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A US court threw out Thursday a $464 million civil penalty against President Donald Trump imposed by a judge who found he fraudulently inflated his personal worth, calling the sum “excessive” but upholding the judgment against him.Judge Arthur Engoron ruled against Trump in February 2024 at the height of his campaign to retake the White House, which coincided with several active criminal prosecutions that the Republican slammed as “lawfare.””It was a Political Witch Hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform Thursday, adding that “everything I did was absolutely CORRECT and, even, PERFECT.”When Engoron originally ruled against Trump, he ordered the mogul-turned-politician to pay $464 million, including interest, while his sons Eric and Don Jr. were told to hand over more than $4 million each.The judge found that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.Alongside the financial hit to Trump, the judge also banned him from running businesses for three years, which the president repeatedly referred to as a “corporate death penalty.”On Thursday, five judges of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court upheld the verdict, but ruled that the size of the fine was “excessive” and that it “violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”The Eighth Amendment prohibits excessive or cruel punishments and penalties.- ‘Massive win! -State Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the initial case, vowed to take Thursday’s ruling to the state’s highest court, the New York Court of Appeals.Thursday’s appeals court ruling “affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud,” James added. Following the initial verdict, Trump subsequently sought to challenge the civil ruling as well as the scale and terms of the penalty, which has continued to accrue interest while he appeals.He repeatedly condemned the case and the penalty as politically motivated.His son Don Jr. termed the appellate court ruling a “massive win!!!””New York Appeals Court has just THROWN OUT President Trump’s $500+ Million civil fraud penalty! It was always a witch hunt, election interference, and a total miscarriage of justice… and even a left leaning NY appeals court agrees! NO MORE LAWFARE!” he wrote on X.During hearings, conducted without a jury under state law, Trump accused then-president Joe Biden of driving the case, calling it “weaponization against a political opponent who’s up a lot in the polls.”As the case was civil, not criminal, there was no threat of imprisonment.Trump’s economic advisor Peter Navarro said at the White House Thursday that “James is another one that belongs in jail,” referring to the New York attorney general.”The Democrats really overplayed their hand on this because they thought they could take Donald Trump out,” he said.

A US Navy sailor has been convicted of espionage for selling military secrets to China for $12,000, the Justice Department said Thursday.Jinchao Wei was found guilty by a federal jury in California on Wednesday after a five-day trial, the department said in a statement.Wei, a machinist’s mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, and another sailor, Wenheng Zhao, were arrested in August 2023 and charged with spying for China.Zhao pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January of last year to 27 months in prison.Wei went to trial and was convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and other charges. He is to be sentenced on December 1.Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said Wei sent photographs and videos of US Navy vessels, ship movement information, technical manuals, and weapons capabilities to a Chinese intelligence officer, for which he was paid $12,000.According to US officials, Zhao, who was stationed at a naval base north of Los Angeles, received nearly $15,000 from a Chinese intelligence officer for sensitive information regarding navy operational security, exercises and critical infrastructure.Zhao specifically provided information about a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system located in Okinawa, Japan, they said.

An American R&B artist will take part in Russia’s revival of a song contest billed as a rival to Eurovision, which has excluded Russian singers since the Ukraine offensive, organisers said Thursday.Brandon Howard, known professionally as B. Howard, is mostly famous for his resemblance to Michael Jackson — sparking media speculation in the past that he was a son of the late pop icon.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered this year a revival of the Intervision Song Contest, which showcased artists from the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc states in the 1960s and 1970s to rival the West. “Brandon, we hope that your emotional depth and electrifying energy will captivate our audience,” contest organisers said in a Telegram post.”We are looking forward to his brilliant performance at Intervision’25 in Moscow!”B. Howard, who has around 150,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, will be joined by performers from 21 countries including China, India, South Africa, Serbia, Venezuela, Cuba and former Soviet republics. It was not clear if his participation was a state-backed or private initiative.There was no immediate comment on the Intervision participation matter on Howard’s social media accounts.     The contest will be held in Moscow on September 20, with organisers promising “unforgettable emotions”. Before the Ukraine offensive launched in February 2022, Russia had taken part in Eurovision since 1994, winning the wildly popular event in 2008.

