1950s – Performs in a “subway circuit” production of “Oklahoma!”
May 28, 1953 – Makes Broadway debut in “Me and Juliet” as a member of the chorus.
1954 – As the understudy for star Carol Haney in “The Pajama Game” on Broadway, MacLaine gets her big break after the lead actress hurts her ankle. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis is impressed by MacLaine’s performance and offers her a film contract.
1955 – Makes her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry.” Also co-stars with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in “Artists and Models.”
1955-1971 – Stars in close to 25 movies, including “Some Came Running” in 1958, “The Apartment” in 1960, “Irma La Douce” in 1963, and “Sweet Charity” in 1969.
1960s – Supports Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, protests the Vietnam War and advocates for civil rights.
January 1, 1970 – MacLaine’s memoir, “Don’t Fall Off the Mountain,” is published. It’s the first of 15 books penned by the actress.
1971-1972 – Helps Democrat George McGovern campaign for president.
1973 – Spends three weeks in China leading an all-female delegation on a tour sanctioned by the Communist government. She makes an Oscar-nominated 1975 documentary about the trip, “The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir.”
September 11, 1977 – Wins a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Comedy, Variety or Music, for her role in “Gypsy in my Soul.”
1978 – Visits Fidel Castro at the Presidential palace in Havana while on a trip to Cuba. After telling him that she liked his uniform, he gives her a replica of one of his uniforms, according to MacLaine’s memoir, “My Lucky Stars.”
1984 – Wins the Oscar for Best Actress for her role as Aurora Greenway in “Terms of Endearment.”
1994 – Walks nearly 500 miles across Spain on a spiritual pilgrimage called El Camino de Santiago. During her month-long solo journey, MacLaine sleeps in shelters and begs for food. She chronicles the trek in her book, “The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit.”
2011 – Receives France’s most prestigious award for the arts, the Legion of Honor.
2012-2013 – Portrays a fashionable New Yorker on the hit show, “Downton Abbey.”
December 8, 2013 – Receives the Kennedy Center Honors for her achievements in the performing arts.
Here’s a look at the 1992 riots in Los Angeles. The riots stemmed from the acquittal of four white Los Angeles Police Department officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King in 1991.
The rioting destroyed or damaged over 1,000 buildings in the Los Angeles area. The estimated cost of the damages was over $1 billion.
More than 9,800 California National Guard troops were dispatched to restore order.
Nearly 12,000 people were arrested, though not all the arrests were directly related to the rioting.
March 3, 1991 – Rodney King is beaten by LAPD officers after King leads police on a high-speed chase through Los Angeles County. George Holliday videotapes the beating from his apartment balcony. The video shows King being struck by police batons more than 50 times. Over 20 officers were present at the scene, most from the LAPD. King suffered 11 fractures and other injuries due to the beating.
March 4, 1991 – Holliday delivers the tape to local television station KTLA.
March 7, 1991 – King is released without being charged.
March 15, 1991 –Sergeant Stacey Koon and officers Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno are indicted by a Los Angeles grand jury in connection with the beating.
May 10, 1991 – A grand jury refuses to indict 17 officers who stood by at the King beating and did nothing.
November 26, 1991 – Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg orders the trial of the four officers charged in the King beating moved to Simi Valley.
April 29, 1992 – The four white LAPD officers are acquitted of beating King. Riots start at the intersection of Florence and Normandie in South Central Los Angeles. Reginald Denny, a white truck driver, is pulled from his truck and beaten. A news helicopter captures the beating on videotape. Mayor Tom Bradley declares a state of emergency, and Governor Pete Wilson calls in National Guard troops.
April 30-May 4, 1992 – Dusk to dawn curfews are enforced in the city and county of Los Angeles.
May 1, 1992 – King makes an emotional plea for calm, stating, “People, I just want to say, can we all get along? Can we get along? Can we stop making it horrible for the older people and the kids?”
May 3, 1992 – Over 1,100 Marines, 600 Army soldiers, and 6,500 National Guard troops patrol the streets of Los Angeles.
August 4, 1992 – A federal grand jury returns indictments against Koon, Powell, Wind and Briseno on the charge of violating the civil rights of King.
