
Russia tried to kill ‘CIA informant’ in Florida, report says
Russian agents reportedly attempted to assassinate a CIA informant on American soil in 2020, a dramatic ploy that has since been blamed for a sudden deterioration of relations between Washington and leaders of the Russian Federation. Their target was a former Russian agent whose defection to the United States led to a counterintelligence investigation that resulted in the capture and expulsion of nearly a dozen spies embedded along the US eastern seaboard. His attempted murder is just the latest alleged effort by agents of Vladimir Putin, formerly head of the country’s feared intelligence service and now its leader, to get revenge against Russian defectors living abroad. Three former senior US officials told The New York Times that Russian agents targeted Aleksandr Poteyev with an operation in early 2020 that involved an effort to tail Mr Poteyev around his new hometown of Miami. A Mexican scientist, coerced into being the face of the effort after members of his family were prevented from leaving Russia, is reported to have rented an apartment near Mr Poteyev’s residence for the purpose of surveiling the ex-spy. That scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, would later be instructed by his Russian handlers to tail Mr Poteyev, leading to an incident where he and his wife were spotted by security agents and cameras (apparently at their victim’s apartment complex) photographing Mr Poteyev’s license plate. Realising they had likely just blown their cover, the two fled for Mexico, but were stopped at the US border and arrested. According to one former official, Mr Fuentes was likely unaware of the eventual goals of the operation and was merely tasked with providing initial intelligence regarding Mr Poteyev’s whereabouts. More follows... Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary
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New US Army regulation could result in more soldiers failing body fat assessments
As the US Army moves to a new way to measure soldiers' body fat, officials acknowledged Wednesday that some soldiers who had previously passed under the old regulations may now fail under the new.
1970-01-01 08:00

This Interactive Shark Attack Map Shows It’s Safe to Go Back in the Water
Shark attacks are rare—and when they do happen, they’re usually not deadly.
1970-01-01 08:00

Judge issues order that Trump keep quiet about disclosure of discovery material issued in classified documents case
A magistrate judge has signed off on special counsel Jack Smith's request that former President Donald Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta be prohibited from disclosing information the discovery handed over to the defense in the criminal case Trump and Nauta now face from the special counsel.
1970-01-01 08:00

US Homebuilder Sentiment Increases to an Almost One-Year High
US homebuilder sentiment advanced in June to an 11-month high as a limited supply of existing homes continued
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Trump must be supervised by lawyer when reviewing evidence against him, judge says
Former president Donald Trump will be barred from viewing the evidence the Department of Justice has collected against him except when in the presence of his attorneys, according to a new order by one of the judges overseeing the criminal case against him. In a four-page order signed on Monday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart granted a prosecution request for a protective order meant to shield the information that must be disclosed to Mr Trump about the case against him from public view. It covers “non-classified discovery produced by the United States to the Defendants in preparation for, or in connection with, any stage” of the case that began when a Florida grand jury indicted the ex-president on 37 separate counts of violating the federal criminal code earlier this month, and requires that those materials can only be used “in connection with the defense of this case, and for no other purpose, and in connection with no other proceeding”. Magistrate Judge Reinhart also ordered that the discovery materials be kept only by Mr Trump’s legal team and stored securely on premises controlled by them. He further specified that Mr Trump (and his co-defendant Walt Nauta) “shall only have access to Discovery Materials under the direct supervision of Defense Counsel or a member of Defense Counsel’s staff,” and prohibited either of them from retaining copies of the materials themselves or taking any notes with them after viewing any of the materials. The protective order and the restrictions it places upon Mr Trump are meant in part to prevent him from directing his followers to harass any witnesses against him or any FBI or DOJ personnel involved in the case. After FBI agents searched his Palm Beach, Florida property on 8 August last year, the former president’s camp leaked an unredacted copy of a property receipt provided to his counsel at the time of the search to right-wing Breitbart News. The document named multiple FBI agents involved in the search of his property, and in subsequent court filings the government disclosed that those agents had been targeted for harassment by Mr Trump’s supporters. Read More Blinken meets Xi in Beijing at climax of high-stakes China visit The 25-year-old party chairwoman who wants to turn North Carolina blue Anger as Fox guest says it’s time for someone to ‘pull a trigger’ over ‘the left’
1970-01-01 08:00

IMF Working Hard on Global CBDC Platform Concept, Georgieva Says
The International Monetary Fund is “working hard” on a concept of a global infrastructure that would ensure interoperability
1970-01-01 08:00

Russia's Navalny defends himself in court against new extremism charges
MELEKHOVO, Russia (Reuters) -Jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared before a Russian court on Monday to defend himself against new
1970-01-01 08:00

