Ukraine war recasts 'Navalny' as a prequel to Putin's aims

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of preparing to invade Russia and told soldiers they are fighting for the future of their 'motherland' in a Victory Day speech in the country's capital on Monday (9 May).

After getting some good jokes in, Trevor Noah got serious.

Vladimir Putin has lost his ninth general to the war in Ukraine along with 15,000 Russian troops killed over the course of the invasion, according to reports.

party like it's 2019, before the coronavirus, when the biggest risk at the annual White House press corps gala was more likely to be jokes that ruffled too many political feathers.After the pandemic nixed the event in 2020 and 2021, the White House Correspondents' Association dinner returns Saturday night, with Joe Biden as the first sitting president to attend in six years after Donald Trump shunned it while in office.Comedy is also back, with “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah as headliner. Celebrities are, too: Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are expected to turn up, and the Funny or Die comedy studio is co-sponsoring an after-party.

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney urged countries at the United Nations on Wednesday to focus on international justice for war crimes in Ukraine so evidence does not sit in storage – as it has done for victims of Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.

President Joe Biden still plans to attend this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner even after Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for Covid and health officials are warning that the most recent variant is especially contagious.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorElon Musk, who’s set to become Twitter’s sole owner, is prohibited from posting tweets that “disparage” the social network.But that didn’t stop Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the world’s richest person, from criticizing Twitter’s 2020 decision to freeze the account of the New York Post, after the paper published unverified stories about Hunter Biden.“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organization for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” Musk tweeted Tuesday evening.That was in reply to a post by Saagar Enjeti, political commentator and co-host of “Breaking Points,” which linked to a story by Politico describing how Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal, policy and trust, and safety — the exec who oversaw the company’s suspension of the New York Post — cried during a meeting with staffers discussing Musk’s takeover. In October 2020, Twitter blocked the New York Post’s account for 16 days over the newspaper’s series of disputed stories on Hunter Biden, in what became a flashpoint for Republicans charging Twitter with censorship of conservatives.

Russia has banned the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson and a list of other senior ministers from entering the country over what it describes as the UK’s “hostile” position regarding its war with Ukraine.

Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.In February 2021, Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the lawsuit, saying the case was governed by California law, which requires that a retraction be demanded in writing within 20 days of the publication of a story.CNN lawyers said in court papers that Nunes in a “rush to sue” overlooked the need to first request a retraction.Two 2nd Circuit judges agreed Thursday that California law governed Nunes' claims and that he “undisputedly failed to comply with that statute.” Circuit Judge Steven J. Menashi wrote in a dissent that California law should not be relied upon because Nunes didn't suffer the greatest reputational injury there.In court papers, lawyers for Nunes said CNN knew the statements made by Lev Parnas, and included in their report, were false.Parnas, an associate of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who served for a time as Trump's personal lawyer, was convicted last fall in Manhattan federal court on charges alleging he made illegal contributions to politicians he thought could aid his political and business interests.He awaits sentencing for that conviction and for a guilty plea several weeks ago to a charge alleging he conspired to defraud investors in a purported fraud-busting company.Parnas and another co-defendant worked with Giuliani to try to get Ukrainian officials to investigate Biden’s son, prosecutors said.

For the second time in roughly as many weeks, President Joe Biden called Russia’s Vladimir Putin “a war criminal” on Tuesday.

Rachel Maddow plans to return from her MSNBC hiatus on April 11.