in many of the show's best moments. Unquestionably, Hill's is one of the best characterizations. A memorable bit of season two banter has Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister musing, "You're an intelligent man. I wish we could converse as two honest intelligent men." Hill's priceless expression and the swivel of his shaved head as he replies ("I wish we could, too.") accomplishes more than most actors can get across in a whole speech. The scene is also typical in that it pairs Hill with an equally charismatic actor (his other regular sparring partner is Aiden Gillen's mewling Petyr Baelish) and allows the fond interplay between them to power a scene that might otherwise slip into rote exposition.

A lot of these character beats figure into Conleth Hill's new film, A Patch of Fog. There's the pairing of dishonesty with earnestness, the disarming candor mixed with secrecy, and an irresistible traction with co-star Stephen Graham (another HBO alum, familiar to audiences as Boardwalk Empire's Al Capone). In Patch of Fog, the 52 year-old Hill stars as Sandy Duffy, a successful author whose sole novel has propelled him to a comfortable life that is endangered by the appearance of Robert (Graham), a friendless security guard with boundary issues who becomes obsessed with Duffy after catching him shoplifting from a furniture store. What follows is an edgy and original noir indie that plays like The Cable Guy spliced with Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. Both actors appear to be having a ball, with Hill oscillating between teaching writing classes ("Today we're going to imagine life inside… a ping-pong ball!") and vandalizing Robert's crummy apartment. I spoke to Hill over the phone as the actor was in London wrapping up rehearsals for a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

VICE: In A Patch of Fog, you play a celebrity hounded by an overfamiliar acquaintance who slowly comes to dominate and disrupt his life and privacy. Is this what it's like to be a Game of Thrones actor?
Conleth Hill: No, thank God, I'm not so conspicuous when I'm not on set, since I look so different year round. My hair grows back fairly fast after shooting, so I'm not hounded at home.

You can maintain your disguise in plain sight.
Well, you say "disguise," I say back to normal.

Must be a strange ritual shaving your head every year. Who's your barber?
Oh, my barber's wonderful. And I've known him since I was born—it's me! The first season, I shaved my head and thought, Oh God, what I've done. But I've been reconciled to it for years now.

Both you and Stephen Graham are actors who are frequently the best thing about the projects you're in, even if you're not the stars. What's the dynamic like in a situation like this where you both have so much room to maneuver?
He's an amazing actor. Those first couple of days I was working on my own, and it wasn't until we started working together on set that I really started to enjoy it. A role like Robert depends enormously on who plays it for that something extra. Because when you read the script—which I only got a week before principal photography began—it's very well-written, but he brings it to life. Even though everything you see was technically in the script, you're seeing us playing the moment, finding our chemistry.

And what about crafting a writer-character like Sandy Duffy?
It's an interesting case because he appears to be a man who has everything. The biggest home, the nicest car, and the author of a novel so successful he's never had to write anything else. But you also see a man who is not happy, who shoplifts a pair of cufflinks in the first scene, so the audience is asking, "What's missing here?" as well as why he hasn't written anything else.

You seem to gravitate towards roles where you possess a great deal more knowledge than the audience, at least initially. How does that affect the choices you make onscreen?
It doesn't. You play the moment and you're not thinking about the audience so much as the characters you're with. But it is a different experience from doing a play. When you're doing TV or a film, you're at the mercy of the editing, the cameraman setting up the shots, the director—with stage work, you and your fellow actors are exclusively responsible for letting the audience know how they should feel. But both are about focus, about concentration.

Still, there must be a sense of inventing these characters from the ground up. Your Varys, for example, is the most modern character on the show: always up-to-date, absurdly well-informed, passively active behind the scenes…
This sounds like a cop-out, but I promise it isn't! Those scripts come with a lot of information, so I knew how Varys went from being a slave to the Small Council. [Showrunners and creators D. B. Weiss and David Benioff] gave me all the information I needed and that's all I ever tried to do, be in the moment with that backstory. But he's a lovely part to play: He's never been in a battle and so while people are filming battle scenes I get to do these character bits with Peter or Aiden. But again, it's all on the page, you know? I never panicked and thought, My God, what's going on? I never asked them, What's the story?. Nor did I ever read George's novels, because I wouldn't want that vision to influence how I played the part. You know what I mean?

One thing that maybe I brought to the part: When I didn't have lines, they were always gracious enough to give me a cut-away or a reaction and I was always aware that I'd get a couple of seconds, even if the scene was focusing on someone else. They're very egalitarian that way. When I do scenes with Aiden, my reactions are often intended to betray a kind of idea of how the audience should feel about what he's up to. So maybe that kind of thing, but everything else is there on the page.

I'll let you in on a secret: When you're a young actor, you go, [despairingly], "Oh my God, I've no lines." When you're older, you go [elated], "Oh my God, I've no lines!"

Any moments from the last season that especially stick out for you?
I loved the interrogation scene. That's when you see him working. Over the last six years, we've heard a lot of talk about "his little birds" this and that, but to actually see what that consists of—and I think wasn't quite what we'd expect really! Other than that, anything with Peter. And in past seasons, Aiden, or in the first season, Roger Allam, with whom I've worked with onstage. It's also always a pleasure to collaborate with Michael McElhatton [Roose Bolton] or Ian McElhinney [Barristan Selmy], with whom I have appeared onstage many many times.

Last season also saw you appearing in Spain—standing in for the Kingdom of Dorne—to say, "Fire and blood!"
I think I was already shooting in Spain, but if they want to fly me anywhere I'll do it. I'll let you in on a secret: When you're a young actor, you go, [despairingly], "Oh my God, I've no lines." When you're older, you go [elated], "Oh my God, I've no lines!"

Will we see Varys sporting any new robes this season?
You never know.

Oh, come on!
But about those robes—they're nice and warm, but they mix them up a lot in general so I'm not limited to one look. But I would never spoil anything for the viewer, because I'm genuinely eager for people to see it all. I know that doesn't make things any easier for you guys though!

Game of Thrones returns summer 2017. A Patch of Fog is currently available on VOD and iTunes.

Recent work by J. W. McCormack appears in Conjunctions, BOMB, the New York Times, and the New Republic. Read his other writing on VICE here.

