Warmer ocean temperatures are hurting coral reefs off the U.S. state of Florida. For VOA, Genia Dulot took a look at what’s happening underwater.
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“Holodomor Then, Genocide Now, Justice When?” — an exhibition devoted to the 90th anniversary of the Ukrainian Holodomor — is now open at the Victims of Communism Museum in Washington, D.C. Ivanna Pidborska visited the exhibition and has this story, narrated by Anna Rice
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Earl Meyer remembers in vivid detail when his platoon came under heavy fire during the Korean War — he still has shrapnel embedded in his thigh.

But over 70 years later, the 96-year-old is still waiting for the U.S. Army to recognize his injury and to award him a Purple Heart medal, which honors service members wounded or killed in combat.

Meyer has provided the Army with documents to back up his assertion that he was wounded in combat in June 1951. Doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs agreed that his account of the shrapnel coming from a mortar attack was probably true. But few men in his unit who would have witnessed the battle have survived, and he thinks the medic who treated him on the battlefield was killed before he could file the paperwork.

An Army review board in April issued what it called a final rejection of Meyer’s request for a Purple Heart, citing insufficient documentation. His case highlights how it can be a struggle for wounded veterans to get medals they’ve earned when the fog of war, the absence of records and the passage of time make it challenging to produce proof.

“At first I didn’t know that I had been wounded,” Meyer wrote in a sworn statement that was part of his rejected appeal. “But as my unit advanced from where the mortar rounds were hitting, I noticed that my pants were sticking to my leg. I reached down to correct this and discovered that my hand was covered in blood.”

Meyer took the rare step of suing the Department of Defense and the Army in September. The Army’s Office of Public Affairs said it doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation. But after The Associated Press made requests for comment on Meyer’s case, the office of the Army’s top noncommissioned officer, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer, said that it’s going to take another look.

“The Sergeant Major of the Army’s Office is engaging with Mr. Meyer’s family and looking into the situation,” spokesperson Master Sgt. Daniel Wallace said. “Either way, we’re proud of Mr. Meyer’s service to our country.”

Meyer said in an interview that he wouldn’t have pursued the Purple Heart because his injuries were relatively minor compared to those of many men he served with, but his three daughters persuaded him. Growing up, they knew that he had been injured in the war, but like many veterans, he never talked much about it. It’s only been in the past decade or so that he’s opened up to them, which led them to urge his pursuit of a Purple Heart.

“I think it will provide closure for him. I really do,” said his daughter, Sandy Baker, of New Buffalo, Michigan.

Tony Cross, a disability claims and appeals specialist with the American Legion, the country’s largest veterans’ service organization, said the Legion doesn’t commonly see cases like Meyer’s of medals denied, though it did see one earlier this year. The process is challenging because each military branch has its own approval process and it gets more challenging after a veteran leaves the military, he said.

Meyer’s main obstacle has been the lack of paperwork. He told the AP the medic who bandaged his leg told him he would file the forms to show he was wounded in combat. But he never did. Meyer thinks the medic may have been killed in action. Only a few members of his platoon made it out unharmed.

At the time, Meyer wasn’t hurt badly enough to leave the battlefield. But Army medical records show he injured his back a few days later when he fell down a hill while carrying a machine gun, and then aggravated it again days later while lifting ammunition. He was evacuated to a MASH unit, then a hospital ship. The records show his treatment included a tetanus shot, apparently for the shrapnel injury.

“I still had the hole in my pants and the blood on it,” he said about the time he was hospitalized for his back. He said he still had the patch on his leg. “I should have told them at that time.”

But he wasn’t thinking then about gathering paperwork for a future medal. His mind was on survival.

“I was just glad to get out of there,” he said.

Accidental back injuries generally don’t qualify a service member for a Purple Heart, but wounds from enemy shrapnel can.

Meyer finished out his tour guarding prisoners of war. He was honorably discharged in 1952. His decorations included the Combat Infantryman Badge, which is reserved for those who actively participate in ground combat under enemy fire. He also received the Congressional Gold Medal for his service in the Merchant Marine in World War II.

He still has coffee with fellow veterans a couple mornings a week at the St. Peter American Legion post. He said his leg isn’t acutely sore, but it still aches. VA doctors told him they didn’t want to risk surgery to remove the shrapnel because it was too close to his sciatic nerve.

