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The dramatic move came as Liverpool REJECTED Bayern Munich’s initial £58.6m bid for Colombian winger Luis Diaz while they are trying to encourage a high-price auction between AC Milan and Saudi money-pots Al-Hilal for Uruguayan Darwin Nunez.

But it is the stunning stepping up of the Reds’ long-term interest in Alexander Isak that has caught Newcastle on the hop, especially as boss Eddie Howe was hoping they were looking to play France under-21 star Etitike alongside

Liverpool chief Arne Slot has led the club’s mourning over the tragic loss of Portuguese star Diogo Jota following his car crash death earlier this month.

Slot and the Anfield hierarchy, though, are also aware that the start of the new Prem season is now less than a month away and that putting together a squad able to retain their crown is critical.

Newcastle are believed to value Isak at £150million, a sum that would be prohibitive even for Liverpool.

But a record-breaking bid, freeing up funds for Howe to bolster his squad ahead of a Champions League campaign in addition to the domestic demands might make Toon bosses think again.

Frankfurt are willing to sell Etitike but their starting price is £85m, although there may be wriggle room for negotiations.

Liverpool’s response to Bayern’s Diaz offer – the German champions fear they will be without Jamal Musiala for the entire season after his horror leg break in the Club World Cup – was a flat rejection although they are looking to offload Nunez.

July 9 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday met the presidents of five African nations — Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon — in what the White House describes as a push to deepen trade, including that involving precious metals.

During the public portion of the lunch in the State Dining Room, Trump said the United States was “working tirelessly to forge new economic opportunities involving both the United States and many African nations.”

The luncheon is part of a three-day summit of the nations in Washington, D.C.

“We’re shifting from aid to trade,” Trump said. “In the long run, this will be far more effective and sustainable and beneficial than anything else that we could be doing together.”

Trump said these five counties might be exempt from reciprocal tariffs on Aug. 1. Most U.S. trading partners already have been slapped with a 10% baseline tariffs.

The five African leaders praised Trump.

One by one, the leaders encouraged the United States to invest in their countries and develop their plentiful natural resources.

“I didn’t know I’d be treated this nicely,” Trump said. “This is great. We could do this all day long.”

In 2017, during Trump’s first term in office, nine African nation’s heads of state participated in a “working lunch” that included bigger nations, including Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Africa.

“This discussion and lunch dialog with African heads of state was arranged because President Trump believes that African countries offer incredible commercial opportunities which benefit both the American people and our African partners,” a White House official said.

The five invited nations have a combined population of 33 million people in a contingent with 1.55 billion people. Senegal, with 18 million, is the largest of the group. The five nations’ combined gross domestic product is only around $75 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund.

“It’s hard to tell why these five countries were picked,” Professor Paul Agwu of Nigeria’s University of Port Harcourt, told NPR. “We’ll see what comes out of it — but I doubt it’ll be anything new.”

Of the nations invited, all but Gabon, with a population of 2.2 million, are along routes used by migrants and drug traffickers from Latin America.

“All these countries are also departure points for illegal emigration,” Babacar Diagne, Senegal’s former ambassador to Washington, told the BBC. “That’s an extremely important point in his migration policy, and every day people are turned back at the borders.”

Liberia may be considering a proposal by the United States to accept people deported, including criminals.

In June, Trump issued a full travel ban for 12 nations, including seven from Africa: Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and Sudan. With partial bans in Africa are Burindi, Sierra Leone and Tongo.

All of the five nations invited to the White House are rich in mineral resources, including oil and gas, gold, iron ore and rare earth elements.

“We are not poor countries,” Nguema said. “We are rich countries when it comes to raw materials. But we need partners to support us and help us develop those resources with win-win partnerships.”

Nguema also pushed Trump to purchase directly from Gabon instead of companies.

“I’m sure that it’s more expensive compared to when you can come and buy directly from us,” he said.

Gabon holds around a quarter of the world’s known reserves of manganese, which is used in the production of batteries and stainless steel.

Last month, the Trump administration brokered a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, including potentially unlocking “substantial” untapped deposits of gold, cobalt and high-grade copper, as well as diamonds and lithium, which key element for powering the green power transition.

The DRC reportedly offered access to its resources to the United States in exchange for assistance in resolving the conflict after it effectively lost control of the east of the country at the beginning of the year.

“Tump is transactional — he wants to know what these nations can offer,” Professor David Okoye of Nigeria’s Niger Delta University told NPR.

The United States is concerned about China’s expanding impact in Africa. Beijing reportedly is scouting port locations along West Africa’s coast for possible military use.

“The U.S. has been watching Chinese interest in places like Gabon, Guinea, and Mauritania very closely,” said Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

China is Africa’s top trade and investment partner.

The five nations’ leaders at the White House are not aligned with the 11-member BRICS, a group of headed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, as well as Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

On Monday, Trump said countries that support BRICS nations would be slapped with an additional 10% tariff when across-the-board import duties on the United States’ trading partners take effect Aug. 1.

BRICS leaders earlier attended a two-day summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brfazil, that issued a formal statement critical of the U.S. tariff stance.

Liberia has been the victim of the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year, forcing the closure of health centers, and shortages in HIV medication and contraceptives. U.S. support previously made up nearly 3% of Liberia’s national income, which is the highest of any country, according to the Center for Global Development.

During the luncheon, Trump touted the closure of USAID.

“Trump is a businessman,” political analyst Mamadou Thior told CNN. “The USAID, which was a key partner for countries like Senegal, no longer exists. It’s up to them to talk to Trump, to see what new cooperation they can put forward.”

The Los Angeles sports world mourned the loss of one of its most beloved voices, Rolando “El Veloz” Gonzalez, the longtime Galaxy broadcaster and a pioneer of Spanish-language sports radio, who died June 25.

His legacy transcends generations on the microphone.

Gonzalez’s career began almost accidentally. Although his dream was to play soccer, life had other plans for him and turned him into a storyteller.

“One day on March 6, 1962, I was playing soccer in the local league and the radio play-by-play broadcaster who was assigned that game of my team Escuintla against Universidad, Dr. Otorrino Ríos Paredes, had a car accident,” Gonzalez recalled in 2017. “The owner of the station ran to tell me, ‘[get dressed, get dressed]’ and I replied, ‘Who are you to tell me to get dressed? Let the trainer tell me.’ He said, ‘I need you because they told me that you narrate soccer.’ I replied that I do that there among the guys.”

