Trump’s showmanship elicits more attention than the felony charges he denied in Florida court
The whirling drama surrounding Trump overshadowed most other news on Tuesday. His GOP presidential rivals largely refrained from any campaign events of their own. One Republican competitor, Vivek Ramaswamy, sought to capitalise on the spectacle by showing up outside the courthouse to tell reporters that he was encouraging other 2024 candidates to commit to pardoning Trump if elected to the White House.
18 months to South Sudan’s first ever elections, world’s youngest nation still has no constitution
Implementation of the peace agreement has been sluggish. The elections, originally scheduled for this year, were postponed until December 2024. Other key elements of the deal have not been implemented, sparking concern that the country could see a return to war instead of a transfer of power.
US slams brakes on online appointments for asylum-seekers at Texas border crossing after extortion reports
Several asylum-seekers say Mexican officials in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas, had threatened to hold them and make them miss their scheduled asylum appointments unless they paid them. Humanitarian groups in Laredo say they had recently warned CBP of the problems and that certain groups were controlling access to the international crossing on the Mexican side.
Russian army pound Ukraine President Zelensky home town overnight, kill 6 and injure 7
The devastation in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown is the latest bloodshed in Russia’s war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, as Ukrainian forces are mounting counteroffensive operations using Western-supplied firepower to try to drive out the Russians.
Support for ex-US President Trump among Republicans remains high despite criminal charges he faces
Trump, who turns 77 on Wednesday, touched down in Miami at 2:54pm (1854 GMT) in a private jet with his name emblazoned on the side. Supporters gathered outside a nearby golf club he owns, where he was due to stay the night.
Civil war in Sudan turns searchlight on role of Russia and China in months-old bloodbath
Sudan shows how Russia and China’s approaches to Africa differ. Sudan received billions in loans and investment from China to facilitate oil production and economic development throughout the 2000s. Russia is a longstanding security partner of Sudan and is keen to set up a naval base in Port Sudan. Both countries sell arms and sent peacekeepers to at least one UN mission.
Great Grift: Full probe of Covid funds theft will decide whether Biden or Trump will be next US president
Fraud in pandemic unemployment assistance programmes stands at $76 billion, according to congressional testimony from Labor Department Inspector General Larry Turner. That’s a conservative estimate. Another $115 billion mistakenly went to people who should not have received the benefits, according to his testimony.
Probe labelled ‘Great Grift’ reveals how public servants and proxies in US stole $280 billion, misspent $123 billion Covid funds
The pilfering was wide but not always as deep as the eye-catching headlines about cases involving many millions of dollars. But all of the theft, big and small, illustrates an epidemic of scams and swindles at a time America was grappling with overrun hospitals, school closures and shuttered businesses. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, more than 1.13 million people in the US have died from Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Influential former Italy prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi succumbs to leukaemia
Despite his health woes and the relentless court battles, Berlusconi refused to relinquish control of Forza Italia and returned to frontline politics, winning a seat in the European Parliament in 2019 and in the Italian Senate last year.
Ukraine announces recapture of villages in Kherson as Russia gloats over repulsion of enemy
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Ukrainian counteroffensive actions were underway. But while the recapture of Blahodatne pointed to a small Ukrainian advance, Western and Ukrainian leaders have repeatedly cautioned that efforts to expel Russian troops more broadly are expected to take time. Russia has made much of how its troops have held their ground elsewhere.
