Category World News

A panel of federal judges has decided not to extend Alina Habba’s 120-day interim assassination.

The District of New Jersey’s chief judge, Renee Marie Bumb, signed the court order on Tuesday, bringing Habba’s brief tenure to an end for the time being.

Instead, the judges elevated New Jersey’s deputy to the top federal prosecutor position for the bureau.

Before Grace could even begin serving in the position, President Donald Trump’s administration quickly dismissed the judges’ decision as political activism.

Alina Habba has done a fantastic job of restoring NJ’s safety. However, politically inclined judges resisted placing her in the First Assistant position, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s social media post.

“The New Jersey First Assistant United States Attorney has just been fired,” the statement read. Rogue judges are not tolerated by this Department of Justice.

As yet another instance of Trump choosing close personal contacts to work in government, Habba’s interim US attorney position has sparked controversy.

Habba, who represents the US attorney, has also been accused of carrying out politically motivated prosecutions.

She prosecuted cases against several Democratic lawmakers during her four-month tenure, including LaMonica McIver, the US representative, and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

Legislators made an effort to visit and inspect an immigrant detention facility in New Jersey, which led to both prosecutions. Trump has made deportation in large numbers a pillar of his second term, which has heightened concerns about the safety and rights of those in detention facilities.

Conflicting cases

The incident involving Baraka and McIver occurred on May 9 at the Delaney Hall detention facility outside of Newark.

Baraka, who was a Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate at the time, had repeatedly protested the newly opened facility because it allegedly lacked proper local permits.

Baraka’s defense team claims that he and US Congress members were invited inside Delaney Hall as part of their oversight responsibilities.

However, he was asked to leave, and he was handcuffed and led away once he was outside the gate. Later, Habba revealed that he had been detained for trespassing.

However, Habba responded to those accusations “after extensive consideration” within 10 days.

US Magistrate Judge Andre Espinosa criticized a Habba’s office representative for making a “worrisome mistake” during a hearing to dismiss the case.

Espinosa cautioned against using a public figure’s arrest as an “investigative tool” and warned against criminal charges having “significant reputational and personal consequences” for the prosecution.

Nevertheless, Representative McIver, who had fought to protect the Newark mayor while he was being detained, was also brought against him at the same time as she dropped the case against Baraka.

After allegedly pushing into a federal agent in the crowded Delaney Hall crowd, Habba filed a lawsuit against McIver for physical assault.

McIver has refuted the allegations and claimed that Habba was trying to “intimidate” her. Meanwhile, Baraka brought a lawsuit against Habba for “malicious prosecution.”

Over reluctance to work more closely with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, Habba has also opened investigations into Democratic Governor Phil Murphy and Attorney General Matt Platkin.

Trump ties

Habba was the president’s personal attorney before joining the Trump administration as an interim US attorney.

Before he returned to the White House in January, she represented him in a number of civil cases. In one instance, Habba represented Trump in a defamation lawsuit brought by former Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos.

Zervos dropped her defamation complaint after Habba threatened to file a countersuit.

However, she also participated in two well-known cases, including one brought by writer E Jean Carroll and one brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump has made both appeals.

Trump appointed Habba to the Department of Justice as the country’s top law enforcement official in a specific district in March, shortly after taking office for a second term.

However, her position was only effective for a maximum of 120 days. A judicial panel’s recommendation was necessary to keep the position for an extended period of time.

Trump has nonetheless indicated that he wanted to keep Habba in her place. He formally recommended Habba to the US Senate earlier this month to keep him as a US attorney.

Cory Booker and Andy Kim, two senators from New Jersey who question Habba’s suitability, oppose that nomination.

Before Trump appointed her to the position, Habba had not previously worked as a prosecutor, so the Senate has not yet taken action on her nomination.

Other Department of Justice nominees under Trump have experienced similar opposition.

After his 120-day term was about to come to an end, a US District Court for the Northern District of New York last week decided to remove John Sarcone from office.

Despite the setbacks, the Trump administration’s leaders resolutely resisted.

Former president’s personal attorney Todd Blanche, Deputy Attorney General, claimed that the judges in New Jersey “forced out” Habba on political grounds.

Palestinians are dying from hunger in Gaza.

Those who have survived Israel’s relentless war are now in immediate danger of starvation.

Desperate people queueing for food are shot dead by Israeli and United States contractors.

Is Israel implementing a strategy of genocide by starvation?