(Top photo: Demonstrators holding placards during a rally against President Donald Trump's Muslim ban. Photo: Steven Senne AP/Press Association Images)

Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people took to America's streets and airports to protest Donald Trump's "Muslim ban". An executive order signed by the president on the 27th of January suspended resettlement of Syrian refugees indefinitely, suspended all other refugee resettlement for 120 days and banned anyone from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US for 90 days.

The order, which Trump says is about "keeping the country safe", has already faced huge opposition, with some critics arguing the order is unconstitutional, and many others pointing out that it will have absolutely no impact on the country's "safety" whatsoever – that the US is actually more under threat from American gun owners than any other group. Either way, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) promptly fought to block the order, and on Saturday managed to convince a federal judge to grant an emergency stay to halt the deportation of people with valid visas who had already landed in the US.

However, the fight is far from over. It's easy to feel powerless wherever you are (in the UK, it doesn't help that the Prime Minister has so far refused to condemn the Muslim ban), but there are concrete actions you can take to help the battle – here are some of those:

DONATIONS

The ACLU has promised to take action against Trump and his administration's "war on equality". Over the past weekend alone they raised $24.1 million (£20 million) from over 350,000 people, and you can donate here to help them continue the fight. Sia is matching donations to the ACLU of up to $100,000, so send her a screenshot of your receipt here. Venture investor and entrepreneur Chris Sacca is matching donations of up to $25,000; tweet him here.

As well as the ACLU, you could also donate to smaller frontline community groups who need the support even more than the ACLU does. CAIR, CUNY CLEAR, Muslim Advocates, Muslim ARC, National Partnership for New Americans, New York Immigration Coalition, Families for Freedom, Dream Defenders and Black Alliance for Just Immigration are just a few, and there are more listed here.

Grimes is matching donations of up to $10,000 to CAIR; you can tweet her proof of your donation here.

An anti-Trump protest in New York (Photo: Flickr user mal3k)

PROTESTS

There are plenty of protests taking place across the world, and all are a good way of showing solidarity. But as is often the case with these things, it's unlikely Trump or his administration are going to pay much attention to what the people demand. To get as much as you can out of protesting, aim as much pressure as you can directly at your government. World leaders might not be able to force Trump's hand, but at least they have his ear.

In the UK there's a protest outside Downing Street at 6PM tonight; head there to have your voice heard. There will also be a separate demo at the US embassy organised by Stop the War Coalition, Stand Up to Racism and the Muslim Council of Britain on the 4th of February.

Many other protests are happening in cities across the country today, including Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester. There are 30 in all so far; see here for a full list.

OTHER ACTIONS

If you have a spare room or are otherwise able to offer people stuck in the UK a place to stay, you can do so here.

This petition aims to prevent Donald Trump from making a state visit to the UK. It's awkwardly worded and calls for the visit to be cancelled due to "embarrassment to the Queen" rather than "Trump's bigotry and general awfulness", but it already has well over 1,000,000 signatures. Downing Street has dismissed the petition as a "populist gesture" and said that cancelling the visit would undo everything May "achieved" in Washington. And yes, it is an e-petition, the absolute epitome of clicktivism. But seeing as it's already surpassed the 100,000 signatures it needs to be debated in Parliament, if you oppose Trump and the idea of him visiting the UK, sign the petition to show the scale of opposition against him and his policies. A date is yet to be set for the issue to be debated.

You can also write to your local MP and ask that they represent your views in Parliament. Here are some other ways you can contact your MP and the best way to go about it.

ADVICE

You can find an advice sheet for nationals from the seven banned countries here, which lays out if and how you should go about travelling to and from the US.

@marianne_eloise / @CharlieBCuff

(Top photo: two kids wearing lots of Supreme)

It's 11AM on a Saturday morning and roughly 200 people are lined up outside London's Dover Street Market. One guy, Colin, has been here since 3AM. He jumped on a train in the middle of the night and waited eight hours for a very specific reason: Gosha Rubchinskiy.

"Gosha is one of my favourite designers," he says, referring to the 32-year-old behind fashion's current obsession with post-Soviet style. Born in Moscow, the designer takes inspiration from, and documents, Russia's youth culture. "I've always loved sport, and Gosha's designs cater to that," continues Colin. "He mixes the skate scene, streetwear and high fashion together."

It's also probably worth mentioning at this point that Colin is 14. Four years off being legally allowed to vote in this country, he's dressed in a two-toned Supreme velour tracksuit (retail: £380) and is alarmingly articulate about his fashion likes and, notably, dislikes. "I don't rate [British skate label] Palace any more," he says matter-of-factly. "The designs are cool but they're a bit repetitive."

Next is Ed. I don't know Ed's surname because he runs off halfway through our chat, but he's 13 and has just managed to get his hands on one of last year's most sought-after releases: the Adidas NMD "OG" trainers (the ones with the red and blue panels). They were re-released at Dover Street Market the same day Rubchinskiy's new collection dropped in-store. "I was meant to wake up at three in the morning but overslept, so I only got here at about eight," he says. As a result he had to buy the trainers from a reseller outside, coughing up an extra £70. But it's all worth it, in his opinion. "If you're walking around Soho and you've got something on other people don't have, you feel so good," he explains. "People just look at you like… rah. It's next level."

Then there's 16-year-old Michelle, last seen in the queue for Palace before her mum dragged her home. "I'd been there for eight hours," she grins, "so my mum came down to Soho and shouted at me in front of everyone." Today she's wearing tracksuit bottoms from Georgian/Parisian label Vetements. They retail at just under £500.

Some young men outside Supreme's London store (Photo: Jake Lewis)

These kids are dressed in head-to-toe designer, with wardrobes rivalling people twice their age. How did we get to this point? Why is Ed dropping £600 on a second-hand Supreme x Stone Island anorak without batting an eyelid? How did 14-year-old wunderkind Leo "Gully Guy" Mandela pick up over 120,000 Instagram followers just by posting photos of himself in the most hyped streetwear on the market?

The kids of yesteryear sloped about in Slipknot hoodies and studded Low Life belts, hoping their teenage years would whirl by with zero to little fuss. Now? Supreme; Palace; Gosha; Off-White; vintage Gucci are all styled to gram-worthy perfection. And this shit costs. We're talking £200 and upwards for anything that's deemed mildly exclusive. So who are these apparently very wealthy children, and where did their fascination with fashion come from?

