Friday, Apr 19th
Last update07:17:01 AM GMT
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned that Europe is in a “pre-war era” but still has a “long way to go” before its ready to confront the threat posed by Russia.
“War is no longer a concept from the past. It is real, and it started over two years ago. The most worrying thing at the moment is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven’t seen a situation like this since 1945,” Tusk said in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt published Friday.
A state appellate court in Fort Worth, Texas, has acquitted Crystal Mason of an illegal voting conviction that would have required her to serve a five-year prison sentence.
Judge Wade Birdwell wrote in his ruling that the state did not have enough evidence to prove that Mason knew she was ineligible to vote when she cast a ballot in the 2016 election.
In a statement, the ACLU of Texas said this acquittal amounts to a "victory for Mason, a Black grandmother from Fort Worth, whose life was upended by the state's aggressive charges."
"I am overjoyed to see my faith rewarded today," Mason said in a statement. "I was thrown into this fight for voting rights and will keep swinging to ensure no one else has to face what I've endured for over six years, a political ploy where minority voting rights are under attack."
President Joe Biden and his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, headlined a star-studded fundraiser with former President Bill Clinton on Thursday, offering a robust defense of the White House's handling of the Gaza crisis as protesters interrupted the event.
An appeals court in Texas upheld a lower court’s injunction blocking the state from investigating parents who allow their kids to receive gender-affirming care.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered state agencies in 2022 to open probes into the parents of transgender minors after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) issued an opinion claiming certain types of gender-affirming medical care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, classify as child abuse.
After Abbott’s order, a district court judge imposed a statewide temporary injunction on the investigations, saying they endangered the children and their families.
In separate letters made public on Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office and Trump’s lawyers argued over whether the gag order’s language reaches the families of both the district attorney and the judge.
The order limits Trump’s public statements about “the family members of any counsel or staff member” involved in the case.
But, it explicitly enables Trump to continue attacking Bragg himself and also does not appear to restrict Trump’s statements about the judge.
“The People believe that the March 26 Order is properly read to protect family members of the Court. But to avoid any doubt … this Court should now clarify or confirm that the Order protects family members of the Court, the District Attorney, and all other individuals mentioned in the Order,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass wrote in a letter to the judge.
Boise State University (BSU) professor and Claremont Institute scholar Scott Yenor was the hidden hand behind Action Idaho, a far-right online media platform that featured inflammatory rightwing commentary on politics in that state, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.
The documents, obtained through public records requests, also show that Yenor sought and received funding for the initiative from wealthy and influential donors like Claremont Institute board chair, Thomas D Klingenstein.
He also attempted to hire a rising conservative writer, Pedro Gonzalez, to lead the initiative. Gonzalez was later embroiled in a controversy about antisemitic remarks he made in online chats in 2019 and 2020. They also show him tapping a network of expertise that overlaps both with the Claremont Institute and the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR), a secretive fraternal Christian Nationalist organization the Guardian has reported on extensively.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is facing one of the most serious threats yet to his coalition government after the country’s supreme court ordered an end to government subsidies from Monday for many ultra-Orthodox men who do not serve in the army.
The ruling follows a series of delays by the government in presenting a proposal to the court aimed at enhancing the military enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, who have historically been exempt from conscription.
The court has previously ruled the current system discriminatory and given the government until Monday to present a new plan, and until 30 June to pass it. Netanyahu, whose government includes parties supportive of and opposed to ultra-Orthodox enlistment, on Thursday asked the court for a 30-day extension to find a compromise.
The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.
The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.
Washington gives $3.8bn in annual military assistance to Israel, its longtime ally.
The package comes as Israel faces strong international criticism over its continued bombing campaign and ground offensive in Gaza and as some members of Joe Biden’s party call for him to cut US military aid.
I have organized airlifts of women legislators, judges, and journalists out of Afghanistan as Kabul fell; delivered ongoing aid to Ukrainian front-line villages during Russia’s invasion; worked on efforts to build runways, roads, and highways to deliver aid to Rwandan refugees after the genocide; and delivered aid shipments to enclaves besieged and under attack by the Syrian army.
None of it prepared me for the challenges of trying to bring a few trucks of food and medicine per week into the Gaza Strip.
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