Biden blasted by experts for repeating ‘debunked lie’ to Black students at HBCU graduation: ‘Factually false’
President Biden has faced a storm of criticism on social media and by experts over the past few days for repeating what many have labeled a lie about Georgia’s election law that was implemented several years ago. “Today in Georgia, they won’t allow water to be available to you while you wait in line to vote in an election,” Biden told the graduating class at Morehouse College, a historically Black university in Atlanta, over the weekend. “What in the hell is that all about?” “It’s 2024,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office posted on X in response to Biden’s claim. “I can’t believe we’re still dealing with lies about Georgia’s election from the left & right. Once again, Georgia doesn’t have lines. Biden owes our election officials an apology & focus on the real issues – this damn inflation that is hitting hard-working Georgians.” ‘NOT A CHANCE’: EXPERTS WEIGH LIKELIHOOD OF TRUMP’S GEORGIA CASE GOING TO TRIAL BEFORE 2024 ELECTION “It’s obviously a factually false statement,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith told Fox News Digital. “Every state bans electioneering near polling places. Prohibiting giving money and gifts to potential voters – as Georgia election law does – to prevent unduly influencing them as they wait to vote is a good and reasonable policy.” Smith continued, “Of course, nothing in the law prohibits poll workers from providing water to voters and nothing prohibits voters themselves from bringing snacks and water to eat and drink as they wait to vote.” Smith also said Georgia’s law about food and water is “virtually identical to a New York election law that prohibits giving voters ‘any meat, drink, tobacco, refreshment or provision’ unless it has ‘a retail value of less than one dollar.’” “Yet Biden and others in his administration haven’t been raising concerns about that law – wonder why?” Smith said. GEORGIA REPUBLICANS DUNK ON VOTING LAW CRITICS AFTER MLB ALL-STAR GAME RETURNS TO ATLANTA Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital. “Joe Biden preaches about democracy then spreads misinformation designed to delegitimize elections and vilify his opponents.” Snead continued, “Fact checkers have debunked Biden’s claims about Georgia’s election law for years. Thanks to the law Joe Biden is smearing, Georgia held [a] historically successful, high-turnout, high-confidence election in 2022 and is poised to do the same this year. There is no excuse for continuing to spread these lies ahead of a high-stakes election.” Biden’s comment also drew strong criticism on social media. “That’s a debunked lie,” the Republican National Committee posted on X. “Even Democrat-aligned Politifact admitted that the Georgia law – under which demagogued ‘suppression’ has not materialized – ‘allows poll workers to set up self-serve water stations for voters to use,’” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X. “He’s lying to sow racial division,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “Pure evil.” Critics of the law have argued that Georgia has made it a crime to pass out water to people waiting in line due to language that advocates say is targeted at political organizations influencing voters at the polls. Politifact rated a claim from a prominent Republican that Georgia has “not criminalized” passing out water as “mostly false,” noting that the law does make certain instances a misdemeanor but acknowledged that water can be made available by poll workers under the law. The article also acknowledges that people are allowed to pass out water and food “outside the 150-foot and 25-foot boundaries” outlined in the law. White House Assistant Press Secretary Robyn Patterson pointed to that Politifact article in defense of Biden’s comment and said, “SB 202 makes it a crime for people — and not just people from political organizations — to hand out food or bottles of water within 150 feet of a polling place. SB 202 also sought to make it a crime to provide food or water within 25 feet of any voter standing in line.” The Biden administration has a history of attacking election laws in Georgia, including a federal lawsuit the administration filed that accused the state of implementing “Jim Crow” voting practices.
