Category: World News

• Lawsuits challenging Trump’s order filed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington state
• Democratic-led states argue executive order violates U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment
• Plaintiffs cite U.S. Supreme Court’s 1898 birthright citizenship ruling

Democratic-led states and civil rights groups filed a slew of lawsuits challenging U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to roll back birthright citizenship on Tuesday in an early bid by his opponents to block his agenda in court.

After his inauguration on Monday, Trump, a Republican, ordered U.S. agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the U.S. if neither their mother or father is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.

Twenty-two Democratic-led states along with the District of Columbia and city of San Francisco filed a pair of lawsuits

in federal courts in Boston and Seattle asserting Trump had violated the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuits take aim at a central piece of Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown. If allowed to stand, Trump’s order would for the first time deny more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States the right to citizenship, said the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

“President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights,” she said in a statement.

Losing out on citizenship would prevent those individuals from having access to federal programs like Medicaid health insurance and, when they become older, from working lawfully or voting, the states say.

“Today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

More lawsuits by Democratic-led states and advocacy groups challenging other aspects of Trump’s agenda are expected, with cases already on file challenging the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency and an order Trump signed weakening job protections for civil servants.

1898 U.S. SUPREME COURT PRECEDENT

Three of the four lawsuits were filed in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Any rulings from judges in those New England states would be reviewed by the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the only federal appeals court whose active judges are all Democratic appointees.

Four states filed a separate case in Washington state, which the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has jurisdiction over. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle has scheduled a Thursday hearing on whether he should issue a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Trump’s order.

A fifth lawsuit was filed in federal court in Maryland by a group of pregnant women and immigrant rights groups including CASA.

The various lawsuits argue that Trump’s executive order violated the right enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen.

The complaints cite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1898 ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, a decision holding that children born in the United States to non-citizen parents are entitled to U.S. citizenship.

The plaintiffs challenging the order include a woman living in Massachusetts identified only as “O. Doe” who is in the country through temporary protected status and is due to give birth in March.

Temporary protected status is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary events and currently covers more than 1 million people from 17 nations.

Several other lawsuits challenging aspects of Trump’s other early executive actions are pending.

The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents federal government employees in 37 agencies and departments, late on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging an order Trump signed that makes it easier to fire thousands of federal agency employees and replace them with political loyalists.

Reuters

The move will come as part of a swathe of executive orders the incoming president will sign on his first day back in the White House.

It is one of two branded as “common sense” orders and will end all federal funding or recognition of gender identities.

The definition of male and female will be based on whether people are born with eggs or sperm, rather than on their chromosomes.

Under the order, prisons and settings such as shelters for migrants and rape victims would be segregated by sex, based on this criteria.

Officials also said the order would impact federal documents including passports.

The order would also block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using the pronouns that align with their gender.

Mr Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion.

The second “common sense” order targets diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and ends their federal funding.

As part of this, officials said there would be a monthly meeting of relevant agencies to assess any DEI programs and whether they should be shut down.

Speaking in a rally on Sunday ahead of his inauguration, Mr Trump also said that he would stop the participation of trans athletes in women’s sports.

The move will undo parts of one order President Joe Biden signed on his first day in office four years ago.

Throughout his campaign, Mr Trump has been vocal in his opposition to increased support and rights for transgender and nonbinary people.

The order does not appear to issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can join, though many states have passed laws on those areas.

Civil rights groups were already preparing to challenge Mr Trump’s restrictions in court before he set foot in the Oval Office.

“We are going to persevere, we’re going to continue in our work and we’re going to continue to protect trans rights throughout the country,” said Ash Orr, a spokesperson for Advocates for Trans Equality last week, anticipating such an order.

“The only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment or conviction without encroaching upon the highest office of the land is an unconditional discharge,” Merchan told Trump.

The sentencing, which was expected, means Trump will remain a felon but faces no jail time, penalties or probation for his conviction in the hush money case.

Trump did not react as Merchan concluded the hearing.

Judge Juan Merchan says he need not repeat the aggravating factors that he has already articulated in his recent orders.

“However the considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protections afforded the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” he says.

“They do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way,” Merchan says of the legal protections for the office of the presidency.

Merchan noted that voters ultimately decided to bestow Trump the protections of the office once again.

“Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. It is the office of the president that bestows those to the office holder. It is the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections,” he says.

Judge Juan Merchan is speaking to Donald Trump and is noting that it’s the office of the presidency that is extraordinary, not the occupant of the office.

“It is the legal protections afforded to the office of the president of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant of the office,” he said.

