\n<\/p>\n
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump\u2019s former fixer, returned to the stand yesterday to face lawyers for the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office, as well as Donald Trump\u2019s legal team, in the case against the former president.<\/p>\n
Cohen told jurors that he received monthly checks<\/a> \u2014 most bearing the former president\u2019s signature \u2014 that purported to be part of a legal \u201cretainer\u201d agreement, but that were in fact reimbursements for hush money he had paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges that she had a sexual relationship with Trump. Cohen\u2019s testimony was the first and only personal account tying Trump to the documents at the crux of his case.<\/p>\n In a barrage of questions, Trump\u2019s attorneys sought to portray Cohen as an opportunist. Trump\u2019s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, pressed Cohen about his social media posts, his efforts to monetize his feud with the former president, his own criminal history and his desire to see Trump behind bars.<\/p>\n Analysis:<\/strong> The defense seemed to be trying to portray Cohen as, \u201cessentially, Trump\u2019s stalker,\u201d my colleague Maggie Haberman wrote \u2014 a man once obsessed with the former president who was now equally obsessed with getting revenge.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n What\u2019s next:<\/strong> Trump\u2019s lawyers indicated that they could call an expert witness and that they had not decided if they would call Trump himself.<\/p>\n Other details:<\/strong> In a blow to Trump, an appeals court upheld the judge\u2019s gag order<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russian security agents detained Lt. Gen. Yuri Kuznetsov<\/a>, a senior general, early yesterday on an accusation of \u201clarge-scale\u201d bribery, according to Russia\u2019s Investigative Committee, a federal law enforcement agency. His detention came days after Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, unexpectedly replaced his long-serving defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said that General Kuznetsov received a bribe from \u201ccommercial interests\u201d between 2021 and 2023, when he was working on the protection of state secrets. The prosecutors claimed that security agents discovered cash equivalent to $1 million and luxury items during a search of his home.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The U.N. has begun citing a much lower death toll<\/a> for women and children in Gaza, acknowledging that it has incomplete information about the casualties during Israel\u2019s war on the territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The organization now cites 4,959 women and 7,797 children killed, down from at least 9,500 women and 14,500 children earlier this month. While the total number of casualties \u2014 roughly 35,000 \u2014 remained broadly the same, a U.N. official said that the organization was awaiting more identifying information for about 10,000 of the dead, so they were not included in the new breakdown.<\/p>\n Background: <\/strong>The change came because the U.N. switched to citing a more conservative source for its numbers. The change has added fuel to a debate over the credibility of those figures, though many international officials and experts say that the numbers are generally reliable.<\/p>\n Gaza:<\/strong> Israeli military leaders have grown increasingly frustrated<\/a> with the lack of a plan for governing the territory after the war.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s butlers are still buttling \u2014 but not quite as they once did<\/a>. These days, the role now involves not only polishing silver and folding napkins but also lifestyle management, akin to a private maitre d\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Clients\u2019 requests sometimes run to the unusual. \u201cThe client pointed toward the coastline and said, \u2018Tonight I\u2019d like to have dinner on top of that mountain \u2014 please arrange it,\u2019\u201d one veteran butler said. A local restaurant was called, then dinner and table settings for six were flown in with a helicopter.<\/p>\n Lives lived:<\/strong> Alice Munro, the Canadian writer and Nobel laureate who was widely considered a master of the short story, has died<\/a>. She was 92.<\/p>\n P.G.A. Championship: <\/strong>The story of Akshay Bhatia<\/a> begins at Valhalla.<\/p>\n New York City\u2019s streets have always bustled, but lately they\u2019re almost dangerously unlivable<\/a>.<\/p>\n Residents clash over traffic, parking and heaps of trash. Cars and taxis vie for space, as buses swerve to avoid trucks parked in bike lanes. E-bikes are everywhere. Far fewer pedestrians get killed by motorists these days, but last year was the deadliest for cyclists since 1999.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of this stuff is trying to fit into a grid that was designed in 1811,\u201d my colleague Dodai Stewart explains in a video<\/a>. Relief may be on the way: The city is about to enact the nation\u2019s first congestion pricing plan, which would charge most drivers $15 to enter much of Manhattan below 60th Street.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRussia widened its purge of the Defense Ministry<\/h2>\n
U.N. adjusted its death toll in Gaza<\/h2>\n
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The fight over New York City\u2019s streets<\/h2>\n