GOP AGs ask SCOTUS to hear Mexico’s lawsuit blaming US gun manufacturers for cartel violence
A cohort of 27 top Republican prosecutors have filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court, asking it to take up a case brought by the Mexican government that seeks to hold American gun manufacturers responsible for gun violence at the hands of the cartels. On Tuesday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, along with GOP colleagues, asked the court to hear the case to stop “a foreign sovereign’s use of American courts to effectively limit the rights of American citizens.” The case stems from a lawsuit filed in 2021 by the Mexican government, alleging U.S. gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson, Ruger and others should be liable for gun violence carried out by cartels south of the border because the companies were aware their firearms were being trafficked into the country. Mexico’s lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in Massachusetts last year, but Mexico successfully appealed its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, with the support of California and other Democrat-led states. MEXICAN CARTELS USE US BORDER TO ARM THEMSELVES WITH ‘MILITARY-GRADE’ WEAPONS: DOCS Knudsen, in his petition to the high court, says “anti-gun activists” are behind the lawsuit. “Congress has long taken a measured and carefully calibrated approach to firearms regulation. It sought to balance the public’s Second Amendment rights with the need to keep guns away from criminals. Anti-gun activists wanted more,” the petition explains. “So they turned to the judiciary. Their admitted goal: to circumvent the political branches by turning the courts into regulators via creative legal theories and tenuous chains of causation. Even better, they knew they didn’t have to win. The mere threat of a bankrupting judgment was sufficient and – if it wasn’t – enough rolls of the dice would eventually land them the outlier victory they sought,” it says. The petition explains that Congress recognized the public’s right to keep and bear arms “was all-but-meaningless if firearms manufacturers were put out of business, and further recognized the importance of the firearms industry to the military and law enforcement.” Thus, the AGs argue, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was enacted in 2005. The bipartisan PLCAA prohibits “civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages, injunctive or other relief resulting from the misuse of their products by others.” ‘MOST RUTHLESS’ MEXICAN CARTELS OPERATE IN ALL 50 STATES, BRING TURF WARS TO US: DEA “You might think that would be the end of it,” the AGs wrote. “But the activists are at it again, trying to cram the same creative legal theories with even more tenuous chains of causation into PLCAA’s narrow exceptions, admittedly attempting to achieve through litigation what Congress rejected. Here, the activists even had Mexico sue American gun manufacturers for crime problems resulting from Mexico’s policy choices.” Mexico has said the companies are “fully aware that their firearms were being trafficked into the country and that the companies – not a third party – knowingly violated laws applicable to the sale or marketing of firearms.” Mexico has also said that more than 500,000 guns are trafficked annually from the U.S. into Mexico, of which more than 68% are made by the eight companies it sued and that the smuggling has contributed to high rates of gun-related deaths, declining investment and economic activity, and a need for Mexico to spend more on law enforcement and public safety. But the AGs said the Mexican government’s own policies like “hugs not bullets” and failure to crack down on cartels and even the cartels’ infiltration of the country’s government contributes to its high crime. CALIFORNIA, BLUE STATES SIDE WITH MEXICO IN LAWSUIT BLAMING GUN MAKERS FOR VIOLENCE “Mexico’s proximate causation theory contains a glaring defect. Mexico is a sovereign nation. It controls its own borders. Mexico could simply close – indeed, militarize – its border with the United States if it chose to do so. Doubtless the closure would be painful, and Mexico has chosen to do otherwise. Indeed, Mexico has flung its border open and sought to extort billions of dollars from the United States to even attempt to manage the resulting chaos,” the AGs wrote. “Mexico should not be permitted to exert de facto control over the rights of American citizens to alleviate the consequences of its own policy choices,” they concluded. The states of Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming and Arizona submitted this amicus brief. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, oral arguments could be scheduled this fall. Reuters contributed to this report.
