Trump may be sentenced Jan 10 in hush money case – Newstrends
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Trump may be sentenced Jan 10 in hush money case

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President-elect Donald Trump

Trump may be sentenced Jan 10 in hush money case

A judge has ordered that Donald Trump will be sentenced on 10 January in his hush-money case in New York – less than two weeks before he is set to be sworn in as president.

New York Justice Juan Merchan signalled he would not sentence Trump to jail time, probation or a fine, but instead give him an “unconditional discharge”, and wrote in his order that the president-elect could appear in person or virtually for the hearing.

Trump had attempted to use his presidential election victory to have the case against him dismissed.

The president-elect has posted on social media dismissing the judge’s order as an “illegitimate political attack” and calling the case “nothing but a rigged charade”.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

The charges related to attempts to cover up reimbursements to his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in the final days of the 2016 election campaign paid off the adult-film star to remain silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

The president-elect has denied all wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty, arguing the case was an attempt to harm his 2024 presidential campaign.

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In the post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday Trump said the judge’s sentencing order “goes against our Constitution and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it”.

Trump’s spokesperson Steven Cheung earlier called the order part of a “witch hunt”.

“President Trump must be allowed to continue the presidential transition process and to execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the witch hunts,” Cheung said.

“There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead.”

In his latest motion against the case, Trump had argued the case would hang over him during his presidency and impede his ability to govern.

Justice Merchan said he had been advised of several measures he could employ that could assuage Trump’s concerns about being distracted by a criminal case while serving as president that fell short of the “extreme remedy” of overturning the jury’s verdict.

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His options included delaying the sentencing until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029, or guaranteeing a sentence that would not involve prison time.

Trump had initially, and unsuccessfully, argued the case against him ran afoul of a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

In July, the country’s top court ruled that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for “official actions” they take while in office.

However, last month Justice Merchan ruled Trump’s hush money conviction was valid.

Trump is currently set to be the first convicted felon to serve in the White House.

He may attempt to appeal against the conviction after the sentencing.

While falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison in the US, there is no minimum sentence and incarceration is not required.

Even before his election victory, legal experts thought it was unlikely Trump would face jail time given his age and his legal record.

Trump has also been charged in three other state and federal criminal cases: one involving classified documents and two relating to his alleged efforts to overturn his loss in the election of 2020.

The president-elect was initially scheduled to be sentenced on 26 November, but Justice Merchan pushed the date back after Trump won the presidential election.

 

Trump may be sentenced Jan 10 in hush money case

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Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia’s Kursk

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January 6, 2025

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Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia’s Kursk

Ukraine has launched a counter-attack in Russia’s Kursk region, the Russian defence ministry says.

As officials in Ukraine also suggested an operation was under way, Moscow said it had met the attack with artillery and air power.

Ukrainian forces entered Kursk region in August, seizing a chunk of territory. Russian forces have pushed them back in some areas without managing to eject them entirely.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that security guarantees leading to an end to the war would only be effective if the US under Donald Trump provided them.

During a podcast interview with Lex Fridman, Zelensky praised the incoming US president’s influence and suggested Trump had the leverage to at least halt Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Trump pledged during his election campaign to quickly end the war, without giving details.

Zelensky said “Trump and I will come to an agreement and… offer strong security guarantees, together with Europe, and then we can talk to the Russians”.

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According to the Russian defence ministry, a Ukrainian assault detachment consisting of two tanks, one military engineering vehicle and 12 armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) attacked near the village of Berdin around 09:00 (06:00 GMT) on Sunday.

Russian forces hit back, it said, destroying both tanks, the military engineering vehicle and seven armoured fighting vehicles. Fighting continued, it added.

Aerial video of a column of armour moving through snow-covered countryside in daylight and coming under fire, with vehicles taking hits, was published by Russian state news agency Ria.

The BBC was not immediately able to verify the Russian footage or claims.

Speaking earlier, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said there “was good news from Kursk Region” and that Russia was “getting what it deserves”.

Ukraine’s top counter-disinformation official Andriy Kovalenko said in a Telegram post on Sunday: “The Russians in Kursk are experiencing great anxiety because they were attacked from several directions and it came as a surprise to them.”

Oner Russian blogger, Yury Podolyaka, suggested the operation might have been diversionary, while another, Alexander Kots, did not rule out that the main attack could be launched somewhere else.

Kyiv’s forces are reportedly suffering from manpower shortages and have been losing ground in the east of Ukraine in recent months, as Russian troops advance.

It comes as the Ukrainian Air Force said Russia launched another drone attack on Ukraine overnight.

It said it had shot down 61 drones over Kyiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyy regions

There were no direct hits, but a few houses were damaged in Kharkiv Region by an intercepted drone, the air force said.

In November, Ukraine reported its troops had engaged in combat with North Korean troops in the Kursk region.

The reported appearance of North Korean soldiers was in response to a surprise attack launched across the border by Ukrainian troops in August, advancing up to 18 miles (30km) into Russian land.

