SCOTUS rulings this term could strengthen religious rights protections, expert says
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard the first of three major religious rights cases this spring, with an expert telling Fox News the high court has the opportunity to further clarify the free exercise clause’s scope in protecting religious Americans from government interference. “I think it’s fair to say here that all three cases involve questions that have been lingering in courts for a long time, or that raise issues that are especially pressing right now around the country,” Thomas More Society attorney Michael McHale told Fox News Digital in an interview. “To me, it seems clear these cases, at least potentially, could stand for the principle that as long as someone’s acting out of a sincerely motivated religious beliefs or sincerely held religious beliefs that triggers the First Amendment, and it requires the government to show a really good reason why the government interests should override that belief,” he added. POPE FRANCIS’ DOCTORS CONSIDERED ENDING TREATMENT, SAID ‘THERE WAS A REAL RISK HE MIGHT NOT MAKE IT’: REPORT On Monday, the high court heard a case brought by a Wisconsin-based Catholic charity group’s bid for tax relief, which could alter the current eligibility requirements for religious tax exemptions. At issue in that case is whether the Wisconsin branch of Catholic Charities, a social services organization affiliated with Catholic dioceses across the country, can successfully contest the state’s high court determination that it is ineligible for a religious tax exemption because it is not “operated primarily for religious purposes.” “Today’s case involving Catholic Charities in Wisconsin involves questions that we’ve seen a number of times in different contexts,” McHale said. “The question is essentially, can states determine how religious an organization is in order to ultimately determine whether they qualify for a religious exemption that’s already available?” SUPREME COURT APPEARS LIKELY TO SIDE WITH CATHOLIC CHURCH AND TRUMP IN KEY RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION CASE McHale said the issue is similar to the one faced during the Obama administration with the HHS contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act, which required most employers, including religiously affiliated organizations, to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives at no cost to employees. “I think what the Supreme Court says in this case will probably resolve to a great extent, or at least shed a lot of light on how those other issues should be resolved,” he said. The other two cases deal with school choice. One involves a case about whether parents can excuse their children from LGBTQ-themed storybooks on religious grounds, and the other is whether a Catholic online school can become the first religious charter school in the U.S. “Again, we just see these issues arising around the country time and again,” McHale said of the cases. SOTOMAYOR COMPARES TRANS MEDICAL ‘TREATMENTS’ TO ASPIRIN IN QUESTION ABOUT SIDE EFFECTS DURING ORAL ARGUMENTS GOP AG PREDICTS WHICH SIDE HAS ADVANTAGE IN HISTORIC SCOTUS TRANSGENDER CASE WITH ‘DIVIDED’ JUSTICES “The Oklahoma charter school case seems to be a natural development from the religious school choice cases the Supreme Court’s dealt with over the last 10 or so years,” McHale said. Regarding Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Maryland case about excusing children from LGBTQ material, McHale said “while there is an opt-out statute in state law, the school initially abided it,” but “the school decided to yank the opt-out exception, so to speak, and it really triggered the issue of whether the Constitution requires an opt-out in that circumstance.” “For the Fourth Circuit to say there was no religious burden, it really seems radical, and given how pressing that issue of school curriculum on sexual orientation, gender identity is, I think it raises an issue worth the Supreme Court’s attention,” he said. While President Donald Trump signed several gender-related executive orders to stamp out progressive gender ideology from institutions and the federal government earlier this year, McHale said it could likely reduce the infringement on religious rights in situations involving gender ideology, like schools requiring teachers to use students’ preferred pronouns. “The hope is Trump’s executive orders and the shifting political ends ease those burdens outside the courts,” McHale said. “We’ll have to see how it all makes sense.”