Hurricane Erin brought coastal flooding to parts of North Carolina and Virginia as it made its closest approach to the US mainland early Thursday.High waves washed over Highway 12 that links the Outer Banks island chain, making parts impassable, images posted by local authorities showed — proving the giant storm’s ability to kick up dangerous seas hundreds of miles from its center.Local news channel WRAL reported some damage to buildings on Hatteras Island, particularly to beachside homes on stilts. Sand washed over by the storm covered streets and parking lots.”The Outer Banks are extremely vulnerable to sea level rise, because the land is slowly sinking, and the seas are rising largely because of climate change,” Chip Konrad, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told AFP.”Even with the modest storm surge such as what we’re experiencing here with Hurricane Erin, you can still have really major impacts.”Though the Mid-Atlantic bore the brunt of the impacts, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) urged beachgoers throughout the entire US East Coast to refrain from swimming to avoid being caught in potentially life-threatening conditions.In a morning update, the NHC said Category 2 Erin was packing winds of 105 miles (169 kilometers) per hour and creeping slowly north-northeast. It is expected to weaken as it moves further out to sea in the next couple of days. The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, has entered its historical peak.Despite a relatively quiet start with just five named storms so far, including Erin, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to forecast an above-normal season.Scientists say climate change is supercharging tropical cyclones: warmer oceans fuel stronger winds, a warmer atmosphere intensifies rainfall, and higher sea levels magnify storm surge.There is also some evidence, though less certainty, that climate change is making hurricanes more frequent.

Donald Trump called Thursday for the release of a Colorado official jailed on charges linked to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as he renews his attacks on the US voting system.”FREE TINA PETERS, a brave and innocent Patriot,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, threatening to take “harsh measures” if she is not freed from her nine-year prison sentence.Peters, a former official in Colorado’s Mesa County, was sentenced in October 2024 for allowing an unauthorized Trump supporter to access confidential voting information several months after the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.The man was seeking to prove election fraud as part of a conspiracy theory touted by Trump that the vote was “rigged” — despite multiple courts having upheld that there were no major issues.Trump’s demand echoed a similar post he made on Truth Social in early May, in which he called her a “hostage” being held in prison by Democrats for “political reasons.”Peters is jailed under state charges, making her ineligible for a presidential pardon from Trump.The 79-year-old Republican has continued to spread a string of misinformation about US elections.On Monday, he announced a fresh assault on mail-in balloting — a method used by nearly a third of Americans that Trump has wrongly claimed is linked to election fraud.He also promised to bring “honesty” to next year’s midterm elections, without giving further details, and has teased the idea of running for a third term in 2028 — something barred by the US Constitution. 

