“A father of three in Spanish Fort shot a 17-year-old boy who was breaking into his home shortly after midnight on Saturday, according to police. The teenager survived and is in serious condition. Spanish Fort Police Chief John Barber said a woman heard someone outside her Caisson Trace home and woke her husband. They then heard glass breaking in a front window. … The father, acting in self-defense, fired one shot with a pistol, hitting the teenager in the upper abdomen. … The teen was flown to University Hospital and remains in serious condition.” (03/24/25)
“US officials reacted with shock — and in many cases, horror — to revelations in The Atlantic that top members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet sent detailed operational plans and other likely highly classified information about US military strikes on Yemen to a group thread on a messaging app to which a reporter had accidentally been added. The Trump administration acknowledged the messages, sent over the nongovernment encrypted chat app Signal, seem to be authentic without offering any explanation for why senior officials were discussing national defense information outside of approved classified government systems. … Using a Signal chat to share highly classified information and accidentally including a reporter on the discussion also raises the possibility of violations of federal laws such as the Espionage Act, which makes it a crime to mishandle national defense information.” (03/24/25)
“Israeli [squatters] beat up one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary film ‘No Other Land’ on Monday in the occupied West Bank before he was [abducted] by the Israeli military, according to two of his fellow directors and other witnesses. The filmmaker Hamdan Ballal was one of three Palestinians [abducted] in the village of Susiya, according to attorney Lea Tsemel, who is representing them. Police told her they were being held at a military base for medical treatment, but she said Tuesday morning that she had not been able to reach them and had no further information on their whereabouts. Basel Adra, another co-director, witnessed the detention and said around two dozen [squatters] — some masked, some carrying guns, some in Israeli uniform — attacked the village. Soldiers who arrived pointed their guns at the Palestinians, while [squatters] continued throwing stones.” (03/25/25)
“President Trump said Monday that he would crack down on countries that bought Venezuela’s oil by imposing tariffs on [American buyers of] goods those nations sent into the United States, claiming that Venezuela has ‘purposefully and deceitfully’ sent criminals and murderers into America. In a post on Truth Social, the president said that any country that purchased oil or gas from Venezuela would be forced to pay a tariff of 25 percent on any exports they sent to the United States, starting April 2. … The United States and China have been the top buyers of Venezuelan oil in recent months, according to Rystad Energy, a research and consulting firm. India and Spain also buy a small amount of crude from the South American country.” (03/24/25)
“Turkish authorities detained several journalists from their homes, a media workers’ union reported Monday, in what it said was a crackdown amid escalating protests triggered by the imprisonment of the mayor of Istanbul and top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Sunday, a court formally arrested Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu and ordered him jailed pending a trial on corruption charges. His detention on Wednesday sparked the largest wave of street demonstrations in Turkey in more than a decade and deepened concerns over democracy and the rule of law in the country. In an apparent escalation of the government’s response to the growing protests, the Disk-Basin-Is union said at least eight reporters and photojournalists were detained in what it said was an ‘attack on press freedoms and the people’s right to learn the truth.'” (03/24/25)
“The Supreme Court Monday turned away casino mogul Steve Wynn’s bid for the court to consider overturning its 61-year-old precedent that has protected journalists from libel lawsuits. Wynn urged the justices to use his lawsuit against The Associated Press (AP) to revisit the 1964 landmark decision, New York Times v. Sullivan, which requires a showing of ‘actual malice’ for public figures to hold newspapers and journalists liable for defamation, a high legal bar. President Trump has long called for reducing libel protections for the press, and conservative Justice Clarence Thomas has said multiple times the precedent should be overruled. … Wynn brought the question to the Supreme Court after Nevada’s top court rejected Wynn’s 2018 lawsuit against the AP, which concerned a story the wire serve published about two women’s police reports detailing allegations of sexual misconduct against the casino mogul from the 1970s. Wynn has denied the allegations.” (03/24/25)
“Greenland’s politicians have condemned plans for high-profile US visits, in the wake of President Donald Trump’s threats to take over the island. Second Lady Usha Vance will make a cultural visit this week, and a separate trip is expected from Trump’s National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Outgoing Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede described the plan as aggressive, and said the duo had not been invited for meetings. Meanwhile, the island’s likely next leader accused the US of showing a lack of respect. Greenland – the world’s biggest island, situated between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans – has been controlled by Denmark, nearly 3,000km (1,860 miles) away, for about 300 years. It governs its own domestic affairs, but decisions on foreign and defence policy are made in Copenhagen.” (03/24/25)
“A private European aerospace company scrubbed its attempt on Monday to launch the first test flight of its orbital launch vehicle from Norway. Unfavorable winds meant that the Spectrum rocket couldn’t be launched from the island of Andøya in northern Norway, Munich-based Isar Aerospace said. The launch is subject to various factors, including weather and safety. The company said it could also conduct the test flight later in the week. Another date hasn’t yet been set. The 28-meter (91-foot) Spectrum is a two-stage launch vehicle designed for small and medium-sized satellites. The company has largely ruled out the possibility of the rocket reaching orbit on its first complete flight, saying that it would consider a 30-second flight a success. Isar Aerospace aims to collect as much data and experience as possible on the first integrated test of all the systems on its in-house-developed launch vehicle.” (03/24/25)
“The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Texas death row inmate whose bid for a new trial drew the support of the prosecutor’s office that originally put him on death row. The justices left in place a Texas appeals court ruling that upheld the murder conviction and death sentence for Areli Escobar …. Escobar was convicted and sentenced to death in the May 2009 fatal stabbing and sexual assault of Bianca Maldonado, a 17-year-old high school student in Austin. They lived in the same apartment complex. The focus of the prosecution case against Escobar was evidence from the Austin Police Department’s DNA lab. But a later audit turned up problems at the lab that led Judge David Wahlberg of the Travis County District Court to conclude that Escobar’s trial was unfair.” 903/24/25)
“A high court in South Korea has upheld the conviction of a 24-year-old man for a series of sexual crimes, including rape — after the attack was reflected on a washing machine door and caught on security footage, say reports. The CCTV video submitted by the victim did not appear to show the crime — until investigators spotted the attack in the door’s reflection. The man had already been indicted for other offenses, including the suspected rape of a former girlfriend and sex with a minor, reports say. He was originally convicted and sentenced to eight years in jail in November but appealed the decision. The high court then sentenced him to seven years, saying that it took into account the settlement that he had reached with one of the victims.” (03/24/25)
