Ecuador Judge Suspends Vice President's Rights for Two Years
(Bloomberg) -- An electoral court suspended the political rights of Ecuador's second-in-command for engaging in what it said was gender-related violence, effectively removing her from office amid her feud with President Daniel Noboa.
Cuts to Section 8 Housing Assistance Loom Amid HUD Uncertainty
The Trump Administration Takes Aim at Transportation Research
Shelters Await Billions in Federal Money for Homelessness Providers
NYC Office Buildings See Resurgence as Investors Pile Into Bonds
NYC's Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First Month
The court found late Thursday that Vice President Veronica Abad had libeled Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, suspending Abad from politics for two years beyond the end of her term in May. The sentence includes a $14,000 fine and orders Abad to issue a public apology to Sommerfeld. Abad may appeal, a process that could take up to three months.
The vice president 'disseminated and positioned a message through virtual media, based on a gender stereotype that conveys and reproduces relations of domination, inequality and discrimination' to undermine Sommerfeld's public image, Judge Guillermo Ortega said in the ruling.
It's the latest twist in a spat between Noboa and other public officials and his former running mate dating to late 2023. It holds major political implications as Ecuadorian law orders incumbents to temporarily hand over power to alternates during electoral campaigns in a bid to level the playing field.
In a first-round vote on Feb. 9, Noboa secured a razor-thin majority of less than 15,000 votes over his main challenger, leftwing candidate Luisa Gonzalez. The runoff takes place April 13.
Noboa, a 37-year-old heir to a banana fortune, and Abad, 48, a self-declared libertarian, became estranged for undisclosed reasons during their 2023 snap electoral campaign after President Guillermo Lasso closed Congress, triggering a race to serve out his term.
Previously, Noboa sidestepped the rule to hand Abad power amid a series of legal disputes by appointing Chief of Staff Cynthia Gellibert as acting vice president.
Shortly after taking office, the president ordered Abad to leave the country to serve in diplomatic positions in the Middle East. Her description of that move as 'being exiled' was included in the court's evidence.
Rich People Are Firing a Cash Cannon at the US Economy—But at What Cost?
Trump's SALT Tax Promise Hinges on an Obscure Loophole
Warner Bros. Movie Heads Are Burning Cash, and Their Boss Is Losing Patience
Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America
China Learned to Embrace What the US Forgot: The Virtues of Creative Destruction
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
In looming Hegseth hearings, Republicans may air their budget peeves
The first time Pete Hegseth testified before Congress the hardest questions he faced were from Democrats who accused him of sexual and alcohol abuse — both of which he denied as 'anonymous smears.' Now, as America's defense secretary returns to Capitol Hill for a week of testimony, he's likely to get sharper questioning from his own party. After five months atop the Pentagon, Hegseth has dismissed top U.S. officers, slashed the Defense Department's workforce and fired much of his own staff. For a defense secretary confirmed by the narrowest margin possible, the rapid changes have concerned even some Republican members of Congress. 'This is it. This is really the first oversight' of Hegseth's time as secretary, said Mark Montgomery, a retired rear admiral and former Senate Armed Services Committee aide. Alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Hegseth will testify in multiple hearings focused on defense spending. But in an unusual twist, these hearings will occur without the Pentagon actually releasing its budget request, which is already months late. As in his January hearing, Hegseth will likely face blistering criticism from Democrats aghast at his handling of the Defense Department — from sharing sensitive attack plans on a group chat to tasking the U.S. military with more missions on American soil. But he may also face hard questions from Republicans, many of whom have publicly chafed at the administration's plans for military spending. Hegseth returns to Capitol Hill to defend Trump's defense budget plan In May, the administration asked Congress for a $892.6 billion base defense budget, of which around $850 billion would go to the Pentagon. The number amounts to a cut when accounting for inflation. 'It's going to be hard to say you're actually putting forward a 'Peace through Strength' policy when you're asking for less money than your predecessors projected,' said Elaine McCusker, a top official in the Pentagon's comptroller office during the first Trump administration. Per the scarce budget documents already released by the administration, the Pentagon's procurement account is poised for a major cut — almost $20 billion less than the Biden Pentagon had projected, McCusker said. The drop could harm some of the administration's top priorities, such as the Golden Dome missile defense system and investments in shipbuilding, both of which are also popular in Congress. 'It appears the Trump administration's [fiscal year 2026] defense budget request will double down on the Biden administration's material neglect for the glaring national security threats challenges about which they speak with great alarm,' chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wrote in a May statement. Both McConnell and Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against Hegseth's confirmation. Many top Republicans in Congress are calling for the kind of military buildup the administration is asking of its European and Asian allies — closer to 5% of GDP spent on defense. The administration has defended its budget by saying it's not the only military spending planned for this year. Congress is also debating a massive party-line bill that would include $150 billion for defense, spread over four years. This bill includes much of the money slated for top priority weapons purchases, like missile defense and warships. 