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PM Modi inaugurates first Hindu Temple in Abu Dhabi

He also participated in ‘Global Aarti’, which was performed simultaneously at over 1,200 BAPS temples worldwide.

Kentucky Senate approves bill to curb DEI initiatives at public universities

A Republican-backed measure to limit diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Kentucky’s public universities won approval from the state Senate on Tuesday after an emotional debate that delved into race relations and what the bill’s sponsor portrayed as the liberal bent on college campuses. The bill cleared the Senate on a 26-7 vote after a nearly two-hour debate, sending the proposal to the House. The GOP has supermajorities in both chambers. One Democratic lawmaker, predicting a legal challenge, said the final arbiters could be the courts. Debates revolving around initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion — known as DEI — are playing out in statehouses across the country. So far this year, GOP lawmakers have proposed about 50 bills in 20 states that would restrict DEI initiatives or require their public disclosure, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural. Meanwhile, Democrats have filed about two dozen bills in 11 states that would require or promote DEI initiatives. KENTUCKY HOUSE CLEARS MEASURE FOR MOMENT OF SILENCE AT START OF SCHOOL DAY In Kentucky, opponents warned the proposed restrictions on campuses could roll back gains in minority enrollments and stifle campus discussions on topics dealing with past discrimination. The legislation, among other things, would bar public colleges and universities from providing preferential treatment based on a person’s political ideology. It would prohibit the schools from requiring people to state specific ideologies or beliefs when seeking admission, employment or promotions. Republican Sen. Mike Wilson said he filed the bill to counter a broader trend in higher education toward denying campus jobs or promotions to faculty refusing to espouse “liberal ideologies fashionable in our public universities.” He said such practices have extended to students and staff as well. “Diversity of thought should be welcomed in our universities and higher education,” Wilson said. “But we’ve seen a trend across the United States of forcing faculty, in order to remain employed, to formally endorse a set of beliefs that may be contrary to their own, all in violation of the First Amendment.” Democratic Sen. Reginald Thomas said the proposed restrictions would jeopardize successes in expanding the number of minority students on Kentucky’s university campuses. “The richness of our diversity and our differences, that’s what makes us strong,” said Thomas, who is Black. “We are like a quilt here in America.” Wilson responded that there’s nothing in the bill to prohibit colleges from supporting diversity initiatives, as long as those efforts don’t include “discriminatory concepts.” The legislation sets out a host of such concepts that would be prohibited, among them that a person, based on their race or gender, bears responsibility for past actions committed by other members of the same race or gender. Another is meant to keep people from feeling guilt or discomfort solely because of their race or gender. The state attorney general’s office would be allowed to take legal action to compel a school’s compliance. Other senators opposing the bill warned that its restrictions could have a chilling effect on what’s taught on college campuses. They pointed to the women’s suffrage movement and the landmark Supreme Court ruling that outlawed segregation of public schools as possible examples of topics that could be excluded. In supporting the bill, GOP Sen. Phillip Wheeler said it’s important for students to delve into the past and learn about the struggles of people. The bill attempts to “get to a balance, to where we’re no longer looked at as the oppressors and the oppressees, that we are each judged on our own merit,” he said. “I think that some of the vitriol that occurs on the campuses, some of the topics, have really done more to divide us than unite us,” he added. The Supreme Court’s June decision ending affirmative action at universities has created a new legal landscape around diversity programs in the workplace and civil society. On Tuesday, one of the most emotional moments of the Kentucky Senate debate came when Republican Sen. Donald Douglas talked about his own life experiences, recalling that some classmates believed he got into medical school because he was a Black athlete, despite his academic achievements. “You know how embarrassed I was?” Douglas said in supporting the bill. “How embarrassed I was to tell them I had an academic scholarship to medical school and I had to explain, as a Black man, how I got a scholarship to medical school?” The changes proposed in the bill would be painful for some people, Douglas acknowledged. But he predicted that most affected students will “succeed with vigor and they will succeed with a sense that they are responsible for their success and not just the system.”

