UK’s Cameron meets Trump ahead of push for more US Ukraine funding
Former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron met with former President Donald Trump in a surprise visit to Mar-a-Lago on Monday. Cameron, who now serves as the U.K. foreign secretary, is in the U.S. to urge lawmakers to back additional funding to Ukraine in its war against Russia and a spokesperson for the British government’s Foreign Office described it as “standard practice” to meet with an opposition candidate, with Trump being the presumptive Republican nominee for this year’s presidential election. It is unclear how the meeting went or what exactly was discussed. Trump has previously stated that he would end the war within 24 hours should he be reelected while he has also touted converting the cost of weapons transfers to Ukraine into a loan. DESPERATE ZELENSKYY WARNS ‘UKRAINE WILL LOSE THE WAR’ IF CONGRESS DOES NOT SEND MORE AID Cameron will meet Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday to discuss the $60 billion military aid package which he has held up for months, while the pair will also discuss the Israel-Gaza war. Last week, Cameron called on Western leaders to put pressure on House Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans in Congress to approve the additional aid for Ukraine, as Britain and the European Union have already done. “Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress,” Cameron said in a video posted on social media platform X. “I’m going to go and see him next week and say, ‘Ukraine needs that money. It is American security, it’s European security, it’s Britain’s security that’s on the line in Ukraine, and they need our help.’” MCCONNELL PUTTING ‘MAIN PART OF MY FOCUS’ ON OPPOSING RUSSIA IN UKRAINE: ‘A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM FOR DEMOCRACIES’ A $95 billion aid package for Ukraine has been bogged down in the House of Representatives for months as populist conservatives seek to block further funding for the two-year-old conflict and some mainstream Republicans demand concessions on border security before supporting the bill. Earlier this year, Cameron also urged Congress to get behind more financial aid and warned lawmakers not to show “the weakness displayed against Hitler” in the 1930s. The UK has pledged almost $15 billion in overall support to Ukraine since February 2022, of which $9 billion is for military assistance. The war is now in its third year with no immediate end in sight. Members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus and their allies are drawing lines in the sand ahead of what is expected to be an intense inter-GOP battle over additional aid for Ukraine. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., put forward a funding plan late last month, but Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., is calling for any funding to Ukraine to be balanced with spending cuts elsewhere and for it to be paired with U.S. border policy changes. If the Ukraine funding legislation passes the House, it faces a clearer path through the Senate. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has already established his support for additional help for Ukraine. Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom and Elizabeth Elkind as well as Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Special Counsel Jack Smith urges Supreme Court to reject Trump immunity claims: ‘No person is above the law’
Special Counsel Jack Smith on Monday urged the Supreme Court to reject former President Trump’s claim that he can’t be prosecuted for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 election. In prosecutors’ final brief before justices hear arguments in Trump’s case on April 25, Smith’s team argued lower courts were right to deny Trump’s immunity claims. “The President’s constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed does not entail a general right to violate them,” they wrote. Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, faces criminal charges for allegedly conspiring to prevent Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election after he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. He denied any wrongdoing. TRUMP TELLS SUPREME COURT A DENIAL OF IMMUNITY WOULD ‘INCAPACITATE EVERY FUTURE PRESIDENT,’ IN INITIAL BRIEF The trial is on hold until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s assertion that he should be immune from prosecution because the conduct he is accused of constituted official acts of the president. Both the judge presiding over the case, Tanya Chutkan, and a three-judge federal appellate panel in Washington have forcefully rejected that claim. Trump appealed, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear his argument. In a brief, Trump’s legal team argued a denial of his claims would “incapacitate every future president with de facto blackmail and extortion while in office,” and would create “post-office trauma at the hands of political opponents.” NEW YORK APPEALS COURT DENIES TRUMP MOTION TO DELAY HUSH-MONEY TRAIL, SETTING UP JURY SELECTION FOR NEXT WEEK Smith’s prosecutors said the lower court rulings should stand and reiterated their argument that “federal criminal law applies to the president.” “The effective functioning of the Presidency does not require that a former President be immune from accountability for these alleged violations of federal criminal law,” prosecutors wrote in Monday’s filing. “To the contrary, a bedrock principle of our constitutional order is that no person is above the law — including the President.” TRUMP FILES MOTION REQUESTING JUDGE IN HUSH MONEY TRIAL BE RECUSED AMID DAUGHTER’S DEMOCRAT-AFFILIATED WORK They argued that the Framers of the Constitution “never endorsed criminal immunity for a former President” and said all former presidents have known they could be criminally prosecuted for acts committed while in office, even after leaving the government. Prosecutors also said that even if the Supreme Court were to recognize some immunity for a president’s official acts, the justices should nonetheless permit the case to move forward because much of the indictment is centered on Trump’s private conduct. Smith and his team suggested the court could rule narrowly against Trump without setting a broad precedent that could apply to other cases. “A holding that petitioner has no immunity from the alleged crimes would suffice to resolve this case, leaving potentially more difficult questions that might arise on different facts for decision if they are ever presented,” they said. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Electoral Bonds – Joining the dots
The Judiciary was already dealing with 2 major matters attacking the Constitutional validity of the electoral Bonds and the main ground for challenge was that the Electoral Bonds lack transparency.
