WTF Just Happened Today

Monday, March 25, 2024

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1/ The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the month of Ramadan and the release of all hostages. The U.S., however, abstained, which allowed the resolution to pass 14-0. This is the first ceasefire resolution to pass after four previous failures: The U.S. has vetoed three previous resolutions since the conflict began, while Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution last week. After the resolution passed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” and that the U.S. abstention “harms the war effort as well as the effort to liberate the hostages.” Netanyahu then canceled a diplomatic visit to Washington, which Biden had requested to discuss Netanyahu’s planned ground invasion of Rafah. The U.S. had intended to use the meeting to offer alternatives to reduce civilian casualties. The State Department called the decision “a bit surprising and unfortunate.” (NPR / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / Bloomberg / Associated Press / Axios)

2/ Trump’s hush money trial – his first of four criminal trials – will start April 15 in Manhattan. Trump’s lawyers had argued that a late release of more than 100,000 pages of potential evidence should postpone the trial. Prosecutors argued that only about 300 documents were pertinent to the trial, and that “99 percent” were irrelevant. At the hearing, Judge Juan Merchan refused to allow further delays, saying that despite Trump’s claims, the district attorney’s office “is not at fault for the late production of documents from the U.S. attorney’s office” and that Trump “has been given a reasonable amount of time.” Assuming the date holds, Trump will become the first former American president to face a trial on criminal charges. (Washington Post / NBC News / Axios / Associated Press / Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg)

3/ Trump only needs to post a bond of $175 million – not the o...

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