Judge orders Trump to pay $355 million for lying about his wealth in staggering civil fraud ruling
NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge has ordered Donald Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in penalties. The judge found they engaged in a yearslong scheme to dupe banks and others with financial statements that inflated his wealth. Trump won’t have to pay out the money immediately as an appeals process plays out, but the verdict still is a stunning setback for the former president. He also was barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years or from getting a loan from banks registered in the state. Trump calls the verdict a “Complete and Total sham.” Trump Organization Executive Vice Presidents Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump each were ordered to pay $4 million.
Tributes to Alexei Navalny, Putin’s greatest foe, removed from Russian cities as police look on
Floral tributes to Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe who died in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unknown people while police watched. According to the political watchdog OVD-Info, more than 100 people have were detained in eight cities across Russia after they came to lay flowers in memory of Navalny. On Saturday, police blocked access to a memorial in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and detained several people there as well as in another Siberian city, Surgut. The news of Navalny’s death comes less than a month before an election that will give Putin another six years in power. It brought renewed criticism of the Kremlin leader who has cracked down on all opposition at home.
Nerve agents, poison and window falls. Kremlin foes have been attacked or killed over the years
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Kremlin critics, turncoat spies and investigative journalists have been attacked or killed in a variety of ways. The attacks range from the exotic — such as polonium-laced tea — to the more mundane, such as getting shot at close range. Assassination attempts against foes of President Vladimir Putin have been common during his nearly quarter century in power. Relatives of the victims and the few survivors have blamed Russian authorities, but the Kremlin has routinely denied any involvement. Russian authorities said Friday that Putin’s key political challenger, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison colony. The details of what happened are murky — and his team says it has no confirmation of his death.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy warns of an “artifical deficit” of weapons after withdrawal from Avdiivka
MUNICH (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned allies that an “artificial deficit” of weapons for his country risks giving Russia breathing space after his military chief said he was withdrawing troops from the eastern city of Avdiivka. Zelenskyy spoke Saturday to the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of security and foreign policy officials. Ukraine is back on the defensive against Russia in the nearly 2-year-old war, hindered by low ammunition supplies and a shortage of personnel. Zelenskyy said “Ukrainians have proven that we can force Russia to retreat.” The president said that the troop withdrawal was “a correct decision” and emphasized the priority of saving Ukrainian soldiers’ lives.
Ukraine is withdrawing from Avdiivka, where outnumbered defenders held out for 4 months
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military chief says he’s withdrawing troops from the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, where outnumbered defenders have battled a Russian assault for four months. In a short statement posted on Facebook early Saturday, Ukrainian commander Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi said he had made the decision to avoid encirclement and “preserve the lives and health of servicemen.” The timing is critical as Russia is looking for a morale boost ahead of the second anniversary on Feb. 24 of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the March presidential election in Russia. In recent days, reports emerged that Ukrainian troops in Avdiika faced a deteriorating situation.
Israel’s defense chief says military ‘thoroughly planning’ offensive in crowded Gaza border town
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s defense minister says Israel is “thoroughly planning” its promised military offensive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. That signaled a determination to move ahead despite growing international concerns about the safety of the large Palestinian civilian population huddled there. U.S. President Joe Biden has urged Israel not to carry out the operation without a “credible” plan to protect civilians, while Egypt has said an operation could threaten diplomatic relations between the countries. Many other world leaders have issued similar messages of concern. An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza’s entire population, have crammed into Rafah, most of them displaced by fighting elsewhere in the territory.
A man in Iran guns down 12 relatives in a shooting rampage with a Kalashnikov rifle
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A 30-year-old man has gunned down 12 of his relatives in a remote rural area in southeast Iran, the deadliest shooting reported in decades. Head of the justice department of the province of Kerman, Ebrahim Hamidi, told the semiofficial ISNA news agency Saturday that the gunman opened fire on his father, brother and other relatives early morning in a village because of family disputes. The report, which did not identify the assailant, stated he used a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Local media report on occasional shootings, but this attack has had the highest death toll in Iran, where citizens are only legally allowed hunting rifles, common in rural areas.
Japan’s new flagship H3 rocket achieves planned trajectory in key test after failed debut last year
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s new Japanese flagship H3 rocket lifted off from a space station in southwestern Japan on Saturday and successfully achieved a planned trajectory in a key second test flight a year after its failed debut launch. It released two small observation satellites. The rocket blasted off from a launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center two days after its originally scheduled liftoff that was delayed due to bad weather. The rocket’s initial flight has been smooth as planned, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said in its livestreaming. JAXA and its main contractor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been developing H3 as a successor to its current mainstay, H-2A.
Tech companies sign accord to combat AI-generated election trickery
Major technology companies signed a pact Friday to voluntarily adopt “reasonable precautions” to prevent artificial intelligence tools from disrupting democratic elections worldwide. Tech executives from Adobe, Amazon, Google, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI and TikTok gathered at the Munich Security Conference to announce a new voluntary framework for how they will respond to AI-generated deepfakes that deliberately trick voters. Twelve other companies — including Elon Musk’s X — are also signing on. The accord is largely symbolic, but targets increasingly realistic AI-generated images, audio and video that make candidates say something they didn’t or mislead about how to vote. Tech watchdogs said the accord was a positive step but more action needs to be taken.
Fani Willis case ensnared in legal arguments during testimony about romantic relationship timeline
ATLANTA (AP) — A witness has refused to answer most questions from defense attorneys trying to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump. The attorneys had expected Terrence Bradley to testify that Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade began dating before Wade was hired for the Trump case. But Bradley repeatedly refused to answer questions about Wade and Willis on Friday, citing attorney-client privilege. The attorneys for Trump and some other defendants in the election case argue that the relationship started before Willis hired Wade and that she benefited from his earnings for the work, creating a conflict of interest.
