Despite Texas’ strict ban on abortion, a judge there ruled today that Kate Cox, whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, could terminate her 20-week pregnancy. Her case is believed to be among the first attempts to seek a court-approved abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
The judge, Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County district court, a Democrat, agreed with Cox’s lawyers that the procedure was necessary to protect Cox from a potentially dangerous birth, and to preserve her future fertility. She issued a temporary restraining order to permit Cox’s doctor to perform an abortion without facing civil or criminal penalties.
After the ruling, the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, sent a letter to top hospital officials in Houston, where Cox’s doctor practices, saying that Cox and hospital staff could still face criminal and civil penalties, despite the judge’s order.
Paxton wrote that the restraining order “will not insulate you, or anyone else.” He added that it would expire “long before the statute of limitations for violating Texas’ abortion laws expires.”
Israel says Hamas fired rockets from ‘humanitarian zones’
İçerik Tablosu
- 1 Israel says Hamas fired rockets from ‘humanitarian zones’
- 2 Ukraine prepares for an erosion of U.S. aid
- 3 Bellevue churns poor patients through weight-loss surgery
- 4 More top news
- 5 Ava DuVernay takes a big, bold swing with ‘Origin’
- 6 So you’re in love with a bad sleeper
- 7 They’ve been reading the same book for 28 years
Over two months of war, Israel’s military has called for Gazans to evacuate the enclave’s biggest cities and move south away from the fighting. But today, the military claimed that Hamas militants fired rockets from what it called “humanitarian zones” in southern Gaza, adding to concerns that nowhere in the enclave was safe.
The military said that Hamas militants fired 14 rockets from locations that included Al-Mawasi, a barren area in Rafah that was crowded with fleeing Gazans, and that the rockets were launched “from near tents of evacuated Gazan civilians” and from “next to United Nations facilities.” The material and Israel’s account of it could not immediately be verified.
Here are the latest updates, along with maps and satellite photos showing Israel’s troop movements.
It was not clear whether Israel would now regard the area as a legitimate military target. But the Israeli claims about Al-Mawasi underscored the risks of so-called safe zones in Gaza, which the U.N. has opposed on the grounds that no one party to a war can unilaterally declare places completely safe for civilians.
Ukraine prepares for an erosion of U.S. aid
Ukrainian officials are still hopeful that Congress will ultimately pass an assistance package. But given the dire consequences if it does not, officials in Kyiv are racing to bolster their nation’s own military capabilities and working to deepen ties with other allies.
Germany, for example, announced last month that it would send four more state-of-the-art air defense systems to Ukraine in 2025, in addition to the three it had already delivered. Still, Ukrainians are having to make difficult decisions about how best to disperse resources that have dropped sharply over the last several months.
Bellevue churns poor patients through weight-loss surgery
Bellevue Hospital, New York City’s famous public hospital, is on track to perform a record 3,000 weight-loss surgeries this year. For the right patients, the operation can ward off health risks.
But dozens of interviews showed that the bariatric program, led by surgeons who have financial incentives to perform more operations, has become a high-speed assembly line that has endangered some patients and compromised urgent care for others. Read the full investigation.
More top news
Ava DuVernay takes a big, bold swing with ‘Origin’
The director Ava DuVernay did something unusual with her screen adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s best-selling nonfiction book “Caste.” She turned Wilkerson into a dramatic character who traverses the world, and history, while developing a thesis about oppression.
Our critic Manohla Dargis thinks the approach works: “While the film is more persuasive as a drama than the argument it relays, few American movies this year reach so high so boldly.”
So you’re in love with a bad sleeper
Getting a good night’s sleep is hard for those who share a bed with a restless sleeper. But there are some solutions.
The easiest fix, experts say, is to sleep in separate beds (which has long been derided as “sleep divorce.”) But for couples who are uninterested in that solution, we have other tips, including finding the right bed or staggering your bedtimes.
They’ve been reading the same book for 28 years
A book club in California gathered for the first time in 1995 and started reading James Joyce’s notoriously challenging novel, “Finnegans Wake.” They haven’t stopped since.
Meeting once a month and reading one or maybe two pages per session — a pace designed to accommodate Joyce’s often perplexing language, which includes phrases like: “This is Roo-shious balls” and “oystrygods gaggin fishy- gods!” — the club’s members finally finished the book in October. Now, they’re starting it all over again.
Have a dedicated evening.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew
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