Virginia paves the way for marijuana sales, assisted suicide as Assembly deadline looms

Virginia lawmakers plowed through hundreds of bills Tuesday as they reached a key deadline for this year’s legislative session. The House of Delegates and Senate debated topics ranging from gambling to marijuana sales ahead of what’s known as “crossover,” the point by which all legislation but the budget bills must clear its originating chamber. This year’s session marks the third since the start of Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term. But it’s the first since he’s taken office with Democrats in full control of the statehouse after they flipped the House of Delegates in last year’s elections. VIRGINIA GOV. YOUNGKIN PRIORITIZES MENTAL HEALTH POLICY AS POLICE ARE OVERWHELMED BY CASES Democrats have used their majorities to fend off Republican efforts to repeal previously enacted priorities, including voting access protections and environmental laws. And they’re advancing new initiatives — including stricter proposed limits on firearms and legislation to increase the minimum wage — that could face the prospect of a Youngkin veto. The governor has been tight-lipped, however, about where exactly he might wield the veto pen, amid closely watched negotiations over his proposal to bring two Washington pro sports teams to northern Virginia. Still to come this session, which is scheduled to end March 9, is much of the heavy lifting on one of the Assembly’s most important tasks: crafting the next two-year state budget. Here’s a look at a where things stand on a number of other key issues: One of the session’s most closely watched items, legislation underpinning a proposal by Youngkin to bring the Washington Wizards and Capitals to northern Virginia, passed the House of Delegates Tuesday on a bipartisan 59-40 vote. Supporters cheered the development as a major step forward, while opponents vowed to keep up their organizing. The deal’s path forward looks murky, as an identical Senate version was allowed to die in that chamber this week for lack of a hearing. Top legislators there have questioned whether Youngkin is negotiating with Democrats in good faith and raised concerns about the public-private financing that’s proposed. Both chambers have passed bills that would pave the way for the legal recreational sales of marijuana, but they face a skeptical Youngkin. In 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana, adopting a policy change that allowed adults to possess and cultivate the drug. But lawmakers have yet to enact a framework for recreational sales. Democrats have defeated measures that would restrict access to abortion, including one proposal that would have instituted a near-total ban on the procedure. Meanwhile, they are advancing legislation likely to face a Youngkin veto that would prevent the issuance of search warrants for electronic or digital menstrual health data, which proponents say would prevent such information from being weaponized in potential abortion-related court cases. Democrats also used a rare procedural technique to force a floor vote Monday on a bill from a conservative freshman member that would further restrict the already limited circumstances in which public funding can be used to provide abortion services and prohibit state funding from flowing to entities that provide abortions. Democrats said they wanted to put every House member on the record on the issue, though the bill was not particularly divisive. It failed to advance on a vote of 95-1, with two abstentions. Republicans called the exchange a stunt. The House and Senate this week passed differing versions of legislation that would tax and regulate so-called “skill games,” the slot-like betting machines that have proliferated in businesses such as truck stops, restaurants and convenience stores around the state before a ban took effect. The House version has tighter regulations, and the Senate’s is preferred by the well-organized industry coalition pushing for legalization. Other gambling-related bills this year include a now-defeated effort to allow a referendum on a casino in the wealthy suburbs of the nation’s capital and a separate measure, still alive, that would add Petersburg to the list of casino-eligible cities while removing Richmond, where voters have twice rejected ballot measures to pave the way for one. Good governance advocates had high hopes that this may be the year Virginia lawmakers finally agree to join most other states and the federal government in preventing elected officials from spending campaign donations on personal expenses. But a bill to do just that appears to face resistance in the House of Delegates, where Speaker Don Scott signaled skepticism about the legislation in an interview ahead of session. The House version was allowed to die for lack of a hearing. The Senate version, which passed 35-4, will now cross over for House consideration. A bill that would let Virginians facing terminal illness end their own lives with a prescription of barbiturates or other controlled substance from a health care provider narrowly passed the Senate last week. The bill limits eligibility to mentally competent adults who have received a diagnosis that they have six months or less to live. The bill failed in previous years, but this year passed the Senate on a party-line vote after receiving an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat and former state senator who has been diagnosed with a terminal neurological disease. Religious and socially conservative groups have opposed the measure. A similar bill had been scheduled for a vote in the House on Tuesday but was passed by, effectively defeating it. The Senate’s version will now cross over. After a lengthy debate, the state Senate narrowly defeated a measure from Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell that would regulate the use of license plate reader technology, while also opening the door for use of the cameras on state highways. Surovell said the bill would add guardrails on a widely used technology that is currently unregulated by the state. Opponents raised privacy concerns. Sen. Lashrecse Aird said that without tighter rules on how police can use the data, the bill would allow for an “unfettered expansion of mass surveillance here in the Commonwealth.” A different version of the bill is still alive in the

