While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Nov 7
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Former US President Donald Trump is questioned by Kevin Wallace of the New York Attorney General's Office.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Trump defiant at NY fraud trial, judge threatens to cut off testimony
Donald Trump complained of unfair treatment in defiant and rambling testimony on the witness stand at his New York civil business-fraud trial on Monday, prompting the judge to threaten to cut his testimony short.
Under questioning about his company’s accounting practices, the former US president repeatedly clashed with Judge Arthur Engoron, who is weighing whether to impose hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and other penalties that could hobble the real estate empire that vaulted Trump to prominence.
Engoron warned Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in the 2024 election, that he might remove him from the witness stand if he did not answer questions directly.
Hamas says launched 16 rockets from Lebanon at Israel
Hamas militants on Monday fired 16 rockets from Lebanon towards northern Israel, the Palestinian group’s armed wing announced, saying they targeted areas south of the Israeli coastal city of Haifa.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said the strikes came “in response to the occupation’s (Israel’s) massacres and its aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip”.
The Israeli army meanwhile reported about 30 projectiles had been fired at northern Israel from Lebanon, adding that it fired back at the direction they had been launched from.
Ukraine expects ‘positive’ EU report on membership bid: Minister
Ukraine expects a “positive” European Union appraisal of its progress on the path towards eventual EU membership in a report due this week, a senior government minister said on Monday, adding that Kyiv had carried out all the reforms required of it.
Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna was speaking in an interview with Reuters before the executive EU Commission publishes the report on Wednesday. Kyiv hopes it will recommend that EU leaders decide in December to open formal accession talks with Ukraine.
“I would say that the assessment would definitely be positive because we have been in permanent contact with the European Commission, discussing the steps and negotiating the steps we managed to implement,” Stefanishyna said.
Pope talks and jokes with children at rally after brief health scare
Pope Francis talked and joked with crowds of children and appeared to be in good health on Monday afternoon, after a brief scare earlier in the day when he said he was not well.
The Vatican said he had been suffering from a cold that morning and had decided not to read a prepared speech to a delegation from the Conference of European Rabbis to save time so he could greet them individually.
“It happens that I am not well and because of this I prefer not to read the speech but give you a copy,” he told the rabbis at that event
Russian Olympic body appeals IOC suspension at CAS
Russia’s Olympic body on Monday launched an appeal against its suspension by the International Olympic Committee at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the sports tribunal said.
The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) on October 12 for violating the territorial integrity of the membership of Ukraine by recognising illegally annexed territories.
ROC has recognised regional organisations from four Ukrainian territories annexed since Russia’s invasion began in 2022.