Colorado Dems move to divert $4M in taxpayer dollars to fight Trump admin in court
A new Colorado bill giving the governor broad power to spend taxpayer dollars against possible Trump administration actions cleared a major hurdle this week. HB25-1321, also known as the “Support Against Adverse Federal Action,” will earmark $4 million from the state’s infrastructure cash fund as a safeguard against potential federal retaliation over state laws that defy President Donald Trump’s executive orders. According to the language of the bill, the governor’s office could use the fund to hire outside lawyers or contractors to respond to federal decisions impacting grants, contracts or funding sent to Colorado. It also covers legal costs for any state employees facing federal investigations or lawsuits related to their official duties. CONCERNED PARENTS OF TRANS KIDS COMPARED TO ‘HATE GROUPS’ BY COLORADO DEM: WOULDN’T ‘ASK THE KKK’ FOR OPINION The bill was passed by the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday and is scheduled for consideration by the full House. It will then go before the Senate for consideration. Colorado Democrats may be taking a page out of California’s playbook, as Gov. Gavin Newsom approved $50 million in taxpayer dollars in February to aid in legal court battles and protection for illegal immigrants against the Trump administration. State Republicans immediately slammed the bill’s passage, saying on social media the Centennial State’s legislature has “continually poked the Admin in the eye this session & are now using our tax dollars meant for roads & water to defend it.” COLORADO DEMS ARE ‘POKING THE BEAR’ BY DEFYING TRUMP’S ORDERS, GOP LAWMAKER WARNS “Four million dollars TAKEN from the infrastructure investment and jobs act to give the governor a blank check of $4 million to sue the federal government, that’s what we are arguing against today,” Republican state Rep. Brandi Bradley posted on X. “You cannot make this stuff up…. -Roads are crumbling -Crime is through the roof -education is failing our kids -we are over regulated and over taxed -Coloradans cannot afford basic necessities or healthcare Zero transparency in this bill and an amendment to allow any money to continue to be appropriated, that is not expended.” Colorado House Democrats communications director Jarrett Freedman said the bill would “Musk-proof” the state from “illegal, unconstitutional federal actions that threaten funding for health care, education, public safety, our environment and critical infrastructure.” “Trump has frozen FEMA grants, agriculture grants for Colorado farmers, behavioral health funding, emergency response funding, and House Republicans are cheering it all on,” he said. COLORADO DEMS RAM ABORTION, TRANSGENDER BILLS THROUGH ON LIMITED SUNDAY SESSION DEBATE: ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ In February, Trump implemented a freeze on several federal funding programs to ensure that federal financial assistance programs comply with his recent executive orders, including halting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. But a U.S. district judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction Tuesday ordering the administration to release billions of dollars allocated by two Biden-era initiatives, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Colorado House Democrats recently passed a series of controversial bills that Republicans fear could draw Trump’s attention, since a few of the bills defy his executive orders. The bills that were passed this session include SB25-183, which requires taxpayers to fund abortion services; HB25-1309, mandating insurers cover transgender procedures regardless of age; HB25-1312, which imposes state-mandated gender policies on schools and considers it “coercive control” in child custody cases when a parent does not affirm a child’s gender identity or “deadnames” them; and SB25-129, which prohibits cooperation with out-of-state investigations on transgender procedures and abortion services.
