Selasa, 07 Mei 2024

Judge threatens Trump with jail over gag order breaches - live - The Independent

Trump responds to Columbia University canceling commencement: ‘That shouldn’t happen’

Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial will continue at Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday after Judge Juan Merchan found the former president in contempt of court for a tenth time during Monday’s session.

The justice fined the defendant another $1,000 and warned him the next violation of his gag order would result in jail time.

The jury then heard from two more witnesses, Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff, about the paper trail within the Trump Organization leading to Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence about the sexual encounter she alleges she had with Mr Trump, which his inner circle feared could sink his presidential campaign in late 2016.

As the day drew to a close, the prosecution told Judge Merchan that they expect to be able to wrap up their case in about two weeks — an extensive list of witnesses remains to be called.

Yesterday’s hearing followed Friday’s emotional testimony from the former president’s one-time White House communication director Hope Hicks, who recounted the panic that set in when the notorious Access Hollywood tape first emerged.

The Independent’s Alex Woodward is covering the trial at Manhattan Criminal Court.

1715073300

Leaked audio reveals Trump discussing his VP picks

New audio recorded at a private lunch reveals Donald Trump’s thoughts about his potential picks for a running mate in the 2024 election.

The audio, obtained by Axios, was recorded during Trump’s high-profile GOP event at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday.

Attendees included major Republican donors and his many contenders for vice president.

Here’s Katie Hawkinson’s report.

Joe Sommerlad7 May 2024 10:15
1715071545

New York hush money trial: Key takeaways from start of third week of testimony

Here’s Alex Woodward and Oliver O’Connell’s recap of yesterday’s testimony from Trump Organization insiders Jeffrey McConney and Deborah Tarasoff.

Joe Sommerlad7 May 2024 09:45
1715069700

New York hush money trial: Trump used personal checking account to pay back Michael Cohen

Jurors seated in Trump’s hush money trial on Monday finally got to see the paper trail of payments leading to Michael Cohen for buying Stormy Daniels’ silence, whose story about an alleged sexual encounter with the defendant threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign.

Those payments included cheques bearing the former president’s Sharpie-inked signature, according to documents shown in court.

A bulk of those cheques – sent to Cohen whilMr Trump was in his first year as president – came out of the then-president’s own personal checking account.

Alex Woodward reports.

Joe Sommerlad7 May 2024 09:15
1715067900

New York hush money trial: Trump threatened with jail over gag order violations

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial will consider putting the former president in jail if he continues to violate a gag order intended to protect witnesses, jurors, court staff and their families.

New York Justice Juan Merchan warned Trump at the start of Monday’s session at Manhattan Criminal Court that jail remains “truly a last resort” that would disrupt the proceedings, court staff and law enforcement but which could yet become necessary.

“The magnitude of such a decision is not lost on me,” the judge told Trump, but insisted he was more than prepared to take action to uphold “the dignity of the justice system” and prevent “a direct attack on the rule of law”.

He also fined the defendant another $1,000 – meaning he has wracked up $10,000 in fines so far – the judge siding with the prosecution on 10 of the 14 potential violations of the order they have raised while acknowledging that the sum was proving insufficient as a deterrent.

Alex Woodward reports.

Joe Sommerlad7 May 2024 08:45
1715064300

How Donald Trump plans to turn his legal woes to his advantage

Donald Trump has been forced to adapt his campaign to his first criminal trial in New York. Prosecutors allege he committed financial fraud to hide hush money payments to a porn actor, Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with Trump. He denies her claim and has pleaded not guilty.

For now, Mr Trump is forced to attend the trial most weekdays. A verdict is likely still weeks away. And after that, he faces the prospect of more trials related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents. The Supreme Court is weighing whether Trump should be granted immunity, or partial immunity, for the actions he took while in office.

The former US president over the past week wedged in campaign stops around his court schedule, rallying voters in Wisconsin and Michigan, where the abortion debate is raging.

He seemed to be searching for a way to lessen the political sting from the upheaval over the Supreme Court’s overturning of national abortion rights. The former president suggested the issue will ultimately bring the country together as states carve out differing laws.

