Nation & World News- At a glance – for Sunday, April 9, 2023

Fed Up With Mayhem, Miami Beach Wants to Tame Spring Break for Good

After two fatal shootings on Ocean Drive over a March weekend, Miami Beach leaders declared a state of emergency, a midnight curfew and limited liquor sales. Now, in a new and drastic step, the city commissioners have announced a curfew for 2024, a full year in advance, and declared spring break on the streets of Miami Beach over. The decision, in the middle of the March and April season that is the most profitable time of year for local businesses, has caused both relief and consternation over the possible loss of the money spring break visitors spend on hotel rooms, nightclub cover charges and boozy cocktails.

Georgia Looms Next After Trump’s Indictment in New York

The indictment of Donald Trump in New York over hush-money payments to a porn actress was a global spectacle. But the actual charging document in the case was far less grand. In Georgia, however, there is another criminal investigation of Trump nearing completion, this one led by local prosecutor Fani Willis of Fulton County. While nothing is certain, there are numerous signs she may go big, with a more kaleidoscopic indictment charging not only Trump, but perhaps a dozen or more of his allies, on a wide range of conduct around efforts to subvert the democratic process and overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss.

For DeSantis, Overflowing War Chest Obscures the Challenges Ahead

As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares to take a widely anticipated leap into the 2024 presidential campaign, one of his chief strengths is his ability to raise huge sums from deep-pocketed donors. But his formidable war chest — at least $110 million in state and federal committees aligned with him — is no guarantee of success on the national stage, and his financial firepower brings with it a series of challenges he must navigate to capture the Republican nomination. DeSantis’ poll numbers continue to sag against former President Donald Trump’s, and DeSantis will have to overcome the grassroots enthusiasm and army of small donors Trump continues to command.

Trump and His Lawyers: A Restless Search for Another Roy Cohn

Former President Donald Trump has long been obsessed with lawyers — finding what he thinks are good lawyers and ensuring his lawyers defend him zealously in the court of public opinion. That often means measuring up to Roy Cohn, Trump’s first fixer-lawyer, who represented him in the 1970s and early 1980s. Cohn earned a reputation for practicing with threats, scorched-earth attacks and media manipulation. Trump’s unusual and impulsive efforts to identify and recruit the next Roy Cohn are not helped by the fact that Trump is not an easy client: He often tells lawyers he is smarter than them and instructs them on what to say on television and in court.

With Dueling Rulings, Abortion Pill Cases Appear Headed to the Supreme Court

Dueling rulings by two federal district judges Friday about access to a widely used abortion pill set up a conflict legal experts see going to the Supreme Court. A Texas judge issued a preliminary ruling Friday invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone. Less than an hour later, a Washington state judge’s ruling in another case ordered the FDA to make no changes to the availability of the drug in 18 states. Because the Texas case could have implications far beyond access to abortion pills and could undercut the FDA’s authority, some legal experts said conservative justices might not automatically uphold the order.

Track Cycling Champion Dies in Collision in San Francisco

A track cycling champion died after a car struck him while he was riding this week in San Francisco, a high-profile fatality that highlighted the city’s struggles to reduce traffic deaths. The cyclist, Ethan Boyes, 44, was struck around 4 p.m. Tuesday at an intersection in the Presidio, the U.S. Park Police said in a statement. The agency said Boyes was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and was later pronounced dead. It was not immediately clear whether the driver was facing charges. San Francisco last year recorded 20 pedestrian deaths, 16 motor vehicle or motorcycle deaths and one bicycle fatality.

Leaked Documents Reveal Depth of U.S. Spy Efforts and Russia’s Military Struggles

A trove of leaked Pentagon documents reveals how deeply Russia’s security and intelligence services have been penetrated by the United States, demonstrating Washington’s ability to warn Ukraine about planned strikes and providing an assessment of the strength of Moscow’s war machine. The documents portray a battered Russian military that is struggling in its war in Ukraine and a military apparatus that is deeply compromised. They contain daily real-time warnings to U.S. intelligence agencies on the timing of Moscow’s strikes and even its specific targets. Such intelligence has allowed the United States to pass on to Ukraine crucial information on how to defend itself. The source of the leak remains unknown.

China Holds Military Drills Around Taiwan in ‘Stern Warning’

China began three days of military exercises around Taiwan on Saturday in what it called a “stern warning,” after the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, met this past week with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in a show of Taiwanese-U.S. solidarity. The People’s Liberation Army said it was holding air and sea “combat readiness” patrols and drills on all four sides of Taiwan, including the strait between the island and China, in what appeared to be a concerted burst of retaliation over that meeting, which took place in California on Wednesday. Authorities also announced a live-fire exercise on waters near Pingtan, an island just off the Chinese coast facing Taiwan.

China Rejects WHO Accusations of Hiding Wuhan COVID Data

Chinese officials on Saturday denied accusations by the World Health Organization that they had been slow to share data about the possible origins of the coronavirus, blasting some in the organization as political “tools” whose remarks were “intolerable.” The rebuttal came after mounting criticism from the WHO about the revelation that Chinese scientists had data on environmental and animal samples collected in Wuhan that they had not shared earlier. On Thursday, a top WHO official said China’s “lack of data disclosure is simply inexcusable.” The chief of China’s Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention responded that the agency “did not hide any cases, samples or testing and analysis results.”

A Swedish Warship Sank in 1628. It Is Still Yielding Secrets.

On the afternoon of Aug. 10, 1628, the Vasa, built by the Swedish to be one of the most powerful warships in the Baltic, set off from the palace docks in Stockholm. A strong gust of wind caused the 226-foot-long ship to keel over as water poured in through its gun ports. About 150 people were believed to be on board when it sank. About 30 died. Now, nearly 400 years later, advanced DNA testing is allowing researchers to learn more about the ship’s dead. Eventually, additional DNA testing will provide details about the crew found on the Vasa, down to whether they had freckles or wet or dry earwax.

Ukraine Says Russia Is Preparing to Evacuate Civilians From Occupied Areas of South

Russian occupation authorities are preparing to evacuate civilians from territory that Russia controls in southern Ukraine before a potential counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces, the Ukrainian military said Saturday. Ukraine is widely expected to launch a counteroffensive in the coming weeks to recapture territory from Russian forces. Ukrainian authorities have said the precise location of that push remains a secret, but military analysts and other officials have said it could focus on the south. On Saturday, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said Russian authorities were encouraging Ukrainian citizens in parts of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of southern Ukraine to get Russian passports and then move south to the Crimean Peninsula.

U.S. Sends Attack Submarine to Middle East as Tensions Rise Between Iran and Israel

The U.S. Navy said Saturday that it had deployed a guided missile submarine to the Middle East, a day after the U.S. 5th Fleet and its partners released a warning advising all ships to proceed with caution after tensions escalated between Iran and Israel, according to a Navy spokesperson. U.S. military and Israeli intelligence agencies said the aerospace force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was preparing a drone attack against Israeli-owned civilian merchant vessels sailing in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, according to two Western senior intelligence officials with knowledge of the threats who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

By wire sources