WATCH: Vulnerable Republican lampooned for ’embarrassing’ exchange with reporter, ‘lie’ about district funding

FIRST ON FOX: A House Republican facing what is expected to be a tough re-election fight this year is being lampooned by Democrats for a recent “embarrassing” exchange with a reporter where she doubled-down on claiming she brought $40 million into the district despite voting against the legislation that provided a majority of the funding. A new video released Wednesday by the Democratic National Campaign Committee (DCCC), pokes fun at Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., over the exchange, where she was unable to recall her vote against legislation that made up $24 million of the $40 million she claimed to have secured for the people of Florida’s 27th Congressional District. “Right now you have to give me more details, but I do know that every time I have an opportunity to bring money to my constituents, I do so,” Salazar said when questioned by CBS News Miami’s Jim DeFede over why she made the claim about the funding but voted against the legislation. VULNERABLE HOUSE DEM BACKPEDALS AFTER REFUSING TO CONDEMN PHRASE SEEN AS CALLING FOR ‘EXTERMINATION’ OF JEWS The interview spiraled when DeFede continued pressing Salazar, and she responded she would have to ask her staff before continuing to claim she brought $40 million to the district. “Aren’t you proud of me? Aren’t you proud of the $40 million that I’ve brought?” she asked DeFede. Of the $40 million Rep. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., claimed she personally played a role in securing for various projects in her district, including infrastructure, $24 million came as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, which Salazar actually opposed alongside nearly all of her Republican colleagues. The DCCC video targeting Salazar includes clips of the interview, overlaid with circus-like music, and claims the congresswoman’s “lies are catching up to her.” It comes as Democrats aim to flip control of the House of Representatives from Republicans, who currently hold a narrow majority of just a few seats. WATCH: SUPER BOWL AD FEATURES MARINE DRILL INSTRUCTOR RUNNING MEMBERS OF CONGRESS THROUGH BOOT CAMP “María Elvira Salazar thinks she can keep taking credit with voters in South Miami for federal funding that she voted against. Too bad for her, the DCCC has the receipts, proof, timeline, and screenshots — and we’re bringing the facts directly to voters,” DCCC spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. When reached for comment, Salazar’s campaign pointed Fox News Digital to an op-ed she wrote in the Miami Herald following the exchange. In it, Salazar explained that she fought to get the funding included in the bill as it was being drafted, but that it later became a “bloated” bill loaded with “bad policies” she was unwilling to vote for. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP   “Let me be clear: I will never apologize for working to deliver wins for the district I have been entrusted to represent by the voters. I will always vote my conscience and in the best interest of our community and our country,” she wrote. Elections analysts rate the race for Florida’s 27th Congressional District as “solid” or “likely” Republican. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Sen Roger Marshall rallies Republicans to add ‘meaningful’ border security to House’s foreign aid package