Unsurprisingly, most of the kids I spoke to agreed Instagram was hugely influential. When you've "copped" a new item – especially if that item is rare – there's a need to show it off. "I wasn't serious on my gram game," explains Colin, "but six months ago I thought: 'Everyone else is doing it, so I might as well get on it properly.'" If you see your peers posting – and racking up 500-plus likes in the process – you can see how a part of you might want in.

For the big dogs it takes commitment: Mandela posts, on average, every couple of days in a totally new outfit, often in different cities. He's admitted to spending between £9,000 to £10,000 on clothes in the past two years alone, but it's all part of the same game: the hunt for something no one else will own. Rarity equals praise, and praise hushes – if only for a while – that inner voice screaming that you don't fit in. It boils down to the same age–old teenage insecurities: the need to be noticed and accepted. Wear one of these brands and you're part of the club, even if you feel a million miles away from it.

But unless you've got extremely rich parents, a criticism frequently flung at these kids in Instagram comments, keeping up with the latest drops is a job in itself. If teenagers get a bad rap for being vain – a generation too obsessed with social media and the Jenner sisters to care about anything else – the world they've created within that bubble is impressive. Many of these kids legally can't work, so they hustle for their money. Colin's parents bought him a pair of Raf Simons Ozweego trainers for his birthday, which, second-hand, cost £150 (retail price is £235). A couple of months later he saw a Supreme work jacket he wanted, so sold the trainers and used that money to buy the jacket. As Ed explains, "Over time you end up making more and more money because resale value for hyped items is more than retail value, even if it's worn." Colin is at pains to point out his parents didn't "give him any money" for Christmas last year because he's earned enough of his own through reselling and is becoming "too materialistic".

Does he think he's becoming too materialistic? He pauses for a second. "No, because clothes are my version of iPads, iPhones and Xboxes that other kids buy. And anyway, you look great."

This micro-economy is ubiquitous, and most kids are at it. Whacking up your old, ultra rare box logo tee onto Grailed (a high-end eBay) doesn't make you a "reseller" – people who buy hype items purely to sell them on for maximum profit – it simply means you can go on funding your obsession without having to rely on the bank of mum and dad. Some, like 16-year-old Sophie Scott from Croydon, are actively against the idea. "I spent over a month looking for my Supreme x Playboy tracksuit bottoms. Why would I sell them? It takes away the fun. I buy clothes because I want to wear them, not to make profit." (Sophie works in a chip shop every Saturday and says she pays for her "own shit.")

But what with all the obvious hype, are these kids genuinely into the clothes? Or fashion generally? The word hypebeast gets thrown about a lot: people who've jumped onto exclusive streetwear in the last year because it's a Cool Thing To Do. They'd all have you believe it's a legitimate interest: Sophie doesn't care if she gets called a hypebeast, while Colin's already got his fashion hierarchy instilled: "Girls my age – no offence, but they shop in Primark." Ask about where their love of streetwear originated from and it's an altogether sweeter story. Colin first discovered Supreme after hanging out with older kids at his local skate park. "And even though I'm crap at skating, everyone who wore the clothes looked so cool. I wanted to be just like them."

The same goes for Sophie. She might be obsessed with clothes, but it also runs a little deeper than that. "A few years ago, before I started getting into streetwear, I had quite low self-esteem," she says. "Eventually I started wearing bits, like Palace, just to see what happened, and people reacted in a good way. But it was scary. Just last week I bought a pair of white Supreme overalls and wore them to college a few days afterwards. I felt nervous [on that first day], but when people say to you, 'These are really nice,' you feel good about yourself. It's really helped my confidence."

Vetements stylist Lotta Volkova recently told the Business of Fashion that there are no subcultures any more. That teenagers today don't even have the knowledge of what a subculture is. And, sure, we now live in a world where people are more interested in constructing an online self than outwardly showing what they're interested in. But one look at these kids and you know they're part of the same tribe. For a start, they look identical. Emos, punks, goths – they've been replaced with a visual identity that marries Supreme and Sports Direct. If we're used to subcultures being built on and around music, streetwear is the art of looking good, adopting an air of arrogant nonchalance and pretending you haven't spent six hours looking for the perfect place to take a photo. The kids taking part might be too young to understand the symbolism of Gosha's Communist hammer and sickle logos, or the irony of worshiping a brand that defines itself by its rejection of consumerism, but does it really matter? They've created something of their own, something they feel a part of, and for that they should be admired.

So is this a lifelong thing? Will they be 30 years old, still hunting down a hoodie for three times its original price? Colin doesn't think so: "Nah. I want to get into suits." Sophie, like many I've spoken to, isn't so sure. "Fashion isn't everything, obviously, but these clothes have almost become a part of me," she says. "I don't feel like I could ever stop because it's helped me create the person I want to be."

@louisedonovan_

More on VICE:

Why Are So Many People So Obsessed with Supreme?

I Tried to Sell Cybergoth and Steampunk Clothes to 'Wavey' Streetwear Kids

Life After Supreme: Noah Is the Streetwear Brand That Rejects Conspicuous Consumption

(Top photo: US Embassy London, via)

Theresa May has made it clear she wants Brexit to involve controls on immigration, so it's perhaps surprising to read that part of the government's post-EU strategy might involve increasing the amount of foreigners turning up in these not-so-crowded isles.

In the run-up to her much publicised meeting with President Trump – which didn't make the front page of a single US newspaper – government sources suggested the PM was keen to boost US-UK migration as part of a possible free trade deal signed with the Trump administration. This came a few days after the Australian high commissioner revealed that similar soundings had been made in preliminary discussions over a free trade deal with Australia. Where the government has been intransigent over relaxing visa restrictions to high-skilled workers from, say, India, it seems markedly more relaxed when it comes to America, Australia, Canada or New Zealand.

This confirms what many knew: Brexit isn't simply a question of self-governance or an expression of anti-globalisation resentment: it is also about mobilising a racialised view of the world to help Britain find its place in it. This harks back to a project of May's political hero, Joseph Chamberlain, to create a "Greater Britain": an imperial federation which would allow the free movement of goods and people between "kith and kin", basically the white settler colonies of the Empire like Canada and Australia.

As New Statesman journalists Michael Kenny and Nick Pearce put it , "Greater Britain" – which in May's terminology has become "Global Britain" – was a "global commonwealth, but emphatically not one composed of rootless cosmopolitans". This means you can look beyond your provincial borders – without being a dreaded "citizen of nowhere" – provided these relationships are grounded by a common culture, which, in May's vision, is indistinguishable from whiteness. Health tourism is fine, if you're bleeding the blood of patriots.

