A court battle to determine the future of Rupert Murdoch's media empire and a £14.9bn family trust begins in the US on Monday.
The case will pit 93-year-old Mr Murdoch against three of his eldest children over who will gain the most voting shares and power to control News Corp and Fox News when the billionaire dies.
It has been reported that Mr Murdoch wanted to amend a family trust created in 1999 so that son Lachlan could take control without "interference" from his siblings Prudence, Elisabeth and James.
The famous family was one of the inspirations behind the hugely popular TV series Succession - something the Murdochs have always refused to comment on.
Mr Murdoch, who has been married five times, also has two younger children, Grace and Chloe, who do not have any voting rights under the trust agreement.
Senate GOP Blocks IVF Bill Again as Democrats Spotlight Issue Ahead of Elections
by Clare Foran, Morgan Rimmer and Ted Barrett
September 17, 2024
Introduction:
Washington CNN — Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to block a bill that would guarantee access to in vitro fertilization nationwide –- as Democrats spotlight the issue in the run-up to the November elections.
Democrats brought the bill back to the Senate floor after Republicans previously blocked the measure from advancing in June.
Many Republicans criticized the Democrat-led legislation as unnecessary overreach and a political show vote, while saying they do support IVF. The tally was 51 to 44 with GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins crossing over to vote with Democrats in favor of advancing the bill on a procedural vote.
The vote is part of a broader push by Senate Democrats to draw a contrast with Republicans over reproductive health care as the 2024 elections approach.
It also gave Democrats an opportunity to put Republicans on the spot after GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said in August that, if elected, he would implement a policy to require either the government or insurance companies to pay for IVF treatment. Democrats have questioned the sincerity of the proposal.
caltrek’s comment: In all fairness, Republicans have expressed disagreement with details of the measure as presented and have proposed their own alternatives supporting IVF treatment.
About 50 juveniles ransacked a 7-Eleven in Los Angeles on Friday night, the LAPD confirmed.
The department said officers received a call around 7:25 p.m. that about 50 kids biked to the 7-Eleven located on the border of Beverly Hills at 8500 W Olympic Blvd. and stole items from the store.
The underage suspects fled the scene on their bikes before officers arrived.
An Instagram account named Street People of Beverly Hills posted videos that show the crowd of minors biking into the parking lot, running inside and escaping with their hands and pockets full of snacks and other items.
Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable. by Kavitha Surana
September 16, 2024
Introduction:
(ProPublica) In her final hours, Amber Nicole Thurman suffered from a grave infection that her suburban Atlanta hospital was well-equipped to treat.
She’d taken abortion pills and encountered a rare complication; she had not expelled all of the fetal tissue from her body. She showed up at Piedmont Henry Hospital in need of a routine procedure to clear it from her uterus, called a dilation and curettage, or D&C.
But just that summer, her state had made performing the procedure a felony, with few exceptions. Any doctor who violated the new Georgia law could be prosecuted and face up to a decade in prison.
Thurman waited in pain in a hospital bed, worried about what would happen to her 6-year-old son, as doctors monitored her infection spreading, her blood pressure sinking and her organs beginning to fail.
It took 20 hours for doctors to finally operate. By then, it was too late.
Senate Averts Government Shutdown by Stef W. Kight
September 25, 2024
Entire article (less photograph):
(Axios) In one of their final leadership rodeos, Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) successfully passed a clean, temporary spending measure to avert a government shutdown — at least until December.
Why it matters: A majority of Republicans joined the chamber's Democrats in supporting the legislation, despite former President Trump's demands for election security measures.
• The vote was 78-18.
• It passed the House earlier Wednesday, 341-82, with 209 Democrats and 132 Republicans voting for it.
What to watch: Congress will not be back in session until after the Nov. 5 election.
• Then, the harder fight to fully fund the government will begin without the election year concerns around a shutdown.
• Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has already promised not to allow a December omnibus — nor minibuses, which will make the lame duck task even more difficult.