‘Change the Narrative’: Sadhguru on political slander against women ahead of Lok Sabha Elections
Sadhguru’s appeal comes in the wake of several recent instances where political figures across party lines have used offensive language against women leaders.
25 years after fatal bonfire, Texas A&M considers bringing student tradition back
A university system regent has sought input from the victims’ families about restoring the tradition, which was suspended after the 1999 tragedy.
Texas will use computers to grade written answers on this year’s STAAR tests
The state will save more than $15 million by using technology similar to ChatGPT to give initial scores, reducing the number of human graders needed. The decision caught some educators by surprise.
Maryland lawmakers approve bill to support port employees after Baltimore bridge collapse
Maryland’s Democrat-controlled legislature approved a bill on Monday to aid employees at the Port of Baltimore affected by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse. The bridge collapse on March 26 and its impact on a key economic engine led lawmakers to act in the last two weeks of the legislative session. The bill authorizes use of the state’s rainy day fund to support port employees who are out of work and are not covered under unemployment insurance while the port is closed or partially closed. MARYLAND LAWMAKERS FOCUS ON BRIDGE COLLAPSE RELIEF AS LEGISLATIVE SESSION CLOSES “This is going to make a difference for our workers,” Baltimore County Republican Sen. Johnny Ray Salling told reporters Monday. The bill also allows the governor to use state reserves to help some small businesses avoid firing workers and to encourage companies that relocate to other ports to return to Baltimore when the port reopens. “We’re proud of the fact that we as an administration and we as a state have been able to respond to the crisis of the Key Bridge, while also not losing sight that we have an aggressive legislative package that we have to get across the finish line, and we’re proud of the results,” Democrat Gov. Wes Moore told reporters. Moore is expected to sign the emergency legislation Tuesday, which would immediately put the bill into effect. CREWS BEGIN TO REMOVE CONTAINERS FROM BARGE THAT HIT BALTIMORE BRIDGE “Tomorrow, I will proudly sign the PORT Act into law,” the governor wrote Monday night on X, formerly Twitter. “This legislation will support businesses and workers who have been affected by the Key Bridge’s collapse.” Lawmakers also gave final approval to the state’s $63 billion budget on Friday, agreeing to some tax and fee increases to help pay for transportation and education. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: MVA seals poll pact in Maharashtra; Sena (UBT) gets 21 seats, Cong 17, NCP (SP) 10
The Congress gave up its claim on the contentious Sangli and Bhiwandi seats, which will now be contested by the Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP), respectively.
