Who are some of the Biden-appointed judges the Senate just confirmed?
The Senate prioritized confirming President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees up until the last hours of the upper chamber’s business sessions before the holiday recess, finalizing a portion of the more than 160 nominees Biden had advocated for this year. A majority of his picks are women and people of color, fulfilling his promise to “diversify” the federal bench. A Pew Research Center report found that as of Nov. 5, women who were black, hispanic, asian, or part of another minority group accounted for 42% of the judges Biden had appointed, including Biden’s sole appointee to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the highest court. According to Ballotpedia, there are approximately 1,770 authorized judgeships distributed across 209 courts in the federal court system. Nearly half of these judgeships are filled by the president’s choice, entitling the appointees to lifelong terms. Others are chosen by current judges and serve for specific periods. COLORADO JUDGES’ DECISION TO REMOVE TRUMP FROM BALLOT IS ‘HOT GARBAGE,’ SAYS FORMER PROSECUTOR Here’s a list of a few of the judges the Senate confirmed in recent months: Jerry Edwards Jr.: Confirmed as the first Black federal judge in Louisiana’s U.S. Western District Court, Edwards served as first assistant U.S. attorney and chief of the civil division in Shreveport before his confirmation. His legal career and experience provide a fresh perspective to the Louisiana judiciary. Irma Carrillo Ramirez: Confirmed as the first Latina judge on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a notably conservative court. Ramirez has extensive experience presiding over civil cases. Her confirmation, with an 80-12 bipartisan vote, contrasts sharply with other contentious Biden nominees. Ramirez has extensive legal experience, from her bachelor’s degree at West Texas State University to her tenure as a federal magistrate since 2002. COLORADO NIXING TRUMP ‘STRIKINGLY UNDEMOCRATICALLY’ UNITES EXPERTS AS EX-SCALIA CLERK DECLARES ‘LAWFARE’ Loren AliKhan: Confirmed as the first South Asian woman on the federal trial court in the District of Columbia, AliKhan served as an associate judge on the DC Court of Appeals before her confirmation. Notable cases include representing the District of Columbia in a tax dispute and involvement in litigation concerning the Affordable Care Act. Shanlyn Park: Confirmed as the first Native Hawaiian woman federal judge in Hawaii’s U.S. District Court, Park previously served as a state court judge and assistant federal public defender. Her varied legal background contributes to a diverse perspective on the judiciary. Ana de Alba: Elevated to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, de Alba, a first-generation Mexican-American, previously served as a U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California. She’s recognized for her legal advocacy in civil and labor rights. Brandy R. McMillion: Nominated to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, McMillion is the 50th Black judge and the 101st person of color appointed under the Biden administration. McMillion brings legal experience from roles at Bryan Cave LLP, Perkins Coie LLP, and Pepper Hamilton LLP. Originally from Ohio and later moving to Michigan, McMillion earned her law degree from George Washington University Law School following engineering degrees from the University of Michigan. She has tried six cases to verdict or final decision, including involvement in a high-profile case prosecuting alleged health care fraud. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Mónica Ramírez Almadani: Confirmed as a federal district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Ramírez Almadani brings a rich background from Public Counsel, Covington & Burling LLP, and the United States Department of Justice, emphasizing civil rights, immigration matters, and white-collar defense. From 2005 to 2009, Almadani worked at the national American Civil Liberties Union Foundation’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, handling immigration litigation in federal courts. She has also served as a Trustee of the Mexican American Bar Foundation since 2017. Jennifer L. Hall: Hall was confirmed as the next U.S. District Judge for the District of Delaware on Oct. 18. She served as a magistrate judge with significant experience in patent cases and has a legal background encompassing the U.S. Attorney’s Office, clerkships, and litigating patent cases. Hall presided over several high profile cases, including one involving an Eighth Amendment claim by an incarcerated individual who alleged being deprived of a mattress. She found the inmate had been without a mattress for a month, yet concluded it was due to a legitimate security reason, as he had damaged previous mattresses. In another case, she recommended dismissing certain discrimination claims by a black Muslim firefighter due to insufficient supporting details in the complaint. ATTEMPTS TO BAR TRUMP FROM 2024 BALLOT GAINING STEAM Mustafa Kasubhai: Kusaubhai stands as the successor to U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken, who transitioned to senior status retirement. His appointment as a magistrate marked him as the first Muslim American on the federal bench. Kasubhai was born in Reseda, California, in 1970 to immigrant parents from Mumbai, India. Kasubhai served on the Lane County Circuit Court for approximately a decade before his federal appointment. Prior to his