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☆ Factbox: An overview of Donald Trump’s legal troubles
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Trump denies the allegations and the affair but has admitted to reimbursing Cohen for his payment to Daniels. Trump's reimbursement checks for the suppression payment falsely stated that the money was for a "retainer agreement," prosecutors said. Prosecutors say Trump falsified records in part to cover up the fact that the payment to Daniels exceeded federal campaign contribution limits. U.S. CAPITOL ATTACKThe U.S. Justice Department has an investigation under way into Trump's actions after he lost the 2020 election. NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL CIVIL LAWSUITNew York Attorney General Letitia James sued Trump and his Trump Organization last September for fraud.

☆ Associated Press, New York Times win Pulitzers for Ukraine coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The New York Times building is seen in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 3, 2020. Eli Saslow, now with the Times, won the feature writing award for the Post. The annual Pulitzer awards, first presented in 1917, are the most celebrated honors in U.S. journalism. "The Pulitzer Prize board joins the many organizations around the world demanding Evan's immediate release," Brown said. In addition to the international reporting prize, the New York Times took the award for illustrated reporting and commentary.

Paris CNN —France’s finance minister is in the spotlight. “It is about music, my passion for music,” Le Maire insisted of the novel, whose central character is a piano virtuoso. Some in France chastized the finance minister for devoting time to writing, especially as the country weathers economic headwinds. The French finance ministry confirmed to CNN that Le Maire had warned the French presidency of the book before its release. And the finance minister seemed unabashed on Twitter.

Under the bill, which passed the Republican-controlled legislature largely along party lines, the Central Tourism Oversight District Board - whose members are appointed by DeSantis - can cancel any deals signed up to three months before the board's creation. Disney, the largest employer in central Florida, and the Republican governor have been battling since last year, when Disney criticized a new state law banning classroom instruction of sexuality and gender identity with younger children. Before DeSantis' appointees took over the board, the company pushed through changes to the special tax district agreement that limited the new body's action for decades. The new oversight body in April said Disney's plans for potential expansion of Disney World did not comply with state law, and declared that agreement void. The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board responded with its own lawsuit in a state court, saying it sought to void "backroom deals" favorable to Disney.

[1/4] Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives Tim Moore listens on the floor of the state Senate to debate over the bill limiting most abortions to the first trimester of pregnancy, a sharp drop from the state’s current limit of 20 weeks gestation, at the State Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S. May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan DrakeMay 4 (Reuters) - North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature on Thursday passed a bill limiting most abortions to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a sharp drop from the state's current limit of 20 weeks' gestation. The state Senate approved the bill 29-20 along party lines, a day after the state House of Representatives passed it in a similar party-line vote. The measure now heads to Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, who has vowed to veto it. Reporting by Julia Harte Editing by Colleen JenkinsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Met Gala 2023 fashion: The best looks from the red carpet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Met Gala theme is based on the Costume Institute’s spring show “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” which is a posthumous retrospective of the German fashion designer’s work. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty ImagesIce Spice Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesOlivia Wilde opted for a Chloé "violin" dress — one of Lagerfeld's designs from the 1980s — in white and gold. John Shearer/WireImage/Getty ImagesActor Ariana DeBose made an entrance in an Altuzarra fur-trimmed yellow hooded gown, arriving with designer Joseph Altuzarra. John Shearer/WireImage/Getty ImagesMet Gala co-chair Dua Lipa in a voluminous Chanel corset dress. Evan Agostini/Invision/APTop Photo: Gisele Bündchen (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

☆ France pension protests explained: France is still mad -- but can the protests last?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Joseph Ataman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

In 1995, weeks-long mass protests forced the government of the day to abandon plans to reform public sector pensions. For many in France, the pensions system, as with social support more generally, is viewed as the bedrock of the state’s responsibilities and relationship with its citizens. Nathan Laine/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesIn contrast, during the Yellow Vest protests, started in opposition to hikes in fuel prices, violence gradually soured public support. That these pensions protests continue to hold such popular goodwill is an ominous sign for Macron’s future plans. The size and violence of pensions protests spiked when Macron forced the legislation past the country’s lower legislative house without a vote.

☆ In win for Republicans, North Carolina court allows partisan gerrymandering
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Voters line up a few minutes before the polls close during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., November 8, 2022. In the same election, Republicans flipped two Democratic seats on the North Carolina Supreme Court, securing a 5-2 conservative majority. "I think it's the worst decision the North Carolina Supreme Court perhaps has ever made," Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, told reporters. When the North Carolina court agreed to rehear the case, however, the U.S. Supreme Court asked for additional briefing from the parties about whether it still had legal jurisdiction over the matter. Now that the North Carolina court has vacated the decision that formed the basis for the U.S. Supreme Court's review, the U.S. Supreme Court may conclude it no longer has a role to play in resolving the matter.

