By Kara Scannell, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge scolded attorneys for the Justice Department and Live Nation for secretly negotiating a settlement to resolve allegations the ticket giant operated as a monopoly while the trial was underway.

Judge Arun Subramanian called the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division, Omar Assefi, and Live Nation’s chief executive, Michael Rapino, into court Tuesday to answer questions after he was blindsided by the deal.

On Monday the Justice Department and Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, announced they reached a settlement they said will benefit consumers by giving them more options and lowering prices.

More than 30 state attorneys general are also part of the case against Live Nation, but said in court filings they were only given one day to decide whether to join the settlement. As of Tuesday, most of them had not signed onto the deal, raising questions about whether the trial would proceed. Some states have asked for a mistrial and at least 60 days to recast their case.

The judge said he was not ruling on the motion for a mistrial and admonished the states saying that they should have been prepared for the possibility of a deal after they learned at the end of January that preliminary settlement talks were underway between the Justice Department and Live Nation.

“From all sides the parties conduct here strains the bounds of responsible conduct and is inconsistent” with traditions and principles in this courthouse, Subramanian said.

The judge ordered Assefi, Rapino and lawyers for the state settlement committee to remain in the courthouse to try to see if they could strike a deal this week. The trial has been put on hold until Monday.

Secret settlement talks

The judge said he learned that Live Nation and DOJ were close to a settlement the weekend before the antitrust trial started on March 2.

“Nevertheless neither the United States nor Live Nation told the court about that imminent deal before trial commenced. Instead, both parties allowed a jury to be selected. We spent a whole day here. We swore them in. It was only at that point that the court was informed that there was the potential for the settlement,” the judge said to a courtroom packed with attorneys.

He said the Justice Department and Live Nation signed a term sheet last Thursday outlining the parameter of the settlement but he didn’t learn about it until 8 p.m. on Sunday night – while he was still fielding questions about motions and exhibits from the trial team.

“Parties were acting as if we were going into trial on Monday when the leadership of the United States and the leadership of Live Nation were fully aware they had a signed term sheet. Again, this is hard to understand,” the judge said.

He added it is “mindboggling” that Assefi’s deputy was unaware that a term sheet had been signed last Thursday. The Justice Department continued to call witnesses ending the trial day Friday with one expert on the stand.

Lawyers for the states accused the Justice Department of secretly negotiating with Live Nation.

“When the Plaintiff States learned of settlement negotiations via media coverage, they repeatedly contacted both the DOJ and Defendants to request information about any proposed settlement terms. Both parties declined and the Plaintiff States remained wholly in the dark until the afternoon of March 3, 2026,” the states wrote in a court filing.

“Had Defendants chosen to meaningfully engage the Proceeding Plaintiff States in settlement negotiations, the Proceeding Plaintiff States could have tried to negotiate a settlement that would be adequate to address their competitive concerns. The decision to continue with the case or settle with Defen

The post Community Outreach For Waterfront Adaptation Plan Launching at City Council March 10 appeared first on edhat.

The post Wave of California Teacher Strikes ‘is no Coincidence’ appeared first on edhat.

By Katelyn Polantz, Hannah Rabinowitz, Evan Perez, CNN

(CNN) — Justice Department prosecutors leading an investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan are facing increasing pressure from top Justice officials to bring criminal charges against him after the department has flailed in trying to punish President Donald Trump’s perceived enemies, people briefed on the matter told CNN in recent days.

Prosecutors in the Miami US attorney’s office have been leading the Brennan probe, which relates to testimony the ex-intelligence chief gave to Congress in 2023 and the Russia investigation years earlier, issuing two rounds of subpoenas to several witnesses.

Yet the push for charges has run into career prosecutors raising concerns in southern Florida, with some viewing the potential case as relatively weak.

Brennan’s lawyers have been bracing for a possible indictment for months now, which has not materialized.

Justice officials and US Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones made a push in January to bring a case against him, according to two people briefed on the matter, but some career prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida resisted the pressure.

Those career prosecutors are facing a new wave of pressure now, one of the sources said, and are struggling to delay bringing the case to a grand jury.

At first, the prosecutors gathered documents late last year from Brennan and other former intelligence officials. The subpoenas specifically sought information about a 2017 intelligence report on Russian meddling in the election that Brennan worked on, and which he spoke about in his 2023 congressional testimony.

A second round of subpoenas went in January to several former government officials and sought years of documents, including government records on the 2016 Russia investigation the people would no longer have access to, two people familiar with the investigation told CNN recently. At least one former intelligence community official has been interviewed in the probe, one source said.

Though Brennan could still face grand jury activity, the investigation also could fall apart.