Michael Cohen swore he had nothing derogatory on Trump, his ex-lawyer says – another lie – as testimony ends
The prosecution and defense rested yesterday, meaning, to no one’s shock, that Donald Trump did not testify. Trump had said he would, but it would have been judicial malpractice for his lawyers to expose him to a hundred different lines of interrogation. Michael Cohen went into the hush money trial with a well-established reputation as a convicted liar. We all knew he would be hammered on cross-examination for lying on behalf of Trump, lying to Congress, lying to investigators and lying to the press. That was baked into the equation. CROSS-EXAMINATION THROWS MICHAEL COHEN OFF BALANCE, BUT BELABORS POINT THAT HE HATES TRUMP But the lie he acknowledged on Monday is in a whole different category – and may be a turning point in convincing one or more jurors to dismiss him as a money-grubbing thief and vote for Trump’s acquittal. The onetime fixer fixed up a nice deal for himself: stealing from the Trump Organization. Yep, he did it, said Cohen. Yep, he lied about it. Yep, he gladly pocketed the money because he was angry about his bonus being cut. This was a real Perry Mason moment – and an absolute failure by the prosecution. On the other litany of lies, Alvin Bragg’s lawyers brought them up on direct examination, with the best possible spin, to soften the sting when Trump’s lawyers were grilling him. But on this one? Nada. At first, I thought Cohen didn’t tell the prosecutors, but Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked, “And you told multiple prosecutors in the District 13 Attorney’s Office that story, right?” “Yes sir.” So it was sheer sloppiness – an unbelievable failure. And the narrative gets even sleazier. The Trump campaign hired a tech firm called Red Finch to try to discredit unfavorable polls by CNBC and Drudge. The fee was $50,000. Cohen delivered $20,000 in cash stuffed into a brown bag to the company’s chief – nothing suspicious there, right? And Cohen kept the other $30,000 – later grossed up to $60,000 for tax reasons – blatantly stealing from his ex-boss’s company. (Trump decided not to pay Red Finch because its efforts petered out but didn’t know about the bag o’ cash.) MICHAEL COHEN, CORROBORATING OTHERS, SAYS TRUMP WANTED TO SILENCE STORMY BECAUSE OF THE ELECTION There was little the prosecutors could do when they had their turn. Cohen said he was “angered” by the two-thirds cut in his usual $150K bonus “so I just felt it was almost like self-help. You know, I wasn’t going to let him have the benefit this way as well.” Ah, self-help. Stealing as therapy. A pretty lame explanation. It didn’t matter what else Cohen said in 2018, such as insisting he would never have paid the $130,000 in hush money to Stormy Daniels, which is well-documented, without the president’s explicit approval. The damage had been done. But there were more fireworks to come. The defense called as its main witness Robert Costello, a veteran lawyer and talented talker who represented Cohen for a few months. Cohen has testified that he didn’t trust Costello because he was close to Rudy Giuliani, offering a back channel to the White House, but also the risk that anything Cohen said would be repeated there. Costello testified that he told Cohen that his legal problems could be resolved “if he had truthful information on Donald Trump and cooperated with the Southern District of New York.” Cohen’s response, according to Costello, repeated 10 or 12 times: “I swear to God, Bob. I don’t have anything on Donald Trump.” That was obviously a big fat lie. Costello also alleged that Cohen had told him Trump didn’t know about the hush money payments, which gets to the heart of the case. STORMY ALLEGES ONE-NIGHT STAND WITH TRUMP, AGREED TO LIE FOR HER $130,000 PAYOFF But Robert Costello walked into that courtroom with a giant chip on his shoulder. After one question, he audibly said “ridiculous.” After another, he said “Geez.” Judge Juan Merchan had enough and sent the jury out. “If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say ‘Geez,’ okay. And then you don’t say ‘strike it;’ because I’m the only one that can strike testimony in the courtroom.” The lecture was severe. “And then, if you don’t like my ruling, you don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes. Do you understand that?” Costello gave the judge a long stare. “Are you staring me down right now?” At that point, he declared, “Clear the courtroom.” Everyone later returned. In yesterday’s testimony, the prosecution got Costello to acknowledge he was referring to Trump when saying he had “friends in high places.” An email about “getting everyone on the same page” was because Cohen “had been complaining incessantly that Rudy Giuliani was making statements in the press,” Costello said. He said an email about getting everyone “on the same page” was about working out the complaints about Rudy. Costello denied the prosecutor’s question about “encouraging him not to cooperate.” On redirect, the defense asked: What about an email saying you were being “played”? SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES Costello said they kept urging Cohen to sign a retainer – so they could get paid – but he kept making excuses and putting it off. Was he pressuring Michael Cohen to do anything? Costello said he was not. And that was it. Closing arguments are set for next Tuesday. The prosecution has plenty of other witnesses and documents, but Cohen is the only one tying Trump directly to his reimbursement for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal in this openly partisan and shakily built case. So Cohen’s evisceration on the stand really matters to the falsification of documents charge, unless 12 jurors believe that the former president had to know.