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, is one of several dissatisfied Republicans who voted against the multibillion-dollar national security supplemental package early Tuesday morning because it did not include any border security provisions.  Marshall now hopes House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can finish what a handful of Senate Republicans hoped to achieve in the Democrat-controlled chamber: securing the southern border before aid is sent to overseas allies.  The Senate shot down a package that included border-related provisions early last week, saying it was “hardly” border security at all, and instead urged the Senate to take up the House’s border policy, known as H.R. 2, which includes Trump-era restrictions and stricter screenings for asylum claims.  “I would love to see Speaker Johnson take H.R. 2 and add it to the bill that we passed,” Marshall told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday. “I think that’s something that a super majority of Republicans could support.” Marshall said he was not happy with the Senate’s passage of some $60 billion to Ukraine because of several instances of inadequate auditing of funds, but he said he is “willing to trade that in return for meaningful border security” if the House decides to attach Ukraine aid to their bill.  Both Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voted in favor of the foreign aid package.  SENATE PASSES CONTROVERSIAL FOREIGN AID BILL SENDING BILLIONS TO UKRAINE, ISRAEL, AND TAIWAN “Many of us are horribly disappointed there was no border security in this package,” Marshall said. “It was a very closed process.” Neither Republicans nor Democrats could reach an agreement on bringing several filed amendments to the floor for debate, so the package passed without them.  “More than half of the Republican caucus did not support this bill,” Marshall continued. “And that’s why it’s not going to fly in the House. Speaker Johnson is not going to bring something to the floor, unless he has the majority of the majority.” Johnson has already made it clear the House would not take up the Senate’s foreign aid bill in a statement on Monday, but instead, would draft their own bill with border security provisions included. It is unclear if the House’s aid package would include assistance to Ukraine. “The mandate of national security supplemental legislation was to secure America’s own border before sending additional foreign aid around the world,” Johnson said. “It is what the American people demand and deserve. Now, in the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters. America deserves better than the Senate’s status quo.” U.S. NATIONAL DEBT TRACKER: SEE WHAT AMERICAN TAXPAYERS (YOU) OWE IN REAL TIME Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a usual proponent of foreign defense spending, also voted against the package, arguing that helping Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan “makes sense, but not this way.” “America’s border is a disaster. We are $34 trillion in debt. It is time to help our allies while also helping ourselves,” he said in a statement. Graham said the bill is “rightly DOA in the House” and signaled support for former President Trump’s proposal to make the foreign assistance a loan. In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump said, “THE DEAL SHOULD BE (CONTINGENT!) THAT THE U.S. IS HELPING YOU, AS A NATION, BUT IF THE COUNTRY WE ARE HELPING EVER TURNS AGAINST US, OR STRIKES IT RICH SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, THE LOAN WILL BE PAID OFF AND THE MONEY RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATES. WE SHOULD NEVER GIVE MONEY ANYMORE WITHOUT THE HOPE OF A PAYBACK, OR WITHOUT ‘STRINGS’ ATTACHED. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SHOULD BE ‘STUPID’ NO LONGER!” The Senate passed the $95 billion national security supplemental package to assist Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific after a tedious procedural process that came to an end early Tuesday morning after GOP lawmakers spent hours filibustering it. PENTAGON FINALLY RUNS OUT OF MONEY FOR UKRAINE, URGES 50 ALLIES TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING KYIV In a press conference Tuesday morning, Schumer praised the package as “one of the most historic and consequential bills” to ever pass in the upper chamber.  “The responsibility now falls on Speaker Johnson and House Republicans to approve this bill swiftly,” Schumer said. “And I call on speaker Johnson to rise to the occasion to do the right thing.” The final vote was 70 to 29, with 22 Republicans voting yes. Democratic Sens. Peter Welch and Jeff Merkley, plus independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, voted no. The supplemental package comes as the national debt soars above $34 trillion. Calls to offset the spending with cuts elsewhere went unheeded. Several Republicans spent hours — since the beginning of the weekend — collectively filibustering the package on the Senate floor. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, committed to filibustering the bill for four hours on Saturday and continued early Tuesday. The package includes $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza and nearly $5 billion for the Indo-Pacific. Democrats brought the package up for a vote after Republicans last Wednesday blocked the $118 billion package that included numerous border and immigration provisions, which had been negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators and Biden officials. 

Virginia advances bill that would enable DACA recipients to become police officers

