03 World

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Excerpt from www.theguardian.com

Jury hears audio of Trump-Cohen conversation

They’re playing the September 2016 tape in which Michael Cohen and Donald Trump can be heard discussing how they would buy the rights to Karen McDougal’s story.

In the tape, Cohen can be heard explaining to the then presidential candidate his plans to open a company through which he would finance the purchase of the rights to McDougal’s story.

Trump can be heard saying:

Let me know what’s happening, OK? … For that one, you know, I think what you should do is get rid of this. Because it’s so false what they’re saying, it’s such bullshit.

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Excerpt from www.telesurenglish.net

On Wednesday, Honduran President Xiomara Castro expressed her support for Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who warned that his opponents are seeking to remove him from power through a coup.

“Our total and absolute support for the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, in his international denouncement that a coup d’état is being plotted against the people of Colombia,” Castro stated.

Previously, the Colombian president referred to the possibility of a coup against him through false accusations related to alleged contributions cap violations during his 2022 campaign.

On Wednesday, the National Electoral Council (CNE) decided to study a report recommending charges against Gustavo Petro for alleged irregular financing of his election campaign.

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Excerpt from timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

CAIRO/RAFAH: Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launch a major invasion of the southern Gaza city.
As ceasefire talks continued in Cairo, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks massed on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Residents and medics in Rafah, the biggest urban area in Gaza not yet overrun by Israeli ground forces, said an Israeli attack by a mosque killed at least three people and wounded others in the eastern Brazil neighbourhood.
Video footage from the scene showed the minaret lying in the rubble, two bodies wrapped in blankets and a wounded man being carried away.

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Excerpt from www.insidenova.com

An adviser to Iran’s supreme leader recently declared that Iran would alter its nuclear doctrine if Israel posed a threat to its existence, adding yet another layer of complexity to the ongoing debate surrounding Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Despite Iran’s consistent claims of pursuing a peaceful nuclear program, Western governments remain sceptical, suspecting ulterior motives behind Iran’s nuclear endeavours. This ongoing dispute has resulted in enduring sanctions and heightened tensions on the global stage.

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Excerpt from www.euronews.com

At least 10 people were reportedly injured on the Air Sénégal flight headed to Bamako.

A Boeing 737 plane skidded off the runway at the airport in the Senegal capital, Dakar, injuring at least 10 people, four of whom are in serious condition.

Some 85 people were onboard the plane that trundled off the runway onto the grass.

The Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir was headed to Bamako late on Wednesday carrying 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew, Transport Minister El Malick Ndiaye said in a statement on Thursday.

Flights have been suspended near Dakar since the incident, authorities said.

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Excerpt from news.sky.com

Miss Teen USA has given up her crown, just two days after Miss USA resigned to prioritise her mental health.

UmaSofia Srivastava, 17, said she was stepping down from the role because her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organisation”.

Posting on Instagram, she said: “I am grateful for all the support from my family, my state directors, my sister queens, and the fans who have cheered me on since I won my state title.

“I will always look back on my time as Miss NJ Teen USA fondly, and the experience of representing my state as a first generation, Mexican-Indian American at the national level was fulfilling in itself.”

She was crowned in September 2023.

Her announcement came after Miss USA Noelia Voigt said she was relinquishing her title with a message urging people to look after their mental health.

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Excerpt from www.cbsnews.com

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Excerpt from abcnews.go.com

 Spanish state prosecutors have recommended that an investigating judge shelve a probe into another alleged case of tax fraud by pop star Shakira.

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Excerpt from www.themoscowtimes.com

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov has been accused of accepting a bribe “in the form of services” valued at more than 1 billion rubles ($12.2 million), Russian media reported Wednesday.

Ivanov, 48, faces up to 15 years in prison for large-scale bribe-taking, which investigators say centers around a “criminal conspiracy” to accept funds “in the form of property services during the course of contracting and subcontracting work for the Defense Ministry.”

Ivanov, who is viewed as a close ally of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, has denied the allegations.

His attorney Murad Musayev told the state-run TASS news agency that the services his client was accused of accepting were “the cost of work and the materials spent on it,” all valued at around 1.12 billion rubles.

“The criminal case is related to construction. A number of Defense Ministry contractors are alleged to have built certain facilities for Ivanov, which we emphasize is not true,” Musayev said without elaborating.

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Excerpt from www.yahoo.com

Pakistani security forces kill 6 militants in twin raids in volatile northwest near Afghanistan

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Excerpt from www.barrons.com

Myanmar’s junta on Wednesday denied a request by former Cambodian leader Hun Sen for talks with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained since a 2021 coup.

Suu Kyi has largely been hidden from view since the military detained her as they seized power in a putsch that has plunged the country into turmoil.

The junta has rebuffed numerous requests by foreign leaders and diplomats to meet the Nobel laureate, 78, who has reportedly suffered health problems during more than three years in detention.

On Tuesday Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades before stepping down last year, said he had requested a meeting with Suu Kyi during video talks with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

But the junta had “no reason to facilitate it at this moment,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in an audio message released by the military’s information team.

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Excerpt from www.aspistrategist.org.au

Western analysts risk overestimating China’s emergence as an Arctic power, spurred by fears that they initially neglected the reappearance of the Arctic as a theatre for strategic competition. Contrary to such alarmist views, Beijing is in fact far more constrained in the region, mainly because of Russia’s ability to resist encroachment and China’s ability to accept limited resource and transit opportunities there.

