The New York judge in US President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case ruled on Friday that Trump must be sentenced on January 10, just days before his inauguration. However, Justice Juan Merchan also indicated that he will not impose a jail sentence. Source link
Publishing news is quiet in this final stretch of the year, so here’s a snackable round-up of interesting bookish stuff. Grab a cup of something cozy and follow your curiosity. 🚫 A federal judge has struck down portions of the Arkansas book banning law that could have sent librarians and booksellers to prison. 📚 Publishers Weekly suggests 7 books from 2024 you shouldn’t overlook 👿 There’s a new translation of Dante’s Inferno. NPR wonders: why? 🕯️Six books to read by the fire 🔪 The Women is the bestselling novel of the year. One critic calls it “almost unbearably bad.” ✍️ 50 contemporary poets name the best poetry they read in 2024 ❤️ The Washington Post‘s Ron Charles reflects on four decades of marriage and shared bookshelves 🎆 New Yorker writers and contributors share the books they’re reading to start 2025 🥳 The 25 most anticipated books of 2025 📖 Or maybe these will be the best books of 2025 🎙️ 7 YA author interviews to enjoy from 2024 What are you reading this last weekend …
Sean “Diddy” Combs has attempted to contact prospective witnesses from jail in a bid to sway public opinion ahead of his upcoming sex trafficking trial, prosecutors have claimed. The accusations were made in a Manhattan federal court filing in which the prosecution opposes the 55-year-old rapper‘s latest $50m (£39m) bail proposal. A bail hearing is scheduled for next week. Combs pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with the aid of a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings. He says his sexual relationships were consensual, and strenuously denies all wrongdoing. In the latest step of the ongoing case, prosecutors say a review of recorded jail calls made by Combs shows he has asked family members to reach out to potential victims and witnesses and has urged them to create “narratives” to influence the jury pool. They say he has also encouraged marketing strategies to influence public opinion. The filing said: “The defendant has shown repeatedly – even …
PHILADELPHIA — Free markets, free trade and defending democracy, at home and abroad: that’s John Conway’s ideal version of the United States, led by the Republican Party. In 2024, it’s also a vision far removed from reality, former President Donald Trump’s conquest of the GOP having been fully actualized, his party critics long since replaced by members of his family and others more loyal to him than the principles, however romanticized, of traditional conservatism. Conway, director of strategy for the group Republican Voters Against Trump, is fully aware of that. He just doesn’t think that he and other conservatives should accept their party being taken over by a 78-year-old with a dubious grasp on what it takes to be a leader — “a disgusting character who doesn’t represent the best of America” — and a record of putting his own interests ahead of the republic. “Donald Trump has really fundamentally changed what the Republican Party stands for and what the Republican Party is,” Conway said in an interview. “If you look at an issue like …
On today’s thrilling episode of Quick Charge, Kia posts an all-time sales record driven by EVs, we find you some great, 0% financing deals, there’s a brand-new Volvo XC90 for 2025, and we explain why the Oakland police might be towing your Tesla. But wait, there’s more! Ford’s upgraded e-Transit van offers a bigger battery with more range and faster charging, US solar and wind are building up the grid, and we hear a word from our friends at Volvo CE. Source Links Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content there as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news! Got news? Let us know!Drop us a line at [email protected]. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show! FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate …
The far-right activist Tommy Robinson “could face jail” after screening a documentary against high court orders at a demonstration in central London on Saturday, according to the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate. The film, Silenced, repeated false claims he made about a Syrian refugee that led to him losing a libel case in 2021. Robinson is due to appear at a high court hearing on Monday accused of contempt of court for making the documentary. Nick Lowles of Hope Not Hate wrote on X: “Tommy Robinson is currently screening the film Silenced in Trafalgar Square, just 48 hours before he appears in the High Court accused of breaking an injunction preventing him from releasing the film.. He’s heading to jail. “The Attorney General’s office have been made aware of Tommy Robinson screening a film he was banned from showing. Such a flagrant disregard for the law could well see him facing the maximum two-year sentence. Only himself to blame.” The Metropolitan police said: “We did not know what films would be shown during the event. …
Last week, five supporters of the Just Stop Oil climate campaign who conspired to cause gridlock on London’s orbital motorway were sentenced to lengthy jail terms by a judge who told them they had ‘crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic’. Columnist and campaigner George Monbiot tells Ian Sample why the sentences are so significant, how they fit into a crackdown on protest in the UK in recent years, and what impact they could have on future climate activism in the UK How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know Source link
Islamic State prisoners who took two guards hostage in a Russian jail have been killed and their captives freed, officials said on Sunday. Authorities in the southern Rostov region said they had brought the siege to a swift end, killing the hostage-takers. The prison guards were unharmed, they added. The prison service had earlier reported that the two guards had been taken hostage by an unspecified number of Islamic State detainees at Rostov’s Detention Centre 1 and that negotiations were going on. But a short time later, it issued a statement: “During a special operation … the criminals were liquidated and the employees who were taken hostage were released and were not injured.” No further details were released. Russian police stand guard near a pretrial detention center where inmates had taken employees hostage – ARKADY BUDNITSKY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock A police source told TASS, the Russian state news agency, that IS members who were due to appear in court on terrorism charges were among the hostage-takers. They were reported to have been holed up in the prison courtyard, …
Every day I struggle to hold the insanity of our collective behaviour within me – in my psyche, my heart and my body. The harm we are causing to ourselves, to our fellow humans and all other beings, and our incredible, beautiful home, is horrific. Yet I know that what I think and feel is a healthy response to what’s going on. In April 2021, Frans Timmermans, the vice-president of the EU commission, said: “Today’s children will face a future of fighting wars for water and food.” We are already facing significant impacts on our harvests here. The prospect of wars over resources and conflict caused by and exacerbated by climatic conditions is an almost unbearable intergenerational injustice. The loss of biodiversity, meanwhile, will erode the foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, law and order, health and quality of life worldwide. If the government’s primary duty is to protect the people, then the form of democracy we have is failing. We took this action because the institutions and systems that we relied upon were …
The social media star was ordered to pay £500 in compensation to his victim alongside the 12-month community order Source link