October 21, 1992 – A commission headed by former FBI and CIA Director William Webster concludes that the LAPD and City Hall leaders did not plan appropriately for the possibility of riots prior to the verdicts in the King case.
February 25, 1993 – The trial begins.
April 17, 1993 – The federal jury convicts Koon and Powell of violating King’s civil rights. Wind and Briseno are found not guilty. No disturbances follow the verdict.
August 4, 1993 – US District Court Judge John Davies sentences both Sergeant Koon and Officer Powell to 30 months in prison for violating King’s civil rights. Powell is found guilty of violating King’s constitutional right to be free from an arrest made with “unreasonable force.” Ranking officer Koon is convicted of permitting the civil rights violation to occur.
April 19, 1994 – The US District Court in Los Angeles awards King $3.8 million in compensatory damages in a civil lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles. King had demanded $56 million, or $1 million for every blow struck by the officers.
June 1, 1994 – King is awarded $0 in punitive damages in a civil trial against the police officers. He had asked for $15 million.
April 2012 – King’s autobiography, “The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption. Learning How We Can All Get Along,” written with Lawrence J. Spagnola, is published.
People run with their belongings following a strike in Nuseirat on Friday. CNN
Israeli forces surrounded and attacked the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Friday, wounding several journalists and at least one other person.
Turkish state broadcaster TRT accused Israeli tanks of launching a “targeted attack” on the journalists, including TRT Arabi cameraman Sami Shehada, who lost a leg, and correspondent Sami Barhoum, who suffered minor injuries. CNN stringer Mohammad Al-Sawalhi was also among those hurt.
The TRT statement called the assault “a deliberate attack against media professionals, marked clearly with ‘PRESS’ on their jackets” and said it was “part of a broader pattern of violence” against journalists in Gaza. As of Friday, at least 95 media workers have been killed covering the war, according to preliminary figures from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CNN video shows Shehada’s right leg was severed.
“We were filming in a safe place, I was wearing my flak jacket and my helmet — even the car I was in had a ‘PRESS’ and ‘TV’ sign marked on it. It was clear that I was a civilian and a journalist. We were targeted,” he told CNN from his operating bed.
“It will not stop me from working, even if I have to walk on crutches. I will show the whole world the crimes of the Israeli occupation against civilians, people and journalists. I am one of them and I will not leave my camera even if I die,” he told Al-Sawalhi.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the attack and allegations that journalists were targeted at the camp.
Video from the scene: Footage filmed by Al-Sawalhi shows people — including children, women and the elderly — taking cover in shops and running away in panic as repeated artillery fire and gunshots can be heard in the near distance.
CNN spoke to an elderly man named Saleh, who said he was trying to flee the area after Israeli tanks surrounded the camp and that he’d been hit by shrapnel.
Moments later, Saleh could be seen crossing the street when intense artillery fire struck the road a few meters from where Al-Sawalhi was filming. The journalist was hit by shrapnel, slightly injuring his right hand.
Graphic footage of the aftermath shows the elderly man severely wounded, with a bloody head injury. Saleh, Al-Sawalhi, and a number of other journalists were taken to Al-Awda Hospital for treatment, CNN footage shows.
Recent attacks: Nuseirat camp, located north of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, has been the target of several Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including one that killed 14 people Tuesday, according to the spokesperson for Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Children: with Brigitte Guillemette: Camille; with Helene Dumas: Vanessa, Marine and Laurin
Education: HEC Paris (École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris), Public Law, 1971; Paris Institute of Political Studies (Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris), Political Science, 1972; University of Paris, Ph.D., Economics, 1977
His 2010 IMF salary was tax free, amounting to more than $500,000 with perks.
Taught economics at the prestigious Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, commonly known as Sciences Po, and at Stanford University in California.
Was considered to be the leading contender to run against Nicolas Sarkozy for the 2012 presidency of France.
1981-1986 – Deputy Commissioner of the Economic Planning Agency.
1986 – Wins election to France’s National Assembly – the lower house of parliament.
1988-1991 – Chairs the Finance Commission.
1991- 1993 – Minister of Industry and International Trade under President Francois Mitterrand.
1997-1999 – Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry. Resigns amid allegations that as a practicing lawyer he was involved in party campaign funding irregularities. Strauss-Kahn is later cleared of the charges.
