Former National Enquirer publisher says he helped Trump to suppress negative stories that threatened 2016 election campaign

The former tabloid publisher David Pecker will continue testimony at Donald Trumpas New York criminal trial on Thursday, following his testimony earlier in the week.

Pecker, the former chief executive of American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer, testified that he used his position to help Trump kill negative stories that threatened his campaign.

Along with 11 fake electors, seven allies of the ex-president including Mark Meadows and John Eastman were also charged

An Arizona grand jury has charged 18 people involved in the scheme to create a slate of false electors for Donald Trump, including 11 people who served as those fake electors and seven Trump allies who aided the scheme.

Kris Mayes, Arizonaas Democratic attorney general, announced the charges on Wednesday, and said the 11 fake electors had been charged with felonies for fraud, forgery and conspiracy.

Israel says the graves were dug by people in Gaza a few months ago but the corpses had been examined by IDF soldiers

Here are some of the scenes in Jerusalem, where people, including Israeli interior security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, have been worshipping during the Passover holiday.

Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah for Al Jazeera, states that two people have been killed there by drone strikes. He writes for the news network:

A surge in attack drones flying over Rafah has taken place over the past couple of hours. At least two people have been hit in what appear to be targeted killings a one in the western part of the city and the other in the east. They were killed when the drones fired missiles about half an hour apart. The tragedy keeps unfolding. The destruction is overwhelming. Everywhere you go, you see rubble-filled roads.

Federal prosecutors looking at relationship with Purdue Pharma and other drug manufacturers, and its role in US opioid crisis

McKinsey is under criminal investigation in the United States over allegations that the consulting firm played a key role in fueling the opioid epidemic, with federal prosecutors homing in on its work advising OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and other drugmakers, three people familiar with the matter said.

The consulting firm and the US justice department declined to comment.

Pedro SA!nchez halts public duties, hitting out at opponents after court launches inquiry into alleged corruption by BegoA+-a GA3mez

Spainas socialist prime minister has cancelled his public duties for the rest of the week and said he is considering resigning, blaming a aharassment and bullying operationa by his political and media opponents for a courtas decision to launch an investigation into his wife for alleged influence-peddling and corruption.

Pedro SA!nchez, who has led Spain since 2018, said the aseriousness of the attacksa he and his wife, BegoA+-a GA3mez, were experiencing had led him to re-evaluate his position, adding that he would reveal his decision on Monday.

Day-trippers will have to pay a!5 to visit Italian city under scheme designed to protect it from excess tourism

Authorities in Venice have been accused of transforming the famous lagoon city into a atheme parka as a long-mooted entrance fee for day trippers comes into force.

Venice is the first major city in the world to enact such a scheme. The a!5 (APS4.30) charge, which comes into force today, is aimed at protecting the Unesco world heritage site from the effects of excessive tourism by deterring day trippers and, according to the mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, making the city alivablea again.

Three Republicans join Democrats to support repeal of law first approved in 1864, with measure now heading to state senate

Lawmakers in the Arizona house have voted to repeal a controversial 1864 law banning nearly all abortions, amid mounting pressure on the stateas Republicans.

Three Republicans joined with all 29 Democrats on Wednesday to support the repeal of the law, which predates Arizonaas statehood and provides no exceptions for rape or incest.

Brazil, Germany, Spain and South Africa sign motion for fairer tax system to deliver APS250bn a year extra to fight poverty and climate crisis

• aWhy we need a global tax on billionairesa

The worldas 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2% tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise APS250bn a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested.

In a sign of growing international support for a levy on the super-rich, Brazil, Germany, South Africa and Spain say a 2% tax would reduce inequality and raise much-needed public funds after the economic shocks of the pandemic, the climate crisis and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

Alexander Lukashenko says Poland should not expect aggressive actions from Belarus but says battalions have been moved to west of country

Russia has vetoed a UN security council resolution calling on all nations to prevent a dangerous nuclear arms race in outer space, describing it as aa dirty spectaclea.

The resolution, sponsored by the United States and Japan, would have called on all countries not to develop or deploy nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in space, which are already banned under a 1967 international treaty.

Illnesses such as dengue and malaria to reach unaffected parts of northern Europe, America, Asia and Australia, conference to hear

Mosquito-borne diseases are spreading across the globe, and particularly in Europe, due to climate breakdown, an expert has said.

The insects spread illnesses such as malaria and dengue fever, the prevalences of which have hugely increased over the past 80 years as global heating has given them the warmer, more humid conditions they thrive in.

Wall Street Journal reporter, held since March 2023 on espionage allegations, to remain in Russian jail for at least two more months

The American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested over a year ago in Russia, will remain in jail for at least two more months after a Moscow court rejected his appeal against his detention.