He later moved to Los Angeles, where former Dodgers announcer Jaime Jarrín gave him his big break during the 1984 Olympics.

“I met him, I think in 1984, shortly before the Olympics. I needed sportswriters for Spanish-language coverage and I was impressed with his stability, his knowledge, his diction and his voice time for soccer,” Jarrín told L.A. Times en Español. “He worked with me for three weeks, and that opened a lot of doors for him in Los Angeles.”

Jarrín’s call surprised him.

Friends and colleagues join Rolando “El Veloz” González, center, in a broadcast booth during a Galaxy match. He called his last game on May 31.

(Armando Aguayo)

“It was Jaime Jarrín,” González recalled. “He asked me if I narrated soccer and if I had experience in programs. He told me that a narrator for the Olympics was coming from Ecuador and he wanted to have [González ] from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on a program. I was leaving the factory at 4:30 p.m. all dirty with paint, and I couldn’t miss that opportunity.”

Jarrín highlights González’s commitment to ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM’s coverage of the Galaxy, a team González covered in two long stints in which the team won five of the six MLS Cup titles. The last game González called a game was on May 31, when the Galaxy won their first game of this season against Real Salt Lake at Dignity Health Sports Park.

“He gave his all to the team, as I did to the Dodgers,” Jarrín said. “His legacy is an example for young people. He defined what he wanted to be, and he did it with his heart, with 110% effort.”

Along with Hipolito Gamboa, González marked an era in radio with their “Hablando de Deportes” show on KTNQ-AM (1020) and eventually on KWKW-AM (1330). The show focused mostly on soccer and easily overshadowed other sports programs that tried to copy the format with a more aggressive touch in their conversations.

The González and Gamboa duo presented a more complete analysis without being dependent on fireworks.

“I always had something that made you laugh in the booths of ‘Hablando de Deportes,’” Gamboa said. “It was not all good all the time, because there were moments of tension. That’s a reality, but we always ended well.”

Gamboa described González as someone out of the ordinary.

“He was one of the first to broadcast soccer in the United States. His unique style, his energy, his speed … no one has equaled him,” Gamboa said. “That’s why they called him ‘El Veloz’ [‘The Swift’].”

They worked together broadcasting Gold Cups, Liga MX matches and international matches. Despite his serious voice, Gamboa highlighted González’s cheerful character.

“He narrated with impressive clarity at an amazing speed. People recognized him by his voice,” Gamboa said. “At a party, my little daughter, just 1 year old at the time, heard him speak and said, ‘Goal!’ because we grew up hearing him narrate at the Rose Bowl, at Azteca Stadium, in so many booths.”

Armando Aguayo, who became González’s boss, said he was more than a colleague.

“He was my teacher. What I know about narration, I learned from him,” Aguayo said. “He taught me how to get into the narrator’s rhythm, not to interrupt, to adapt to his speed. He was demanding, but formative.”

Aguayo fondly recalls the two stages he shared with González, first as his producer at “Deportes en Acción 1330” and then as teammates in the second golden era of the Galaxy under Bruce Arena.

Armando Aguayo, who became Rolando González’s boss, said he was more than a colleague: “He taught me how to get into the narrator’s rhythm, not to interrupt, to adapt to his speed. He was demanding, but formative.”

(Armando Aguayo)

“We narrated together the finals, the titles, the big games,” Aguayo said. “And off the air, we talked about family, about the future of radio, about life.”

According to Aguayo, who calls LAFC and Clippers games, González had admirable discipline.

“He would arrive an hour early, prepare, make lists with lineups,” Aguayo said.

During his career González, called World Cups, Olympic Games, Pan American Games, games of his beloved Guatemala national team, as well as the U.S. national team. He covered soccer, baseball, basketball and football.

“The only thing he didn’t narrate was golf, because he said it bored him,” Aguayo said, laughing. “But he even narrated a marbles contest in Guatemala.”

González was known as a great storyteller.

“He would always say, ‘Let me tell you, in such-and-such a year … and he would give you exact dates.’ He was a historian with a storyteller’s voice,” Aguayo said.

Beyond professionalism, Gonzalez left a deep human imprint.

“We called him ‘Don Rolis’ [and] ‘Papa Smurf.’ He was like everybody’s dad. Always with a kind comment, always concerned about others,” Aguayo recalled.

Rolando González, left, joins Armando Aguayo while calling a Galaxy game.

(Armando Aguayo)

González was still active until a few weeks ago. He called the Galaxy’s last game against Real Salt Lake.

“He arrived two hours early, prepared his tecito, sat down to narrate and when he finished, he got up and left, as usual,” Aguayo said. “That was Rolando. Professional, punctual and simple.”

Aguayo spoke with González shortly before hearing the news of his death. Although González recently had a heart attack, he was still answering calls, his voice tired but upbeat.

“He told me, ‘I’m fine. Thank you for your call. It’s very helpful to me. You’re one of the few who called me.’ He told me about the future, about his family,” Aguayo said. “Even in his last days, he was thinking of others.”

For Jarrín, González represented the image of the hard-working immigrant, the passionate communicator, the dedicated professional.

“He never caused problems. He always served the Hispanic community in Southern California with interest. His voice will remain engraved in our memories, and his legacy will live on in every young person who wants to dedicate themselves to sports broadcasting,” Jarrín said.

González’s voice will no longer resonate in the stadiums, but his echo will live on in the memories of his colleagues and in the passion of those who listened to him.

“I was deeply hurt by his passing, because we were great friends,” Jarrín said. “We had a lot of mutual respect, and I liked him very much from the beginning because of his simplicity and his responsibility in everything. So I think that sports fans, and particularly soccer fans, will miss him very much. … He served the Hispanic community in Southern California with a lot of interest, with a lot of enthusiasm. And I will miss him very, very much indeed.”

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.

Human Rights Watch says Asmara’s move was an effort to distract from independent reporting on the ‘country’s dire rights record’.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has rejected Eritrea’s attempt to shut down an independent investigation into alleged rights abuses, in a move hailed as vital to preventing impunity.

Eritrea’s rare bid to scrap the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on its human rights record was defeated on Friday, with only four votes in favour, 25 against, and 18 abstentions.