2001-2007 – Elected three times to the French National Assembly.
2006 – Loses to Segolene Royal for the Socialist Party’s presidential nomination.
November 1, 2007-May 18, 2011 – IMF Managing Director.
2008– Is reprimanded by the IMF for a relationship with a subordinate, Piroska Nagy.
May 14, 2011 – Is escorted off an Air France flight headed to Paris and taken to a New York police station for questioning about the alleged sexual assault of a Sofitel Hotel housekeeping employee. The hotel employee says that Strauss-Kahn attempted to force himself on her when she came to clean his room. By the time police officers arrived, Strauss-Kahn had already left the Manhattan hotel.
May 14, 2011 – Is charged with attempted rape and imprisonment of the hotel employee.
May 16, 2011– Is denied bail and transferred to New York’s Rikers Island jail.
May 18, 2011– Resigns his position with IMF. His 2007 contract includes a severance package with a $250,000 one-time payout and a smaller annual pension.
May 19, 2011– Is indicted on seven counts: two counts of a criminal sexual act, two counts of sexual abuse, and one count each of attempt to commit rape, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
May 19, 2011 – Is granted bail based on these conditions: home confinement, the surrender of his travel documents, and the posting of $1 million in cash bail and a $5 million bond.
June 6, 2011 – Pleads not guilty to all seven charges.
July 1, 2011 – Is released from house arrest after prosecutors disclose that the accuser admitted to lying about certain details.
July 4, 2011 – French journalist Tristane Banon’s lawyer says that Banon will be filing a complaint claiming Strauss-Kahn attempted to rape her in 2003. In anticipation of the filing, Strauss-Kahn files a counterclaim against Banon for “false declarations.”
July 5, 2011 – Banon files a criminal complaint against Strauss-Kahn, alleging attempted rape.
August 8, 2011 – Nafissatou Diallo, the Manhattan maid who accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, files a civil lawsuit against him.
September 3, 2011– Leaves New York to return to France.
September 18, 2011 – In an interview with French television station TF1, Strauss-Kahn says the incident at the Sofitel Hotel was “not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that – an error, a mistake, a mistake concerning my wife, my children, my friends, but also a mistake that the French people placed their hope in change on me.”
October 13, 2011 – French prosecutors announce that charges will not be filed against Strauss-Kahn for the alleged sexual assault of Banon due to a lack of sufficient evidence and a statute of limitations that applies to the case.
February 21-22, 2012 – Is questioned by French police about an alleged prostitution ring possibly operated out of luxury hotels.
March 26, 2012 – Strauss-Kahn is warned that he is under investigation for “aggravated pimping” for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring.
May 14, 2012 – Files a countersuit for at least $1 million against Diallo, the Manhattan maid who accused him of sexual assault.
May 21, 2012 – A French investigation into Strauss-Kahn’s alleged involvement in a prostitution ring widens. Authorities say that police will open a preliminary inquiry into acts that allegedly took place in Washington, DC, in December 2010, which they believe could constitute gang rape.
October 2, 2012 – A French prosecutor drops the investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington, DC. The testimony on which the investigation is based has been withdrawn and the woman is declining to press charges.
July 26, 2013 – Prosecutors announce that Strauss-Kahn will be tried on charges of “aggravated pimping” for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring.
September 17, 2013–It is announced that Strauss-Kahn has been appointed as an economic adviser to the Serbian government.
February 2, 2015 – The trial concerning “aggravated pimping” charges against Strauss-Kahn begins.
February 2016 – Is named to the supervisory board of Ukrainian bank Credit Dnepr.
June 2016 – Strauss-Kahn and seven others are fined in civil court after the anti-prostitution group Mouvement du Nid appeals the June 2015 acquittal. Strauss-Kahn is ordered to pay more than $11,000 in damages to the group.
December 7, 2020 – Netflix releases “Room 2806: The Accusation,” a documentary series covering the 2011 sexual assault case involving Strauss-Kahn and Diallo.
December 15, 2022 – Le Monde reports that French authorities are investigating Strauss-Kahn for potential tax fraud related to his consulting activities in Morocco. Strauss-Kahn was one of dozens whose financial secrets and offshore dealings were released in the “Pandora Papers” by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in 2021.
