- US says India has removed alleged agent in assassination plot
- Barca hit nine in Women's Champions League, Bayern overcome Juve
- Harris courts Trump-skeptic Republicans with Fox interview
- Global stock markets diverge as investors focus on earnings
- Worms and snails handle the pressure 2,500m below the Pacific surface
- Serena Williams has grapefruit-sized cyst removed from neck
- Lavreysen wins record-equalling 14th world cycling track title
- School's out! Argentina students study in the street to protest budget cuts
- Lower rates, surging stock market fail to ignite US IPO market
- Pogba 'willing to give up money' to stay at Juve
- Few countries have drawn up nature protection plans: UN
- Biden to make farewell trip to Germany as Ukraine war rages
- EU announces 30 mn euros to stem Senegal irregular migration
- Italy extends surrogacy ban to couples seeking it abroad
- Panama Canal crossings down 29 percent due to drought
- 'Clear indications' India violated Canada's sovereignty: Trudeau
- World champion Springboks to host Italy in 2025, Moerat to miss November tour
- Trump claims to be 'father of IVF' at all-female campaign stop
- WHO demands space to finish Gaza polio vaccination
- Mitchell left out of England squad for Autumn internationals
- Real Madrid back Mbappe amid Swedish rape investigation reports
- Middle East crisis top-of-mind at first EU-Gulf summit
- Israeli minister criticises Macron over France defence show ban
- Global stock markets diverge as markets focus on earmings
- Who said what on Tuchel's appointment as England manager
- Amazon bets on nuclear power to fuel AI ambitions
- Zelensky plan will be 'on table' at NATO talks this week: Rutte
- Harris steps into lion's den with Fox interview
- Macron riles Netanyahu with jab on Israel's creation
- Britain bounce back in America's Cup as New Zealand suffer
- Turkey shuts down radio station in Armenia genocide row
- Global stock markets diverge as tech fears linger
- Tuchel targets trophies as England manager
- War piles pressure on roads, services in crisis-hit Beirut
- Israeli booths, equipment barred from defence show in France
- Tuchel hopes to deliver 'missing trophies' to England
- England 239-6 in second Test after Sajid strikes for Pakistan
- Britain off the mark in America's Cup as New Zealand suffer
- Lufthansa fined 'record' $4 mn for barring Jewish passengers
- First migrants arrive in Albania under contested Italy deal
- Zelensky rules out ceding Ukrainian land in Victory Plan, urges NATO invite
- Global stock markets fall as tech fears weigh
- Musk's X escapes tough EU competition rules
- Thomas Tuchel: Abrasive but effective
- Root could break 16,000-run barrier, says England great Cook
- Indian airplane forced to divert after latest bomb hoax
- Tuchel 'has to' win World Cup for England, says Shearer
- Duckett half-century as England make brisk reply to Pakistan's 366
- Israel strikes Hezbollah strongholds after rejecting Lebanon ceasefire
- India issues flood warnings as rain pounds south
Prosecutor urges jury to convict Trump using 'common sense'
Prosecutors pleaded with jurors Tuesday to use their "common sense" and find Donald Trump guilty, as the first ever criminal trial of a former president reached its dramatic final phase.
With both sides wrapping up their closing arguments, the stage is now set for the 12-member panel to begin deliberating Wednesday.
Less than six months before an election in which Trump is seeking to return to the White House, the stakes are high both for the 77-year-old personally and for the country.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, afraid that her account of an alleged sexual encounter could doom his 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass made the last push for a guilty verdict after Trump's defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, called for his acquittal, insisting the case against the former president was based on lies.
Steinglass said Daniels's story about her 2006 tryst with the married Trump was the motive for the alleged crime, but the "case at its core is about a conspiracy and a cover up" on the eve of an election.
"The defendant's intent to defraud could not be any clearer," he said.
Blanche told the jury that Trump was innocent and the only outcome should be a "very quick and easy not guilty verdict."
Cohen, the one-time Trump fixer who became the star prosecution witness, was motivated by "outright hatred" for his former boss, Blanche said.
"He told you a number of things on that witness stand that were lies, pure and simple," he said.
- Election looms -
During a break before the court returned for a rare evening session on Tuesday, Trump took to social media to dismiss proceedings as "boring."
Speaking to reporters at the start of the day, Trump called it a "very dangerous day for America."
"We have a rigged court case that should have never been brought," he said as three of his five children -- Don Jr, Eric and Tiffany -- stood behind him.
Blanche told the court that Trump did not closely inspect all the invoices that came across his desk.
But Steinglass countered that there was a mountain of corroborating evidence in addition to Cohen's testimony.
"They want to make this case about Michael Cohen," he said. "This case is about Donald Trump and whether he should be accountable for causing false entries in his own business records and whether he did that to cover up his own election violations."
Polls show Trump neck and neck against President Joe Biden and the verdict will inject new tension into the White House race.
Speaking on behalf of the Biden campaign outside court, legendary actor Robert De Niro berated Trump as a "clown" intent on destroying the country.
De Niro's unexpected press conference -- against a noisy backdrop of pro-Trump protesters and car alarms -- appeared to be an effort to push back against Trump's dominance of the TV news channels.
The first former or sitting president under criminal indictment, Trump also faces charges in separate cases which include accusations he mishandled classified documents and tried to overthrow the 2020 election.
The hush money case, which featured more than 20 witnesses over five weeks and gripping testimony by Daniels and Cohen, is likely the only one to come to trial by election day.
If convicted, Trump faces up to four years in prison on each of 34 counts, but as a first-time offender he is unlikely to get jail time.
A conviction would not bar him from appearing on the ballot in November or moving back into the White House.
Trump chose not to testify in his defense.
Instead, he staged daily tirades against "corrupt" Judge Juan Merchan and claimed the trial was a Democratic Party ploy to keep him off the campaign trail.
The jury must be unanimous to return a verdict, with just one holdout leading to a mistrial.
Ch.Kahalev--AMWN