Bill taking aim at IRS would strip agency of guns and ammo
While American taxpayers are familiar with the annual rigmarole of filing their federal taxes and realizing just how much of their hard-earned money Uncle Sam is taking away, several House Republicans are pushing a proposal to take some things away from the Internal Revenue Service: Guns and ammunition. The “Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act” would disarm the federal agency, prohibiting the commissioner of internal revenue from using funds to buy, receive or store firearms and ammo, and requiring the transfer of IRS firearms and ammunition to the Administrator of General Services. The guns would then be sold or auctioned to licensed dealers and the ammo would be auctioned to the public. Proceeds would go to “the general fund of the Treasury for the sole purpose of deficit reduction,” the measure stipulates. TRUMP SAYS THERE’S A ‘REAL CHANCE’ TARIFFS COULD REPLACE INCOME TAX The bill states that “there are transferred to the Department of Justice the authorities, functions, personnel, and assets of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, which shall be maintained as a distinct entity within the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, including the related functions of the Secretary of the Treasury.” Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced the measure, which is backed by three original cosponsors: GOP Reps. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Mary Miller of Illinois, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana. The IRS says on its website that its “mission is to provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and to enforce the law with integrity and fairness to all.” WHITE HOUSE QUIETLY FLOATS MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKE PROPOSAL IN CONGRESS AS GOP LEADERS SIGNAL OPPOSITION But Moore claimed that the federal agency has regularly been “weaponized.” “The IRS has consistently been weaponized against American citizens, targeted religious organizations, journalists, gun owners, and everyday Americans,” Moore asserted, according to a press release. “Arming these agents does not make the American public safer. My legislation, the Why Does the IRS Need Guns Act, would disarm these agents, auction off their guns to Federal Firearms License Owners, and sell their ammunition to the public. The only thing IRS agents should be armed with are calculators.” HAWLEY URGES REPUBLICANS TO CUT TAXES FOR WORKING-CLASS VOTERS WHO ‘PUT TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE’ CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In an April 15 post on X Moore noted, “Tax Day is a great reminder that it’s time for the IRS to stop wasting our taxpayer dollars stockpiling guns and ammo.”
Dem rising star eyes Vance as key long-term threat: ‘Needs to be defeated’
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Rep. Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who likely harbors national ambitions in 2028, is turning up the volume in his broadsides against Vice President JD Vance, the heir apparent to President Donald Trump. In two high-profile speeches this week – in the vice president’s home state of Ohio on Monday and Tuesday at Yale Law School, where both politicians earned their legal degrees – Khanna trained his verbal fire on Vance. Khanna accused Vance of working to “win public adulation by stoking anger and treating legal limits as nuisances to be ignored.” While Vance has not called on Trump to ignore Supreme Court rulings, the vice president, in a closely watched social media post two months ago, criticized moves by federal judges to block the Trump administration’s controversial efforts to dramatically downsize the federal workforce. Vance argued that the judges were trying to “control the executive’s legitimate power.” RO KHANNA JABS AT JD VANCE IN VICE PRESIDENT’S HOME STATE “Vance says the president, elected by the people, should tell the court what the Constitution means, and if the court disagrees, let them try to enforce their ruling — that the president, as a co-equal, may simply ignore the court’s judgment of the law,” Khanna argued in his Tuesday speech. Khanna – spotlighting the controversial case of a Salvadoran citizen (who the Trump administration alleges was an MS-13 gang member) who had lived in Maryland for about 15 years that the Justice Department said was deported to El Salvador due to an “administrative error” – highlighted Vance’s response. VANCE DOUBLES DOWN AFTER TRUMP ADMIN ADMITS ‘ERROR’ SENDING MAN TO SALVADORAN PRISON “Let me say this as clearly as I can: JD Vance, your cold indifference to the lives of vulnerable immigrants betrays every principle that this law school was built to uphold,” Khanna charged. “Your affiliation with this law school is now a stain on the degree of every Yale graduate.” Vance’s political team did not appear to be too concerned about Khanna’s repeated verbal attacks. “Yawn,” a top political adviser to Vance told Fox News when asked about Khanna’s comments. The adviser described Khanna as an “ankle biter,” which is slang for a relatively minor or irritating person or problem. Khanna’s speech in New Haven was followed by a day an economic address at the City Club of Cleveland, where the congressman contrasted his vision for America’s “new economic patriotism” with the future of the GOP with Vance at the helm. Responding to the visit, Ohio Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou told Fox News Digital that “Khanna