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Following his conviction on all counts, Donald Trump’s future is now in Judge Merchan’s hands

Following his conviction on all counts, Donald Trump’s future is now in Judge Merchan’s hands

Time magazine reports: [Following Donald Trump’s conviction, t]he experienced New York Supreme Court judge who has presided over Trump’s Manhattan trial for six weeks will have several thorny decisions before him including whether he should send a former President to jail or probation, and if any sentence should be postponed until after Trump has exhausted his appeals. Every decision would reverberate across the political landscape and, depending on the timing, could greatly affect the election in November. That’s a lot…

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Biden’s problems with younger voters are glaring, poll finds

Biden’s problems with younger voters are glaring, poll finds

NPR reports: Younger voters have been a crucial voting bloc for Democrats for decades. Voters 18-29 years old made up roughly 1 in 6 voters in 2020, and President Biden won them by more than 20 points, according to exit polls. He won voters under 45, who were 40% of the electorate, by double-digits, too. But surveys have found Biden struggling with the groups, and the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll underscores the depth of his problems with them. It’s a…

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Biden gives Ukraine permission to use U.S. weapons to strike targets inside Russia threatening Kharkiv

Biden gives Ukraine permission to use U.S. weapons to strike targets inside Russia threatening Kharkiv

Politico reports: The Biden administration has quietly given Ukraine permission to strike inside Russia — solely near the area of Kharkiv — using U.S.-provided weapons, three U.S. officials and two other people familiar with the move said Thursday, a major reversal that will help Ukraine to better defend its second-largest city. “The president recently directed his team to ensure that Ukraine is able to use U.S. weapons for counter-fire purposes in Kharkiv so Ukraine can hit back at Russian forces…

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Europe on high alert after suspected Moscow-linked arson and sabotage

Europe on high alert after suspected Moscow-linked arson and sabotage

The Guardian reports: Security services around Europe are on alert to a potential new weapon of Russia’s war – arson and sabotage – after a spate of mystery fires and attacks on infrastructure in the Baltics, Germany and the UK. When a fire broke out in Ikea in Vilnius in Lithuania this month, few passed any remarks until the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, suggested it could have been the work of a foreign saboteur. Investigators have already alleged potential…

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Israeli campaign against ICC may be ‘crimes against justice’, say legal experts

Israeli campaign against ICC may be ‘crimes against justice’, say legal experts

The Guardian reports: Efforts by Israel’s intelligence agencies to undermine and influence the international criminal court (ICC) could amount to “offences against the administration of justice” and should be investigated by its chief prosecutor, legal experts have said. Responding to revelations about Israeli surveillance and espionage operations against the ICC, multiple leading international law experts said the conduct of Israeli intelligence services could amount to criminal offences. The disclosures about Israel’s nine-year campaign against the court were published on Tuesday…

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U.S.-made munitions used in deadly strike on Rafah tent camp, CNN analysis shows

U.S.-made munitions used in deadly strike on Rafah tent camp, CNN analysis shows

CNN reports: Munitions made in the United States were used in the deadly Israeli strike on a displacement camp in Rafah on Sunday, a CNN analysis of video from the scene and a review by explosive weapons experts has found. At least 45 people were killed and more than 200 others injured after a fire broke out following the Israeli military’s strike on the outskirts of Gaza’s southernmost city, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health…

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Top Israeli official says fighting in Gaza likely to last at least another 7 months

Top Israeli official says fighting in Gaza likely to last at least another 7 months

The Times of Israel reports: A senior Israeli official predicted on Wednesday that the war in Gaza would continue at least through the rest of the year, as international pressure on Israel to end fighting only grows. National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in an interview with Kan public radio that “this year, we expect another seven months of combat, in order to deepen our achievement and achieve what we define as the destruction of the military and governing capabilities…

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How to force Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves in the Jan. 6 cases

How to force Justices Alito and Thomas to recuse themselves in the Jan. 6 cases

Rep. Jamie Raskin writes: Everyone assumes that nothing can be done about the recusal situation because the highest court in the land has the lowest ethical standards — no binding ethics code or process outside of personal reflection. Each justice decides for him- or herself whether he or she can be impartial. Of course, Justices Alito and Thomas could choose to recuse themselves — wouldn’t that be nice? But begging them to do the right thing misses a far more…

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Life on Ukraine’s front line: ‘Worse than hell’ as Russia advances

Life on Ukraine’s front line: ‘Worse than hell’ as Russia advances

Reuters reports: The artillery fire begins just before dawn. A soldier steps into a darkened trench and lights a cigarette, carefully cupping the flame with his free hand. A boom and crackle of outgoing fire sound in the distance. Viktor, the infantryman, ducks his head under a canopy of camouflage netting and looks up at the brightening sky. The incessant buzz of a drone sounds overhead, moving a dozen meters from one end of the trench to linger just above…

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Why the summer could be disastrous for Ukraine

Why the summer could be disastrous for Ukraine

Isaac Chotiner interviewed Dara Massicot: This month, the Russian Army has been advancing toward Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, a move that highlights the degree to which the two-year conflict has turned in Vladimir Putin’s favor. At the very least, the push toward Kharkiv may force Ukraine to redirect its thinly stretched forces from the Donbas region, where Russia has been waging a prolonged offensive. The U.S. Congress recently passed an aid bill—blocked since last year by hard-right Republicans in the…

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A third of North America’s birds have vanished

A third of North America’s birds have vanished

Anders Gyllenhaal and Beverly Gyllenhaal write: For weeks, Adam Smith had been crunching the raw data from more bird statistics than anyone had ever tried before—thirteen different bird counts and millions of radar sweeps. Suddenly he heard the musical chime that tells him his results are ready. He leaned across his desk, surrounded by enough high-powered computers to heat up his entire office, and stared at what could only be an impossible conclusion: Over the past fifty years, his calculations…

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Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the International Criminal Court exposed

Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the International Criminal Court exposed

The Guardian reports: When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.” Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made any such interference a criminal…

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EU foreign ministers discuss sanctions against Israel

EU foreign ministers discuss sanctions against Israel

Politico reports: EU foreign ministers have for the first time engaged in a “significant” discussion on sanctioning Israel if it doesn’t comply with international humanitarian law, Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said Monday. “There was a very clear consensus about the need to uphold the international humanitarian legal institutions,” Martin told reporters following the Foreign Affairs Council. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Friday that Israel must immediately halt its offensive in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, and…

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Biden was my boss. I resigned because as a Jew I cannot endorse the Gaza genocide

Biden was my boss. I resigned because as a Jew I cannot endorse the Gaza genocide

Lily Greenberg Call writes: Until last week, President Biden was my boss. Last week, I resigned from my post at the United States Department of the Interior, becoming the first Jewish politically appointed administration official to publicly resign in protest – and in mourning – of President Biden’s endorsement of genocide in Gaza, where more than 35,000 Palestinians have been murdered. This was an incredibly difficult decision, but one that was necessary – and one that felt even more urgent,…

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