Tuesday, March 19
US and Japan push for ban on nuclear weapons in space with UN security council resolution | United Nations
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US and Japan push for ban on nuclear weapons in space with UN security council resolution | United Nations

The US and Japan are sponsoring a UN security council resolution calling on all nations not to deploy or develop nuclear weapons in space, the US ambassador has announced.Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UN security council meeting that “any placement of nuclear weapons into orbit around the Earth would be unprecedented, dangerous, and unacceptable.”The announcement follows confirmation from the White House last month that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.Russian President Vladimir Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the US.The Outer Space Treaty ratified by about 114 countr...
Biden speaks with Netanyahu amid escalating tensions in U.S.-Israel, warns against Rafah invasion
Europe

Biden speaks with Netanyahu amid escalating tensions in U.S.-Israel, warns against Rafah invasion

WASHINGTON — During a critical phone call Monday, President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Israel's carrying out a planned military operation in Rafah, the White House said."Our position is that Hamas should not be allowed a safe haven in Rafah or anywhere else, but a major ground operation there would be a mistake," national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the White House briefing where he outlined the leaders' conversation. "It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza and further isolate Israel internationally," Sullivan added. He said more than a million people have taken refuge in Rafah, a city in the southwestern Gaza Strip along Egypt's border, after having moved ...
Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels allowed to testify in Trump hush money trial
Europe

Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels allowed to testify in Trump hush money trial

A New York judge on Monday denied Donald Trump's bid to keep his former lawyer Michael Cohen and adult film star Stormy Daniels from testifying in the former president's criminal trial related to a 2016 hush money payment.Judge Juan Merchan gave both Cohen and Daniels the green light to take the stand, but placed some restrictions on Daniels' testimony, namely that she can’t testify about a lie detector test she took in 2018 indicating she’d been truthful about her comments about Trump.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump alleges that he falsified business records to hide money he was paying Cohen to reimburse him for $130,000 the attorney paid Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Daniels has claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump...
After convictions of Michigan school shooter’s parents, victims’ families seek school accountability
Europe

After convictions of Michigan school shooter’s parents, victims’ families seek school accountability

While the historic trials of the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley resulted in guilty verdicts, the parents of the four students killed at Oxford High School in 2021 said Monday their quest for accountability is far from over.They are turning their attention back to the school district and school administrators, some of whom were called as witnesses in the trials, to demand lasting efforts from state leaders, including changes to governmental immunity laws that protect schools from being sued and requiring independent reviews after any mass shooting.They also want a continued investigation into the response at Oxford, with subpoena power to force people to cooperate, saying a third-party report released last year was "scathing" but also had shortcomings, in part, because...
English football regulator close as government confirms ‘historic’ bill | Football politics
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English football regulator close as government confirms ‘historic’ bill | Football politics

An independent regulator for English football is imminent after the government confirmed plans to put a bill before parliament under which clubs could be fined up to 10% of revenues if they breach agreed conditions.The long-awaited football governance bill is to be published on Tuesday and will define the powers of the regulator according to three objectives: “to improve financial sustainability of clubs, ensure financial resilience across the leagues, and to safeguard the heritage of English football”.The details of the bill, once published, will be pored over by politicians, football administrators and fans as a day supporter groups have long campaigned for finally comes to pass.The bill has been months in the making, with the government under pressure to deliver on its promise of a r...
Tesla-rival BYD pushes into emerging markets amid Western uncertainty
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Tesla-rival BYD pushes into emerging markets amid Western uncertainty

BYD electric cars waiting to be loaded onto a ship are seen stacked at the international container terminal of Taicang Port in Suzhou, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on February 8, 2024.STR | AFP | Getty ImagesIn the race against Tesla for the global electric car market, Chinese automaker BYD is pushing hard overseas despite rising barriers to the U.S. market.The Shenzhen-based company has already tested the waters in a number of countries with some immediate sales success, often just one year after entering. Given policy uncertainty around Chinese EV exports to major markets like the U.S. and Europe, BYD is seeking to bolster overseas sales by moving production to regions perceived as more friendly. Already, the company has factories in Thailand, Brazil, Indonesia, Hungary and Uzb...
Trump and Ohio’s GOP establishment clash on the eve of a rowdy Senate primary
Europe

Trump and Ohio’s GOP establishment clash on the eve of a rowdy Senate primary

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On the eve of an Ohio Republican Senate primary awash in resentment and rage, two leading candidates stuck close to their tribes Monday, reinforcing battle lines in a race that has become a referendum on former President Donald Trump.Allies of Trump and his preferred candidate, Bernie Moreno, barnstormed the state, warning that a vote Tuesday for state Sen. Matt Dolan would deal a blow to their MAGA movement. Dolan, meanwhile, campaigned here with Gov. Mike DeWine, who despite feuding with the right-wing base has remained popular among moderates and independents key to Dolan’s coalition.The last-minute rush followed a weekend rally that Trump headlined for Moreno and reflected a contest that many see as a tossup for the GOP nomination to face Democratic Sen. Sherrod Bro...
Abortion foes settle lawsuit against museum over pro-life hats
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Abortion foes settle lawsuit against museum over pro-life hats

Patrons enter the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum for the public reopening of the museum’s west end galleries on the National Mall in Washington, U.S. October 14, 2022.Jonathan Ernst | ReutersThe National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., agreed to settle a lawsuit by a group of students, parents, and chaperones from a Catholic school in South Carolina who were told by security guards to remove hats bearing an anti-abortion message during a visit there last year, a court filing Monday revealed.The federally funded museum agreed to pay the more than a dozen plaintiffs a total of $50,000 to settle the suit, according to the filing in U.S. District Court in Washington. The payment includes attorneys' fees.The settlement also calls for the museum's director to give the p...
Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua y Bolivia, diferentes regímenes mismas torturas
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Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua y Bolivia, diferentes regímenes mismas torturas

El World Liberty Congress (WLC) alertó este lunes de la «recesión de la democracia en el mundo», en palabras de su secretario general Leopoldo López . El opositor y ex-preso político venezolano participó en la presentación en España de esta iniciativa, que no ha cumplido aún los dos años de vida y que cuenta con miembros –activistas, ex-presos políticos, disidentes, políticos, periodistas– de 56 países. Presidida por la iraní Masih Alinejad, cuenta en la vicepresidencia con Garry Kasparov, gran crítico de Putin. En esta ocasión - hace unos meses tuvo lugar un acto fundacional en Lituania - el evento se centro en las autocracias de América Latina –Bolivia (híbrida), Nicaragua, Venezuela y Cuba– y los tipos de torturas que aplican los regímenes de dichos países. «Las autocracias aprenden ...
Funding deal eludes Congress just days ahead of government shutdown deadline
Europe

Funding deal eludes Congress just days ahead of government shutdown deadline

WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders still haven’t reached an agreement on how to fund a broad swath of the federal government, with just over four days to go before the deadline.Money expires at the end of Friday for the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services and a host of other agencies.Three sources familiar with negotiations tell NBC News the Homeland Security (DHS) portion is the final sticking point between lawmakers, with the other five funding bills covering the rest of the affected departments effectively settled.Heading into the weekend, negotiators were poised to release a package that includes the five other funding bills and funds DHS separately on an extended stopgap basis, largely continuing the status quo. But now they’re back to...