NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Donald Trump on Monday lost a bid to overturn his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to a porn star in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling recognizing immunity from prosecution for a president’s official acts. Justice Juan Merchan’s denial of Trump’s motion to dismiss the New York state case forecloses one avenue for the Republican president-elect to enter the White House on Jan. 20 for his second four-year term without the stain of a criminal conviction. The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. The payment was for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it. The hush money case was the only one of four sets of criminal charges brought against Trump in 2023 to reach trial.

   

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. Senate on Monday voted overwhelmingly to advance an $895 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon toward passage as soon as Tuesday, which would send it to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign into law. The tally was 83 to 12 in favor of advancing the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, to a vote on final passage, comfortably over the 60 needed in the 100-member Senate. This year’s NDAA authorizes a record $895 billion in annual military spending, covering provisions on purchases of military equipment and boosting competitiveness with archrivals including China and Russia. The 1,800-page bill also focuses on improving the quality of life for the U.S. military. It authorizes a 14.5% pay increase for the lowest-ranking troops, and 4.5% for the rest of the force, higher than usual. It also authorizes the construction of military housing, schools and childcare centers. 

 

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck just off the coast of Vanuatu on Tuesday, causing widespread destruction in the South Pacific island nation as the injured began arriving at a hospital and unconfirmed reports of casualties emerged. A tsunami warning was called off less than two hours after the quake. With communications still down hours later and official information scarce, witness accounts of casualties began to surface on social media and through patchy phone calls. The earthquake happened at just before 1 p.m. at a depth of 57 kilometers (35 miles) and was centered 30 kilometers west of Port Vila, the largest city in Vanuatu — a group of 80 islands that is home to about 330,000 people. It was followed by a magnitude 5.5 aftershock near the same location, with tremors continuing throughout the afternoon and evening. It was not immediately clear how much damage was caused as phone lines and government websites remained down. 

 

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SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korean investigators probing President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration failed to gain entry to his office to seek evidence on Tuesday after presidential office security staff denied them entry, Yonhap news agency reported. Yoon was impeached on Saturday over his martial law decree and suspended from his presidential duties. Yonhap said that investigators looking for evidence about the legality of Yoon’s martial law decision waited for about seven hours to be let in, but the presidential office security service denied them entry. This would be the second time authorities have tried and failed to raid the presidential office over the declaration of martial law that was reversed within hours after a standoff with parliament. An attempt on Dec. 11 ended without entry, but the presidential office voluntarily submitted some data. 

 

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WASHINGTON (AP) — At a time of heightened political division, Americans’ confidence in their country’s judicial system and courts dropped to a record low of 35% this year, according to a new Gallup poll. The United States saw a sharp drop of 24 percentage points over the last four years, setting the country apart from other wealthy nations where most people on average still express trust in their systems. The results come after a tumultuous period that included the indictment of former President Donald Trump and the subsequent withdrawal of federal charges, and his attacks on the integrity of the judicial system. The drop wasn’t limited to one end of the political spectrum. Confidence dropped among people who disapproved of the country’s leadership during Joe Biden’s presidency and among those who approved, according to Gallup. The respondents weren’t asked about their party affiliations.  

 

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BERLIN (Reuters) -- Germany’s main political parties presented their competing plans on Tuesday for lifting Europe’s largest economy out of the doldrums as campaigning kicked off for a snap election on Feb. 23. The election, triggered after Social Democrat Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party coalition collapsed last month amid arguments over debt and then lost a parliamentary vote of confidence on Monday, comes at a testing time for Germany. Its economy is set to shrink for a second straight year, industrial giants like Volkswagen face an existential threat from foreign rivals and political attitudes are hardening towards migrants. Data from the Ifo institute also delivered a sharp reminder of Germany’s woes on Tuesday, showing that business morale worsened more than expected in December.