Scott

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Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon is preparing to face New York state charges that he defrauded donors to the nonprofit group We Build the Wall to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. The case is expected to be similar to a previous federal case in which Bannon was indicted but never tried because Trump pardoned Bannon before that could happen. Bannon and others are accused of skimming money from the donors for personal use on things like travel and and credit card debt. In the original federal case, there were three co-defendants. https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121447226/steve-bannon-fraud-charges

Image source, Russian defence ministry Russia has been forced to buy military hardware from North Korea as sanctions squeeze Moscow's ability to supply its military, the US says. A US official revealed Moscow is the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine. And they said that Russia could be forced to buy additional North Korean weaponry as the war dragged on. Buying from North Korea is a sign of "severe supply shortages", they added. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62804825

CNN -- A Republican county official in Georgia escorted two operatives working with an attorney for former President Donald Trump into the county's election offices on the same day a voting system there was breached, newly obtained video shows. The breach is now under investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and is of interest to the Fulton County District Attorney, who is conducting a wider criminal probe of interference in the 2020 election. The video sheds more light on how an effort spearheaded by lawyers and others around Trump to seek evidence of voter fraud was executed on the ground from Georgia to Michigan to Colorado, often with the assistance of sympathetic local officials. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/surveillance-video-voting-machine-breach-coffee-county-georgia/index.html

A former president can exercise privilege over the release of documents. Before releasing any records of a former President, the Archivist of the United States must notify both the incumbent President and the former President of any records which the Archivist believes may be subject to a claim of Executive privilege. Each President then has 30 days to submit the claim in writing to the Archivist. Incumbent President The incumbent President consults with the Attorney General and the Counsel to the President. If the President chooses to submit a claim of Executive privilege, the Archivist will not release the privileged records unless directed to do so by an incumbent President or by a final court order. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_12667

BEIJING, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck China's Sichuan province on Monday, the strongest to hit the region since 2017, killing more than 40 people and shaking the provincial capital of Chengdu and more distant provinces. Forty-six people were killed in the quake, Chinese state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday, citing local authorities at a press briefing. Some roads and homes near the epicentre were damaged by landslides, while communications were down in at least one area, state television reported. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/earthquake-chinas-sichuan-kills-more-than-40-shakes-provincial-capital-2022-09-05/

Sophie Emeny DUBAI, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Two women have been sentenced to death in Iran on charges of "corruption on earth" and human trafficking over the last few days, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported on Monday. Advocates and rights group took to social media to share pictures of the two women, saying they are LGBT rights activists and are innocent. The pictures could not be verified by Reuters. "Contrary to news published online, the sentenced have deceived and trafficked young women and girls out of the country by promising them educational and work opportunities, thus leading to the suicide of several of their victims," IRNA said. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-sentences-two-women-death-corruption-earth-irna-2022-09-05/

http://static.kremlin.ru/media/events/photos/big2x/TA9I233kzQcZhT3HdJhCqwgfCAjNLd6V.jpg LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday approved a new foreign policy doctrine based around the concept of a "Russian World", a notion that conservative ideologues have used to justify intervention abroad in support of Russian-speakers. The 31-page "humanitarian policy", published more than six months into the war in Ukraine, says Russia should "protect, safeguard and advance the traditions and ideals of the Russian World". While presented as a kind of soft power strategy, it enshrines in official policy ideas around Russian politics and religion that some hardliners have used to justify Moscow's occupation of parts of Ukraine and support for breakaway pro-Russian entities in the east of the country. https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-approves-new-foreign-policy-doctrine-based-russian-world-2022-09-05/

KABUL, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Two Russian embassy staff in Kabul were among six people killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives near the entrance of the embassy, in a blast that injured at least 10 others, the Russian Foreign Ministry and Afghan officials said on Monday. The attack was claimed by Islamic State militant group on its channel on Telegram. Police said the attacker was shot dead by armed guards as he approached the gate, in one of the first such attacks since the Taliban took power last year. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-police-report-suicide-bomb-blast-near-russian-embassy-kabul-2022-09-05/