tenure as a judge, he practiced civil law in Eugene and Klamath Falls. He obtained his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1996. Following law school, he went into private practice, initially focusing on family law. Subsequently, he specialized in labor law litigation, representing injured workers before the Oregon Workers’ Compensation Board and in 1998 established his own labor law firm, Kasubhai & Sánchez. Rich Federico: Frederico, a Kansas federal public defender was confirmed to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, marking Biden’s second appointment to the Denver-based court. The bipartisan vote of 61-29 on Dec. 11, backed by support from both of Kansas’ Republican senators, contributes to a record number of circuit court judges with public defender backgrounds appointed by Biden, marked the administration’s effort to diversify the federal bench traditionally led by former prosecutors and large law firm attorneys. According to the progressive advocacy group Alliance for
Migrant crisis increasing strain on border officials, immigration courts with massive numbers
The migrant crisis at the southern border is putting an increasing strain not only on border officials but also on the immigration courts, as both migrant encounter numbers and court backlogs hit enormous highs. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Friday announced that there were 242,418 migrant encounters at the southern border in November, including migrant encounters at ports of entry and illegal immigrant encounters by Border Patrol between ports of entry. That is the highest November on record and the third-highest month of the crisis so far. NOVEMBER SAW NEARLY QUARTER OF A MILLION MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AMID NEW BORDER SURGE Announcing the November numbers, acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller said that the agency is facing a “serious challenge” and that it and federal partners need more resources from Congress as requested in the supplemental funding request. “Despite ongoing challenges, in November, the men and women of CBP continued their tireless work and recorded increased seizures of illegal narcotics while facilitating lawful trade and increased holiday travel,” he said. The Border Patrol union was more critical of the challenge facing agents. “While our agents are more than willing to sacrifice the holidays to protect fellow Americans, that’s not what they will be doing,” National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd said Friday. “They will be processing the illegal border crossers for release into the U.S. while large parts of the border will be left wide open to exploitation by organized crime. These will not be happy holidays for the hard-working men and women of the Border Patrol.” Meanwhile, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University published data this week showing how the number of cases before the immigration courts has now exceeded three million cases. That number has spiked from around 530,000 in December 2016 at the end of the Obama administration. At the end of the Trump administration, it stood at around 1.3 million. That was before the massive migrant crisis that hit the southern border in 2021. By the end of 2021, the backlog stood at 1.6 million and 2 million by the end of 2022. As of November of this year, the backlog is now at 3.075 million. TRAC noted that the hiring of new immigration judges has accelerated under the Biden administration, with 682 judges now working and closing an average of 975 cases each during the latest fiscal year, but it has not been enough to keep up with the wave of migrants coming in. “Immigration Judges are swamped. Immigration Judges now average 4,500 pending cases each,” TRAC said in a report. “If every person with a pending immigration case were gathered together, it would be larger than the population of Chicago, the third largest city in the United States. Indeed, the number of waiting immigrants in the Court’s backlog is now larger than the population found in many states.” Sources also told Fox News that Border Patrol has released more than 386,000 illegal immigrants into the U.S. with Notices to Appear since October, not including releases by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Republicans have criticized the administration for releasing migrants into the interior and have called for greater restrictions on asylum and the use of humanitarian parole by the administration. MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS AT BORDER SOAR PAST THE 200K MARK IN DECEMBER, WITH OVER A WEEK STILL TO GO The administration has said it is dealing with a hemisphere-wide crisis and needs more funding and comprehensive immigration reform to reduce backlogs and fix a “broken” system. It has also implemented a rule to expedite asylum claims using U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers rather than immigration judges. The Biden administration’s funding request, meanwhile, includes $1.4 billion for additional immigration judges. The administration has expressed openness to restrictions on releases in order to get a funding deal done, but it is unclear if it will be enough for Republicans and if it will lose support of Democrats in the process — some of whom have loudly opposed restrictions on asylum. Lawmakers have expressed optimism at the possibility of a deal, but have warned that it won’t happen before January at the earliest. Fox News’ Bill Melugin and Griff Jenkins contributed to this report.
