Lafayette

Manafort guilty: Courtroom win bolsters special counsel's credibility

Paul Manafort’s conviction on tax evasion and bank fraud charges clears the way for special counsel Robert Mueller to exert even more pressure on the former Trump campaign chairman to cooperate in his investigation of alleged Russian meddling and collusion in the 2016 presidential election. The verdict, announced in federal court in Alexandria, Va., came within the same hour that President Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, entered a guilty plea for eight charges in federal court in New York. In the Manafort case, the jury of six women and six men found the long-time political consultant guilty of eight of the 18 federal charges in his indictment.

GOP moderates sit down with Kavanaugh as they prepare for critical vote

In recent weeks, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) of Alaska has felt like she’s back in law school – reading the opinions of Judge Brett Kavanaugh as she prepares for her interview with the US Supreme Court nominee on Thursday. “I’ve done more with this nominee than I have with any of the others,” Senator Murkowski told the Monitor. All senators are equal, but in this closely divided Senate, those seen as swing votes are more powerful than their colleagues.

Gaza steps back from brink as UN works for stronger Israel-Hamas deal

After four months of mortar fire, brush fires, and fears of a wider war between Israel and Hamas, a fragile cease-fire has been taking hold along the Gaza-Israel frontier over the last few days. With her ears still ringing from rocket sirens, Yael Lachyani, a spokeswoman for Kibbutz Nahal Oz, says she is still on edge and can’t be sure the fighting is over. Months of violent demonstrations and incendiary kite launches have eased, rocket fire has gone silent, and Israel has mostly reopened commercial crossings in Gaza that were shuttered in retaliation.

Greece’s day of redemption

On Tuesday, Mr. Tsipras traveled to the island of Ithaca, the mythological home of Odysseus, and marked the end of his country’s eight-year “odyssey” of international bailouts. The financial rescue of Greece from a severe debt crisis was the largest of any sovereign nation in history ($330 billion). Tsipras also called it “the dawning of a new era,” one that he says will require further reforms aimed at changing Greek culture and behavior, such as better tax compliance and the end of a patronage system for government jobs.