Air Force veteran to take on incumbent Democrat in competitive Oregon House race
An Air Force veteran who touts her national security experience has won the Republican primary in one of deep-blue Oregon’s more competitive House races. Attorney and former Air Force Col. Monique DeSpain will now take on incumbent Democrat Rep. Val Hoyle, who represents Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, in the November general election as Republicans hope to increase their narrow majority in the House of Representatives. The race is one of the few competitive ones in deep-blue Oregon, but Democrats hold a vast fundraising advantage, and national Republicans are likely to steer money to more marginal races in other parts of the country. EXPERTS REVEAL MAJOR ‘DOWNSIDE’ TO POTENTIAL TRUMP VP PICK: ‘NO WOW FACTOR’ Hoyle is no stranger to controversy. Fox News Digital reported last year that she accepted congressional campaign donations from a handful of cannabis entrepreneurs who were awarded a taxpayer-funded grant she oversaw during her tenure as the commissioner of Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) in 2022. In April 2022, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records showed Laura Vega, a co-founder of the nonprofit ENDVR, made a $1,000 donation to Hoyle’s campaign. Vega, according to Portland-based Willamette Week, “founded a cannabis products company and served on an array of cannabis advisory bodies.” WATCH: POSSIBLE TRUMP VP PICK MAKES MAJOR PREDICTION ABOUT BLACK VOTERS AS BIDEN BLEEDS SUPPORT The donation to Hoyle’s congressional campaign by Vega, who co-founded ENDVR alongside La Mota CEO Rosa Cazares in late 2021, came just one week after ENDVR received nonprofit status by the IRS and two weeks before the nonprofit submitted a grant application to the BOLI to establish an apprenticeship program. Hoyle was also among a group of Democrats showered with campaign cash from colleagues who refused to condemn Hamas’ devastating Oct. 7 attack on Israel, a Fox News Digital review found last year. A number of far-left progressives poured money from their own committees into the campaigns of at least 33 other Democrats in recent years, with several receiving over $15,000 from the group, the review found. Many Democrats who received the contributions are locked in tough election battles, including Hoyle. Hoyle received $15,000 from the group at the time. Elections analysts rate the race for Oregon’s 4th Congressional District as “likely Democratic.” Fox News’ Kyle Morris contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Fani Willis says no one above or ‘beneath’ the law, plans on drinking Grey Goose to celebrate re-election
Fani Willis, the prosecutor in the sweeping Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump, said no one is above or “beneath” the law in her victory speech, sharing that she plans on celebrating with vodka. The Georgia district attorney has been on the receiving end of scrutiny by many Republicans in the state and nationwide for her affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, which almost got her removed from the case. After defeating Democrat attorney Christina Wise Smith, Willis shared her vision in her victory speech on Tuesday night. In her speech to a crowd of boisterous supporters, the Democratic district attorney said that no one is above or “beneath” the law, in an apparent nod to her prosecution in the Trump trial. “It’s a message that is p—ing folks off, but there is no one above the law in this country nor is there anyone beneath it,” Willis said. EMBATTLED DA FANI WILLIS WINS GEORGIA PRIMARY ELECTION Willis’ message of no one being “above” nor “beneath” the law came as the district attorney is currently under investigation by Republicans in both chambers of the U.S. Congress and two commissions in the Georgia state legislature. Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., on Wednesday accused Willis of allegedly misusing federal funds meant to help at-risk youth and gang prevention, but that they were used to purchase computers and “swag.” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., subpoenaed Willis in February over the accusations of misusing federal funds. But Willis says those investigations are predicated on “false reasons.” “Jim Jordan has, time after time, attacked my office with no legitimate purpose,” Willis told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday. “Anyone who knows Jim Jordan’s history knows that he only has the purpose of trying to interfere in a criminal investigation.” SENATE GOP PROBES TRUMP PROSECUTOR FANI WILLIS’ OFFICE FOR ALLEGED ‘MISUSE’ OF FUNDS “All while his jurisdiction has one of the worst crime rates, has poverty issues, and not one time has he used his position to try to investigate people who are