Melania Trump to focus on love as a ‘universal language’ at International Women of Courage Awards
EXCLUSIVE: First lady Melania Trump will recognize courageous women from all corners of the world at the State Department Tuesday and is expected to celebrate “the extraordinary strength of women who embody love in action around the globe.” The first lady is returning to the State Department for her fifth year participating in the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Awards. MELANIA TRUMP SPEAKS ON CAPITOL HILL FOR FIRST TIME IN ROUNDTABLE FOCUSED ON PUNISHING REVENGE PORN The event will recognize women from around the globe who have “bravely stood up for many of the values we cherish here in the United States.” The first lady is expected to focus on “love as a source of strength” during her remarks Tuesday and is expected to call love a “universal language.” The first lady is also expected to honor the courageous and “extraordinary” women who will receive the annual awards. “Mrs. Trump will highlight the profound connection between the love and courage shown by this year’s honorees,” first lady spokesman Nick Clemens told Fox News Digital. “She looks forward to celebrating the extraordinary strength of women who embody love in action around the globe.” MELANIA TRUMP ANNOUNCES RETURN OF WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG ROLL Recipients include women from Burkina Faso in West Africa, Israel, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Sudan, Sri Lanka and Yemen. One of the recipients, Amit Soussana, was taken hostage by Hamas in Israel during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack. Soussana is an advocate for the hostages that remain under Hamas control. The IWOC Award is in its 19th year and recognizes women from around the world who have demonstrated “exceptional courage, strength, and leadership — often at great personal risk and sacrifice.” The State Department said that since 2007, it has recognized more than 200 women from more than 90 countries with the IWOC Award. U.S. diplomatic missions overseas nominate one woman of courage from their respective host countries, and finalists are selected and approved by senior Department officials.
Trump threatens Iran over nukes as DNI Gabbard claims Tehran is not building bombs
As President Donald Trump edges closer to potentially bombing Tehran, Iran, the intelligence community does not yet believe Iran is moving toward a nuclear weapon. “If they don’t do a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said Sunday. It was not clear whether that meant Israel or the U.S. would bomb Tehran. “There’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago,” he added. Secondary “tariffs,” or sanctions, would mean slapping financial penalties on any country that does business with Iran. TRUMP CAUTIONS ‘BAD THINGS’ IN STORE IF IRAN WON’T NEGOTIATE AS ISLAMIC REPUBLIC TOUTS ‘MISSILE CITY’ However, Trump’s threat of direct war on Tehran comes just after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard insisted last week Iran is not building a nuclear weapon – at least not yet. “The IC [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapon program that he suspended in 2003,” Gabbard told a worldwide threat hearing held by the Senate Intelligence Community last week. Experts believe Iran is enriching uranium to 60%, which puts it just below the 90% needed for a nuclear weapon, and have said there is no civilian use for 60% enriched uranium. “The IC continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program. In the past year we’ve seen an erosion in the decades-long taboo in Iran of discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran’s decision making apparatus,” Gabbard said. She added that Iran’s uranium enrichment was “at its highest levels” and is “unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.” The IC’s annual threat assessment, released in conjunction with the hearing, predicted Iran would continue efforts to threaten U.S. citizens and conduct operations inside the U.S. “Tehran will try to leverage its robust missile capability and expanded nuclear program, and its diplomatic outreach to regional states and U.S. rivals to bolster its regional influence and ensure regime survival,” the report said. “However, regional and domestic challenges, most immediately tensions with Israel, are seriously testing Iran’s ambitions and capabilities.” The report detailed the “lethality” of Iran’s missiles and UAV systems but said little else about the threat of Iran’s nuclear program. TRUMP THREATENS TO BOMB IRAN UNLESS THEY END NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM AND BEGIN TALKS ON NEW DEAL It assessed Iran’s capabilities, degraded by Israel, would be able to deter further offensive Israeli actions. “The IC assesses Iran’s prospects for reconstituting force losses and posing a credible deterrent, particularly to Israeli actions, are dim in the near-term,” the report said. JINSA President and CEO Michael Makovsky offered a separate assessment, telling Fox News Digital, “Their enrichment program is about as far as you can get, so that part is done. So the question is the weapons part.… the issue today is less weaponization and more about opportunity.” Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, added a broader critique. “When the IC, reporters or open-source analysts fail to connect the dots between strategy, capability and intention when looking at Iran’s atomic infrastructure … they do a public disservice to the public national debate.” He said that worldwide threat assessments “should but be politicized,” but “intelligence officials must be asked, if Iran isn’t building a weapon, why has it invested so much time, labor and capital into this quest?” Tehran’s moves toward an atomic weapon is not a dash, but a “slow and steady quest to develop the world’s most dangerous weapons as safely as possible,” said Taleblu. The renewed threat comes as the U.S. is bolstering its forces in the Middle East. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently sent a second aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson, to join the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, whose deployment was also extended. The U.S. also recently deployed two B-2 stealth bombers to the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, a warning to Iran and Yemen’s Houthi militia. The planes are capable of carrying 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs and are now situated within range of Iran. In his first term, Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal signed by then-President Barack Obama, deeming it a “bad deal” that did not curb Iran’s nuclear program. He has already ordered his administration to bring “maximum pressure” back to Tehran, choking them financially from every lever of government.
