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 staff, within the case towards the previous president.
Cohen informed jurors that he acquired 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 the truth is 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 legal historical past and his want to see Trump behind bars.
Evaluation: The protection appeared to be attempting to painting Cohen as, “primarily, 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 might name an knowledgeable witness and that they’d not determined if they’d name Trump himself.
Different particulars: In a blow to Trump, an appeals court docket upheld the decide’s gag order.
Russia widened its purge of the Protection Ministry
Russian safety brokers detained Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov, a senior basic, early yesterday on an accusation of “large-scale” bribery, in accordance with 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 Common Kuznetsov acquired a bribe from “industrial 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 gadgets throughout a search of his residence.
U.N. adjusted its demise toll in Gaza
The U.N. has begun citing a a lot decrease demise toll for ladies and kids in Gaza, acknowledging that it has incomplete details about the casualties throughout Israel’s battle on the territory.
The group now cites 4,959 girls and seven,797 youngsters killed, down from a minimum of 9,500 girls and 14,500 youngsters earlier this month. Whereas the whole 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 lifeless, 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 specialists say that the numbers are usually dependable.
Gaza: Israeli navy leaders have grown more and more annoyed with the dearth of a plan for governing the territory after the battle.
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Britain’s butlers are nonetheless buttling — however not fairly as they as soon as did. Nowadays, the position now includes not solely sharpening silver and folding napkins but additionally way of life administration, akin to a non-public maitre d’.
Purchasers’ requests generally run to the bizarre. “The shopper pointed towards the shoreline and mentioned, ‘Tonight I’d wish to have dinner on prime of that mountain — please prepare it,’” one veteran butler mentioned. A neighborhood 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 of 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 these days they’re nearly dangerously unlivable.
Residents conflict over visitors, parking and heaps of trash. Automobiles and taxis vie for area, as buses swerve to keep away from vehicles parked in bike lanes. E-bikes are in every single place. Far fewer pedestrians get killed by motorists today, however final yr was the deadliest for cyclists since 1999.
“All of these things is attempting to suit right into a grid that was designed in 1811,” my colleague Dodai Stewart explains in a video. Reduction could also be on the way in which: 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 Avenue.