Details of a US-EU trade deal published Thursday showed Brussels secured a tariff reduction for cars exported to the United States but failed to win a reprieve for its cherished wine sector.US President Donald Trump and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clinched a framework accord in July for most EU exports to face a 15-percent US levy. But many aspects remained unclear, as the EU sought to win carve-outs for some sectors and Trump threatened higher tariffs on others.A joint statement Thursday brought some clarity, although negotiations are not over as the EU said it would seek more tariff reductions.The “maximum, all-inclusive” 15-percent rate would apply to the vast majority of European exports, including cars, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and lumber, the EU said.”This is the most favourable trade deal the US has extended to any partner,” EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic told a press conference in Brussels, explaining the levy will not come on top of existing tariffs.In recent weeks Trump had raised the possibility of additional tariffs hitting certain sectors such as pharmaceuticals, which account for 20 percent of the EU’s exports to the United States, and semiconductors.- Bison and wine -Sefcovic said he was confident that the rate for cars, which is lower than the current 27.5 percent, will apply retroactively from August 1, having received assurances on the matter from his US counterpart.But this will happen only once the EU introduces legislation to eliminate its own tariffs on US industrial products, something Sefcovic said the commission was “working very hard” on.The 15-percent rate will also apply to wine and spirits despite a push by France, Italy and other wine-making countries to win a zero tariff exemption.”Unfortunately, here we didn’t succeed,” Sefcovic said, adding negotiations would continue. “These doors are not closed forever”.The French wine exporters federation said it was “hugely disappointed”.”We are certain that this will create major difficulties for the wines and spirits sector,” said the head of the wine and spirits federation FEVS Gabriel Picard.Christophe Chateau, a spokesman for a group representing Bordeaux wine producers, described this as “bad news” — but better than the worst case scenario, with Trump that had at one point threatened tariffs as high as 200 percent.”It further hinders the trade and export of Bordeaux wines to the United States,” which is by far their largest market, Chateau told AFP. French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin said his government would seek “additional exemptions” in the trade deal.Under the agreement, the EU committed to significantly improving market access to a range of US seafood and agricultural goods, including tree nuts, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, pork and bison meat.On the other hand, a special more favourable regime will apply as of September 1 to a number of EU exports to the US including “unavailable natural resources” such as cork, all aircraft and aircraft parts and generic pharmaceuticals.These would effectively face a “zero or close to zero” rate, the commission said.”This is not the end of the process, we continue to engage with the US to agree more tariff reductions, to identify more areas of cooperation, and to create more economic growth potential,” said commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.

Lyle and Erik Menendez will appear before California’s parole board to seek freedom this week, more than 35 years after the shotgun murders of their parents in the family’s luxury Beverly Hills home.The separate hearings — Erik on Thursday, Lyle on Friday — are the latest chapter in a long campaign waged by friends, family and celebrities like Kim Kardashian to get the brothers out of prison.They come after a Los Angeles judge this year reduced their original open-ended sentence to a term of 50 years, and as the men said, they accepted full responsibility for the grisly 1989 killings.Now the brothers will be seeking to convince parole panels that they are reformed and pose no danger to the public.”For more than 35 years, they have shown sustained growth. They have taken full accountability,” said a statement from The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a support group that includes family members.”They express sincere remorse to our family to this day and have built a meaningful life defined by purpose and service.”- ‘Mafia hit’ -Blockbuster trials in the 1990s heard how the men killed Jose and Kitty Menendez in what prosecutors said was a cynical attempt to get their hands on a large family fortune.After setting up alibis and trying to cover their tracks, the men shot Jose Menendez five times with shotguns, including in the kneecaps.Kitty Menendez died from a shotgun blast as she tried desperately to crawl away from her killers.The brothers initially blamed the deaths on a mafia hit, but changed their story several times in the ensuing months.Erik, then 18, confessed to the murders in a session with his therapist.The pair ultimately claimed they had acted in self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of a tyrannical father.During their decades in prison, changing social mores and greater awareness of sexual abuse helped elevate the men to something approaching cultural icons.This status was nourished by a parade of docudramas and TV shows, including the hit Netflix miniseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”- ‘Horrific’ -The hearings in Sacramento, which will be closed to the public, are expected to last two to three hours each. One reporter will be present to act as a pool on behalf of the dozens of media outlets around the world which are expected to cover the hearings.Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, will appear by video link from the San Diego prison where they are being held.Two or three panel members, whose identity is not being publicly released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), will quiz the men on their behavior and their attitudes towards their crimes.”The hearing panel will consider all relevant, reliable information available to the panel, which includes… criminal history, department records concerning the incarcerated person, and statements from the incarcerated person, victims’ family, the district attorney’s office, and the public,” the CDCR said.Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman opposed resentencing this year, and is expected to oppose parole.He has insisted that the men’s shifting explanations for the double deaths — they gave five different accounts in the course of the murder investigation — means they have not truly admitted their guilt.”The Menendez brothers have never fully accepted responsibility for the horrific murders of their parents,” Hochman said in a statement Wednesday.”Instead continuing to promote a false narrative of self-defense that was rejected by the jury decades ago.”Even if the panel grants parole, the men will not be freed immediately, with the decision subject to review by the board’s top lawyer in a process that can take up to four months.After that, the final decision rests with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has 30 days in which he “may affirm, reverse, modify, or refer back to the Board any parole grant,” the CDCR says.In 2022, Newsom rejected a parole recommendation in the case of Sirhan Sirhan, who shot and killed Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

