Netanyahu says Israel ready to ‘stand alone’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 9 that Israel was prepared to “stand alone” in its war in Gaza, after Washington vowed to stop supplying some weapons if a threatened assault on Rafah goes ahead.
“If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone,” Mr Netanyahu said, in a statement.
The Israeli premier was reiterating comments he has made several times in the past week in the face of mounting international criticism of his conduct of the war against Hamas.
His latest comment came after US President Joe Biden warned in an interview with CNN on May 8 that he would stop some US weapons supplies to Israel if it goes ahead with a large-scale assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where the United Nations says some 1.4 million people are sheltering.
Zelensky fires state guard chief over assassination plot
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed the head of the state guard on May 9, two days after two of its members were accused of plotting to assassinate the president.
Mr Zelensky issued a decree dismissing Serhiy Rud. No successor was identified.
The state security service (SBU) said this week it had caught two men - colonels in the state guard service - accused of plotting the assassination of Mr Zelensky and other top officials.
Trump lawyer questions Stormy Daniels’ account of sex
Donald Trump’s sought to catch inconsistencies in porn star Stormy Daniels’ various tellings of an alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, part of an effort on May 9 to undermine her credibility as a witness in the first criminal trial of a sitting or former US president.
Ms Daniels’ unflattering account of a sexual encounter with Trump in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite in 2006 while he was married to his wife Melania riveted jurors on May 7, reminding US voters of some more lurid aspects of his 2017-2021 presidency as he campaigns to win back the White House in 2024.
Trump, 77, is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s US$130,000 payment to Daniels, 45, for her silence ahead of the 2016 election about the alleged encounter.
American 14-year-old signs MLS pro deal, as Man City waits
The Philadelphia Union have signed 14-year-old talent Cavan Sullivan to a professional contract with the player expected to join Manchester City when he reaches 18.
Sullivan, an academy product, already plays for the Union’s reserve team but the new deal will allow him to play in Major League Soccer and other competitions for the first team.
Sullivan, a United States Under-15 international, had attracted interest from a number of big-name foreign clubs.
Two new Lord Of The Rings movies heading to theatres
A fresh installment in the Lord Of The Rings movie series, one of the biggest film franchises of all time, is scheduled to debut in theatres in 2026.
It is one of two new Lord Of The Rings films announced by Warner Bros Discovery chief executive officer David Zaslav on May 9.
Actor Andy Serkis will reprise his role of Gollum and will direct the first of the two films, which has a working title of Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum.
