International
New York appeals court reinstates gag order against Donald Trump in civil fraud trial
New York appeals court reinstates gag order against Donald Trump in civil fraud trial
A New York appeals court has reinstated a gag order prohibiting former US President Donald Trump and his attorneys from making public statements about the courtroom staff in the ongoing $250 million civil fraud trial.
Judge Arthur Engoron originally issued the order barring Trump from making public statements about his court’s staff after Trump made numerous comments about a clerk, who Trump says is biased against him.
Hundreds of threats against Engoron and the law clerk were made public last week. Engoron’s clerk has received 20 to 30 calls per day to her personal cell phone and 30 to 50 messages daily on social media platforms and two personal email addresses, according to court papers.
“Now, upon reading and filing the papers with respect to the motion, and due deliberation having been had thereon, It is ordered that the motion is denied; the interim relief granted by order of a Justice of this Court, dated November 16, 2023, is hereby vacated,” the latest appellate ruling says.
The appeals court paused the gag order earlier this November, but on Thursday, November 30, said it should be restored while the official appeal is pending.
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During a break in the trial Thursday morning, Engoron announced the appeals court ruling reinstating the gag order.
“I intend to enforce the gag orders rigorously and vigorously. I want to make sure that counsel informs their clients of the fact that the stay was vacated,” the judge said.
“It is a tragic day for the rule of law, but we’re aware,” Trump’s attorney Chris Kise said.
“It is what it is,” Engoron responded.
The $250 million lawsuit was brought by the New York attorney general’s office and alleges that Trump and his co-defendants committed repeated fraud in inflating assets on financial statements to get better terms on commercial real estate loans and insurance policies. Engoron already ruled the former president is liable for fraud and he’s considering how much the Trumps will have to pay in damages.
Trump had urged the appeals court on Monday to continue to block the gag order, saying that threats to the judge and his law clerk do not “justify” limiting the former president’s constitutional right to defend himself.
New York appeals court reinstates gag order against Donald Trump in civil fraud trial
International
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
A helicopter carrying Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has been involved in an plane crash on Sunday.
The incident happened while he was visiting neighbouring Azerbaijan, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on X on Sunday according to CNN.
“Some of the president’s companions on this helicopter were able to communicate with Central Headquarters, raising hopes that the incident could have ended without casualties,” it added.
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It is unclear what the exact status is of Raisi’s helicopter.
The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters. Two of those helicopters were carrying ministers and officials who arrived at their destination safely, according to Tasnim.
“Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Al-Hashem, Tabriz’s Friday Prayer Imam, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were also reportedly on the helicopter with the president,” Tasnim said on X.
JUST IN: Helicopter carrying Iran’s president crash-lands
International
Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters
Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters
Joe Biden is likely to be greeted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during his speech at the former university of Martin Luther King Jr in the United States president’s latest bid to attract Black voters.
Biden’s graduation speech on Sunday at Morehouse College in Atlanta in the election battleground state of Georgia is aimed at encouraging Black and young voters to help him win later this year against former President Donald Trump.
Those were two groups that helped him win the presidency in 2020, but have been increasingly dissatisfied with him due to the handling of the war on Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians so far, mostly women and children.
The protests at Morehouse, a historically Black college, come after students called on the school to cancel Biden’s speech over his support for Israel despite the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The White House last week sent a senior official to meet students and faculty members at Morehouse to discuss the objections to Biden’s speech, according to US broadcaster NBC News.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Friday said Biden sought to use the speech as “an opportunity to lift up and to give an important message to our future leaders”.
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Bernice King, the civil icon’s daughter, told Bloomberg in an interview last week that Black voters are “very disgruntled right now with the president” and that Biden risks losing a considerable share of their votes.
The civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) had said Biden should not speak at Morehouse.
“His team should have made the decision that this is not the right time to take the spotlight from Morehouse students to the president and his bad policy on Gaza,” CAIR’s Edward Ahmed Mitchell said.
The controversy over the Morehouse speech is coming after weeks of major protests at US universities, including the Atlanta college, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment from Israel.
Biden said “order must prevail” on campuses, and police have made thousands of arrests across the US while attacking student encampments.
Protesters were arrested during a violent police crackdown in New York’s Brooklyn on Saturday, while hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Washington, DC to demand an end to bloodshed in Gaza and the arming of Israel by the US.
The protests, which have spread globally, are continuing amid the Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, along with a deadly incursion into Jabalia in the north.
Meanwhile, Israel is allowing very little aid into the enclave, and the US is proceeding with a much-criticised plan to deliver humanitarian assistance via a temporary floating pier.
Biden may face pro-Palestine protests during address of US black voters
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES
International
Nearly 10,000 evacuated in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region after Russia attack
Nearly 10,000 evacuated in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region after Russia attack
Nearly 10,000 people have been forced to leave their homes in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region since a ground attack launched by Russian forces on May 10, its governor said Saturday.
The assault may only be the first wave of a wider offensive, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told AFP.
Over a week after its launch, “a total of 9,907 people have been evacuated,” governor Oleg Synegubov said.
They were fleeing Russian soldiers who managed to advance between five to 10 kilometres (three to six miles) along the northeastern border before being stopped by Ukrainian forces.
Synegubov said Ukraine’s armed forces had repelled two attempts to break through defences overnight.
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The situation was “under control” with “defenders in certain areas conducting assault… and combing operations.”
Moscow has been attacking several settlements including Vovchansk, just five kilometres from the border.
“In the area of the city of Vovchansk, Ukrainian troops are reinforcing their defence,” Synegubov said.
There are about 100 people left in the city where “heavy fighting” is taking place, he added later.
Russian forces have taken 278 square kilometres (107 square miles) between May 9 and 15, their biggest gains since the end of 2022, AFP calculated using data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Russia’s offensive “could consist in several waves. There was the first wave” in the Kharkiv region, Zelensky told AFP journalists.
Zelensky played down Russia’s gains in the offensive but added: “We have to be sober and understand that they are going deeper into our territory. Not vice versa. And that’s still their advantage.”
Speaking about the offensive during a visit to China on Friday, President Vladimir Putin said it was a response to Ukraine shelling Russian border regions.
Nearly 10,000 evacuated in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region after Russia attack
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