An English court on Thursday handed an American woman a 30-year jail sentence after she was convicted of trying to murder a British man caught up in a feud between families.After a years-long police hunt, would-be assassin Aimee Betro, 45, was extradited earlier this year from Armenia, where she had been living, to face trial in the central English city of Birmingham.Prosecutors told the court Betro had covered her face with a niqab before climbing out of a car in September 2019 and trying to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range in his own car.But the handgun jammed and Ali drove away at high-speed. Hours later Betro returned to the house, and fired three shots at his family home, the court heard.Sentencing Betro, Judge Simon Drew told her it was only a “matter of chance” that Ali had not been killed.”You were engaged in a complex, well-planned conspiracy to murder,” he added. “You were prepared to pull the trigger and did so on two separate occasions.”Prosecutors said Betro was part of a plot with co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his 31-year-old son, Mohammed Nabil Nazir. Betro had met Nazir on an online dating site, and told the jury she was in love with him.Both men were jailed last year for their roles in the “violent” feud which erupted after they were injured in a brawl at Ali’s father’s clothing store in July 2018.Graphic design graduate Betro did not know Ali and denied three charges including conspiracy to murder and possessing a self-loading pistol. She said she had no knowledge of the plot.Betro, who is originally from Wisconsin, told jurors it was “just a terrible coincidence” that she had been close to the scene of the attack.She maintained the real shooter was “another American woman” who sounded similar to her and had the same phone and brand of trainers.Police said they had seen no evidence that Betro was paid for her role in the attack.

The Texas legislature’s lower chamber passed a contentious new electoral map on Wednesday that aims to help Donald Trump’s Republican Party retain its razor-thin US House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.The vote had been delayed by two weeks after Democratic legislators fled the southern state to halt the redistricting drive, which carves out five new Republican-friendly districts.More than 50 Democrats walked out, stalling legislative business and generating national headlines as they sought to draw attention to the rare mid-decade redistricting push.The Democratic lawmakers returned this week, but not before their protest had set off a national map-drawing war, with Trump pressuring his party’s state-level officials to do everything they can to protect the majority in the US House of Representatives.The stakes are sky-high for Trump, who will be bogged down in investigations into almost every aspect of his second term if Democrats manage to flip the handful of districts nationwide needed to win back the House in next year’s midterm elections.Trump hailed the “Big WIN for the Great State of Texas” on Wednesday night.”Everything Passed, on our way to FIVE more Congressional seats and saving your Rights, your Freedoms, and your Country, itself,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Texas never lets us down.”The president also suggested Florida, Indiana and other states were looking into pursuing similar redistricting to benefit Republicans while once again calling to “STOP MAIL-IN VOTING.” Trump — who has long railed against postal ballots, even though they have benefited his party and he has voted by mail — said in a separate post: “END MAIL-IN VOTING, AND GO TO PAPER BALLOTS. 100 additional seats will go to Republicans!!!”As lawmakers in Texas debated the electoral map, Democratic representative Chris Turner called it a “clear violation of the Voting Rights Act and the constitution,” according to Austin-based news site The Texas Tribune.Republican leaders of the Texas House sped up the normal legislative process, bringing the new map to a final vote Wednesday evening. It passed along party lines 88-52.After the state House’s green light, it moves to the state Senate, where it has passed in a previous session, before heading to Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s desk.- Playing hardball -Individual states redraw their own congressional districts, usually only once every 10 years, after the US Census.But “redistricting can be done at any point in time,” argued the Texas map’s sponsor, Republican Todd Hunter, according to the Tribune. “The underlying goal of this plan is straightforward: improve Republican political performance.”There is little Democrats in Texas can do to thwart the map change, but it has prompted retaliation in California, and serious discussions in other Democratic-led states alarmed that the Texas maneuver could be replicated nationwide.Republicans are mulling drawing at least 10 new seats and are targeting Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida.Trump on Monday posted the proposed map of Texas on Truth Social, calling it “one of the most popular initiatives I have ever supported.”State lawmakers in Democratic stronghold California — the most populated and richest US state — introduced three bills on Monday to create a voter referendum this year for a new congressional map that would effectively counteract Texas.If approved, the referendum would appear on California’s November 4 ballot.”Nothing about this is normal, and so we’re not going to act as if anything is normal any longer,” Governor Gavin Newsom told reporters Wednesday.”Yes, we’ll fight fire with fire. Yes, we will push back. It’s not about whether we play hardball anymore, it’s about how we play hardball.”New York Democrats may follow suit, with Governor Kathy Hochul calling the Texas redistricting plan nothing short of a “legal insurrection.”

