MicroWave

joined 2 years ago
 

Chief Justice John Roberts warned against personal attacks on the judiciary, telling an audience Tuesday that while criticism of opinions is fair game, “personally directed hostility” is dangerous and must stop.

Roberts did not mention President Donald Trump by name and, as he so often does, he went out of his way to stress that the attacks he was referring to were coming from “not just any one political perspective.” However, the chief justice’s admonishment came weeks after Trump said that justices who ruled against his sweeping tariffs were an “embarrassment to their families.”

 

The U.S. aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, deployed in operations against Iran, is expected to temporarily pull into port after a fire on board, U.S. officials said on Tuesday, the 18th day ‌of the war with Tehran.

The carrier, America's newest and the world's largest, is currently located in the Red Sea. It is expected to temporarily go to Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete, the two officials said.

The warship has been deployed for nine months, including taking part in operations against Venezuela in the Caribbean ⁠prior to arriving in the Middle East. The length of the deployment has raised questions about morale of the sailors on board and the readiness of the warship.

 

Premature birth, pneumonia and malaria among leading causes of death in under-fives worldwide, as UN experts warn aid cuts are slowing progress on survival rates

Most of the 4.9 million children who died in 2024 could have been saved, according to a new UN report that warns aid cuts could thwart the global goal of ending preventable child deaths.

Progress towards ending the preventable deaths of children under five by 2030 has slowed 60% since 2015, the report found, leading to UN experts to call for sustained investment in health systems to reach the target.

“No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent. But we see worrying signs that progress in child survival is slowing – and at a time where we’re seeing further global budget cuts,” said Unicef executive director Catherine Russell.

 

House Oversight Chair James Comer on Tuesday issued a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi to appear for a deposition on April 14 as part of the panel’s Jeffrey Epstein probe.

Comer wrote in the subpoena cover letter that his panel is investigating the “possible mismanagement of the federal government’s investigation” into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

“The Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and its compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Comer wrote, referring to the law passed by Congress last year mandating the Justice Department’s release of the files.

 

A federal court injunction on Monday put a check on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s rapid assault on U.S. vaccine recommendations, but months of turmoil and misinformation have sown doubt about vaccines that will be hard to reverse.

“The ​genie is out of the bottle. We’re going to have to live with that,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease ‌Research and Policy.

The decision, issued in a lawsuit brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics and others against Kennedy and the Health Department, reverses key parts of Kennedy's moves to reshape U.S. vaccine policy, including reducing the number of shots routinely recommended for children.

 

President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday France would never take part in operations to unblock the Strait of Hormuz, pushing back on comments by Donald Trump that Paris was ‌willing to help.

"We are not party to the conflict and therefore France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context," Macron said at the start of a cabinet meeting to discuss the conflicts in the Middle East.

France has been pushing ⁠on with its own efforts to put together a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilises and without a U.S. role, French officials have said.

 

Two young people have died amid an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease in southern England, with 11 other cases also confirmed.

The outbreak is linked to student populations in the city of Canterbury, Kent, according to a statement from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) sent to CNN on Monday.

One of the victims was a high school student at Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Faversham. “We are all absolutely devastated,” Headteacher Amelia McIlroy said in a statement sent to CNN on Monday.

 

Iran's new supreme leader has rejected de-escalation proposals conveyed to Tehran by intermediaries, demanding Israel and the United States first be "brought to ​their knees", a senior Iranian official said on Tuesday.

Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had ‌held his first foreign policy session since being named supreme leader, and had taken a stance for revenge against the U.S. and Israel that was “very tough and serious”, the official said, ​without clarifying whether the leader attended in person or remotely.

The senior official, ​who asked not to be identified, said two intermediary countries had ⁠conveyed proposals to Iran's Foreign Ministry for "reducing tensions or ceasefire with the United States". The ​official did not give further details of the proposals or the intermediaries.

 

Trump supporters who backed his promise to avoid new Middle East wars worry Iran’s attacks on shipping are pushing the U.S. toward escalation — and maybe even boots on the ground.

When the U.S. started firing Tomahawk missiles at Iran late last month, many of Donald Trump’s allies hoped it would be a quick, surgical operation, similar to last year’s strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities or the ouster of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in January.

Though uneasy, they were reassured by the belief that Trump’s open-ended objectives gave him the flexibility to declare victory whenever he saw fit.

Now, more than two weeks into the campaign, some of those allies believe the president no longer controls how, or when, the war ends. They fear Iran’s attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which have rattled global crude markets and threaten broader economic distress, are boxing Trump into a situation where escalating the conflict — potentially even putting American boots on the ground — becomes the only way to credibly claim victory.

 

“This is not Europe’s war,” the EU tells Washington in a bruising rebuke on Iran even as oil prices rise.

Europe's message to Donald Trump on Monday was clear: We're not helping you secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign ministers from the 27 EU countries gathered in Brussels to discuss the American president’s call for European countries to help secure the narrow waterway, a vital oil shipping channel that Iran has largely blocked in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli airstrikes.

Among the ideas floated was expanding the mandate of the EU’s naval mission — Aspides — to allow European warships to be sent to patrol the strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

 

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally has done well in the first round of local elections. But the second round is its Achilles heel, as rivals can team up against it.

The far-right National Rally had reason to hope this month’s French municipal elections would show it now has an unstoppable momentum before the presidential race in 2027.

After all, the party has been on a steady upward trajectory during this election cycle, with polls showing Jordan Bardella, the party’s president, as the frontrunner ahead of next year’s campaign.

But while its candidates did very well in Sunday’s first round, particularly in important southern cities such as Marseille and Toulon, it looks like Marine Le Pen’s troops are still falling short of the decisive breakthrough they seek.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks for this comment. News about Iran seems to bring out extreme personalities lately it seems like.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Thanks! Appreciate the recognition.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Thanks officer

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Thanks, that’s nice to hear from a fellow longtimer.

[–] MicroWave@lemmy.world 27 points 6 months ago (4 children)
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