A New York prosecutor as we speak debuted the state’s case towards Donald Trump to the jury of Manhattan residents that shall be requested to render a verdict in about six weeks. Throughout a 45-minute opening assertion, the prosecutor detailed a scandalous story wherein he accused the previous president of partaking in a “felony conspiracy” to cowl up three intercourse scandals that threatened Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign.
“It was election fraud,” the prosecutor Matthew Colangelo mentioned.
Trump watched from the protection desk, often shaking his head. His lead lawyer, Todd Blanche laid out a dual-track protection: He downplayed the costs as a minor “enterprise information violation” and questioned the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses, together with Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
Earlier than the trial adjourned early for Passover, the jury additionally heard from the prosecution’s first witness, David Pecker, the previous tabloid writer who was shut with Trump. Pecker testified that his tabloids practiced “checkbook journalism.”
Prosecutors mentioned Pecker purchased and buried tales that would have imperiled Trump’s marketing campaign. They are going to attempt to persuade the jury {that a} hush cash fee to a porn actress on the middle of the trial was half of a bigger effort to suppress detrimental information, which incorporates two different offers involving Pecker.
Justices appeared to aspect with metropolis on homeless penalties
Throughout greater than two and a half hours of arguments as we speak, the Supreme Courtroom’s conservative majority appeared inclined to uphold native legal guidelines that allowed a small Oregon metropolis to bar homeless folks from sleeping in public areas. The three liberal justices strongly pushed again.
The case stems from homeless residents in Grants Cross who challenged the enforcement by arguing that they’re involuntarily homeless as a result of there are not any shelter beds obtainable. That argument appeared to resonate with the liberal justices — “The place are they speculated to sleep?” Justice Sonia Sotomayor requested — whereas the conservatives appeared ready to depart the difficulty to native lawmakers.
In associated information, the Supreme Courtroom agreed as we speak to listen to a problem to the Biden administration’s regulation of “ghost weapons.”
Professional-Palestinian protests disrupt faculty campuses
At Columbia College, courses had been held remotely as we speak after pro-Palestinian demonstrations on and round campus left some Jewish college students fearing for his or her security. At Yale, the police arrested not less than 47 protesters who had defied orders to depart an encampment. At N.Y.U., college students refused the college’s demand to depart a campus plaza.
Demonstrations had been reported at M.I.T., Michigan, Tufts and different campuses. Harvard leaders deliberate for Harvard Yard to be closed for a lot of the week. Directors at some colleges tried to defuse the protests, whereas balancing free speech rights and the fears of many Jewish college students, who mentioned a number of the demonstrations had veered into antisemitism. Right here’s the newest.
In information from the battle, the top of intelligence for Israel’s navy resigned as we speak, following the intelligence failures that preceded the Hamas-led assaults on Israel on Oct. 7.
Biden used Earth Day to attraction to youthful voters
President Biden as we speak visited a nationwide park in Virginia, the place he introduced $7 billion in grants to fund solar energy for a whole lot of hundreds of properties, primarily in deprived communities.
The occasion was designed partially to construct enthusiasm amongst younger folks, a vital constituency for Biden’s re-election bid. A current ballot discovered that roughly 58 % of voters had heard “little” or “nothing in any respect” about his signature local weather invoice, the Inflation Discount Act, which was handed in 2022.
Ask a local weather reporter: In a brand new sequence, we reply your local weather questions. First up: Is on-line procuring unhealthy for the planet?
Putin arrives on Broadway
Peter Morgan, who created “The Crown,” spent years pulling again the curtain on the British royal household and writing about well mannered, repressed ladies like Princess Diana. His new Broadway play, “Patriots,” which opened as we speak, is immersed in a really male, very violent setting: Vladimir Putin’s rise to energy and the Russian oligarchs who mistakenly thought he’d be their puppet.
“It felt like a pure factor to do, having spent a lot time within the one world to enter one other world simply to loosen up slightly,” Morgan instructed Maureen Dowd, the Occasions Opinion columnist.
Take a look at our evaluation.
How one can gown if you don’t wish to look younger
A reader in her 30s lately wrote in asking what to put on to look extra mature. Her drawback: A number of folks had mistakenly assumed she was in her early 20s, which might be demoralizing at work.
Our trend critic Vanessa Friedman steered specializing in the main points. Take into account it a precedence to put on outfits with out wrinkles, sweaters with out unfastened threads, a tucked-in shirt and, maybe most vital, a well-tailored jacket. “The extra you seem to respect your self, the extra others might respect you,” Vanessa wrote.
Elizabeth II will get a statue (corgis included)
Eighteen months after Queen Elizabeth II’s loss of life, Britain is starting to commemorate its former monarch with the revealing of a number of statues. The primary memorial statue, a seven-foot bronze work of the queen in flowing robes with three corgis at her ft, was unveiled yesterday within the English market city of Oakham.
The Oakham statue is one in all many who painting Queen Elizabeth as heat and approachable — a noticeable distinction to the strict statues of Queen Victoria.
Have a regal night.
Thanks for studying. I’ll be again tomorrow. — Matthew
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