In assessing China’s influence over Russia in the Arctic, there is a tendency to portray Russia as little more than a springboard for Chinese interests. In this flawed perception, President Vladimir Putin has invited Beijing into his Arctic larder as a way of buying goodwill for his invasion of Ukraine. But this underestimates Moscow, which assumes its alliance with China will hold without such bargaining. Russia also jealously guards its backyard and signals that regional advances made by China would injure their alignment elsewhere in locations with far greater strategic importance for Beijing.

To this end, Putin has stalled projects that fail to further his strategic agenda or give him a controlling stake. Russian law stipulates that, while private Russian energy firms can develop in the Arctic zone, they may not cede controlling stakes to foreign firms. Furthermore, Russia has not given China privileged use of the North Sea Route or its six major ports—Pevek, Tiksi, Dikson, Sabetta, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk. Chinese ships have either been refused entry or have abided by Russian transit laws that force them to pay tolls, provide ample notice about journeys and accept Russian pilots.

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Excerpt from english.ahram.org.eg

Cairo round of talks on Gaza truce continues amid remarkable agreement – Foreign Affairs – Egypt  Ahram Online

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Excerpt from www.mirror.co.uk

British former inmate Natalie Welsh described life inside Venezuela’s notorious San Antonio prison as ‘like a war zone’ – and revealed how inmates patrolled the walls with shotguns

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Excerpt from guardian.ng

(FILES) Former Central African Republic President Francois Bozize arrives prior his first press conference since his return at the Kwa Na Kwa headquarters in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR), on January, 27, 2020. – A UN-backed court announced on April 30, 2024 it has issued an arrest warrant for Central African Republic’s former president Francois Bozize over possible crimes against humanity committed by imprisoned soldiers between 2009 and 2013.<br />Bozize who seized power in the Central African Republic in 2003 in a coup before being overthrown 10 years later by rebels and now heads the country’s main rebellion, has been in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023. (Photo by FLORENT VERGNES / AFP)

Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo has said he will not extradite the former leader of the Central African Republic, Francois Bozize, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant over possible crimes against humanity.

A special UN-backed court in the CAR’s capital Bangui said last month it had issued an arrest warrant for Bozize as part of a probe into possible “crimes against humanity” committed by his presidential guard between 2009 and 2013 at a civilian prison and a military training facility.

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Excerpt from www.algemeiner.com

A man waves a Palestinian flag as pro-Hamas demonstrators protest next to the Greek parliament, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Athens, Greece, May 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

A mob of pro-Hamas demonstrators attempted to break into a hotel where Israeli tourists were staying in Athens, according to media reports and videos circulating on social media.

The anti-Israel protests against the war in Gaza escalated into riots, with some demonstrators attempting to breach the hotel premises.

Greek police were reportedly dispatched to the scene at Omonia Square, where they deployed gas grenades to disperse the crowd and restore order.

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Excerpt from www.yahoo.com

Polish defense minister fends off criticism after he says he keeps an emergency backpack ready

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Excerpt from www.deccanherald.com

Berlin: The United States overtook China as Germany’s most important trading partner in the first quarter of this year, according to Reuters’ calculations based on official data from the German statistics office.

Germany’s trade with the United States – exports and imports combined – totalled €63 billion ($68 billion) from January to March, while the figure for China was just under 60 billion euros, the data showed.

In 2023, China was Germany’s top trading partner for the eighth year in a row, with volumes reaching 253 billion euros, although that was only a few hundred million ahead of the US.

“German exports to the US have now risen further due to the robust economy there, while both exports to and imports from China have fallen,” said Commerzbank economist Vincent Stamer, explaining the first quarter shift.

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Excerpt from japantoday.com

Hardline Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene tried and failed in a brazen push to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, but the resounding rejection by Republicans and Democrats tired of…

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Excerpt from time.com

U.S. President Joe Biden said he would halt additional shipments of offensive weapons to Israel if the country launched a ground invasion of Rafah, decrying the potential loss of civilian life as “just wrong.”

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” Biden said in an interview Wednesday with CNN, referring to air-defense weaponry. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to—we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”

The remarks came after the U.S. paused delivery of about 3,500 bombs to Israel—including 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) explosives that could cause massive damage in the densely packed southern Gaza city of Rafah—amid mounting frustration over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza. The move marked the Biden administration’s most serious signal of displeasure over the conduct of the ongoing war against Hamas.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said.

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Excerpt from www.reddit.com

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Excerpt from www.jpost.com

 

Students are facing unsafe conditions at the University of Pennsylvania because of hostility and escalations by anti-Israel encampment activists and the failure of the administration to address them, UPenn student Eyal Yakoby told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

“I know I’m unsafe,” said Yakoby, a senior studying political science and Middle East studies. “I know that they plan to escalate.”

Yakoby published on social media on Monday what he claimed was an internal encampment document in which activists were advised to “be prepared to escalate your actions” and to build defenses and barricades. Fox News reported on Friday that they had obtained multiple activist guides such as Flood the Gates: Escalate and Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide 2024 which explain how to create barriers and shields. Yakoby shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday that a protester had brought a slingshot and switchblade into the encampment.

“It has been frustrating to see the media report as though these encampments are peaceful,” said Yakoby. “How much more documentation and videos need to be released?”