In 2005, doctors at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis agreed that his leg injury probably happened in combat. “The scar in the left thigh is at least as likely as not (50/50 probability) caused by or a result of a combat fragment wound,” they wrote in one report. “Reasonable doubt has been resolved in your favor,” they wrote in another.

Meyer first applied for a Purple Heart in 2020. The Army denied him, saying he needed more documentation.

So U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s staff then helped him get documents from the National Archives and made numerous follow-up inquiries. But even with the additional evidence, the Army Board for Correction of Military Records turned him down. Klobuchar said this week that she’s not giving up.

“Earl Meyer put his life on the line in defense of our freedoms, and we will continue to do all we can to further the work to rightfully honor his service,” the Minnesota Democrat said in a statement.

In its most recent rejection letter, the board said he must have “substantiating evidence to verify that he was injured, the wound was the result of hostile action, the wound must have required treatment by medical personnel and the medical treatment must have been made a matter of official record.”

The board conceded that “some evidence available for review indicates a possible injury,” but that “based on the preponderance of the evidence available for review, the Board determined the evidence presented insufficient to warrant a recommendation for relief.”

Meyer’s attorney, Alan Anderson, wrote in the the lawsuit that review boards have awarded Purple Hearts under similar circumstances — sometimes under court order. He said the board noted the problems of relying solely on medical records when it approved a Purple Heart in a separate 2015 case.

“Under wartime conditions, wounds requiring medical treatment by a medical officer will not always receive such treatment, and, even if a soldier requiring such treatment receives it, there will be cases where the treatment is not made a matter of official record,” the board said in that case. “In such cases, other sources, including credible statements from colleagues, may be useful in establishing the circumstances in which a soldier was wounded.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in New Delhi on Friday for talks seeking to bolster India as a regional counterweight to China and win backing for the U.S. position on Israel’s war with Hamas. 

Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will join Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh for annual “two-plus-two” talks that India has said will focus on “defense and security cooperation.” 

India is part of the Quad alliance alongside the United States, Australia and Japan, a grouping that positions itself as a bulwark against China’s growing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Washington hopes a tighter defense relationship will help wean India off Russia, New Delhi’s primary military supplier. 

“Our intention is to encourage more collaboration to produce world-class defense equipment to meet Indian defense needs and contribute to greater global security,” Donald Lu, the top U.S. diplomat for South and Central Asia, said ahead of the trip. 

Blinken arrived in New Delhi late Thursday from South Korea, the latest leg of a marathon trip that has included a G7 foreign ministers meeting in Japan, which sought to find common ground on the Gaza conflict, and a whirlwind tour of the Middle East. 

India was swift to condemn Hamas and shares with Washington a long-standing call for an independent Palestinian state. 

“The Indian government was direct in its condemnation of the Hamas terrorist attack and has also joined a chorus of nations, including the United States, that have called for sustained humanitarian access to Gaza,” Lu said. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he stood “in solidarity with Israel,” and last month India airlifted aid to Egypt for Palestinian civilians from the besieged Gaza Strip. 

The conflict in Gaza poses a major challenge to hopes of a key trade and transport route linking Europe, the Middle East and India, unveiled during G20 talks in India in September. 

India has a long-running border dispute with northern neighbor China, with a deadly Himalayan clash in 2020 sending diplomatic relations into a deep freeze. Their 3,500-kilometer shared frontier remains a long-running source of tension. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will also be on the agenda, Lu said. 

New Delhi has had to balance its traditional alliance with Russia, the provider of most of its arms imports and now a source of cut-price oil, with growing ties to Washington. 

President Joe Biden’s administration has prioritized relations with New Delhi, seeing a like-minded partner faced with the rise of China, but Blinken’s trip could be made awkward by a bitter feud between India and another close U.S. partner, Canada. 

Relations between the two have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegations India has called absurd. 

Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
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The U.S. says it has an obligation to “stand with our friends” and support Israel as it continues its operation against militant group Hamas in the wake of the stunning October 7 attack that left more than 1,400 Israelis dead.

Israel’s offensive has since killed “many, many thousands of Palestinians,” the White House says – President Joe Biden has openly questioned figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health, which is run by Hamas, which the U.S. classifies as a terrorist group. This week, assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf told a House panel that the ministry’s reported death toll – 10,000 people – may be “higher than is being cited.”

State Department Deputy Spokesperson Nathan Tek spoke late Wednesday to VOA’s Anita Powell about the conflict, why the U.S. supports “humanitarian pauses” but not a ceasefire, and why the U.S.’ lead foreign policy organ believes there is “no equivalency between Israel and Hamas.”