attacking me and attacking others legitimately doing their jobs,” she added. “Making him illegitimate in his position, and it’s disgusting. So I bring that up at the federal level because now at the state level, they have decided to follow this clown’s lead. And they want to now try to interfere in an investigation, and it’s not legitimate either.” “They have decided in Georgia that they would like to come after me. They use false reasons for wanting to come after me,” Willis said during the media appearance. Later in Willis’ victory speech, the district attorney said that she was going to celebrate by drinking Grey Goose vodka. “So, ladies and gentlemen, tonight, every now and then you get to stop and smell the roses,” Willis said. “And tonight, we going to stop and smell these roses.” MEET FANI WILLIS’ GOP CHALLENGER FOR THE TOP PROSECUTOR JOB IN DEEP-BLUE GEORGIA “We are going to celebrate,” she said. “We’re going to party the day drinking Grey Goose in case anybody wonder.” Willis will now face Atlanta-based lawyer Courtney Kramer in the general election in November. She is the first Republican who has sought the office in more than two decades. Fox News Digital’s Brianna Herlihy, Chris Pandolfo and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 817
As the war enters its 817th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Fighting Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy said his country’s troops are achieving “tangible” results against Russian forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region but the situation on the eastern front near the cities of Pokrovsk, Kramatorsk and Kurakhove was “extremely difficult”. A Russian official said Moscow’s forces controlled “about 40 percent” of Vovchansk, a town near the border with Russia and at the epicentre of fighting. The World Health Organization (WHO) said that more than 14,000 people had been displaced from the Kharkiv region since Russia launched a ground offensive there on May 10. The WHO said some 189,000 people were still living within 25km (15 miles) of the border with Russia and facing “significant risks” as a result of the fighting. The Ukrainian military said it destroyed the Russian navy’s Tsiklon, a cruise missile carrier, in Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea on the night of May 19. Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Justice Olena Vysotska said more than 3,000 prisoners had applied to join the military since the law was amended to allow certain convicts to serve in the armed forces. Moscow began nuclear weapons drills close to Ukraine in exercises the Ministry of Defence said were to test the “readiness” of its “non-strategic nuclear weapons… to ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state”. Politics and diplomacy The European Union formally adopted a plan to use windfall profits from Russian central bank assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine’s defence, the Belgian government said. Under the agreement, 90 percent of the proceeds will go into an EU-run fund for military aid for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, with the remainder providing Kyiv with other forms of support. Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made her eighth visit to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 [Evgeniy Maloletka/AP] A court in Moscow ruled that investigators acted lawfully when they refused to look into two alleged attempts on the life of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza in 2015 and 2017. Kara-Murza, a dual citizen of Russia and the United Kingdom, is serving a 25-year prison sentence for treason over his criticism of the Ukraine war. A media investigation into the 2015 and 2017 incidents suggested he had been poisoned by Russia’s FSB intelligence service. Russian general Ivan Popov, who was sacked last July after he criticised army leaders and raised concerns about the high casualty rate in Ukraine, was arrested on suspicion of “large-scale fraud”. State news agencies said the 49-year-old was remanded in custody for two months by a military court. Weapons Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba urged the country’s allies to consider shooting down Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory to better protect its cities from Russian aerial attacks. Kuleba, who was speaking alongside visiting German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, said Ukraine’s Western backers should not see such a step as “escalatory”. Baerbock, on her eighth visit to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, acknowledged the situation on the front had “dramatically deteriorated”, and that Ukraine needed air defence as an “absolute priority” amid continuing Russian drone, rocket and missile attacks. Adblock test (Why?)
