WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Friday reinstated convicted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death sentence for his role in the 2013 attack that killed three people and wounded more than 260 others, ruling in favor of the federal government.
In a 6-3 decision, the justices sided with the Justice Department’s challenge to a 2020 federal appeals court ruling that had upheld Tsarnaev’s conviction but overturned his death sentence.
The Supreme Court faulted the Boston-based 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals on its findings both that Tsarnaev’s right to a fair trial under the US Constitution’s Sixth Amendment was violated and that the trial judge wrongly excluded certain evidence about a separate crime.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev committed heinous crimes. The Sixth Amendment nonetheless guaranteed him a fair trial before an impartial jury. He received one,” conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court.
The court’s six conservative justices were in the majority, with its three liberals dissenting.
President Joe Biden as a candidate promised to work to pass legislation in Congress to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level and set incentives for states to do as well, instead endorsing life sentences without probation or parole. But his administration last year opted to proceed with an appeal initially launched by the Justice Department under his predecessor Donald Trump to defend Tsarnaev’s death sentence.
In a dissenting opinion, liberal Justice Stephen Breyer agreed with 1st Circuit that evidence about the separate crime, a 2011 triple murder in Waltham, Massachusetts linked to Tsarnaev’s older brother Tamerlan, was improperly excluded.
Lawyers for Tsarnaev, who is 28 now and was 19 at the time of the attack, have argued that Tsarnaev played a secondary role in the marathon bombing to his brother, who they called “an authority figure” with “violent Islamic extremist beliefs.” As such, the evidence about another crime Tamerlan allegedly committed would be relevant, they argued.
“This evidence may have led some jurors to conclude that Tamerlan’s influence was so pervasive that Dzhokhar did not deserve to die for any of the actions he took in connection with the bombings, even those taken outside of Tamerlan’s presence,” Breyer wrote.
“And it would have taken only one juror’s change of mind to have produced a sentence other than death, even if a severe one,” added Breyer, who in the past has questioned the constitutionality of the death penalty.
The primary source of the evidence about the other murders, a man named Ibragim Todashev, was killed by an FBI agent in 2013 when he attacked officers during an interview.
The Supreme Court also found that US District Judge George O’Toole, who presided over the trial, did not violate Tsarnaev’s right to a trial in front of an impartial jury by failing to properly screen jurors for potential bias following pervasive news coverage of the bombings.
CONVICTED ON ALL COUNTS
The Tsarnaev brothers detonated two homemade pressure-cooker bombs at the marathon’s finish line on April 15, 2013, and days later killed a police officer. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after the gunfight with police.
Jurors convicted Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in 2015 on all 30 counts he faced and determined he deserved execution for a bomb he planted that killed Martin Richard, 8, and Chinese exchange student Lingzi Lu, 23. Restaurant manager Krystle Campbell, 29, was killed by the second bomb.
Marc Fucarile, who lost his right leg in the second blast, said the Supreme Court “did the right thing” and that the three justices who dissented “should be ashamed.” But Fucarile said he has no confidence that the death sentence would ultimately be carried out, especially under the Biden administration.
“He got what he deserves,” said Fucarile, 43. “I think we need to send a message, you can’t just kill innocent people and set off bombs in crowds of people.”
No federal inmates were executed for 17 years before Trump oversaw 13 executions in the last six months of his term. Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, last July imposed a moratorium on federal executions while the Justice Department reviews the death penalty.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in March 2021 that Biden continues to have “grave concerns about whether capital punishment, as currently implemented, is consistent with the values that are fundamental to our sense of justice and fairness.”
US Supreme Court reinstates Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence
https://arab.news/jxv9f
US Supreme Court reinstates Boston Marathon bomber’s death sentence
- The court's six conservative justices were in the majority, with its three liberals dissenting
- Lawyers for Tsarnaev have argued that he played a secondary role in the marathon bombing to his brother
Ukraine strikes Russia in major drone and missile attack — Russian media
- Dozens of Ukrainian drones attack Russian regions
- Reports of emergency sirens at major refinery
The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.