Jemny Marquinez has wanted to be a police officer since the age of 12, when she saw officers from her local police department in Virginia handing out Christmas gifts to children. Marquinez has the right qualifications, including a bachelor’s degree in criminology, but because she is not a U.S. citizen, she cannot work as a police officer in Virginia. A bill approved by the state Senate Tuesday would change that by allowing recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Act, known as DACA, to become eligible for jobs in law enforcement. Marquinez, 24, has lived in the U.S. since the age of 3, when her family moved here from El Salvador. She told Virginia lawmakers during a hearing last month that she has no memory of El Salvador, and Virginia is the only home she has ever known. She said that if the legislation is signed into law, she would wear a police badge with “gratitude, honor and respect.” VIRGINIA WOMAN ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY SWINGING MEDIEVAL SWORD AT POLICE OFFICER, NEIGHBOR “Being an American isn’t just about being born in the United States,” Marquinez said, but also “loving the flag and what it stands for.” “My only intentions are to serve my community and give back,” she said. DACA provides protections against against deportation for people who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16 and who have lived in the U.S. continuously since at least 2007. There are currently about 600,000 recipients in the U.S. DACA recipients are eligible for work authorization in the U.S., but cannot receive amnesty and don’t have a path to citizenship. Several other states, including California and Illinois, have already approved legislation to allow noncitizens who are authorized to work in the U.S. to become police officers. Sen. Jeremy McPike, the lead sponsor of the Virginia bill, said Marquinez was twice denied a waiver when she applied to become a police officer in Prince William County. “There are no better recruits than those who grew up in the community and are also bilingual and reflective of our community,” McPike said. Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham said Marquinez has met all of the requirements to become a police officer. While she was in college, she worked as an intern for the police department and now works fulltime as an administrative specialist for the department. “It would be fundamentally unfair for people who were brought to this country as children and who have lived their lives in such a way that they can meet all the qualifications,” Newsham said — “for them not to be able to do that is an injustice.” Opponents of the bill who testified before a Senate committee Monday said they believe only U.S. citizens should be allowed to wield the power police have to detain and arrest people. The bill will now be sent to the House of Delegates. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s press office did not respond to a request for comment about his position on the measure.

KY bill would make big investment in early childhood education as pandemic aid runs out

When Jessie Schook shares the joyful news that she’s pregnant with her first child, she says the response is often the same — especially among other female working professionals. “The excitement is immediately followed by: ‘Are you on a list?’” Schook says. What they’re asking is if she’s signed up for childcare — months before her baby is due to arrive in June. It reflects the deep anxiety among working parents to find affordable and quality childcare, Schook, a high-level executive with Kentucky’s vast community and technical college system, said Tuesday. MORE REPUBLICANS TREATING CHILD CARE AS WORKFORCE ISSUE, SUPPORTING HIGHER SPENDING Republican Sen. Danny Carroll unveiled sweeping legislation on Tuesday that’s meant to shore up and expand the network of childcare centers across the Bluegrass State. Another objective is to bolster early childhood education, he said. One long-term goal, he said, is to someday make terms like “childcare” and “daycare” obsolete, replaced by early childhood education — no matter the setting or age of the child. Carroll is proposing that the state pump $150 million per year into his bill’s childcare initiatives in the next two-year budget cycle, which begins July 1. The Republican-dominated legislature will put its finishing touches on the next state spending plan sometime next month. “This is a time that Kentucky needs to step up and be a shining example for the rest of the country, and we will reap the benefits of that if we make that decision,” Carroll said at a news conference. The bill comes amid uncertain times for childcare providers and parents. The $24 billion of pandemic aid that Congress passed in 2021 for childcare businesses is drying up. Republican state lawmakers across the country have responded by embracing plans to support child care. Still, the largest investments in child care have come from Democratic lawmakers. In New Mexico, the state is covering childcare for most children under 5 using a trust funded by oil and natural gas production. In Vermont, Democratic lawmakers overrode the GOP governor’s veto to pass a payroll tax hike to fund child care subsidies. In Kentucky, Carroll said his measure, along with his funding request, would “go a long way toward averting the impending crisis we are about to face if we don’t act with purpose and certainty.” His measure, dubbed the Horizons Act, would include state support for childcare centers and families struggling to afford childcare. It would create funds meant to help increase the availability of early childhood education services and to foster innovations in early childhood education. As part of the initiative, the state community and technical college system would offer an associate degree in early childhood education entrepreneurship, with the goal that graduates would be prepared to operate childcare centers. Schook expressed the community and technical college system’s readiness to offer the additional program in an effort to expand access to childcare. But it was her personal comments about the anxiety of finding childcare that especially resonated. “Any woman professional, male professional, in the commonwealth has to cope with that challenge when they find out this exciting news that their family is growing,” she said. Carroll’s bill drew broad-based praise from advocates for business and children. A strong childcare network would raise Kentucky’s low workforce participation rate and would further improve the state’s competitiveness in attracting new business, supporters said. The bill also received an endorsement from Jennifer Washburn, who owns and operates an early childhood education center in Benton in far western Kentucky. Such centers face constant stress over staffing and tuition, Washburn said. With the loss of federal support, many centers face agonizing options –- either cut staff salaries, raise tuition or close, she said. She referred to Carroll’s bill as “an exceptional starting point to address the needs of a broken system.” Kentucky will pay a “huge price” if lawmakers fail to tackle chronic problems in childcare, Carroll said in an interview. That includes a greater emphasis on early childhood education, he said. Lawmakers reached the halfway point of their 60-day session Tuesday, so those decisions will be made in the coming weeks. “Early childhood education is an afterthought in this state, and we’ve got to make it a priority,” Carroll said. “If we ever want to reach the levels of educational attainment where we want to be, this is where it starts. And I think this is where we’ve been missing the boat for years is by not investing and not providing the best possible early childhood education for as many kids as we can.”

