The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for an LGBTQ group to gain official recognition from a Jewish university in New York, though that may not last. 

By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, the YU Pride Alliance, even as a legal fight continues in New York courts. 

Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the court’s three liberal justices to form a majority. 

The disagreement among the justices appears to be mostly about procedure, with the majority writing in a brief, unsigned order that Yeshiva should return to state court to seek quick review and temporary relief while the case continues. 

If it gets neither from state courts, the school can return to the Supreme Court, the majority wrote. 

Four conservative justices dissented, in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that said recognition should have been kept on hold because Yeshiva has made a strong case that its First Amendment religious rights have been violated. 

The Constitution “prohibits a state from enforcing its own preferred interpretation of Holy Scripture. Yet that is exactly what New York has done in this case, and it is disappointing that a majority of this court refuses to provide relief,” Alito wrote. Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett joined his opinion. 

The upshot, Alito wrote, is that Yeshiva probably will have to recognize the Pride Alliance “for at least some period of time (and perhaps for a lengthy spell).” 

On Friday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor signed the order that put things on hold and indicated the court would have more to say on the topic. 

The university, an Orthodox Jewish institution in New York, argued that granting recognition to the Pride Alliance “would violate its sincere religious beliefs.” 

The club argued that Yeshiva’s plea to the Supreme Court was premature, also noting the university already has recognized a gay pride club at its law school. 

A New York state court sided with the student group and ordered the university to recognize the club immediately. The matter remains on appeal in the state court system, but judges there refused to put the order on hold in the meantime. 

The Supreme Court has been very receptive to religious freedom claims in recent years. 

In June, conservatives, who hold a 6-3 majority, struck down a Maine program prohibiting state funds from being spent at religious schools and ruled a high school football coach in Washington state has the right to pray on the field after games.
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The United States has voiced alarm over restrictions on the media in Pakistan, citing the silencing of a television network supportive of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“We continue to be concerned by significant restrictions on media outlets and civil society in Pakistan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Tuesday.

“We’re concerned that media and content restrictions, as well as lack of accountability for attacks against journalists, undermine the exercise of freedom of expression … and an informed citizenry,” he said.

Price pointed to the example of ARY News, which was recently taken off the air, in response to a question from a journalist of the network.

The network is sympathetic to Khan, who was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April and replaced with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Authorities have also blocked online access to speeches by Khan, who is seeking to make a political comeback.

The United States is a historic ally of Pakistan, but the two nations have had a rocky relationship, especially over relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban, with Khan in particular critical of U.S. military operations. 

The United States in recent weeks has promised more than $50 million to Pakistan as it grapples with its worst-ever floods that have left one-third of the nation under water.

President Joe Biden’s administration has also greenlighted a $450-million sale for Pakistan to refurbish its F-16s, a mainstay of its air force, despite the growing U.S. relationship with Pakistan’s rival, India.
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U.S. special envoy on climate John Kerry has pledged U.S. support to help Nigeria mitigate the effects of climate change, saying Africa’s most populous nation would benefit from a $12 billion fund for climate action.

Kerry began a two-nation West Africa visit Monday in the Nigerian capital, where he met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. In Abuja on Tuesday, Kerry met with top government officials including ministers of environment, petroleum resources and agriculture, and signed the Clean Energy Demand Initiative. 

He said the agreement allows the U.S government to assist Nigeria in developing technologies for cleaner fuel sources, including gas, wind and solar energy. 

“Nigeria is a very important, if not one of the most important, countries in terms of the direction of dealing with climate for all of Africa, because Nigeria is a major producer of gas and oil and how Nigeria approaches the climate crisis will send a message to the rest of the continent, will help set the direction of our dealing with the climate crisis,” Kerry said. 

But Abba Ali Yarima, co-founder of the Green Panthers Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for those affected by climate change, said the gesture was long overdue.  

Africa is a continent of 55 countries, but its carbon emissions account for no more than 3.8 percent compared to the global north, Yarima said. “We believe there should be reparations by all these developed countries who have emitted more carbon gases than we did here in Africa. Even the $12 billion is quite small.” 

Nigerian authorities have been making efforts to address climate change issues. 

In November of last year, authorities passed a climate change bill targeting net zero emissions by 2060. Last month, authorities launched an energy transition plan focused on greater use of solar power and doubling natural gas generation.  