“A lot of bad things will happen beyond the abortion issue if you don’t win elections, with your taxes and everything else,” he told Michigan voters.

Mr Trump’s camp privately maintains that his unprecedented trial in New York will dominate the news — and voters’ attention — for the foreseeable future. His campaign has largely stopped trying to roll out unrelated news during the trial.

Even if Mr Trump were to be convicted by the New York jury, his advisers insist the fundamentals of the election will not change. He has worked aggressively to undermine public confidence in the charges against him. Meanwhile, more traditional issues work in his favour, including stubbornly high inflation and the situation at the US-Mexico border, in the view of the Trump team.

Arpan Rai7 May 2024 07:45
1715060700

Analysis: Does the quashing of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction spell hope for Trump?

Read on...

Oliver O'Connell7 May 2024 06:45
1715056200

Trump fined $1,000 for gag order violation in hush money case

The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial fined him $1,000 on Monday and, in his sternest warning yet, told the former president that future gag order violations could send him to jail.

The reprimand opened a revelatory day of testimony, as jurors for the first time heard the details of the financial transactions at the centre of the case and saw payment checks bearing Trump’s signature.

The testimony from former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney provided a mechanical but vital recitation of how the company reimbursed payments that were allegedly meant to suppress embarrassing stories from surfacing during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and then logged them as legal expenses in a manner that Manhattan prosecutors say broke the law.

McConney’s appearance on the witness stand came as the first criminal trial of a former US president entered its third week of testimony. His account lacked the human drama offered Friday by longtime Trump aide Hope Hicks, but it nonetheless yielded an important building block for prosecutors trying to pull back the curtain on what they say was a corporate records cover-up of transactions designed to protect Trump’s presidential bid during a pivotal stretch of the race.

At the centre of the testimony was a $130,000 payment Trump’s then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to porn actor Stormy Daniels in October 2016 to stifle her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.

The 34 felony counts of falsifying business records accuse Trump of labelling the money paid to Cohen in his company’s records as legal fees.

Prosecutors contend that by paying him income and giving him extra to account for taxes in monthly instalments for a year, the Trump executives were able to conceal the reimbursement.

McConney and another witness testified that all but two of the monthly checks were drawn from Trump’s personal account. Yet even as jurors saw the checks and other documentary evidence, prosecutors did not elicit testimony Monday showing that Trump himself dictated that the payments would be logged as legal expenses — a designation that prosecutors contend was intentionally deceptive.

McConney acknowledged during cross-examination that Trump never asked him to log the reimbursements as legal expenses and never discussed the matter with him at all.

Another witness, Deborah Tarasoff, a Trump Organization accounts payable supervisor, said under questioning that she did not get permission to cut the checks in question from Trump himself. “You never had any reason to believe that President Trump was hiding anything or anything like that?” Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked. “Correct,” Tarasoff replied.

The testimony followed Judge Juan M Merchan’s sober warning to Trump that additional violations of a gag order barring inflammatory out-of-court comments about witnesses, jurors and others closely connected to the case could land the former president behind bars.

The $1,000 fine imposed Monday marks the second time since the trial began last month that Trump has been sanctioned for violating the gag order.

Arpan Rai7 May 2024 05:30
1715053503

ICYMI: Hope Hicks breaks down at Trump trial

The emotional moment from Hope Hicks inside a Manhattan criminal court on Friday followed revealing testimony about her damage control in the weeks before Election Day, and her behind-the-scenes public relations efforts to salvage Mr Trump’s campaign while stories about his alleged affairs and vulgar comments about women were piling up.

Alex Woodward reports:

Oliver O'Connell7 May 2024 04:45
1715046303

Trump waves to crowd and visits McLaren garage at F1 Miami Grand Prix

Donald Trump visited Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium for Sunday’s F1 race while he took a break from his high-profile hush-money trial in New York.

The security surrounding the event in Florida has been significantly increased following the former US President’s decision to attend the sixth round of the F1 campaign.