is a far-left socialist from one of the wealthiest and wokest congressional districts in America. He served as an official surrogate for both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This speech is nothing but another desperate plea for attention from another elitist politician wholly out-of-touch with Middle Class voters like those in Ohio.” Plenty of Democratic Party leaders have turned up the volume in their pushback against Trump’s sweeping and controversial actions to upend the federal government and policy. Also in the Democrats’ crosshairs is the president’s most visible White House adviser – billionaire Elon Musk – who, through his role steering the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has taken a sledgehammer to the federal work. However, Khanna is taking the lead among Democrats in shaping Vance – who at this extremely early stage in the 2028 race is viewed as the GOP nomination front-runner – as the Republican bogeyman. When asked if he was trolling Vance, Khanna said in a Fox News Digital interview ahead of his speech at Yale that the vice president is “trolling all of us. He’s the one who has made the argument that the court should not be listened to,” before adding a litany of other examples. Additionally, Khanna pointed to what he described as Vance’s “dangerous attacks on universities, the Supreme Court and the rule of law.” Noting rising economic uncertainties and the recent massive stock market sell-off triggered by the initial implementation of Trump’s tariffs on nations across the globe, Khanna suggested that Vance may not have the 2028 Republican nomination to himself. “Well, after the markets and the economy and the tariffs, I’m not sure he’s going to get the nomination. I think that others may emerge,” Khanna predicted. He stressed that the vice president “is the one person who is trying to give most argument to MAGA philosophy. He’s the one who’s called the university’s the enemy. He’s the only one who said the Supreme Court should be defied. He’s the one who’s been defending this high tariff policy. And so we need to take on his arguments and offer a counter to defeat them.” HERE ARE THE DEMOCRATS WHO MAY EVENTUALLY RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2028 However, when asked if his attacks on Vance were an early 2028 positioning move, Khanna responded that “what I’m doing is providing an intellectual foundation for the Democratic Party.” Khanna emphasized that “we have to have a whole rebrand of the Democratic Party with a coherent platform and a future-oriented platform, and many leaders need to do that. New leaders, not the old guard. And I hope to be part of that.” Khanna has been crisscrossing the country the past couple of months, taking a lead in amplifying the Democrats’ message in resisting Trump. When asked if Democratic Party leaders need to be more vocal, Khanna quickly said yes. “We need more from our leadership. And you know, if you’re not willing to speak up about someone being snatched away from their home and deported without due process, you probably shouldn’t be in elective office as a Democrat right now,” he said. “We need Democrats speaking out, not just on the economy. We need them speaking out on civil liberties, on the rights of immigrants and on the rights of universities.” Khanna also praised the recent record-breaking marathon Senate floor speech by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, and the
Trump says Harvard has ‘lost its way,’ doesn’t deserve federal funding
President Donald Trump doubled down on his attacks against Harvard University on Wednesday, saying the institution is a “joke.” Trump spoke out on social media Wednesday after Harvard refused to comply with requirements from the Department of Education (DOE) to address antisemitism and other issues on campus. He also blasted Harvard for hiring Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot, the former mayors of New York City and Chicago respectively. “These two Radical Left fools left behind two cities that will take years to recover from their incompetence and evil. Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,’” Trump wrote. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress,” he continued. “Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges. Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.” HARVARD WON’T COMPLY WITH TRUMP ADMIN’S DEMANDS AMID THREATS OF CUTTING FEDERAL FUNDING Trump’s administration withheld $2.2 billion in federal funding from Harvard after the university refused to work with the DOE. In a statement on Monday, Harvard University President Alan Garber said the terms of the agreement make “clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner.” TRUMP ADMIN SLASHES OVER $2.2B IN FUNDING TO HARVARD AFTER SCHOOL DEFIES DEMANDS “Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard,” Garber wrote. Trump and other prominent Republicans have also proposed taxing the endowments of Harvard and other Ivy League schools. Harvard holds an endowment of over $50 billion, while the other seven Ivy League schools total nearly $140 billion in endowments. MEET THE TRUMP-PICKED LAWMAKERS GIVING SPEAKER JOHNSON A FULL HOUSE GOP CONFERENCE “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” Trump wrote earlier this week. “Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” the president added. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has also proposed taxing Ivy League schools to offset the costs of passing tax cuts for working-class Americans.