The move by Eritrea surprised some observers and marked one of the few times a state under active investigation tried to end such scrutiny through a formal vote.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the outcome, calling it “an important message that the international community is not fooled by Eritrea’s efforts to distract from, and discredit, independent human rights reporting on the country’s dire rights record.”

Eritrea’s motion argued that alleged rights violations were not systemic and blamed “capacity constraints” common to other developing nations. But European states responded with a counter-resolution to extend the mandate for another year, which passed with ease.

In his latest report in June, Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the UN-appointed special rapporteur and a Sudanese human rights lawyer, said Eritrea had shown “no meaningful progress” on accountability.

He referenced the 2016 UN inquiry that found “systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations … committed in Eritrea under the authority of the Government … may constitute crimes against humanity.”

In the 2016 report, the UN’s Commission of Inquiry (COI) for Eritrea said the government of President Isaias Afwerki had committed heinous crimes since independence a quarter-century ago, including the “enslavement” of 400,000 people.

Many of those abuses are allegedly linked to a harsh national service programme in the secretive Horn of Africa state, which for many is almost impossible to escape and which the COI compared to lifetime enslavement.

Ending investigation would enable ‘impunity’

DefendDefenders, a pan-African human rights organisation, said Babiker’s role remained vital for victims and the wider Eritrean diaspora.

“The expert plays an indispensable role, not only for the victims and survivors of Eritrea’s abuses, but also for the Eritrean diaspora,” the group said in a statement.

The EU warned that terminating the mandate would enable “impunity and repression to deepen in silence.”

Eritrea’s representative, Habtom Zerai Ghirmai, lashed out at the decision, accusing the EU of displaying a “neo-colonial saviour mentality complex”.

He added, “The continued extension of the Special Rapporteur’s mandate is an affront to reason and justice.”

Iran, Sudan and Russia – all under their own UN investigations – supported Eritrea’s motion. China also backed the move, arguing that such mandates were a misuse of international resources.

The UK’s High Court upheld the government’s move to ban activist group Palestine Action as a ‘terrorist organisation’ after it said it damaged two military planes. Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego explains what this means, as hundreds of people gathered in London to protest the ruling.

An insatiably popular city on the French Riviera has revealed it is clamping down on over-tourism with a bold cap on cruise passengers – in a huge blow to UK holidaymakers

A popular EU hotspot is clamping down on over-tourism after unveiling a brutal visitor cap.

Every year, around three million tourists flock to the ultra-chic city of Cannes, lured in by its golden sandy beaches, designer shops, and A-list-studded film festival. The influx is largely attributed to cruise passengers travelling through the French Riviera, who get dropped off in huge crowds for day-trips.

In fact, in 2024, a staggering 460,000 cruise passengers flocked to Cannes – resulting in concerns of pollution and overcrowding, as well as straining local amenities for permanent residents. However, in a major crackdown confirmed by the council – this could all soon change.

Starting next year, a maximum of 6,000 cruise passengers will be allowed to disembark in Cannes per day. The number of mega ships carrying more than 5,000 passengers will also be cut by 48 per cent, with a long-term aim of banning all vessels carrying more than 1,300 people by 2030.

The harsh limit follows in the footsteps of the nearby city of Nice, which vowed to ban ships more than 190m long and with a capacity of more than 900 passengers from docking in its port, as well as the neighbouring Villefranche-sur-Mer from next summer. However, authorities have since backtracked on the ruling, now permitting ships carrying up to 2,500 people to dock in Villefranche-sur-Mer, but only one at a time, with a cap of 65 per year.

According to EuroNews, cruise operators have criticised the move in Cannes – arguing such restrictions are ‘damaging’ to tourist destinations and holidaymakers. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) says such a strict cap ‘imposes unjustified restrictions on a sector that enables millions of people to discover the world’.

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The company argued that cruises ‘actively contribute to the vitality of port cities’ by bringing in income to the area. However, Mayor David Lisnard was quick to defend the decision and double down on the cap.

“Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits,” the politician said in a statement. “It’s not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organising, setting guidelines for their navigation.”

As reported by the Express, Mayor Lisnard has already imposed an environmental charter on cruise companies back in 2019. Back then, he threatened to block passenger excursions if they failed to comply.

Other popular cities including Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam have also capped cruise ships in recent years – following a string of anti-tourist protests that have erupted across the continent. While it puts the future of Brits’ cruise holiday into jeopardy – it’s likely the move will be well received by fed-up locals, who have long demonstrated against overcrowding and spikes in holiday rentals.

What do you think of the tourist cap? Let us know in the comments section below

The 80-year-old leader pledges economic growth from today’s GDP of $66bn to $500bn within the next five years.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has confirmed he will contest next year’s presidential election, setting the stage for a potential extension of his nearly 40-year rule.

The 80-year-old announced late on Saturday that he had expressed his interest “in running for … the position of presidential flag bearer” for his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

Museveni seized power in 1986 after a five-year civil war and has ruled ever since.

The NRM has altered the constitution twice to remove term and age limits, clearing the way for Museveni to extend his tenure.

Rights groups accused him of using security forces and state patronage to suppress dissent and entrench his power – claims he denies.

Museveni said he seeks re-election to transform Uganda into a “$500bn economy in the next five years”. According to government data, the country’s current gross domestic product stands at just under $66bn.

Ugandans are due to vote in January to choose a president and members of parliament.

Challenger

Opposition leader Bobi Wine, a pop star-turned-politician whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has confirmed he will run again. Wine rejected the 2021 results, alleging widespread fraud, ballot tampering and intimidation by security forces.

Tensions have risen in recent months after parliament passed a law allowing military courts to try civilians, a practice the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in January.

The government insisted the change is necessary to tackle threats to national security, but rights organisations and opposition figures argued it is a tool to intimidate and silence critics.

Uganda for years has used military courts to prosecute opposition politicians and government critics.

In 2018, Wine was charged in a military court with illegal possession of firearms. The charges were later dropped.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised Uganda’s military courts for failing to meet international standards of judicial independence and fairness.

Oryem Nyeko, senior Africa researcher at HRW, said this year: “The Ugandan authorities have for years misused military courts to crack down on opponents and critics.”

Manchester United have had an improved bid worth up to £62.5m for Bryan Mbeumo rejected by Brentford.

United have bid £55m plus £7.5m in add-ons for the 25-year-old.

They had a bid of £45m plus up to £10m in add-ons for the Cameroon forward turned down earlier this month.