First major swing state election of 2025 turns into referendum on Trump, Musk
MADISON, WI – Voters head to the polls in Wisconsin on Tuesday to decide if conservatives or liberals will control the majority on the key Midwestern battleground state’s supreme court, which is likely to rule on crucial issues including congressional redistricting, voting and labor rights, and abortion. However, with a massive infusion of money from Democrat and Republican-aligned groups from outside Wisconsin – which turned the race into the most expensive judicial election in the nation’s history – the contest has turned into a referendum on President Donald Trump’s sweeping and controversial moves during the opening months of his second tour of duty in the White House. Also, front and center in the electoral showdown is someone else, who, along with Trump, is not on the ballot – the president’s top donor and White House adviser – billionaire Elon Musk. WHY ELON MUSK HANDED OUT MILLION DOLLAR CHECKS IN WISCONSIN Musk, the world’s richest person and chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, has taken a buzzsaw to the federal government workforce as he steers Trump’s recently created Department of Government Efficiency. Through aligned political groups, he has dished out roughly $20 million in the Wisconsin race in support of Trump-backed Brad Schimel, the conservative-leaning candidate in the election and a former state attorney general who currently serves as a state circuit court judge in Waukesha County. BATTLEGROUND STATE SHOWDOWN: DEMOCRATS TARGET ELON MUSK Musk, in a controversial move, handed out $1 million checks at a rally in Green Bay on Sunday evening to two Wisconsin voters who had already cast ballots in the contest and had signed a petition to stop “activist judges.” Wisconsin’s Democratic state attorney general sued to block the payments, but the state Supreme Court refused to weigh in. “It causes the legacy media to, like, kinda lose their minds. And then they’ll run it on every news channel,” Musk reasoned as he told the crowd the motive behind his million-dollar giveaways. “It would cost, like, 10 times more … to get the kind of coverage that it gets.” Calling the election a “super big deal,” Musk emphasized it was critical to the Trump agenda. “I think this will be important for the future of civilization,” he said. “It’s that significant.” TRUMP, OBAMA, WEIGH IN ON HIGH COURT SHOWDOWN IN KEY BATTLEGROUND Musk is not the only mega donor on the right playing in the Wisconsin showdown. Shipping magnates Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who are among the biggest conservative contributors in the nation, have also dished millions in support of Schimel and the Wisconsin GOP. “If you told me six months ago this was what was going to happen, I would not have believed it. But yeah….some parts of this are way beyond my control anymore,” Schimel said in a Fox News Digital interview during a bus tour stop Monday just outside of Green Bay. However, Schimel, who launched his bid 16 months ago, added that “other people can treat this how they want, if they think they want to make it a referendum on the president or Elon Musk, so be it.” “This is a referendum on Wisconsin,” he emphasized. “Can we restore objectivity to the Wisconsin Supreme Court?” Schimel has also leaned in to the endorsement from Trump. A TV ad running in the closing stretch of the race spotlighted that voting for Schimel would protect Trump’s agenda. Additionally, the candidate wore a “Make America Great Again” hat at some campaign stops during the final weekend ahead of the election. BIG-MONEY WI HIGH COURT RACE WILL HAVE NATIONAL EFFECTS, AS REDISTRICTING, UNIONS, TRANS ISSUES AT STAKE Schimel spotlighted his final blitz to reach out to voters. “We are doing 6-8 rallies every single day in cities across the state,” he said. “People are turning out in huge numbers, and we’ve got other surrogates going out around the state where we’re not, doing the exact same thing. It’s absolutely about getting those voters out.” Trump, who narrowly carried Wisconsin in both of his White House victories, spelled out why the contest was so important, because the state supreme court can settle disputes over election outcomes. “Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin,” the president said Monday at the White House. “Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so therefore the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race.” Tuesday’s election, the first statewide contest held since Trump returned to the White House, is an opportunity for voters to vent against the president and his policies. The liberal-leaning candidate in the race, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, has enjoyed a surge in fundraising, thanks in part to an energized base eager to resist Trump and Republicans. “People are really motivated and want to make sure that we protect the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” Crawford said in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the