White House proposal axes UN, NATO funds and halves State Department budget
The Trump administration is mulling a proposal that would slash the State Department budget by $27 billion – nearly in half – and shutter smaller embassies and consulates across the globe. The proposal calls for the elimination of funding for more than 20 international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Organization of American States, a diplomatic source in possession of the document told Fox News Digital. The U.S. contributed around $13 billion to the United Nations in 2023 and around $3.5 billion to NATO. The proposed budget calls for allocating $2 billion for “America First” priorities. Those coffers could be used for “specific partners” like India and Jordan, according to the document, or broader priorities, like the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. However, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday, “there is no final plan, final budget.” PETE MAROCCO, MASTERMIND BEHIND DISMANTLING OF USAID PROJECTS, LEAVES STATE DEPARTMENT The proposal is an early draft and has to pass layers of approval within the administration before it even gets to Congress. Congress can then take it as an outline but ultimately draw up its own budget figures. The foreign service travel budget and benefits would be scaled back, and the Fulbright scholarship program would be eliminated. The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, cuts to the inspector general’s office and the closure of smaller embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic. It also proposes a 54% cut to global public health funding, with carve-outs for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, and a complete elimination of international peacekeeping funds. When asked about the budget plan during a State Department briefing, spokesperson Tammy Bruce said, “Throughout the history of the United States, everyone has a budget plan and everyone has ideas for budgets. And every president has a budget plan and sends it to Congress. And then Congress either accepts it or they have their own ideas, which happens more often than not.” “There is no final plan, final budget,” she emphasized. The Trump administration has moved quickly to dismantle foreign aid, eliminating nearly 90% of USAID projects and merging the agency with the State Department and defunding “soft power” institutions like Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting networks. STATE DEPARTMENT WILL ABSORB REMAINING USAID PROGRAMMING AS INDEPENDENT AGENCY IS DISMANTLED The White House budget is set to be transferred to Congress next month before the Republican-led House and Senate get to work on passing appropriations bills for each agency of government. Meanwhile, agencies are expected to present their own plans for reorganization to the White House this week, outlining what cuts they believe are necessary to further shrink the federal government. The State Department has not yet publicly detailed its plans for downsizing. As reports of the cuts emerged, Democrats warned that U.S. adversaries would fill the vacuum left by America around the world. The cuts “would leave our country alone and exposed and allow China and Russia to fill the vacuum made vacant by this administration,” according to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, N.H., top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. “Why in the world would we cut funding for NATO at a moment when war is raging in Europe and security threats on the continent grow?” she added. It is not clear whether Secretary of State Marco Rubio endorses the initial proposal. “I want to hear from Secretary Rubio directly,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, Hawaii, top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that handles State funding, calling the reports “deeply troubling.”
Russia’s largest military call-up whips up fear among young men
On April 1, Russia began a new conscription drive with the goal of enlisting 160,000 military-age men between 18 and 30. It is the largest such call-up since 2011, aiming to fulfil last year’s presidential decree to boost the armed forces to 2.5 million personnel. And it is making Bogdan, a 21-year-old on the outskirts of Moscow, nervous. Some young men often try to avoid mandatory military service. But as Russia’s war against Ukraine stands at a critical juncture, with the rival sides desperately attempting to appear triumphant amid peace talks, there is a particular urgency to the matter. “I received a summons to be drafted in the spring of 2024, despite my hypertension. And by the autumn the police were searching to forcibly conscript me,” Bogdan told Al Jazeera, requesting to withhold his surname fearing reprisal. He is currently hiding from the authorities. “I hope that I will be able to register for military service in Saint Petersburg, undergo a new medical examination there and receive a military [exception] due to hypertension. Because in Moscow and the Moscow region, no complaints and court hearings have yielded results. In Moscow, they do not allow me to undergo a new medical examination and want to enlist me according to my summons.” Advertisement Rights advocates have warned that the cracks which one might have