From right, Norway’s foreign minister Espen Barth Eide, Spain’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno and Ireland’s foreign minister Micheal Martin pose for a photo, at the end of a media conference, during talks on the Middle East, in Brussels, Monday, 27 May 2024. AP
It’s going to be an important day as Spain, Ireland and non-EU member Norway will officially recognise the Palestinian state.
Testimony is over at Donald Trump’s hush money trial in New York and it now shifts to closing arguments.
PM Modi will hold a public meeting in Kolkata and Amit Shah will address three rallies in Odisha.
Pakistan’s ruling PML-N party will appoint three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as its President, and Egypt’s President and leaders of the United Arab Emirates will visit China today.
Here’s a quick look at big headlines expected today.
Ireland, Spain and Norway to recognise Palestinian statehood
Spain, Ireland and non-EU member Norway will officially recognise the Palestinian state on Tuesday.
The three countries’ joint announcement last week triggered an angry response from Israeli authorities, which summoned the countries’ ambassadors in Tel Aviv to the Israeli foreign ministry, where they were filmed while being shown videos of the 7 October Hamas attack and kidnapping.
Relations between the European Union and Israel also took a nosedive on the eve of the diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state by the EU members, with Madrid suggesting sanctions should be considered against Israel for its continued attacks in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, a Spaniard, threw his full weight to support the International Criminal Court, whose prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others, including the leaders of Hamas.
Closing arguments in Donald Trump’s hush money trial
After 22 witnesses, including a porn actor, tabloid publisher and White House insiders, testimony is over at Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
Prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defence called just two.
Trump decided not to testify on his own behalf.
The hush money trial now shifts to closing arguments, scheduled for today.
After this, it will be up to 12 jurors to decide whether prosecutors have proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the former US president falsified his company’s business records as part of a broader effort to keep stories about marital infidelity from becoming public during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.
PM Modi to hold rally in Kolkata
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to hold a public meeting in West Bengal’s Baruipur and visit Sarada Maa’s house in Bagbazar in the evening today.
According to The Statesman, the Indian leader will hold three political meetings and a roadshow on 28-29 May.
Today, he will hold a political meeting in North 24-Parganas.
His possible visit to Bagbazar Sarada Maa’s is being considered as a political one especially after thousands of monks and devotees on Friday descended on the streets of Kolkata to protests against the remarks by CM Mamata Banerjee directed at certain religious orders.
Nawaz Sharif set to be made President of ruling PML-N party
Pakistan’s ruling PML-N party will appoint three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif as its President on Tuesday.
Shehbaz Sharif, had earlier resigned from the same post citing the “unjust” disqualification of the party supremo and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif from the PM Office stressing that it was time for the latter to “resume his rightful place as the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party.”
Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other Arab leaders’ visit to China
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as well as leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tunisia will visit China today.
The leaders will from May 28 to June 1 “pay state visits to China and attend the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in a statement.
The meeting with Arab leaders in Beijing comes as China seeks to position itself as a mediator in the conflict between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel.
Microsoft to answer EU questions on Generative AI
Microsoft last week was urged to provide more information about the generative AI features of its search engine Bing by 27 May.
The deadline ended on Monday.
Failing to provide the Commission with an answer could result in a fine up to one per cent of the company’s total annual income or worldwide turnover and periodic penalties up to five per cent of the provider’s average daily income or worldwide annual turnover.
For those uninitiated, the EU executive suspects that Bing may have breached the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) with it’s generative AI tools such as so-called “hallucinations,” the viral dissemination of deepfakes, and the automated manipulation of services that can mislead voters, the Commission statement said.
Amit Shah’s rallies in Odisha
Union home minister Amit Shah will address three rallies in Odisha’s Chandbali, Korei, and Nimapada on Tuesday.
A day after his visit, PM Modi will visit Odisha and address three public meetings in Baripada, Balasore and Kendrapara.
Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav likely to hold a roadshow in Varanasi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav are expected to hold a roadsow in Varanasi today.
This comes just a few days after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and SP MP Dimple Yadav’s joint roadshow in support of the INDIA bloc candidate Ajay Rai in Varanasi on 25 May.
Delhi court hearing over chargesheet filed against Kejriwal and his party
The Delhi court will review the supplementary chargesheet filed against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today.
The AAP supremo was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 21 March concerning the alleged scam in the Delhi Excise policy. Later, he was sent to judicial custody and lodged in Tihar Jail.
He is currently out on interim bail, which ends on 1 June and he is directed to surrender on 2 June.
Kejriwal on 27 May sought an extension of his interim bail by seven days.
Karnataka BJP to stage protest against ’neglect’ of Bengaluru
State BJP president BY Vijayendra had earlier said that the party will stage a large-scale protest on 28 May to condemn the disorderliness and chaos in Bengaluru.
“The road in the city are all blocked, and vehicular movement comes to a standstill following two days of rain. There are people in Bengaluru who pay the highest taxes. Ever since the new government took over not a single rupee has been granted for the development of Bengaluru,” he said, expressing frustration over the city’s infrastructure.
A day to remember
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Anniversary of Amnesty International
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Birth anniversary of actor and former CM of AP NT Rama Rao
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Birth anniversary of politician and Independence activist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
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Birth anniversary of singer Kylie Minogue
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Birth anniversary of poet K Satchidanandan
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Two monkeys became the first living creatures to survive a space flight in 1959
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Volkswagen (VW), the German automobile manufacturer was founded in 1937
- The Mars Odyssey finds signs of large ice deposits on the planet Mars in 2002
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