The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

VOA: Let’s start with the conflict between Israel and Hamas. A senior Biden administration official told us that U.S. support for a cease-fire depends on the Israelis feeling secure that something like the Hamas attack will never happen again. Can you elaborate on what that means? How can we ascertain Israel’s confidence in its security?

Tek: Well, if you take into account what happened on October 7, we saw the greatest loss of Jewish life since World War II. It was a profoundly devastating, despicable, abominable attack on Israeli civilians that day. And of course, Israel has the right and, indeed, the obligation to defend itself and that is exactly what Israel is doing. And that is exactly what the United States is helping Israel to do: to ensure that it has what it needs to do what it takes to defeat Hamas. We have been quite clear that we support humanitarian pauses so that civilians can get to safety, so that aid can get to those who need it. It is not the policy of the United States to support a cease-fire, because what a cease-fire means, in effect, is that Israel would cease firing, but that Hamas, of course, would be allowed to regroup, re-attack and freeze the battle as it is.

VOA: Next week, President Biden meets with President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, who leads the largest Muslim country in the world. What’s the message to the leader and the people of this large Muslim country that aligns itself with the Palestinian cause?

TEK: I’m sure that the conflict between Israel and Hamas will come up in those meetings. I think our message to any Muslim country – any Muslim community around the world – is that this is not a religious conflict. This is not about Israel versus Muslims. This is about Israel against a terrorist organization, Hamas, that has a radical extremist interpretation of Islam, that is engaged in a war of choice against Israel. Hamas has dragged 2 million civilians in Gaza into this conflict and into the crossfire. So, this is not a religious conflict. This is a conflict about politics. It’s a conflict about defeating terrorism.  

VOA: Let’s talk about something that has been coming up in the White House briefing room, which is: can you explain why the U.S. doesn’t believe that what Israel is doing in Gaza amounts to collective punishment – war crimes – which is something that the United Nations’ refugee agency believes?

TEK: I want to be clear here: The United States, of course, supports Israel’s right to defend itself. Israel is a democracy just like the United States and democracies, of course, have a special obligation to protect civilians and to respect international humanitarian law. I think it is important to draw a distinction – which many unfortunately do not do – between Hamas and Israel. Hamas has deliberately targeted civilians and they have continued to do so with rocket attacks on Israeli civilian infrastructure. Hamas has in fact, without a doubt, violated international humanitarian law. Hamas has also placed an added burden on Israel because Hamas uses civilians as human shields. A clear message that we’ve conveyed to Israel that we’re discussing with Israel as friends and allies do is that Israel has the obligation to take every measure possible to minimize civilian casualties. We will continue to have those conversations with our friend Israel and we will continue to do what we can to ensure that Israel can defeat a terrorist organization.

VOA: But to be clear, does the U.S. believe that Israel has crossed any lines here like Hamas has?

TEK: No, there is no equivalency between Israel and Hamas.

VOA: A senior Hamas official told Lebanese media that Hamas has intensified its contacts with Beijing and Moscow. Is this a concern for the U.S., and what are you doing to address this, if anything?

TEK: It is our view that all outside actors and members of the international community should be playing a positive role here in seeking to ensure that terrorism does not go unpunished. And we believe that it is incumbent upon the international community to reject terrorism, to reject terrorist organizations, and to condemn what Hamas did on October 7.

VOA: Why is unity among the Group of 7 wealthy liberal democracies on Israel important, and how is this bloc moving things forward? And what tools does this bloc have?

TEK: We saw, I think, a very strong statement come out of the G7 meetings in Tokyo, calling for humanitarian pauses, condemning Hamas’ attacks. And I think that really does reflect a sense among the United States and its closest, most like-minded partners and allies, that what Hamas did is unacceptable, Hamas should never again be able to use Gaza as a platform to launch strikes against Israeli civilians, and drag Palestinian civilians into a conflict that they did not ask for. So, we will continue to work with our G7 allies and partners – and countries from around the world, frankly – in order to ensure that terrorism is defeated, because this is really a multilateral challenge that requires, in some cases, multilateral solutions.

VOA: My final question is about Ukraine, and something that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently said: he basically said that he needs one more year of U.S. support. I’d like you to just elaborate on what that could mean, if you think that that’s realistic, and if he’s going to get it.