earlier been able to slip through are tightening, while being a conscript is increasingly risky. “A year ago there was an age amendment, and now summons are issued to young people from 18-30 years old,” Ivan Chuviliaev, spokesman for the organisation Go By The Forest, which helps people escape the ranks, told Al Jazeera. Previously, the maximum age for conscription was 27. “Now the decision of the draft board will be valid not until the end of the draft, but for a whole year. This means it won’t be as easy to run away by simply not showing up when you receive the summons. [Another] major change is that they’re revising the list of illnesses of those ineligible for military service,” Chuviliaev said. “Those conditions they wouldn’t accept before, they now accept. It’s clear this is simply an artificial creation of chaos, so that doctors will simply stamp Category A fitness for everyone without bothering to dig through their papers. [Thirdly,] various sanctions will be imposed for failure to appear in response to a summons, such as a ban on taking out loans, a ban on opening an individual enterprise, a ban on leaving the country, and so on and so forth.” According to an open-source tally compiled by the BBC and independent Russian outlet Mediazona, more than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since 2022 – a figure that frightens young men like Bogdan. While conscripts are not technically supposed to be deployed to the front lines, “conscripts can be deployed in regions that border Ukraine, including the Belgorod and Kursk regions, and therefore can theoretically participate in combat operations in these regions”, Oleg Ignatov, senior Russia analyst at Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “Conscripts have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian attacks in the border regions,” he said, adding, “I have not seen any information that conscripts are being sent to the occupied territories” like Donetsk and Luhansk. Since the onset of the full-scale war in 2022, Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions have come under bombardment and cross-border raids. “If someone comes into contact with the Ministry of Defence, they will likely sooner or later find themselves in the midst of hostilities,” said Chuviliaev. “Not to mention the fact that any conscript deployment, at any time, even without your own knowledge, can turn out to be a contract.” He pointed to a recent case in Russia’s Chelyabinsk region in which the local prosecutor’s office recognised that at least 13 conscripts had contracts signed on their behalf illegally and ordered their discharge. In that case, the commandant simply ignored the court’s order. Mikhail Liberov, of the Conscientious Objectors’ Movement, told Al Jazeera that while the likelihood of someone receiving a summons actually ending up in combat is “less than one percent … any conscript can, at any time, under one or another form of duress, sign a contract, become a formal soldier and immediately be sent to that very hell”. “Practice shows that even the prosecutor’s office helps the actions of commanders to force [conscripts] into signing contracts illegally,” he continued. “The prosecutor’s office doesn’t really care about protecting citizens’ rights and does not file lawsuits in their interests. Sometimes signatures on conscripts’ contracts are simply forged.” Advertisement There are ways, lawful and otherwise, to evade military service. These include health grounds and unfitness to serve; court appeals; higher education; certain family circumstances; feigning mental or physical illness; going into hiding; leaving the country; or applying for alternative civil service. Politicians and members of certain professions – for example, in the military-industrial complex – are also exempt. “Each of these deferrals requires you to take action – the draft board won’t do it automatically,” Chuviliaev explained. “You need to go [to the office], bring all the necessary documents, [or] draw up a power of attorney, preferably for relatives, so they can present those documents to the enlistment office and not the draftee themselves.” Liberov listed a number of other complications that might arise. “[Educational] deferrals are not available to everyone, and only postpone the problem – those who have completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree inevitably face the same problem at about 22 and 24 years old, respectively,” he said. “Not everyone can afford to leave the country: often the lack of an overseas passport becomes an obstacle, the registration of which is mistakenly considered impossible without a military ID or a visit to the military registration and enlistment office.” Liberov said that while alternate civil service – for example, working in state-run services such as hospitals or libraries – is an option for conscientious objectors, whose religious or personal beliefs are incompatible with military service, in
After two years of war in Sudan, the world can no longer plead ignorance
