“At least two people were killed in attacks by Sudan’s paramilitary forces on a famine-stricken camp in North Darfur for people displaced by the war in the country, officials and humanitarian organizations said. The Abo Shouk displacement camp in el-Fasher has been attacked on and off over the past 11 months, but attacks have intensified this week, Adam Rijal, the spokesman for the Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees in Darfur, said Wednesday. He told The Associated Press that two people were confirmed dead due to the attacks by the Rapid Support Forces that intensified on Monday. The paramilitary was using artillery shelling ‘indiscriminately and deliberately,’ he said. Four people were reported injured on Tuesday, but that figure is likely higher. The attacks have also destroyed property in the camp, which houses around 450,000 displaced people.” (04/02/25)
“Former first son and convicted felon Hunter Biden agreed to be disbarred from practicing law in Washington, D.C., court records show. Hunter Biden filed an affidavit under seal on Tuesday acknowledging his ‘consent to disbarment,’ D.C. Court of Appeals records show. Biden was ‘suspended immediately from the practice of law’ in Washington, D.C., in June 2024 following his felony conviction in a Delaware federal court. Hunter Biden will officially be disbarred if the D.C. Court of Appeals accepts a disciplinary agency’s recommendation – and his own consent – for disbarment, according to the New York Post. The former first son’s Washington, D.C., bar member standing currently reads that he is under ‘Temp Disciplinary Suspension,’ Fox News Digital found on Wednesday morning. Hunter Biden has been licensed to practice law in the nation’s capital since 2007.” (04/02/25)
“New York City Mayor Eric Adams'[s] historic federal corruption case has been dropped. Judge Dale Ho has agreed to the U.S. Department of Justice’s request to drop the charges against Adams, but he did so ‘with prejudice.’ That means Adams cannot be re-tried on the same charges at a later time — a stipulation the Justice Department sought in its initial request to dismiss the case. … In the DOJ request to drop the case, prosecutors said having it hang over Adams interfered with his 2025 mayoral campaign and his ability to cooperate with the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. The initial request to drop the charges made note that the decision was not based on ‘the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.'” (04/02/25)
“Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared sympathetic on Wednesday to South Carolina’s bid to strip Planned Parenthood of funding under the Medicaid program in a case that could bolster efforts by Republican-led states to deprive the reproductive healthcare and abortion provider of public money. The justices heard arguments in South Carolina’s appeal of a lower court’s decision barring the Republican-governed state from terminating Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood South Atlantic.” (04/02/25)
“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to arrive in Hungary’s capital on Wednesday to meet with the country’s nationalist prime minister despite an international arrest warrant for the Israeli leader over the war in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu’s four-day visit to Budapest is a sign of both his close relationship with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the latter’s growing hostility toward international institutions, like the International Criminal Court, of which his country is a member. Orbán, a conservative populist and close Netanyahu ally, has vowed to disregard the ICC warrant against the Israeli leader, accusing the world’s top war crimes court based in The Hague, Netherlands, of ‘interfering in an ongoing conflict for political purposes.'” (04/02/25)
“A Tufts University doctoral student from Turkey who was [abducted] by immigration authorities had been moved to Vermont by the time a federal judge ordered authorities to keep her in Massachusetts, lawyers for the U.S. government said. Rumeysa Ozturk, 30, was taken by immigration officials as she walked along a street in the Boston suburb of Somerville on March 25. She was put on a plane the next day and moved to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in remote Basile, Louisiana. There was no available space to detain her in New England, the Justice Department lawyers said. U.S. District Judge Denise Casper … responding to a petition filed last week by Ozturk’s lawyers, issued a ruling on March 28 that Ozturk can’t be removed from the United States ‘until further order of this court.’ But on Tuesday, lawyers for the Justice Department argued that the judge lacks jurisdiction to decide Ozturk’s case.” (04/02/25)
“Tesla’s deliveries fell more than expected in the first three months of this year, marking its worst quarter since 2022, as the electric-vehicle maker faced a consumer backlash in Europe and weak demand in China. The US group, led by Elon Musk, delivered 336,681 cars in the first quarter, far fewer than the 390,000 forecast by analysts and the 387,000 it delivered in the same period last year.
Tesla’s shares were down almost 5 per cent in pre-market trading. The figure lagged behind that of China’s BYD, which has regained its crown as the world’s best-selling electric-vehicle maker after this week reporting sales of 416,388 EVs in the same period.” (04/02/25)
“The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi has downgraded the death sentences of three United States citizens convicted for taking part in a failed coup attempt last year, reducing their punishments to life imprisonment. Tshisekedi issued the commutation on Tuesday, according to presidential spokesperson Tina Salam, six months after the US nationals – along with 34 others – were sentenced to death on charges of ‘terrorism’ and ‘criminal association.’ Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt in May last year, led by little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga.” (04/02/25)
“Val Kilmer, a homegrown Hollywood actor who tasted leading-man stardom as Jim Morrison and Batman, but whose protean gifts and elusive personality also made him a high-profile supporting player, died on Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 65. The cause was pneumonia, said his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and later recovered, she said.” [editor’s note: I like Tommy Lee Jones, but let’s be honest — Kilmer got robbed at the 66th Academy Awards and should have received the Best Supporting Actor trophy for Tombstone – TLK] (04/02/25)
“The former president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, says his US visa has been revoked. Arias, a Nobel laureate, said he was informed of the decision weeks after he had publicly criticised Donald Trump, comparing the behaviour of the US president to that of a Roman emperor. The 84-year-old, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in brokering an end to conflicts in Central America, said US authorities had given no explanation. Arias hinted, however, that it may be due to his rapprochement with China during the time he was president from 2006 to 2010. Speaking at an news conference in the Costa Rican capital, San José, Arias said he had ‘no idea’ what the reason for the cancellation was.” (04/02/25)