TEK: We have been clear from the start of this conflict that we will support Ukraine as long as it takes to ensure that Ukraine can defend the democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous nature of its country. And that is something that we’ve made a commitment to, and that we will continue to fulfill that commitment.

VOA: Is there anything else you’d like to tell our global audience?

TEK: I just want to thank you for having me. And I want to be clear that it’s important, in times like these, for the United States to demonstrate that it stands with its friends and allies around the world. Israel is engaged in a very serious fight for its future, for its existence. And we have to stand with our friends. 
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Surgeons have performed the world’s first transplant of an entire human eye, an extraordinary addition to a face transplant — although it’s far too soon to know if the man will ever see through his new left eye. 

An accident with high-voltage power lines destroyed most of Aaron James’ face and one eye. His right eye still works. But surgeons at NYU Langone Health hoped replacing the missing one would yield better cosmetic results for his new face, because it would support the transplanted eye socket and lid. 

The NYU team announced Thursday that so far, it’s doing just that. James is recovering well from the dual transplant last May, and the donated eye looks remarkably healthy. 

“It feels good. I still don’t have any movement in it yet. My eyelid, I can’t blink yet. But I’m getting sensation now,” James told The Associated Press as doctors examined his progress recently. 

“You got to start somewhere, there’s got to be a first person somewhere,” said James, 46, of Hot Springs, Arkansas. “Maybe you’ll learn something from it that will help the next person.” 

Today, transplants of the cornea — the clear tissue in front of the eye — are common to treat certain types of vision loss. But transplanting the whole eye — the eyeball, its blood supply and the critical optic nerve that must connect it to the brain — is considered a moonshot in the quest to cure blindness. 

Whatever happens next, James’ surgery offers scientists an unprecedented window into how the human eye tries to heal. 

“We’re not claiming that we are going to restore sight,” said Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, NYU’s plastic surgery chief, who led the transplant. “But there’s no doubt in my mind we are one step closer.” 

Some specialists had feared the eye would quickly shrivel like a raisin. Instead, when Rodriguez propped open James’ left eyelid last month, the donated hazel-colored eye was as plump and full of fluid as his own blue eye. Doctors see good blood flow and no sign of rejection. 

Now researchers have begun analyzing scans of James’ brain that detected some puzzling signals from that all-important but injured optic nerve. 

One scientist who has long studied how to make eye transplants a reality called the surgery exciting. 

“It’s an amazing validation” of animal experiments that have kept transplanted eyes alive, said Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg, chair of ophthalmology at Stanford University. 

The hurdle is how to regrow the optic nerve, although animal studies are making strides, Goldberg said. He praised the NYU team’s “audacity” in even aiming for optic nerve repair and said he hopes the transplant will spur more research. 

“We’re really on the precipice of being able to do this,” Goldberg said. 

James was working for a power line company in June 2021 when he was shocked by a live wire. He nearly died. Ultimately, he lost his left arm, requiring a prosthetic. His damaged left eye was so painful it had to be removed. Multiple reconstructive surgeries couldn’t repair extensive facial injuries including his missing nose and lips. 

James pushed through physical therapy until he was strong enough to escort his daughter Allie to a high school homecoming ceremony, wearing a face mask and eye patch. Still, he required breathing and feeding tubes, and he longed to smell, taste and eat solid food again. 

“In his mind and his heart, it’s him — so I didn’t care that, you know, he didn’t have a nose. But I did care that it bothered him,” said his wife, Meagan James. 

Face transplants remain rare and risky. James’ is only the 19th in the United States, the fifth Rodriguez has performed. The eye experiment added even more complexity. But James figured he’d be no worse off if the donated eye failed. 

Three months after James was placed on the national transplant waiting list, a matching donor was found. Kidneys, a liver and pancreas from the donor, a man in his 30s, saved three other people. 

During James’ 21-hour operation, surgeons added another experimental twist: When they spliced together the donated optic nerve to what remained of James’ original, they injected special stem cells from the donor in hopes of spurring its repair. 

Last month, tingles heralded healing facial nerves. James can’t yet open the eyelid and wears a patch to protect it. But as Rodriguez pushed on the closed eye, James felt a sensation — although on his nose rather than his eyelid, presumably until slow-growing nerves get reoriented. The surgeon also detected subtle movements beginning in muscles around the eye. 

Then came a closer look. NYU ophthalmologist Dr. Vaidehi Dedania ran a battery of tests. She found expected damage in the light-sensing retina in the back of the eye. But she said it appears to have enough special cells called photoreceptors to do the job of converting light to electrical signals, one step in creating vision. 