Kieran Jackson filed this report over the weekend:

Oliver O'Connell7 May 2024 02:45
1715042703

Rubio refuses to say whether he’d leave Florida if Trump picks him as VP

Kelly Rissman reports:

And due to a ”technical glitch” in the Constitution, it may be difficult for both the VP and president to be from the same state, which means Mr Rubio may have to leave Florida.

On Fox News Sunday, host Shannon Bream asked whether the Florida Senator would leave the state of Florida or change his residency if he were asked to join Mr Trump’s 2024 ticket.

In short, the Republican lawmaker didn’t answer her question.

Continue reading...

Oliver O'Connell7 May 2024 01:45

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Israeli military claims control of Rafah crossing as Hamas accept truce - Gaza live - The Independent

Tanks seen near Gaza border as Israel vows to press ahead with Rafah ground operation

Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt in southern Gaza, the Israeli military has confirmed.

In a statement, the Israeli military wrote: “Overnight, ground troops began a precise counterterrorism operation based on [military and security] intelligence to eliminate Hamas terrorists ... within specific areas of eastern Rafah.”

US president Joe Biden has warned Israel against launching an offensive in Rafah as humanitarian organisations, led by the United Nations, warned that such an attack would lead to a “bloodbath”.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that started after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing 1,200 people. Roughly 1.4 million civilians are currently displaced in Rafah, having fled to the region to avoid Israel’s war throughout the rest of the enclave, much of which has since been razed to the ground.

It comes as Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar. A ceasefire would end seven months of war in Gaza but a deal is uncertain after Israel responded by saying the proposal did not meet its “core demands”.

1715074210

IDF official asked where people of Rafah 'are meant to go' during Israeli strikes

IDF official asked where people of Rafah 'are meant to go' during Israeli strikes
Tom Watling7 May 2024 10:30
1715073084

Dismay as Israel prepares for Rafah invasion despite Hamas ceasefire offer

Israel has defied international concern and ordered the partial evacuation of Rafah – the last refuge in Gaza, where 1.4 million desperate civilians are braced for an impending ground assault the United Nations warned could lead to “bloodbath”.

Western leaders expressed dismay that Israel might press ahead with an invasion of the tiny area despite a last-ditch bid by Hamas to secure a temporary ceasefire.

Tom Watling7 May 2024 10:11
1715071702

Rocket sirens reported at southern Gaza crossing

Sirens have sounded at the Kerem Shalom Crossing in southern Gaza, the Israeli military have reported.

Tom Watling7 May 2024 09:48
1715070646

Read between the lines for Biden’s changing position on Israel, US official says

Netanyahu is determined to attack Rafah, despite US warnings. Andrew Feinberg speaks to Israeli and American officials about what the consequences might be

Tom Watling7 May 2024 09:30
1715069446

Palestinians flee Rafah following Israeli evacuation notice

Images have shown Palestinians fleeing Rafah following the Israeli orders to evacuate the area ahead of a ground offensive.

Israeli tanks were seen rolling into the eastern side of the Rafah crossing this morning, before running down signs welcoming visitors to Gaza. Strikes in the area on Tuesday have reportedly killed 20 people already, according to the Palestinian news agecy Wafa.

Dozens of cars leave the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Israel begins its offensive in the area
Dozens of cars leave the southern Gaza city of Rafah as Israel begins its offensive in the area (EPA)
Palestinians can be seen on the back of a van heading out of Rafah
Palestinians can be seen on the back of a van heading out of Rafah (EPA)
Civilians in Rafah load up a pick-up truck with essentials after Israel issues evacuation orders
Civilians in Rafah load up a pick-up truck with essentials after Israel issues evacuation orders (EPA)
Tom Watling7 May 2024 09:10
1715068846

UPDATE: Gaza death toll nears 35,000 as Israel begin Rafah offensive

At least 34,789 Palestinians have been killed and 78,204 injured in Israel‘s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza’s health ministry has said in an updated statement.

Palestinian news agency Wafa reported this morning that 20 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by Israeli airstrikes already. It reports that an additional person was killed by a strike on Gaza City in the north.