“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” the Two Majors war blogger said.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said Ukraine had launched a major missile attack but did not say which missiles had been used.
The Russian defense ministry, which reports on such attacks, made no immediate comment. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
In the Russian city of Engels, home to an air base where Russia’s nuclear bombers are based, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said an industrial enterprise had been damaged by a drone but gave no more details.
Busargin said that classes in schools in Saratov and Engels would be held remotely. Flight restrictions were imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, is home to the major Taneco refinery. Shot said attack sirens were sounded at the refinery. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the report.
Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on Nov. 21 in what President Vladimir Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.
Putin, after those attacks, said that the Ukraine war was escalating toward a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons, and warned the West that Moscow could strike back.
President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
North Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles before Trump return
SEOUL: North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Tuesday, according to Seoul’s military, in what experts said could be a message to US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
The launch comes as Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visits South Korea for a series of meetings with top officials, with the Asian neighbors seeking to boost bilateral ties before Trump returns to office next week.
“The South Korean military detected several short-range ballistic missiles fired into the East Sea,” Seoul’s military said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
It said the launch took place around 9:30 am (0030 GMT) near North Korea’s Ganggye area, with the missiles flying 250 kilometers (155 miles) before landing in the sea.
“The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US have detected and monitored North Korea’s missile launch preparations in advance, and immediately detected and tracked them at the time of launch,” the military said.
It said it was maintaining “full readiness” and sharing information with the United States and Japan while “strengthening surveillance and alertness” for more launches.
Seoul’s acting President Choi Sang-mok slammed the launch, saying it violated UN Security Council resolutions.
“Seoul will respond more strongly to North Korea’s provocations based on its strong security posture and alliance with the US,” he said.
Experts said the latest launch could be intended as a message to the incoming Trump administration.
“It could be aimed at the US,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“It may indicate an intention to put pressure ahead of the Trump administration’s second term.”
ASSERT PRESENCE
Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP the test launch “appears to be an intention to assert presence ahead of the Trump administration.”
He said it could also be aimed at “destabilising South Korea during Seoul’s own period of turmoil,” as suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment trial that begins Tuesday in the Constitutional Court after a failed martial law bid last month.
Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
The Tuesday launch is Pyongyang’s second this year, after it fired last week what it said was a new hypersonic missile system.
The location of the test site was undisclosed but images released by North Korean state media KCNA showed leader Kim Jong Un observing last week’s launch with his teenage daughter Ju Ae.
KCNA cited the use of a “new compound of carbon fiber” in the missile’s engine, which experts warned could allow Pyongyang to hit further targets with technology to which only the United States, Russia and China currently have access.
Last week’s alleged hypersonic missile launch came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea.
While in Seoul, Blinken said Russia was increasing cooperation with Pyongyang, adding they were working ever more closely on advanced space technology.
Ahn said another reason for Tuesday’s launch may be the testing of “missiles for export to Russia to be used in Ukraine.”
RUSSIAN SUPPORT
Blinken also voiced renewed concern that Russia, a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, would formally accept North Korea as a nuclear state in a blow to global consensus that Pyongyang must end its program.
In late October, North Korea test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Days later, it fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles.
US and South Korean intelligence also believe that North Korea in October started to send thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine and has since suffered hundreds of casualties.
But neither North Korea nor Russia has officially confirmed that Pyongyang’s forces are fighting for Moscow.
On Monday, a South Korean lawmaker said around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.
Over the weekend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing video of the injured combatants being interrogated.
China's deployment of 'monster ship' alarming, says Philippine security official
- Manila has lodged a protest over the presence of the 165 m long vessel Chinese coast guard vessel 5901
MANILA: The Philippines said China’s deployment of its largest coast guard vessel inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was alarming and clearly meant to intimidate fishermen operating around a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
“We were surprised about the increasing aggression being showed by the People’s Republic of China in deploying the monster ship,” National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Manila has lodged a protest over the presence of the 165 m long vessel Chinese coast guard vessel 5901, which was spotted 77 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales province, and demanded its withdrawal from the EEZ, Malaya said.
