Reuters: World

Who is Stormy Daniels and how is she involved in Donald Trump indictment? Former President Donald Trump was indicted in New York City on Thursday on criminal charges arising from alleged hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to avoid a scandal ahead of the 2016 U.S. election. Daniels has said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, the year after he married his third wife Melania and more than a decade before the businessman-turned-politician - at the time known for a popular reality TV show - became president. Trump has denied the relationship and has said the payment was made to stop her "false and extortionist accusations." read more

Trump criminally charged in New York, a first for a US ex-president Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury after a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, becoming the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges even as he makes another run for the White House. The charges from an investigation led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg come as Trump seeks the Republican nomination to run again in 2024. The specific charges are not yet known, as the indictment remains under seal. CNN reported Trump faces more than 30 counts related to business fraud. read more

White House to China: Don't use Taiwan visit as 'pretext' The White House urged China on Wednesday not to use a "normal" stopover in the United States by Taiwan's president as a pretext to increase aggressive activity against Taiwan. John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, told reporters that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's arrival soon in the United States is the latest in a series of routine transits. "The Peoples Republic of China should not use this transit as a pretext to step up any activity around the Taiwan strait," he said. "We're mindful that things are tense right now" between the United States and China, Kirby said, but he urged Beijing to keep lines of communication open. read more

Investors pull $1.6 billion from Binance after CFTC lawsuit Investors withdrew $1.6 billion of cryptocurrency from crypto exchange Binance since it was sued by the U.S. CFTC on Monday, blockchain data tracker Nansen said on Wednesday. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance - the world's biggest crypto exchange - along with its CEO and former top compliance executive, alleging that they were operating an "illegal" exchange and a "sham" compliance program. Since the lawsuit, Binance has seen $1.6 billion of overall withdrawals and $852 million in the last 24 hours, Nansen said, in a step up from the average of $385 million per day over the last two weeks. read more

Ukraine hits Russian-held city deep behind front as talk of counteroffensive grows Ukraine struck a railway depot and knocked out power in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, deep behind the front line, on Wednesday amid growing talk from Kyiv of a counterassault against Russian forces worn out by a failed winter offensive. Unverified images on the internet showed explosions lighting up the night sky with streaks of contrails in Melitopol, base of the occupation administration in Zaporizhzhia, one of five Ukrainian provinces Russia claims to have annexed. Ukraine's exiled mayor of the city confirmed that there were explosions there. Russia's state TASS news agency, citing Moscow-installed officials, said a railway depot was destroyed and power knocked out to the city and nearby villages. read more

China threatens retaliation if U.S. House speaker meets Taiwan president China threatened to retaliate on Wednesday if U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meets Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her planned transit of the United States next month, saying any such move would be a "provocation". China, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly warned U.S. officials not to meet Tsai, viewing it as support for the island's desire to be seen as a separate country. China staged war games around Taiwan last August when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and Taiwan's armed forces have said they are keeping watch for any Chinese moves when Tsai is abroad. read more

'We are all Chinese', former Taiwan president says while visiting China People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are ethnically Chinese and share the same ancestor, former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou said on Tuesday at the start of a historic visit to China that Taiwan's ruling party has criticised. Ma, in office from 2008-2016, is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war with the Communists. He is visiting amid heightened tension as Beijing uses political and military means to try and pressure democratically governed Taiwan into accepting Chinese sovereignty. read more

Russia fires supersonic missile at mock target in Sea of Japan Russia's navy fired supersonic anti-ship missiles at a mock target in the Sea of Japan, the Russian defence ministry said on Tuesday. "In the waters of the Sea of Japan, missile ships of the Pacific Fleet fired Moskit cruise missiles at a mock enemy sea target," it said in a statement on its Telegram account. "The target, located at a distance of about 100 kilometres (62.14 miles), was successfully hit by a direct hit from two Moskit cruise missiles." read more

China spent $240 billion bailing out 'Belt & Road' countries, study shows China spent $240 billion bailing out 22 developing countries between 2008 and 2021, with the amount soaring in recent years as more have struggled to repay loans spent building "Belt & Road" infrastructure, according to a study published Tuesday. Almost 80% of the rescue lending was made between 2016 and 2021, mainly to middle-income countries including Argentina, Mongolia and Pakistan, according to the report by researchers from the World Bank, Harvard Kennedy School, AidData and the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. China has lent hundreds of billions of dollars to build infrastructure in developing countries, but lending has tailed off since 2016 as many projects have failed to pay the expected financial dividends. read more

A Christian school that 'celebrates childhood' becomes killing scene in Nashville The 200 young children enrolled at the Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, start each day with chapel, and study the Bible twice a week. "The beauty of a PreSchool-6th school is in its simplicity and innocence," the introductory paragraph of the school's website reads. "Students are free to be children." On Monday, that school became the site of the latest mass shooting in the U.S., when a 28-year-old former student opened fire with an assault weapon, killing three children and three adults before she was shot dead by police. read more

Israel government in chaos as judicial reform plans draw mass protests Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition plunged into chaos on Monday, after mass overnight protests over the sacking of his defence chief piled pressure on the government to halt its bitterly contested plans to overhaul the judiciary. Netanyahu had been expected to make a televised statement on Monday morning announcing the plans, which he says are needed to restore balance to the system of government but that critics see as a threat to democracy, had been suspended. Amid reports his nationalist-religious coalition risked breaking apart, the statement was postponed while Netanyahu met heads of the parties. read more

UK PM Sunak to unveil measures to crack down on anti-social behaviour British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will unveil new measures on Monday to crack down on antisocial behaviour by focusing on policing in several areas of England and Wales, as he works to win over voters in the run-up to an election expected next year. Sunak, who has seen a small tick up in his approval ratings since last month and received a boost when he curtailed a rebellion in his party over Brexit, is increasingly setting out his policy agenda to try to close a double-digit lead in the opinion polls for the opposition Labour Party. He will say the new measures, including "hotspot" policing and a ban on nitrous oxide or laughing gas, underscores his zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour which will see offenders receiving swift and visible punishments. read more