"May's performance in Philadelphia made it clear that Britain is going to have to prostrate itself in front of the world's most powerful economy if its capitalist class is going to survive."

So the week started with the confirmation that Theresa May's lifelong anti-migrant posture is really about a certain kind of migrant. By Thursday, Brexit had become, in the guise of May's visit to the US, a pathetic genuflection to American power.

Speaking to the Republican Party's "Congress of Tomorrow" in Philadelphia, May made it clear that she desperately needs a free trade agreement with the US. Her grovelling speech made reference to Churchill, the Declaration of Independence, Pearl Harbour and Britain's "shared burden" of leading the free world – all to emphasise the conclusion: she's very keen to start preliminary negotiations for a free trade deal because, without one, Britain will be fucked come 2019. The speech tried to balance a fine line between praising Trump's defiant victory and gently criticising his protectionist instincts – if the latter wins out then it's unlikely a trade agreement will be in Britain's interests – but she didn't even rule out allowing American venture capital firms to buy up bits of the NHS if it's what they want. Although Brexiteers created the impression that after leaving the EU the global economy would be presented to Britain as a blank slate, just waiting for the negotiators to turn up in their imperial yacht and write whatever favourable conditions they wanted, May's performance in Philadelphia made it clear that Britain is going to have to prostrate itself in front of the world's most powerful economy if its capitalist class is going to survive.

The obsequiousness took an even graver tone by the weekend, when – in order to avoid offending her new best friend – the Prime Minister refused to condemn, even in modest terms, Trump's racist, sadistic and politically calamitous executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries. Having just cosied up to Erdogan's authoritarian regime in Turkey – May was the first Western leader to meet him since last year's failed coup and the subsequent crackdown on dissidents – she was asked what she thought about Trump's executive order in a press conference. She made a quick tactical calculation about the importance of a free trade deal and decided to ignore the plight of refugees being detained arbitrarily in US airports, uttering, through a sullen death mask of utter indifference, a sentence that has already caused her untold political damage: "The United States is responsible for the United States' policy on refugees."

May's servility signalled what effect Brexit is going to have on the so-called "Special Relationship" (which she mentioned eight times in her speech to the Republicans). After the Second World War, when the United States took over Britain's role as the dominant global power, Britain made a conscious decision to become America's "junior partner", as the Foreign Office bitterly described it. The US would give Britain loans to rebuild its economy after the war but with punitive repayment conditions; they wouldn't provide support when Britain undertook military adventures it didn't approve of – like going into Suez or the Falklands – but would expect, and received, complete fidelity when it did the same. Membership of the world's largest economy, the EU, allowed Britain to mitigate this role somewhat as the years went on, acting as a transatlantic bridge between Europe and the United States. But with one half of that bridge totally burned, May understands she'll need to hand over more military and economic power – and de facto sovereignty – to the US. We've taken back control only to hand it over to a petulant princeling who literally had to have the Geneva Convention explained to him.

Oh yeah, and since we're covering the gut-wrenching things that happened last week I might as well mention that a Chinese military official warned that direct military conflict with the US is "becoming a practical reality" now that Trump's in the White House. What will end first, I wonder: this column or the world?

@yohannkoshy

More "Brexit Means..."

Brexit Will Force Us to Face Up to the Grisly Truth About Empire

Theresa May's Fantasy Brexit 'Plan' Brings the Nightmare Closer to Reality

Will Brexit Turn Britain Into a Corporate Tax Haven?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada has been hit with a terrorist attack, after two men opened fire in a Quebec City mosque, killing six people and injuring 19 others, some gravely.

The victims ranged from 35 to 70 years old, police said at an early morning press conference near the scene. Another 39 were at the mosque, but escaped uninjured.

Two male suspects have been arrested. One was arrested near the scene of the shooting, while the second was stopped after a chase that culminated near a bridge to the east of the city. Police said they do not believe there are any other suspects.

"We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge," Trudeau said in a statement released late Sunday night, hours after police reported having two men in custody and the situation at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec "under control."

Continue reading on VICE News

Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump holding hands as they walk along the White House Colonnade during her visit to Washington. (Photo: Stefan Rousseau PA Wire/PA Images)

They'll all do it eventually. All those sensible and pragmatic liberal European leaders will, sooner or later, start greasing up to Donald Trump: nibbling at those big-boy presidential fingers like peeled baby carrots, smiling politely as the most powerful man in the world goes potty, cooing over his finger-painted policy prescriptions – because what else can they do? Donald Trump has America now; he has it in the same sense that the evil wizard in some knockoff fantasy novel has the Stone of Power, and for all the countries that have flung themselves into America's vast orbit there's no other option.

You, the heir to a thousand years of violent and terrible history, must grit your teeth and play nice with a game show host, WWE Hall of Fame inductee and returning guest on The Howard Stern Show. You pretend to like him, because he has the power to kill you and every single one of our citizens, if he wants to. Angela Merkel will do it, Erna Solberg will do it, Lars Løkke Rasmussen will do it; every president and princeling will travel across the world to pay homage to the child on his throne. So when Theresa May jostles to the front of the line, her puckered mouth glistening as she leans in to kiss the ring, it's embarrassing, but not really surprising.

Her response to Trump's ban on people from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia entering the United States – and on all refugees – is different. It's not as if there was nothing she could do. French and German ministers have condemned the executive order; so has the Mayor of London and the leader of the opposition; and thousands of ordinary Americans – people with far less power in their hands than the British Prime Minister, and in far more immediate danger from state reprisals – immediately headed to their nearest airports in their masses to demand the release of those being detained.

And with good reason. As a report from the right-wing Cato Institute showed, if the ban had been instituted in 1975 it would have prevented precisely zero American deaths. The title of the executive order describes it as a measure "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States", but it's not about protecting anyone. It's about appearing to protect, giving a warm hug to all those reactionary dullards who complain endlessly about special snowflakes in the universities, with their trigger warnings and their safe spaces, bawling at a reality they're too sensitive to deal with – and then turn around to cry out for a strong leader to keep them safe from all the vaguely defined terrors of a big scary world. It's about setting up a hierarchy: there are those who will be protected, and a plastic, expanding category of those who must be subjected to arbitrary violence to ensure that safety. But more than that, it's a kind of foundational transgression. This is what's normal now, it says. Don't be shocked by what comes next.

