Category Archives: New York

Trump set to attend Stormy Daniels hush-money court hearing in New York

Posted on by

Judge in Manhattan to rule on several issues including Trump’s motion to throw out case involving payment to adult film star

Donald Trump is expected to appear in Manhattan state court on Thursday morning for a hearing in his hush-money criminal case involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels and the playboy model Karen McDougal.

The judge, Juan Merchan, is expected to announce his decision on several issues, including the former US president’s motion to throw out the case.

Continue reading...

New York special election: Tom Suozzi wins seat vacated by George Santos in boost for Biden

Posted on by

The contest between Democrat Suozzi and little-known Republican Mazi Pilip was seen as a bellwether for November’s presidential election

Democrat Tom Suozzi won the New York congressional seat vacated by the disgraced Republican George Santos on Tuesday night, in a boost for Joe Biden ahead of the presidential election.

The victory narrows the slim Republican majority in the House and gives Democrats a much-needed win in New York City’s Long Island suburbs, where Republican candidates have shown strength in recent elections.

Continue reading...

Snow from nor’easter storm leads to canceled flights in north-eastern US

Posted on by

Meteorologists predicted New York City could get as much as eight inches of snow, with a foot or more possible in Boston

A strong nor’easter storm hit the north-east of the United States overnight on Tuesday, causing airlines to cancel more than 1,000 flights and disrupt the morning work commute for millions.

Meteorologists predicted New York City could get as much as eight inches of snow, with a foot or more possible in Boston. However, warm ground temperatures meant that snow was not yet heavily accumulating in Manhattan.

Continue reading...

Long Island votes on replacement for disgraced Republican George Santos

Posted on by

Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican Mazi Pilip battle to win New York district after expulsion of fabulist congressman

The replacement for George Santos, the disgraced Republican congressman, is set to be decided on Tuesday, as New Yorkers head to the polls in what has become a closely watched election nationwide.

Voters in Long Island, east of New York City, face a choice between Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who previously spent six years in Congress, and Mazi Pilip, a relatively unknown local politician, in an election that will impact Republican’s narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

Continue reading...

‘A gift to Moscow’: dismay as NYPD takes part in UAE Swat games with Chechnya and Belarus

Posted on by

Event has already been widely used as PR opportunity for notorious Chechen unit accused of war crimes in Ukraine

Led out by a beaming Adam Kadyrov, the son of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a group of muscular men sporting black beards strode on to the brightly illuminated stage in Dubai last week to receive gold medals and a $5,000 (£3,960) cheque.

The men were members of the notorious Chechen Akhmat Kadyrov special police regiment, a group that Ukrainian officials have said was responsible for some of the worst atrocities in the war with Russia. The unit had just won one of the contests at the international Swat Challenge games, which are held each year in the United Arab Emirates.

Continue reading...

Judge rejects Trump’s mistrial motions in E Jean Carroll defamation case

Posted on by

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who ruled from the bench, reportedly said allowing for a mistrial ‘would have been entirely pointless’

Donald Trump’s motions for a mistrial in the defamation case brought against him by the writer E Jean Carroll have been rejected by a federal judge, who added that the former president’s issues with the verdict had no “merit”.

In an order filed on Wednesday, Judge Lewis Kaplan said the motion for a mistrial “made no sense” and that approving it “would have been entirely pointless”. Trump’s lawyers had previously called for a mistrial in the middle of their cross-examination of Carroll, which the judge denied at the time, instructing the jury to disregard the counsel’s remarks. He reiterated his decision and sharply criticized the efforts of Trump’s attorney in the written order this week.

Continue reading...

New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium to host 2026 World Cup final as Azteca gets opener

Posted on by
  • Canada’s first men’s World Cup match will be in Toronto
  • US will play group matches in Los Angeles and Seattle

New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium will host the final of the 2026 World Cup, which will take place across North America in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The 82,500 capacity MetLife Stadium is in New Jersey but is five miles from New York City and is the home of the NFL’s New York Jets and Giants. It hosted the Super Bowl in February 2014 and the final of the Copa America Centenario in 2016.

Continue reading...

Laurie Anderson ends German professorship after criticism of Palestine support

Posted on by

Essen’s Folkwang University took issue with the American artist’s support of a ‘letter against apartheid’ by Palestinian artists

The artist, musician and film director Laurie Anderson has withdrawn from a guest professorship at a university in Germany after officials took issue with her support for a 2021 statement by Palestinian artists titled Letter Against Apartheid.

The decision, announced days before Anderson is due to receive a lifetime achievement award at this year’s Grammys, adds to the wave of cultural events that have been scrapped in Germany after artists expressed views deemed by officials to be anti-Israel.

Continue reading...

These business leaders secretly funded Mayor Eric Adams’s re-election effort, donors say

Posted on by

Three donors say that they – and, in two cases, their spouses – were reimbursed for donations to the New York City mayor’s 2025 campaign, a tactic that violates state law


Political contributions to New York mayor Eric Adams totaling more than $10,000 were secretly bankrolled by business people tied to the city’s hotel and construction industries, according to three individuals listed as donors in government records.

Continue reading...

New York to expand definition of rape after E Jean Carroll’s case against Trump

Posted on by

Current definition was factor in Carroll’s sexual abuse case, which was highlighted by Governor Kathy Hochul at bill ceremony

New York will expand its legal definition of rape to include various forms of nonconsensual sexual contact, under a bill signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.

The state’s current limited definition was a factor in writer E Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald Trump. The jury in the federal civil trial rejected the writer’s claim last May that the former president had raped her in the 1990s, instead finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse.

Continue reading...