A Palestinian wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is brought to a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip
A Palestinian wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip is brought to a hospital in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip (AP)
Tom Watling7 May 2024 09:00
1715068409

Qatar-Egypt ceasefire proposal is leaked - read below

A copy of the ceasefire proposal submitted by Qatar and Egypt concerning the war between Israel and Hamas has been leaked to Al Jazeera.

Hamas has accepted the proposal but Israel, who have just launched an offensive in Rafah, the last remaining area of the Gaza Strop to be invaded, rejected the bid.

The plan is broken down into three 42-day stages, with the majority of hostage swaps and military retreats taking place during the first stage.

During the first 42 days, 600 trucks of humanitarian aid are due to be delivered on a daily basis, while Israel is expected to slowly withdraw from areas in Gaza, starting from the north and finishing in the south.

Regarding hostages, the text reads: “During the first phase, Hamas shall release 33 Israeli captives (alive or dead), including women (civilians and soldiers), children (under the age of 19 who are not soldiers), those over the age of 50, and the sick, in exchange for a number of prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres.”

The ratio of swaps would be one Israeli hostage for 30 Palestinian prisoners.

The second and third stages relate to Israel’s “complete withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip and the subsequent reconstruction of the enclave.

You can read the full text here.

Israeli military operates in the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing
Israeli military operates in the Gazan side of the Rafah Crossing (via REUTERS)
Tom Watling7 May 2024 08:53
1715067646

Israeli offensive in Rafah ‘must not go ahead’, Sir Keir Starmer warns

An Israeli offensive in Rafah “must not go ahead”, Sir Keir Starmer has warned, after the Israeli military told Palestinians to leave parts of the southern Gazan city.

The announcement signals that a long-threatened Israeli ground invasion could be imminent, and came as ceasefire talks appeared to have stalled.

Israel had previously paused its plan to attack Rafah, which it says is the last significant Hamas stronghold, to allow for negotiations over the release of Israeli hostages by the militant group.

Tom Watling7 May 2024 08:40
1715067079

Borrell: Rafah offensive is going to cause a lot of casualties

The European Union’s top diplomat has warned that Israel’s offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah is “going to cause again a lot of casualties”.

Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said: “The Rafah offensive has started again, in spite of all the requests of the international community, the US, the European Union member states, everybody asking Netanyahu not to attack.

“I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties. Whatever they say. There are no safe zones in Gaza.”

Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, says the Israeli offensive in Rafah is going to cause a lot more casualties
Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, says the Israeli offensive in Rafah is going to cause a lot more casualties (AFP via Getty Images)
Tom Watling7 May 2024 08:31
1715066446

Mapped: Where is Rafah and why is Israel invading it?

About 1.4 million Palestinians — more than half of Gaza‘s population — are packed into the city and its surroundings, living in densely packed tent camps, shelters or overcrowded apartments after fleeing to Rafah in hope of escaping Israel‘s attacks.

Tom Watling7 May 2024 08:20

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Israeli military claims control of Rafah crossing as Hamas accept truce - Gaza live - The Independent

Tanks seen near Gaza border as Israel vows to press ahead with Rafah ground operation

Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt in southern Gaza, the Israeli military has confirmed.

This comes as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that his war cabinet had approved continuing an operation in Rafah.

A few hours earlier, Hamas announced it had accepted a ceasefire proposal put forward by mediators Egypt and Qatar. A ceasefire would end seven months of war in Gaza but a deal is uncertain after Israel responded by saying the proposal did not meet its “core demands”.

Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden warned Netanyahu against launching an offensive in Rafah as both leaders face growing public pressure to reach a ceasefire deal.

“The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.

More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war that started after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October killing 1,200 people.

1715063746

Dutch police end a pro-Palestinian demonstration at Amsterdam university

Dutch riot police have ended a pro-Palestinian demonstration at an Amsterdam university , arresting some 125 people in sometimes violent clashes.

In messages posted overnight on social media X, formerly Twitter, police said they had to act to stop the event and dismantle tents that been set up by protesters, who used violence against police at the site.

“The police’s input was necessary to restore order. We see the footage on social media. We understand that those images may appear as intense,” police said.