election following a rally in Madison. Crawford argued that voters “don’t want to see some outsider, some billionaire, come in and try to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is what Elon Musk is trying to do.” At her rally, Crawford emphasized that “this election is going to determine all of our fundamental rights and freedoms.” Crawford has also benefited from roughly $2 million infused into the race by left-leaning financier George Soros, long a boogeyman of the right. Billionaire progressive Gov. JB Pritzker of neighboring Illinois has also dished out big bucks in the race in support of Crawford. “I have gotten some generous contributions, and we’ve raised a lot of money in this race,” she acknowledged. “But just to put that in perspective, in the last two months, Elon Musk has spent more than we have raised over the 10 months of this entire campaign, so his spending dwarfs that of any individual in any state supreme court ever and certainly one in Wisconsin.” Crawford and Schimel are battling to succeed liberal-leaning justice Ann Walsh
What to know about Senator Booker’s overnight speech
The Democratic base has howled for weeks at congressional Democrats to “fight” and stand up to President Donald Trump. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., tried to address that with his overnight speech, railing against Trump and Elon Musk. What you are also seeing is a proxy battle for the eventual fight to succeed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer isn’t going to be ousted anytime soon, but moves like this by Booker are ways that senators with high aspirations make a mark and win the support of their colleagues. BOOKER DELIVERING MARATHON SENATE SPEECH AGAINST TRUMP ADMIN, ELON MUSK: ‘INFLICTED SO MUCH HARM’ Late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave a similar stemwinder of a speech when he was the whip. That won Reid plaudits from his Democratic colleagues. Booker began speaking around 7 p.m. ET Monday. The question is whether this constitutes a “filibuster” or is just a really long speech. From a parliamentary standpoint, a long speech does not necessarily constitute a filibuster. A filibuster is used to block or delay something on the floor, and it may not require a speech at all. The filibuster is sometimes misconstrued, thanks to Hollywood and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” Technically, Booker is not delaying anything. The Senate had no pending debate or vote to get to right away. So, he’s actually not filibustering; he’s just making a long-winded speech. HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO GO TO WAR WITH ‘ROGUE JUDGES’ BLOCKING TRUMP’S AGENDA: HERE’S THEIR PLAN The Senate voted last night to overcome a filibuster on the nomination of Matt Whitaker to become Ambassador to NATO. By rule, opponents have up to 30 hours to burn before the Senate must vote to confirm him. The Senate was expected to confirm Whitaker today, but that vote was not on the books yet. So, technically Booker had until 1 a.m.-ish Wednesday to speak. By rule, the Senate would automatically vote on confirming Whitaker. That’s why this wasn’t TECHNICALLY a filibuster. The Senate allows for virtually unlimited debate, so Booker is taking advantage of that prerogative. If Booker wants to maintain the floor, he must remain standing at all times. Otherwise, he could lose control of the floor. Note that Booker did not speak the entire time. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has given Booker a periodic time out. Murphy himself gave an all-night speech about guns in 2016. He is also someone to watch as a potential, eventual successor to Schumer. In order to keep the floor, Booker has occasionally yielded to Murphy “for a question.” Yielding “for a question” allows a senator to keep control of the floor. Murphy has then enjoined Booker by also giving rather lengthy speeches – so long that there is an interrogative at the end. In Senate terms, this is akin to calling in a relief pitcher from the bullpen for a batter or two. Kind of like a double switch. In baseball, a manager occasionally pulls a pitcher, brings someone in from the bullpen and puts the original pitcher in a fielder’s position – then returns them to the mound after a batter. That keeps the original pitcher in the game. Thus, Booker remains “in the game.” Late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., holds the record for the longest filibuster: 24 hours and 18 minutes on a piece of civil rights legislation in 1957. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP However, Thurmond’s filibuster was “wind assisted.” There was no television or social media. Most reporters didn’t realize he had been on the floor all night until the next day. He left the floor to use the restroom. Get a sandwich. Allowed Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, D-Texas, to pass bills by unanimous consent and swear-in a new senator. But because watchful eyes weren’t on the Senate, no one called Thurmond on it.