You’d be hard-pushed to call golf an extreme sport. It is a low-risk game played at a leisurely pace in mostly scenic, but ultimately ordinary, locales.
Emphasis on most, because in various pockets around the world – and in one instance, outside it – golf is taken to extremes.
Across these venues, the familiar rules of course design have been shredded; dress codes are exclusively nude, tee boxes require a helicopter journey to access, fairways sit on the rims of active volcanic craters, and water hazards are home to sharks and alligators.
“The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top,” celebrated golf course designer Pete Dye once said. The following courses are a love-letter to that ethos.
Kantarat Golf Course, Bangkok, Thailand
Generally, golfers like it to be quiet when they swing. At professional events, stewards will hold up signs to instruct nearby spectators to be silent.
Unsurprising then, that no Tour events are hosted at Kantarat Golf Course in Bangkok, where players must periodically tune out the deafening roar of passenger airplanes touching down and taking off either side of them.
Situated between the two runways at Don Mueang International – Asia’s oldest active airport – the 18-hole, par-72 course was was built by the Royal Thai Air Force in 1952. It was the first golf course established in the Thai capital, and the second ever built in the country after Hua Hin Royal Golf Course.
A weekday round for visitors costs 300 Baht, according to the course’s website, a very reasonable $8.62 for those willing to weather the overhead distractions. Air Force personnel can play at the discounted price of 100 Baht – around $2.87.
Camp Bonifas Golf Course, South Korea
Described by Sports Illustrated in 1988 as “the most dangerous golf course in the world,” the course at Camp Bonifas – situated 200 yards south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides North and South Korea – is not a course at all: it is a single, 192-yard, par three hole.
US and South Korean service members stationed at the military post are welcomed to wind down with a venture down a fairway like no other – one bordered with barbed wire and military trenches, and ending with a green made of artificial turf.
At most golf courses, the signs to introduce each hole tend to just show the number and its yardage. Camp Bonifas’ sign follows the same formula, before adding a warning: “Danger! Do not retrieve balls from the rough. Live mine fields.”
A tongue-in-cheek joke? Not according to a 1998 Washington Post article, which said that at least one wayward ball had detonated a land mine.
Legend Golf and Safari Resort, Limpopo Province, South Africa
For 18 holes of South Africa’s Legend Golf course, each designed by a different pro golfer, players enjoy a visually stunning experience. At most venues, it would then be time to retire to the clubhouse. Here though, a helicopter awaits to escort you to what the course claims is the world’s longest par-three hole.
“The Extreme 19th” tee box sits 4,500 feet above sea level on the lip of a sheer cliff face on Hanglip Mountain, some 400 meters (434 yards) above, and 361 meters (395 yards) away from, a green shaped like the African continent. With most drives airborne for over half a minute, cameras and tracking technology are used to spot balls.
It is a challenge that has attracted some of the world’s top golfers and biggest celebrities, with actor Morgan Freeman one of an elite group to record par on the hole, according to South Africa’s official tourism site.
Former Barbados cricketer Franklyn Stephenson made history as the first to make birdie, but spare a thought for musician Phil Collins, who could only manage a double-bogey.
Fins and pins
Carbrook Golf Club, Queensland, Australia
Finding the water with your ball during your round could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. At Carbrook Golf Club in Australia, jaws might just snatch your ball.
Long believed to be a local legend, rumors of bull sharks in the water hazards at the Queensland-based course were proven to be true in 2011 when general manager Scott Wagstaff uploaded YouTube footage of a finned local circling just off the greens.
The arrival of the bull sharks – considered by many scientists to be the most aggressive shark species – is the result of heavy flooding during the mid-1990’s, Wagstaff told Golfing World in 2012. According to Wagstaff, the sharks entered the course’s lake after the nearby Logan River overflowed, and have remained there ever since.
Today, they have become a part of the course’s identity. The club’s logo features a shark, its youth program is coined the Junior Shark Academy, and the “Shark Lake Challenge” is staged as a monthly tournament.
Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia
Staging an annual golf tournament on the world’s deepest lake sounds like a recipe for lost balls, but organizers in Siberia have found an unlikely golfing ally: ice.