United are looking to add goals to their side having already signed forward Matheus Cunha from Wolves for £62.5m.

Sources have suggested Brentford would want at least the same fee as Wolves have received for Cunha up front before they agree to the sale of a player who still has a year left on his contract.

Mbeumo scored a career-best 20 goals for Brentford last season and contributed nine assists.

United may face competition from elsewhere, with new Tottenham manager Thomas Frank keen to be reunited with Mbeumo, while there has also been interest from other Champions League clubs.

An international colleague of United goalkeeper Andre Onana, Mbeumo is likely to miss four weeks of the 2025-26 campaign because of Cameroon’s participation in the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Cameroon play Gabon in their opening group game on 24 December.

Mbeumo joined Brentford from French club Troyes in 2019, when the Bees were still in the Championship.

He has scored 70 goals in 242 appearances in all competitions, helping the west London club earn promotion to the top flight in 2021.

Rally legend Carlos Sainz has decided not to run for the presidency of motorsport’s governing body the FIA in December’s election.

The 63-year-old, who said in May he was considering the idea, explained that “the present circumstances are not ideal to set the grounds for my candidacy”.

Sainz said in a statement on social media, external that he believed the FIA “still needs important changes, which I remain genuinely hopeful will be tackled in the upcoming years”.

He added that a campaign would interfere with his preparations for next year’s Dakar Rally.

Sainz won the Dakar for the fourth time in 2024 and will compete in the desert event in Saudi Arabia next January with Ford.

His son – also named Carlos Sainz – drives for Williams in Formula 1.

Sainz Snr said: “I have realised that properly running for president would notably compromise my preparation for the Dakar and I do not wish to weaken my commitment to Ford and my team.

“These concerns have therefore inclined me to be realistic and desist from my FIA endeavour for now.”

The only declared candidate for the election is the current president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, whose time in office has been beset by controversies.

These involve changes to the FIA statutes that appear to extend his control, along with a series of sackings of senior figures within the FIA, and for his involvement in a series of situations that have angered many in Formula 1, from commercial rights holder Liberty Media to the drivers.

The FIA is currently the subject of a lawsuit from Susie Wolff, the head of the F1 Academy for aspiring female drivers and wife of Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff.

June 25 (UPI) — Bumble, the company that produces the online dating app designed to empower women, on Wednesday announced it is laying off 30% of its staff in a bid to reverse financial problems.

The company, which is based in Austin, Texas, announced the reduction of 240 positions at a saving of $40 million, with reinvestment of most of that money into product and technology development as it “realigns its operating structure to optimize execution on its strategic priorities,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Bumble said it will incur $13 million to $18 million of nonrecurring charges, mainly related to severance, benefits and associated costs for affected employees in the third and fourth quarters of 2025.

Bumble, which also runs Official, Badoo, Fruitz and other dating apps, announced it is increasing its second-quarter revenue forecast to $244 million to $249 million, up from the previously forecast $235 million to $243 million.

In 2024, Bumble had revenue of $1.07 billion with a $557 million net loss.

Bumb’s stock price closed up 25.14% to $1.31 on NASDAQ. The stock had a high this year of $8.64 on Feb. 4. Its public offering was $76 per share in 2021.

In February 2024, the company also cut 30% of its workforce.

At the start of the year, Bumble announced that founder Whitney Wolfe Herd was returning as CEO in March after stepping down from the role in 2023 though she remained on the board of directors. She co-founded Bumble in 2014 and helped create another app, Tinder, in 2012 and left two years later.

She filed sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits against Tinder, which later were settled.

Match, which owns Tinder and Hinge, also has been struggling. In May, Match said it was laying off 13% of its staff to reduce costs and streamline its organizational structure in a struggle to attract and retain users, including young ones.

Wolfe Herd said online dating is at an “inflection point.”

“The reality is, we need to take decisive action to restructure to build a company that’s resilient, intentional and ready for the next decade,” she wrote in an email to Bumble employees.

It was a much different situation one year ago. Bumble was the most downloaded dating application in the United States with 735,000 downloads.

“Bumble is designed to help you feel empowered while you make those connections, whether you’re dating, looking for, according to Bumble’s website. “On Bumble, women set the tone by making the first move or by setting an Opening Move for matches to reply to. Shifting old-fashioned power dynamics and encouraging equality from the start.”

Like with other dating apps, potential matches are displayed to users, who can “swipe left” to reject a candidate or “swipe right” to indicate interest.

In February 2022, Bumble announced it had acquired Fruitz, a French-owned freemium dating app popular with Gen Z and used across Europe.

France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen has been barred from standing for president for five years by French courts.

France’s far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, has openly suggested that her political heir apparent, Jordan Bardella, could take her place in the 2027 presidential election, as a court ruling threatens to derail her candidacy.

In an interview published on Wednesday by French magazine Valeurs Actuelles, the leader of the National Rally (RN) party said: “I accept that I cannot run. Jordan accepts that he must step in. I myself have asked him to think about it and prepare for this possibility.”

Le Pen’s statement is the clearest sign yet that the three-time presidential contender is preparing for the real possibility of being sidelined. In March, a French court convicted her of embezzling European Union funds and banned her from holding public office for five years. She has appealed.

While Le Pen has denounced the ruling as a “witch hunt” and a “political decision”, the consequences are far-reaching. A Paris appeals court is expected to rule on the case in 2026, just a year before the election. If Le Pen’s sentence is overturned or reduced, she could still return to the race.

“Jordan and I will enter the presidential primary race until the court case is decided,” Le Pen said.

“Of course, the situation is not ideal. But what else do you suggest? That I commit suicide before I’m murdered?”

Le Pen warned that blocking her from running could further alienate voters and destabilise the political landscape. “Many French people, regardless of their political convictions, would then understand that the rules of the game have been manipulated,” she said.

Bardella has not yet commented publicly about Le Pen’s endorsement, and the two have long brushed off reports of internal power struggles. Still, as Bardella’s profile grows, speculation persists about their working relationship.

Bardella, 29, was elected president of the National Rally in 2022, while Le Pen assumed a parliamentary role. His rise has been meteoric, thanks in part to his media savvy and polished image — though critics question how he’d hold up in a high-pressure debate.

In April, Le Pen jokingly downplayed the idea of Bardella running, saying he’d be the party’s candidate “if I were hit by a truck”.