IDF veteran turned NY GOP pick to replace George Santos vows to take on ‘Squad,’ slams Suozzi as fake moderate
Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Israeli Defense Forces veteran and Republican candidate vying to keep the embattled Rep. George Santos’ vacated district red, spoke at length with Fox News Digital about her message to New York voters, pitching herself as the best candidate to combat the far-left “Squad” of the Democratic Party in Congress. Pilip, an Ethiopian Jew, immigrant to Israel and the United States, married mother of seven children and a recent political newcomer, detailed her background and platform while campaigning for New York’s 3rd Congressional District ahead of a Feb. 13 special election against former Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi. Winning her first political campaign in 2021, flipping a county legislative seat from blue to red while pregnant with identical twins, Pilip is up against Suozzi, whose lengthy Long Island political career affords him name recognition and fundraising advantages after previously representing the same district six years. “You know what, Suozzi? Suozzi, a great politician. He’s absolutely a talker,” Pilip told Fox News Digital. “He is playing a game of ‘I am a moderate.’ He’s not.” NY REPUBLICANS TAP IDF VETERAN TO REPLACE SANTOS IN SPECIAL ELECTION Rejecting Suozzi’s claim to be a moderate Democrat who vows to take on the far left of his party, Pilip argued Suozzi’s voting record proves he almost always aligns with President Biden and the “Squad.” By contrast, Pilip said she is best suited to take on antisemitic rhetoric from the likes of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; Cori Bush, D-Mo.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, because she and her Ukrainian-born husband know firsthand what it was like living in Israel during the second intifada of the early 2000s. “I know the fear. My family is living this life,” she said, noting how her relatives were in bomb shelters in Israel for several days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. “I know how bad and what the Israeli civilians right now are going through. And the only one who can speak really against the Squad, who are causing so much problems for us as a nation here, and especially about Israel. “The lie, the lie they are spreading left and right. It’s wrong, and the only one who can present things the way it is, is me, is me. And in all my community here, the Jewish community wants somebody who also can fight antisemitism. Since the war started, the Jewish community are living with fear.” Pilip condemned the testimony of the presidents of Harvard, MIT and UPenn, who failed to clearly state before a congressional hearing earlier this month whether calls for intifada or the genocide of Jews on campus violated their institutions’ codes of conduct. “They couldn’t even condemn the intifada in calling for genocide of the Jewish people. And it was nothing for them. They didn’t see the red flag on that. Now, I want to ask you if that was happening against African Americans, against any minority class or against LGBTQ?” Pilip said. “But here we go when this is happening to the Jewish students, all of the sudden, that’s OK. And I’m here to say that’s not OK. And I’m here to say it as a Black person, OK, as an immigrant, as a woman, as a Jew. I’m here to draw the line. That’s unacceptable. “We don’t have to hate each other. We have to respect each other,” she added. “We have to work together. We may not … agree with policies, which is normal. But let’s not forget, we are one nation here. We have America here. We are Americans. And we have to continue with that respect to each other, which this country, unfortunately, lost it. And I hope we’re going to be able to build a better future for our kids.” Citing the atrocities of Hamas burning and beheading babies, raping young women and taking hostages, Pilip advocated for continued U.S. support for Israel and Ukraine. “Tell me who else will do something like this? Evil,” she said. “The war that Israel right now is doing is not just for the future of Israel, the future of the Middle East, the future of the entire world. OK? And therefore, we need to make sure United States continues to support Israel and also Ukraine, because this is our interest, is American, is our national interest. We have to say no for injustice and Israel … And every day there is a price for that for both sides. Unfortunately, civilians are dying. But the only one we can blame is Hamas.” Pilip detailed how, at age 12, she was among the more