Pro-Israel donor plans to give $100 million to help Trump win
During the Nevada caucuses in February, Donald Trump and several senior aides attracted the attention of Republican billionaire Dr. Miriam Adelson. Trump wanted financial backing from Adelson, a major conservative donor, and Dr. Adelson made a couple of requests: To cut back on the grandiose rhetoric and speak more directly about the economy, she told Trump. She also asked Trump to be patient, as she would not donate to him while his final rival and friend, Nikki Haley, remained in the race, according to two people briefed on the meeting. Now Dr. Adelson is making good on her promise and is moving to spend more than $90 million to support Trump's third presidential bid.
Court rules Trump can criticize witnesses who testify against him
A judge on Tuesday relaxed gag orders against Donald Trump in his Manhattan criminal case, allowing Trump to criticize witnesses who testified against him and others involved in the trial that led to his conviction. Judge Juan Marchan, who presided over Trump's seven-week trial this spring, ruled that Trump is now free to complain about prosecution witnesses, including former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. Marchan also ruled that once Trump is sentenced on July 11, he will be able to publicly attack others currently subject to gag orders, such as prosecutors and their relatives.
Safety officials accuse Norfolk Southern of 'bent and burn' after 2023 derailment
The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday released recommendations to prevent last year's freight train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that derailed 38 rail cars operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad. The board also criticized Norfolk Southern for concluding that hazardous materials being transported in 11 of the rail cars posed an explosion risk — a conclusion that led to the “vent and burn,” in which toxic chemicals were released and incinerated. The NTSB has previously questioned the need for vent and burn, and at a meeting in East Palestine on Tuesday, the agency said the railroad “misinterpreted and ignored the evidence” in reaching its conclusion.
Judge skeptical of claims that Trump Papers investigation was improperly conducted
The federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents case showed little patience Tuesday with Trump's lawyers' arguments that the FBI's search of his Mar-a-Lago private club and residence in Florida two years ago was improperly conducted. During the hearing, Trump's lawyers had asked Judge Eileen Cannon to block evidence collected during the search, arguing that the warrant wasn't clear enough about what parts of the premises the FBI could search and what items they could seize. “I don't understand what other language needs to be included,” Judge Cannon said, all but ruling against them in court.
Texas girl's murder sparks new immigration crisis
The murder of a 12-year-old Houston girl found strangled in a city drain last week was already a horrific crime. Investigators then arrested two men who had recently immigrated from Venezuela and charged them with the murder of the girl, Jocelyn Nungaray. The second of the two appeared in court on Tuesday, both of whom were being held on $10 million bail. The murder, which has torn a Houston family apart, has suddenly become a new flashpoint in the immigration debate, with Republicans and immigration opponents directly linking the crime to President Joe Biden's border policies.
Anti-tax riots break out in Kenya as president vows to crack down on 'treasonous' protesters
In Kenya's capital, Nairobi, thousands of protesters spilled into the streets, some of them breaking into Parliament and briefly setting fire to its entrance after lawmakers approved tax increases that critics say will raise the cost of living for millions. Police fired tear gas and gunfire during the protests, throwing the capital into chaos. At least five people were shot dead and 31 injured. As tear gas wafted into the streets, some protesters climbed through windows of Parliament after lawmakers voted 195-106 in favor of the tax hikes, which proponents said would raise revenue for education and other essential services.
Supreme Court rules Israeli army must conscript ultra-Orthodox Jews
Israel's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the army must begin conscription of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, a ruling that threatened to split Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government as the war in the Gaza Strip continues. The panel of judges unanimously ruled that military service exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox religious students have no legal basis. Without a law distinguishing between seminarians and men of draft age, the country's compulsory conscription law applies equally to the ultra-Orthodox minority, the court ruled. The ultra-Orthodox exemption has long drawn ire in a country where military service is mandatory for most Jewish Israelis.
Half a million people facing starvation in Gaza, report says
The Gaza Strip is at high risk of famine, with catastrophic food shortages leaving some 500,000 people facing starvation, a group of global experts said Tuesday, but stopped short of saying the famine in the Strip was caused by the Israel-Hamas war. The analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a partnership of UN agencies and leading relief agencies, said the amount of food arriving in northern Gaza has increased in recent months. Israel, under intense pressure from governments and aid groups around the world, recently opened its border crossings to aid in the north.
ICC issues arrest warrants for two senior Russian security officials
The International Criminal Court announced on Tuesday that it had issued arrest warrants for two senior Russian security officials for attacks on civilian targets, in a scathing, albeit largely symbolic, rebuke of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. The Hague-based tribunal charged that Russia's highest-ranking military officer, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, and Sergey Shoigu, a senior member of the country's Security Council, led an offensive operation against a Ukrainian power plant in winter 2022. According to Moscow's Interfax news agency, Russia's Security Council denounced the arrest warrants, calling them a “pathetic” example of “the West's hybrid war against our country.”
China becomes first country to retrieve rocks from the far side of the moon
China on Tuesday brought a capsule full of lunar soil from the far side of the moon back to Earth, marking the latest success in its ambitious plans to explore the moon and other parts of the solar system. The sample, returned by the China National Space Administration's Chang'e-6 lander after a 53-day mission, highlighted China's improving capabilities in space and marked another victory in a series of lunar exploration missions that began in 2007 and have been executed almost flawlessly so far. China aims to expand its presence on the moon in the coming years, landing more robots and eventually human astronauts.
From the news agency