https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-viktor-yanukovych-courts-national-security-europe-087e7a8d7574be6b5a58c778cacf24aa

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president has dismissed two judges from the country’s Constitutional Court, saying in a decree issued Saturday that certain jurists “pose a threat to the state independence and national security of Ukraine.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy removed Constitutional Court Chairman Oleksandr Tupytskyi and another judge in the decree. Tupytskyi was appointed to the court in 2013 by former President Viktor Yanukovych, who was driven from office the following year by massive protests sparked in part by anger over widespread corruption.

The Constitutional Court last year froze anti-corruption reform in the country, canceling key provisions of anti-corruption legislation that Ukraine approved after persistent demands from the West.

The Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional public access to electronic income declarations of officials, and also outlawed criminal punishment for providing false income information.

Here we go

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/10-soldiers-killed-in-myanmar-base-attack-rebel-group/2190195

An ethnic rebel group in Myanmar on Saturday claimed killing 10 government soldiers amid escalating tensions near the country’s eastern border with Thailand.

The Karen National Union (KNU), a major rebel group in the eastern Kayin state that has been fighting for decades for greater autonomy, said it raided a military base in the Hpapun district.

The attack was carried out when the military was celebrating the Armed Forces Day in the administrative capital Nay Pyi Taw, according to KNU spokesperson Padoh Man Man.

He said the group killed at least 10 government soldiers and has taken eight more hostages.

The KNU is one of 10 rebel groups that have been engaged in talks with the military for years since the signing of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement in 2015.

The groups, however, suspended the political dialogue with the military junta last month in the wake of a brutal crackdown on protests against the Feb. 1 coup.

Democrats way to solve high crime rates, don't prosecute

https://www.unilad.co.uk/news/baltimore-will-no-longer-prosecute-low-level-crimes-like-drug-possession-and-prostitution/

According to a press release, there’s been a 39% decrease in people entering the criminal justice system compared to this time last year, with Baltimore City’s incarcerated population dropping by 18% during the pandemic. Between March 13, 2020 and March 13, 2021, violent crime was down by 20% and property crime dropped by 36%.

Prosecution was stopped for the following offences: drug possession; attempted distribution; paraphernalia possession; prostitution; trespassing; minor traffic offences; open container; rogue and vagabond; and urinating/defecating in public.

In connection with these charges, 1,423 pending cases were dismissed by Mosby’s office, with 1,415 warrants quashed.

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2021/03/27/president-trump-asks-a-question/#more-210352

supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pulls a Trump move on Biden

https://www.debka.com/biden-drops-full-nuclear-compliance-demand-in-face-of-implacable-khamenei/

“That’s not the issue, who goes first,” said an unnamed US official on Friday, March 26, indicating the softening of the Biden administration’s “full compliance” stipulation for a return to nuclear talks with Iran. “The issue is do we agree on what steps are going to be taken mutually,” the official said. “It is absolutely not our position that Iran has to come into full compliance before we do anything.”

Hoping to break the stalemate blocking its efforts to restart nuclear talks with Iran, the Biden administration is seen to have taken a major step back from its oft-repeated demand for Iran’s prior “full compliance” with the JCPOA (the 2015 nuclear accord). The stalemate came this month, after European mediators succeeded in pulling off a preliminary deal in February. As DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report, Tehran consented to halt its 20pc-grade enrichment of uranium for a month or two, while Washington agreed to lift the freeze on $15bn dollars of Iranian deposits in South Korean, Japanese and Iraqi banks. That deal was to be the key to opening the door to the resumed negotiations sought by President Joe Biden on a new nuclear accord.

But it never made it past the threshold. Asked to approve the plan and give President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif the green light to go forward and restart negotiations, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed the door shut iwith an abrupt order n March to halt the backdoor talks.