Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with today's New Hampshire presidential primary, which the Democrats are skipping,

while on the Republican side, it is a make-or-break moment for Nikki Haley's presidential campaign

as a likelihood of a coronation of Trump looms, in spite of Haley closing the wide gap in the polls.

Joining us is Matthew Hongoltz Hetling, a freelance journalist specializing in narrative features

and investigative reporting. He has been named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, won a George

Polk Award, and has been voted journalists of the year by the main press association

among other honors. He's the author of A Libertarian, walks into a bear, the utopian plot

to liberate an American town and some bears. And his latest book is, if it sounds like a quack,

a journey to the fringes of American medicine. We'll discuss his article at the New Republic, spot the

Nikki Haley insurgents in a sea of red maga hats, and he joins us from New Hampshire.

Then with Israel suffering 24 dead today in its protracted war with Hamas, while casualty figures

for Hamas remain unknown, the genocide case brought by South

Africa to the United Nations International Court of Justice proceeds with the real possibility

of a provisional relief ruling for a ceasefire coming soon. Joining us is Zahahasan, who is a human rights lawyer and visiting fellow at the Canadian

Dam for International Peace's Middle East Program, where her research focuses on Palestine-Israel

peace, the use of international legal mechanisms by political movements, and U.S. foreign

policy in the region.

Previously, she was the coordinator and senior legal

advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine's bid for UN membership and was a member

of the Palestinian delegation to Quartet-sponsored exploratory talks between 2011 and 2012.

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