Total solar eclipse sweeps across North America: Eight highlights
A total solar eclipse has crossed North America, slicing a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast, briefly plunging communities in Mexico, the United States and Canada along the path into darkness. This was the first total eclipse to sweep across a large swath of North America since 2017. The next total solar eclipse will take place on August 12, 2026, over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Here are eight highlights: Mexico’s Mazatlan was first city to experience totality Mexico’s beachside resort town of Mazatlan was the first major viewing spot for totality. Thousands in solar-safe eyewear perched in deck chairs along the coastal promenade, and an orchestra played the Star Wars movie theme as skies darkened under the approaching lunar shadow. The crowds burst into cheers, applause and whistles when the eclipse reached totality. Eclipse fans travelled from far and wide hoping to glimpse the phenomenon somewhere along the “path of totality” stretching 2,500 miles (4,000 km) from Mexico’s Pacific Coast through Texas and across 14 other US states into Canada. Lourdes Corro, 43, said she travelled 10 hours by car to reach Mazatlan. “The last one I saw was when I was nine years old,” Corro said. “There are a few clouds but we can still see the sun.” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador uses special protective glasses to observe the total solar eclipse in Mazatlan [Reuters] Some animals changed their behaviour A researcher observing animals at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas during totality said some seemed extra vigilant, including a rambunctious young male gorilla that stood on a pole. At the Dallas Zoo, flamingos gathered in the middle of a pond and the penguins also clustered together, an employee said. “The flamingos started getting crazy and started getting in the water because they thought it was time to sleep,” visitor Mara Villeda, of Arlington, told local news agency NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Despite some changes at the Fort Worth Zoo, most animals remained relatively calm during totality and many moved to where they were put away for the evening. “In general, everybody was really well adjusted. Nobody was doing sort of bonkers behaviour,” said Adam Hartstone-Rose, a researcher from North Carolina State University who came with a team to Texas for the eclipse. A gorilla sits in an enclosure as the sun returns at the Fort Worth Zoo after a total solar eclipse on Monday in Fort Worth, Texas [LM Otero/AP] Weddings and proposals In Russellville, Arkansas, a town of roughly 30,000 people near the southern US state’s only nuclear power plant, almost 400 couples tied the knot by the shadow of the moon in a mass wedding event dubbed “Elope and the Eclipse”. Further north in Niagara Falls, clouds threatened to disrupt viewing parties for the crowd of about 2,000 people who had gathered in the state park. There were at least two weddings and one marriage proposal at the falls as the clouds parted to reveal the last 30 seconds of totality, and the crowd went wild, cheering and shouting, “It’s so beautiful.” As the skies began to brighten again, a band played out the retreating lunar shadow with a rendition of REM’s 1992 hit song Man on the Moon. Couples exchange rings just before totality during a solar eclipse at a mass wedding ceremony at Trenton, Ohio [Jon Cherry/AP] New world record Across the river in Niagara Falls, Ontario, 309 people – some from as far away as Singapore and London – came dressed up as the sun, setting a new world record for the largest group to wear solar costumes in one place, contest organisers said. The previous record was set in 2020 by 287 participants in China. Some of the 309 people gathered to break the Guinness World Record for the largest group of people dressed as the sun pose on a sightseeing boat [Jenna Zucker/Reuters] Hear and feel the eclipse While eclipse watchers looked to the skies, people who were blind or visually impaired were able to hear and feel the celestial event. Devices that can translate the eclipse on sound and touch devices were available at some public gatherings. An astronomer who is blind collaborated with an astronomer from Harvard University to design the LightSound box, which translates changing light in the sky into differing musical notes. Another device allowed users to feel the eclipse through rows of dots that moved up and down. In this composite of eight photographs, the moon passes by the sun into totality and away again during a total solar eclipse in Bloomington, Indiana [Josh Edelson/AFP] The eclipse in numbers The out-of-sync darkness lasted as long as 4 minutes and 28 seconds. That is almost twice as long as it was during the US coast-to-coast eclipse seven years ago because the moon was closer to Earth. It took just 1 hour and 40 minutes for the moon’s shadow to race more than 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometres) across the continent. The path of totality – approximately 115 miles (185 kilometres) wide – encompassed several major US and Canadian cities, including Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York and Montreal. An estimated 44 million people lived within the track, with a couple of hundred million more within 200 miles (320 kilometres). (Al Jazeera) Jupiter and Venus visible during totality Hundreds of people at Shawnee National Forest in the US state of Virginia erupted into cheers as darkness fell over their campsite. Temperatures dropped several degrees. Birds chirped and frogs croaked. And planets including Jupiter and Venus were visible during the more than 3 minutes of totality. When is the next total solar eclipse? The next total solar eclipse will take place on August 12, 2026, over Greenland, Iceland and Spain. Almost exactly a year later, on August 2, 2027, one will be visible from northern Africa, Gibraltar and the Arabian Peninsula. In the US, the next total eclipse will occur in 2033 but will only be visible from Alaska. Western Canada, Montana and North Dakota will witness a
Activists calling for Israel arms embargo target UK’s Labour party HQ
NewsFeed Video shows activists spraying red paint on the UK’s Labour party headquarters in a protest calling for an arms embargo against Israel and an end to new drilling for oil and gas. At least two people were arrested. Published On 9 Apr 20249 Apr 2024 Adblock test (Why?)