Tennessee Republicans could change law to prevent Democrat from running in two elections at once

Less than a year after Tennessee Republicans attempted to expel her from the state House, Democrat Gloria Johnson is seeking another term there while simultaneously waging an uphill campaign for U.S. Senate. Republicans are trying to force her to choose one. Voters might do a double take seeing a name twice on a ballot. But Tennessee and other states allow certain dual runs, and there have been prominent examples of them. TENNESSEE DEM INTRODUCES BILL FOR ‘THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TAX’ ON FIREARM SALES Republican state lawmakers are now considering a bill that would ban candidates like Johnson from appearing on the ballot multiple times for different offices in one election. It would also prohibit holding multiple elected offices at once. Efforts to change the rules about how many times someone can seek office are usually ripe with consequences for political allies and enemies. Just four years ago in Tennessee, Republican state Rep. David Hawk ran for reelection and Congress, landing back in the Legislature after losing the federal race. With Johnson’s double bid, she hopes to upset Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, while running again in her Knoxville district. Johnson isn’t buying arguments from the bill’s Republican backers that she didn’t inspire the proposed change to a longstanding law. “That’s just a lie, because I kept hearing over the summer that if I ran, there would be a bill,” Johnson said, “And so I kept letting people know I just might run. And sure enough, there’s a bill.” If Tennessee adds the restrictions, it would follow other states that largely bar someone from running for multiple offices in the same election — among them, Kentucky, Montana, Kansas and Oklahoma. Still, states with those limitations offer a safety net for running for a higher office in a different election year than when their seat is up for reelection. The change would still stop short of so-called resign-to-run laws in place in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Georgia and Texas, which work differently but generally prohibit current officeholders from running for another office while holding their current office, according to Uyen Vong of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Even in states that restrict double runs, political decisionmakers at times have carved out exceptions to help candidates. Florida lawmakers last year gave Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis a clear path to remain governor during his run for president. When Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul was a presidential candidate in the 2016 election cycle, he helped convince Kentucky GOP leaders to switch from a presidential primary to an earlier caucus. That prevented him from appearing multiple times on one ballot in a state that bans it. Ultimately, Paul left the presidential race before the caucus. Democratic-run New Jersey changed its laws in 2018 to clarify that U.S. Sen. Cory Booker could run for president and reelection in 2020. Former U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan was on the 2012 ballot in Wisconsin for congressional reelection and as Republican Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate. Similarly, former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman ran for Senate reelection in Connecticut in 2000 while he was Democrat Al Gore’s vice presidential running mate. Blackburn’s campaign has cited Johnson’s dual candidacy in Tennessee to question the strength of her candidacy. Johnson has a contested primary election. “If Gloria Johnson truly believes she will win the Democratic primary and general election in November, why is she running for both seats?” said Abigail Sigler, Blackburn’s campaign manager. Republican state lawmakers who favor the ban have argued that winning twice often means abandoning the lower office, creating a costly special election. They contend serving in multiple offices can create abuse of power. If she wins both races, Johnson would likely head to Washington and resign from the statehouse. She won her 2022 reelection by nearly 16 percentage points. “She needs to choose what she’s really interested in and not use one as a safety provision in case she loses the higher office,” said Tennessee Senate Speaker Randy McNally. Johnson narrowly escaped expulsion last year for her role in a pro-gun control protest inside the Tennessee House chamber. The April demonstration came just days after a shooter opened fire at The Covenant School, killing three children and three adults. Johnson joined Democratic Reps. Justin Pearson and Justin Jones in the front of the House without permission with a bullhorn, joining chants by protesters in the public gallery and outside the chamber. Pearson and Jones, who are both Black, were expelled. Johnson, who is white, was spared by one vote after her legal team argued her role was lesser, noting she didn’t use the bullhorn. Jones and Pearson have since been reappointed and reelected. They were dubbed the “Tennessee Three” and drew national attention and fundraising. Republican lawmakers are considering changes that target Jones and Pearson, too. One proposes a constitutional amendment to keep expelled lawmakers from serving again for four years. Another would prevent local governments from reappointing lawmakers booted for behavior. In California, a judge ruled Republican state Assemblymember Vince Fong could run for Congress and reelection to his state seat at the same time. Democratic Secretary of State Shirley Weber is appealing that ruling. Meanwhile, two Democratic lawmakers have authored related legislation. One bill would clarify candidates can’t file paperwork for two offices in the same election. The other says if candidates file for a second office in the same election, they would automatically be withdrawn from the first office. Pennsylvania has likewise seen complications from lawmakers running simultaneously for reelection and higher office. In late 2022, two just reelected state House Democrats resigned their seats after winning higher office — temporarily throwing a one-seat House Democratic majority into disarray and fomenting a weekslong power struggle. A Republican-penned bill to ban the practice has gone nowhere in the House. Before the Feb. 13 deadline, no fewer than four House members running for reelection are expected to file to run for a second office in the spring primary election.