Normally, the optic nerve then would send those signals to the brain to be interpreted. James’ optic nerve clearly hasn’t healed. Yet when light was flashed into the donated eye during an MRI, the scan recorded some sort of brain signaling. 

That both excited and baffled researchers, although it wasn’t the right type for vision and may simply be a fluke, cautioned Dr. Steven Galetta, NYU’s neurology chair. Only time and more study may tell. 

As for James, “we’re just taking it one day at a time,” he said. 
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An exhibition featuring the work of Simone Leigh — one of America’s most influential contemporary female artists — is now on display at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington. Leigh, known for her focus on feminism, gender equality and racial justice, became the first Black artist in history to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale in 2022, where she was awarded the coveted Golden Lion. Maxim Adams has the story. Camera: Sergii Dogotar.
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The man accused of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home, bludgeoning her husband with a hammer and seeking to kidnap her goes on trial Thursday.

Opening statements are scheduled in the federal trial of David DePape, who prosecutors say assaulted then-82-year-old Paul Pelosi, sending shockwaves through the political world just days before last year’s midterm elections.

The attack in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022, also highlighted how conspiracy theories and misinformation that spread online can fuel political violence.

DePape pleaded not guilty to attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official. Paul Pelosi is expected to testify next week.

DePape posted rants on a blog and an online forum about aliens, communists, religious minorities and global elites. He questioned the results of the 2020 election and echoed the baseless, right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory that claims the U.S. government is run by a cabal of devil-worshipping pedophiles.

The websites were taken down shortly after his arrest.

A Canadian citizen, DePape moved to the United States more than 20 years ago after falling in love with Gypsy Taub, a Berkeley pro-nudity activist well-known in the Bay Area, his stepfather, Gene DePape said. In recent years, David DePape had been homeless and struggling with drug abuse and mental illness, Taub told local media.

Federal prosecutors say DePape smashed his shoulder through a glass panel on a door in the back of the Pelosis’ Pacific Heights mansion and confronted a sleeping Paul Pelosi, who was wearing boxer shorts and a pajama top.

“Where’s Nancy? Where’s Nancy?” DePape asked, standing over Paul Pelosi around 2 a.m. holding a hammer and zip ties, according to court records. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington and under the protection of her security detail, which does not extend to family members.

Paul Pelosi called 911 and two San Francisco Police officers showed up and witnessed DePape strike Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer, knocking him unconscious, court records showed.

Nancy Pelosi’s husband of 60 years later underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and injuries to his right arm and hands.

After his arrest, DePape, 43, allegedly told a San Francisco detective that he wanted to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage. He said that if she told him the truth, he would let her go and if she lied, he was going to “break her kneecaps” to show other members of Congress there were “consequences to actions,” according to prosecutors.

A backpack DePape was carrying had tape and a rope, in addition to zip ties, according to police.

The assault was captured on the officers’ body cameras. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled last month that the jury will be allowed to see footage that shows Paul Pelosi in a pool of his own blood struggling to breathe and the police officers trying to stop the bleeding. Angela Chuang, one of DePape’s federal public defenders, had argued that the shocking footage would be prejudicial to her client.

Corley also ruled jurors can listen to portions of a 5-minute call DePape made in January to a television reporter in which he repeated conspiracy theories.

“Freedom and liberty isn’t dying, it’s being killed systematically and deliberately,” he said.

“The tree of liberty needs watering. He needs men of valor, patriots willing to put their own lives on the line to stand in opposition to tyranny,” he added.

Katherine Keneally, a senior researcher at the nonprofit Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said the attack is an example of increasing online hate, conspiracies and false narratives influencing political violence.

“This didn’t occur in a vacuum,” Keneally said.

Keneally said people who commit such conspiracy-fueled acts of violence often are struggling with mental health or other life crises, such as the death of a family member or a divorce.

“I can’t think of a single case where someone engaged in violent behavior where they were solely influenced by the conspiracy theory,” she said.

DePape, who lived in a garage in the Bay Area city of Richmond and had been doing odd carpentry jobs to support himself, allegedly told authorities he had other targets, including a women’s and queer studies professor, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, actor Tom Hanks and President Joe Biden’s son Hunter.

One of those targets is included in the defense’s short witness list, though their name has been redacted. The other possible witnesses are DePape, Nancy Pelosi’s chief of staff Daniel Bernal, extremism and antisemitism researcher Elizabeth Yates, and federal public defender Catherine Goulet.