Israeli air strike on Beirut raises concerns over shaky ceasefire
An Israeli air strike on a building in the Lebanese capital Beirut targeting a member of Hezbollah has killed at least four people. The surprise attack came at about 3:30am (00:30 GMT) on Tuesday during the Eid al-Fitr Muslim holiday marking the end of the Ramadan fasting month. The second strike on the city in three days has raised fears that the shaky ceasefire between Israel and the armed Hezbollah group that took effect four months ago could collapse. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said the four people killed included a woman and that seven others were wounded. Israel’s military said in a statement that it had targeted Hassan Bdeir, a member of a Hezbollah unit and Iran’s Quds Force, who was assisting the Palestinian armed group Hamas in planning a “significant and imminent terror attack against Israeli civilians”. The Israeli army did not offer any evidence for the statement. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah. The strike followed just days after a previous hit on the southern suburb of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold. Advertisement Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun condemned the latest assault, calling it a “dangerous warning” of Israel’s intentions against his country. “Israel’s persistence in its aggression requires more effort from us in addressing Lebanon’s friends around the world and rallying them in support of our right to full sovereignty over our land,” Aoun said in a statement. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam also condemned the Israeli strike and said it was a flagrant breach of United Nations Resolution 1701 and the ceasefire arrangement. Salam said he has been closely monitoring the aftermath of the strike in coordination with the ministers of defence and interior. Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Beirut, said rescue operations were ongoing and added that the latest attack is “extremely worrying” for the Lebanese government, as it comes just three days after Israeli forces bombed Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in November. The agreement, guaranteed by France and the United States, brought a halt to a yearlong conflict and mandated that Israeli ground troops withdraw from southern Lebanon. It also called for Hezbollah fighters to withdraw from the south, and for Lebanese troops to deploy there. Both sides, however, have accused each other of violations. Adblock test (Why?)
Le Pen’s conviction in France: Career-ending or fuel for a new far right?
Paris, France – On Sunday, an opinion poll predicted that Marine Le Pen, the longtime leader of the French far right, would secure up to 37 percent of votes in the 2027 presidential election, more than 22 points higher than in 2022 and 10 points ahead of any other candidate. The “page has definitely turned”, said Frederic Dabi, the head of pollster Ifop Opinion. He saw the poll as confirmation that Le Pen’s rebrand had worked. For years, she has sought to normalise the hard right and distance it from the rule of Jean Marie Le Pen, her late father who founded the National Front, a party that lived on the political fringes. But on Monday, Marine Le Pen and her updated National Rally party were dealt a major blow. She was convicted of embezzling European Union funds, disqualifying her from running for public office for five years – effective immediately. Although Le Pen plans to appeal, the verdict prevents her from participating in France’s 2027 presidential election. ‘We’re very surprised in France’ The criminal court ruling in Paris has shocked France. Advertisement While Le Pen’s supporters are decrying the case as a political assault, her opponents are relieved to see the justice system’s independence prevail. “We’re very surprised in France because it’s very rare for a politician to actually be convicted. It’s happened, but it’s still quite rare, especially at this level of notoriety,” Baptiste Colin, a 29-year-old theatre producer from Lyon, told Al Jazeera. In recent years, voting for National Rally, or RN by its French initials, has become more typical across France, and Le Pen could appeal to voters by spinning the trial in her favour. “I hope people understand the conviction. Ultimately, it’s quite simple: It’s a misappropriation of funds,” Colin said. “I think that the judges were quite unbiased. It’s expected that if you dip into the coffers, you will be convicted.” The far right immediately pushed back against the court ruling. Jordan Bardella, Le Pen’s 29-year-old protege, called her provisional sentence “a democratic scandal”. “Le Pen’s line of defence is that it’s a scandal, and it was done on purpose, that it’s a coup d’etat,” Colin said. “It’s going to be a cultural battle between those on the far right who say it’s horrible and everyone else who thinks a conviction is normal.” The verdict could potentially push France into more political chaos if the far right successfully exploits the narrative, analysts said. “There is a risk that she will be seen as a martyr, as in the victim