“It is an escalation and provocative,” Malaya said, saying the presence the vessel was “illegal” and “unacceptable.”
The Philippine Coast Guard said it had deployed two of its largest vessels to drive away the Chinese vessel.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that its coast guard’s “patrol and law enforcement activities” were “reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach.”
Tensions between the Philippines, a US treaty ally, and Beijing have escalated over the past two years due to overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
In 2016, an international tribunal ruled China’s claims to large swathes of the disputed waterway had no basis, a decision Beijing rejects.
China’s expansive claims overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The disputed waterway is a strategic shipping route through which about $3 trillion of annual commerce moves.
'Not for the poor': Indonesians in capital face housing, commute woes
- Residents of the megalopolis of 11 million are finding it impossible to climb the property ladder
- The price of a Jakarta house is on average 20 times higher than an employee’s annual salary
JAKARTA: Scrolling on social media, Indonesian moviegoer Jessica Sihotang stumbled across a film depicting a fellow woman in her 30s struggling to make the dream of buying a Jakarta home a reality.
Nearly two million like-minded Indonesians tuned in to watch the protagonist’s house-hunting journey when “Home Sweet Loan” was released last year, the movie’s producer said.
Residents of the megalopolis of 11 million are finding it impossible to climb the property ladder, as space shrinks and prices rise, forcing them to seek faraway homes that come with arduous commutes.
The movie sparked widespread chatter among Jakartans, as its main character’s grievances resonated with their own long-held housing woes.
“I can relate so much. I’ve been thinking about it for the past 10 years,” said Sihotang.
“I want to have my own house, but my savings have never been enough even just for the down payment,” added the 35-year-old university admissions worker.
Jakarta is where Indonesia’s growing wealth gap is most evident — with unofficial slum housing sitting below shiny new apartment complexes and skyscrapers.
Less than two-thirds of Jakartans own a home, according to Indonesia’s Central Statistics Bureau, the lowest figure compared to other provinces.
Sihotang said she cannot afford a home within 60 kilometers (37 miles) of her job.
“I have to find side hustles for additional income, or maybe try my luck for a few years abroad” before buying a property, she said.
The price of a Jakarta house is on average 20 times higher than an employee’s annual salary, a University of Indonesia survey in June found.
Jakartans like Rizqi Arifuddin have resorted to buying a house in neighboring provinces.
The office worker in one of Jakarta’s main business districts commutes by train for an hour from his home in West Java province.
He then jumps on a motorcycle taxi for another half an hour to reach the office.
“I can never afford a house in the city. Even researching the prices makes me upset,” he said.
With limited space available in the cramped capital known for its brutal traffic jams, prices have skyrocketed.
Housing complexes are now being built further from the city to meet demand.
“This is the reality, people are now competing for places which at least have access to mass transportation,” said Yayat Supriyatna, an urban planner from Trisakti University in Jakarta.
“Jakarta is not a place for the poor,” he told AFP.
Some Indonesians like Muhammad Faris Dzaki Rahadian and his wife have chosen to rent, rather than buy, a property close to work.
“Even with our joint income, it is still not affordable,” said journalist Rahadian, 27.
“I don’t think buying is a rational option.”
To address the housing crisis, the government will require employees from 2027 to contribute three percent of their salaries to a savings fund which they can use for housing.
But it has angered Indonesians who think it won’t be enough — or that it could be taken from them by a government many distrust.
“Who’s going to benefit? It seems to me that people are getting constantly pressured,” Supriyatna said.
Despite the grim housing market, some are still holding on to their dreams.
“Having a house, no matter how small is a symbol of peace of mind for me,” Sihotang said.
“It will give me peace when I’m old.”