Update: One suspect found dead, the other remains at large, Canadian officials say https://www.cnn.com/americas/live-news/canada-stabbing-saskatchewan-manhunt-updates-09-05-22#h_309ee564ce9fb3ca6db261b3e47febd2

(CNN) A federal judge threw a wrench Monday in the Justice Department investigation into potential mishandling of documents from former President Donald Trump's White House by granting his request for a special master to review evidence seized from his Florida home last month. The win for Trump temporarily prevents the Justice Department's investigative team from accessing the thousands of documents -- some of which are marked as classified -- taken from Mar-a-Lago. US District Judge Aileen Cannon cleared the way for a third-party attorney to review all the seized materials, not just for documents covered by attorney-client privilege -- the circumstance in which special masters are usually used -- but also for potential executive privilege concerns, a move the Justice Department has said would be "unprecedented." https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/05/politics/takeaways-trump-cannon-mar-a-lago-special-master/index.html

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(CNN)Jessica Flores stepped out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal with her husband and their 6-year-old daughter into the unfamiliar heart of Manhattan, where giant billboards sparkled under a sweltering late summer sun. The sidewalks and traffic lanes along bustling Eighth Avenue were packed when the family emerged carrying plastic bags with all their belongings. Visitors, homeless people and commuters clutching cups of iced coffee crammed the street. Nearby, pedestrians dodged yellow cabs, double-decker tour buses and electric bicycles. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/us/migrants-new-york-texas-buses/index.html

LONDON — After weeks of campaigning and television debates, the next prime minister of the U.K. will be announced Monday. In recent days, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has shot ahead of her opponent, the former chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to become the frontrunner in the Conservative Party leadership race. But what is publicly known about Truss and her policies on Brexit and foreign policy? https://www.yahoo.com/news/liz-truss-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-front-runner-in-the-race-to-be-britains-next-prime-minister-165504573.html

File photo London (CNN Business)Russia won't immediately resume exports of natural gas to Europe through its Nord Stream 1 pipeline, worsening a shortage that threatens to tip the continent into an energy crisis this winter. On Friday, Russian state energy giant Gazprom said it would not resume flows through the pipeline on Saturday as planned because it had detected an oil leak at its Portovaya compressor station. The pipeline has been shut since Wednesday for maintenance. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/02/energy/nord-stream-1-pipeline-turned-off/index.html

According to a report from the Washington Post, prospects that Donald Trump's Truth Social will survive are growing bleak with the company that had planned to take the social media platform public now suggesting that a probable bankruptcy is on the horizon. As the report points out, Truth Social has not been paying for web-hosting fees to the point where attorneys are now involved, traffic is collapsing, the value of stock in the company is plunging and money is running out. With the Post reporting, "Former president Donald Trump's Truth Social website is facing financial challenges as its traffic remains puny and the company that is scheduled to acquire it expresses fear that his legal troubles could lead to a decline in his popularity," WaPo's Drew Harwell wrote that the former president's legal problems have added another cloud of Truth Social's future. https://www.salon.com/2022/08/28/truth-social-is-headed-for-bankruptcy_partner/?fbclid=IwAR2VRwLfbkzCM30y66NPKxU3tKVDJ1fQlPnPLTJcwm42EpmYMGPm3KRBrDI https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/27/trump-truth-social-mar-a-lago-fbi/

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered a stern commitment Friday to halting inflation, warning that he expects the central bank to continue raising interest rates in a way that will cause “some pain” to the U.S. economy. In his much-anticipated annual policy speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Powell affirmed that the Fed will “use our tools forcefully” to attack inflation that is still running near its highest level in more than 40 years. Even with a series of four consecutive interest rate increases totaling 2.25 percentage points, Powell said this is “no place to stop or pause” even though benchmark rates are probably around an area considered neither stimulative nor restrictive to growth. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/26/powell-warns-of-some-pain-ahead-as-fed-fights-to-lower-inflation.html