As Malaysia faces CEDAW review, women refugees continue to struggle
Unlike the excitement felt by many women when they find out they are expecting a baby, Hanna* was filled with fear when she realised she was pregnant. The Myanmar refugee who arrived in Malaysia in 2023 and is still waiting for her United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) card had many reasons to fear what was to come. “I didn’t have money to go to a doctor, so I had to eat less for five months to save enough money to get a medical check,” she told Al Jazeera. Later, she was referred to a private clinic that provides antenatal care to refugees and asylum seekers for nominal prices. But the pains she endured during her pregnancy left Hannah with no choice but to seek help at a public hospital, where, as a refugee, she risked being reported to immigration for not having any documents. Under Malaysia’s immigration laws, public health facilities are instructed to report undocumented patients to the authorities, putting them at risk of arrest, detention and deportation. This was reinforced by a directive from the Ministry of Health in 2001 that made it mandatory for public health workers to report undocumented patients. Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or the 1967 protocol relating to it. This means refugees are not recognised and they are deprived of basic human rights such as work, access to education and healthcare, and live under constant risk of arrest and detention. Nora*, a refugee who works at the clinic, told Al Jazeera that Hanna was not the only refugee woman facing difficulties in her pregnancy due to the lack of access to healthcare and its cost. “We offer help to over 22 refugees and asylum seekers. They can’t afford healthcare, it’s very expensive for them,” she said. Refugees registered with the UNHCR get a 50 percent reduction on healthcare charges paid by foreigners, but the cost remains unaffordable for many, according to Nora. As for those who are undocumented like Hanna, the costs are not only expensive but full of risks. Refugee women often struggle with the costs of paying for healthcare for themselves and their children [File: Ahmad Yusni/EPA] Hanna ended up giving birth to her child in March at another public hospital. According to her, the doctors assured her safety and did not follow the order to report her to immigration, but the caesarean section that she needed cost her more than 6,000 Malaysian ringgit ($1,200). “I saved only 3,000 ringgits over my pregnancy, so I had to borrow money from my friends to afford the procedure,” she said. ‘Changes have not happened’ Hanna’s story is one of many that highlight the challenges women face as asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia as a result of their precarious status. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) will convene on Wednesday to review Malaysia’s progress in implementing the recommendations of last year’s review, which highlighted the problems caused by the continued lack of a legal framework for refugees. The committee presented a list of issues and questions to Malaysian officials, including a recommendation that the country adopt a “long-term legislative approach” to ensure women asylum seekers, refugees and migrants have access to health services and are exempt from paying higher fees than Malaysians. The committee also asked Malaysia to repeal the order to report undocumented patients to immigration authorities and repeated previous recommendations to the National Security Council (NSC) to adopt a legal framework for refugees as a “priority”. In its reply, the Malaysian government said the country provided unrestricted access to all ranges of health facilities in both public and private health sectors, but did not comment on the recommendation to exempt refugees and asylum seekers from higher fees than Malaysians. As for the requirement to report undocumented migrants to the immigration authorities, Malaysia said it would continue. “It is the prerogative of a sovereign State to detained [sic] and return any undocumented person staying illegally in the country,” the response read. “The detention of such [a] person allows the Government to determine the security nature or threat that the person may hold against the country.” However, in its response, Malaysia also said it had amended National Security Directive Number 23 – Mechanisms for the Management of Illegal Immigrants that hold UNHCR Cards – to provide a policy for the management of asylum seekers and refugees, and that it included “major changes” that would grant asylum seekers and refugees access to employment, healthcare and education. “In this regard, refugees and asylum seekers as defined in the Directive are allowed to remain or stay temporarily in Malaysia based on humanitarian grounds in the fulfilment of Malaysia’s international moral obligations,” it said. Despite that, the situation on the ground has not changed, according to the refugee rights organisation Asylum Access Malaysia, which submitted a report to the CEDAW committee ahead of this year’s review. Asylum Access noted that the details of the directive remained unknown and unpublished, and that it was uncertain how refugees and asylum seekers were defined in the directive or if it aligned with international definitions. The “NSC directive significantly falls short of a legal framework as recommended by the CEDAW committee”, it said. The organisation warned that the claimed amendments to the directive also lacked any clarity on data protection for refugees added to the national registration system or whether the data could be used as a surveillance tool or be shared with other governments. Refugee women in Malaysia learn English with volunteer teachers [File: Vincent Thian/AP] The report criticised the adoption of such a directive in what it described as a “highly classified internal decision-making process” by the National Security Council without any form of public review or legal challenge. Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, the executive director of Amnesty International Malaysia, said that despite the claims from the government that the situation had changed, the experience of refugee women and girls suggested otherwise. “As refugees continue to be arrested,
Russia starts ‘tactical nuclear drills’ near Ukraine border