President Emmanuel Macron, who helms the liberal centrist Renaissance party, is barred from seeking a third term under the country’s electoral laws. Aside from centre-right former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, few major figures have formally declared they are running in 2027.

A recent poll found Bardella edging out Le Pen in popularity, with 28 percent of respondents saying they’d prefer to holiday with him, compared to 22 percent for his mentor.

June 24 (UPI) — The international architecture firm Foster + Partners was announced as the winner of a multi-million-dollar competition to design a national memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II in London.

Norman Foster‘s firm beat out five other finalists with its pitch for a new cast-glass bridge inspired by Elizabeth’s wedding tiara as part of a commemorative garden in St. James’ Park, with spaces for visitors for quiet reflection.

The proposals also feature a statue of Elizabeth on horseback and a cast of her and her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, who died in 2021, at a new Prince Philip Gate.

“We showed them together and, in a way, there was this inseparable quality which we sought to convey,” Foster said.

“Our design reflects Her Majesty’s love of history and tradition, while introducing a gentle, unifying intervention that respects the park’s nature and legacy.”

Foster added that the concept also recalled the informality the queen was known for in her interactions with people.

He stressed that the project would have minimal impact on the nature and biodiversity of the park and that the work would be conducted in phases, allowing the public to continue enjoying the existing amenities.

The new memorial will be built close to the statues of Elizabeth’s mother and father, the Queen Mother and King George VI, and not far from the statue of Queen Victoria in front of Buckingham Palace.

“Foster + Partners’ ambitious and thoughtful masterplan will allow us and future generations to appreciate Queen Elizabeth’s life of service as she balanced continuity and change with strong values, common sense and optimism throughout her long reign,” said Lord Robin Janvrin, head of the Queen Elizabeth Memorial Committee Chair.

The project is expected to open to the public in April in what would have been Elizabeth’s hundredth year. She died in September 2022 at the age of 96.

Famous and iconic designs of Norman Foster around the world include the Reichstag building in Berlin, “The Gherkin” building in the City of London, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building on Hong Kong Island and the Hearst Building on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.

More than 100 Labour MPs are supporting a fresh effort to block the government’s planned changes to the benefits system.

The MPs have signed an amendment that would give them an opportunity to vote on a proposal to reject the welfare reform bill in its entirety.

Dozens of Labour MPs have expressed concerns about the plans to cut disability and sickness-related benefits payments to save £5bn a year by 2030.

Ministers have attempted to soften the impact of the welfare changes, but many Labour MPs remain discontented with the package of benefits reforms.

The welfare reform bill – called the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill – will include proposals to make it harder for disabled people with less severe conditions to claim personal independence payment (Pip).

The amendment, published on the UK Parliament website, notes “the need for the reform of the social security system” before outlining reasons why the bill should be rejected.

The reasons it lists for thwarting the bill include the number of people the plans are expected to push into relative poverty, a lack of consultation, and an inadequate impact assessment on the consequences on the jobs market and on people’s health.

It is known as a reasoned amendment, which is a parliamentary mechanism which allows MPs to record their reasons for objecting to a bill.

If the reasoned amendment is selected by House Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and the majority of MPs vote in favour of it, the bill will not be allowed to continue its passage through Parliament.

While the success of the amendment is not assured, the level of support for it among Labour MPs indicates the extent of the potential rebellion facing ministers.

The Labour MPs who have signed the amendment include 10 Labour select committee chairs.

These are Tan Dhesi, Helen Hayes, Florence Eshalomi, Patricia Ferguson, Ruth Cadbury, Dame Meg Hillier, Ruth Jones, Sarah Owen, Debbie Abrahams and Cat Smith.

This number of Labour opponents to the government’s welfare plans could be enough to inflict defeat on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the House of Commons, were all the opposition parties to oppose the plans too.

The government has a working majority of 165 in the Commons, meaning that 83 Labour MPs would need to oppose the bill to force a parliamentary defeat.

Earlier, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she did not want to alert Labour to her plans before the welfare reform bill was voted on.

A senior Conservative source said the shadow cabinet would be discussing whether to help the government vote through the welfare reforms when they meet on Tuesday morning.

It is thought about half the amendment’s signatories so far are from the new intake of Labour MPs – those elected at the general election last year.

The vote on the government’s bill is currently due to take place a week tomorrow – on Tuesday 1 July.

In a meeting of Labour MPs on Monday evening, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall defended the welfare reforms, arguing greater spending on benefits alone was “no route to social justice”.

“The path to fairer society – one where everyone thrives, where people who can work get the support they need, and where we protect those who cannot – that is the path we seek to build with our reforms,” Kendall said.

“Our plans are rooted in fairness – for those who need support and for taxpayers.

“They are about ensuring the welfare state survives, so there is always a safety net for those who need it.”

One of the main co-ordinators behind the amendment, who did not wish to be named, told the BBC the government’s U-turn on cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners “demonstrates that they are susceptible to pressure”.

They said the decision emboldened many of those who have signed the amendment, saying MPs “all voted for winter fuel [cuts] and have taken so much grief in our constituencies, so colleagues think why should I take that on again?”.

It is understood that plans for the amendment began when the government offered a partial olive branch, by expanding the transition period for anyone losing the personal independence payment.

The same MP who has been helping to co-ordinate the amendment said the offering by the government earlier this month was “pathetic” and “angered people even more”.

They said direct phone calls from Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves that were supposed to placate would-be rebels had instead “been entrenching people” to vote against the bill.

They accused Number 10 of thinking MPs can be “bullied into voting with them” and said the aim of the amendment was to “send the government back to the drawing board” by forcing them to withdraw next week’s vote.

The welfare package as a whole could push an extra 250,000 people, including 50,000 children, into relative poverty, according to the government’s impact assessment.

The Department for Work and Pensions says it expects 3.2 million families – a mixture of current and future recipients – to lose out financially, as a result of the total package of measures, with an average loss of £1,720 per year.

This includes 370,000 current Pip recipients who will no longer qualify and 430,000 future claimants who will get less than they would previously have been entitled to.

But ministers have stressed the figures do not factor in the government’s plans to spend £1bn on helping the long-term sick and disabled back into work, or its efforts to reduce poverty.

Ministers hope these efforts will boost employment among benefits recipients, at a time when 2.8 million people are economically inactive due to long-term sickness.

