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Rape lawsuit trial against Donald Trump set to get underway

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

By LARRY NEUMEISTER and JENNIFER PELTZ (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — For decades, former President Donald Trump has seemed to shake off allegations, investigations and even impeachments. Now his “Teflon Don” reputation is about to face a new test: a jury of average citizens in a lawsuit accusing him of rape.Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in a trial over former advice columnist’s E. Jean Carroll’s claim that Trump raped her nearly three decades ago in a department store dressing room. He denies it.The trial is in a federal civil court, meaning that no matter the outcome, Trump isn’t in danger of going to jail. He isn’t required to be in court, either, and his lawyers have indicated he most likely won’t testify.But the trial, which comes as Trump is again running for president, still has the potential to be politically damaging for the Republican. The jury is poised to hear a reprisal of stories of sexual misconduct tha...

Germany detains Syrian suspected of planning Islamist attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities have detained a Syrian man on suspicion of planning to carry out an explosives attack motivated by Islamic extremism, officials said Tuesday.Federal police said officers detained the 28-year-old man early Tuesday in the northern city of Hamburg.Investigators say the man is suspected of trying to obtain substances online that would have allowed him to manufacturer an explosive belt “in order to carry out an attack against civilian targets.”Police say the man was encouraged and supported in his action by his 24-year-old brother, who lives in the southern town of Kempten. The men, whose names weren’t immediately released, are described as being motivated by “radical Islamist and jihadist” views.Authorities said they had no information indicating a concrete target for the planned attack.Police searched properties in Hamburg and Kempten, seizing large amounts of evidence including chemical substances, officials said. Some 250 officers were involved ...

Proud Boys Jan. 6 jury to hear 2nd day of closing arguments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal jury on Tuesday is scheduled to hear a second day of attorneys’ closing arguments in the landmark trial for former Proud Boys extremist group leaders charged with plotting to violently stop the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election.A lawyer for former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio will address jurors before they begin deliberating, more than three months after the trial started in Washington, D.C.It’s one of the most serious cases to come out of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, which temporarily halted Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over Donald Trump. Tarrio and four lieutenants are charged with seditious conspiracy — a rarely used charge that carries up to 20 years behind bars.A prosecutor told jurors on Monday that the Proud Boys were ready for “all-out war” and viewed themselves as foot soldiers fighting for Trump as the Republican spread lies th...

2 killed, 10 wounded as Russian forces hit Ukrainian museum

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian missile hit a museum building in a Ukrainian city on Tuesday, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others, part of a relentless barrage that comes as Ukraine is readying its forces for an expected spring counteroffensive.Ukrainian officials said the Russian military used S-300 air defense missiles to attack Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, hitting the museum of local history in the city center. The Russian military has repeatedly used S-300s, which Ukraine’s air defenses can’t intercept, to attack ground targets.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video from the site that shows the ruined building and emergency responders examining the damage.“The terrorist country is doing everything to destroy us completely,” Zelenskyy said. “Our history, our culture, our people. Killing Ukrainians with absolutely barbaric methods.”Zelenskyy said that a museum worker was killed, and Kharkiv regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov later repo...

Why the federal worker strike will test Canada’s economy and labour market

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

For almost a week, Canada’s federal workers have been on strike. The action by the Public Service Alliance of Canada is the largest the country has seen in decades, and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. Meanwhile, services in many federal departments are reduced to emergency-only levels, as unions and employers across the country watch to see what comes next.Cormac Mac Sweeney is a Parliament Hill reporter for CityNews. He joins us to discuss why this strike comes at a critical time for both the economy and labour relations, and how inflation, pay scale, return-to-work policies could set a precedent for public and private workers throughout the country.“A lot of unions tend to try and time their job action to have maximum impact. I mean, that’s the point of a strike, it’s to try and put pressure on the other side,” he said. “The closer we get to busier travel seasons and the tax filing deadline, the more pressure it is going to put on the government and the union...

