Latest news with #Limon
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
A-G: Zini appointment illegitimate due to PM conflict of interest
'Your appointment of Zini, which was made under a conflict of interests and with a complete disregard to the legal instructions attached, is null and illegal,' the A-G wrote. The appointment of IDF Maj.-Gen. David Zini as the new head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is impossible, as Netanyahu is in a conflict of interests, due to the agency's investigation of Qatari connections to his confidantes, Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara wrote in a letter on Monday. She added that her legal opinion is based on the High Court of Justice ruling issued on the matter last week, along with the evidence presented. 'Your appointment of Zini, which was made under a conflict of interest, and with a complete disregard for the legal instructions attached, is null and illegal,' she wrote. The HCJ ruling, issued last week, stated that Netanyahu stands in a conflict of interest when it comes to this appointment and that he should not have been involved in it at all. Baharav-Miara wrote to the prime minister soon after, advising him of the same. One day later, on Thursday, reports emerged of Zini's appointment. Deputy Attorney-General Gil Limon noted in a legal opinion penned on Monday that the implication of the ruling is that Netanyahu is not to deal, directly or indirectly, with any part of the process still to come, at least until the agency's investigations are completed. The most sound and logical next step is to transfer the responsibility to a different minister, who will then present the suggested appointment to the government, Limon wrote. The fear is that this minister would be used as the 'long arm' of Netanyahu, and as such, go against the ruling and make the appointment political. Limon wrote that there are two legal implications to this: first, that the search process for a candidate begin anew from scratch so as to ensure it is above suspicion; second, that it is unlikely that Zini's appointment is sound, given the widespread support it has in the coalition. According to Limon, the integrity of Zini's appointment by any other minister had possibly been compromised after Government Secretary Yossi Fuchs read out a statement at the government's meeting on Monday saying that it 'welcomed the prime minister's intention to appoint Major General David Zini as the head of the Shin Bet.' In his statement, Fuchs also 'calls on all relevant parties to remove obstacles and expedite the process for approving this appointment, which is essential for Israel's security,' and 'emphasizes the importance of appointing a permanent Shin Bet chief during wartime and urges against settling for an interim appointment.' The statement indicated that no government minister would be able to argue they had chosen Zini after a credible appointment procedure, Limon reasoned. Limon wrote that the process should be started from scratch and that the designated minister should seek out the appointments himself, without any foreign input, so as to keep the process clean. He added that the whole affair should be accompanied by the legal advisory and that every appointment should come with a clear and detailed explanation as to why this person is a good fit. This information would be presented to the Advisory Committee on Senior Civil Service Appointments, which would examine the appointment thoroughly. 'Given the current security situation, it is paramount to appoint an intelligence chief as soon as possible – before Ronen Bar leaves on June 15. An appointment made while in a conflict of interest harms this objective,' he wrote. The Shin Bet, along with Israel Police, is investigating two cases of alleged Qatari influences on close confidants of the prime minister. Netanyahu aide Yonatan Urich and former Prime Minister's Office military spokesman Eli Feldstein were investigated for Qatari ties made in efforts by the Gulf state to improve its image. Limon wrote that Bar was personally involved in these investigations. In the Qatargate case, allegedly, news tips given to journalists were presented as being sourced from intelligence figures when, in reality, they were sourced in Qatar. This was reportedly done to boost Qatar's image in its mediator role in the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal agreements and to downplay Egypt's role. Qatar has denied any action of the sort. In the other case, the 'leaked documents affair,' Feldstein was investigated for allegedly leaking classified military documents to the German daily Bild after they were denied publication by the Israeli military censor. The documents were eventually published, allegedly to sway public opinion on the hostage negotiations. Quoting from the ruling, Limon wrote that Netanyahu effectively admitted his conflict of interest in this case by calling the investigations 'baseless' and 'fake.' The court stood strong on the connection between the relatively sudden push to fire Bar and the Qatari investigations.
