Documents case: Prosecutors in the Donald Trump classified documents case have filed a 30-page argument with Federal Court Judge Aileen Cannon in which they push back against efforts by Trump’s attorneys to have Cannon throw out the case. The prosecutors defended the legality of the search process that was used to recover some of the secret government documents Trump had taken. The prosecutors also included never-before-released photographs showing additional classified documents that Trump was hiding at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Assange plea: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was due to fly home to Australia following an appearance in court in the Mariana Islands where he was due to plead guilty to one count of publishing secret U.S. government documents. Under a plea deal, Assange will not have to serve additional time in prison. He had been in custody in Great Britain for five years. WikiLeaks also had published Hillary Clinton’s emails that had been stolen by the Russians to help Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. Â
Israeli draft: The Supreme Court of Israel released a decision today that requires extremely Orthodox Jews to be drafted into the Israeli Army. The practice has been that all Israeli citizens have to serve time in the military except those who are ultra-Orthodox. The ruling is seen as a defeat for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been in favor of keeping the exemption for the ultra-Orthodox. The Israeli Supreme Court also ruled that government funding should be pulled from any religious school whose students ignore draft notices.
FBI raid: Oakland, California, Mayor Sheng Thao has claimed she did nothing wrong and will nor resign from office after an FBI raid on the house where she lives with her son and her partner. The FBI has not said why they searched her house and removed several boxes apparently containing evidence. Separately, there has been an effort underway to recall her with enough petition signatures gathered for a ballot referendum to take place in November on whether she should be removed from office. Her critics claim that crime and corruption have soared in Oakland under her administration.
Moon mission: A Chinese robot returned to Earth today after having journeyed to the dark side of the moon where it picked up soil samples and moon rocks. The director of China’s National Space Administration went on TV to declare the moon mission ended. The Chinese lunar vehicle had landed in a crater on the moon’s surface that is believed to have been created about four billion years ago.
Gun advisory: In an advisory released today, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declares gun violence to be a public health crisis. Murthy says that a collective national commitment is needed to deal with it. The advisory references preliminary data for 2022 showing that about 48,000 people died in the U..S. in that year from gun-related causes. That figure includes shootings, suicides and accidents. The advisory calls for more spending on studies to understand and reduce the number of injuries and deaths related to guns.