against the system. She and her party will weaponise this trial,” Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French researcher with a PhD in public law, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement Le Pen’s party runs on a platform against globalisation and immigration, pushing for stricter border control and fewer ecological policies. The 56-year-old has vaulted new faces like Bardella, now party president, so that it resonates with younger voters. Bardella, heir apparent? Alouane said given the normalisation of the far right, she fears mainstream media and politicians could hand Le Pen and the RN undeserved space to criticise France’s legal system. “Le Pen is a politician who has just been condemned by the justice system for a serious crime, and she’s already using one of the main news networks to defend herself,” Alouane said, citing Le Pen’s appearance on French TV channel TF1 on Monday evening. “We need to recentre the focus on what is at stake and not give Le Pen leverage to use this whole thing to solidify her position and her party’s in the mainstream.” Following the verdict, Le Pen can run in 2027 only if she appeals and receives a more lenient sentence, but the appeals process is slow in France. “It seems unlikely because it usually takes around two years to take an appeal to court,” Diane de Vignemont, a French journalist focused on politics and history, told Al Jazeera. “But if Le Pen loses her appeal, the RN will still be able to say that the court was corrupt and kept her from running. Then, Bardella will be the chosen one, the heir apparent.” Bardella is considered the RN’s rising star and would likely step up to replace Le Pen as the party’s next presidential candidate if Le Pen’s conviction is upheld. Advertisement “It’s kind of exactly what the party needs,” de Vignemont said. “Bardella has really mastered social media. And he’s young enough that he doesn’t have too many scandals yet.” He has helped the far right to gain a significant portion of young voters in France – in two years, the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds voting for the RN in the French parliamentary elections doubled. “There’s hype around the RN. Bardella is young and on TikTok, and there is this idea that it is cool to vote for the RN, whereas before it was considered old-fashioned,” Colin noted. Jordan Bardella, then-newly-elected President of the French far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National – RN) party, holds the hand of Marine Le Pen after the results during the National Rally party’s Congress in Paris, France, November 5, 2022 [File: Christian Hartmann/Reuters] Should Le Pen succeed in expediting the case and win her appeal before the presidential election, she will likely feel emboldened to claim the case was a vendetta against her political agenda, observers said. “She’s going to be able to run on a platform of, ‘They tried to get me over a political witch trial, and they failed because I was innocent,’” de Vignemont said. Presiding judge Benedicte de Perthuis has already refuted that idea. “No one is on trial for engaging in politics,” she said in a statement. Colin said he expects the party will suffer because of the verdict. “I think it’s a catastrophe for her and for the party,” he said. “I think Bardella is much less competent than Le Pen. He’s very young, and he’s not used to this. Bardella hasn’t done many debates yet, and those that
Rescue workers Israel killed found in mass grave in Gaza: What to know
Nine Palestine Red Crescent (PRCS) medics in ambulances, as well as some Civil Defence workers, went to help people in Rafah, Gaza, and disappeared on March 23 after coming under attack from Israeli forces. What followed was a week of Israeli obstruction until international teams were finally able to enter the area where the medics and rescue workers disappeared. They found gruesome proof of direct attacks on the humanitarian workers. One medic remains missing. Here’s everything we know about how Israel killed these first responders in Gaza: What happened to the Red Crescent medics in Gaza? Israeli forces killed them. One ambulance was dispatched to al-Hashaashin, Rafah, to help people injured by Israeli attacks on Sunday, March 23. Israeli soldiers fired on it, injuring the crew. [embedded content] “In the early hours of Sunday, 23 March, our Palestine Red Crescent colleagues were entering the area of al-Hashaashin, Rafah to save lives and came under fire,” Tommaso Della Longa, spokesperson for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Al Jazeera. Advertisement The PRCS then sent a further three ambulances to help the injured people their colleagues were trying to reach, and to rescue their colleagues who had been attacked. All the teams dispatched to support the initial ambulance did so during daylight hours, the Civil Defence confirmed. PRCS “lost contact with their colleagues”, Della Longa said, and began trying to find them. 1/6 First responders should never be a target. Yet today @UNOCHA supported @PalestineRCS and Civil Defense to retrieve colleagues from a mass grave in #Rafah #Gaza