New York

NEW YORK (AP) — Barred from giving a formal closing argument, Donald Trump wrested an opportunity to speak in court at the conclusion of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, unleashing a barrage of attacks in a six-minute diatribe before being cut off by the judge.

In an extraordinary move for any defendant, Trump not only sought to make his own summation but then brushed past a question from the judge about whether he would follow rules requiring him to keep his remarks focused on matters related to the trial.

NEW YORK (AP) — The illegal tunnel discovered under a historic Brooklyn synagogue compromised the stability of several structures surrounding the religious complex, prompting an order to vacate as well as citations against its owners, city officials said.

Inspectors with New York City’s building safety agency uncovered a tunnel that was 60 feet (18.3 meters) long and 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide beneath the Chabad-Lubavitch global headquarters in Crown Heights. It extended under several buildings in the vicinity, connecting between openings cut into basement walls.

NEW YORK (AP) — Barred from giving his own closing argument, Donald Trump took in his lawyer’s summation as a glowering, arms-folded spectator at the end of his New York civil fraud trial Thursday, hours after authorities responded to a bomb threat at the judge’s house.

Police checked out the threat at Judge Arthur Engoron’s Long Island home, which came a day after he denied the former president’s extraordinary request to deliver his own courtroom close, officials said. The proceedings were not delayed.

NEW YORK (AP) — A historic Brooklyn synagogue that serves as the center of an influential Hasidic Jewish movement was trashed this week during an unusual community dispute that began with the discovery of a secret underground tunnel and ended in brawl between worshippers and police.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump aims to deliver his own closing argument Thursday in his New York civil business fraud trial in addition to his legal team’s summations, according to two people familiar with the highly unusual plan.

Trump is a defendant in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. She claims his net worth was inflated by billions of dollars on financial statements that helped him secure business loans and insurance.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sotheby’s defended itself at a trial Monday against accusations that it helped defraud a Russian oligarch out of tens of millions of dollars, saying it knew nothing of wrongdoing by an art buyer who advised the billionaire on buying works by famed artists like Amedeo Modigliani and Leonardo da Vinci.

Sotheby’s attorney Sara Shudofsky told a jury in an opening statement in Manhattan federal court that billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev was “trying to make an innocent party pay for what somebody else did to him.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 05 (APP): Israeli military forces have have attacked hospitals in Gaza and other vital medical infrastructure nearly 600 times since the war erupted on October 7 last year, the UN health agency said on Friday.

Since then, some 613 people have died within the medical facilities and more than 770 have been injured, according to the latest data on healthcare attacks from the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).

NEW YORK, Jan 5 (NNN-XINHUA) – Two subway trains collided on the Upper West Side of New York City yesterday afternoon, resulting in derailment of one train and multiple injuries.

“There is a major disruption to 1/2/3 service, while emergency teams assist passengers and conduct an investigation, after a train derailed near 96 St. There is no 1/2/3 service in most of Manhattan,” the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a post on X.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths on Thursday called for international action to stop fighting in Sudan.

Nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day. As the conflict spreads, human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking, and hope is dwindling. This cannot continue, said Griffiths in a statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — Newly released court documents describing Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls provide a reminder of how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.

The more than 40 documents released late Wednesday — the latest of thousands that have been made public — were sprinkled with the names of celebrities and politicians who socialized with Epstein or worked with him in the years before he was publicly accused nearly two decades ago of paying underage girls for sex.