‘First stage’ of exercises involves Iskander and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and is seen as a warning to Ukraine’s Western allies. Russia has begun the first stage of tactical nuclear weapons drills, involving Iskander and Kinzhal missiles, in areas bordering Ukraine. The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that the drills were taking place in its Southern Military District, which borders and includes parts of Ukraine that Moscow has occupied and illegally annexed since its full-scale invasion began in February 2022. The ministry did not give the exact location of the exercises. Belarus, where Russia said last year it was deploying tactical nuclear weapons, is also expected to take part. Since launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow has repeatedly talked up its arsenal of nuclear weapons and its readiness to deploy them in the face of a security threat. Nuclear analysts say the exercises are designed as a warning signal by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to deter Ukraine’s Western allies, which have provided weapons and intelligence to Kyiv, from wading more deeply into the war. The exercises are to ensure that units and equipment are ready for “the combat use of non-strategic nuclear weapons to respond and unconditionally ensure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Russian state in response to provocative statements and threats of individual Western officials against the Russian Federation”, the ministry said. Putin ordered the drills after Western politicians suggested they might be willing to go further in their support of Ukraine. Earlier this month, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had not ruled out deploying troops to Ukraine under certain conditions, while the United Kingdom’s foreign minister, David Cameron, said Kyiv had the right to fire Western missiles at Russian territory. Russia’s Southern Military District is the command centre for its offensive on Ukraine, with its headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, 60km (40 miles) from the border with Ukraine. The Defence Ministry published footage showing trucks carrying missiles to a field where launch systems were prepared and troops at an airfield readying a bomber to carry a nuclear warhead. It said the drills involved practising the loading of launch vehicles, driving to designated launch sites and loading planes with Kinzhal missiles, which are hypersonic weapons. It did not indicate whether any test firings had taken place. “The exercises are, obviously, a signal in response to discussion of NATO countries’ troops in Ukraine,” Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian arms control official, told the Reuters news agency. “The most important features are advance announcement and visibility.” Western militaries will be watching the exercises closely and seeking to draw conclusions about how much warning time they would have if Russia deployed such weapons for real, he said. Tactical nuclear weapons, also known as non-strategic nuclear weapons, are designed for use on the battlefield and have vast destructive potential. Russia has about 1,558 non-strategic nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists, although there is uncertainty about the exact figures. Adblock test (Why?)
Longtime House Republican who split with party on Jan 6 commission wins primary in deep red state
Thirteen-term Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, won the Republican primary in his re-election effort for Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District. Simpson has represented the district since the late 1990s, but his career in politics stretches back to when he served on the Blackfoot City Council in 1980. The Republican has represented the Gem State in Congress for 13 consecutive terms, advancing Tuesday night to face Idaho Falls Democrat David Roth, who is unopposed, in the general election in November. EMBATTLED TRUMP PROSECUTOR FIGHTS TO KEEP JOB AS GEORGIA AMONG FIVE STATES HOLDING ELECTIONS TUESDAY Simpson’s win comes after the lawmaker split with several members of his party in backing an investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and voting against a recount of the 2020 election results. WEST COAST EXODUC DRIVES SUPRISING POLITICAL EFFECT IN RED STATE, AND IT’S NOT A LIBERAL SHIFT The Republican went on to win his 2022 GOP primary with 55% of the vote.
Top House Democrat’s sister loses crowded deep blue primary despite endorsements from ‘Squad’
Maxine Dexter has won the Democratic Primary in Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District, defeating a crowded field of progressives that included the sister of Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal. Dexter won the primary to replace outgoing Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who had served in Congress since 1996, in a district covering much of Portland, Oregon, that is reliably blue and unlikely to be won by a Republican in November. Susheela Jayapal, a former county commissioner, was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and several members of the far-left “Squad” House Democrats, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District includes most of Multnomah County, all of Hood County and part of Clackamas County. OREGON HIKER, 22, DIES AT COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE AFTER FALLING OFF A CLIFF All three of the leading candidates – Jayapal, Dexter and Morales – were all very similar on the issues, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported, in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3-to-1. Blumenauer, who announced his retirement last year after serving in Congress since 1996, told Fox News Digital in December this Congress began with obvious fractures within the majority party, and he did not see how those could be resolved. EMBATTLED TRUMP PROSECUTOR FIGHTS TO KEEP JOB AS GEORGIA AMONG FIVE STATES HOLDING ELECTIONS TUESDAY “I think, in this circumstance, I can – on the things I care about most – I can have as much or more impact as a civilian,” Blumenauer said. “It’s quite clear the way this Congress started, that there were deep, deep, irreconcilable divisions with my Republican colleagues,” he said. “And it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better.” “It’s troubling. But, you know, we’ll try our best this next year to help move some things,” he said. The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report