Two years ago this week, a conflict erupted in Sudan that few anticipated would escalate so rapidly or persist for so long. What began as a violent power struggle has become one of the worst and most neglected humanitarian crises of our time. The country has been plunged into a state of devastation marked by mass displacement, hunger, violence and disease. The numbers are staggering. More than 30 million people need humanitarian aid. At least 15 million people are currently displaced. Some 11.3 million are displaced inside Sudan and 3.9 million people have fled to neighbouring countries, making this the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 20 million people urgently need access to healthcare. Behind these numbers are millions of individual stories. Parents fearing for the life of their child suffering from severe malnutrition. Families stranded in areas with no food, safe water or medical care. Women, men and children dying because it is too dangerous to go to a health centre. A whole generation of children missing out on routine vaccinations. Advertisement When I visited Sudan last September, I met Soueda, a bright nine-year-old girl who fled her hometown and was living in a displacement camp in Port Sudan, where the World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting primary healthcare services. She left everything she knew behind and told me she hadn’t been to school in two years. In Port Sudan, WHO colleagues spoke with Ashwa and her youngest child, who was being treated for severe acute malnutrition at one of the WHO-supported stabilisation centres operating there. “When my baby stopped taking any food or drink, and stopped moving, with swelling in his arms, I knew his life was in grave danger,” she said, while holding her son. “I feared I would lose him until we came to this hospital where he is getting special milk and medicines. He is now able to move, has resumed breastfeeding and can even smile. Without the care at this stabilisation centre, I would have lost him.” Yet, too few of these stories reach the headlines. This silence is dangerous. It breeds indifference and will cost more lives. The war has left Sudan’s health system devastated, especially in hard-to-reach areas. In assessed states, 62 percent of health facilities are partially functional and the remaining 32 percent are not functional, with a lack of clarity from other hard-to-reach areas like the Darfurs and Kordofans. Patients can’t access basic treatments due to ongoing fighting and repeated attacks on health facilities and health workers. Two-thirds of all states in Sudan are experiencing more than three different disease outbreaks, including cholera, measles, malaria, dengue and diphtheria. Cholera alone has killed at least 1,500 people. Advertisement Malnutrition is widespread among children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Famine has been confirmed in five areas and is projected to expand to 17, with tens of thousands of lives at immediate risk. With our partners, WHO is in Sudan, working to ensure people can access the required care. Despite severely restricted access to people in need and ongoing attacks on healthcare facilities, we deliver life-saving medical supplies, support hospitals and health centres, and run vaccination campaigns. Since the conflict started, with WHO’s support, over one million patients have received treatment in hospitals, health centres and mobile clinics. Some 11.5 million children have been vaccinated against polio and measles, and 12.8 million people have received cholera vaccines. WHO is supporting stabilisation centres, where during the last two years, 75,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition with medical complications have received treatment. WHO’s response to this crisis has been made possible by generous contributions from partners like the Central Emergency Response Fund, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and others. Yet, continuous support is critical in 2025 for WHO’s $135m response plan, 79 percent of which is unfunded. WHO is determined to continue supporting Sudan’s people but we need access to and protection of civilians, humanitarians and medical personnel. Since the conflict started, WHO has verified 156 attacks on health facilities, ambulances, staff and patients, resulting in 318 deaths and 273 injuries. Health workers and facilities must never be targets. In fact, they are protected under international humanitarian law. But there has been blatant disregard for these obligations. Advertisement Sudan’s crisis is no longer a national tragedy, it has become a regional threat. The conflict threatens to destabilise neighbouring countries and risks fuelling further displacement, disease and insecurity. A week after my mission to Sudan, I was in Chad, which is hosting over 750,000 Sudanese. I met families who had walked for days to cross the border in search of safety. Some said their homes had been burned, crops destroyed and animals stolen. They left, and arrived with nothing. When I asked what they needed most, the awful answer I heard again and again was: “Food. We are hungry.” We can’t say we don’t know what’s happening. The facts are clear and the stories are harrowing. What is missing is more action. We need sustained, unhindered humanitarian access to reach those in greatest need, adequate funding to supply life-saving aid, and above all, a high-level commitment to ending the war. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. Adblock test (Why?)