than 14,000 Jews airlifted to Israel from famine-ravaged Ethiopia in 1991 as rebel forces were advancing toward the capital. DISGRACED CONGRESSMAN GEORGE SANTOS IN DISCUSSIONS WITH PROSECUTORS FOR POSSIBLE PLEA DEAL “It was a very emotional day for us to come to Israel, to a beautiful country, a country full of lights, a country, you know, that has so many opportunities,” Pilip said, recalling having to learn a new language and become acclimated to a new culture. “Right after I finished the school, I really wanted to join the Israeli Defense Force because I wanted to give back to the country that really gave me the opportunity. “I remember when I came to my dad and I said, ‘I want to serve.’ And he said, ‘No, you’re too skinny, too little. What are you going to do in the Israeli army?’” she recalled, “But very quickly he realized that was the things I would like to do, and he was very supportive. Later on, he was very proud. I learned a lot during the service. It was beautiful to see people from different countries who came to Israel to live joining the IDF and for one mission really to defend the country.” Describing herself as someone who hates promises, Pilip says she’s used the past two years as Nassau County’s legislator for the 10th District, encompassing Great Neck, Lehigh Park and Manhasset, to freeze property
Cuban-American lawmakers defend Monroe Doctrine amid progressive push to end 200-year-old policy
House lawmakers of Cuban-American descent are pushing back against progressives’ efforts to eliminate the Monroe Doctrine, a 200-year-old U.S. policy that categorizes political intervention in the Western Hemisphere by countries outside of it as an act of hostility. A group of leftists led by Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., introduced a new resolution this week calling for the Monroe Doctrine to be formally annulled. She called the policy “outdated and ineffective.” “For more than 200 years, the United States has used the Monroe Doctrine to justify a paternalistic, damaging approach to relations with Latin America and the Caribbean,” Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., one of the bill’s sponsors, said in a press release. META OFFICIALS WARN CHINA, RUSSIA, IRAN PLAN ‘FOREIGN COVERT INFLUENCE OPERATIONS’ AHEAD OF 2024 ELECTION “As a result, the legacy of our nation’s foreign policy in those regions is political instability, deep poverty, extreme migration and colonialism. It is well past time we change our approach.” But Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., and Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital the centuries-old policy was critical to stability in the region. “The Monroe Doctrine is one of the most important foreign policy strategies the United States has ever developed. Today, threats to our security and liberty no longer come from London, Paris or Madrid, but from Beijing, Moscow and Tehran,” Salazar told Fox News Digital. CHINA TRAINS CHILDREN FOR ‘IRON ARMY’ IN LATEST EFFORT TO CREATE NATIONAL ‘COMBAT READINESS’: REPORT “Communist and authoritarian powers abroad are colluding with our enemies in the Americas by selling them weapons and propping them up economically.” Rather than scuttling it, she called on the U.S. to “renew our commitment to the Monroe Doctrine and keep our hemisphere free of intervention from overseas.” Earlier this month, Salazar led a bill aimed at affirming U.S. support for the Monroe Doctrine. Gimenez, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said he knew firsthand why U.S. dominance was needed across North, Central and South America. FORMER US AMBASSADOR ARRESTED, ACCUSED OF SECRETLY SERVING AS AGENT TO CUBA: REPORT “I lost my native homeland of Cuba to a brutal communist dictatorship that continues to oppress the Cuban people and exports socialist terrorism across the region,” he said. “In my community, we understand firsthand that the Western Hemisphere is safer, more prosperous and freer when the United States takes a proactive role and actively engages with our regional partners.” The Monroe Doctrine dictates that the U.S. government will oppose any military or political intervention in any country in the Western Hemisphere by a nation outside of it. It’s taken on new significance in recent years. Although it was implemented as a blockade against European colonialism, it’s been referenced — particularly during the Trump administration — as China seeks to expand its influence in South America. But critics, primarily on the left, have said it perpetuates an imbalanced power dynamic between the U.S. and its neighbors.