If nothing changes, the health and disability benefits bill is forecast to reach £70bn a year by the end of the decade, a level of spending the government says is “unsustainable”.

The government is planning to put the welfare reforms in place by November 2026 and no one will lose out on benefits payments until that happens.

Manchester United have submitted an improved bid of more than £60m for Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo.

This month United had a bid rejected for the 25-year-old of £45m plus up to £10m in add-ons.

Talks over the Cameroon forward, who would become the club’s second signing of the summer, are due to continue this week.

Following the £62.5m capture of Matheus Cunha from Wolves, United are keen to further strengthen Ruben Amorim’s squad before they return for pre-season training on 7 July.

New Tottenham manager Thomas Frank was keen to be reunited with Mbeumo, while there has also been interest in the forward from other Champions League clubs.

Sources have suggested Brentford would want at least the same fee as Wolves have received for Cunha before they agree to the sale of a player who still has a year left on his contract.

As with Cunha, Mbeumo’s Premier League experience is viewed as a major positive as Amorim needs players who can hit the ground running as United look to make a more positive start to the season than their three sluggish efforts under Erik ten Hag.

Mbeumo scored a career-best 20 goals for Brentford last season, while he also contributed nine assists to the Bees’ cause.

An international colleague of United goalkeeper Andre Onana, Mbeumo is likely to miss four weeks of the 2025-26 campaign because of Cameroon’s participation in the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Cameroon play Gabon in their opening group game on 24 December.

The renewed move for Mbeumo comes as the future of Alejandro Garnacho is once again the subject of intense debate after he posted an image of himself wearing an Aston Villa shirt with the name ‘Rashford’ on his social media channels.

Fellow United outcast Marcus Rashford responded to the post with a ‘my brother’ message to the Argentina forward, who has been valued at £60m after being told by Amorim to find another club this summer.

Sitting in northern Europe, I shouldn’t care about the New York mayoral race.

Yet, despite all that is happening in the world, the contentious Democratic primary for the 2025 New York City mayoral election has found its way into conversations around me – and onto my social media feed.

This attention isn’t just another example of the New York-centric worldview famously skewered in Saul Steinberg’s 1976 New Yorker cover, View of the World from 9th Avenue. A genuine political struggle is under way, one that has the potential to reverberate far beyond the Hudson River. At its centre is the increasingly polarised contest between Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Mamdani.

The name Cuomo may ring a bell. He resigned as New York’s governor in 2021 following multiple allegations of sexual harassment. While he expressed remorse at the time, his political comeback has been marked by defiance – suing one of his accusers and the state attorney general who found the accusations credible. He claims the scandal was a “political hit job”.

Cuomo’s record in office was far from unblemished. He diverted millions of dollars from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), jeopardising the financial health of New York’s essential public transit system. He formed the Moreland Commission to root out corruption but disbanded it abruptly when it began probing entities linked to his own campaign. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his administration was accused of undercounting nursing home deaths, allegedly to deflect criticism of policies that returned COVID-positive patients to those facilities.

Given that legacy, one might imagine Cuomo’s chances of becoming mayor would be slim. Yet, he currently leads in the polls.

Close behind him is Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and state assemblyman from Queens. When he entered the race in March, Cuomo led by 40 points. A recent poll now puts Mamdani within 8 points.

Born in Kampala and raised in New York, Mamdani is the first Muslim candidate to run for mayor of the city. But his significance extends beyond his identity. What distinguishes Mamdani is his unapologetically progressive platform – and his refusal to dilute it in the name of “electability”. His appeal rests on substance, charisma, sharp messaging, and a mass volunteer-led canvassing operation.

At the heart of Mamdani’s campaign is a vision of a city that works for working-class New Yorkers. He proposes freezing rents for all rent-stabilised apartments, building 200,000 affordable homes, creating publicly-owned grocery stores “focused on keeping prices low, not making profit”, and making buses free. He supports free childcare for children under five, better wages for childcare workers, and “baby baskets” containing essentials for new parents.

To fund these initiatives, Mamdani proposes increasing the corporate tax rate from 7.25 percent to 11.5 percent, and imposing a 2 percent income tax on New York City residents earning more than $1m annually.

He also wants to raise the minimum wage, regulate gig economy giants like DoorDash, and protect delivery workers. His plan to establish a Department of Community Safety would shift resources away from traditional policing towards mental health and violence prevention.

He further promises to “Trump-proof” New York by enhancing the city’s sanctuary status, removing ICE’s influence, expanding legal support for migrants, defending LGBTQ+ rights and protecting reproductive healthcare access.

But championing such bold policies – as a brown, Muslim candidate – has made Mamdani a lightning rod for hate. Recently, in a rare show of emotion, Mamdani teared up while recounting threats he has received: “I get messages that say the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim. I get threats on my life … on the people that I love.”

The NYPD is investigating two voicemails from an unidentified caller, who labelled Mamdani a “terrorist”, threatened to bomb his car, and ominously warned: “Watch your f..king back every f..king second until you get the f..k out of America.”

Cuomo’s campaign has also played into Islamophobic tropes. A mailer targeting Jewish voters from a Cuomo-aligned super PAC doctored Mamdani’s photo – darkening and lengthening his beard – and declared that he “rejects NYPD, rejects Israel, rejects capitalism and rejects Jewish rights”.

Much of this centres on Mamdani’s outspoken support for Palestinian rights. He has been criticised for refusing to affirm Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and for defending the slogan “globalise the intifada”, which he describes as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights”. He also noted that the Arabic term intifada has been used by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to describe the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.

Despite the attacks, Mamdani’s movement is surging. He has received endorsements from Senator Bernie Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, Attorney General Letitia James, the New York Working Families Party, United Auto Workers Region 9A, and Jewish Voice for Peace Action.

In contrast, Cuomo is backed by major real estate donors wary of Mamdani’s housing agenda. His campaign has received $1m from DoorDash, presumably in response to Mamdani’s proposed labour protections. Other prominent donors include Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman – both known for supporting Donald Trump.

Still, Mamdani’s grassroots campaign has continued to gain ground. Whether or not he wins the nomination, his candidacy has already achieved something vital: it has offered proof that an anti-corporate, anti-Trump, community-powered campaign – one rooted in progressive values and refusal to compromise – can resonate with American voters.