Miami Herald
27-05-2025
- Miami Herald
Driver didn't mean to hit officer outside Miami music festival, sister says
Details about an officer-involved shooting remained scant Monday, but the 21-year-old man who was shot by a Miami police officer outside of Bayfront Park on Sunday is expected to survive, according to his lawyer. Hollywood attorney Michael Orenstein said his client, Menelek Emmanuel Clarke, was recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center, though he had not had the chance to speak directly with Clarke about the incident as of Monday evening. 'I don't know much about details at all yet,' he said. The Miami Police Department said Sunday that a 21-year-old driver hit an officer who was directing traffic outside of Bayfront Park, where the Caribbean music festival Best of the Best was taking place. The officer then shot the driver, and the 21-year-old was hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. READ MORE: Police officer shot driver outside music festival in Miami's Bayfront Park: officials A Miami Police Department spokesperson said Monday that 'no further details will be provided as this remains an ongoing investigation' by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is unclear if the driver will face any charges. Orenstein is representing Clarke in an unrelated case in Broward County, where Clarke was charged with aggravated assault on an officer, resisting an officer with violence and armed trespassing. The charges stem from an incident in October 2023 in which Broward deputies said Clarke, then 19, brandished a gun after being told by a deputy to leave a Lauderhill park. Clarke has pleaded not guilty. Clarke's sister Sherylann Clarke told Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami that she was in the car with her brother on Sunday and that her brother was trying to drive around the Miami police officer, not toward him. She said the officer had signaled with his hands that drivers in the area should pull forward but that the officer had then moved in front of their car. 'It wasn't intentional to hit him, no,' she told CBS Miami. The incident caused festivalgoers to run for safety before it became clear what happened. Photographer Kemal Limon told the Herald he was leaving Bayside Marketplace that night when he saw a large crowd of people running away from Bayfront Park. 'I was walking by and saw people running,' he said. 'It was like chaos.' Limon noticed people stopped running once more police cars arrived, as there didn't seem to be an active threat. As a downtown Miami resident, Limon said he is prepared to see anything. 'This is Miami,' he said. 'Anything can happen. I wasn't surprised.' An employee at the nearby Yve Hotel told the Herald that many of its guests were staying there to attend the festival across the street. While he didn't hear the shooting, he saw the high amount of police activity that followed. It wasn't until Monday that he learned from the news what had happened. City editor Jessica Lipscomb contributed reporting.
AFP
30-04-2025
- Politics
- AFP
Footage of protester hit with tear gas falsely linked to religious tension in Bangladesh
"In Bangladesh, acid is being thrown on Hindu women in broad daylight for coming out without wearing a eads a Bengali-language Facebook post shared on It includes a video that shows a woman trying to cover her face with her backpack while two other men beside her shout and ask for water to help her. Image Screenshot of the false post taken on April 28, 2025 Acid attacks on women have dropped dramatically in Bangladesh after it enacted tough new laws that threatened the death penalty for anyone convicted of the crime (archived link). According to the Acid Survivors Foundation, there were 494 reported attacks in 2002 when the new measures came into force, but the number dropped to eight in 2019. The false clip surfaced as minority communities faced a string of violence since a student-led uprising toppled long-time autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 (archived link). In the chaotic days following her ouster, Hindus -- seen by some as having backed Hasina -- as well as Muslim Sufi shrines have been targeted by Islamist hardliners. It was shared alongside similar claims elsewhere on Facebook. But a reverse image search with keyframes of the footage led to a longer version of the clip that local online news portal Dhaka Post published on its Facebook page on February 13 (archived link). It shows a tear gas canister exploding in front of a group of protesters before riot police move in to disperse them. "Students clash with police in front of the Secretariat," says the video's caption. The clip in the false post can be seen from the 2:39 mark of the video report. Image Screenshot comparison of the footage shared in the false post (left) and the video published by Dhaka Post Another outlet Prothom Alo also published footage showing the same scene (archived link). The Dhaka Tribune reported that police dispersed protests staged by students from Narsingdi Textile Engineering College against the institution's closure (archived link). , the man seen on the left of the Dhaka Post clip and a second-year student at the college, told AFP on April 27 that no burqa or acid was involved in the incident. "The way the footage is being shared is not right," Limon told AFP on April 27, 2025. "She was hit with tear gas hurled by police while we were protesting in front of the secretariat." AFP has debunked a wave of misinformation sparked by religious tensions in Bangladesh.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will a Texas bill shield trucking companies from crash lawsuits? It depends on who you ask
