Michael Cohen described a hush-money deal
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer, returned to the stand yesterday to face attorneys for the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace, in addition to Donald Trump’s authorized group, within the case towards the previous president.
Cohen advised jurors that he obtained month-to-month checks — most bearing the previous president’s signature — that presupposed to be a part of a authorized “retainer” settlement, however that had been actually reimbursements for hush cash he had paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges that she had a sexual relationship with Trump. Cohen’s testimony was the primary and solely private account tying Trump to the paperwork on the crux of his case.
In a barrage of questions, Trump’s attorneys sought to painting Cohen as an opportunist. Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, pressed Cohen about his social media posts, his efforts to monetize his feud with the previous president, his personal felony historical past and his need to see Trump behind bars.
Evaluation: The protection appeared to be attempting to painting Cohen as, “basically, Trump’s stalker,” my colleague Maggie Haberman wrote — a person as soon as obsessive about the previous president who was now equally obsessive about getting revenge.
What’s subsequent: Trump’s attorneys indicated that they may name an professional witness and that they’d not determined if they’d name Trump himself.
Different particulars: In a blow to Trump, an appeals courtroom upheld the choose’s gag order.
Russia widened its purge of the Protection Ministry
Russian safety brokers detained Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov, a senior common, early yesterday on an accusation of “large-scale” bribery, based on Russia’s Investigative Committee, a federal regulation enforcement company. His detention got here days after Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, unexpectedly changed his long-serving protection minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Prosecutors mentioned that Normal Kuznetsov obtained a bribe from “business pursuits” between 2021 and 2023, when he was engaged on the safety of state secrets and techniques. The prosecutors claimed that safety brokers found money equal to $1 million and luxurious objects throughout a search of his residence.
U.N. adjusted its loss of life toll in Gaza
The U.N. has begun citing a a lot decrease loss of life toll for ladies and youngsters in Gaza, acknowledging that it has incomplete details about the casualties throughout Israel’s warfare on the territory.
The group now cites 4,959 ladies and seven,797 kids killed, down from at the least 9,500 ladies and 14,500 kids earlier this month. Whereas the entire variety of casualties — roughly 35,000 — remained broadly the identical, a U.N. official mentioned that the group was awaiting extra figuring out info for about 10,000 of the useless, in order that they weren’t included within the new breakdown.
Background: The change got here as a result of the U.N. switched to citing a extra conservative supply for its numbers. The change has added gasoline to a debate over the credibility of these figures, although many worldwide officers and consultants say that the numbers are usually dependable.
Gaza: Israeli navy leaders have grown more and more annoyed with the shortage of a plan for governing the territory after the warfare.
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Britain’s butlers are nonetheless buttling — however not fairly as they as soon as did. As of late, the function now entails not solely sharpening silver and folding napkins but additionally life-style administration, akin to a personal maitre d’.
Purchasers’ requests generally run to the weird. “The shopper pointed towards the shoreline and mentioned, ‘Tonight I’d wish to have dinner on high of that mountain — please organize it,’” one veteran butler mentioned. An area restaurant was referred to as, then dinner and desk settings for six had been flown in with a helicopter.
Lives lived: Alice Munro, the Canadian author and Nobel laureate who was extensively thought-about a grasp of the quick story, has died. She was 92.
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The battle over New York Metropolis’s streets
New York Metropolis’s streets have at all times bustled, however recently they’re virtually dangerously unlivable.
Residents conflict over visitors, parking and heaps of trash. Vehicles and taxis vie for house, as buses swerve to keep away from vans parked in bike lanes. E-bikes are in all places. Far fewer pedestrians get killed by motorists lately, however final 12 months was the deadliest for cyclists since 1999.
“All of these items is attempting to suit right into a grid that was designed in 1811,” my colleague Dodai Stewart explains in a video. Aid could also be on the best way: The town is about to enact the nation’s first congestion pricing plan, which might cost most drivers $15 to enter a lot of Manhattan under sixtieth Road.