Minnesota professor calls to ‘decolonize’ and ‘dismantle’ the US: ‘Go as hard as possible’
A liberal arts professor at the University of Minnesota called for people to “dismantle” and “decolonize” America during a pro-Palestinian event. Earlier this month, University of Minnesota liberal arts professor Melanie Yazzie took the stage with several other speakers as part of the anti-capitalist Native American advocacy group the Red Nation’s “teach-in” on the Israel-Hamas war. During the pro-Palestinian event, Yazzie made several controversial comments, including early on when she said she wanted a takeaway from the event to be that “we’re all indigenous people who come from nations who are under occupation by the United States government.” CONGRESS EXPANDS SCOPE OF HARVARD INVESTIGATION TO INCLUDE ALLEGATIONS OF PRESIDENT’S PLAGIARISM “And, of course, the U.S. bankrolls the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land,” Yazzie continued. “They’re one and the same, really.” “So it’s our responsibility as people who are within the United States to go as hard as possible to decolonize this place, because that will reverberate all across the world,” Yazzie said. “Because the U.S. is the greatest predator empire that has ever existed.” Yazzie said that she and her comrades “want [the] U.S. out of everywhere,” including “Palestine” and “Turtle Island” — a name used by some Native American tribes to describe North America. “And that the goal is to dismantle the settler project that is the United States for the freedom and the future of all life on this planet,” Yazzie said. “It very much depends on that.” Yazzie also appeared to imply she saw the “entire world” change after the Oct. 7 attacks by the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas on innocent Israeli civilians and claimed that “Palestine is the alternative path for native nations.” “It is a righteous struggle and it is so powerful that it has literally, in 60 days, changed the entire world,” Yazzie said. “The entire world has changed. I knew it the moment that it happened that nothing, and I mean nothing for colonizers or for any of the good, humble people of the Earth, would ever be the same ever again.” “And we need to lean into that. Lean into the fact that colonizers are scared,” she said, laughing. “Lean into scaring them and making them feel uncomfortable!” HOUSE LEFTISTS INCLUDE ANTISEMITISM IN RESOLUTION CONDEMNING ISLAMOPHOBIA, ‘ANTI-PALESTINIAN DISCRIMINATION’ Yazzie, who said she was the co-host of the Red Nation podcast “Red Power Hour,” decried “liberalism” as “bulls—” and “trash” that “was founded upon imperialism and colonialism.” “All it knows is the language of violence, and when it doesn’t use the language of violence, it uses the niceties like ‘Minnesota Nice’ to cover that s— up,” Yazzie said. “Enough! Enough with investing our time with liberalism!” she cried. “That is not resistance. “Resistance is the only thing… the only kind of death blows to colonialism, imperialism that have happened historically because indigenous people have resisted in the various places where this violence has touched down.” Yazzie also delivered a message to their “Palestinian relatives,” where she called the U.S. a “violent settler project” and she and her comrades have the “moral authority” to do so “as the original people” of America. “In addition to solidarity and the things that we might do, having the moral authority as the original people of these lands, to push back against the violent settler project that is the United States,” Yazzie said. “And to help to lead that, to be the tip of the spear here of all liberation struggles and the movements that seek a world of justice, equality, and peace, that seek to dismantle the United States,” she continued. “I hope you seek to dismantle the United States,” Yazzie added to applause from the audience. Yazzie also claimed that “decolonization” is “the only thing that’s going to save us as a species” and “the planet,” and said that people should “just be on board with it, no questions asked.” Yazzie, the University of Minnesota and the Red Nation did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
K’taka hijab ban removal: BJP strongly reacts to CM’s decision, says raising concern about ‘secular nature’
Siddaramaiah on Friday said he has ordered the withdrawal of the ban, observing that choice of dress and food is personal.
Smriti Irani accuses Gandhis of land grabbing in Amethi, says they ‘rented 30 acres for…’
Irani alleged that the Gandhis ‘rented 30 acres of land for just Rs 600’ and claimed they ‘usurped’ land from farmers in the name of ‘industrialisation.’
Motivational speaker Vivek Bindra booked for allegedly assaulting wife in Noida
Vaibhav Kwatra, brother of Bindra’s wife Yanika also alleged that during the fight Bindra broke his sister’s mobile phone.