Gershkovich, a 32-year-old reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been held in the Lefortovo prison on the outskirts of Moscow since March last year on allegations by the Russian authorities of espionage while on a reporting trip in the city of Ekaterinburg.

Exclusive: Hungaryas PM and EUas most isolated leader says he is pursuing afriendship with everybodya a particularly the former US president

Europeas most isolated leader was beaming.

Standing in a hallway in Brussels, Viktor OrbA!n, the Hungarian prime minister, spoke excitedly about the politician he hopes will change his political fortunes a Donald Trump.

As the country marks 50 years since the end of fascism, people celebrate the coupas legacy but say the fight must continue

At 4am on 25 April 1974, Filipe Villard Cortez got the signal. He barricaded the door of the Monte Real air base commanderas room and cut his phone line. A few hours earlier, Portugalas Carnation Revolution had begun.

Cortez was 21 at the time, a commissioned air force officer who wanted the democratisation of Portugal and the end of its colonial rule. In the weeks before the revolution, he had become involved in meetings with the Armed Forces Movement (MFA) a the group that instigated the military coup that toppled Portugalas authoritarian Estado Novo regime, ending its war to prevent independence in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique.

Denounced as giving a aveneer of legality to slaveholdinga and despite claims of reform, kafala laws persist, allowing bosses to abuse women, who vanish from society. This is their testimony, gathered over two years in a Guardian investigation

Condemned as dangerous and abusive, the kafala labour system not only disregards migrant workersa rights but depends on exploitation. But 10 years after Qatar was advised by the UN to abolish kafala (asponsorshipa) entirely and replace it with a regulated labour network, the system is thriving across Lebanon, Jordan and the Gulf states a with the regionas most vulnerable migrants hidden behind closed doors.

Over two years, the Guardian spoke to 50 women who are or were domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar or Jordan. Their testimony reveals a section of society operating under appalling conditions facilitated by the stateas employment apparatus.

Do you love reading a but all too often find yourself just scrolling through your phone or watching TV? Here is how to get lost in literature again

In the age of digital distractions, it is easy to struggle to find the time and headspace to get lost in literature. How can you get back into the habit? Librarians share the best ways to rediscover reading, make it a regular habit a and their tips for the most unputdownable books.

What broke me as a child was my motheras death from breast cancer. But around that shattering, I became a person a and learned how to parent my son

I try to remember her hands. They were younger than mine are now. I imagine her long fingers and yellow, uneven and unpolished fingernails. Or had her nails fallen out? I am eight, about to turn nine; she will be dead in two weeks. Today is Motheras Day and I am allowed to stay home alone with her while everyone else goes to church. I am to be her helper, so I carry a basket up from downstairs. I set it on her bed. She is sitting up.

I know this is meant to be our day, our time; it is the first and last time I will be alone with her in this house. But I donat want to be here. Within weeks, she has transformed from my mother into a ghost, a skeleton; no hair, scarves covering her head. I know I am supposed to want to be with her on this day, but how can I want that? To be with a dying woman, my disappearing mother, whom I resent. It is too much. aWhat are you doing?a, I want to scream. aWhat do you expect me to do now, here without you?a

The fortysomething turned her wildest fantasy a about running off with a boyband member for hot sex in fabulous locations a into a bestseller. As it hits the screen, Lee talks about writing steamy scenes in Starbucks a and her terror of being judged

Late one night, while her husband was away and her children were asleep, the writer Robinne Lee came across something that would change the course of her life. The US author, who now lives in Paris, found herself watching a particular boyband on YouTube a she refuses to name which a and felt attracted to one of them. When her husband came back from his business trip, she told him: aI found this perfect guy. Iam going to run off and follow him and his band around the world.a He laughed and said: aYouare crazy. But that would make a really good story.a

He was right. This really good story became Leeas debut novel, The Idea of You, which snowballed into a lockdown hit, attracting legions of obsessed fans around the world via word-of-mouth recommendations. Now, the story of SolA"ne Marchand, a sophisticated US divorcee on the cusp of 40, and Hayes Campbell, her 21-year-old British pop star boyfriend, has been turned into a film starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine.

Everton were set on closing down their rivals from the off and the tactics sapped the belief from the title challengers

It is little wonder JA1/4rgen Klopp is running out of energy when he is having to come up with a new lineup every few days. For the Merseyside derby defeat to Everton there were six changes to follow on from the half-dozen made for Sundayas win over Fulham. On this occasion, however, it did not work.

The latter weeks of the season are a tricky balance for any coach with so much at stake. Trying to maintain a rhythm and build momentum while keeping everyone fresh for crucial fixtures is an unenviable task. It cannot help a manager when hours before the match a starter withdraws but not even the riches of football can dictate when a mother-to-be enters labour.