Central Park Five exoneree says police pulled him over without explanation

Posted on by

NYPD body camera footage shows city council member Yusef Salaam being stopped, renewing light on police transparency bill

New York city council member Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated group of men known as the Central Park Five, says he was stopped and pulled over by police without being given an explanation.

The police stop in New York City on Friday casts a renewed light on a police transparency bill, called the How Many Stops Act, that city council members are set to vote on Tuesday to override mayor Eric Adams’ veto. It would require officers to publicly report on all investigative stops, including relatively low-level encounters with civilians.

Continue reading...

Angry Trump fumes after $83.3m damages ruling in E Jean Carroll case

Posted on by

Former president calls verdict ‘absolutely ridiculous’ and accuses Biden of directing ‘witch-hunt’ against him and Republicans

The $83.3m verdict against Donald Trump in the defamation case brought by the writer E Jean Carroll over her allegation of sexual assault was celebrated by opponents of the former president, analysed by legal experts and excoriated by the presumptive 2024 Republican White House nominee and his loyal supporters.

Trump called the verdict “absolutely ridiculous” and claimed it was part of a Joe “Biden-directed witch hunt” against “me and the Republican party”.

Continue reading...

Trump takes stand and gives brief testimony in E Jean Carroll trial

Posted on by

Former president says he never instructed anyone to hurt magazine columnist after judge warns him to keep his voice down

Donald Trump took the witness stand in E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against him, marking the first time he has provided court testimony relating to her sexual assault claim against him.

Trump’s testimony lasted less than five minutes as the judge in this case, Lewis Kaplan, significantly limited what the ex-president could say in court. In May last year, a jury awarded Carroll $5m after finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed her; Kaplan said jurors’ factual determination in the first proceeding would be accepted at this trial, meaning they are only weighing damages.

Continue reading...

Newburgh Four: judge orders release of man convicted in US terror sting

Posted on by

James Cromitie was convicted in 2010 after FBI invented a conspiracy to attack synagogues and military planes

A man convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting was ordered freed from prison by a judge who criticized the FBI for relying on an “unsavory” confidential informant for an agency-invented conspiracy to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down national guard planes.

The US district judge Colleen McMahon on Friday granted James Cromitie, 58, compassionate release from prison six months after she ordered the release of his three co-defendants, known as the Newburgh Four, for similar reasons.

Continue reading...

Snow and storms across US as 55 reported killed in winter weather

Posted on by

Cold snap continues from south to Pacific north-west, with thaw not expected until next week

The deep freeze affecting millions of people across the US is continuing this weekend, as bitterly frigid air spilled into the midwest from Canada amid high winds that could make it feel like -30F (-34C) outside in some areas.

The list of severe weather events was growing as the US struggled with the intense cold and news reports said at least 55 people across 10 states had been killed in weather-related incidents over the past week or so since the cold snap hit.

Continue reading...

Alleged Long Island serial killer indicted on new murder charge of fourth victim

Posted on by

Rex Heuermann was indicted for killing Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose remains were found in marshland along Gilgo Beach

The accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann has been indicted on a new murder charge in the killing of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who investigators believe was the first of the “Gilgo Four” to be killed, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.

The unsealing of the indictment came after authorities announced Heuermann would face “a major development” in the investigation of the Gilgo Beach killings, which all targeted sex workers and lay unsolved for more than a decade.

Continue reading...

E Jean Carroll lawyer warns Trump plans to turn damages trial into ‘circus’

Posted on by

Letter accuses ex-president of intending to ‘sow chaos’ next week, while Trump ordered to pay New York Times nearly $400,000

Donald Trump’s legal woes continued to mount as a lawyer in an upcoming defamation case asked a judge to ensure the former president does not disrupt imminent legal proceedings – and, in a separate issue, he was ordered to pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to the New York Times.

In the first of those two cases, a lawyer for E Jean Carroll – a columnist who last year won a $5m jury award against Trump for sexual abuse – urged a judge to take strong measures to ensure Trump does not “sow chaos” when a new jury considers next week if he owes even more in damages.

Continue reading...

Vacate orders issued to stabilize New York synagogue after tunnel discovery

Posted on by

Investigation by city uncovered 60ft-long tunnel under historic Jewish site, extending under several buildings in vicinity

New York building officials have issued emergency work orders to stabilize a historic synagogue and its neighboring structures after an illicit underground tunnel was discovered at the sanctuary earlier this week.

An investigation by the city’s department of buildings uncovered a tunnel that was 60ft long (18.3 meters), 8ft wide (2.4 meters) and 5ft high (1.5 meters) located underneath the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, an important Jewish site. It extends under several buildings in the vicinity.

Continue reading...

Several men arrested after dispute over secret tunnel in Brooklyn synagogue

Posted on by

Brawl erupted between police and those who created passageway and wanted it to remain at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters

A group of men belonging to a Hasidic Jewish community in New York were arrested on Monday amid a dispute over an illegal tunnel secretly dug into the side of a historic synagogue, which has since been closed.

Action by law enforcement after the tunnel came to light led to a brawl between police and those who had created the passageway and wanted it to remain.

Continue reading...

‘Personal piggy bank’: ex-NRA chief accused as civil corruption trial begins

Posted on by

Trial under way in New York despite Wayne LaPierre announcing on Friday that he is stepping down as lobby group’s chief executive

A civil trial that will lift the lid on decades of alleged financial mismanagement and corruption by senior officials of the National Rifle Association (NRA) got under way in New York on Monday, with opening statements expected later in the day.

The case against the gun rights group’s former chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other executives is progressing despite LaPierre’s resignation on Friday, and a pre-trial settlement by another of the four defendants, former chief of staff Joshua Powell.

Continue reading...