☆ In win for Republicans, North Carolina court says gerrymandering is legal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Voters line up a few minutes before the polls close during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., November 8, 2022. The decision threw out the court's previous decision, issued barely more than a year ago when liberal judges controlled the court, that had found partisan gerrymandering violated the state constitution. In the same election, Republicans flipped two Democratic seats on the North Carolina Supreme Court, securing a 5-2 conservative majority. In a 146-page opinion, Chief Justice Paul Newby noted that the U.S. Supreme Court had similarly found that federal courts have no jurisdiction to address partisan gerrymandering. "Today, the Court shows that its own will is more powerful than the voices of North Carolina's voters," she wrote.

☆ Facing China, the Philippines and U.S. Join in Biggest Military Drill Yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Sui-Lee Wee | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

More weapons could come. After the foreign and defense ministers of both the United States and the Philippines held talks earlier this month, Washington said it would commit to adopt “a security sector assistance road map” in the Philippines, which “will guide shared defense modernization investments.” Mr. Marcos is set to meet President Joe Biden next week in Washington. Collin Koh, a research fellow and expert on maritime security in Southeast Asia, said that the Philippines could “help to complicate Chinese defense planning” in the South China Sea. “Even weaker actors can pull off certain victories,” he said, pointing to how Ukraine’s vastly outgunned military had shocked and stymied Russian forces over the past year. Now, they say they are more reassured, especially after several visits by high-level U.S. officials.

☆ Florida education board to vote on extending ban on gender identity lessons
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Hillsborough High School students protest a Republican-backed bill dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" that would prohibit classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity, a measure Democrats denounced as being anti-LGBTQ, in Tampa, Florida, U.S., March 3, 2022. The state board of education, whose members are appointed by the governor, will vote on the proposal at a meeting on Wednesday, according to the agenda. Critics, including LGBTQ advocates and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, have termed it the "Don't Say Gay" law and said it marginalizes LGBTQ students. Brandon Wolf, a spokesperson for Equality Florida, an LGBTQ advocacy group, said DeSantis is targeting LGBTQ students to boost his national political fortunes. A spokesperson for DeSantis referred questions to the state department of education.

Paris CNN —Air France and Airbus have been found not guilty of involuntary homicide in a criminal trial over the 2009 crash of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris that killed 228 passengers and crew. The acquittal was confirmed in an abstract of the court’s ruling provided by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The court did find Airbus and Air France both liable for civil damages for certain failings, though they lacked a “tie of certain causality” with the accident. The 2009 crashMystery initially surrounded the crash of Air France flight 447, in part because it occurred while the plane was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Problems with pitot tubes had affected Airbus aircraft in the past, but the company had not corrected the problem.

☆ Joe Exotic warns Trump in a phone interview with Fox News that 'karma's a bitch' before he's cut off by a recording saying he's in federal prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a Fox News interview, the "Tiger King" star blamed the Trump Administration for his conviction. A prerecorded message interrupted the interview, saying, "This call is from a federal prison." The "Tiger King" star previously tried and failed to get a presidential pardon from Trump, and he appears to have held a grudge for being omitted from the pardon list ever since. During a phone interview from Atlanta Penitentiary with Fox News' Lawrence Jones, Exotic blamed the Trump Administration for putting him behind bars. In his closing statement during the interview, Exotic encouraged people to visit his campaign website to learn more about his platform, but he was cut off as viewers were inadvertently reminded where he was calling from.

☆ Video shows New Mexico police were at wrong house seconds before killing homeowner
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Robert Dotson, 52, was killed by police in Farmington, New Mexico, on April 5, after officers responding to a domestic violence report arrived at the wrong house. An attorney representing the Dotson family could not be reached for comment on Saturday. An officer yells, "Hands up!," and the video shows Dotson raising what appears to be a handgun before officers open fire, dropping him in the doorway. Three children were upstairs at the time of the shooting, according to the released video. The Dotson family and their attorney watched the video prior to its public release, Hebbe said.

☆ In signing 6-week ban, DeSantis wades into thorny debate over abortion and 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

April 14 (Reuters) - When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a 15-week abortion ban on April 14, 2022, he held a morning ceremony at a church in front of an enormous "Protect Life" sign, flanked by women and children. On Thursday, exactly one year later, DeSantis – now a likely 2024 Republican presidential candidate – signed a six-week ban with decidedly less fanfare. Republican presidential hopefuls, including former President Donald Trump, have largely sidestepped the issue. REPUBLICANS TREAD CAREFULLYOther Republican presidential contenders have also treaded carefully. In a social media post after November's midterm elections, he blamed the "abortion issue" for the party's underperformance.

Paris CNN —France’s top court on Friday approved the government’s unpopular plans to raise the age of retirement by two years to 64, a huge win for President Emmanuel Macron in the face of mass protests across the country. The Constitutional Council – akin to the US Supreme Court – struck down some elements of the new law, but the most controversial element remains: the gradual upping of the retirement age. Sweeping protests have paralyzed major services across France year this year over Macron’s proposed changes to the pension system. Ahead of the ruling, heightened security was in place in Paris amid expectations of spontaneous protests. With regular, incremental increases, by 2030 the retirement age will have reached 64.

