Author: Olive Metuge
A top Alaska lawmaker said the state needs to hire twice as many prosecutors and public defenders if it wants to end the kind of extreme courtroom delays that the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica exposed over the past year. Rep. Andrew Gray, chair of a legislative committee that holds jurisdiction over the Alaska court system, prosecutors and public defenders, said the news organizations’ stories of criminal cases delayed for years “stab my heart.” The time it takes to resolve Alaska’s most serious felony cases is three years, or more than twice as long as in 2015. “I hate how…
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted an invitation to join US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.A statement from his office said Netanyahu would become a member of the board “which is to be comprised of world leaders”.The board was originally thought to be aimed at helping end the two-year war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and oversee reconstruction. But its proposed charter does not mention the Palestinian territory and appears to be designed to supplant functions of the UN.Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have also agreed to join, as have Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Hungary,…
Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians, including two boys, in central and southern Gaza, local health authorities said, and the Israeli military said it had “eliminated” a Palestinian militant who posed a threat to soldiers.Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have traded blame for many breaches of the October ceasefire after two years of war that devastated Gaza and caused a humanitarian disaster, and remain at odds over the next steps in U.S. President…
The Supreme Court on Tuesday appeared to side with a group of Maui gun owners in their challenge to a Hawaii law restricting their ability to bring their guns onto private property that is open to the public. After approximately two hours of oral argument in Wolford v. Lopez, virtually all of the court’s six Republican appointees seemed to agree with the challengers that the law, which requires the gun owners to obtain express permission from the property owner, violates the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. Chief Justice John Roberts suggested that recent cases show that the Second Amendment…
As prosecutors, we are trained to seek justice. While working for a district attorney, I specialized in sexual offenses and crimes against children. I understood why victims of sexual harm rely on the criminal legal system. But as a victim, I grappled with the contradiction of my professional life and what I wanted personally—an alternative. While preparing cases for trial and negotiating plea agreements within the system, I was planning my own accountability process outside of it. I, too, seriously considered the criminal system because it was the only accountability option I thought that I had. The sexual abuse that…
In the UAE, every new year arrives supersized and 2026 is already shaping up to be a standoutLook, no one really knows what the new year will throw at us, but if history is any indication, the UAE in 2026 will keep delivering – spectacularly, unpredictably, and often before the rest of the world has had its morning coffee. From cult restaurants to cultural icons, mega retailers to new resorts, here’s what deserves a spot on your excitement radar…A Mayfair favourite heads for Al MaryahAbu Dhabi is starting 2026 with some serious glamour as Isabel Mayfair opens at The Galleria…
For over a year, we’ve been writing about pregnant women who have died in states that banned abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned. And we’ve been trying to better understand: Who are the women who are most likely to suffer because of these new laws? Many of the early cases we uncovered involved fast-moving emergencies. While women were miscarrying, they needed procedures to quickly empty their uterus, and, tragically, they didn’t get them in time. Yet we know that dangerous miscarriages like these are relatively rare events. What are far more common, experts have told us, are high-risk pregnancies,…
Thomas Mackintosh,Guy HedgecoeandToby MannCatalonian fire serviceFire crews inspect the wreckage of the train in CataloniaA train driver has been killed and at least 37 people injured, five seriously, after a commuter train derailed and crashed near Barcelona just days on from a deadly two-train collision in southern Spain on Sunday. According to local officials, on Tuesday evening the Rodalies train collided with a retaining wall which fell onto the track between Gelida and Sant Sadurní. Catalonia regional fire Inspector Claudi Gallardo said all passengers had been removed from the train.The incident occurred as heavy storms battered north-eastern Spain, as coastal…
Listen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.A Barcelona commuter train crashed Tuesday after a retaining wall fell onto the tracks, killing one person and injuring at least 37 others, Spanish regional authorities said.Catalonia regional fire inspector Claudi Gallardo said the deceased was the driver of the train, and that all passengers had been removed from the train. The crash in northeastern Spain came just two days after a separate deadly train collision killed at least…
The Supreme Court on Tuesday morning turned down several petitions for review challenging the ban on the possession of guns by people who have previously been convicted of felonies. However, the justices did not act on a similar case brought by a woman convicted of passing a fake check nearly two decades ago. The announcement came as part of a list of orders released from the justices’ Jan. 16 conference. After adding four new cases to its docket for the 2025-26 term, the court did not grant any additional cases on Tuesday. The court denied review in four cases brought…