Local media showed demonstrators shooting fireworks at police officers but there were no immediate reports of injuries on either side.

“All is now quiet ... police stay in the vicinity of the Roeterseiland campus,” police said later on X.

Outgoing Education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said universities are a place for dialogue and debate and he was sad to see that police had to intervene.

Student protests over the war and academic ties with Israel have begun to spread across Europe but have remained much smaller in scale than those seen in the United States.

Police clear a pro-Palestinian protest at the campus of the University of Amsterdam
Police clear a pro-Palestinian protest at the campus of the University of Amsterdam (EPA)
Tom Watling7 May 2024 07:35
1715062996

Here are some of the latest photos from Gaza

Good morning.

Below are the latest photos coming from Rafah, the southern city of Gaza, this morning. The Israeli military overnight says it has seized “operation control” over the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt.

Palestinians inspect houses damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza
Palestinians inspect houses damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza (REUTERS)
Palestinians look out of a house damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza
Palestinians look out of a house damaged in an Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza (REUTERS)
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah (AP)
Tom Watling7 May 2024 07:23
1715062351

Israeli forces take control of Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt

The Israeli military said it had established “operational control” over the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing overnight on Monday. Footage broadcast on Israeli media showed an Israeli flag flying on the Gaza side of the crossing, though the Israeli army refused to comment on the flag.

The military said it was carrying out “targeted strikes” in eastern Rafah and claimed to have killed 20 Hamas militants. An Israeli army official said the vast majority of the people who were staying in the evacuation zone have left.

The crossing, just south of Gaza City, was taken over by Israeli tanks, the Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian officials said.

Wael Abu Omar, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said the crossing, the main entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip, was out of service.

“The whole western area of Rafah has become a theater of operations since yesterday. The bombardment has not stopped,” said Abu Omar, adding that crews have fled the facilities because of the bombing.

Namita Singh7 May 2024 07:12
1715061837

Jordan's King Abdullah presses Biden to avert Israel offensive in Rafah

Jordan’s King Abdullah told US president Joe Biden in a private meeting yesterday that an Israeli offensive in Rafah would lead to a “new massacre” of Palestinian civilians and urged the international community to take urgent action.

“The king warned of the repercussions of the Israeli ground offensive on Rafah, which could cause a regional spillover of the conflict,” a statement from the Jordan royal court said after Abdullah had lunch with Mr Biden at the White House.

The Jordanian statement said Mr Abdullah in his meeting with Mr Biden “warned that the Israeli attack on Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are internally displaced as a result of the war on Gaza, threatens to lead to a new massacre”.

A Palestinian rescuer searches for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on 7 May 2024
A Palestinian rescuer searches for casualties at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on 7 May 2024 (Reuters)

“His Majesty stressed the importance of all efforts that seek an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,” it said. “The king and the US president affirmed their commitment to working to reach a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, stressing the importance of facilitating the delivery of sustainable humanitarian aid to the Strip in light of the dire needs.”

The White House said in a separate written statement that the two leaders discussed “the need for an immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas and a sustainable ceasefire that allows for a surge of the urgently needed humanitarian assistance to be delivered safely through Gaza”.

“Both remain committed to achieving a durable, lasting peace to include a pathway to a Palestinian state, with security guarantees for Israel,” the White House statement said.

Namita Singh7 May 2024 07:03
1715061086

Rafah crossing closed by Israeli tanks

The Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is closed on the Palestinian side because of the presence of Israeli tanks, the spokesperson of the Gaza border authority told Reuters.

Three humanitarian sources told Reuters that the flow of aid through the crossing is halted.

Namita Singh7 May 2024 06:51
1715061019

Israeli forces take control of Palestinian side of Rafah crossing – report

Israeli forces have taken control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, which borders Egypt in southern Gaza, reported Israel’s Army Radio.

Asked for confirmation, the Israeli military said it will be “publishing a statement shortly”.

