Two federal judges issued conflicting rulings around medication abortion Friday, creating even greater turmoil amid dwindling abortion rights in the U.S. In Texas, a Trump-appointed judge placed a nationwide injunction on the FDA’s approval of mifepristone — issued over two decades ago — which is due to take effect at the end of this week. The Justice Department is appealing the ruling. Meanwhile, in a separate case, a Washington state judge ordered the FDA not to make any changes to mifepristone’s availability. After headlines, we’ll spend the rest of the hour looking at the implications of these rulings.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has defended the frequent lavish trips he received from real estate billionaire and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow, saying he was advised at the time not to report them. Thomas also referred to Crow and his wife as being among his family’s “dearest friends.” Meanwhile, more details are emerging about Harlan Crow in a resurfaced 2014 article published by The Dallas Morning News in which a tour of his Dallas-area mansion revealed he had a collection of Nazi memorabilia, including a copy of “Mein Kampf” signed by Hitler, paintings by Hitler, Nazi medallions, swastika-embossed linens, and a garden filled with statues of 20th century dictators.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into an apparent leak of Pentagon documents revealing details about the U.S. role in the Ukraine war, and Russian operations in Ukraine and beyond. They include data on U.S. surveillance drones in the region and ammunition needed by Ukrainian forces.
The materials also contain information about China and reveal U.S. intelligence gathering on allies including Ukraine, South Korea and Israel. The documents date from late February to early March but have appeared on social media in recent weeks, including last Friday.
In Ukraine, an 11-year-old girl and her father were killed Sunday as Russia’s military struck a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. The violence came as a Ukrainian charity said it has reunited dozens of children with their families over the past week, after they were deported from occupied parts of Ukraine. Russia has denied abducting the children, but said some youth were evacuated from the frontlines for their own safety. This is Natalia Rakk, a mother who reunited with her twin daughters on Friday, months after they were taken to Russian-occupied Crimea and told they would be put up for adoption.
Natalia Rakk: “It was terribly difficult, but we kept on going. We did not sleep at night. We slept sitting up. We stopped very little. Our goal was to pick the children up. We knew that we had to achieve it despite all obstacles. Yes, we left everything behind, relatives and friends.”
Ukraine says more than 19,000 children have been taken to Russian territory since President Vladimir Putin ordered his military to invade Ukraine last year. The United Nations has said the forced deportations violate international humanitarian law and amount to a war crime.
China conducted three days of live-fire military drills around Taiwan involving dozens of Chinese warplanes and 11 naval vessels, including an aircraft carrier. China launched the war games as Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen wrapped up a visit to the U.S., where she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other lawmakers. On Friday, President Tsai defended her trip, which Beijing called a provocation and views as a threat to its sovereignty over Taiwan.
President Tsai Ing-wen: “We showed the international community that in the face of pressure and threats, Taiwan will be even more united and will absolutely not yield to suppression, nor due to obstructions stop exchanges with the world.”
Israel’s military has fired artillery shells and launched airstrikes on Syria in response to a half-dozen rockets fired at northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights from Syrian territory over the weekend. Syria’s government says it was the 10th attack on Syrian territory by Israel so far this year. This follows Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and southern Lebanon in response to rocket fire. Israel’s bombing of Gaza on Friday destroyed the home of Muhanad Abu Neama, a 23-year-old Palestinian taxi driver, who said he and his family narrowly survived death.
Muhanad Abu Neama: “If I was in the car, I would have died. Money and the car can be redeemed, but what does the citizen have to do in all of this? What do the children, my 2-year-old sister, my parents and siblings have to do in all of this? This is a residential area. There is nothing here but a home, crops, a building, agricultural land.”
Earlier today, Palestinian health officials said 15-year-old Muhammad Fayez Bilhan was killed in an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank, near the city of Jericho. In Tel Aviv, an Italian tourist was killed and five others were injured Friday when a Palestinian man with Israeli citizenship rammed a car into a crowd of pedestrians. Israeli security forces then shot and killed him.
The attack came after Israeli troops were filmed beating and tear-gassing Palestinian worshipers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem last week, prompting condemnation by Palestinians and world leaders.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Israelis resumed protests over the weekend demanding the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancel plans to dramatically weaken Israel’s judiciary.
In Yemen, Saudi officials are meeting with Houthi leaders for peace talks, mediated by Oman, in hopes of finding a path to end the brutal war that’s driven Yemen to a humanitarian catastrophe. The U.N. expressed hope the renewed momentum toward ending the conflict — including the recent resumption of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran — could finally lead to a sustainable peace deal. This is chief Houthi negotiator Mohammed Abdul-Salam, speaking from the airport in Sana’a Saturday as the Omani delegation arrived in the Yemeni capital.
Muhammad Abdul-Salam: “Our just demands are: stopping the aggression completely, lifting the blockade completely, paying the salaries of all Yemeni employees from oil and gas revenues for all Yemeni employees, as well as the exit of foreign forces from Yemen, compensations and reconstruction.”
Iranian authorities say they’re installing surveillance cameras in public spaces in order to identify and bring to justice women who are not wearing the mandatory hijab. This is Iran’s chief of police.
Ahmad-Reza Radan: “With the use of advanced technology and equipment, the person is identified. She will be warned. Then that person will be introduced to the judicial system with the documents to deal with the issue.”
This comes just over six months after the death of Mahsa Amini while in custody of the so-called morality police, which spurred a nationwide revolt. A growing number of Iranian women are choosing to go unveiled outside of their homes, despite the risk of arrest and the violent crackdown on dissent. Iranian police also warned businesses, including shops and restaurants, they could be shut down if they violate the hijab law.
In Tennessee, the Nashville Metropolitan Council could reinstate Democratic Representative Justin Jones as early as today, after he was expelled by the GOP-led Legislature last week, alongside fellow Representative Justin Pearson of Memphis, for leading a protest against gun violence on the chamber floor. The Board of Commissioners for Shelby County is scheduled to hold a special meeting Wednesday to consider reappointing Justin Pearson to his position. The reappointments would be temporary, but both lawmakers could run in special elections to reclaim their seats. On Sunday, Pearson spoke at an Easter service in Memphis.
Justin Pearson: “They convinced themselves that this would be the end because we wouldn’t see past the veil of their faux democracy and understand it for what it truly is, which is a mobocracy ruled by the rules of white supremacy and patriarchy.”
On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nashville, where she met with the expelled lawmakers and praised their courage in standing up for their constituents.
In New Jersey, unions representing 9,000 faculty and academic staff have gone on strike at Rutgers University’s three main campuses in New Brunswick, Newark and Camden. They’re demanding increased pay and better job security, especially for poorly paid graduate workers and adjunct faculty. It’s the first strike by educators in Rutgers’s 257-year history.
Here in New York, family and community members are demanding justice for Raul de la Cruz, a 42-year-old man from the Bronx who was critically injured in late March after NYPD officers shot him six times. De la Cruz was experiencing a mental health crisis when his father called 311 for help. The call was routed to a 911 operator, who dispatched police officers who did not speak Spanish. The officers began firing at de la Cruz within seconds of arriving, claiming he had a knife. De la Cruz was taken to the hospital, where he remained unconscious for days, and is now slowly recovering. His supporters rallied outside the Bronx police precinct Friday. This is de la Cruz’s 9-year-old cousin Juliana Fuentes confronting police officers.
Juliana Fuentes: “You’re abusers. Really, you’re abusers. You’re really abusers, what you are. You wanted to kill him. Why you wanted to kill him? He’s my cousin. Why you wanted to kill him? I don’t know why you want to kill. For what? For what?”
Media Options