The prosecution’s list of potential witnesses contains 15 names, including the surgeon who operated on Paul Pelosi, federal agents, San Francisco police officers and several first responders.

If convicted, DePape faces life in prison. He was also charged in state court with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary and other felonies. He pleaded not guilty to those charges. A state trial has not been scheduled.

 
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump will stay on the Minnesota primary ballot after the state supreme court Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit seeking to end his candidacy under a rarely used constitutional provision that forbids those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.

The Minnesota Supreme Court declined to become the first in history to use Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to prevent someone from running for the presidency. The court dodged the central question of the lawsuit — does Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol disqualify him from the presidency — by ruling that state law allows parties to put whomever they want on the primary ballot.

“There is no state statute that prohibits a major political party from placing on the presidential nomination primary ballot, or sending delegates to the national convention supporting, a candidate who is ineligible to hold office,” Chief Justice Natalie Hudson ruled.

The court left open the possibility that plaintiffs could try again to knock Trump off the general election ballot in November. The Minnesota challenge was filed by the liberal group Free Speech For People, which said it will continue its campaign to end Trump’s presidential bid.

“We are disappointed by the court’s decision,” said the group’s legal director Ron Fein, who argued before the court at its Nov. 2 hearing on the case. “However, the Minnesota Supreme Court explicitly recognized that the question of Donald Trump’s disqualification for engaging in insurrection against the U.S. Constitution may be resolved at a later stage. The decision isn’t binding on any court outside Minnesota, and we continue our current and planned legal actions in other states to enforce Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment against Donald Trump.”

The ruling is the first from a series of lawsuits filed by Free Speech For People and a second liberal group that are seeking to use Section 3 to end the candidacy of the front-runner in the Republican presidential primary.

On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump said: “Ridiculous 14th Amendment lawsuit just thrown out by Minnesota Supreme Court.” He added, “Congratulations to all who fought this HOAX!”

The provision at issue bars from office anyone who swore an oath to the Constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it. It was mainly used to prevent former confederates from taking over state and federal government positions after the Civil War.

The plaintiffs in the cases contend that Section 3 is simply another qualification for the presidency, just like the Constitution’s requirement that a president be at least 35 years old. They filed in Minnesota because the state has a quick process to challenge ballot qualifications, with the case heard directly by the state’s highest court.

Trump’s attorneys argued that Section 3 has no power without Congress laying out the criteria and procedures for applying it, that the Jan. 6 attack doesn’t meet the definition of insurrection and that the former president was simply using his free speech rights. They also argued that the clause doesn’t apply to the office of the presidency, which is not mentioned in the text.

Parallel cases are being heard in other states, including Colorado, where a state judge has scheduled closing arguments for next week.

Many legal experts expect the issue to eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never ruled on Section 3.

Secretaries of state have generally said they don’t have the power to determine whether Trump should not be on the ballot and have sought guidance from courts.  
…

The husband of Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist jailed in Russia on accusations that she failed to register as a foreign agent, is calling on the U.S. government to declare her “wrongfully detained.”

Kurmasheva, an American-Russian dual citizen, was detained on October 18. Authorities ordered her held until at least December 5.

The editor works with the Tatar-Bashkir service for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL. She and her media outlet deny the charges against her.   

In his first public comments since Kurmasheva’s detention, her husband, Pavel Butorin, is urging the United States to classify the journalist as “wrongfully detained,” which would open additional government resources to help secure her release.

“We’re already very grateful for the support that we are receiving,” Butorin told VOA’s sister outlet RFE/RL. “This is a very important designation, the kind that comes from the United States government and from the State Department.”

Butorin, like Kurmasheva, works from the RFE/RL offices in Prague. Butorin heads Current Time TV, a Russian-language TV and digital network led by RFE/RL in partnership with VOA. 

“There is nothing we want to happen more than to get Alsu back. My children need her. I need my wife back,” Butorin said.

Kurmasheva has had no contact with her family since her arrest. 

The journalist had traveled to Russia in May for a family emergency. When she tried to return to Prague in June, her passports were confiscated. She was waiting for those documents to be returned when authorities detained her on October 18. 

Now, Kurmasheva is facing five years in prison for allegedly violating Russia’s “foreign agent” law.

Moscow says its foreign agent law is a response to the U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act, but analysts say that the Kremlin uses the designation to target critics. 