The toddler amputees of Israel’s war on Gaza – Hoor Nusseir

Hoor Nusseir has lost her parents, brothers and her hands in an Israeli bombing on Deir el-Balah. Deir el-Balah, Gaza – Little Hoor Nusseir, with her fearful, bewildered eyes, sits on a bed at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, looking around. She is being treated after she was the sole survivor rescued from beneath the rubble of her family’s home. Her family, including her father, mother, and three brothers, were killed when an Israeli bomb landed near their home in Deir el-Balah on January 27. Hoor is only a year and a half old, and she has a lot to recover from, as her tragedy extends beyond losing her family. Doctors have had to amputate her left hand entirely and the fingers of her right hand. She also has a lot of wounds to her head and legs. She has started crying and trembling as she looks at the people gathered around her and her aunt, Fatima Nusseir, tries to comfort her. “She’s in severe shock and is afraid of unfamiliar faces,” Fatima tells Al Jazeera. The 24-year-old has been staying with Hoor in the hospital to take care of her as she is being treated. “Hoor cries for her mother all night long. She says a lot of things I can’t understand, but I do understand when she says: ‘Mama! Mama!’” Fatima says tearfully. Doctors had to amputate Hoor’s left hand entirely, and the fingers on her right hand. She also has numerous injuries to her legs and head [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] “I take care of her all day, but nobody can replace her mother and father. My heart aches with grief for her.” The doctors at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital say Hoor needs additional surgeries and treatment, some of which cannot be found in Gaza, so she may need to travel to, among other things, be fitted for a prosthetic limb to replace her missing hand. “What she’s endured is unbearable for any adult, let alone a child,” Fatima says. It is hard to distract or console the child, given the nature of her injuries. “Hoor can’t grab a toy, because of her amputations,” her aunt explains, trying to find a way to distract her. “Losing a hand at her tender age, along with her family, especially her mother, is devastating.” Hoor used to be a cheerful, sociable toddler, Fatima says. But now, her mental health has suffered a great deal and she has a hard time with the presence of others around her. She cries almost incessantly, and it is difficult to calm her. “Hoor wasn’t weaned yet, so she relied on her mother even more. “Why should this child suffer such a loss when she needs her parents desperately?” Fatima lamented. Fatima has spent weeks in the hospital with Hoor [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera] Adblock test (Why?)