But the stakes extend far beyond New York. Across Europe, South America, South Asia and Africa, right-wing populists are gaining ground by exploiting economic precarity, stoking culture wars and vilifying minorities. Mamdani’s campaign offers a clear counter-narrative: one that marries economic justice with moral clarity, mobilises diverse communities and challenges the politics of fear. For progressives around the world, it is a rare and instructive blueprint – not just for resistance, but for rebuilding.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Federal judge pauses Trump’s efforts as the US president says a ‘deal’ with the Ivy League school was in the works.

A federal judge in the United States has blocked President Donald Trump’s bid to block Harvard from enrolling foreign students, delivering the prestigious university another victory as it challenges multiple government sanctions amid a battle with the White House.

Friday’s order by District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston preserves Harvard’s ability to host international students while a lawsuit filed by the Ivy League school plays out in the courts.

Burroughs, however, added that the federal government still had the authority to review Harvard’s foreign admission policies through normal processes outlined in law.

Harvard found itself embroiled in a polarising debate about academic freedom and the right to protest against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza as its pro-Palestine students demanded full disclosure of the country’s oldest and wealthiest university’s investments in companies linked to Israel and divestment from those companies.

Trump and his allies claim that Harvard, and other US universities that saw similar protests, are unaccountable bastions of liberal, anti-conservative bias and “anti-Semitism”.

In May, Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security after the agency abruptly withdrew the school’s certification to enrol foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas, skirting most of its usual procedures.

The action would have forced Harvard’s roughly 7,000 international students – about a quarter of its total enrolment and a major source of income – to transfer or risk being in the US without the necessary documents. New foreign students would have been barred from coming to Harvard.

The university said it was experiencing illegal retaliation for rejecting the White House’s demands to overhaul Harvard policies related to campus protests, admissions and hiring.

Trump, who has cut about $3.2bn of federal grants for Harvard and tried numerous tactics to block the institution from hosting international students, said that his administration has been holding negotiations with Harvard.

“Many people have been asking what is going on with Harvard University and their largescale improprieties that we have been addressing, looking for a solution,” Trump said in a post on Friday on Truth Social.

“We have been working closely with Harvard, and it is very possible that a Deal will be announced over the next week or so,” he said. “If a Settlement is made on the basis that is currently being discussed, it will be ‘mindbogglingly’ HISTORIC, and very good for our Country.”

Trump did not provide any details about the purported “deal”.

China’s response was to strongly condemn Israel’s actions, which violate all basic norms governing international relations. The Chinese Foreign Ministry considered the attacks on Tehran’s nuclear facilities to set a dangerous precedent, the repercussions of which could be disastrous for international peace and stability. In response to this direct military confrontation between Israel and Iran, Beijing has consistently taken a firm pro-Iran stance, with China officially declaring that Tehran is not an instigator of regional instability. Beijing also immediately linked this Israeli escalation against Iran to the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, a conflict that China has long advocated for resolving through the United Nations. All Chinese political and intelligence analyses have emphasized that the current situation and the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran are the latest extension of the conflict that has been raging for more than two years in the Gaza Strip. This serves as yet another reminder that the Palestinian issue remains central to the Middle East and impacts long-term peace, stability, and security in the region. To this end, Chinese circles believe that if the conflict in Gaza is allowed to continue, the negative impact of the conflict is expected to spread further, making the region even more unstable.

 Reflecting the same context of official Chinese statements, Chinese experts view these events not only as another chapter in the Israeli-Iranian conflict but also as an extension of the war in the Gaza Strip. According to Chinese Professor Liu Zhongmin of Shanghai International Studies University and Professor Tang Qichao, Director of the Research Center for Development and Governance in the Middle East at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the confrontation that began in the Gaza Strip has now expanded to five additional fronts: the West Bank, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and the Red Sea, where Israel’s enemies are trying to divert its attention and deplete its resources.

  Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China, held talks with his Israeli counterpart. Minister Wang Yi affirmed China’s opposition to Israel’s violation of international law by attacking Iran with force, describing Israeli behavior as internationally unacceptable. China affirmed that diplomatic means regarding the Iranian nuclear issue have not been exhausted, and there is still hope for a peaceful solution to the issue. The Chinese leadership confirmed to President Xi Jinping that “the force used by Israel against the Iranians cannot establish lasting peace between the two sides.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also affirmed that “China is ready to play a constructive role in containing the escalation of the conflict between Tehran and Tel Aviv.”

  These Chinese talks with Iranian and Israeli officials to stop the war should be understood as part of China’s efforts to prevent relations between Tel Aviv and Tehran from destabilizing the region’s security, maritime, navigational, and logistical stability. This is particularly true given Iran’s explicit accusations that several regional powers facilitated Israeli airspace attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities. This is in addition to the current link between US President Trump’s recent visit to three Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE) and the coordination of Israel’s current military strike on Iran. This is in addition to analyses by several Chinese political and intelligence circles that several regional powers have shared intelligence with Israel regarding the attack on Iran. Through China’s analysis of all these current developments, Beijing’s interest in neutralizing the course of Israeli-Iranian relations, at least for the time being, stems from its pivotal role in mediating the restoration of diplomatic relations between these two regional rivals as a price for restoring stability to the Middle East. 

  Supporting the Chinese view in this context is what Chinese officials consistently praise as a wave of regional reconciliation, as evidence of the effectiveness of the Global Security Initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping. This alternative security framework is often positioned in contrast to the Western system, which Chinese officials and researchers often portray as a front for American hegemony.

  Beijing is leveraging Tehran’s support for several groups in the Middle East to advance its interests in confronting the balance of power with the United States in the Middle East, most notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. China and Russia also appear to be working to establish closer relations with Hamas. A delegation of senior leaders from Hamas and other Palestinian movements, including Islamic Jihad, which the United States officially designates as a terrorist group, has visited Moscow and Beijing several times to coordinate their positions on the Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip, with explicit American support. Chinese think tanks described this Iranian retaliatory attack against Israel, after its war against it, as an unprecedented development in its long-standing proxy conflict with Israel. They expected Iran to respond militarily soon through a third party, such as the Houthis in Yemen, to disrupt maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, Bab Al-Mandab, and the Suez Canal in Egypt. This would be part of Iran’s leverage over Israel and the United States to halt its war and refrain from continuing to attack its nuclear facilities, harm its interests, and assassinate its military leaders and scientists.

