WASHINGTON: A federal judge decided on Tuesday to allow the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents to shield the identities of possible witnesses in the case for now.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon agreed to reconsider a prior ruling that prosecutors argued would have revealed the names of certain witnesses who spoke to investigators, and subjected them to intimidation and harassment from Trump and his supporters.
Lawyers for Trump, the Republican challenger to Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election, attached information about the witnesses to a legal filing in January seeking information that they argued would help Trump’s defense.
Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump, initially agreed to make the information public, citing the need for public access to court records.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor who brought the case, urged Cannon to reevaluate her ruling, arguing the decision was legally flawed and would expose witnesses to unnecessary harassment and possible threats.
Cannon in Tuesday’s updated ruling agreed to redact information in public filings that would lead to witnesses being identified. Witnesses for now will be referenced in court papers using pseudonyms, the judge said.
Trump has repeatedly attacked judges, prosecutors and some known witnesses in the four criminal cases against him. In two of those cases — a federal case accusing Trump of attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 election and a New York state prosecution charging him with concealing hush money payments to a porn star — judges have imposed gag orders limiting Trump’s out-of-court statements.
In the classified documents case, Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally kept highly sensitive records after he left office in 2021 and obstructed government efforts to retrieve the material.
Trump has accused prosecutors of targeting him in an attempt harm his campaign.
A trial date in the case remains uncertain.
Witnesses in Trump documents case can remain private, judge rules
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Witnesses in Trump documents case can remain private, judge rules
- Trump has accused prosecutors of targeting him in an attempt harm his campaign
Indian commandos kill 10 Maoist rebels
- More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement
- Gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people of India’s remote and resource-rich central regions.
The gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency.
“Dead bodies of 10 Maoists have been recovered so far,” Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations, said.
Sinha said the police recovered several automatic weapons from the rebels.
India’s home minister Amit Shah this year issued an ultimatum to the insurgents to surrender or face an “all-out assault.”
A crackdown by security forces has killed over 200 rebels this year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.
India has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel to battle the Maoists across the insurgent-dominated “Red Corridor,” which stretches across central, southern and eastern states but has shrunk dramatically in size.
India has pumped millions of dollars into infrastructure development in remote areas and claims to have confined the insurgency to 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.
The conflict has seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces over the years. Twenty-two police and paramilitaries were killed in a gunbattle with the far-left guerrillas in 2021.
Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists in the lead-up to national elections in 2019.
Second Australian dies after suspected Laos alcohol poisoning
- A total of six foreign tourists have now died of suspected methanol poisoning in a backpacker hotspot in northern Laos
SYDNEY: A second young Australian tourist has died after apparently ingesting tainted alcohol while on holiday in Laos, Canberra’s foreign minister said Friday.
“All Australians will be heartbroken by the tragic passing of Holly Bowles,” Penny Wong said in a statement. “Just yesterday, Holly lost her best friend, Bianca Jones.”
“I know tonight all Australians will be holding both families in our hearts,” the foreign minister added.
A total of six foreign tourists have now died of suspected methanol poisoning in a backpacker hotspot in northern Laos.
They were from Australia, Britain, Denmark and the United States.
Many of the victims were in their teens or early twenties and fell sick after a night out in Vang Vieng.
Australian officials are now pressing Laotian authorities for a full and transparent investigation into what happened.
Alcohol tainted with methanol is suspected to be the cause of death.
Methanol is a toxic alcohol used in industrial and household products like antifreeze, photocopier fluids, de-icers, paint thinner, varnish and windshield wiper fluid.
Despite being toxic to humans, it is sometimes used in cheaply made home brew.
At least 10 killed in Afghanistan attack, interior ministry says
- It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack
KABUL: At least 10 people were killed by gunmen in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, Interior Ministry Spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qaniee said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The Taliban took over the country in 2021 and vowed to restore security to the war-torn nation. Attacks have continued, many of them claimed by the local arm of the militant Daesh group.
In September, 14 people were killed and six others injured in an attack claimed by Daesh in central Afghanistan.
China urges ICC to take ‘objective’ position after Netanyahu arrest warrant
- Warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant ‘for crimes against humanity and war crimes’
- China, like Israel and the United States, is not a member of the International Criminal Court
BEIJING: China urged the International Criminal Court on Friday to remain objective and fair after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“China hopes the ICC will uphold an objective and just position (and) exercise its powers in accordance with the law,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in response to a question about the court’s warrant for Netanyahu.
The ICC issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday “for crimes against humanity and war crimes” committed between October 8, 2023, and May 20 this year.
It said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe the pair bore “criminal responsibility” for using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally attacking civilians.
Netanyahu denounced the move as anti-Semitic and the court’s accusations as “absurd and false.”
China, which like Israel and the United States is not a member of the ICC, said it “supports any efforts by the international community on the Palestinian issue that are conducive to achieving fairness and justice and upholding the authority of international law.”
Lin also accused the United States of “double standards” in response to a question about the US opposition to the court’s pursuit of Netanyahu, but its support for a warrant against Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“China consistently opposes certain countries only use international law when it suits them... and engaging in double standards,” Lin said.
US President Joe Biden has condemned the warrants against Israeli leaders, calling them “outrageous.”
COP29 host urges collaboration as deal negotiations enter final stage
- Sweeping plan that would see rich nations pledge to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries grapple with the worsening impacts of global warming
BAKU: COP29 climate summit host Azerbaijan urged participating countries to bridge their differences and come up with a finance deal on Friday, as negotiations at the two-week conference entered their final hours.
World governments represented at the meeting in the Caspian Sea city of Baku are tasked with agreeing a sweeping plan that would see rich nations pledge to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars to help poorer countries grapple with the worsening impacts of global warming.
Economists have said developing countries need at least $1 trillion annually by the end of the decade, but wealthy nations have so far been resisting. Negotiations have also been clouded by uncertainty over the role of the United States, the world’s top historic greenhouse gas emitter, ahead of climate skeptic President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“We encourage parties to continue to collaborate within and across groups with the aim of proposing bridging proposals that will help us to finalize our work here in Baku,” the COP29 presidency said in a note to delegates on Friday morning.
It said a new draft deal would be released at midday in Baku, in the hopes of a deal by the end of the day.
Past COPs have traditionally run over time.
Division and discontent over the negotiations have already spilled into the open, after a fresh deal draft was released by the presidency on Thursday that offered two vastly different options that left no-one happy.
Although the 10-page document was slimmed to less than half the size of the previous versions issued at the summit, it avoided stating the total funds countries would aim to invest each year, leaving the space marked with an “X.”
It also reflected big divisions over issues such as whether funds should be offered as grants or loans, and the degree to which different types of non-public finance should count toward the final annual goal.
“I hope they find the sweet spot with this next iteration,” said Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society, a veteran observer of COP summits. “Anything other than that may require rescheduling flights.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to Baku from a G20 meeting in Brazil on Thursday, calling for a major push to get a deal and warning that “failure is not an option.”
