By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at former U.S. President Donald Trump’s guilty verdict, the repercussions of Hong Kong’s national security law, early election results in South Africa, and China calling for Palestinian statehood.
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Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 30.Seth Wenig/Getty Images
A New York City court found former U.S. President Donald Trump guilty on Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The payments, disguised as legal fees to lawyer Michael Cohen and totaling $130,000, were made to conceal actions that Trump believed could have hurt his chances in the 2016 presidential election. Trump is the first U.S. president—former or current—to be convicted on criminal charges.
“This was a disgrace,” Trump said upon leaving the courthouse. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.” Trump repeatedly violated a gag order barring him from speaking publicly about the trial during the case, with Justice Juan Merchan eventually finding him in contempt of court and fining Trump $10,000 for 10 such remarks.
Merchan announced that Trump can remain at liberty without bail. His sentencing is scheduled for July 11, in which the former president could face years in prison or another form of private incarceration, house arrest, or probation. July 11 is just four days before the Republican National Convention is set to begin, at which Trump will likely receive the party’s presidential nomination. Constitutional experts say a conviction does not disqualify Trump from running for reelection in November.
Trump’s legal team is expected to appeal the guilty verdicts, which could postpone Trump fulfilling his sentence, potentially even until after Election Day passes.
Trump is also facing three other criminal cases. In federal court, he stands accused of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including his support of Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, and the mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office. He is also facing a state case accusing him of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, in which he lost by a slim margin.
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Efforts to silence dissent. A Hong Kong court found 14 pro-democracy activists guilty of subversion on Thursday in the city’s biggest trial against the democratic opposition to date. The ruling comes more than three years after police arrested dozens of people for allegedly violating a China-imposed national security law by holding an unofficial primary aimed at securing a majority in the legislature in the coming election.
Of those arrested in January 2021, 47 people were ultimately charged; 31 pleaded guilty before the trial, and two were acquitted on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Justice Department said it intends to appeal the verdicts on the two acquittals. The 14 activists found guilty this week as well as those who already pleaded guilty could face prison terms from three years to a life sentence.
Mass pro-democracy protests erupted across Hong Kong in 2019 against Chinese-proposed legislation that some argued would infringe on the freedoms that Beijing promised to retain when it took control of the city in 1997. Within a year, China imposed a national security law that led to harsh crackdowns against political dissidents and closed liberal media outlets and nongovernmental organizations. In March, Hong Kong’s legislature unanimously passed a new national security law, known as Article 23, that further represses civil liberties.
ANC setbacks. Initial election results in South Africa indicated on Thursday that the long-ruling African National Congress (ANC) party will likely lose its outright majority in the National Assembly for the first time in 30 years. The country’s general election on Wednesday proved to be South Africa’s most competitive vote since the end of apartheid in 1994. Final results are expected on Sunday.
Early numbers show the ANC leading with 42 percent, followed by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party at nearly 25 percent and both former President Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party at around 9 percent. If the ANC does not achieve a simple majority, then it will need to form a coalition government to reinstate President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second and final five-year term. Some analysts suggest that the ANC may turn to the EFF and MK to do so, since the DA touts vastly different policies, but this may prove difficult considering the EFF and MK are both led by former ANC figures who broke away from the ruling party.
Bolstering regional stability. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye visited Mali on Thursday to strengthen diplomatic ties with the coup-riddled country. From there, he traveled to Burkina Faso, which was hit with two military coups in 2022; both Burkina Faso and Mali, along with Niger, left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) this year. Faye took office in April and has already marked 10 state visits across Africa.
Visiting Mali and Burkina Faso “speaks volumes about the importance of strengthening Pan-Africanism and reinvigorating subregional integration in his diplomatic priorities,” a Senegalese government official said. Faye has indicated that he wants to bring Mali and Burkina Faso back into the ECOWAS fold.
On Wednesday, leaders from 30 African states gathered in Cameroon to discuss political instability in Africa’s former French colonies, including the coups in West Africa. The committee cited poverty, extremism, and threats to democracy as causes for the region’s security issues.
Palestinian statehood. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the creation of a Palestinian state and pledged $69 million in humanitarian aid for Gaza during a summit with Arab nations in Beijing on Thursday. He also proposed an international peace conference to seek an end to the Israel-Hamas war. China has sought to deepen its ties with the Middle East in recent years to contest U.S. influence in the region.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces said Wednesday that they had seized “operational” control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a roughly 8-mile buffer zone along the Egypt-Gaza border. This gives Israel’s military effective authority over the Gaza Strip’s entire land border. “The Philadelphi Corridor served as an oxygen line for Hamas, which it regularly used to smuggle weapons into the area of the Gaza Strip,” Israeli government spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
But opposition within Israel over its handling of the war remains. On Thursday, Israel’s National Unity party, led by war cabinet minister Benny Gantz, proposed a bill to dissolve the Knesset and trigger new elections in the fall. Gantz has previously threatened to resign if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not adopt a postwar plan for Gaza soon.
South Korea just took lazy weekends to a whole new level. On Sunday, more than 100 people gathered in a park in Seoul for a hyper-competitive—but not hyperactive—competition to see who could best “space out.” Spectators voted on their favorite sitters, and of the top 10 people chosen, whoever had the most stable heart rate during the 90-minute period won. Sleeping, though, led to automatic disqualification. This year, freelance announcer Kwon So-a took home the trophy.
Correction: Yesterday’s edition of World Brief misstated who founded the African National Congress.