Every March, Lake Baikal stages the “Baikal Prize Open,” where contestants don coats and gloves to play golf on the water’s frozen surface. Balls are exclusively bright colors – red, orange, or yellow – to ensure they can be spotted amid the endless floor of snow and ice, and holes are made bigger.
In 2020, the lake hosted the World Ice Golf Championship, a tournament long held at Uummannaq in Greenland.
Fra Mauro formation, the moon
Granted, there is no official golf course on the moon, but as far as extreme golfing goes, Alan Shepard’s legendary exploits in February 1971 were out of this world.
Having snuck a modified club in his suit, the Apollo 14 astronaut hit arguably the most famous two shots in the history of the sport, and the only ones ever made on the lunar surface. He might have scuffed the first, and the second may only have traveled 40 yards – not the “miles and miles and miles” he initially claimed – but Shepard’s feats have long since resonated as one of the most iconic, human moments of NASA’s space missions.
Unaffected by wind or erosion, the balls remain frozen in time, unmoved for half a century. With the launch of Artemis I last month, humankind’s long-awaited return to the lunar surface edges closer, but the universe’s most exclusive golf club looks set to stay restricted for a while yet.
“Maybe one day we’ll have colonies on the moon and it’s like Stonehenge – we don’t want to be messing around in the Apollo landing sites,” NASA’s chief historian Brian Odom told CNN.
“I think they (the balls) are where they need to stay and we need to make sure they’re preserved as they were.”
The incredible true story of the time an astronaut played golf on the moon
Volcano Golf Course, Hawaii, USA
“Kīlauea ranks among the world’s most active volcanoes and may even top the list,” reads a US Geological Survey report. Sounds like a good site for a golf course.
Situated close to the crater rim of the island of Hawaii’s southeastern-most volcano, Volcano Golf Course brings a new meaning to “playing with fire.” Set 4,000 feet above sea level, the course offers golfers breathtaking views of Mauna Loa – the world’s largest active volcano – to the west and Mauna Kea to the north.
That proximity provided players with a front-row seat to the eruption of both Kilauea and Mauna Loa earlier this month. The eruption of Kilauea in 2018 caused devastating damage to hundreds of surrounding homes, but lava from an ongoing eruption that began in 2021 has been confined to the summit crater.
Kiawah Island Golf Resort, South Carolina, USA
As if taking on one of golf’s most notoriously difficult courses wasn’t daunting enough, players at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course must share the fairways with a crowd of sharp-toothed residents.
Host of the 1991 Ryder Cup and 2012 PGA Championship, the course welcomes an array of wildlife – including turtles, dolphins, and bobcats – but alligators typically steal the show. Be it swimming in the water hazards or basking in the South Carolina sunshine, the reptiles are naturally shy of people and require little management, resort official Bryan Hunter told CNN.
“Really, there’s not much to manage as long as people respect the alligators and don’t feed or harass them,” Hunter said, adding that anyone caught aggravating them is hit with a $2,000 fine.
“Feeding them is equally bad as they soon learn to associate people with food, which is not a good combination, obviously. So, really the key is to observe and appreciate them from a distance.
“They’re truly remarkable creatures, and play a vital role in the ecology of the island.”
Nullarbor Links, Australia
One hole down, just 17 more and 863 miles to go. At Nullarbor Links in Australia, the world’s longest golf course brings a new whole meaning to “the long game.”
Starting at Ceduna in the country’s west, players stop off at holes spread across nearby towns and roadhouses along the Eyre Highway before finishing up their round – often days later – in the western city of Kalgoorlie.
Taking on the challenge has become a bucket list item for golfers around the world. Each year the Nullarbor Links stages its “Chasing the Sun” tournament, traversing the entirety of the course.
La Jenny, Le Porge, France
A course in France has adopted a unique approach to the notorious problem of golf’s dress code: no dress at all.
Situated near Bordeaux in the country’s southwest, the La Jenny naturist holiday resort lays claim to the world’s only naturist golf course. Weather permitting, nudity is compulsory at the six-hole course.
As well as hosting tournaments and Pro-Am competitions, the course also offers visitors a driving range and golfing lessons, taught by a member of the PGA France, according to the resort’s website.
The World Central Kitchen (WCK) said one of its aid workers was seriously injured minutes before the deadly strikes on a WCK convoy that killed seven aid workers on April 1.