Merchan says that once the courtroom doors closed, the trial was not different from any other in the courthouse.

Judge Juan Merchan says, “never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstance.”

“This has been a truly extraordinary case,” he adds.

Donald Trump insisted he is innocent at his sentencing hearing this morning. “The fact is I’m totally innocent. I did nothing wrong,” he says.

“It’s been a political witch hunt, it was done to damage my reputation,” President-elect Donald Trump says.

Todd Blanche, an attorney for President-elect Donald Trump, says the legal team intends to appeal the verdict.

“A lot of what the government just said presupposes that this case is legally appropriate,” Blanche said following prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’s comments in court. Blache noted that Trump’s lawyers intend to appeal the verdict.

“A majority of the American people also agree that this case should not have been brought,” Blanche added. CNN

The former peanut farmer lived longer than any president in history and celebrated his 100th birthday in October.

The Carter Center, which advocates for democracy and human rights around the world, said he died on Sunday afternoon at his home in Plains, Georgia.

The Democrat served as president from 1977 to 1981, a period beset by economic and diplomatic crises.

After leaving the White House with low approval ratings, his reputation was restored through humanitarian work which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.

“My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love,” his son, Chip Carter, said in a statement.

“The world is our family because of the way he brought people together, and we thank you for honouring his memory by continuing to live these shared beliefs.”

Carter – who prior to becoming president was governor of Georgia, a lieutenant in the US navy and a farmer – is survived by his four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.

His wife, Rosalynn, who he was married to for 77 years, died in November 2023.

Since 2018 and the death of George HW Bush, he was the oldest surviving US president.

Carter stopped medical treatment for an undisclosed illness last year and instead began receiving hospice care at his home.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden said the world had “lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”.

Describing him as “a dear friend” and “a man of principle, faith and humility”, they added: “He showed that we are a great nation because we are a good people – decent and honorable, courageous and compassionate, humble and strong.”

“The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” President-elect Donald Trump wrote on social media.

“For that, we all owe him a debt of gratitude.”

Carter’s presidency will be remembered for his struggles in dealing with acute economic problems and several foreign policy challenges, including the Iran hostage crisis, which ended with the deaths of eight Americans.

There was, however, a notable foreign policy triumph in the Middle East when he helped broker an accord between Egypt and Israel, signed at Camp David in the US in 1978.

But that seemed a distant memory two years later, when voters overwhelmingly chose Republican Ronald Reagan, who had portrayed the president as a weak leader unable to deal with inflation and interest rates at near record highs.

Carter lost the 1980 election by a landslide, winning only six US states plus Washington DC.

In the aftermath of such a heavy defeat, Carter was frequently held up by Republicans as an example of liberal ineptitude.

Meanwhile, many in his own party either ignored him or viewed his presidential shortcomings as evidence their brand of Democratic politics or policy was a better way.

Today many on the right still deride the Carter years but as the decades passed, his humanitarian efforts and simple lifestyle began to shape a new legacy for many Americans.

After leaving the White House, he became the first and only president to return full-time to the house he lived in before politics – a humble, two-bedroom ranch-style home.

He chose not to pursue the lucrative after-dinner speeches and publishing deals awaiting most former presidents, telling the Washington Post in 2018 that he never really wanted to be rich.

Instead, he spent his remaining years trying to address global problems of inequality and disease.

He also teamed up with Nelson Mandela to found The Elders, a group of global leaders who committed themselves to work on peace and human rights.

In accepting his Nobel prize in 2002 – only the third US president to receive it – he said: “The most serious and universal problem is the growing chasm between the richest and the poorest people on Earth.”

In a statement, former President Bill Clinton and wife Hillary Clinton said he “worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world”, noting his humanitarian, environmental and diplomatic efforts.

“Guided by faith, President Carter lived to serve others – until the very end,” they added.

Former President Barack Obama paid tribute to Carter’s “decency” and said “he taught all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice, and service”.

Republican former President George W Bush, meanwhile, said Carter “dignified the office” and that “his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency”.

President Biden said a state funeral would be held in Washington DC.

…Ceasefire after more than a year of fighting

…Tank fire hits 3 Lebanese towns one day after truce

Israeli tank fire hit six areas in southern Lebanon on Thursday and the Israeli military said its ceasefire with Hezbollah was breached after what it called suspects, some in vehicles, arrived at several areas in the southern zone.

A ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah took effect on Wednesday under a deal brokered by the U.S. and France, intended to allow people in both countries to start returning to homes in border areas shattered by 14 months of fighting.

