Trump’s business empire could collapse ‘like falling dominoes’ after ruling

Trump is effectively ‘out of business’ in New York, Michael Cohen says, after judge rules business fortune built on rampant fraud

Donald Trump’s real estate empire could collapse “like falling dominoes”, experts believe, following a New York judge’s ruling that the former president’s business fortune was built on rampant fraud and blatant lies.

According to Michael Cohen, his former attorney and fixer, Trump is already effectively “out of business” in New York after Judge Arthur Engoron on Tuesday rescinded the licenses of the Trump Organization and other companies owned by Trump and his adult sons, Eric and Don Jr.

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Trump real estate empire under threat after fraud ruling; Senate leader urges House to pass funding bill – US politics live

Even a short shutdown would jeopardize the work of potentially thousands of air traffic controllers and other key employees, secretary Buttigieg says

US soldier Travis King, who fled to North Korea in July, is in American custody after being expelled by Pyongyang into China, according to US officials.

North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said King had been expelled after he confessed to illegally entering the country. It said the soldier harboured ill feelings over inhumane treatment and racial discrimination within the US army.

This is genuinely new – I don’t think it’s ever happened before, a president on a picket line. Candidates do it frequently and prominent senators, but not a president.

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Republican contenders gather for key debate with Trump again absent

Seven candidates face off at Ronald Reagan library in Simi Valley, California, with Republican frontrunner again choosing to skip

Seven Republican presidential contenders gathered in California on Wednesday night for the second primary debate of the 2024 election season, but the absence of Donald Trump, the clear frontrunner in the race for the party’s nomination, again loomed large over the event.

Seven candidates qualified for the second debate, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute in Simi Valley, California. Those candidates were Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, the former vice-president Mike Pence, the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, and the North Dakota governor Doug Burgum.

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Chuck Schumer says he is ‘disturbed’ by Bob Menendez bribery charges

Senate majority leader says fellow Democrat has fallen ‘way short’ of senatorial standards but stops short of calling for resignation

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on Wednesday he was “disturbed” by the fraud indictment against his fellow Democratic Senator, Bob Menendez, and that the New Jersey lawmaker has fallen “way short” of senatorial standards.

Menendez pleaded not guilty earlier in the day to charges of taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen, as calls for his resignation from his fellow Democrats escalated.

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US soldier who fled to North Korea in July lands at Texas military base

Travis King arrived on US military flight and will undergo medical review and reintegration process

Travis King, the American soldier who fled across the border from South Korea to North Korea in July, has landed at a US military base in Texas after being taken back into US custody.

CNN reported that King arrived at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston on a US military flight in the early hours of Thursday morning.

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Bruce Springsteen postpones rest of tour due to peptic ulcer disease

Singer shelves all 2023 shows with the E Street Band to ‘continue treatment through the rest of the year on doctor’s advice’

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have postponed the remainder of their 2023 concerts as the singer receives treatment for peptic ulcer disease.

According to a statement released by the New Jersey singer on Wednesday, all of the cancelled shows will be rescheduled for 2024. Springsteen had previously postponed his September shows because of symptoms from peptic ulcer disease, which causes open sores in the esophagus, stomach or small intestine.

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Republicans pushing for government shutdown ‘stuck on stupid’, says party moderate

Mike Lawler, New York Republican, says ‘colleagues refuse to do what we were elected to do’ as shutdown looms

Republicans pushing for a federal government shutdown are “stuck on stupid”, a party moderate said shortly before one rightwinger reported that the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, would not hold a vote on a bipartisan Senate plan advanced as a way to keep the government open.

“The American people elected a House Republican majority to serve as a check and balance and be able to govern,” Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York, a heavily Democratic state, told CNN.

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Solomon Islands prime minister says US must respect Pacific leaders

Manasseh Sogavare hits out at US after skipping Biden summit as $200m in funding for Pacific nations draws criticism for ‘trying to play catch up’

The prime minister of Solomon Islands has criticised Washington, saying the US must respect Pacific leaders, after Joe Biden pledged $200m for the region in an effort widely seen as a push against China’s growing presence.

Biden hosted a group of Pacific leaders at a summit in Washington this week, after a similar meeting a year earlier.

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Senate finds breakthrough on funding as government shutdown looms

Stopgap deal reached Tuesday is a big step forward, but hard-right House Republicans still show little sign of relenting on budget

The Senate took a significant step on Tuesday to extend government funding beyond the end of the month, with just days left to avoid a shutdown that could force millions of federal employees to go without pay.

In a vote of 77 to 19, the Senate advanced a shell bill that will become a stopgap measure to fund the government through 17 November while directing roughly $6bn toward Ukraine’s war efforts and another $6bn toward disaster relief.

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Hollywood writers agree to end five-month strike after new studio deal

Writers Guild of America said its members could return to work while a ratification vote takes place for fresh three-year contract

Hollywood writers will officially end their five-month strike on Wednesday, as union leaders approved an agreement made with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and sent the full details of the new contract to union members for ratification.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) said in a statement on Tuesday evening that its members could return to work at midnight tonight, while a ratification vote takes place on a new three-year contract with Hollywood studios.

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Senate votes to advance stopgap funding bill to avoid shutdown – as it happened

The 79-page stopgap spending bill would not include any border security measures, a major sticking point for House Republicans

In a major blow to Bob Menendez’s support, Cory Booker, his fellow Democratic senator from New Jersey, says he should resign following his indictment on corruption charges last week.

“I believe stepping down is best for those Senator Menendez has spent his life serving,” said Booker, who supported Menendez when he previously faced corruption charges in 2015.