Fire-ravaged Los Angeles in path of dangerous Santa Ana winds
- Santa Ana winds could reach 75 mph, threatening firefighting efforts
- At least 24 people dead, 12,000 structures damaged or destroyed
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles firefighters braced for high winds overnight into Tuesday, gusts that could fuel two monstrous wildfires that have already leveled entire neighborhoods, killed at least two dozen people, and burned an area the size of Washington, D.C.
Dry, dangerous Santa Ana wind gusts reached 30 to 50 mph (48 to 80 kph) later on Monday, but the red flag warning was not due to start until 10 p.m. PST (0600 GMT) with the peak winds that could hit 75 mph (120 kph) starting around 4 a.m. Tuesday (1200 GMT), said David Roth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
More than 8,500 firefighters attacked the fires from the air and on the ground, preventing the conflagrations at either end of Los Angeles from spreading overnight.
“This setup is about as bad as it gets,” and Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told Angelenos, “We are not in the clear.”
Officials said the state was pre-positioning firefighting crews in vulnerable areas, not just in Los Angeles but also in other Southern California counties that were also under elevated fire danger.
The two main wildfires erupted last week, fueled by hurricane-force winds bringing dry air from the inland deserts.
At least 24 people have died in the fires since then, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner reported.
The wildfires have destroyed or damaged more than 12,000 structures, turning entire neighborhoods into smoldering ash and piles of rubble, leaving an apocalyptic landscape.
As of Monday, more than 92,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders — down from a previous high of more than 150,000 — while another 89,000 faced evacuation warnings.
The Palisades Fire, which wiped out upscale communities on the western flank of Los Angeles, burned 23,713 acres (96 square km) and was 14 percent contained, a figure representing the percentage of the fire’s perimeter that firefighters have under control.
The Eaton Fire in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains east of the city consumed another 14,117 acres (57 sq km) and was 33 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) reported.
A third fire of 799 acres (3.2 sq km) north of town was 95 percent contained and three other fires in the county have been fully brought under control in recent days.
The Eaton fire damaged the Altadena home of Lorraine Bryan, 63, and destroyed two other dwellings on her property. She told Reuters she worries about getting additional doses of insulin that she needs to manage her diabetes.
“I’m worried about insurance and about rebuilding and getting back on my feet,” Bryan said Monday, standing in the doorway of her charred home. “I need my medication. I’m trying to see who can help us.”
Death and arrests
Deputies are finding human remains every day as they search through burned-out parts of Altadena, where the Eaton fire first ignited, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
“It is a very grim task,” Luna said, adding that he expected the confirmed death toll to rise in the days ahead.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has said the firestorm could rank as the most devastating natural disaster in US history. It is already the costliest wildfire in terms of insured losses.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Monday said 10 people had been arrested in connection to the fires. Nine people were arrested for residential burglaries of fire-stricken areas. One other person was arrested for arson, for allegedly attempting to light a tree on fire in the city of Azusa, about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
US Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said during a Monday press conference there was “a special place in hell” for looters.
Flanked by law enforcement personnel, he added: “And if the folks behind me have anything to say about it, there’ll be a special place in jail for you too.”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was sued on Monday on claims that it failed to properly manage water supplies critical to fighting the deadly Palisades Fire, a court filing showed. Residents who sued allege the department should have maintained water in a nearby reservoir, which was dry at the time the fire first erupted last Tuesday.
Aid and politics
“Our hearts ache for the 24 innocent souls we have lost in the wildfires across Los Angeles,” said US President Joe Biden, who announced additional disaster assistance for California, covering costs for debris removal and emergency protective measures.
But top Republicans in the US Congress are considering imposing conditions on disaster aid, accusing the state’s Democratic leadership of mismanaging water resources and forests.
California Governor Newsom and other top Democrats in the state have come under withering criticism for their handling of the fires.
President-elect Donald Trump planned to visit the disaster zone after he is inaugurated next week, a source familiar with the planning said.
With thousands of homeowners facing a costly rebuilding, large commercial banks including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have announced plans to ease mortgage repayment conditions for the afflicted. Insurers are looking at historic losses.