Moscow evacuated almost 200,000 people from areas along the border and President Vladimir Putin condemned the Ukrainian offensive as a “major provocation”.

After a fortnight, Ukraine’s top commander claimed to control more than 1,200 sq km of Russian territory and 93 villages.

Some of that territory has been regained by Russia.

 

Ukraine launches new offensive in Russia’s Kursk

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As Hamas, Israel quarrel over talks, Israeli intensifies strikes in Gaza

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January 6, 2025

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Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Gaza City, January 5, 2025. (Reuters)

As Hamas, Israel quarrel over talks, Israeli intensifies strikes in Gaza

CAIRO/GAZA: Israel and Hamas wrangled on Sunday over the details of a deal to halt fighting in the Gaza Strip and return hostages home, as Palestinian officials said intensified Israeli bombardments had killed more than 100 people over the weekend.

A Hamas official said the group had approved a list of 34 Israeli hostages to be returned as part of a deal that could eventually lead to a ceasefire. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office swiftly issued a statement saying Hamas had not provided a hostage list.

A renewed push is underway to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month war between Israel and Hamas, and return Israeli hostages who were taken to Gaza, before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

The effort comes amid a surge in Israeli military action in the enclave. This weekend, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed 105 Palestinians, medics said. The Israeli military said it had killed dozens of Hamas militants.

The US State Department said Israel must comply with international law and do “significantly more to ensure the protection of civilians.” It added, however, that it supports Israel’s right to defend itself.

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Israeli negotiators were dispatched on Friday to resume talks in Doha brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, and US President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping to mediate, has urged Hamas to agree to a deal.

Hamas said on Friday it was committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible, but it was unclear how close the two sides were.

A Hamas official told Reuters any agreement to return Israeli hostages would hinge on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire or end to the war.

“However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Netanyahu has consistently said the war will only end once Hamas is eradicated as a military and governing force.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on communities in southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s military campaign has since leveled swathes of the enclave, driving most people from their homes, and has killed 45,805 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

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Fighting rages

Israeli military strikes continued throughout the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with an airstrike killing five people in a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, Gaza health officials said, and another killing four in Jabalia in the north of the enclave.

Later in the day, an airstrike hit a police station in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing five people, medics said. It was not immediately clear if all the dead were police officers.

At nightfall, medics said an Israeli airstrike had killed three people in Bureij camp in central Gaza, bringing Sunday’s death toll to 17.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants operating from the humanitarian area in Khan Younis, and an Islamic Jihad militant who it said had carried out attacks from the humanitarian area in Deir Al-Balah.

In Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, relatives and neighbors rushed to the Zuhd family’s house, which was struck by an Israeli airstrike late on Saturday, killing seven people, medics said. The search continued on Sunday morning for four others believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Three men dug away debris with their bare hands to retrieve bodies and search for possible survivors.

The Israeli military said on Sunday its forces had attacked more than 100 targets across Gaza over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas militants. It said it had also destroyed rocket launching sites that had been used to wage attacks on Israel in recent days.

Later on Sunday, it said it had killed last week in the Jabalia area an Islamic Jihad militant who had participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

As Hamas, Israel quarrel over talks, Israeli intensifies strikes in Gaza

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Hamas lists 34 hostages it may free under ceasefire

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January 6, 2025

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Women mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment outside the Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir el-Balah, Gaza, on Sunday

Hamas lists 34 hostages it may free under ceasefire

A senior Hamas official has shared with the BBC a list of 34 hostages that the Palestinian group says it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel.

It is unclear how many hostages remain alive.

Among those named are 10 women and 11 older male hostages aged between 50 and 85, as well as young children that Hamas previously said had been killed in an Israeli air strike.

A number of hostages that Hamas says are sick are also included on the list.

Reports from Hamas-run Gaza say Israeli air strikes killed more than 100 people there at the weekend.

The Israeli prime minister’s office denied reports that Hamas had provided Israel with a list of hostages.

Ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend, but the talks do not appear to have made significant progress yet.

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A Hamas official told Reuters news agency any agreement to return Israeli hostages would depend on a deal for Israel to withdraw from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire or end to the war.

“However, until now, the occupation continues to be obstinate over an agreement over the issues of the ceasefire and withdrawal, and has made no step forward,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, Hamas posted a video of 19-year-old Israeli captive Liri Albag urging her government to make a deal.

She was captured along with six other female conscript soldiers at the Nahal Oz army base on the Gaza border during Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.

On that day Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.

Israel’s military campaign to destroy Hamas had killed at least 45,805 people in Gaza as of Saturday, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The same source says Israeli air strikes killed 88 people in Gaza on Saturday itself while on Sunday, Reuters news agency quoted health sources as saying a further 17 had died in four separate Israeli attacks on the territory.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its air force had attacked more than 100 “terrorist” sites across the Gaza Strip over the weekend, killing dozens of Hamas militants.

Hamas lists 34 hostages it may free under ceasefire

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