The Palestinian WCK staff member — named only as Amro by the organization — was “gravely injured” in a reported airstrike at the al-Bashir Mosque in Deir al-Balah, WCK said Wednesday. The strike occurred a mere 15 minutes before the aid convoy was first hit, according to the organization.
CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on this claim by the WCK.
The aid worker suffered “serious head and hand injuries while he was off duty in a home close to the mosque in the area surrounding our warehouse and newly established kitchen in Deir al-Balah,” WCK said.
After being pulled from the rubble, he was taken to the same hospital where those killed in the deadly strike on the WCK convoy were brought, WCK said.
“After spending some time in a coma, Amro was airlifted to another hospital where he is recovering, receiving treatment, and getting stronger every day,” WCK added.
Both airstrikes occurred within miles of each other and were “flagrant reminders of the harrowing conditions humanitarian aid workers and Palestinian families continue to face every minute of every day,” the NGO said.
The aid organization said more than 400 Palestinians are employed by WCK, with thousands working as volunteers.
The aid worker injured in the April 1 strike owned a sweet shop until it was destroyed early in the war. Despite several opportunities to leave Gaza for Egypt, he chose to continue working for the organization, WCK said.
Democratic Senators are split on whether to apply new conditions on aid to Israel.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who supports conditions, warned the Biden administration’s policy needs to change in order to boost Democratic support for President Joe Biden in November. “I think the president simply needs to do what is the right policy, and that will send a message to people around the country that he is taking the right course. So in my view, this is a case where the right policies will produce the right politics.”
“He needs to use all the levers of US policy available to him. That includes many options, but one of them is withholding, at least for now, offensive military systems – not to prevent offensive military assistance from being sent at some point, but, again, to make sure the president can enforce his own words,” he said.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin, who does not support conditions, said he believes the conditions will not help them accomplish their most immediate goal: getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. “We need to get the humanitarian assistance in, and I hope we can see some progress on it,” he said. “I don’t think conditionalities are the way to go.”
Sen. Mark Kelly, who has not committed to conditions but left the door open, said, “I think it’s fair, at some point, if we don’t see positive change, to make decisions on what kind of aid we’re providing, and what they could use it for it.”
He criticized Israel after World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed by Israeli strikes last week. “This is reckless action by the IDF. And the IDF’s gotta do a better job at this,” Kelly said. “I want to see how they’re going to make changes to this. They’ve got to make changes.”
Birth place: Novo Mesto, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Birth name: Melanija Knavs
Father: Viktor Knavs
Mother: Amalija (Ulcnik) Knavs
Marriage: Donald Trump (January 22, 2005-present)
Children: Barron
Education: University of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia (now Slovenia)
Changed the spelling of her name from Melanija Knavs to Melania Knauss while modeling professionally.
Speaks six languages: Slovenian, French, Serbian, German, Italian and English.
She is the second foreign-born first lady in US history, after Louisa Adams, the English-born wife of sixth US president John Quincy Adams, who served from 1825 to 1829.
Became a model in Yugoslavia at the age of 16.
She has appeared in magazines such as GQ, Vanity Fair and Sports Illustrated.
1996 – Moves to the United States, heading to New York to work for ID Models.
1998 – Meets Trump at a party at the Kit Kat Club in New York.
2000 – Appears in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
March 19, 2001 – Obtains her green card.
July 2006 – Becomes a US citizen.
2010 – Launches her jewelry line, Melania Timepieces and Jewelry, on QVC.
April 2013 – Launches a caviar-based skincare line, Melania Caviar Complexe C6.
July 18, 2016 – Parts of her campaign speech during the 2016 Republican National Convention are alleged to have been plagiarized from a speech delivered by First Lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention in 2008. A speechwriter working for Donald Trump’s company later assumes responsibility for the similarities in the two speeches.
September 1, 2016 – Files a defamation lawsuit against British newspaper The Daily Mail and the US-based blog Tarpley, accusing them of publishing claims that she was an escort in the 1990s. The Daily Mail and Tarpley both issue retractions.