A Buda educator who was injured last year when a concrete pump truck crashed into a school bus is among more than two dozen survivors and family members who are opposing a bill that could change how and when commercial vehicle companies are liable for such collisions. 'I closed my eyes, and I held my daughter really tight,' Victoria Limon, a special education aide and mother at Tom Green Elementary, told members of the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday as she recalled the school bus crash in which she was injured and which also killed a 5-year-old child and a 33-year-old doctoral student. 'If the trucking company had only done its due diligence and known to do a background check and known that its driver was on drugs that day,' Limon added. Critics of Senate Bill 39, including the Texas Trial Lawyers Association and the consumer watchdog group Texas Watch, argue that the legislation would allow trucking companies to avoid liability by hiding behind their drivers. But proponents, including the trucking industry and the influential group Texans for Lawsuit Reform, say the bill protects trucking companies from frivolous and costly lawsuits that have risen dramatically in recent years. The bill repeals an amendment to a 2021 law that was intended to be a compromise among trial lawyers, victims and the trucking industry on civil lawsuits. House Bill 19 allowed trucking companies to request civil lawsuits filed against them to be split into two parts. In the first, a jury rules on the negligence of the driver and the company, and decides on compensatory damages, which are meant to cover the plaintiff's medical and psychological costs. In the second part, the jury rules on punitive damages, which are meant to punish a company if it is found to have recklessly or intentionally cut corners. The compromise amendment allowed plaintiffs' lawyers to present evidence to juries about a driver's condition — like being drunk or ineligible to drive — as proof of a company's negligence. But the trucking industry has argued that if companies are paying compensatory damages based on their drivers' missteps, their own safety records should not be introduced until the second part of the trial. 'We have companies that are pulled into these lawsuits where they were not at fault, but it doesn't matter,' Texas Trucking Association President John Esparza told the American-Statesman. The bill's author, Sen. Brian Birdwell, a Granbury Republican, did not respond to a request for comment. Former state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, the sponsor of the bill amendment that SB 39 would repeal, has said he supports the new legislation. Now a paid lobbyist for Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Lucio said in his Wednesday testimony that he believes his past legislation had an adverse effect on small-business owners, largely by contributing to crippling insurance rates. Insurance rates have increased by 73% for commercial vehicles since 2017, a rate very similar to the increase for all vehicles during that same span, according to a Texas Department of Insurance 2024 report. The trial lawyers association has rejected the claim that civil suits are the cause for the state's insurance rate inflation, attributing the blame to climate change, rising vehicle costs and malpractice within the insurance industry itself. 'We are on decade three or four of tort reform in Texas,' Texas Trial Lawyers Association president Jack Walker said. 'Never ever do we see insurance rates go down.' Instead, Walker argues that the bill would let trucking companies escape financial liability for any misdeeds by removing possibly damning evidence until the second phase of the trial, thus centering the question of responsibility on drivers. 'It would let the bad trucking companies escape liability almost completely,' Walker said. After the school bus crash, Limon and other parents filed multiple civil lawsuits against the company that owned the concrete pump truck that an investigation found caused the accident, accusing it of negligence. The truck driver, 42-year-old Jerry Hernandez, is facing a negligent homicide charge. At the time of the crash, Hernandez had a suspended driver's license due to a failed drug test. He told investigators that he had smoked marijuana and done 'a small amount' of cocaine the night before the crash. All cases remain pending. Scott Hendler, the attorney representing Limon, said SB 39 would hinder a crash victim's ability to hold trucking companies fully accountable in court by allowing the omission of crucial evidence that demonstrates how the company operates. 'There are more bad actors than just the drivers,' he said. 'All the bad actors that contribute should be on the verdict form and assigned some amount of responsibility.' If the bill doesn't limit a victim from going after a negligent company, 'then that language should be in the bill,' Hendler said. Mark Macias, the attorney for Hernandez's employer, did not respond to a request for comment. Justin Fohn, the attorney for Hernandez, declined to comment. The debate over the bill also comes a month after a semi-truck crashed into merging traffic on Interstate 35 in North Austin, killing five people and sparking several lawsuits against the driver and the trucking company he worked for. A preliminary report released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the crash occurred because the driver failed to slow down. "All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar events,' the report said. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Senate Bill 39 could change how truck crash lawsuits work
