A tense day in court docket for Stormy Daniels
Legal professionals for Donald Trump once more sought to make Stormy Daniels look as if she was mendacity yesterday about her account of a 2006 sexual liaison. However Daniels — who took the $130,000 hush-money fee on the coronary heart of the 34 felony expenses Trump is going through — pushed again.
“You made all this up, proper?” a lawyer requested.
Daniels responded with a forceful “No.”
Throughout a combative cross-examination — which began on Tuesday and continued yesterday — Daniels swung between vulnerability and defiance. When the protection attacked her for hawking gear to supporters, she responded by likening it to Trump’s personal merchandising.
Susan Necheles, Trump’s lawyer, searingly questioned Daniels for greater than two hours. As Necheles tried to undermine her credibility, Daniels constantly parried. In a single trade, Necheles steered that Daniels, due to her profession in porn, had lots of expertise with “phony tales about intercourse.”
Daniels shot again, “The intercourse within the movies may be very actual, similar to what occurred to me in that room.”
A Daniels-Trump recap: They met in July 2006, however their lives intersected over the following decade and past. Right here’s a breakdown of the timeline.
Hopes for a Gaza deal shrank as talks stalled
Excessive-level negotiations in Cairo had been placed on maintain yesterday; the Israeli and Hamas delegations left, as did the C.I.A. director, dealing a blow to hopes a deal could possibly be reached quickly.
Right here’s the newest.
The pause is a setback, on condition that some had seen indicators earlier within the week {that a} deal is perhaps shut. Nonetheless, one official mentioned that negotiators had been decoding the suspension as a pause slightly than a derailment.
Israel’s actions in Rafah may set the tone for future discussions. On Wednesday, President Biden acknowledged that Israel had used American bombs to kill civilians in Gaza. He mentioned the U.S. would additionally withhold artillery if Israel had been to go forward with a serious operation in Rafah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel reacted defiantly to Biden’s feedback: “If we have to stand alone, we’ll stand alone.” Fears are rising {that a} rift with the U.S. may have an effect on Israel’s capability to proceed its conflict. Netanyahu is caught between allies demanding a cease-fire deal and right-wing calls for in his personal nation to go ahead with the invasion.
A view from the sky: These satellite tv for pc photographs of Rafah, taken after Israeli forces entered town, present widespread injury and clusters of Israeli armored autos.
Ukraine strikes deep in Russia
Ukraine struck an oil refinery far inside Russia, officers on each side mentioned yesterday, as Kyiv works to weaken Russia’s navy and its vitality business.
The drone strike on the ability, which is certainly one of Russia’s largest and lies greater than 700 miles (over 1,100 kilometers) from Ukraine’s border, reveals that Kyiv is more and more in a position to attain targets additional inside its enemy’s territory.
Background: This assault, together with others on two oil depots, had been a part of an ongoing marketing campaign. Kyiv hopes to disrupt Russia’s navy logistics by concentrating on the amenities that offer gas for its tanks, ships and planes. Ukraine additionally hopes to undermine Russia’s vitality business, which is central to its financial system.
Influence: An vitality skilled in Belgium mentioned the strikes had taken greater than 10 % of Russia’s oil-refining capability off line, quickly lowering its capability to show its crude oil into merchandise like gasoline, diesel and petrol.
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Majid Khan, a former courier for Al Qaeda, spent twenty years in Guantánamo Bay and was tortured in C.I.A. custody. Within the 12 months since his launch, he has reunited together with his spouse, met his daughter and had a son. They now reside in Belize.
“Life is a check,” he mentioned. He sees the following chapter of his life as a possibility to make issues proper. He was damage, he mentioned, and did issues that damage others. “Could God forgive.”
For extra, take heed to the newest season of the “Serial” podcast, which is about Guantánamo.
Lives lived: Steve Albini, a musician and audio engineer who helped outline the sound of ’90s different rock, died at 61. Take heed to a few of his important recordings.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
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New pals: Our tech columnist spent the previous month hanging out with some A.I. companions. That is what he discovered.
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Extra medicine, much less violence: Altering attitudes have prompted Britain’s movie rankings board to rerate some basic films, like “Mary Poppins.”
How loneliness impacts the mind
Everybody feels lonely occasionally. However for some individuals, loneliness turns into entrenched in a manner that’s unhealthy for his or her well being. Power loneliness may even change individuals’s brains.
Neurologically, power loneliness is related to adjustments in areas necessary for social cognition, self-awareness and processing feelings. For years, scientists have recognized a few connection between loneliness and Alzheimer’s illness and different kinds of dementia. A examine printed late final 12 months steered an affiliation with Parkinson’s illness. Additionally it is linked to melancholy.
So what are you able to do? It sounds apparent, however a standard advice is to place your self in locations and conditions the place you’ll be able to meet individuals and make new pals. Cognitive habits remedy may also assist tackle the basis drawback for why it is perhaps onerous so that you can work together with others.
