Day: April 10, 2024

Armenian FM To Skip Post-Soviet Gathering  Ազատություն Ռադիոկայան

Congressional Committee on Homeland Security.

Tomorrow at 10 am ET. Worth checking out. Link below provides live coverage.

Formed in 2005, the committee focuses on legislation and oversight related to the security of the United States.https://t.co/a6hizQClFr

— Dan Stanton (@1DanStanton) April 10, 2024

This interview, with outgoing Bulgarian PM, makes an essential point: Russian political interference enters political systems through corruption https://t.co/mUVCExHdUK

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) April 9, 2024

Maggie Haberman reacts to Trump’s abortion statement  CNN

(NewsNation) — Veteran journalist Megyn Kelly said in a Tuesday interview on NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live” that while she is skeptical about the strength of the case against former President Donald Trump in his upcoming hush money trial, she believes he will be convicted.

“I don’t really think there’s a lot of mystery about that. He shouldn’t, but he’s going to get convicted. The jury is going to hate him,” Kelly said, noting the strongly Democratic political leanings of Manhattan, where the trial will be held.

However, Kelly argued that the prosecution faces a high bar in proving the payments to Stormy Daniels were an illegal campaign contribution, rather than a personal matter.

On Saturday, Trump’s lawyers urged Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan to step aside from the case, alleging bias and a conflict of interest because his daughter is a Democratic political consultant. 

“She’s a Democratic political operative. Her whole business is getting $10 million from Adam Schiff and the like, who’s running on the promise of getting Trump and getting them and convicted in these cases,” Kelly said, defending the former president’s right to criticize the judge’s impartiality. “That’s why this judge should have disqualified himself, recused himself in the beginning.”

Abrams also asked Kelly about the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a near-total ban on abortions in the state. Democrats are poised to make it a major campaign issue heading into the 2024 elections.

Kelly, however, argued that this was the proper course of action following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“This is the true democracy in action and the way it should work,” Kelly said. “Where … there was this law on the books, now it’s going to be enforced because Roe has been removed.”

However, the former Fox News anchor cautioned Republicans against pushing for a federal abortion ban, warning that it could backfire if Democrats regain control of Congress and the White House.

“I really believe this is a state’s rights issue. And I think Republicans need to be very careful about arguing that this is a federal issue and can be legislated at the federal level.”

The White House blames militant group Hamas for the failure to reach a cease-fire with Israel before the end of Ramadan, as Washington prepares for a high-level meeting on Israel’s plans to invade Rafah and faces lingering questions over the killing of aid workers by Israeli forces. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Fresh gunfire erupted Tuesday in downtown Port-au-Prince, forcing aid workers to halt urgently needed care for thousands of Haitians.

Weeks of gang violence have forced about 18 hospitals to stop working and caused a shortage of medical supplies as Haiti’s biggest seaport and main international airport remain closed, said aid workers with The Alliance for International Medical Action, a Senegal-based humanitarian organization.

“The situation is really challenging and affects our movement on a daily basis,” said Antoine Maillard, the organization’s medical coordinator based in Port-au-Prince.

Gang violence has driven about 17,000 people in the capital from their homes. Many are crammed into abandoned schools and other buildings where they often share a single toilet.

Maillard said aid workers were able to reach one of the camps for displaced people on Tuesday, “but there were too many gunshots to provide support.”

He said the health crisis is worsening. It is difficult to find basic medications including antibiotics and antidiarrheals since gang violence has shuttered suppliers. The limited medication available has doubled and even tripled in price.

That means Haitians like 65-year-old Denise Duval are unable to buy needed medication or see a doctor.

“My health right now is not good,” she said, adding that she has high blood pressure and often feels dizzy. “From hearing gunfire all the time, my heart beats a lot.”

Duval is taking care of three grandchildren whose mother migrated to the neighboring Dominican Republic in search of work. The mother sends money when she can, but Duval said it’s not enough to buy medication and support the children at the same time.

“We’re living day-by-day and hoping that something will change,” she said as she sat outside her home and washed dishes in a bucket.

Gunfire echoes daily throughout Port-au-Prince, though the gang violence has somewhat subsided in certain areas since gunmen began attacking key government infrastructure on Feb. 29.

Key roads remain impassible, preventing Haitians like 52-year-old Nadine Prosper from reaching one of the few operating hospitals.

Prosper lost her lower left leg in Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, and she’s unable to get the medication she needs.

“I’m still suffering,” she said as she walked back to her house with a cane in one hand and groceries in the other. “When the pain comes, if I don’t have painkillers, that’s the hardest part.”

Haiti’s largest public hospital, the State University Hospital, is among those closed. Located in downtown Port-au-Prince, it has been seized and looted by gangs that also pillaged nearby pharmacies.

While some private clinics and hospitals are operating, they remain inaccessible to the majority of people in a country where 60% of the population earns less than $2 a day.

Dr. Priscille Cupidon, medical activity manager for Doctors Without Borders, said the ongoing fighting resembles a war.

“The country’s deepening political and economic crises have left medical facilities with few resources,” she wrote in an essay published Tuesday. “Our health care system is falling apart.”

Cupidon, who runs a mobile health clinic, said a medical team visited a neighborhood near the center of Port-au-Prince late last month that it hadn’t been able to access since Feb. 29.

“The medical needs in the area are very high and are only likely to grow now that health care is so limited,” Cupidon said.

Gangs are estimated to control 80% of Port-au-Prince.

The violence forced Prime Minister Ariel Henry to announce last month that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created.

Israel will complete the elimination of Hamas’ brigades, including in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, and nothing will prevent this, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. Europe’s highest human rights court ruled Tuesday that its member nations must protect their citizens from the consequences of climate change in a landmark ruling that sided with a group of 2-thousand Swiss women against their government in a case that could have implications across the continent. An underwater drone is using AI to help survey the Great Barrier Reef as a widespread mass coral bleaching event unfolds across the world’s most extensive reef ecosystem.