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US Supreme Court justices disclose Bali hotel stay, Beyoncé tickets, book deals

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By Andrew Chung

(Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court justices reported receiving gifts including a stay in a Bali hotel and tickets to a Beyoncé concert, as well as nearly $1.6 million in book advances and royalties in annual financial disclosure forms for 2023 released on Friday.

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who has come under criticism for failing to disclose gifts from businessman and Republican donor Harlan Crow, revised his 2019 form to acknowledge he accepted “food and lodging” at a Bali hotel and at a California club.

Liberal Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson said she received four concert tickets from music superstar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter valued at $3,711.84.

And conservative Justice Samuel Alito, under fire for reports that flags associated with Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, got a 90-day extension on his filing.

The filings showed the justices’ outside income, gifts and investment transactions last year. They are closely watched as the justices have faced increasing scrutiny over ethics following revelations that some of them failed to report luxury trips, including on private jets, and real estate transactions.

Thomas reported no trips in 2023 after disclosing trips to Dallas, Texas and New York’s Adirondack Mountains in 2022. He cited security concerns after a leak of the court’s 2022 decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion to justify the need to travel privately.

The disclosures showed the lucrative nature of book publishing for members of the nation’s highest judicial body. The advance for Jackson’s memoir “Lovely One,” set for release in September, was reported as $893,750.

In addition to the Beyoncé tickets, Jackson said she received artwork for her chambers worth $12,500.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh listed book “royalty income” from Javelin Group and Regnery Publishing for $340,000. News website Axios reported on Thursday that he is writing a memoir, expected to be published in 2025 or 2026. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch reported $250,000 in book royalties, as did liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor for nearly $87,000.

The publishing proceeds supplement the justices’ salaries. This year the eight associate justices will receive $298,500, with Chief Justice John Roberts getting $312,200.

Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, is embroiled in ethics controversy after refusing to recuse himself from two pending cases related to the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Alito said the flags were flown at his homes by his wife and neither of them knew the flags were associated with Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement.

Under pressure from the drumbeat of criticism over ethical standards, the justices in November adopted their first code of conduct.

© Reuters. October 7, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Critics and some congressional Democrats have said the ethics code does not go far enough to promote transparency, continuing to leave decisions to recuse from cases to the justices themselves and providing no mechanism of enforcement.

Democrats reiterated the need for legislation last month after Alito rejected their calls for recusal in the 2020 election cases.

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Insight Partners closes in on new $10 billion fund, FT reports

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(Reuters) -Private equity firm Insight Partners is on the brink of closing a new $10 billion-plus fund, roughly half the amount originally targeted, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing five people with knowledge of its plans.

Insight will not formally close its 13th fund until early next year, the report said, adding that the final figure may be closer to $12 billion.

Insight Partners declined to comment on the report.

The report said Insight is using a private equity-style structure to sell more than $1 billion worth of stakes in start-ups and to free up cash to return to investors.

One of the start-ups is Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, which had called off a $23 billion deal with Google parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:) in July, the report said.

New York-based Insight raised $20 billion for its 12th flagship fund in 2022, aiming to ramp up investments in software and technology companies.

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Houthi missile reaches central Israel for first time, no injuries reported

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JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would inflict a “heavy price” on the Iran-aligned Houthis who control northern Yemen, after they reached central Israel with a missile on Sunday for the first time.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group struck with a new hypersonic ballistic missile that travelled 2,040 km (1270 miles) in just 11 1/2 minutes.

After initially saying the missile had fallen in an open area, Israel’s military later said it had probably fragmented in the air, and that pieces of interceptors had landed in fields and near a railway station. Nobody was reported hurt.

Air raid sirens had sounded in Tel Aviv and across central Israel moments before the impact at around 6:35 a.m. local time (0335 GMT), sending residents running for shelter. Loud booms were heard.

Reuters saw smoke billowing in an open field in central Israel.

At a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the Houthis should have known that Israel would exact a “heavy price” for attacks on Israel.

“Whoever needs a reminder of that is invited to visit the Hodeida port,” Netanyahu said, referring to an Israeli retaliatory air strike against Yemen in July for a Houthi drone that hit Tel Aviv.

The Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Israel repeatedly in what they say is solidarity with the Palestinians, since the Gaza war began with a Hamas attack on Israel in October.

The drone that hit Tel Aviv for the first time in July killed a man and wounded four people. Israeli air strikes in response on Houthi military targets near the port of Hodeidah killed six and wounded 80.

Previously, Houthi missiles have not penetrated deep into Israeli air space, with the only one reported to have hit Israeli territory falling in an open area near the Red Sea port of Eilat in March.

Israel should expect more strikes in the future “as we approach the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 operation, including responding to its aggression on the city of Hodeidah,” Sarea said.

The deputy head of the Houthi’s media office, Nasruddin Amer, said in a post on X on Sunday that the missile had reached Israel after “20 missiles failed to intercept” it, describing it as the “beginning”.

© Reuters. Smoke billows after a missile attack from Yemen in central Israel, September 15, 2024. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

The Israeli military also said that 40 projectiles were fired towards Israel from Lebanon on Sunday and were either intercepted or landed in open areas.

“No injuries were reported,” the military said.

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Eight die in Channel crossing attempt, French authorities say

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PARIS (Reuters) – Eight people have died trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French authorities said on Sunday, confirming earlier media reports.

This latest incident follows the deaths of 12 people earlier this month when their boat capsized in the Channel on its way to Britain and highlights the pressure on the British and French governments to find ways to tackle the boat crossings.

Jacques Billant, the Prefect of the Pas-de-Calais region, said that rescue crews were alerted that a boat with 59 people onboard was in difficulty in waters off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais area.

“A new drama took place around one in the morning and we deplore the death of eight people,” he told a news conference, adding that the other 51 onboard were now in the care of rescue and medical crews.

The dead were men from Eritrea, Sudan, Syria, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan, he added.

The Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong, which makes crossing on small boats dangerous.

© Reuters. Members of the Gendarmerie patrol at the beach in Ambleteuse, where several people reportedly died trying to cross the Channel from France to England, in Ambleteuse, France, September 15, 2024. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

The latest incident brings to 46 the number of people who have died trying to cross the Channel from France since the start of the year, Billant said.

On September 14 alone there were eight attempts to cross the Channel from France and some 200 migrants were rescued, he said.

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