His lawyers have said accusations of perjury, for instance, are without any merit.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment for this story, saying it does not comment on ongoing investigations.

Hanging over their heads

Several of the probes launched into the actions of the president’s political foes have failed when presented to a grand jury over the last year. Other investigations have been opened but have yet to result in criminal charges — hanging for months over the heads of their targets.

But even cases that never materialize can be disruptive to subjects’ lives, as people who believe they are being investigated by prosecutors and a grand jury are fearful of harm to their public reputations.

Lawyers’ fees add up, though some people in Trump’s most politically charged criminal cases are receiving low- or no-cost legal help or financial backing from others, according to several sources in the legal industry in DC.

While that’s true in any administration, the Trump Justice Department has more aggressively pursued Democratic political figures or individuals Trump and other top administration officials have said publicly they’d like to charge.

Trump in November called Brennan, Former FBI Director Com

Por Paula Hancocks, CNN

Irán advirtió que cualquier ataque contra el país desencadenaría un conflicto regional.

Estados Unidos e Israel no le creyeron o consideraron que era un riesgo que valía la pena correr. Once días después del inicio de la guerra, son las naciones del golfo Pérsico las que están pagando el precio, y ninguna más que los Emiratos Árabes Unidos.

Según el Ministerio de Defensa iraní, más de 1.700 misiles y drones han sido disparados hacia los Emiratos Árabes Unidos desde el inicio de la guerra, y más del 90 % de ellos han sido derribados por interceptores, aviones de combate y helicópteros.

El presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, admitió la semana pasada en una entrevista con Jake Tapper de la CNN que la disposición de Irán a atacar a sus vecinos árabes había sido su mayor sorpresa de la guerra.

El domingo, el Cuerpo de la Guardia Revolucionaria Islámica de Irán afirmó que estaba utilizando el 60 % de su potencia de fuego contra lo que denominó “bases” e “intereses estratégicos” estadounidenses en los países árabes vecinos, y el resto contra Israel.

Se han disparado más proyectiles contra los Emiratos Árabes Unidos que contra cualquier otro país, aparentemente incluso más que contra Israel, que junto con Estados Unidos inició esta guerra. Varios han impactado en viviendas, oficinas y carreteras de zonas urbanas densamente pobladas, matando a cuatro personas, todas civiles.

“Dubái es realmente el epicentro de la globalización”, afirma Fawaz Gerges, profesor de Relaciones Internacionales en la London School of Economics. “Los líderes iraníes consideran a Dubái como la base del sistema económico global occidental… (Su estrategia) sacude la economía mundial, no solo a Dubái y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos”.

La percepción es clave. Las imágenes de un incendio frente a un hotel internacional en Dubái o de un ataque en el recinto del Aeropuerto Internacional de Dubái captan la atención internacional mientras decenas de miles de expatriados y turistas intentan abandonar el país. Nadie resultó herido en ninguno de estos ataques, pero el impacto psicológico puede ser significativo.

Gerges señala la ironía de que los Emiratos Árabes Unidos hayan servido como un salvavidas económico para Irán durante años, mientras Teherán se enfrentaba a uno de los regímenes de sanciones más severos de la historia. Un funcionario de los Emiratos Árabes Unidos declaró a CNN que las relaciones se normalizarían eventualmente, pero que podría tomar décadas restablecer la confianza.

EAU es uno de los principales socios comerciales de Irán: ocupa el segundo lugar después de China. Los negocios entre ambos países se habían expandido incluso mientras Estados Unidos endurecía las sanciones contra el régimen. El comercio bilateral se situó en US$ 28.000 millones en 2024, según la Organización Mundial del Comercio.

Alrededor de medio millón de iraníes consideran a los Emiratos Árabes Unidos su hogar.

Irán cita la alianza estratégica de décadas de Abu Dhabi con Washington como justificación de los ataques. Designados como un “socio importante en materia de defensa” por Estados Unidos el año pasado, los Emiratos Árabes Unidos han dejado claro en quién confían para su seguridad.

Han invertido decenas de miles de millones de dólares en aviones de combate, helicópteros y sistemas de defensa aérea estadounidenses, que ahora participan activamente en la protección de los emiratíes y expatriados del ataque sin precedentes de Irán.

Sanam Vakil, de Chatham House, afirma que los Emiratos Árabes Unidos cumplen con varios requisitos de la República Islámica en su deseo de infligir dolor a Estados Unidos y sus aliados.

“Al atacar a los Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Irán no solo ataca a un socio clave de EE.UU., sino que también demuestra que un país que alberga a millones de expatriados y sirve como un importante centro de las