China’s Xi hails ‘new golden era’ with Malaysia during trade tour
Xi’s visit to Malaysia is part of a regional diplomatic charm tour amid stinging US tariffs. Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur as part of a regional push to shore up Beijing’s trade relationships. The diplomatic stop on Wednesday marks the second leg of Xi’s three-nation tour, which also includes Vietnam and Cambodia, and comes amid sharp tariffs imposed by the United States that are reshaping the global economic landscape. Sultan Ibrahim welcomed Xi in a colourful ceremony at the golden-domed Istana Negara palace before his meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at the administrative capital of Putrajaya. Xi touted a “new golden era” of Chinese-Malaysian relations, following the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties last year. The king announced new cooperation between the countries in various fields, including artificial intelligence. Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects an honour guard during the official welcoming ceremony at the national palace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 16, 2025 [Vincent Thian/Pool via Reuters] “This is a hugely significant visit,” said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Putrajaya. “It takes place during this unprecedented trade war that is developing with the United States, with both Malaysia and China finding themselves in the middle.” Advertisement Khoo Ying Hooi, an associate professor in the department of international and strategic studies at Malaya University, said the visit offered a chance to “test the waters for regional solidarity” amid the US trade disruptions. “It’s not just about friendship, it’s about realigning the regional centre of gravity towards Beijing,” she said. ‘Wake-up call’ Malaysia is the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, whose members are among the hardest hit by new US tariffs. ASEAN member Vietnam, a manufacturing powerhouse, was slapped with 46 percent tariffs, and Cambodia, a significant producer of low-cost clothing for big Western brands, was hit with a 49 percent duty. Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, was hit with a lower tariff of 24 percent. Though the measures have been paused for 90 days, President Donald Trump has warned that no country is “off the hook”. McBride said Malaysia, a longstanding US ally, was likely “genuinely alarmed to find itself on this list of reciprocal tariffs” and saw it as “a wake-up call … to deepen ties with its biggest trading partner”, China. Despite robust economic ties, the two countries have had tensions over the South China Sea, where Beijing claims sweeping sovereignty over waters also claimed by Kuala Lumpur. “There has been an extraordinary sea change here, with a lot of the norms of international trade completely upended in a few short months,” McBride said. In Asia Pacific generally, he added, countries that usually align with the US economic model are increasingly turning to Beijing as a reliable trade partner. Advertisement Xi’s next trip will be to Cambodia, one of China’s staunchest allies in Southeast Asia and where Beijing has also extended its influence in recent years. On Thursday, he is expected to meet Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni as well as the prime minister and head of the senate. Adblock test (Why?)
Who is Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy claiming to be Mughal descendant, know why he is seeking UN intervention to protect Aurangzeb’s tomb amid rising tension
Tucy, in his letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, emphasised that the tomb is a protected monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, having been declared a ‘Monument of National Importance’.
Easter Monday could soon become federal holiday under new GOP proposal
Easter Monday could soon be a federal holiday under a new legislative proposal. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rep. Riley Moore, R-W. Va., are leading the way on legislation to make the day following Easter Sunday a holiday amid several other countries also recognizing the holiday. In a thread posted to X, Schmitt cited a poll that 81% of Americans celebrated Easter as of 2023, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. “This isn’t a radical idea. It’s a federal recognition of a tradition that is central to Western civilization—a tradition that’s already recognized as a public holiday in nations across (and beyond!) the West, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most of Western Europe,” the Republican lawmaker said. WHITE HOUSE PLANS ‘EXTRAORDINARY’ HOLY WEEK AS TRUMP HONORS EASTER WITH ‘THE OBSERVANCE IT DESERVES’ “Easter is a floating holiday, it can fall from Mar 22 to April 25. The only two-month gap in our federal holiday calendar is April-May. An Easter Monday holiday fills the gap—creating a three-day weekend when workers and families need it most. Pro-worker. Pro-family. Pro-faith,” he added. “There are plenty of practical arguments for it, too. Easter weekend already generates around $15 billion for our economy. Making it a three-day weekend could boost that by an estimated 10-15%, adding up to $2 billion in economic activity while strengthening American families.” There are 11 public federal holidays, which means that the federal public sector is closed, along with many private sector businesses. AHEAD OF EASTER AND AMID BIRD FLU, IS IT SAFE TO COLOR EGGS? The most recently added public holiday is Juneteenth, which is meant to recognize the abolition of slavery in the United States. It was signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2021. Christmas Day is the only traditionally religious holiday on the list. Easter is on Sunday, and it is often considered the highest holiday in the Christian faith as it honors the resurrection of Jesus after the crucifixion on Good Friday. Additionally, it is also widely regarded in the U.S. as a spring celebration with the Easter Bunny and egg hunts. UK SCHOOL FACES BACKLASH AFTER CANCELING EASTER CELEBRATION FOR ‘INCLUSIVITY’ “The passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of the world. ‘Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld,’” Moore tweeted. Senate bill 1426 was introduced by Schmitt on Thursday, and it’s been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.