The ban is undiluted sadism; its only purpose is to give a sense of comfort to some by enacting cruelty on others. It's the kind of thing we all have an urgent duty to oppose, but Theresa May didn't oppose it. All she did was declare that she does "not agree" with the ban, in the same way that you might disagree with someone's inflammatory food opinions on Twitter (stop saying risotto is bad, it's good actually). When pressed to take a position at a press conference, she repeatedly refused to make any condemnation. "The United States is responsible for the United States' policy," she said. In the end, Boris Johnson came thundering through with grand news: he'd spoken to his American counterparts, and the 205,000 British subjects with dual citizenship would be exempt. Great news for Mo Farah, knight of the realm; great news for Tory MP Nadhim Zahawi. But securing this exception meant an act of incredible moral cowardice. As a mad and arbitrary evil starts snatching people out of the air, holding them without legal recourse in a civil aviation system that's been turned, at the stroke of a pen, into a vast network of black sites, Britain cringes, and says: great stuff, but please don't do it to me.

Trump didn't climb down from his travel ban through British prodding. Instead, our quisling government has integrated itself even further into the machinery. If our citizens are exempt, it's because America can trust us to do all the necessary work of repression for them. Boris Johnson's pale sagging face presses itself against Donald Trump's pale sagging arse, until all those dimpled sheets of flesh melt into each other and become one.

Not just cowardice; complicity. Theresa May wasn't scared to speak up. When she said in Washington that she and Trump shared the same values, she wasn't lying. Theresa May is our very own homegrown Trump – her face vacuum-packed from sprawling flab into tight and bony malice, but a Trump all the same. Like the US President, she has a deep and possibly pathological obsession with migration and with cultural heterogeneity; she wants to stamp it out.

In 2015, at the conference of a triumphant Tory party briefly keen to present itself as the party of sensible liberal moderation, she ruined the party by grimly announcing a new assault on some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, promising to close borders to refugees and ramp up deportations. As Home Secretary, she deported up to 50,000 students simply for having taken a test in conversational English, and her pet project was a fleet of vans painted with slogans borrowing the language of the National Front, to be sent to ethnically diverse areas of London. As PM, she's governed with all the same senselessness and caprice as her colleague across the pond, driven by the same ideological fanaticism. It's not just her handling of Brexit: take, for instance, her insistence that international students be included in migration figures, potentially bankrupting British universities out of nothing more than the petty hatred of a vicar's daughter for all those foreigners swarming outside her frilly curtains.

Theresa May is an ideologue, and a dangerous one. Nobody should be looking to her for condemnation of whatever monstrosity Trump conjures up next.

@sam_kriss

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This is the VICE Interview. Each week we ask a different famous and/or interesting person the same set of questions in a bid to peek deep into their psyche.

You will absolutely, most definitely know 26-year-old singer JoJo from her early-2000s bangers Leave (Get Out) and Baby It's You . What you might not know is that JoJo didn't entirely disappear for the last ten years – she's released mixtapes, one-offs, covers. She's even made new material but wasn't able to release it due to disputes with her record labels. However, after persevering through a long and bitter battle with her labels for placing her in musical limbo and seriously damaging her career, JoJo is signed to Atlantic Records.

Mad Love is her first album in 10 years, and its first single Fuck Apologies (ft. Wiz Khalifa), signals a big comeback. JoJo is currently touring Europe to promote the album and will be playing at Heaven in London on the 1st of February, so we called her up to talk about being an earthling and why boys who throw rocks at ducks are dicks.

How long do you think you would last in space?
As an astronaut in some kind of ship? I don't think I would survive very long. I don't think I'm meant to be in space, I'm definitely an Earthling, an Earth girl. I would get very lonely, I like being by myself but that's next level solitude. I'm not really down with that.

How often do you lie when answering interview questions?
One out of ten times.

What have you done in your life that you most regret?
I regret lying to a boyfriend who didn't deserve it. I regret that I cheated on him and that just isn't something I'm proud of.

JoJo (Portrait by Brooke Nipar)

Why did you break up with your very first boyfriend?
When I moved to New Jersey from Massachusetts I was the new girl at the middle school. I met this super cute boy, he was really popular and I couldn't believe that he wanted to date me. I was 12. We took a walk together along the Hudson River and he threw rocks at ducks. He threw rocks at them, trying to hurt them. I broke up with him and never wanted to talk to him again after that because I thought it was terrible. Why would you want to throw rocks at ducks? I was so upset. What kind of a person are you?

What is the nicest thing you own?
My condo in Boston. I have this old, beautiful printing press that I've been renting out to people for the last 5 or 6 years. I'm really proud of it, I love it, it's a beautiful home. I have some great jewellery that I've inherited too, and that I've collected over the years from Native American art dealers.

What film or TV show makes you cry?
That movie Zootopia. It's really about society, it's quite deep. I thought it was so beautiful the way it was done, because it's an animated film but they always seem to sneak in some really meaningful messages into these movies. It's about race and society and differences and prejudice.

When was the last time you said no in something relating to your career?
It's less no and more, "This is not acceptable for me so how are we going to change it". I try to look for solutions rather than just saying, "no".

What was your first email address?
I think it was the name of my first hamster, which was Arnick. A-R-N-I-C-K 90 at probably aol.com.

What conspiracy theory do you believe?
Well, I definitely believe in aliens. I'm just going to leave it right there with the aliens – I do like a good conspiracy theory but I don't want to get myself wrapped up. But I think aliens have been to earth and helped us. I like the idea of Ancient Aliens – I'm sure you've seen that show – where we've had Intergalactic help from other beings. I wouldn't purport to say that it's 100 percent true but it's a theory that I enjoy.

JoJo (Portrait by Brooke Nipar)

What have you done in your career that you're most proud of?
I'm most proud of my relationship with my fans and being able to travel around the world after not having put out an official album in 10 years but still have the support and the loyal fanbase. It makes me very happy.

What memory from school stands out to you stronger than any other?
I remember the first time I heard the word inquisitive and my teacher used it against me as an insult. In second grade my teacher Mr Beckenstein said, "you're very inquisitive", and I went home and looked up that word and I didn't know what it meant. Also I remember my fourth grade teacher said, "don't insult my intelligence", and I didn't know what that meant either because I was not trying to insult her intelligence. Those two moments stand out to me.

