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The Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Supreme Court decided Thursday.

The high court majority lifted a judge’s order blocking $783 million worth of cuts made by the National Institutes of Health to align with Republican President Donald Trump’s priorities. The high court did keep Trump administration guidance on future funding blocked, however.

The court split 5-4 on the decision. Chief Justice John Roberts was along those who would have kept the cuts blocked, along with the court’s three liberals.

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Alina Habba, has been unlawhttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/alina-habba-trump-us-attorney_n_68a77802e4b00911ce446b6cfully serving as the the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey.

The court, saying the administration used “a novel series of legal and personnel moves,” held that Habba’s term as the interim U.S. attorney ended in July, and the Trump administration’s maneuvers to keep her in the role without getting confirmation from the U.S. Senate didn’t follow procedures required by federal law.

“Faced with the question of whether Ms. Habba is lawfully performing the functions and duties of the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, I conclude that she is not,” Chief U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann wrote.

The opinion says that Habba’s actions since July “may be declared void.”

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The $454 million penalty imposed against President Donald Trump in his New York civil fraud case has been thrown out by an appeals court.

Trump and some of his entities were hit with that hefty penalty, plus interest, in February 2024, after New York trial Judge Arthur Engoron concluded that Trump had inflated the value of his assets for years to get better loan and insurance terms. Engoron also imposed about $10 million in separate penalties against Trump's eldest sons, Eric and Don Jr., and former Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg.

However, in an Aug. 21 ruling that included multiple opinions from different members of a five-judge panel, the Manhattan-based appeals court determined the penalties for Trump and the others were improper. Some members of the panel said that the penalty violated the U.S. Constitution's prohibition on excessive fines. Others said Trump should be afforded a new trial due to errors in the trial judge's determinations.

The ruling marks another major personal legal victory for Trump, who has also seen multiple criminal cases against him crumble following his November presidential election victory. Trump's appeal against his conviction in his New York criminal case dealing with payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels is ongoing.

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The Israeli military says it has begun the "preliminary actions" of a planned ground offensive to capture and occupy all of Gaza City and already has a hold on its outskirts.

A military spokesman said troops were already operating in the Zeitoun and Jabalia areas to lay the groundwork for the offensive, which Defence Minister Israel Katz approved on Tuesday and which will be put to the security cabinet later this week.

About 60,000 reservists are being called up for the beginning of September to free up active-duty personnel for the operation.

Hamas has accused Israel of obstructing a ceasefire deal in favour of continuing a "brutal war against innocent civilians", Reuters news agency reported.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza City are expected to be ordered to evacuate and head to shelters in southern Gaza as preparations for Israel's takeover plan get under way.

Many of Israel's allies have condemned its plan, with French President Emmanuel Macron warning on Wednesday that it "can only lead to disaster for both peoples and risks plunging the entire region into a cycle of permanent war".

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Soon, the Palestinian people will be recognized as a sovereign nation in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank by most countries. They now have the political and moral momentum toward achieving this goal. 

The world owes Palestinians independence and sovereignty for the same reasons it granted the Jews living in British Mandatory Palestine their independent state in 1948, only a few years after six million Jews had been gassed to death in German concentration camps.

This will happen despite an expected U.S. veto next month in the United Nations, and in spite of the political alliance between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is pragmatic; he will come to support the creation of a Palestinian state, as most Americans already do.

This is because the case for Palestinian independence has been getting clearer and more urgent with every Israeli bombing of mostly innocent Gazans, and with every death from starvation caused by Israel’s withholding of food.

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Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans has said his country is sending 300 troops and Patriot air defence missile systems to Poland to “defend NATO territory, protect supply to Ukraine, and deter Russian aggression”.

The Netherlands’ announcement on Wednesday came as Polish officials said that an object that fell in a cornfield in Poland’s east on Tuesday night may have been a Russian version of the Shahed drone.

The explosion from the drone broke windows in several houses in the village of Osiny, near Poland’s border with Ukraine, but no injuries were reported, according to an official cited by Poland’s state news agency PAP.

Brekelmans told Dutch public broadcaster NOS on Wednesday that the military support to Poland came alongside other countries providing similar assistance to the NATO-member country, which borders Ukraine.

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Several Republican-led states are deploying more National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to address what President Trump has called a "crime emergency" in the nation's capital. Several lawmakers and military officials, including former top official of the National Guard Major Gen. Randy E. Manner, have expressed concern that the guard is being politicized.

"Military vehicles in front of public buildings and the idea of them constantly there with weapons, that is absolutely called intimidation," Manner, who served as acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Morning Edition. "I'm very concerned about the impact on both our recruiting, as well as, the perception of many of the people of color as they see the National Guardsmen from other states coming in to occupy Washington, D.C."

Despite protests and legal challenges, Trump has repeatedly touted extending federal control over the nation's capital, even though data shared by the Justice Department shows violent crime in the city hit a 30-year low last year.

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North Carolina's Outer Banks are already feeling the impact of Hurricane Erin as the storm moves north, hundreds of miles off of the East Coast.

Parts of Highway 12, the main highway through the Outer Banks, were already being flooded by Wednesday afternoon. And the window to evacuate has now closed for vulnerable areas, as officials warn that the evening's high tides will bring some of the storm's biggest impacts. Those remaining should shelter in place, they said.

Mandatory evacuations are in place for Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

The massive storm was roughly 295 miles from Cape Hatteras, N.C., as of 5 p.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center. The National Weather Service office in Newport/Morehead City called it a "large and dangerous hurricane."

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