Russia designated the U.S. Congress-funded RFE/RL a foreign agent in 2020.

The independent network refused to comply with the requirement to register as a foreign agent, saying it would be an invasion of its editorial processes and would limit the ability of the network to work.

U.S. officials and the U.N. Human Rights Office, along with media freedom and human rights groups, have called on Moscow to release Kurmasheva. 

“This appears to be another case of the Russian government harassing U.S. citizens,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in October.

Russia’s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. 

One of two journalists detained this year

Kurmasheva is the second American journalist jailed in Russia this year. 

In March, Russian authorities detained American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government deny. 

Declared wrongfully detained by the U.S. government, Gershkovich, 32, is in pre-trial detention until at least November 30. The detention period has been twice extended and appeals for bail denied.

“It’s really hard to believe that our colleague, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, has now been wrongfully detained for more than six months,” Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said Tuesday at an Atlantic Council event about threats facing foreign correspondents.

“In 2023, journalism is under attack. Make no mistake about it,” Latour said. 

Paul Beckett, an assistant editor at the Journal who is focused on securing Gershkovich’s release, said the reporter is “in pretty decent shape” considering the circumstances. He added that the letters of support Gershkovich receives mean “a massive amount.”

The jailings of Gershkovich and Kurmasheva underscore global threats facing press freedom.  

At the end of 2022, a record high of 363 reporters were jailed around the world, according to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Of those, 19 were detained in Russia.

“The environment for journalists everywhere has deteriorated dramatically in recent years, and that’s in part because we’re seeing a global decline in democracy,” CPJ president Jodie Ginsberg said at the Atlantic Council. 
…

Farmers in the U.S. are closely connected to developments in Ukraine and are intently watching for clues about how the war is affecting not only farmers abroad, but also their own operations at home. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Decatur, Illinois.
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Her father gave caustic testimony. Her brothers each spent more than a day on the witness stand.

Now it’s Ivanka Trump’s turn to face questioning in the civil fraud trial that is publicly probing into the family business. Former President Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, who has been in his inner circle in both business and politics, is due on the stand Wednesday, after trying unsuccessfully to block her testimony.

Unlike her father and her brothers, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., she is no longer a defendant in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.

James alleges that Donald Trump’s asset values were fraudulently pumped up for years on financial statements that helped him get loans and insurance.

The non-jury trial will decide allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud and falsifying business records — but Judge Arthur Engoron already has resolved the lawsuit’s top claim by ruling that Trump engaged in fraud.

That decision came with provisions that could strip the ex-president of oversight of such marquee properties as Trump Tower, though an appeals court is allowing him continued control of his holdings, at least for now.

James, a Democrat, is seeking over $300 million in penalties and a ban on Trump doing business in New York.

The ex-president and Republican 2024 front-runner denies any wrongdoing, as do the other defendants. He insisted in court Monday that his financial statements greatly underestimated his net worth, that any discrepancies were minor, that a disclaimer absolved him of liability and that “this case is a disgrace.”

Ivanka Trump was an executive vice president at the family’s Trump Organization before becoming an unpaid senior adviser in her father’s White House.

Like her brothers, who are still Trump Organization EVPs, she has professed minimal knowledge of their father’s annual financial statements.

“I don’t, specifically, know what was prepared on his behalf for him as a person, separate and distinct from the organization and the properties that I was working on,” she said during sworn questioning for the investigation that eventually led to the lawsuit.

She said she didn’t know who prepared the statements or how the documents were compiled.

As a Trump Organization executive, Ivanka Trump dealt with securing a loan and a lease for a Washington hotel and financing for the Doral golf resort near Miami and a hotel and condo skyscraper in Chicago, according to court filings.

As her father’s inauguration neared, she announced in January 2017 that she was stepping away from her Trump Organization job. After her time in the administration, she moved to Florida.

An appeals court dismissed her as a defendant in the lawsuit in June, saying the claims against her were too old.

Her attorneys contended that she shouldn’t have to testify. They said the state was just trying to harass the family by dragging her into court.

The attorney general’s office argued that her testimony would be relevant, saying she was involved in some events discussed in the case and remains financially and professionally entwined with the Trump Organization and its leaders.

The company has bought insurance for her and her businesses, managed her household staff and credit card bills, rented out her apartment and paid her legal fees, according to the state’s court papers.

Engoron and, later, an appeals court ruled that she had to testify.

 
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