Would you rather change one day from your past or see one day from your future?
I would rather see my future. The future interests me more than the past.

Do you think University is worth it?
I think it depends. You see so many examples of particularly people in our generation, millennials who are changing the world and changing technology and moving things forward without a college degree. I don't think it's necessary, but it's also not to be overlooked. I'm sure there's a lot to gain from it, but me personally I've gotten an incredible education from travelling the world and reading the books I choose to read and having the conversations I choose to have, but that's not to say that a University education isn't important. I'm sure you need a college degree if you want to be in finance, but if you want to be a rock star you don't need it.

If you were a wrestler, what song would you come into the ring to?
"I'm Shipping Up To Boston" by Dropkick Murphys.

Would you have sex with a robot?
Yes. I would try it for sure. Why not? It doesn't seem like it would hurt anybody, except maybe me a little bit.

@marianne_eloise

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Since Trump signed an executive order on Friday, temporarily barring refugees and people from seven majority Muslim countries from entering the US, outrage has reverberated across the world. Protesters gathered at US airports over the weekend and federal judge Ann Donnelly was praised for blocking Trump's order to save a Syrian refugee from deportation. In the UK, a petition to stop the President's scheduled visit has already received over 1 million signatures.

The chief executive of Starbucks has also added his voice the international condemnation of Trump's travel ban. In a strongly worded message published on the Starbucks website yesterday to all partners and employees, Howard Schultz said that the company would "neither stand by, nor stand silent, as the uncertainty around the new Administration's actions grows with each passing day."

Read more on MUNCHIES

Everything you need to know about the world this morning, curated by VICE.

US News

Trump Aides Call Travel Ban 'Massive Success'
At least some Trump White House officials are psyched about how the executive order preventing refugees and people from seven mainly Muslim countries from entering the US is playing out. One called it a "massive success story," despite protests at airports across the US and ongoing legal efforts to fight deportation and detention. Meanwhile, House Democrats have asked for a meeting with Homeland Security boss John Kelly to get clarity on how exactly Trump's order is supposed to be implemented.—Reuters / Politico

Starbucks, Airbnb, and Google Respond to Travel Ban
Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz says his company will hire 10,000 refugees around the world over the next five years. Airbnb is moving to provide free accommodation to anyone affected by travel restrictions. And Google has created a $4 million fund for four immigration organizations: the ACLU, the UNHCR, the International Rescue Committee, and the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.—CNBC News / USA Today

Uber Accused of Profiting from JFK Taxi Strike
Ride-sharing giant Uber is accused of profiting while the New York Taxi Workers Alliance went on strike at JFK airport in solidarity with those affected by travel restrictions. A company announcement about lowering prices at JFK prompted a #DeleteUber campaign on Twitter. But CEO Travis Kalanick says he will raise his own concerns about the travel ban with President Trump at an upcoming business advisory group meeting, and is also reportedly rolling out legal and financial help for impacted drivers.—CBS News

Hundreds of Thousands Donated to Rebuild Mosque in Texas
Donations are flooding in for a Texas mosque that was destroyed in a fire in the early hours of Saturday morning. The Islamic Center of Victoria has already raked in some $600,000 on GoFundMe to rebuild the mosque. "It's incredible," said the mosque's president Shahid Hashmi. "We're very grateful." Police are still investigating the cause of the fire.—Al Jazeera

International News

Six Killed in Shooting at Quebec Mosque
Six people were shot dead and another eight injured after at least one gunman attacked the Quebec City Islamic Cultural Center on Sunday night. Two suspects have been arrested. The president of the mosque, Mohamed Yangui, called the attack "barbaric," and PM Justin Trudeau said, "We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a center of worship and refuge."—Reuters

Philippines Puts Its War on Drugs on Hold
The Philippines is apparently suspending its brutal drug war so police can be purged of corruption. The vow from top officials follows the killing of a South Korean businessman by police officers, who also tried to extract a ransom his family after his death. Police chief Ronald dela Rosa said President Rodrigo Duterte had "told us to clean the organization first… then maybe after that, we can resume our war on drugs."—BBC News

Prominent Lawyer Shot Dead at Airport in Myanmar
Ko Ni, an attorney who enjoyed close ties to Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was killed over the weekend. Police arrested a 53-year-old man suspected of the shooting and are investigating potential motives, including the possibility the suspect was paid to assassinate Ko Ni. A taxi driver who tried to prevent the shooting was also killed.—Al Jazeera

Lefty Outsider Wins Socialist Nomination in France
Benoît Hamon has won the nomination to be the Socialist Party's candidate in the French presidential election this year. The far-left insurgent beat former PM Manuel Valls, a center-left establishment figure, 58 percent to 42 percent. Hamon has pledged to reduce France's work week, legalize marijuana, and introduce a tax on robots.—The Guardian

Everything Else

SAG Award Winners Slam Trump Travel Ban
Several of the actors and creatives who won prizes at the 2017 Screen Actors Guild awards condemned President Trump's policy of "extreme vetting." Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus said "this immigrant ban is a blemish and it is un-American."—The Hollywood Reporter

Rhianna Calls Trump an 'Immoral Pig'
Rhianna is among the more prominent musicians to condemn Donald Trump's travel restrictions, calling the president an "immoral pig." Kristin Kontrol, meanwhile, described it as "shameful, immoral, + unconstitutional."—Noisey

Over One Million Sign British Anti-Trump Petition
A petition demanding the UK cancels a planned state visit by President Trump has gained more than one million signatures online. The leader of the opposition, Labour Party boss Jeremy Corbyn, has backed the call to cancel the visit.—TIME

Secretary to Joseph Goebbels Dies at Age 106
Brunhilde Pomsel, the former personal secretary of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels, has died at the age of 106. In interviews before her death, Pomsel maintained that she bore little guilt for actions of the Nazis and "knew nothing."—The Times of Israel

Bannon Gets Seat on National Security Council
President Trump's chief strategist Steve Bannon will join the National Security Council after an executive order signed over the weekend. The NSC is normally reserved for cabinet members and military chiefs. Adding to the oddity of the new arrangement, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and director of national intelligence are no longer permanent members of the "principals" committee, raising concerns they won't be included in key talks. —VICE News