Indonesian leader’s son brushes off ‘nepo baby’ tag in feted debate showing
Medan, Indonesia – As the vice presidential candidates took to the stage for Indonesia’s second televised presidential debate on Friday, all eyes were on Gibran Rakabuming Raka – perhaps the most controversial vice presidential candidate in Indonesia’s history. Batting away charges of inexperience and nepotism, Gibran, the 36-year-old son of current Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi’ Widodo, dominated the stage despite being up against more experienced candidates. The verdict among observers generally was that Gibran’s performance far exceeded expectations. “My overall impression was that any doubters who thought Gibran was a clueless lightweight have been proven completely wrong,” Alexander Arifianto, a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore (RSIS), told Al Jazeera. “He was well-prepped for the debate and showed he has an excellent grasp on economic issues. Much better than his two opponents.” Since he announced his candidacy in October, Gibran has faced a storm of controversy, including accusations of being a “nepo baby” and a continuation of the dynastic politics that have long plagued Indonesia’s politics. With no political experience apart from a two-year stint as the mayor of the city of Surakarta in Central Java, Gibran has been accused of riding on his father’s coattails – Widodo also served as mayor of Surakarta – and lacking the bona fides of rival candidates Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar, the deputy speaker of parliament, and Mahfud MD, a minister responsible for coordinating political, legal and security affairs. Gibran’s candidacy was facilitated by a controversial ruling by the Constitutional Court of Indonesia in October that loosened the minimum age requirement for presidential and vice presidential candidates. While the court upheld the minimum age threshold of 40 in principle, the judges carved out an exception allowing officials who are at least 35 to run if they have been previously elected to office – allowing Gibran to become Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto’s running mate ahead of the February 14 election. The ruling was particularly contentious as the then-head of the Constitutional Court, Anwar Usman, was Widodo’s brother-in-law. Usman was removed from his position after the Constitutional Court ethics committee found him at fault for not recusing himself from the decision, although the ruling on the age requirement was allowed to stand. A ruling by the Constitutional Court of Indonesia in October changed the minimum age requirements to run for president or vice president [File: Beawiharta/Reuters] With questions swirling about the legitimacy of Gibran’s candidacy and his suitability for office, his debut on the debate stage on Friday evening had been hotly anticipated. “Straight away: This debate was won by Gibran. So far, expectations for Gibran have been very low. Basically, Gibran has never been tested. In the first presidential debate, he looked like an oddity: a high school student surrounded by seasoned politicians and governors,” Yohanes Sulaiman, a lecturer at Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani in West Java, told Al Jazeera. “In this debate, his performance was much better than the two people I had expected to eat him for lunch, namely Mahfud MD and Muhaimin. It was clear that he was prepared, confident, and had mastered the material, perhaps having been thoroughly trained by his debate preparation team.” The second of five televised debates, and the first to feature the vice presidential candidates, was focused on the economy, including issues such as taxes, trade, management of the state budget, infrastructure and urban planning. Dandy Rafitrandi, an economist with the think tank the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the questions set by a panel of experts were quite specific and required each candidate to understand economic topics. The candidates’ weak grasp of economics was noticeable at times, Rafitrandi said, including when the questions turned to funding government projects and programmes. “Gibran explained several programmes, for example, a free lunch programme [for civil servants] worth 400 trillion Indonesian Rupiah [$25.8bn], but did not explain the source of the funding,” Rafitrandi told Al Jazeera. At another point during the debate, Muhaimin said that he and presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, the former governor of Jakarta, wanted to build 40 new cities across Indonesia to rival Jakarta – without explaining how these would be paid for. The main flashpoint of the evening came when the candidates sparred over Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital city, which is currently being built in the jungles of Kalimantan. The plan, which was spearheaded by Widodo, involves moving Jakarta, which is crowded, choked with smog and sinking due to illegal groundwater extraction, at a projected cost of $1.3bn. The project has struggled to secure foreign investment, which was envisaged to cover the majority of its hefty price tag, and has only attracted local investors, something which Mahfud questioned Gibran about given his support for the plan. Gibran replied that Mahfud could “Google” who was investing in the project and attacked Muhaimin for being “inconsistent” after previously backing the scheme. Groundbreaking for Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara took place last year [File: Bagus Saragih/AFP] Mahfud also previously supported Nusantara, and only Anies and Muhaimin have said that they would cancel the project if elected, arguing the money could be better spent elsewhere in Kalimantan and other parts of the country. Nusantara is not expected to be a deciding factor in the election, with some recent polls showing that Prabowo and Gibran have a 20-point lead over Ganjar Pranowo, the former governor of Central Java, and Mahfud MD. “Gibran was the clear winner of tonight’s debate. It has set the bar high and it will be tougher for both Anies’s and Ganjar’s teams to catch up with them, especially when it comes to economy and investment issues,” RSIS’s Arifianto said. “Sadly, both Mahfud and Muhaimin are single-issue candidates who are good only for their issues [law and religious issues respectively] but not so good in others.” However, not everyone was impressed with Gibran’s dynamic performance, saying that it placed style above substance. “He was better rehearsed compared to the other two candidates, which will likely impress some voters. However, his responses
Covid-19: India reports 752 new cases, four deaths as concern for JN.1 variant grows
According to the Health Ministry, up to 325 persons recovered from COVID-19 in the last day, bringing the overall number of recoveries to 4,44,71,212. It was estimated that the country’s recovery rate was 98.81 percent.