'This budget provides that level [of spending] while ensuring that only Republican-votes are needed by using reconciliation to secure those increases without Democrats insisting on increasing wasteful government,' Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought posted on X in May. Still, such supplemental defense bills haven't been counted as part of the defense budget in the past and would introduce new uncertainty. Pentagon officials plan the funding for major weapons programs years into the future to make sure funding is predictable. If, say, Golden Dome is only funded in a stand-alone spending bill, then there's no guarantee it will get more money in the future. 'The appropriate defense budget isn't that you give it a huge chunk of change but that you grow it year over year,' Montgomery said. Privately, some Republicans are also concerned about the increased use of U.S. forces on American soil to support immigration enforcement. Some 9,000 active-duty troops have either been deployed to the southern border or are approved to do so. Such missions are under even higher scrutiny after the protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration's recent deportations in the city. Over the weekend, Trump called up 2,000 National Guard troops to protect officials carrying out the mission. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has decried the choice and said he plans to sue for their removal. Meanwhile, U.S. Northern Command posted on X Sunday that parts of an infantry brigade team from the California National Guard have already begun deploying to Los Angeles. Hegseth, who has said active duty Marines may follow, shared the post from his personal account.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Amy Beros of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC on hunger and the threat to SNAP benefits
Amy Beros (Photo: Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC) One of the greatest scandals in 21st Century America is that hunger – a genuine lack of adequate food — is a huge and fast growing problem for millions of people. In 34 central and eastern North Carolina counties, one-in-five people – that's well over half-a-million men, women and children – suffers from food insecurity. And sadly, things aren't going to get better any time soon. Indeed, thanks to Trump administration cuts and more that are planned in Congress and the General Assembly, SNAP food assistance and other parts of our already threadbare and inadequate anti-hunger system will soon experience new, big and devastating cuts that are sure to worsen the problem. Not surprisingly, anti-hunger advocates are speaking up and demanding better and recently Newsline caught up with one such leader – the President and CEO of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Amy Beros. Click here to listen to the full interview with Amy Beros. Learn more about donating to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Bipartisan lawmakers seek to reverse Trump's staff cuts at program that helps Americans afford heat, air conditioning
A bipartisan set of lawmakers is introducing a bill that seeks to reverse the Trump administration's staffing cuts at a program that helps Americans afford heat and air conditioning. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) are introducing legislation aimed at undoing staff cuts at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The Trump administration fired every staffer who works on the program as part of larger staff cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and has proposed zeroing out LIHEAP's budget. The Lawler-Gottheimer bill, which was first shared with The Hill, requires HHS to have at least 20 people working on the program, 60 percent of whom cannot be contractors. In an emergency, 30 people would have to be employed as part of the program. It's not entirely clear whether the legislation could actually pass or whether it might be attached to any larger bills. However, it represents a signal that the Trump administration's move to fire the LIHEAP staffers is generating at least some Republican pushback. 'Nearly 6 million families nationwide — and 240,000 in Jersey — rely on LIHEAP to keep the heat on in the winter and the AC running in the summer,' Gottheimer said in a written statement. 'President Trump is hell-bent on dismantling this critical program, firing its entire staff back in April and proposing to eliminate LIHEAP completely in his budget to Congress. My new bipartisan bill will stop these reckless cuts and ensure that no family is left in the cold or heat without help.' 'I'm proud to co-lead this bipartisan bill to fix LIHEAP's staffing crisis, ensuring Hudson Valley families get the energy assistance they need to stay warm this winter,' Lawler said in a written statement. 'With minimum staffing requirements and smart use of contractors, we're tackling inefficiency and protecting our most vulnerable who depend on it.' Asked about the cuts of the program during a recent congressional hearing, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. argued that cost savings from President Trump's energy policies would make it redundant. 'President Trump's rationale and OMB's rationale is that President Trump's energy policies are going to lower the cost of energy so that everybody will get lower costs…and in that case this program would simply be another subsidy to the fossil fuel industry,' he said, referring to the Office of Management and Budget. 'If that doesn't happen and Congress chooses to appropriate the money, I, of course, will spend it,' he added. The introduction of the legislation also comes as Gottheimer is running for governor of New Jersey in a crowded Democratic field. Both lawmakers currently represent swing districts.