Israel’s unrelenting war on Gaza healthcare requires urgent action

In late December, South Africa filed a landmark case at the International Court of Justice alleging that Israel has committed multiple “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in Gaza, including an “assault on Gaza’s healthcare system, which renders life unsustainable”. Destruction of a healthcare system is indeed an act of genocide – especially in a besieged territory where over two million displaced, desperate, starving people are facing relentless, indiscriminate bombardment and sniper fire. Once the health system is destroyed, injuries cannot be treated, primary care cannot be delivered, and famine cannot be managed – in other words, life cannot be sustained. While the ICJ will likely take some years to issue a final verdict on the case against Israel, it should be clear to anyone paying any attention to the situation of healthcare in Gaza that the Strip is on a scandalous pathway to complete ethnic cleansing. Since October 7, Israeli forces have been blocking the entry of essential medical supplies and medicines to the Strip, bombing hospitals and other medical facilities, killing and kidnapping healthcare staff, and targeting ambulances. Even Gaza’s sole paediatric cancer ward has been attacked and destroyed by the Israeli military. It is difficult to see these sustained, deliberate attacks on healthcare in Gaza as anything other than an ethnic cleansing strategy aimed at creating a major health crisis that would kill thousands of Palestinians and deem the territory uninhabitable for the survivors. Since the beginning of its latest war on Gaza, Israel conducted more than 400 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Strip, including on every single one of its hospitals, leaving the majority non-functional. As of February 13, only 11 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning – five in the north and six in the south. According to the WHO, hospital bed capacity across all of Gaza has now been reduced from 3,500 to just 1,400. In many cases, the Israeli authorities tried to justify these attacks by claiming, without providing any independent, conclusive evidence, that hospitals are being used by Hamas, or that there are “Hamas command centres” under them. At this point in the conflict, the few partially functioning hospitals are only able to deliver desperately needed trauma care and there is no treatment for other critical primary care needs, such as chronic illnesses. In addition to attacks on health facilities, we know of 374 health workers that have already been killed, some in targeted assassinations. By late December, the number of health workers killed in Gaza had already exceeded the total number of all health worker deaths recorded across all other conflicts globally last year, and in any single year since 2016. Many health workers have also been kidnapped, including Dr Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, who remains missing. Ambulances have also faced attacks in Gaza, with about 120 of them completely destroyed. There have been many incidents in which ambulances have been prevented from reaching critically injured patients. In one case, an Al Jazeera journalist injured from Israeli bombardment bled to death after the ambulance trying to reach him came under fire. In another, Israeli forces bombed the Palestine Red Crescent ambulance trying to rescue a six-year-old child trapped in a car with the dead bodies of her family members, killing the two paramedics onboard. Later, it was revealed that Israeli forces also killed the child they tried to rescue. Antenatal and maternity care across the territory – care that is crucial for the long-term survival of the Palestinian population in Gaza – is also extremely limited. It is estimated that 183 women give birth in Gaza every day, but access to care for a safe pregnancy is dependent on reaching a facility still able to deliver antenatal care. Few women are able to do so and those facilities that still offer care for pregnant women are hugely overcrowded and subject to conditions described as catastrophic – lacking basic hygiene necessities, fuel, water, anaesthetics, drugs, blood products, and other supplies. With no fully functioning maternal hospitals, many women are forced to give birth in one of the few healthcare facilities that are still partly operational. However these are not geared for maternal care, and the risk of complications is very high for all mothers and babies. In November 2023, al-Hilo Hospital, which was serving as a designated maternity hospital after the collapse of all other specialist facilities, was shelled by Israeli forces. A Palestinian doctor then reported that “[f]ear is the common condition of every pregnant woman” in Gaza. The looming famine in Gaza – caused by the near complete siege imposed on the territory by Israel since the beginning of the war – is also posing a threat to pregnant women. Today, half of all pregnant women in Gaza are suffering from anaemia and at least 50,000 pregnant women are facing extreme hunger, affecting not just the current generation of people living in Gaza, but the next. There are reports of an increased number of miscarriages, too. Health workers in Gaza are working under immense stress and hardship, having to carry out amputations, c-sections and other procedures without anaesthesia, electricity, and most basic medical supplies. UN experts have framed the war on the Gaza health system as one that has resulted in the complete obliteration of healthcare infrastructure. Presented with evidence for all this and more, on January 26, the ICJ issued a preliminary ruling in the genocide case against Israel, explaining that it has seen sufficient evidence of dispute for the case to proceed, and ordering Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians. And yet, despite the ICJ’s provisional order, Israel’s military assault on the health system has continued unabated. In fact, the attacks on remaining healthcare facilities in Gaza intensified significantly in the past few weeks. On January 27, just one day after the ICJ announced its provisional orders, Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) announced that “amid