Austrian Hotel Pays Bitcoin Ransom After Cyberattack
A luxury lakeside hotel in the Austrian Alps said it was forced to pay thousands of dollars in Bitcoin after being hit with a ransomware attack. Romantik Seehotel Jägerwirt paid a $1,600 fee to regain control of its computers.—Motherboard

My parents immigrated from Iraq to Canada as skilled workers in 1996, during the reign of Saddam Hussein and before the US invasion. Even under the rule of a dictator, Iraqi citizens enjoyed benefits such as free education. My mother and father were both educated as engineers, civil and mechanical respectively. My father worked odd jobs until he got a six week engineering placement in 1997, and was offered a job one month in before even getting his Engineering certification equivalent at the University of Toronto in 1999. My mother worked as a civil engineer for about a year in 1997, but as a child I was too much of a pain in the ass to be left in daycare so she eventually quit for my sake. In 2004, my parents became homeowners after apartment-hopping for years in London, Ontario since Toronto rent costs were too high. My father also took up building homes; talk about immigrants literally building up this country. 15 years later, they've done well enough for me to be sporting a designer sweater while typing angry tweets about America from my Macbook.

Not every immigrant family is as lucky. On January 27, President Donald Trump approved an executive order that "suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen." If my parents had been held up at the airport in handcuffs 21 years ago, I wouldn't be here today. If my father had been barred from his regular business trips to the USA because of his dual citizenship, he wouldn't be able to maintain his position with his company. My family's story is nothing special; North America was built by immigrants who are exploited for their labour while simultaneously being shunned by the hegemony. 

Iraq was destroyed by American imperialist endeavors, and its citizens were left dependent on Western powers for help, only to be shunned  when seeking refuge. Immigrant labour is exploited by a capitalist economy that undermines their existence while destroying their home countries. Before Trump, American propaganda advocated for diversity and acceptance of immigrants. Now, even this curtain has been lifted and full-fledged discrimination is in practice. In Canada, at the very least our government is not overtly promoting an anti-immigrant atmosphere but tensions are high in respect to the situation south of our border.

Ideology is the foundation of every violent state apparatus. The American "War on Terror" campaign has evolved into a "War on Islam" and, in turn, a war on any individual whose heritage or citizenship is from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region regardless of their religious affiliations. Being apolitical is simply not an option for survival, even for refugees who see North American democracy as a haven away from the nightmares of their war-torn homes. Many arrive here with a blind optimism, and are quickly disillusioned as they experience discrimination they never expected to find in lands of freedom. Queer Middle Eastern people might look forward to exploring their sexuality in North America, but find themselves branded as "Arabs" before all else in a post-9/11 world and are forced to navigate this complication of their identity. Whereas back home queer Middle Eastern people deal with homophobia in their own societies, in America they face homophobia, though perhaps to a lesser extent, in addition to racism and xenophobia. Additionally, they may be assumed to be conservative or highly religious and as a result homophobic themselves based on their heritage. Professionals expect their skills to be respected in the workplace, but are told their education is not good enough. Those who succeed in their careers are resented for "stealing jobs" from "normal" (i.e. white) citizens, while those who cannot find work are reprimanded for draining public funding. Respectability politics and equality ideologies are instilled in these immigrants' children, and without realizing it we try to assimilate as we grow up in the West.

As a second-generation immigrant, I live at the fringes of Western and Eastern communities. Kids like me account for an oft-overlooked greyzone, with insights on many different groups. My Western education has taught me how to analyze and critique all structures, including Middle Eastern traditions, while my Middle Eastern upbringing has taught me to be skeptical of Western ideologies that will never fully accept me.

Corey Perinne/Associated Press

My mom laughed me off when I informed her of the initial announcement stating the #MuslimBan would affect Canadians as well. She's already seen NYC, LA, Orlando, DC, Las Vegas, and many other American hotspots - why should she give them any more of her money? She would never renounce her Iraqi citizenship to enter a country that hates her and destroyed her homeland. My dad's reaction was a more heartbroken, shocked response to the news, questioning my sources, reading articles, trying to fathom why the world has come to hate people like us so much. PM Justin Trudeau has since clarified  "that holders of Canadian passports, including dual citizens, will not be affected by the ban." But what of our family overseas still seeking refuge? With Europe becoming increasingly hostile towards immigrants and the new American government being blatantly biased, Canada seems to the best place to choose to relocate to if possible. Those granted green cards to the US were given false hope as they are met with detention and interrogation upon landing in the country.

Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an Iraqi who had worked in Iraq for the US government for a decade, was detained at JFK but still shared warm sentiments about the "land of the free" and told the Guardian he does not resent airport authorities for doing their job. While his kindhearted nature is commendable, it is also dangerous to be too forgiving of authorities that obey discriminatory commands. The situation can easily escalate to these agents carrying out more harmful actions. His optimism and empathy reminds me of my first generation family members telling me to be thankful for Canadian laws when I complain about injustices in the country. But those of us who grew up here are wary of letting our guard down. Furthermore, recent immigrants fear speaking out more than second-generation immigrants do because even their valid displays of frustration will be interpreted as hostile. They face the threat of being considered terrorists if they assertively oppose unjust laws, so it is often easier to remain silent.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) won a temporary stay over the weekend against Trump's Muslim ban, which means that people detained at airports will not be deported. This court win came about after a mosque in Texas was burned down and a woman at JFK had attempted suicide, distraught at the idea of being sent back to her home country.

Read more: How You Can Actually Help to Fight Donald Trump's Muslim Ban from Overseas

Canadian politicians expressed support for refugees and intentions to help out with the situation, and the country is facing calls to get rid of the Safe Third Country Agreement which prohibits refugees who are turned away from entering the United States from applying for refugee status. Our public safety minister Ralph Goodale has promised to make it clear to Trump's team that Canada does not condone torture. It is undoubtedly comforting to know that our country's leaders stand in such stark opposition to the Trump administration, but this is only the beginning of the battle against four years of unconstitutional American policies.

In Canada, complacency towards the Trump administration is extremely dangerous. Trump came into power in part because the American people did not take his campaign seriously until it was too late. Now that he is acting on his platform, citizens have been rallied to frantic activism that feels futile in the face of four dark years of Trump's America. Although Canadians seem to have a better attitude towards immigrants, we must not ignore far-right ideologies that also exist in our country. Last night, six people were shot dead at a mosque in Quebec city where a pig's head was delivered last summer. I can't feel removed from discrimination against fellow minority groups in the US because it's far too close to home.