Presenter:

James Bays

Guests:

Tamer Qarmout – associate professor of public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Arwa Damon – founder of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance

According to health officials, at least 15 people have died from starvation in the besieged Gaza Strip in the past 24 hours, including a six-week-old baby.

Yoursef’s family, according to his uncle, Adham al-Safadi, was unable to locate baby formula for six-week-old.

He told the Reuters news agency, “You can’t find milk anywhere, and if you do find any, it’s $100 for a tub.”

Abdulhamid al-Ghalban, 13, who passed away in a hospital in Khan Younis, was one of the 15 people who died on Tuesday from starvation.

At least 101 people have died from hunger and malnutrition since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023, according to the Gaza-based Ministry of Health. 80 of those victims are children. The majority of the deaths occurred recently.

Since Israel stopped all deliveries to the territory in March, Gaza’s food stocks have run out. The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is largely unrelated to the UN, then partially lifted the blockade in May, allowing a small flow of aid to enter the territory and be distributed by it.

The UN rights office reports that more than 1, 000 Palestinians have died since May while attempting to get aid, mostly close to GHF distribution points.

Phillipe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, described the aid distribution program as a “sadistic death trap.”

The ‘GHF’ distribution scheme is a “sadistic death trap,” according to the author. According to Lazzarini, who spoke on X on Tuesday, “snipers open fire randomly on crowds as if they are given a license to kill.”

Israel accuses Hamas of swindling aid without providing proof of widespread divergence, and it points fingers at UN agencies for omitting food that Israel has allowed in.

The GHF disputed what it called “false and exaggerated statistics” from the UN.

“Horror show”

Lazzarini also warned that doctors and other humanitarian workers in Gaza were becoming drowsy and starving while on duty.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the situation of the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza as a “horror show” with “a level of death and destruction without precedent in recent times.”

Guatemala’s statement to the UN Security Council read, “We are witnessing the last gasp of a humanitarian system built on humanitarian principles.” The conditions are being removed from that system.

According to Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, malnourished Palestinians were “every moment” arriving at the hospital’s remaining functioning, and warned of ” alarming numbers” of deaths as a result of starvation.

Hospitals are already overburdened by the number of gunshot wound victims. Because of food and medication shortages, the spokesperson for Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Khalil al-Daqran, said, “They can’t provide much more help for hunger-related symptoms.”

According to Deqran, at least 60 000 pregnant women were among the 600 000 people who were battling malnutrition. He claimed that dehydration and anaemia are common among those who are experiencing hunger.

Aid organizations, doctors, and residents claim that baby formula is in a critical shortage while Gaza is plagued by widespread goods shortages caused by Israeli restrictions.

In response to the “synthetic genocide and criminal starvation” in the enclave, Hamas claimed in a statement that it was “time to break the restrictions” and allow for more aid to enter Gaza. Hamas also expressed surprise by the” silence “of Arab and Islamic countries” in the area.

Deadly attacks continue to happen.

At least 81 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Tuesday, according to medical sources, including 31 aid-seekers.

At least 13 people were killed and more than 50 were hurt in Israeli strikes on the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City, according to Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defense.

According to a source at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, an Israeli attack on a building that housed displaced Palestinians resulted in the deaths of 15 people, including six children.

Israeli airstrikes hit residential areas in the eastern part of the city, particularly the Zeitoun neighborhood, according to Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, who is a reporter from Gaza City. He claimed that a “group of people” was struck.

The attacks come a day after Israeli tanks for the first time since the deadly assault started to invade Deir el-Balah in central Gaza’s southern and eastern regions.

Despite claims by the Israeli army that its assault on Deir el-Balah has come to an end, many Palestinians are unable to return to their homes because they are in the firing line of heavy artillery, according to Mahmoud.

“The area is also surrounded by quadcopters and surveillance drones, creating a sense of fear and intimidation,” Mahmoud said.

On Tuesday, Bassal, the Civil Defense Agency, reported that two people died in Deir el-Balah.

Up until the Israeli offensive this week, the area was thought to be the only area in the tiny Strip that was considered to be largely safe, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In displacement camps, there were about 30 000 people.

Nearly 88 percent of the Gaza Strip’s population is now being forced into an ever-crowding space, according to OCHA, who estimates that the population is now threatening evacuation or living in militarized areas.

Meanwhile, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, accused Israeli troops of allowing them to interview male employees at gunpoint and handcuff them into their homes.

Gaza is now in a more dire malnutrition crisis as a result of Israel’s blockade. As the Strip’s population reaches its highest level, hospitals are overflowing with patients who have been denied access to food. Children are dying from malnutrition.