Trump's legal battle.

To the allegations of hush money, Trump submitted a not guilty plea. Donald Trump, the former president, has been charged with 34 felonies, including violating election laws and falsifying company documents.He is accused of paying Stormy Daniels a hush sum of money prior to the 2016 election. Daniels also alleges having an affair with him. Trump intends to run for president in the upcoming election and claims this is a democratic consipracy to interface his elections. 

Although hush money payments are legal, the prosecutor claimed that Trump falsified his business's record and violated election laws by hiding the payments, which is against the law. If he is found guilty, each charge against him carries a four-year prison sentence.

This case may also have an effect on his chances of receiving the Republican presidential nominee and on his career in politics.

 

N.B.A. Blames Economy for Hiring Freeze and Budget Cuts

The N.B.A., citing “economic headwinds,” instructed league office staff on Tuesday to reduce expenses and significantly limit hiring for the rest of the fiscal year. The memo was sent by Kyle J. Cavanaugh, a league executive, and David Haber, the league’s chief financial officer. The memo said the N.B.A. was “facing a very different economic reality than just one year ago.” It continued, “We are seeing significant challenges to achieving our revenue budget with additional downside risk still in front of us.” The N.B.A.’s next fiscal year begins in October, roughly lining up with the start of the 2023-24 regular season. The NBA spokesman did not address which league initiatives would be affected by the cuts or layoffs. The changes come just before the N.B.A. playoffs and a day after the league noted setting a record for attendance and sellouts for the 2022-23 regular season. On April 1, the league and the players’ union announced that they had tentatively reached a new collective bargaining agreement that would go into effect next season. During negotiations, the Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, an executive vice president in the union, told The Times that players wanted “more of a partnership” with the league, including the sharing of more of the N.B.A.’s revenue streams. Last year, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver said the league expected to take in roughly $10 billion in revenue for the 2021-22 season, between sponsors, television deals, attendance, merchandising and other revenue streams.

link: N.B.A. Blames Economy for Hiring Freeze and Budget Cuts - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The Impacts of War on Yemen's Already Unstable Economy and the Integrative Recovery Approach

In 2014, the rebel group Houthis overtook the Yemeni government in a show of anti-Western sentiment. Since then, 14 percent of Yemeni civilians have been displaced, with countless others dead at the hands of terrorists. This post seeks to outline the impact of these atrocities on people's livelihoods and provide several possible solutions.

Hanna et al. (2021) find that nearly 60 percent of the countries 377,000 deaths have been caused indirectly by lack of access to food, water, and healthcare. Out of these deaths, most of them are children. If the war continues until 2030 (meaning that international intervention is a failure), then there will be an estimated 1.3 million deaths.

Hanna et al. (2021) recommend several strategies to fix the problem in the long term, including the Fragmented Recovery and the Integrated Recovery approaches. In this model, they posit that the Integrated Recovery model is ideal and should be pursued. Where as the Fragmented Recovery approach focuses on symptoms rather than root causes, the Integrated Recovery approach addresses the systemic causes underlying the conflict.

The Integrated Recovery approach involves including more women in the solution making; engaging the international community more effectively; better connecting the public and private sectors; and investing in key Yemeni economic sectors to boost productivity.

The integrative approach has the possibility to improve the lives of women and reduce poverty, which will prioritize sustainable peace and focus on the root causes of the conflict, namely weak institutional governance. While ambitious, Hanna et al. (2021) believe that it is the solution to fix Yemen's worsening social and economic situation.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/assessing-impact-war-yemen-pathways-recovery