The New York judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial fined the former president on Tuesday for defying a gag order and warned that further violations could see him thrown in jail. Trump, 77, is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels just days ahead of the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton. Ahead of the high-profile trial — the first ever of a former US president — Judge Juan Merchan ordered Trump not to publicly attack witnesses, jurors or court staff and their relatives. Mer ..read more

  Eight US newspapers sued OpenAI and Microsoft in a New York federal court Tuesday for violating their copyright to train the technology behind the ChatGPT and Copilot chatbots. The newspapers, which include The New York Daily News and The Chicago Tribune, are owned by Alden Global Capital, a Florida-based hedge fund that created the second-largest US newspaper group behind USA Today owner Gannett when it bought the Tribune publishing chain in 2021. “This lawsuit arises from defendants purloining millions of the publishers’ copyrighted articles without permission and without payment to f ..read more

  The African Union on Tuesday said that a bid to defraud the pan-continental body of more than $6 million from accounts held at Ethiopia’s main bank had been foiled. It said an individual not employed by the AU had tried to withdraw the money from its accounts at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) through forged payment orders to various recipients for construction and water drilling works. “We commend the vigilance and swift action of the CBE staff and our finance department who successfully thwarted the fraudulent attempt resulting in no funds being withdrawn, averting a potential l ..read more

  Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior scored a double, including an 83rd-minute equalising penalty, to snatch a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg. Vinicius gave Real the lead after 24 minutes but Bayern scored twice in four second-half minutes to wrestle control of the match, Leroy Sane with a stunning opener and Harry Kane converting a penalty. Kim Min-jae judo tackled Rodrygo in the box with eight minutes remaining and Vinicius stepped up, drowning out a chorous of boos and whistles to blast home. The draw puts Madrid in the driving seat ahead ..read more

  Nine persons including a pregnant woman were injured in a gas explosion around the Ajegunle-Apapa area of Lagos State.  The Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service (LSFRS) attributed the explosion to a gas leakage which ignited a high-tension cable, causing a fire outbreak in the area known for its gas cylinder trading activities. “Tragically, nine individuals, including a pregnant woman and several children and adults, suffered varying degrees of burn injuries,” the  Director of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, Margaret Adeseye, said late Tuesday. “They received immediate ..read more

  Troops of the Nigeria Army, 93 Battalion Sub-Sector 3B Operation Whirl Stroke, stationed at Fikyu have cleared terrorists’ camp and recovered one AK-47 Magazine with 10 rounds of 7.62MM special ammunition in Taraba State. This follows a report by residents of suspected terrorists firing sporadically in the Pukun village of Fikyu in the Ussa Local Government Area of the state on Monday. In a related development, troops deployed to Kofai Ammadu and Kasuwan Haske, in collaboration with troops from Sub-Sector 1A OPWS, acted on intelligence regarding the hideout of terrorists in Vingir Villa ..read more

\ During his time at the helm of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency firm, former Binance boss Changpeng Zhao, who was sentenced to four months in prison in the United States on Tuesday for money laundering, perfected the humble executive look. At parties, on stages and in meetings, he was rarely seen without his black polo shirt, emblazoned with the insignia of his firm — complemented by the corporate logo tattooed on his arm. It was vital to cement the myth of a boy who came from hardship in China and once flipped burgers for a living in Canada — before making a fortune still estimated in the ..read more

  Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara has congratulated Rivers-born ex-international Finidi George on his appointment by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as the Super Eagles’ head coach.  Governor Fubara, in a congratulatory message by his Chief Press Secretary Nelson Chukwudi, said the appointment is a testament to Finidi’s “hard work, commitment, perseverance and patriotism over the years”. He recalled George’s sterling performances at the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cup finals, as well as his contributions to the Super Eagles winning gold, silver, and bronze medals in the 19 ..read more

  The founder of cryptocurrency firm Binance was sentenced to four months in US prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to money laundering charges, in the most high-profile crypto case since Sam Bankman-Fried was jailed. Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian, resigned from his post at the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange platform late last year as part of a deal with US authorities. According to investigations by two Treasury agencies, Binance failed to prevent transactions by movements such as the Islamic State group, al-Qaeda or the armed wing of Hamas. Zhao pleaded guilty to violating US ..read more

  A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Agboola Ajayi says the National Assembly should amend the Constitution and spell out the duties of a deputy governor.  Ajayi, the PDP governorship candidate for the Ondo election billed for later in the year, said if the country’s laws are amended, it will help in quelling issues arising from the roles of deputy governors often called “spare tyres”. “The National Assembly should do something about that, spell it out and define the constitutional role for the office of the governor and the vice presidential office,” he said on Tuesda ..read more