However, Yarima worries any funds given by the U.S. will be mismanaged or stolen. 

“I’m also looking at other aspects of accountability when it comes to Nigeria,” Yarima said. “We’re still battling with corruption and how we’re very good with policy papers but not very good when it comes to implementation. So I’m just scared with this huge amount of money, I suggest there should be a mechanism in place that will help checkmate how this money is going to be spent.” 

Kerry, a former U.S. secretary of state, said the world needs to cut carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030. 

He will complete his visit in Senegal, where he’ll be attending the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). 

 
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South Korea’s anger over what it considers discriminatory treatment by the United States against Korean electric vehicle manufacturers is highlighting the difficulty Washington faces in getting even its closest allies on board with its broad economic plans for Asia.

U.S. legislation passed last month offers tax credits of up to $7,500 to buyers of electric vehicles assembled in North America. The measure, part of the larger Inflation Reduction Act, is meant to exclude China from supply chains and boost U.S. production of electric cars, analysts say.

But in doing so, the bill also wiped out tax credits for dozens of electric vehicles manufactured overseas, making them much more expensive for U.S. buyers. Among the hardest hit are South Korea’s Hyundai and its affiliate Kia, which rank second in sales in the U.S. electric vehicle market, behind Tesla.

South Korean business officials and politicians erupted after the legislation passed, calling it a betrayal of World Trade Organization principles, as well as the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement, which they say prohibits such discrimination against each other’s imported products.

“The U.S. is morphing from a guardian of free trade into a disrupter of international trade norms,” said an editorial in the left-leaning Hankyoreh newspaper. “In essence, [U.S. President Joe] Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ is no different from [former U.S. President Donald] Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again,’ said the conservative Joongang Ilbo.

Some South Korean media have even questioned whether Seoul should respond by reconsidering its participation in U.S.-led regional economic initiatives, such as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) or the semiconductor “Chip 4” alliance, which are both seen as crucial to U.S. efforts to compete with China.

At a Tuesday briefing, South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun said the trade dispute should be treated separately from Seoul’s participation in multilateral forums, but acknowledged the disagreement could “shake the trust in the [U.S.-South Korean] trade relationship itself.”

South Korea’s frustration is broadly in line with that of many other Asian countries, who question whether Washington is as committed as it once was to free trade. While many U.S. partners were dismayed at Trump’s 2017 decision to withdraw from the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, they remain discouraged by Biden, who has continued many of Trump’s trade policies.

Doubts about US commitment

In part to dissuade those worries, the White House in May unveiled IPEF, a trade deal designed to provide a counterweight against China’s economic clout in Asia. The 14 IPEF member states held their first negotiations last week; the U.S. aims to conclude negotiations by next November.

But IPEF differs from traditional free trade deals in that it does not provide greater market access or reduce tariffs — areas no longer seen as safe in a U.S. domestic political context. Without such incentives, there may not be enough benefits for countries to agree to binding commitments in areas like environment and labor, according to reports by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which has surveyed representatives of countries involved in the IPEF negotiations.

The Biden administration has also indicated that IPEF will not be submitted for approval to the U.S. Congress, leading some to worry it could be overturned by future U.S. presidents.

During the IPEF rollout in May, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he welcomed increased U.S. economic participation in Asia and would support the IPEF talks, but that he preferred the United States rejoin the TPP, now known as CPTPP.

Another major component of Biden’s Asia strategy is Chip 4, an envisioned semiconductor supply chain partnership between the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Chip 4 is meant to reduce China’s influence in the vital microchips sector. But U.S. partners, most notably South Korea, have expressed concern that the initiative may lead to Chinese retaliation. Possibly reflecting that unease, South Korean officials frequently refer to the Chip 4 grouping as a “consultative body” rather than an alliance.

South Korea’s dilemma

The China-U.S. balancing act is especially tricky for South Korea, which hosts about 28,000 U.S. troops but relies on China as its biggest trading partner.

South Korea’s conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office in May, has moved to expand his country’s economic and security relationship with the United States — making the current trade dispute even more uncomfortable.

While the United States has agreed to talks with South Korea to minimize the impact of the recent U.S. legislation, that hasn’t held back a wave of South Korean criticism directed at both Yoon and Biden.

