Monday, Jun 16th
Last update08:07:31 AM GMT
A divided federal appeals court panel on Friday temporarily halted U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s contempt proceedings against the Trump administration over its deportation flights to El Salvador last month.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit indicated its order is intended to provide “sufficient opportunity” for the court to consider the government’s appeal and “should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.”
The acting commissioner of the IRS was fired Friday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly complained to President Donald Trump that DOGE cost-cutter in chief Elon Musk did not ask for approval to name Gary Shapley as the agency’s leader.
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender is expected to take Shapley’s place. Shapley, a longtime IRS agent, was nominated Tuesday after former interim leader Melanie Krause resigned because the IRS was required to disclose taxpayer information to immigration officials
The interim commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service was ousted Friday after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly complained to President Donald Trump that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, had instituted the new leader without his knowledge, five unnamed people told the New York Times.
Although the tax-collection agency reports to Bessent, the Treasury secretary felt that Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had gone behind his back to put Gary Shapley in power as acting head of the IRS. While DOGE pushed Shapley’s nomination through the White House, Bessent was not consulted for his approval, the people said.
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its policy barring trans people from updating the sex marker on their passports.
U.S. District Judge Julia E. Kobick in Boston sided the with American Civil Liberties Union’s push for a preliminary injunction while the lawsuit continues.
“The Executive Order and the Passport Policy on their face classify passport applicants on the basis of sex and thus must be reviewed under intermediate judicial scrutiny,” Kobick wrote in the partial injunction. “That standard requires the government to demonstrate that its actions are substantially related to an important governmental interest. The government has failed to meet this standard.”
The Pentagon has eliminated nearly 200 jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion in the last year, killing the Biden-administration’s effort aimed at providing “everyone an opportunity to reach their full potential,” according to report released by the Government Accountability Office.
In 2024, there had been 188 Pentagon staff members, military and civilian, with DEI duties, the GAO found. Cuts began last year under a congressional mandate with the Defense Department eliminating 32 DEI positions and restructuring jobs for 115 others.
The Pentagon’s moves, coupled with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s purge of generals and admirals who had advocated diversity efforts, represent an about face for the military on the promotion of diversity that had been rekindled after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020.
WTVNL Comment: What a disgrace! We aree a diverse nation. That should be embraced, not demonized.
In fact, the life that could be – emphasis on the could be – thriving on a distant ocean-covered planet named K2-18b is likely not intelligent at all.
But that doesn't make the recent discovery any less exciting.
Astronomers at the University of Cambridge announced on April 17 that they had found the strongest evidence yet that life may exist anywhere else besides Earth. Using data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the researchers detected atmospheric clues hinting that microbial organisms could be living on the surface of K2-18b in the constellation Leo.
Here's everything to know about the discovery, the intriguing exoplanet itself and the ongoing search for life in the cosmos.
Fatima Hassona, a Palestinian photojournalist who's stars in a documentary selected to be screened at Cannes next month, has reportedly been killed in an Israeli air strike on her home in northern Gaza.
A graduate of the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza, Fatima was not just a photographer, she was a visual witness to a reality that is getting harsher by the day. Hours before she was killed, she posted a photo of the sunset from her balcony, writing: "This is the first sunset in a long time."
In an earlier post, she wrote: "As for the inevitable death, if I die, I want a loud death, I don't want me in a breaking news story, nor in a number with a group, I want a death that is heard by the world, a trace that lasts forever, and immortal images that neither time nor place can bury."
TVNL Comment: Israelis are cowards who kill those who dare to tell the truth about the daily horrors inflicted on Gaza. Cannes will show Fatimah's documentary, and people around the world will learn more about the evils perpetrated on her people.
Ukrainian forces have liberated approximately 16 square kilometers of territory near Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast in recent weeks, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said on April 17.
There has been a notable slowdown in Russia’s offensive operations after months of steady territorial gains across eastern Ukraine. According to battlefield monitoring group DeepState, Russian troops have captured just 133 square kilometers in March, the lowest monthly total since June 2024.
The recently recaptured territory by Ukrainian troops includes areas near the settlements of Udachne, Kotlyne, and Shevchenko, according to Syrskyi. He made the announcement after a three-day visit to the Operational-Tactical Group Donetsk, which he described as the strongest formation within the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Luigi Mangione was indicted on Thursday on a federal murder charge in the killing of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel last year, a necessary step for prosecutors to seek the death penalty.
The indictment returned by a grand jury in Manhattan federal court also charges Mangione with two counts of stalking and a firearms count.
It was not immediately clear when the 26-year-old Mangione will be arraigned. A message seeking comment was left for a spokesperson for his lawyers.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, also faces separate state murder charges. He’s accused of shooting Thompson, 50, in the back outside a Manhattan hotel on 4 December as the executive arrived for UnitedHealthcare’s annual investor conference.
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he has met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongly deported to El Salvador last month.
Van Hollen, who traveled to the Central American country earlier in the week, wrote in an April 17 message on X, “I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance."
"I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love," he said. "I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.”
Moments before the lawmaker posted a message and image, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted three additional photos from the meeting. He quipped that the two were sharing a margarita together.
"Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody," Bukele said.
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