Republicans join Trump’s attacks on justice system and campaign of vengeance after guilty verdict
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans in Congress are embracing Donald Trump’s strategy of blaming the U.S. justice system after his historic guilty verdict. They’re also enlisting themselves in his campaign of vengeance and political retribution. It’s all part of the GOP bid to reclaim the White House. On Friday, the House Judiciary chairman demanded the prosecutors in the New York hush money case appear for questioning. Republicans who expressed doubts about Trump’s innocence or political viability were instantly bullied to stay silent  — or told to “leave the party.” President Joe Biden said the attacks on the justice system are “reckless” and “irresponsible.” Experts on authoritarianism warn that Trump is vowing to use the state against his opponents.
Trump tries to move past his guilty verdict by attacking the criminal justice system
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump sought to move past his historic criminal conviction on Friday and build momentum for his bid to return to the White House with fierce attacks on the judge who oversaw the case, the prosecution’s star witness and the criminal justice system as a whole. Speaking from his namesake tower in Manhattan in a symbolic return to the campaign trail, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee delivered a message aimed squarely at his most loyal supporters. Defiant as ever, he insisted without evidence that the verdict was rigged and driven by politics.
Donald Trump’s attorney was ‘shocked’ the former president took the verdict with ‘solemnness’
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s lead attorney in his New York criminal case told The Associated Press he was “shocked” at the former president’s calm demeanor when the verdict was read in court. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche said Trump “just kind of took it” with the appropriate solemnness for the moment. Blanche said he thought Trump was still handling himself well on Friday, the day after the verdict, even as the Republican has railed that the trial was unfair. A jury of 12 New Yorkers convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Speaking to reporters Friday, Trump portrayed himself as a victim of a “rigged” trial.
Families of hostages in Gaza back cease-fire deal set out by Biden. Israel says conditions remain
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas are calling on all parties to immediately accept a proposal detailed U.S. President Joe Biden to end the war in Gaza. But Israel’s government says conditions for a cease-fire are still not being met. Biden on Friday asserted that Hamas is no longer capable of another large-scale attack on Israel like the one that started the war. He urged Israel and Hamas to agree to an extended cease-fire. Israel’s government said on Saturday that its conditions for ending the war hadn’t changed and that putting a permanent cease-fire in place before the conditions are fulfilled is a “nonstarter.”
The Biden administration says Israel hasn’t crossed a red line on Rafah. This could be why
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has gone to lengths to avoid any suggestion that Israeli forces have crossed a red line set by President Joe Biden in the deepening offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. That includes administration officials calling Israeli military operations around Rafah an “uptick.” The administration says Israel has changed its approach, going for select, limited strikes that reduce civilian deaths. Biden said early last month that he wouldn’t supply offensive weapons if Israel launched an all-out assault on Rafah. Critics say Biden has come up against a domestic red line of his own — namely, challenging ally Israel in an election year. And they say he’s decided not to cross it.
The ANC party that freed South Africa from apartheid loses its 30-year majority in landmark election
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The African National Congress party has lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. With more than 99% of votes counted Saturday, the once-dominant ANC had received just over 40% of votes cast Wednesday, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent electoral commission that ran the election.
Voting ends in the last round of India’s election, a referendum on PM Modi’s decade in power
NEW DELHI (AP) — Voting has ended in the last round of a six-week-long national election in India that is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade in power. The election will test the limits of his political dominance as he seeks a third-straight victory. The seventh round of polls covered 57 constituencies across seven states and one union territory. It completed a national election to fill all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Most poll surveys show Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party leading over the broad opposition alliance that’s challenging them. The votes will be counted on Tuesday, with results expected by the end of the day.
Europe vote may tip balance between Meloni’s far-right agenda in Italy and mainstream foreign policy
MILAN (AP) — While Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni adopts a reassuring Western-allied foreign policy, cultural wars at home are preserving her far-right credentials heading into European Parliamentary elections. Her neo-fascist-rooted Brothers of Italy party is projected to secure significant gains in the polls, and a possible coalition role. In less than two years leading EU’s third-largest economy, Meloni has emerged as the most powerful far-right-wing leader in Europe. The position was underlined in May in a fiery speech to a Vox rally in Spain. She, along with French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, celebrated allies like Donald Trump. The European elections June 6-9 could begin to tip Meloni’s balancing act.
Is intermittent fasting better than counting calories? Maybe not, but you might stick with it
Intermittent fasting, where people eat what they want, but only during certain daily windows of time, has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. Time-restricted eating, a practice where people condense all of their eating to 10 hours a day or less, is the most popular form. Early studies in mice and humans suggested that the strategy could help shed pounds. Recent research found that time-restricted eating was “no better or worse” than cutting calories. Experts say it might be easier to sustain over the long-term than dieting alone.
UN official highlights how better preparation has shrunk disaster deaths despite worsening climate
A top United Nations official says even though climate change makes disasters such as cyclones, floods and droughts more intense, more frequent and striking more places, fewer people are dying from those catastrophes globally. Thats because of better warning, planning and resilience.  New United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Kamal Kishore says climate and other disasters are still hurting people, often pushing them into abject poverty. The loss of livelihoods need to be reduced, but the world hasn’t really noticed how the type of storms that once killed tens or hundreds of thousands of people now only claim handfuls of lives.
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