Section 377A of Singapore's Penal Code was promulgated in 1938 by the British colonial government when Singapore was a British colony. (CNN)Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday said the country will repeal the colonial-era Section 377A of Singapore's Penal Code, thereby decriminalizing gay sex in Singapore, but added that same-sex marriage will continue to be illegal in the city-state. "Sex between consenting men should not be criminalized. There is no justification to prosecute people for it, nor to make it a crime," he said at his annual policy address, the National Day Rally, carried live on television. "I believe (repeal) is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept. https://us.cnn.com/2022/08/21/asia/singapore-gay-sex-law-section-377a-intl/index.html

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., appears at an Election Day gathering in Jackson, Wyo., to concede defeat in a GOP primary to Harriet Hageman, who was backed by former President Trump. Cheney vows that she will carry on her work to make sure Trump doesn't return to the presidency. Jae C. Hong/AP Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney is laying out her future political plans, including a possible run against Donald Trump in 2024, after conceding defeat in the primary election for her House seat. Her loss on Tuesday followed unyielding criticism since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol of the former president and his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. "This primary election is over, but now the real work begins," Cheney said in her concession speech Tuesday night, noting that she had called opponent Harriet Hageman to congratulate her. Cheney acknowledged in a Wednesday interview on NBC's Today she was "thinking" about running for president in 2024. https://www.npr.org/sections/2022-live-primary-election-race-results/2022/08/16/1117705185/liz-cheney-concedes-primary-defeat-but-her-fight-against-trump-continues

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Taliban on Monday marked a year since they seized the Afghan capital in a rapid takeover that triggered a hasty escape of the nation's Western-backed leaders, sent the economy into a tailspin and fundamentally transformed the country. Bearded Taliban fighters, some hoisting rifles or the white banners of their movement, staged victory parades on foot, bicycles and motorcycles in the streets of Kabul. One group marched past the former U.S. Embassy, chanting “Long live Islam” and “Death to America.” https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/afghanistan-marks-year-taliban-seizure-woes-mount-88391318

A search warrant newly unsealed on Friday reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act and removed classified documents from the former president’s Florida estate earlier this week. A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by POLITICO in advance of its unsealing, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with “TS/SCI,” which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled “Info re: President of France.” Also among the items taken from Mar-a-Lago this week: An item labeled “Executive grant of clemency re: Roger Jason Stone, Jr.,” a reference to one of Trump’s closest confidants who received a pardon in late 2020. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/12/search-warrant-shows-trump-under-investigation-for-potential-obstruction-of-justice-espionage-act-violations-00051507

Brittney Griner, an American basketball superstar and Olympic gold medalist, learned her fate in a Russian court after she pleaded guilty to a drug charge last month. A Russian judge convicted Griner of drug possession and drug smuggling and sentenced her to 9 years in prison. She was also fined one million rubles, the equivalent of about $16,400. https://www.foxnews.com/sports/brittney-griner-trial-russian-court-hands-down-verdict-wnba-stars-case

Infowars founder and conspiracist jack-of-all-trades Alex Jones is finally on trial to determine how much he must pay the families of ten victims of the Sandy Hook shooting after a judge last year found him liable for defamation for calling the attack a hoax. The consequences could be serious. The parents of the children killed in the 2012 massacre are seeking as much as $150 million in damages from Jones, whose business filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/08/alex-jones-testified-in-sandy-hook-lawsuit-and-it-was-a-mess.html

Trump did nothing to stop his supporters as they attacked Congress, threatened Pence, witnesses tell Jan. 6 committee The Jan. 6 select committee’s latest public hearing went inside the White House to detail then-President Donald Trump’s hours long refusal to call for an end to the Capitol riot. The hearing marks the final scheduled presentation of the committee’s initial findings from its investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection until September. The nine-member committee, which is comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, has accused Trump of being at the center of a multi-pronged conspiracy to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 contest. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/21/jan-6-committee-hearing-live-coverage-and-latest-updates-day-8.html