So far, the backlash has mainly been limited to furious newspaper editorials and statements of concern by business and government officials.

Jeongmeen Suh, an economics professor at Seoul’s Soongsil University, predicts the dispute will not result in major anti-U.S. protests, since the U.S. policy only impacts certain major South Korean companies and may not be felt by average citizens.

But if not resolved quickly, the disagreement could result in diplomatic fallout, analysts warn, such as Seoul filing a WTO complaint. Some voices have called for South Korea to take a more assertive stance in line with its growing economic and diplomatic influence.

“If Korea remains passive, it could once again become the victim of the great powers,” read a recent Hankyoreh editorial. “Korea needs to get over its ‘small country’ mentality and adopt an active posture.”

Lee Juhyun contributed to this report.
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A lawyer for families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting told a Connecticut jury on Tuesday that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones would never stop profiting from destructive falsehoods unless he pays for his lies about the massacre.

The lawyer, Christopher Mattei, made his assessment during opening statements on Tuesday, nearly a decade after 20 children and six staff members were killed on December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

In Jones’ second trial related to the massacre, jurors will decide how much in damages he owes 13 family members of victims, as well as one FBI agent, for claiming the massacre was a hoax.

Jones’ trial in a Waterbury, Connecticut, state court about 32 kilometers from Newtown, comes one month after a jury in Austin, Texas, awarded two parents $49.3 million in a similar case.

Mattei told jurors it was important to stop Jones and his right-wing Infowars brand from “preying on people who are helpless” and encouraging years of harassment from Jones’ followers.

“They knew the harassment was happening, but the lies were too profitable,” Mattei said.

He said Infowars, which is based in Austin, drew millions of followers with bogus claims about Sandy Hook, and made as much as $800,000 a day selling supplements, doomsday supplies and other products.

Jones’ lawyer, Norman Pattis, countered during his opening statement that the families were “exaggerating their harm for political reasons” and viewing a big damages award as a “weapon” to silence Infowars.

“We’re going to ask you to disarm them,” Pattis told jurors.

Jones did not attend the start of the trial, which is expected to last five weeks, but Pattis said he will testify.

The plaintiffs sued Jones and Infowars parent Free Speech Systems LLC in 2018.

They said the harassment was conducted by people who believed Jones’ false claims that the government staged the Sandy Hook shooting with crisis actors as a pretext for seizing guns, and that the families faked their children’s deaths.

Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place.

Overwhelmed

Some families in the gallery clasped each other’s hands tightly and fought back tears as the first plaintiff to testify, FBI agent Bill Aldenberg, described the shooting scene and death threats that families received as they prepared for burials.

“It overwhelms your senses. It’s horrible,” he said.

Another plaintiff, Carlee Soto Parisi, tearfully described her sister’s death at Sandy Hook and the subsequent deluge of social media posts saying that she was a crisis actor.

“It’s hurtful. It’s devastating. It’s crippling. You can’t breathe properly,” she said.

Adam Lanza, the gunman, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle as he shot his way into the school, after shooting his mother to death at home. The massacre ended when Lanza killed himself as he heard approaching police sirens.

Jurors are required solely to determine how much Jones and Free Speech Systems must pay for spreading lies about the massacre.

A judge issued a default judgment in the case in November after Jones failed to comply with court orders.

Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in July. That would typically shield the company from lawsuits, but it agreed to face trial in August.

In a Tuesday hearing in the bankruptcy case, a judge rejected Free Speech Systems’ request to reimburse Jones for travel expenses and security detail.

The $49.3 million award in Austin could be reduced substantially because it consists mostly of non-economic damages intended to punish Jones for his conduct.

A lawyer for Jones has said he will seek to reduce the $45.2 million punitive damages component to $1.5 million, citing a Texas law imposing a cap. Lawyers for the parents have said that the cap does not apply, and Jones should pay the full amount.
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A second U.S. death was linked to monkeypox on Tuesday as health authorities published a study describing how two previously healthy young men experienced inflammation of the brain and spinal cord as a result of the virus. 

There have been nearly 22,000 U.S. cases in the current global outbreak, which began in May, but new infections have been falling since mid-August as authorities have distributed hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses. 

The latest fatal case involved a severely immunocompromised resident of Los Angeles County who had been hospitalized, the local health department said without revealing further details. 