Lebanese, EU legal teams to cooperate in Central Bank probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese authorities and a European judicial team on Tuesday agreed to exchange information about their separate corruption probes of Lebanon’s Central Bank governor, officials said.The announcement came during a visit by a European delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg — its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in an ongoing investigation of Governor Riad Salameh and associates over several financial crimes.The officials met after Raja Salameh, the brother of the 72-year-old embattled governor, did not attend a scheduled hearing on Tuesday morning, citing an illness, Lebanese judicial officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case. The governor and his brother are accused of embezzlement, money laundering, and illicit enrichment.The European delegation first visited Lebanon in January to interrogate Riad Salameh and others from Lebanon’s financial and banking sector, including some of the governor’...

Melissa McCarthy fronts People magazine’s ‘Beautiful Issue’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Melissa McCarthy is out front on this year’s People magazine “Beautiful Issue.”The “Bridesmaids” star says being on the cover “felt like it was saying something really lovely to my younger self, to my 20-year-old self. Maybe to other people, too.”People on Tuesday revealed McCarthy’s selection and the cover for the issue that hits magazine racks on Friday.McCarthy, 52, recounted for the magazine her upbringing on a farm in rural Illinois and how she went through a punk phase, complete with a mohawk and blue hair, when she was in high school.“I was fascinated because when I walked down the street and I looked like that, it was the first time that I’d ever had people kind of make fun of me or say really mean things to me, even adults,” she told the magazine. “I just kept thinking, you don’t know me, I didn’t do anything to you. It was a real big eye-opener that people are just judging left and right.”McCarthy says it wasn’t until her 30...

Stock markets today: US futures fall ahead of tech earnings

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

BEIJING — Wall Street futures followed global markets lower Tuesday amid a bevy of U.S. earnings reports and an update on economic growth.Futures for the Dow slipped 0.2% and the S&P fell 0.4%.Dozens of the nation’s biggest companies, including Microsoft and Amazon, are due to report earnings this week. McDonald’s rose before the bel l after the fast food chain reported higher-than-expected sales and profit in the first quarter.General Motors jumped more than 3% after strong U.S. sales boosted profits and the company raised guidance based on expectations that demand will remain robust.Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to report their biggest drop in earnings since the spring of 2020, when the pandemic paralyzed the economy. But the majority of companies so far this earnings reporting season have been beating the projections of Wall Street analysts.On Thursday, the U.S. releases new data on economic growth during the first three months of the year. Economis...

UBS reaps $28B in new money amid Credit Suisse fallout

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — Swiss banking giant UBS said Tuesday that it took in $28 billion in new money from wealthy clients in the first three months of the year, with $7 billion of that coming in the 10 days after the announcement it was taking over ailing rival Credit Suisse.Zurich-based UBS, which is set to become Switzerland’s single banking titan after the merger closes in the coming months, said it also drew $14 billion in new money to its asset management business.“Our performance this quarter demonstrates that we continue to be a source of stability for our clients during periods of significant uncertainty,” said CEO Sergio Ermotti, who came back to UBS last month to shepherd the Credit Suisse takeover. “Our strong flows across global wealth management and asset management reflect our clients’ continued confidence and trust in us.”UBS posted net profit of nearly $1.04 billion in the first quarter, down 52% from the same period a year ago despite the new inflows. Profit was ...

Cesar Chavez’s legacy lives on in Biden’s new campaign chair

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:18:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Barack Obama flew to California to dedicate a national monument to Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez, a group of the activist’s relatives were invited to pose for photos with the president. Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Chavez’s granddaughter, hung back. As a member of Obama’s staff, she had traveled with the official party to the event, but she did not want to call attention to herself.Only when Obama’s senior adviser, Valerie Jarrett, insisted did Rodriguez reluctantly step forward, barely making it into the frame. “I said, ‘Julie, you have to be up there with your family,’” said Jarrett, who was Rodriguez’s boss in the White House Office of Public Engagement. “And she said, ‘No, I’m staff today.’” White House staffers are often of a type, hard-charging strivers who crave their own sliver of the limelight or even trade on a famous name. Rodriguez has been a clear exception. In her second tour serving a Democratic president, sheR...