The final scenes of Donald Trump's New York hush money criminal trial unfolded Tuesday with Trump's defense lawyer and a prosecutor clashing sharply on whether the former U.S. president illegally sought to influence the outcome of the 2016 election that sent him to the White House.
"President Trump is innocent," Todd Blanche declared in his three-hour closing argument. "He did not commit any crimes, and the district attorney has not met their burden of proof — period."
Blanche called on the 12-member jury hearing the case to render "a very quick and easy not guilty verdict."
But prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the seven men and five women on the jury that Trump, the first president ever charged with criminal offenses, engaged in a conspiracy "to corrupt the 2016 election." READ www.voanews.com/a/trump-defense-lawyer-former-us-p…
Memorial Day is a national holiday observed in the United States on the last Monday in May. This year, Memorial Day falls on May 27. VOA is looking at how U.S. presidents mark Memorial Day.
🇺🇸 It is a day when Americans honor the men and women who have died fighting in America’s wars. For most Americans, it also marks the unofficial start of summer. It is a popular weekend for vacationing. WATCH https://youtu.be/mcCIih3DINQ?si=ycJ0P... READ www.voanews.com/a/military-labs-do-the-detective-w…
🇺🇸🇺🇸 Soldiers of the U.S. Army Old Guard carry flags to put by headstones during the annual 'Flags In' event, where U.S. flags are placed at service members' gravesites, in advance of Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., May 23, 2024. www.voanews.com/a/five-things-to-know-about-the-us…
📷: The interior of Singapore Airlines flight SQ321 is pictured after an emergency landing at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand, May 21, 2024.
👉 A relief plane landed in Singapore early Wednesday morning carrying most of the passengers and crew who flew on the plane. WATCH youtube.com/shorts/I7ZqdlBEiu... READ www.voanews.com/a/passengers-crew-arrive-in-singap…
📷: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, state media said. Search crews found the wreckage Monday, a day after the helicopter crashed in bad weather near Varzaqan in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. WATCH https://youtu.be/K-ekWfJCeJ4?si=yS81N... READ MORE www.voanews.com/a/iran-s-rulers-mourn-raisi-as-opp…
🚨 Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other officials were found dead Monday at the site of a helicopter crash in northwestern Iran, state media said.
Search crews found the wreckage Monday, a day after the helicopter crashed in bad weather near Varzaqan in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. The Iranian officials were returning to Iran after attending a dam project inauguration at the Iran-Azerbaijan border.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced five days of mourning, and placed Vice President Mohammad Mokhber in charge of the executive branch. An election for a new president is due to be held within 50 days. WATCH https://youtu.be/K-ekWfJCeJ4?si=y47LE... READ MORE www.voanews.com/a/state-media-says-iranian-preside…
Search crews reported finding no signs of life Monday after locating a helicopter that crashed while carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and other senior officials in the country’s northwest, according to state media.
The helicopter crashed Sunday in bad weather near Varzaqan in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State media said the helicopter was flying President Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and two other officials back to Iran from an event just across the border with Azerbaijan, where they met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to inaugurate a dam project.
Iranian media said the crashed helicopter was one of three transporting Iranian officials back from the event, where they inaugurated the Khoda Afarin and Giz Galasi hydroelectric power plants along the Aras River that marks the border between Iran and Azerbaijan. The plants are located on the stretch of river between the Azerbaijani district of Jabrayil and Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. READ www.voanews.com/a/search-crews-report-no-sign-of-l…
Who is Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's president whose helicopter suffered a 'hard landing' in foggy weather? Iran's hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi has long been seen as a protégé to Iran's supreme leader and a potential successor for his position within the country's Shiite theocracy.
News of his helicopter making what state media described as a "hard landing" on Sunday immediately brought new attention to the leader, who already faces sanctions from the U.S. and other nations over his involvement in the mass execution of prisoners in 1988.
Raisi, 63, previously ran Iran's judiciary. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2017 against Hassan Rouhani, the relatively moderate cleric who as president reached Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. WATCH: https://youtu.be/uwpvAFTzs5A?si=USsgS... READ www.voanews.com/a/who-is-ebrahim-raisi-iran-s-pres…
U.S. President Joe Biden and his challenger in the November 5 election, former President Donald Trump, agreed Wednesday to two debates, one on June 27 and another on September 10.
CNN said the two campaigns agreed to hold the first faceoff in six weeks at its studios in Atlanta without an audience, although other details, such as who would moderate the debate, were not announced. The second debate is being hosted by ABC News.
The announcement for the pair of debates came together quickly on Wednesday.
Trump, a Republican who lost his reelection bid to Biden in 2020 although he still falsely claims he was cheated out of a new term in the White House, has for several weeks called for a series of debates leading up to the 2024 national vote. Biden, a Democrat, recently agreed to debate him.
www.voanews.com/a/biden-trump-agree-to-debates-in-…
🚨 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was wounded in a shooting and taken to a hospital Wednesday afternoon after a Cabinet meeting in Handlova, according to local media.
The 59-year-old prime minister was hit once in the abdomen after four shots were fired outside Handlova’s House of Culture, where Fico was meeting with supporters, the reports said.
Police have detained a suspect, according to TA3, a local media TV station. WATCH https://youtu.be/nJN05HUWwnE?si=0PJIa... READ www.voanews.com/a/slovakia-prime-minister-shot-inj…
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