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Trump lawyers plan to appeal judge’s ruling that he committed fraud while building empire

On Tuesday judge Arthur Engoron refused to dismiss a lawsuit accusing former US president of illegally inflating assets and net worth

Donald Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame and the White House, a New York judge ruled on Tuesday in a strongly worded rejection of the former president’s bid to throw out a civil lawsuit against him.

Judge Arthur Engoron found that Trump and executives from his company, including his sons Eric and Donald Jr, routinely and repeatedly deceived banks, insurers and others by massively overvaluing assets and exaggerating his net worth on paperwork.

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California doubles taxes on guns and ammunition to pay for school security

Gavin Newsom, the governor, signed a law that adds an 11% state fee to the existing federal taxes for arms sales

California will double the taxes on guns and ammunition and use the money to pay for more security at public schools and various violence prevention programs under a new law Gavin Newsom, the governor, signed on Tuesday.

The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition at either 10% or 11%, depending on the type of gun. The law Newsom signed adds another 11% tax on top of that – making it the only state with its own tax on guns and ammunition, according to the gun control advocacy group Brady.

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Revealed: US collects more data on migrants than previously known

Documents show immigration agency Ice and BI Inc gather more information on those in Isap program and store it for longer

A US immigration enforcement program that tracks nearly 200,000 migrants is collecting far more data on the people it surveils than officials previously shared, and storing that data for far longer than was previously known, the Guardian can reveal.

Newly released documents show that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice) stores some personal information the program collects on migrants through smartphone apps, ankle monitors and smartwatches for up to 75 years.

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Joe Biden to join UAW picket line in solidarity with striking autoworkers

President to visit Detroit-area plant day before Donald Trump addresses workers in key 2024 battleground state

Joe Biden will make a rare presidential appearance on a picket line in Michigan on Tuesday to show solidarity with striking members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union locked in an escalating dispute with America’s three biggest carmakers.

In a high-stakes effort to steal a march on Donald Trump, Biden will offer his backing to strikers at a plant in the Detroit area as part of an all-out bid to retain the support of union members in Michigan, seen as a key presidential election battleground state.

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Joe Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line is historic – and may pay off politically

The president standing ‘in solidarity’ with striking autoworkers is a powerful gesture that could resonate with key blue-collar voters

In the more than 150 years since workers first formed labor unions in the United States, no American president has ever stood “in solidarity” with workers on a picket line. Joe Biden has vowed to do exactly that with striking autoworkers in Michigan on Tuesday.

“This is genuinely new – I don’t think it’s ever happened before, a president on a picket line,” said Nelson Lichtenstein, a longtime labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “Candidates do it frequently and prominent senators, but not a president.”

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First Thing: Biden joins stars in hailing ‘deal’ to end Hollywood writers strike

Writers Guild of America says tentative agreement on pay and conditions ‘due to the willingness of this membership to exercise its power’. Plus, how to deal with garlic breath, according to scientists

Good morning.

The tentative deal reached between Hollywood and studio executives has been received well by those on strike and others within the industry.

What did Joe Biden say about the deal? The president issued a statement on the strike’s imminent end and praised the power of collective bargaining. “This agreement, including assurances related to artificial intelligence, did not come easily. But its formation is a testament to the power of collective bargaining. There simply is no substitute for employers and employees coming together to negotiate in good faith toward an agreement that makes a business stronger and secures the pay, benefits, and dignity that workers deserve.

Is the Hollywood writers’ strike really over? While there is still much that is unclear – the nature of the deal, which needs to be ironed out in contractual language and ratified by union leadership and its 11,500 members, has yet to be revealed – the picture of a post-strike Hollywood is coming into focus. Here is what we know so far.

What else did the report say? The IEA, in a report entitled Net Zero Roadmap, published this morning, also called on developed countries with 2050 net zero targets to bring them forward by several years. Some already have closer dates, such as Germany with 2045 and Austria and Iceland with 2040 – and for many developing countries are much later, at 2060 in the case of China, and 2070 in India’s case.

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China, Japan and South Korea agree talks to calm fears over US ties

Trilateral discussions to resume in response to Beijing’s fears over growing US influence in region

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will hold three-way talks “as soon as possible” after a meeting intended to ease Chinese concerns over Washington’s stronger security presence in the region.

Official said on Tuesday that the three countries’ deputy foreign ministers had agreed to revive trilateral talks after a four-year hiatus during which tensions have risen over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme and Chinese military activity.

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FBI warned prominent US Sikhs of threats after murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada

Revelation comes days after prime minister Justin Trudeau blamed the assassination of the Sikh activist on the Indian government

The FBI warned at least three Americans active in the Sikh community that their lives were in danger in the immediate aftermath of the murder of a Sikh activist in Canada last June.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has blamed the apparent assassination on the Indian government, as assessment that has reportedly been backed by Canadian and US intelligence sources and has created a rupture in Ottawa’s relationship with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government.

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Third person charged for infant’s death from fentanyl in New York City daycare

Prosecutors say Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, 38, played a key role in selling the drugs that were stored at the childcare facility

A third person has been charged in the death of a toddler apparently poisoned by fentanyl inside a New York City daycare center, authorities said on Monday, as the search continued for the alleged ringleader of the drug peddling operation.

Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, 38, was charged with narcotics distribution resulting in death, 10 days after authorities discovered four young children showing signs of opioid exposure at a Bronx daycare center. One of those children, one-year-old Nicholas Dominici, was pronounced dead last Friday.

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