Ivorian Opposition Rallies Against President's Fourth-Term Bid
The demonstrations were led by former President Laurent Gbagbo, who called upon the West African nation to oppose Ouattara's plan to remain in power as the country's Oct. 25 election looms.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
We know who funded Supreme Court legal fight. But a new law may make money secret
When Judge Jefferson Griffin unsuccessfully attempted to overturn his loss in the 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court election, the number that stuck out was 65,000 — the number of ballots he sought to disqualify, potentially flipping his 734-vote loss to Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs. However, another less-reported number is key to understanding the chaotic and unprecedented six-month legal battle: $2 million. That's the amount of money Griffin and Riggs brought in from donors across the country to support their efforts in court. These donations came from California megadonors, local attorneys, concerned citizens and, in one case, a sitting Republican judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals who could have ruled on the case. But under a new law enacted last month by the Republican-controlled legislature, all of that money could become secret — leaving voters in the dark about where the money comes from to litigate high-profile contested elections or fend off ethical and criminal allegations. Senate Bill 416, the Personal Privacy Protection Act, prohibits state agencies from disclosing donors to nonprofit organizations. Critics say this includes legal expense funds, like the ones Griffin and Riggs set up to fund their courtroom battle, and warn it could open the door to 'dark money in our politics,' according to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, who vetoed the bill last month. Republicans, joined by three Democrats in the House, overrode Stein's veto, with Sen. Warren Daniel, the bill's sponsor, saying it was necessary to protect donor privacy. 'Ultimately, the bill impacts both sides of the aisle equally,' said Daniel, a Morganton Republican, noting that Alabama, Colorado and Alaska have each passed similar bills. 'It prevents the elected officials in red states from targeting left-wing groups and, vice versa, blue states targeting conservative organizations.' The bill does not mention legal expense funds by name, but Aaron McKean, a lawyer with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, said its broad application to nonprofits creates a loophole that could shield disclosure. 'There's a chance that some enterprising person might create a 501(c)4 as their legal expense fund vehicle, and then be able to claim that they don't have to disclose any of their donors under this law,' he said. He also noted that when Republicans unsuccessfully tried to pass a similar bill in 2021, they specifically included an exemption for legal expense funds 'that ensured they would remain fully transparent.' That exemption does not appear in SB 416. Asked whether the bill applies to legal expense funds, a spokesperson for the State Board of Elections said that agency staff are 'still evaluating' SB 416 'including whether it affects reporting and disclosure provisions for legal expense funds.' Sen. Daniel and the two other sponsors of SB 416 did not respond to questions from The News & Observer about the intended scope of their bill. McKean said the possibility of further reducing donor transparency is 'particularly egregious' given all of the chaos surrounding the 2024 Supreme Court election. 'People in North Carolina, people across the U.S., want more information about who is spending money to influence their government or their elected officials,' he said. 'And bills like this go the wrong direction.' Where do these disclosure rules come from? Disclosure rules for legal expense funds emerged in the mid-2000s following a string of scandals, including former Democratic House Speaker Jim Black pleading guilty to a federal corruption charge. Black fought his charges using an unregulated legal fund that did not disclose its donors. Republican Senate leader Phil Berger, who at the time served in the minority in the state legislature, said the funds should be transparent. 'The public is entitled to know who is paying the bill for public officials when they get in trouble,' he wrote in a 2006 news release. Last month, Berger voted in favor of SB 416. Republicans have pursued consequential changes to other financing rules in recent years. Earlier this week, The Assembly reported that Duke Energy donated $100,000 to the NC GOP's building fund, which was the account used to pay Griffin's legal fees. Previously, these building funds were largely restricted to spending on expenses related to a party's headquarters. But a law enacted last year by the Republican supermajority allows those accounts — which draw donations from corporations, business entities and labor unions — to be used for legal actions. A party spokesperson told The Assembly that Duke's contribution was 'was not connected to the North Carolina Supreme Court election, nor any specific candidate.' What do Griffin and Riggs' finance reports show? While SB 416 could affect future litigation, the finance reports for Griffin and Riggs are still available and shed valuable insight into the contested election that upended North Carolina politics. The largest donor to each candidate, by far, was their respective political parties. The North Carolina Republican Party gave Griffin over $340,000 worth of legal services, and Democrats gave Riggs $325,000. But, past those contributions there was a striking disparity in donations between the two candidates. Riggs reported raising over $1.6 million, whereas Griffin reported raising about $362,000. And where Riggs reported receiving over 12,000 individual donations to her legal fund, Griffin reported only 13 — three of which were from the NC GOP. Judge Tom Murry made a $5,000 contribution to Griffin's legal fund — a donation critics called a 'textbook conflict of interest' given that, as a sitting judge on the Court of Appeals, Murry could have been asked to rule on Griffin's challenge to the election results. 