CNN —Iran executed at least 582 people last year, a 75% increase on the previous year, according to human rights groups who say the rise reflects an effort by Tehran to “instill fear” among anti-regime protesters. It was the highest number of executions in the Islamic republic since 2015, according to a report released Thursday by the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) and the France-based Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) groups. The vast majority of the executions – at least 544 – were of people accused of murder and drug-related offenses, said the report. “Iran’s authorities demonstrated how crucial the death penalty is to instill societal fear in order to hold onto power,” the report said. The human rights report said they were charged with “corruption on Earth.”Dozens of other protesters have received death sentences in recent months.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, April 12 (Reuters) - Local government officials in Memphis, Tennessee, voted on Wednesday to return the second of two Democratic state lawmakers who were expelled last week for protesting gun violence on the chamber floor. Seven of the board's 13 councilors were present for the meeting, and all seven voted in favor of Pearson's return. He is expected to return to the State Capitol in Nashville on Thursday to be sworn back in. Democrats in the U.S. Senate have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the expelled lawmakers' constitutional rights were violated. Before marching with supporters to the commissioners' meeting, Pearson, joined by Jones and Johnson, addressed a crowd of about 500 outside the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

☆ Rodents beware: New York City hires first 'rat czar'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A rat jumps into a puddle in the snow in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 2, 2019. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File PhotoApril 12 (Reuters) - New York City's unending war on rats has a new commanding general. Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday announced that Kathleen Corradi, an education department employee, has been appointed New York’s first-ever "rat czar," part of Adams’ effort to combat a growing rodent population in the county’s most populous city. She previously oversaw rat mitigation efforts in the city’s public schools. The size of the city’s rat population is unknown.

April 4 (Reuters) - Wisconsin voters on Tuesday elected liberal Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court, flipping control to a liberal majority ahead of rulings on an abortion ban and other matters that could play a role in the 2024 presidential election. But it was abortion that dominated the campaign, with the court expected in the coming months to decide whether to uphold the state's 1849 abortion ban. Protasiewicz put abortion at the center of her campaign, saying in one advertisement that she supports "a woman's freedom to make her own decision on abortion." [1/9] Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz celebrates after the race was called for her during her election night watch party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., April 4, 2023. In addition, the court may revisit the state's congressional and legislative maps, which Republicans have drawn to maximize their political advantage.

April 4 (Reuters) - Wisconsin voters on Tuesday elected liberal Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court, flipping control to a liberal majority ahead of rulings on an abortion ban and other matters that could play a role in the 2024 presidential election. But it was abortion that dominated the campaign, with the court expected in the coming months to decide whether to uphold the state's 1849 abortion ban. That law took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion. [1/7] Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Janet Protasiewicz celebrates after the race was called for her during her election night watch party in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., April 4, 2023. Republicans portrayed Protasiewicz as soft on crime and said she would use the court to advance a liberal agenda, regardless of the law.

☆ With abortion in the balance, Wisconsin voters to choose new high court judge
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/9] Supporters of Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Daniel Kelly cheer during a campaign event the night before Wisconsin's Supreme Court election, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S., April 3, 2023. Abortion has dominated the campaign, with the court expected in the coming months to decide whether to uphold the state's 1849 abortion ban. The state's Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, has challenged the statute's validity in a lawsuit backed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers. "Judges are supposed to wear a black robe, but she's made clear she'll be wearing a blue robe," said Mark Jefferson, the state Republican chair. "What we are seeing in this race is an indication that this is a new era for state Supreme Court elections," he said.

☆ Why Instagram's 'Creator Marketplace' has left many influencers twiddling their thumbs instead of scoring brand deals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Sydney Bradley | Marta Biino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

"I was so excited when the creator marketplace was rolled out," content creator Melanie Demi told Insider. "Over the last couple of months, I feel like the creator marketplace has died down a little bit," Demi said. "Even on the TikTok creator marketplace, it's the same," said Joseph Arujo, who has access to the feature on both platforms. On TikTok's marketplace, creators can add their starting rates for brand deals or negotiate terms. TikTok's creator marketplace, for example, brought on "alpha partners" in 2021 such as Influential, Whalar, and Captiv8.

☆ Joe Exotic welcomed a newly indicted Trump to the 'party' of presidential candidates charged with crimes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Joe Exotic welcomed Donald Trump to the club of presidential candidates charged with crimes. "Former President Trump now that you have been indicted- Welcome to the party!" Exotic wrote on Instagram. The "Tiger King" star took to Instagram to welcome Trump to the "party" after Trump was indicted on Thursday. Despite being in prison, Exotic announced on Twitter in March that he had launched a long-shot 2024 presidential bid.

[1/3] Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends his first campaign rally after announcing his candidacy for president in the 2024 election at an event in Waco, Texas, U.S., March 25, 2023. Trump has denied Daniels's claim, and his lawyer has accused Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of extortion. To elevate that charge to a felony, prosecutors must prove that Trump falsified records to cover up a second crime. The New York Times and NBC News reported that Trump is expected to surrender next week, citing his lawyers. If Trump for some reason decided not to come in voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida.

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