that was marked with the emergency light from one of their crushed ambulances. pic.twitter.com/xFYFXWp2c6 — Jonathan Whittall (@_jwhittall) March 30, 2025 Who are the medics Israel killed? There were three ambulance officers – who transport the wounded and offer emergency healthcare at times: Ezzedine Shaath, Mostafa Khafaga and Saleh Muamer. There were also five first responder volunteers: Ashraf Abu Labda, Mohammad Bahloul, Mohammed al-Heila, Raed al-Sharif and Rifatt Radwan. Ambulance officer Assad al-Nassasra is still missing. “We don’t know where he is,” Della Longa said. “The colleagues that were killed and found left behind more than 20 children,” he added. Israel has killed 30 Palestinian Red Crescent volunteers and staff – humanitarian workers protected by international humanitarian law – since October 7. Who else did Israel kill in this incident? The bodies of 14 murdered people were found in a shallow mass grave, according to the PRCS. Advertisement Eight were identified as PRCS medics, five were Civil Defense workers, and one was a UN agency employee. 30 Palestinian staff or volunteers have been killed since October 7 [Eyad BABA / AFP] How were they killed? They were killed “one after another”, then buried in the sand along with their emergency vehicles, the UN said. “The available information indicates that the first team was killed by Israeli forces on 23 March, and that other emergency and aid crews were struck one after another over several hours as they searched for their missing colleagues,” a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Palestine said. “Their bodies were gathered and buried in this mass grave,” OCHA head Jonathan Whittall said from the scene. “We’re digging them out in their uniforms, with their gloves on. They were here to save lives,” he said. “These ambulances have been buried in the sand. There’s a UN vehicle here, …[an] Israeli forces bulldozer has buried them.” What did Israel have to say? The Israeli army’s international spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, said the medics had not been killed deliberately. Referring to Israeli soldiers firing at clearly marked ambulances and UN vehicles, Shoshani wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals”, not clarifying what was meant by “uncoordinated vehicle”. Shoshani also claimed without evidence that “terrorists” were hidden amid the rescue workers and that “[Israeli] forces eliminated a Hamas military operative, Mohammad Amin Ibrahim Shubaki, who took part in the October 7 massacre, along with eight other terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.” Advertisement None of the names reported as having been recovered from the mass grave match the name Shoshani claimed. Soshani did not explain the fact that one body was recovered with his hands bound, according to the Red Crescent in Gaza, and that Israeli bulldozers had tried to bury the vehicles after the fact. Israeli claims of Hamas launching attacks from medical facilities in Gaza were often “vague” and sometimes “contradicted by publicly available information”, UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, told the United Nations Security Council in January. The IDF did 𝗻𝗼𝘁 randomly attack an ambulance on March 23. Let me walk through what happened step-by-step: 1. Last Sunday, several uncoordinated vehicles were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals. IDF troops then… https://t.co/VdtyXd8qj5 — LTC Nadav Shoshani (@LTC_Shoshani) March 31, 2025 How were their bodies found? Della Longa said that, for a whole week, the IFRC, PRCS, ICRC and the UN made appeals to Israeli authorities to enter the area to investigate. Israel blocked the requests until finally a mission was able to enter and look for the missing rescue workers. Video from the scene showed searchers digging out several bodies wearing orange emergency vests, some piled on top of each other. One body in a Civil Defence vest was pulled out of the grave only for searchers to realise it was a torso with no legs. What did the ICRC say? IFRC Secretary-General Jagan Chapagain said in a statement: “These dedicated ambulance workers were responding to wounded people… They wore emblems that should have protected them; their ambulances were clearly marked. They should have returned to their families; they did not. “Even in the most complex conflict zones, there are rules [that] could not be clearer – civilians must be protected; humanitarians must be protected. Health services must be protected. Advertisement “Our network is in mourning,
Gujarat firecracker factory explosion kills 18, injures 5 in Banaskantha
An explosion at a firecracker factory in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district killed 18 people and injured five, with most victims being workers from Madhya Pradesh.
BIG update on Noida-Greater Noida Expressway: New 35 km road to decongest this route
Uttar Pradesh chief secretary and Noida authority chairman Manoj Kumar Singh has asked the Noida authority, Greater Noida authority, and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority, to jointly fund the project.