'It is law school lesson number 101, and let it sink in: one judge donated to help another judge change the outcome of an election in cases that he could conceivably sit on in judgment,' Rep. Deb Butler, a New Hanover County Democrat, said during the veto override vote. '… If Senate Bill 416, had been the law, then we would never have known that.' Murry did not formally recuse himself from the case, but nevertheless he did not end up sitting on the panel that heard it. As for Riggs, her finance reports show a wide variety of donations from donors large and small. Unlike regular campaign finance committees, legal expense funds don't have the same limits on individual contributions. That led to some eye-popping contributions from across the country, including $250,000 from Elizabeth Simons, a California-based megadonor, and $20,000 from the chair of Capitol Broadcasting, which owns WRAL, the Raleigh-based TV station. However, nearly 95% of Riggs' individual donations came from small-dollar donors who gave $100 or less. When totaled up, those small donations accounted for about 22% of her total haul. Large donations over $5,000 accounted for about 53% of Riggs' overall contributions. One final data point in the two candidates' disclosures presents further questions. Riggs reported spending over $1 million of her donations on legal fees to Womble Bond Dickinson, the law firm that represented her throughout the case. However, Griffin's records only show the $340,000 for in-kind legal fees from the NC GOP and another $14,000 to Dowling PLLC, a law firm that represented him. The North Carolina Republican Party, which joined Griffin as a co-plaintiff at some points in the case, also reported a roughly $48,500 expenditure to Dowling in February, but did not specify if it was for his challenge. Asked how Griffin and the party could have spent roughly a third of what Riggs did on lawyers for a complicated case that ping-ponged between state and federal courts, a spokesperson for the Republican Party did not respond, nor did the treasurer of Griffin's legal expense fund.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Protesters in Israel conduct nationwide strike to demand ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza
Protesters in Israel participated in a nationwide strike on Sunday to demand a deal that would result in a ceasefire with Hamas and the release of hostages who remain in Gaza. The "day of stoppage," which blocked roads and closed businesses, marked an escalation in the population's growing frustration after 22 months of war. Police responding to Sunday's demonstrations blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests. In one instance, officers stopped several protesters from trying to break into the central Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, leading to a confrontation between them during which a protester was forcibly arrested, CBS News learned. Police also confiscated the protesters' equipment. The "day of stoppage" was organized by two groups representing some of the families of hostages and bereaved families, weeks after militant groups released videos of hostages and Israel announced plans for a new military offensive in some of Gaza's most populated areas. Protesters, who fear further fighting could endanger the 50 hostages believed to remain in Gaza, only about 20 of whom are thought to be alive, chanted: "We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages." Protesters gathered at dozens of points throughout Israel, including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways, where they were sprayed with water cannons as they blocked lanes and lit bonfires that cloaked roads in smoke. Some restaurants and theaters were closed in solidarity. Police said they had arrested 32 as part of the nationwide demonstration — one of the fiercest since the uproar over six hostages found dead in Gaza last September. "Military pressure doesn't bring hostages back — it only kills them," former hostage Arbel Yehoud said at a demonstration in Tel Aviv's hostage square. "The only way to bring them back is through a deal, all at once, without games." "Today, we stop everything to save and bring back the hostages and soldiers. Today, we stop everything to remember the supreme value of the sanctity of life," said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest. "Today, we stop everything to join hands — right, left, center and everything in between." Protesters at highway intersections handed out yellow ribbons, the symbol that represents the hostages, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which organized the stoppage, said. Even though Israel's largest labor union, Histadrut, ultimately did not join Sunday's action, strikes of this magnitude are relatively rare in Israel. Many businesses and municipalities decided independently to strike. Still, an end to the conflict does not appear near. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has demanded the immediate release of the hostages but is balancing competing pressures, haunted by the potential for mutiny within his coalition. Netanyahu addressed the protests on Sunday at a cabinet meeting, saying they were benefiting Hamas. "Those who are calling today for an end to the war without Hamas' elimination are not only hardening Hamas' position and delaying the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of October 7 will repeat themselves and that we will have to fight an endless war," the prime minister said. Far-right members of his cabinet insist they won't support any deal that allows Hamas to retain power. The last time Israel agreed to a ceasefire that released hostages, they threatened to topple Netanyahu's government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called the stoppage "a bad and harmful campaign that plays into Hamas' hands, buries the hostages in the tunnels and attempts to get Israel to surrender to its enemies and jeopardize its security and future." National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in a statement, accused protesters of trying to "weaken Israel." Like Smotrich, he said the strike "strengthens Hamas and delays the return of the hostages." Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry reported that 47 people were killed and at least 226 were wounded across the territory in the last 24 hours alone. Meanwhile, hospitals and eyewitnesses in Gaza reported at least 17 aid-seekers had been killed by Israeli forces on Sunday, including nine awaiting aid trucks close to the Morag corridor. The death toll among Palestinians waiting for food and other aid in Gaza has climbed this summer, sparking outcry around the world as starvation and malnutrition run rampant in the enclave. Hamza Asfour said he was just north of the corridor, awaiting a convoy, when Israeli snipers fired, first to disperse the crowds, then from tanks hundreds of meters away. He saw two people with gunshot wounds — one in the chest and other in the shoulder. "It's either to take this risk or wait and see my family die of starvation," he said. "There is no other option." The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the distribution points, said there was no gunfire Sunday "at or near" its sites, which sit at the end of aid truck routes. Israel's military did not immediately respond to questions about strikes in the three areas. Israel's air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza and displaced most of the population. The United Nations is warning that levels of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza are at their highest since the war began. The Hamas-led attack in 2023 killed around 1,200 people in Israel. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 61,897 people in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, which does not specify how many were fighters or civilians but says around half were women and children. On Sunday, two children died of malnutrition-related causes in Gaza, bringing the death toll from such causes over the last 24 hours to seven, according to Gaza's health ministry. The total number of deaths related to starvation has risen to 251, including 110 children, said the health ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The U.N. and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own. While demonstrators in Israel demanded a ceasefire, Israel began preparing for an invasion of Gaza City and other populated parts of the besieged strip, aimed at destroying Hamas. The military body that coordinates its humanitarian aid to Gaza said Sunday that the supply of tents to the territory would resume. COGAT said it would allow the United Nations to resume importing tents and shelter equipment into Gaza ahead of plans to forcibly evacuate people from combat zones "for their protection." The majority of assistance has been blocked from entering Gaza since Israel imposed a total blockade in March after a ceasefire collapsed when Israel restarted its offensive. Deliveries have since partially resumed, though aid organizations say the flow is far below what is needed. Some have accused Israel of "weaponizing aid" through blockades and rules they say turn humanitarian assistance into a tool of its political and military goals. Israeli airstrikes hit Yemen's capital on Sunday, escalating strikes on Iran-backed Houthis, who, since the war began, have fired missiles at Israel and targeted ships in the Red Sea. Both the IDF and a Houthi-run television station in Yemen announced the strikes. Al-Masirah Television said they targeted a power plant in the southern district of Sanhan, sparking a fire and knocking it out of service, the Yemeni station said. Israel's military said Sunday's strikes targeted energy infrastructure it claimed was being used by the Houthis, and were launched in response to missiles and drones aimed at Israel. While some projectiles have breached its missile defenses — notably during its 12-day war with Iran in June — Israel has intercepted the vast majority of missiles launched from Yemen. The U.S. Department of State on Saturday announced that it would stop issuing visitor visas for people from Gaza. "All visitor visas for individuals from Gaza are being stopped while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days," the department wrote in a social media post. Some humanitarian groups have condemned the pause because those visas may be issued to people in need of medical treatment abroad, CBS News partner BBC News reported. The nonprofit organization Palestine Children's Relief Fund said in a statement to BBC News that the decision "will have a devastating and irreversible impact on our ability to bring injured and critically ill children from Gaza to the United States for lifesaving medical treatment."
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Spain's Sanchez Calls for National Climate Pact as Fires Rage
Spain's Pedro Sanchez called for a nationwide pact uniting all levels of government to combat what he called an accelerating climate emergency as wildfires raged in several regions of the country. 'The climate emergency that's ravishing the world is increasingly more accelerated, more severe and more frequent, especially in places like the Iberian Peninsula,' the prime minister said on Sunday in Orense, in the northwestern region of Galicia, one of the most devastated by blazes. 'We are going to propose a big nationwide pact for the mitigation and adaptation to the climate emergency.'