Namita Singh7 May 2024 06:50
1715059313

Netanyahu jeopardising ceasefire deal by bombing Rafah, says Jordanian foreign minister

Namita Singh7 May 2024 06:21
1715058259

Biden warns Netanyahu against major Rafah offensive

US president Joe Biden urgently warned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu against launching an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah as the divide between the two leaders continues to grow along with the mounting Palestinian death toll.

The call between Mr Biden and Mr Netanyahu came as Israel appeared to be moving closer to a major military operation to root out Hamas militants in Rafah — something that Biden and his top aides have repeatedly told Israeli officials will only lead to more death and worsen the despair in the war-ravaged territory.

Both leaders are facing growing public pressure — Mr Biden from protests on college campuses and Mr Netanyahu from the families of some Israeli hostages — for a ceasefire deal.

People flee the eastern parts of Rafah, after the Israeli military began evacuating Palestinian civilians ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 6 May 2024
People flee the eastern parts of Rafah, after the Israeli military began evacuating Palestinian civilians ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, 6 May 2024 (Reuters)

“The president doesn’t want to see operations in Rafah that put at greater risk the more than a million people that are seeking refuge there,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said.

The White House described the leaders’ 30-minute conversation as “constructive”. Privately, however, administration officials’ concern was mounting as Israel yesterday ordered about 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah and began carrying out “targeted” strikes in the eastern part of the city.

White House officials were carefully watching the unfolding, intensified Israeli action in Rafah with deep worry, but did not believe it amounted to the widescale attack Mr Netanyahu has been threatening, according to a person familiar with administration thinking who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Namita Singh7 May 2024 06:04
1715058065

Gaza enters ‘full-blown famine’

The humanitarian situation is rapidly deteriorating across Gaza. The head of the United Nations World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said on Sunday that northern Gaza has entered “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of war.

Israel earlier announced it had Palestinians to evacuate from Rafah. Soon after the order, Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal for a ceasefire.

Displaced Palestinians who fled Rafah, ahead of a threatened Israeli assault, travel in Al-Mawasi area, in Khan Younis
Displaced Palestinians who fled Rafah, ahead of a threatened Israeli assault, travel in Al-Mawasi area, in Khan Younis (Reuters)

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Israel would continue its operations in Gaza as officials deliberate the ceasefire proposal approved by Hamas.

And the Israeli War Cabinet voted unanimously to approve a Rafah military operation but said it would continue ceasefire efforts.

The new targeted strikes in eastern Rafah appeared aimed at keeping the pressure on Hamas as talks continue.

Namita Singh7 May 2024 06:01
1715054479

Refugees in eastern Rafah urged to flee to ‘safe zone’

There are around 450,000 displaced Palestinians sheltering in Muwasi. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it has been giving them aid but conditions are squalid, with few sanitation facilities in the largely rural area, forcing families to dig private latrines.

The Israeli evacuation order left Palestinians in Rafah wrestling with having to uproot their families once again for an unknown fate, exhausted after months living in sprawling tent camps or crammed into schools or other shelters in and around the city. Israeli airstrikes on Rafah early yesterday killed 22 people, including children and two infants.

Displaced Palestinians, who fled Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating civilians from the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city, ahead of a threatened assault, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, travel on a vehicle, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip 6 May 2024
Displaced Palestinians, who fled Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating civilians from the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city, ahead of a threatened assault, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, travel on a vehicle, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip 6 May 2024 (Reuters)

Mohammed Jindiyah said that at the beginning of the war, he tried to hold out in his home in northern Gaza under heavy bombardment before fleeing to Rafah.

He is complying with Israel’s evacuation order this time but is unsure whether to move to Muwasi or elsewhere.

“We are 12 families, and we don’t know where to go. There is no safe area in Gaza,” he said. Sahar Abu Nahel, who fled to Rafah with 20 family members, including her children and grandchildren, wiped tears from her cheeks, despairing at a new move.

“I have no money or anything. I am seriously tired, as are the children,” she said. “Maybe it’s more honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated.”

Namita Singh7 May 2024 05:01

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US, UK, most EU nations to boycott Putin inauguration - Al Jazeera English

Russia’s Vladimir Putin will be sworn in for a fifth term as president in a ceremony at the Kremlin later on Tuesday.

