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In the news today: Israeli strikes across Gaza shatter the ceasefire with Hamas; a judge questions the Trump administration on whether it ignored his order to turn around deportation flights; and President Trump challenges former President Biden’s pardons of the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Also, NASA's stuck astronauts are finally on their way back to Earth. |
A boy looks at the body of a person killed during overnight Israeli airstrikes, at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 400 Palestinians and shatter ceasefire with Hamas
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Israel launched airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing at least 400 Palestinians, including women and children, according to hospital officials. The surprise bombardment shattered a ceasefire in place since January and threatened to fully reignite the 17-month-old war. Read more.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to change the ceasefire agreement. Officials said the operation was open-ended and was expected to expand. The White House said it had been consulted and voiced support for Israel’s actions.
A senior Hamas official said Netanyahu’s decision to return to war amounts to a “death sentence” for the remaining Israeli hostages. Izzat al-Risheq accused Netanyahu of launching the strikes to try to save his far-right governing coalition and called on mediators to “reveal facts” on who broke the truce. There were no reports of any attacks by Hamas several hours after the bombardment, indicating it still hoped to restore the truce.
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Judge questions Trump administration on whether it ignored order to turn around deportation flights
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District Judge James E. Boasberg on Monday questioned whether the Trump administration ignored his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador, a possible violation of the decision issued minutes before. Read more. |
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District Judge James E. Boasberg was incredulous over the administration’s contentions that his verbal directions did not count, that only his written order needed to be followed, that it couldn’t apply to flights that had left the U.S. and that the administration could not answer his questions about the deportations due to national security issues.
It was also an escalation in the battle over whether the Trump administration is flouting court orders that have blocked some of his aggressive moves in the opening weeks of his second term. “There’s been a lot of talk about constitutional crisis, people throw that word around. I think we’re getting very close to it,” warned Lee Gelernt of the ACLU, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, during the Monday hearing.
- Boasberg’s temporary restraining order is only in effect for up to 14 days as he oversees the litigation over Trump’s unprecedented use of the Alien Enemies Act, which is likely to raise new constitutional issues that can only ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Presidents have used autopens for decades. Now Trump objects to Biden’s use of one
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President Donald Trump claimed Monday that pardons recently issued by former President Joe Biden to lawmakers and staff on the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot have no force because, Trump says, the-then president signed them with an autopen instead of by his own hand. Read more.
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“In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!” Trump wrote on his social media site. Trump didn’t offer any evidence to support his claims. Nor did the White House. Trump asserted in his all-caps post that the pardons are void and have no effect in his estimation.
Presidents have broad authority to pardon or commute the sentences of whomever they please, the Constitution doesn’t specify that pardons must be in writing, and autopen signatures have been used before for substantive actions by presidents. A representative for Biden declined to comment.
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An iguana at The Green Planet indoor tropical rainforest in Dubai, UAE, Feb. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
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Iguanas likely crossed the Pacific millions of years ago on a record-setting rafting trip
New research suggests that millions of years ago, iguanas pulled off a record-breaking 5,000 mile odyssey on a raft of floating vegetation — further than any other land-dwelling vertebrate has ever traveled on the ocean. Scientists think that’s how iguanas got to the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador and traveled between islands in the Caribbean. |
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