Donald Trump Jr. says he had minor role in company’s finances
Donald Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. testified on Wednesday that he had little to do with financial practices at the heart of a New York civil fraud trial accusing the former US president and his family businesses of inflating asset values to dupe lenders and insurers.
Donald Jr., an executive vice president at the Trump Organization and a co-defendant in the case, is the first of Trump’s adult children to testify, followed by Eric and Ivanka Trump. Their father is set to testify on Monday.
Wearing a blue suit and pink tie, Donald Jr. said he and Eric largely took over management of the company when their father assumed the presidency in 2017. But he said had little involvement in financial matters that are at the heart of the case. His testimony could continue into Thursday.
Israel says it kills second Hamas commander in refugee camp, first evacuees leave Gaza
Israeli forces killed another Hamas commander on Wednesday in their second strike on Gaza’s largest refugee camp in two days, the military said, as the first group of civilian evacuees from the besieged enclave crossed into Egypt.
Pressing their offensive against Hamas militants, Israel again bombed the densely populated Gaza Strip from land, sea and air in its campaign to destroy the Islamist group after its deadly cross-border rampage into southern Israel on Oct 7.
Palestinians sifted through rubble in a desperate hunt for people trapped underneath after Wednesday’s Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp, located in the urban sprawl of north Gaza. “It is a massacre,” said one witness of the strike.
Boris Johnson asked if hairdryer could fight Covid-19: Ex-aide
Former prime minister Boris Johnson asked the UK government’s top scientific advisors early in the pandemic if a “special hairdryer” could be used against Covid-19, it emerged on Wednesday.
As the virus began to spread worldwide in March 2020, Johnson shared with officials a YouTube video of the dryer being used “to kill Covid-19”, according to his former top aide Dominic Cummings.
The ex-British leader wanted Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific advisor, to give their opinions about it, Cummings claimed in a statement submitted to a public inquiry into Covid-19.
Fed keeps rates unchanged, acknowledges economy is ‘strong’
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but left the door open to a further increase in borrowing costs in a policy statement that acknowledged the US economy’s surprising strength but also nodded to the tighter financial conditions faced by businesses and households.
“Economic activity expanded at a strong pace in the third quarter,” the US central bank said in a policy statement after a two-day meeting in which officials unanimously agreed to leave the benchmark overnight interest rate in the 5.25 per cent-5.50 per cent range where it has been since July.
The language marked an upgrade to the “solid pace” of activity the Fed saw as of its September meeting, and followed on recent data that showed US gross domestic product grew at a 4.9 per cent annual rate in the third quarter.
Djokovic shows no rust as he eases past Etcheverry in Paris
Novak Djokovic, playing in his first individual tournament since winning the US Open in September, cruised past Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Wednesday in his first match at the Paris Masters.
Djokovic, the world number one, broke the 31st-ranked Argentine in the eighth game of the first set and twice in the second to win 6-3, 6-2 in one hour and 24 minutes.
After beating Daniil Medvedev in the final in New York on September 10, the 36-year-old Djokovic dashed back from the US Open to help Serbia into the Davis Cup quarter-finals on September 15.