It's easy to feel powerless in such a troubled political climate, but now is the time to rally against institutional hatred in any way we can. Marching in the streets and physically occupying public space as well as posting resources on social media and blogs can make a difference. Contact your local MP to urge them to take action against Trump's policies and protect refugees. Donate to the ACLU to support their court battles against his unconstitutional decisions. If you are able to, look into sponsoring a refugee family (more info on how Canada's private sponsorship program works here). This of course is a large commitment, whereas donating to an NGO such as the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Rescue Committtee or groups committed to bringing refugees to Canada like Lifeline Syria can be a one-time payment. Local mosques and university groups often host initiatives to aid refugees from the MENA region of all religious backgrounds, so be on the lookout for fundraisers you can attend or volunteer at. Prioritize your time and funds; it's not enough to just share Facebook posts when people are struggling to survive.

It seems that the "good person" bare minimum has diminished to just avoiding sounding like a full-on Nazi. Even supposedly forward-thinking university students struggle with the concept of political correctness, seeing respecting the humanity of others as infringing on their rights to free speech. It is not enough to simply denounce Trump and his supporters. If being Canadian means having a fundamental respect to life, liberty, and security for all individuals, then all citizens are responsible for taking action against human rights infringements that we have the power to prevent.

Follow Diyana on Twitter.

Six men were killed at a shooting at a Quebec City mosque Sunday night, in what authorities are describing as a domestic terrorist act.

Two men, both in their 20s, have been arrested. However, just after noon Monday, Sûreté du Québec police tweeted that only one man is considered a suspect; the other is now being treated as a witness. While police are not naming the men or speculating on possible motives, other media outlets have identified them as Laval University students Alexandre Bissonnette and Mohamed Khadir. It is not clear which man is the suspect. 

The names of the six dead have not been released. Two victims are currently in critical condition at Centre Hospitalier Universite Laval and will require additional surgeries but they are expected to survive. Three additional victims are expected to be released from hospital shortly. Twelve were treated and released from hospital. All of the victims are men between the ages of 39-60, the RCMP said at a press conference Monday morning. 

"We're still in the early stages of the investigation," said RCMP Superintendent Martin Plante, "we're not going to discuss the specifics at this time."

Charges have not yet been laid.

A member of a Quebec SWAT team escorts a woman not far from the shooting scene. ANDRE PICHETTE/EPA

Approximately 200 police officers were called to the scene Sunday night at around 8 PM, where two masked gunmen had entered the ground level of the Sainte-Foy Islamic Cultural Center. Around 40 people were at the mosque for evening prayers at the time.

Police said one of the suspects was apprehended near the crime scene while another called 911 and waited about 20 kilometres from the shooting site for them to pick him up by the side of the road. No other suspects are believed to be at large.

All mosques in Laval are currently under high security. 

Family members of victims have been advised to go to Jeffery Hale building at Saint Brigid's hospital, where trauma and social work services are available.  

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau released a statement Monday morning saying he was shocked and angry to learn of the tragedy.

"We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge," he said. "Muslim-Canadians are an important part of our national fabric, and these senseless acts have no place in our communities, cities and country. Canadian law enforcement agencies will protect the rights of all Canadians, and will make every effort to apprehend the perpetrators of this act and all acts of intolerance."

Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume wrote on Facebook that "violence and intolerance towards anyone, groups or individuals, is simply unjustifiable and unacceptable."

"The whole town is with you and we will be at your side in order to get through this terrible ordeal which exceeds the reason."

The Islamic Cultural Center, also called the Grand Mosque of Quebec, was targeted last June when a bloody pig's head was left there wrapped in plastic with the note "bonne (sic) appétit." It has also previously been vandalized with notes that said "Fuck Arabs," "white power," and swastikas.

The shooting comes on the heels of US President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the States.

Hundreds of protesters against the Muslim ban gathered outside the US consulate in Toronto Monday morning.

Trump also reportedly called Trudeau to express his condolences and offer support. 

Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch, known for praising Trump and stoking Islamophobia through her proposed policies of screening immigrants for Canadian values and creating a barbaric tips hotline, tweeted that the shooting was "heartbreaking."

In response, many called for her to drop out of the race.

"You are contributing to Islamophobia in this country. Drop out of the race, resign your seat, and reflect on your life choices," wrote one user.

According to the National Council of Canadian Muslims, there were 63 anti-Muslim hate crimes reported in Canada in 2016, up from 59 in 2015, and 23 in 2014.  Statistics Canada reports there were 99 hate crimes reported against Muslims in 2014—more than double the 45 reported in 2012.

There will be a vigil in Quebec City tonight to honour the victims of the shooting.

This is a breaking news story. We will continue to update it as developments unfold. 

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which usually gets just $4 million in online donations every year, received more than $24 million this weekend alone, the Washington Post reports.

The flood of online donations, from 356,306 people, follows Trump's first few days in office and the many controversial executive orders he signed. On Friday, Trump capped off the week by signing an executive order that places a ban on incoming refugees and one on people traveling to the US from seven different countries with large Muslim populations.

On Friday, the ACLU responded to the executive order by filing a lawsuit that asked a federal judge to block deportations of people who had been detained over the weekend. Judge Ann Donnelly of the US District Court in Brooklyn granted the request Saturday night.

"I've never seen anything like this," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero told Yahoo News Sunday. By then, the group had already raised $10 million. "People are fired up and want to be engaged. What we've seen is an unprecedented public reaction to the challenges of the Trump administration."

According to CNN Money, many of the hundreds of thousands of donations came from people who had never given money to the group in the past. Several celebrities, like Sarah Paulson, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Sia, also called on people to donate to the civil liberties group and some pledged to match figures up to a certain amount. Ride share company Lyft also said it'd give $1 million to the organization over the course of four years, making the announcement in an email to its customers.

In addition to the record number of donations, Romero told Yahoo that the ACLU saw a spike in memberships from 400,000 to 1 million after the November election. He also stated that he wouldn't be surprised if the case reached the Supreme Court.

"Our nation is a nation of immigrants. We have welcomed refugees to our shores," Romero said on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS Sunday. "Refugees in particular are among the most vulnerable individuals, and the idea that we would try to shut them out because of the fear-mongering, the xenophobia that President Trump has now engaged in, we find very troubling."