October 13, 2020 –The Justice Department files a lawsuit against Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, an ex-friend and former adviser to Trump, claiming she breached a confidentiality agreement by publishing a tell-all book. The complaint asserts that neither the first lady, her chief of staff nor the White House counsel’s office received a draft of the book from Wolkoff and that the former adviser never sought authorization to disclose details of her work for the first lady. On February 8, 2021, the Justice Department drops the lawsuit.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday, March 21. Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/Reuters
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the “gaps are narrowing” between Israel and Hamas to get a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, but conceded that “there’s still real challenges.”
“We’ve been working, as you know, with Egypt, with Qatar and with Israel to put a strong proposal on the table. Hamas responded to that,” Blinken said during news conference in Cairo, Egypt, with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
Blinken said he still believes a deal is possible, despite “difficult work to get there.”
“The teams are working every single day on this,” he said. “There’s still real challenges. We’ve closed the gaps but there are still gaps.”
As Israel prepares for a possible operation in the Rafah region of Gaza, Blinken said the US believes Hamas “can be effectively dealt with without a major ground operation in Rafah.” He said a ground operation would “be a mistake,” and officials will outline alternative plans when an Israeli delegation goes to Washington, DC, next week.
Meanwhile, Shoukry said he and Blinken agreed to plan “concrete steps” to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza.
The minister stated that the US and Egypt are aligned in their “total rejection of military operations in Rafah.”
The minister added that Egypt would do “whatever is possible, whatever is required to facilitate a cessation of hostilities and an end to the military activity.”
Donald Trump will face the first ever criminal trial of a former US president on 15 April, a judge has ruled, over hush money payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Mr Trump faces four criminal cases, but this may be the only one to make it to a courtroom before November’s election.
The presidential candidate’s lawyers had aimed to delay or dismiss the case.
Mr Trump, 77, faces fraud charges over payments he made to Ms Daniels before the 2016 election.
He has pleaded not guilty to all 34 charges, arguing the claims do not constitute “a crime”.
During his bid to retake the White House, the former president and his legal team have sought to delay as many of his trials as possible.
But Justice Juan Merchan ruled on Monday that there was no reason to delay Mr Trump’s hush money trial any further, despite the defence’s arguments, and ordered the case to begin on 15 April.
After spending much of Monday morning sitting next to his attorneys inside the courtroom, Mr Trump told reporters that the case should be considered “election interference”.
“It’s a disgrace, and we will obviously be appealing,” he said. “But this is a pure case of voter intimidation and election interference, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen.”
The trial was originally set to begin with jury selection on Monday, but it was delayed after thousands of documents were released last week from the 2018 federal investigation into the payments to Ms Daniels.
Justice Merchan instead held a hearing on Monday centred on whether there had been any wrongdoing in the sudden release last week of more than 100,000 pages of documents related to the federal prosecutors’ case.
Mr Trump’s team had argued the Manhattan district attorney’s office had engaged in misconduct by not doing enough to get the federal prosecutors to hand over the documents in a timely manner. They alleged prosecutors were attempting to “suppress” evidence.
The document release followed a request by Mr Trump’s attorneys in January for records from the federal case. Justice Merchan questioned why the defence had not discussed the long wait with him earlier.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office had agreed to a delay of 30 days for the documents to be reviewed, but prosecutors said at the hearing that they believed only 300 new documents needed to be considered.
They said that they would be ready to go to trial in mid-April.
But Mr Trump’s legal team pushed for more time to review the documents.
On Monday, Justice Merchan grilled Mr Trump’s lawyer to specify how many of the “thousands” of documents they would consider relevant and requiring review for this case.
Mr Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, painted a broad picture of what was in the new batch, which he said included records from the Robert Mueller investigation – the federal inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
He alleged that the relevant records numbered in the thousands, rather than the 300 figure offered by prosecutors. Mr Trump’s legal team required time to thoroughly study the documents, he argued.
“We got the material a week ago,” Mr Blanche said. “We’re still going through them.”
The judge, however, appeared impatient and unpersuaded by the attorney’s arguments, including the claim that prosecutors had acted unethically.
“You’re literally accusing the Manhattan DA’s office, and people assigned to this case, of engaging in prosecutorial misconduct and trying to make me complicit in it,” Justice Merchan said.
Before adjourning for a break, the judge made it clear that he felt unconvinced by the arguments.
“It’s odd that we’re even here and that we’ve taken this time,” he said.