Lyle and Erik Menendez will appear before California’s parole board to seek freedom this week, more than 35 years after the shotgun murders of their parents in the family’s luxury Beverly Hills home.The separate hearings — Erik on Thursday, Lyle on Friday — are the latest chapter in a long campaign waged by friends, family and celebrities like Kim Kardashian to get the brothers out of prison.They come after a Los Angeles judge this year reduced their original open-ended sentence to a term of 50 years, and as the men said, they accepted full responsibility for the grisly 1989 killings.Now the brothers will be seeking to convince parole panels that they are reformed and pose no danger to the public.”For more than 35 years, they have shown sustained growth. They have taken full accountability,” said a statement from The Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition, a support group that includes family members.”They express sincere remorse to our family to this day and have built a meaningful life defined by purpose and service.”- ‘Mafia hit’ -Blockbuster trials in the 1990s heard how the men killed Jose and Kitty Menendez in what prosecutors said was a cynical attempt to get their hands on a large family fortune.After setting up alibis and trying to cover their tracks, the men shot Jose Menendez five times with shotguns, including in the kneecaps.Kitty Menendez died from a shotgun blast as she tried desperately to crawl away from her killers.The brothers initially blamed the deaths on a mafia hit, but changed their story several times in the ensuing months.Erik, then 18, confessed to the murders in a session with his therapist.The pair ultimately claimed they had acted in self-defense after years of emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of a tyrannical father.During their decades in prison, changing social mores and greater awareness of sexual abuse helped elevate the men to something approaching cultural icons.This status was nourished by a parade of docudramas and TV shows, including the hit Netflix miniseries “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”- ‘Horrific’ -The hearings in Sacramento, which will be closed to the public, are expected to last two to three hours each. One reporter will be present to act as a pool on behalf of the dozens of media outlets around the world which are expected to cover the hearings.Erik, 54, and Lyle, 57, will appear by video link from the San Diego prison where they are being held.Two or three panel members, whose identity is not being publicly released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), will quiz the men on their behavior and their attitudes towards their crimes.”The hearing panel will consider all relevant, reliable information available to the panel, which includes… criminal history, department records concerning the incarcerated person, and statements from the incarcerated person, victims’ family, the district attorney’s office, and the public,” the CDCR said.Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman opposed resentencing this year, and is expected to oppose parole.He has insisted that the men’s shifting explanations for the double deaths — they gave five different accounts in the course of the murder investigation — means they have not truly admitted their guilt.”The Menendez brothers have never fully accepted responsibility for the horrific murders of their parents,” Hochman said in a statement Wednesday.”Instead continuing to promote a false narrative of self-defense that was rejected by the jury decades ago.”Even if the panel grants parole, the men will not be freed immediately, with the decision subject to review by the board’s top lawyer in a process that can take up to four months.After that, the final decision rests with California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has 30 days in which he “may affirm, reverse, modify, or refer back to the Board any parole grant,” the CDCR says.In 2022, Newsom rejected a parole recommendation in the case of Sirhan Sirhan, who shot and killed Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.