The United States and most European Union nations have said they will not send envoys to Tuesday’s inauguration of Vladimir Putin as Russian president.

Putin, 71, secured a fifth term in office in a March election that critics said lacked democratic legitimacy.

He gained 87.28 percent of the vote, weeks after the sudden death of his most vocal critic, Alexey Navalny, in an Arctic prison.

“We will not have a representative at his inauguration,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. “We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity.”

The United Kingdom and Canada said they would not send anyone to the ceremony, while a spokesperson for the European Union told the Reuters news agency the bloc’s ambassador to Russia would not attend the inauguration, in keeping with the position of most of the EU’s member states.

The three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – which have withdrawn their ambassadors from Moscow – ruled out attending the inauguration.

“We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

“Participation in Putin’s inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression.”

The Czech Republic is also expected to snub the ceremony, while Germany’s Foreign Office said its representative would not attend – it earlier recalled its ambassador over alleged Russian cyberattacks.

An aide to Putin said the heads of all foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow including those from “unfriendly states” had been invited to attend the inauguration, which starts at noon (09:00 GMT) and will be broadcast live on Russian television.

Putin is due to arrive in a luxury motorcade – state-run RT reported modifications to his armoured Aurus limousine including improved sound insulation and all-round cameras – at the Grand Kremlin Palace. The one-time KGB spy will then walk through the palace corridors to the ornate Saint Andrew Hall, where he will take the presidential oath and make a brief address. He will also received a blessing from the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The ceremony is taking place a day after Russia announced plans for a tactical nuclear weapons drill, blaming what it said were “provocative” moves by Western countries over Ukraine. Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.

“Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognising him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, it said, sought to create “the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship”.

Despite the apparent boycotts, France, Hungary and Slovakia are all expected to send representatives to the ceremony, Reuters reported, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.

Speaking alongside China’s president on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said: “We are not at war with Russia or the Russian people, and we have no desire for regime change in Moscow.”

The source said France had previously condemned the context of repression in which the election was held, depriving voters of a real choice, as well as the organisation of elections in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, which France considers a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.

Franco-Russian relations have deteriorated in recent months as Paris has increased its support for Ukraine.

Last week, Macron said it would be legitimate for France to send troops to Ukraine if Russia broke through the Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv requested assistance.

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2024-05-07 03:45:00Z
CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFsamF6ZWVyYS5jb20vbmV3cy8yMDI0LzUvNy91cy11ay1tb3N0LWV1LW5hdGlvbnMtdG8tYm95Y290dC1wdXRpbi1pbmF1Z3VyYXRpb27SAV9odHRwczovL3d3dy5hbGphemVlcmEuY29tL2FtcC9uZXdzLzIwMjQvNS83L3VzLXVrLW1vc3QtZXUtbmF0aW9ucy10by1ib3ljb3R0LXB1dGluLWluYXVndXJhdGlvbg

Senin, 06 Mei 2024

Weather tracker: torrential rainstorms cause death and destruction in Brazil - The Guardian

Torrential rainstorms in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul have caused the worst flooding the country has seen in 80 years, many deaths and the displacement of thousands of families. Central parts of the state were hit the hardest after the storms began last Monday, with unofficial weather stations in the area recording 50-100cm (20-40in) of rain over the past week.

Widespread floods and landslides have caused major damage to homes and infrastructure, most alarmingly triggering the partial collapse of a small hydroelectric dam on Thursday, which sent a 2-metre-high wave through the surrounding area. At least 57 deaths have been reported and 24,000 people have been displaced, alongside an estimated 500,000 being without power and clean water.

This part of South America is no stranger to major rainfall; Rio Grande do Sul has experienced flooding three other times in the past year. This is because the polar and tropical regions of the atmosphere meet around this latitude, resulting in a zone of high pressure that delivers long periods of dry weather punctuated with heavy bursts of rain. However, this event has been particularly devastating, with experts attributing the heightened rainfall to the combination of global heating and the recent El Niño phenomenon, during which waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean become warmer.