The Israeli military had urged residents of towns along the border strip not to return yet for their own safety.

On Thursday morning, Israeli tank fire hit six areas within that border strip, state media and Lebanese security sources said.

The rounds struck Markaba, Wazzani and Kfarchouba, Khiyam, Taybe and the agricultural plains around Marjayoun, all of which lie within two kilometres of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel. One of the security sources said two people were wounded in Markaba.

Lebanese families displaced from their homes near the southern border have tried to return to check on their properties. But Israeli troops remain stationed within Lebanese territory in towns along the border and Reuters reporters heard surveillance drones flying over parts of southern Lebanon.

There was no immediate comment on the tank rounds from Hezbollah or Israel, who had been fighting for over a year in parallel with the Gaza war.

The agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region racked by conflict, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group in years. But Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israeli forces can take up to 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon but neither side can launch offensive operations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had instructed the military not to allow residents back to villages near the border.

Lebanon’s speaker of parliament Nabih Berri, the top interlocutor for Lebanon in negotiating the deal, had said on Wednesday that residents could return home.

Hezbollah has said its fighters “remain fully equipped to deal with the aspirations and assaults of the Israeli enemy.” Its forces will monitor Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon “with their hands on the trigger”.

The group has been weakened by casualties and the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders by Israel.

Reuters

Israel issued evacuation orders for parts of Beirut four hours before the ceasefire deadline, striking around an hour before. Hezbollah also fired drones into Israel in the hours before fighting stopped.

Within minutes of the ceasefire starting, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned residents of southern Lebanon against “heading towards the villages that the IDF has ordered to be evacuated or towards IDF forces in the area”.

The IDF’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X the IDF would “inform you when it is safe to return home”.

Still, dozens of vehicles were seen heading south shortly after the ceasefire began by reporters for the Reuters news agency, some packed with personal belongings.

Fighting had been ongoing for nearly a year when, in late September, Israel intensified bombardments and launched a ground invasion against Hezbollah.

The war has been Lebanon’s deadliest in decades, killing more than 3,823 people, according to local officials.

Under the deal announced on Tuesday and brokered by the US, Israel will gradually withdraw its troops from Lebanon’s south over a 60-day period.

Over the same timeframe, Hezbollah fighters and weapons will be removed from the area south of the Litani River, a boundary established at the end of the last Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006. They will be replaced by Lebanese government forces.

“This announcement will create the conditions to restore lasting calm and allow residents in both countries to return safely to their homes,” said a joint statement from the US and France, both of which will join an existing mechanism tasked with enforcing the UN resolution previously set at the end of the 2006 war.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the ceasefire deal, calling it a “fundamental step towards restoring calm and stability” in the country and allowing citizens to return home.

But he also demanded Israel “fully comply” with the deal, leave sites it currently occupies and to respect the UN resolution.

Lebanese environment minister Nasser Yassin, meanwhile, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that given Hezbollah remains an “active party” the Lebanese parliament, his country now needed to focus on restoring the political process and facilitate “dialogue” between “different communities”.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not hesitate to strike if Hezbollah breaks any part of the agreed deal.

“If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to arm itself, we will attack. If it tries to rebuild terrorist infrastructure near the border, we will attack,” he said.

Biden said Israel “retains the right to self defence consistent with international law”.

A snap poll for Israeli TV showed 37% of Israelis in favour of the ceasefire, 32% against and 31% saying they didn’t know.

Netanyahu also said ending the fighting in Lebanon, Israel’s northern neighbour, would allow the IDF to focus on “the Iranian threat”.

Hezbollah had long been seen as Iran’s first line of defence. But with much of the group’s missile arsenal now destroyed, the military balance between Iran and Israel appears to have tilted in Israel’s favour.

Hezbollah’s “weakness” following the conflict concerns Iran, which wants to “preserve” the force’s domestic standing in Lebanon, according to former US envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross.

Having lost its entire leadership, the group “will take a long time to recover”, Mr Ross told the BBC on Wednesday.

He said he anticipated the ceasefire will last beyond 60 days because both sides have an interest in extending it: Hezbollah because it needs time to recover, and Israel, which Mr Ross said “does not want to get stuck” fighting in Lebanon.

The past 13 months of violence began when Hezbollah started firing rockets into Israel a day after its ally Hamas carried out a brutal attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.

Netanyahu said ending the fighting in Lebanon would also increase pressure on Hamas.

“From day two of the war, Hamas was counting on Hezbollah to fight by its side. With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own,” Netanyahu said.