“Persons severely immunocompromised who suspect they have monkeypox are encouraged to seek medical care and treatment early and remain under the care of a provider during their illness,” the department said. 

The first U.S. death linked to the viral illness occurred in Texas and was announced on August 30, although authorities said that because the person was severely immunocompromised, they were investigating what role monkeypox had played. 

The current global outbreak is primarily affecting men who have sex with men. 

Historically, the virus has been spread via direct contact with lesions, body fluids and respiratory droplets, and sometimes through indirect contamination via surfaces such as shared bedding.  

But in this outbreak, there is preliminary evidence that sexual transmission may also play a role. 

Brain and spinal cord inflammation 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, published a report about two unvaccinated men in their 30s who experienced brain and spinal cord inflammation after testing positive for the virus. 

The first, patient A, was a gay man in his 30s from Colorado whose symptoms began with fever chills and malaise and progressed to rashes on his face, scrotum and extremities, with swabs of lesions testing positive for the virus. 

He also developed lower extremity weakness and numbness, was unable to empty his bladder, experienced a persistent and painful erection, and was hospitalized. 

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed brain and spinal cord inflammation. He was treated with the oral monkeypox antiviral tecovirimat as well as other drugs and began to improve at two weeks. 

He was released but continued to have left leg weakness and required an assistive walking device at a one-month follow-up. 

A second person, patient B, was a gay man in his 30s from Washington. His fever, rashes and muscle pain progressed to bowel and bladder incontinence and progressive flaccid weakness of both legs. 

Brain and spinal cord inflammation was confirmed on MRI, and he was intubated in an intensive care unit, where he was treated with intravenous tecovirimat as well a drug to reduce inflammation and, finally, blood plasma exchange. 

He remains in the hospital but can walk with the assistance of a device. 

The report said the underlying mechanism behind the two cases was unclear — it might have been a direct invasion of the central nervous system or an autoimmune response triggered by monkeypox infection elsewhere in the body. 
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U.S. law enforcement officials announced on Tuesday that a crackdown on human trafficking groups near the U.S.-Mexico border has resulted in the disruption of a major smuggling network and the arrest of eight alleged human smugglers.

The takedown comes as the administration of President Joe Biden faces criticism from Republicans over an influx of undocumented migrants from Mexico and Central America pouring into the United States. Administration officials say combating human smuggling is part of their strategy to address “irregular migration” across the southern border.

Speaking at a press conference at the Justice Department, law enforcement officials said the network ran a “prolific” smuggling operation, trafficking hundreds, if not thousands, of undocumented migrants from Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia into the United States in recent years.

“Sadly, this case is an example of what we see in our district too many times, especially in our border communities,” said U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery of the Southern District of Texas.

The operation was part of Joint Task Force Alpha, a law enforcement initiative announced last year by Attorney General Merrick Garland to combat dangerous human smuggling groups operating in Mexico and Central America.

In a statement, Garland touted the successful takedown.

“The charges announced today are just the latest example of these efforts’ success,” he said. “The Justice Department will continue to bring our full resources to bear to combat the human smuggling and trafficking groups that endanger our communities, abuse and exploit migrants, and threaten our national security.”

The eight members of the network, which had been operating since 2018, were arrested in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Their leader was identified as 31-year-old Erminia Serrano Piedra, aka “Boss Lady.”

To date, Join Task Force Alpha has been responsible for the arrest of about 120 defendants, many of them leaders of human smuggling networks, and has obtained convictions against about 50, according to said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Referring to the migrants as “boxes” or “packages,” the smugglers used a variety of methods to transport their customers, from hiding them in suitcases placed in pickup trucks to concealing them in empty water tankers, according to the indictment.

“The methods used by the [smuggling network] to transport and move aliens placed the aliens in danger as they were frequently held in contained spaces with little ventilation, which became overheated, and they were driven at high speeds with no vehicle safety methods,” the indictment says.

The smugglers often kept the migrants at “stash houses” near the Mexican border before transporting them to other locations further into the interior of the United States, according to the indictment. Their price: up to $2,500 per migrant.

“This human smuggling organization operated on an enormous scale, placing a high value on financial profit, while putting migrants’ lives at great risk,” Polite said.
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