South of Rio Grande do Sul, Uruguay is braced for similarly heavy rain this week. Intense storms are forecast across the country until Wednesday, with 20-25cm expected in places.

El Niño is also partially responsible for the ongoing catastrophic rainfall in east Africa, which began in March and has caused devastating flooding in Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Rwanda and Burundi. Latest figures report more than 400 deaths across the five countries, with almost 250,000 people displaced.

Tanzania was dealt another blow on Friday when it was struck by an unusually powerful tropical storm, a rare event so close to the equator. The system, which was named Hidaya, strengthened to tropical cyclone status as it approached Tanzania, making it the most powerful storm recorded in the region, with winds of up to 80mph fuelling waves 2 metres high. Hidaya weakened to a severe tropical storm before making landfall south of Dar es Salaam, but still brought up to 10cm of rainfall to surrounding areas.

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2024-05-06 08:22:00Z
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Bodies found dumped in Mexican well belong to missing surfers - The Telegraph

Mexican authorities on Sunday confirmed the American and two Australian tourists who went missing in northern Mexico last week are dead after their bodies were identified by their parents.

The bodies of Australian brothers Callum, 33, and Jake Robinson, 30, as well as Carter Rhoad, 30, were found at the bottom of a well in Baja California state earlier this week after a days-long search.

The three foreigners went missing while on a vacation surfing near the popular tourist town of Ensenada, about 90 minutes south of the US-Mexico border on the Pacific coast.

Baja California state Attorney General’s Office said in a statement the confirmation was issued once the parents of the victims “were able to identify them, without the need of genetic tests”.

State Attorney General Elena Andrade told the parents and diplomatic officials that there was “total institutional commitment to continue with the investigation of these unfortunate events until those responsible receive the full weight of the law”, the statement added.

On Saturday, Ms Andrade said that the bodies were found in an advanced state of decomposition at the bottom of a well more than 15 metres (50 ft) deep.

A source from the attorney general’s office told Reuters that all three bodies had a shot in the head.

Pictured is Callum Robinson (left) with brother Jake (right)
Pictured is Callum Robinson (left) with brother Jake (right)

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers offered his condolences to the families of Callum and Jake and said the whole country mourned with them.

“We can only imagine what this ordeal has been like for them and for the loved ones of Callum and Jake,” he said at a news conference.

“It has been an absolutely horrendous, absolutely horrific ordeal and our thoughts are with all of them today.”

Surfers shot by car thieves

Three people have so far been arrested, officials say. A burnt-out vehicle believed to have been used by the three surfers was also found in the area.

Mexican authorities’ preliminary hypothesis is that the arrested individuals attempted to carjack the foreigners and when the surfers resisted they were shot and their bodies dumped in a well.

The vehicle the surfers were travelling in
The vehicle the surfers were travelling in

The three surfers were last seen on April 27 and reported missing a couple of days later, when authorities launched a multi-day search with the help from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Baja California is one of Mexico’s most violent states, although the Ensenada area is considered safer. The US State Department advises Americans to reconsider travel to the state due to crime and kidnapping.

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2024-05-06 07:03:00Z
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Israel Gaza live updates: Israeli military tells 100,000 people to leave parts of Rafah - BBC

The latest violence in Gaza follows two days of talks between Israel and Hamas with mediators in Cairo, Egypt.

There has been little progress, with both Israel and Hamas saying they will not give ground on key demands, but discussions are expected to resume today.

Hamas said its delegation would travel to Qatar to consult with the group's leadership.

The truce proposal is believed to involve a 40-day pause in fighting, allowing the release of hostages in Gaza and a number of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.

Hamas said it viewed the current proposal in a "positive light", but the main sticking point appears to be whether the ceasefire deal would be permanent or temporary.

The group is insisting any deal makes a specific commitment towards an end to the war, but Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected that on Sunday.

"The state of Israel cannot accept this [Hamas's demands], we are not prepared to accept a situation in which the Hamas brigades come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threatening the citizens of Israel in the settlements surrounding the southern mountains, in all parts of the country.

"This will be a terrible defeat for the state of Israel," he added.

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2024-05-06 11:26:15Z
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