  On the other hand, China has several leverage points against Israel. It has significant investments in Israel, particularly in the infrastructure and technology sectors, and has maintained them throughout the conflict in the Gaza Strip. China also relies heavily on Iran for 90% of its crude oil imports, which go directly to China. To this end, China will attempt to play a calming role between Tehran and Tel Aviv, especially since these Israeli retaliatory strikes targeted Iranian oil infrastructure in a way that could impact Iranian oil exports to China. Therefore, Beijing is likely to raise its voice in condemning Israel’s actions against the Iranians and even intervene and broker a peace agreement between the two parties to preserve its oil interests with Tehran. China remains one of the few countries that buys oil from Iran despite US sanctions. Beijing also brokered the agreement to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023, which could play a role in establishing a peace agreement between Tehran and Tel Aviv.

   Regarding the views of senior Chinese military leaders regarding Iran’s role in confronting the Israeli war against it, Chinese experts Teng Jiankun, a senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, and Wang Mingzhi, director of the Strategic Education and Research Office at the People’s Liberation Army Air Force Command College, believe a direct attack from Iran is unlikely and instead expect Iran to respond through its proxies, such as the Houthis. In a previous interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Colonel “Du Wenlong” of the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences stated, “If Iran transfers its weapons to areas in Syria, Yemen, Gaza, and Lebanon, then through intermediaries, it could achieve war feats similar to those of the Israeli war against it. Therefore, in the next step, Iran could influence actors throughout the Middle East to carry out joint retaliatory operations against both Israel and the United States.” Chinese military expert “Li Li” also emphasized that “Iran has effectively demonstrated its ability to retaliate against Israel, as well as the Iranians’ prowess in operational planning and the capabilities of their military industry,” which she described as “extremely systematic and extensive.” Professor Li Li emphasized that “Iran’s real goal now is to demonstrate its ability to strike deep into Israeli territory and enhance its deterrence to secure political and strategic goals.” Professor Ding Jun, a well-known Chinese professor of Middle East politics and head of the Institute of Middle East Studies at Shanghai International Studies University, emphasized that “the political nature of the operation outweighs its military significance.” According to Chinese political and military analyst Wang Mingqi, “Iran’s restraint in the attack on Tel Aviv may have been due to Tehran’s goal of not diverting the international community’s attention away from Gaza and Israel, which is the same goal the Israelis are aiming to achieve by launching their current, unexpected attack on Tehran.”

    By understanding this previous analysis, we find that the American side is counting heavily on China as well to play a role in calming the situation between Tehran and Tel Aviv. The closest example of this is the United States’ request that China use its influence over Tehran to curb the Iranian-backed Houthi group in Yemen, which is attacking ships in the Red Sea.

NEW YORK — As President Trump focuses on global trade deals and dispatching troops to aid his immigration crackdown, his lawyers are fighting to erase the hush money criminal conviction that punctuated his reelection campaign last year and made him the first former — and now current — U.S. president found guilty of a crime.

On Wednesday, that fight landed in a federal appeals court in Manhattan, where a three-judge panel heard arguments in Trump’s long-running bid to get the New York case moved from state court to federal court so he can then seek to have it thrown out on presidential immunity grounds.

It’s one way he’s trying to get the historic verdict overturned.

The judges in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals spent more than an hour grilling Trump’s lawyer and the appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case and wants it to remain in state court.

At turns skeptical and receptive to both sides’ arguments on the weighty and seldom-tested legal issues underlying the president’s request, the judges said they would take the matter under advisement and issue a ruling at a later date.

But there was at least one thing all parties agreed on: It is a highly unusual case.

Trump lawyer Jeffrey Wall called the president “a class of one” and Judge Susan L. Carney noted that it was “anomalous” for a defendant to seek to transfer a case to federal court after it has been decided in state court.

Carney was nominated to the 2nd Circuit by Democratic President Obama. The other judges who heard arguments, Raymond J. Lohier Jr. and Myrna Pérez, were nominated by Obama and Democratic President Biden, respectively.

The Republican president is asking the federal appeals court to intervene after a lower-court judge twice rejected the move. As part of the request, Trump wants the court to seize control of the criminal case and then ultimately decide his appeal of the verdict, which is now pending in a state appellate court.

Trump’s Justice Department — now partly run by his former criminal defense lawyers — backs his bid to move the case to federal court. If he loses, he could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Everything about this cries out for federal court,” Wall argued.

Wall, a former acting U.S. solicitor general, argued that Trump’s historic prosecution violated the U.S. Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, which was decided last July, about a month after the hush money verdict. The ruling reined in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricted prosecutors from pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal.

Trump’s lawyers argue that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, and that they erred by showing jurors evidence that should not have been allowed under the ruling, such as former White House staffers describing how Trump reacted to news coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he sent while president in 2018.

“The district attorney holds the keys in his hand,” Wall argued. “He doesn’t have to introduce this evidence.”

Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the district attorney’s office, countered that Trump was too late in seeking to move the case to federal court. Normally, such a request must be made within 30 days of an arraignment, but a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., recently ruled that exceptions can be made if “good cause” is shown. Trump hasn’t done that, Wu argued.

While “this defendant is an unusual defendant,” Wu said, there is nothing unusual about a defendant raising subsequent court decisions, such as the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling for Trump, when they appeal their convictions. That appeal, he argued, should stay in state court.

Trump was convicted in May 2024 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to upend his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump denies her claim and said he did nothing wrong. It was the only one of his four criminal cases to go to trial.

Trump’s lawyers first sought to move the case to federal court following his March 2023 indictment, arguing that federal officers including former presidents have the right to be tried in federal court for charges arising from “conduct performed while in office.” Part of the criminal case involved checks he wrote while he was president.

They tried again after his conviction, about two months after the Supreme Court issued its immunity ruling.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who was nominated by Democratic President Clinton, denied both requests, ruling in part that Trump’s conviction involved his personal life, not his work as president.

Wu argued Wednesday that Trump and his lawyers should’ve acted more immediately after the Supreme Court ruled, and that by waiting they waived their right to seek a transfer. Wall responded that they delayed seeking to move the case to federal court because they were trying to resolve the matter by raising the immunity argument with the trial judge, Juan Merchan.

Merchan ultimately rejected Trump’s request to throw out the conviction on immunity grounds and sentenced him on Jan. 10 to an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction intact but sparing him any punishment.

Sisak writes for the Associated Press.