Trump, other Republicans conjure a familiar enemy in attacking Democrats as 'Marxists,' 'communists'
Lashing out after his arraignment on federal charges last week, Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden and Democrats with language that seemed to evoke another era: He was being persecuted, he said, by “Marxists” and “communists.” Trump has used the labels since he first appeared on the political scene, but it lately has become an omnipresent attack line that also has been deployed by other Republicans. The rhetoric is both inaccurate and potentially dangerous because it attempts to demonize an entire party with a description that has long been associated with America's enemies. Experts who study political messaging say associating Democrats with Marxism only furthers the country's polarization — and is simply wrong: Biden has promoted capitalism and Democratic lawmakers are not pushing to reshape American democracy into a communist system. That hasn't mattered to Trump and other Republicans, who for years have used hyperbolic references to the associated political ideologies to spark fears about Democrats and the dangers they supposedly pose. Hours after pleading not guilty in federal court, Trump told a crowd of his supporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that Biden, “together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists, tried to destroy American democracy.” He added, “If the communists get away with this, it won’t stop with me.” He again hit on the Marxist theme days later during a telephone rally with Iowa voters. The comments came after numerous campaign emails and social posts in recent months in which Trump has claimed that Biden’s America could soon become a “third world Marxist regime” or a “tyrannical Marxist nation.” Other Republicans have piled on with similar messaging. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last week took to Twitter to lambast what she called the “CORRUPT AND WEAPONIZED COMMUNISTS DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED DOJ.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has argued the U.S. risks falling victim to “woke” ideology, which he has defined in interviews as a form of “cultural Marxism.” Experts say there is a long history of U.S. politicians calling opponents Marxist or communist without evidence — perhaps most infamously the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who led efforts to blacklist accused communists in the 1950s. In a country that has historically positioned itself against Marxism, “red-baiting is as American as apple pie in political communications,” said Tanner Mirrlees, an associate professor at Ontario Tech University in Canada who has researched political discourse about “cultural Marxism.” The attacks are carefully constructed to hit voters emotionally, said Steve Israel, a former U.S. congressman from New York who studied political messaging as chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. “Democrats tend to message to the part of the brain that is about reason and empirical evidence,” he said. “Republicans message to the gut.” For some Hispanic Trump supporters who gathered outside the federal courthouse in Miami where the former president was arraigned, the charges evoked memories of political persecutions their family members had once escaped. “This is what they do in Latin America,” said Madelin Munilla, 67, who came to Miami as a child when her parents fled Fidel Castro's Cuba. She carried a poster with a photo of Biden alongside Castro, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega — leftist leaders whose jailing of opponents has driven immigration to south Florida for decades. Unlike the U.S., which has a tradition of respect for the rule of law and constitutional separation of powers, the judiciary in many parts of Latin America lacks the same independence. In a region where corruption flourishes, poorly paid prosecutors and judges are routinely caught doing the bidding of powerful politicians seeking to settle scores or derail criminal investigations. A surge in immigration from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War also brought a population of staunchly anti-communist voters, some of whom have aligned with the Republican Party in part because of its forceful messaging on the issue. Yet opposing an actual regime that suppresses individual freedom and opposes a free market economy is different from the way many Republicans use these terms now —- to falsely claim Marxists are U.S. society's ruling class. “Bluntly, there is no empirical ground beneath the Republican claim that Marxists rule the big institutions of American society,” Mirrlees said. Other Republicans, from DeSantis to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have used another term, “cultural Marxism,” to characterize fights for gender or racial equity that they argue are “woke” and threaten a traditional American way of life. Cruz used it in the title of his book. Though the term has become popular among mainstream Republicans, it has a darker past. Experts say the concept of “cultural Marxism” posing a threat was historically spread by antisemitic and white supremacist groups. For most voters who hear candidates say someone is communist or Marxist, the true meaning may matter less than the negative associations with the terms, said James Gardner, a University at Buffalo law professor who focuses on election law. “The tactic seems to be to pick an adjective that most people think describes something bad and try to associate it with the person you are denigrating,” he said. Still, while railing against communists and Marxists may be effective at animating voters who form the Republican base, it may not be an effective strategy in next year's general election, Israel said. That's because it doesn't as easily sway moderate and independent voters who don't see evidence that ties Democrats to those ideologies. “Moderate voters may succumb to the Republican argument that Democrats are for more spending, but they’re not going to fall for the argument that Democrats are Marxists,” Israel said. “The Republicans are overplaying their hand.” ____ Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement 20 years after invasion, Iraqis still waiting to come to US Trump’s defence chief slams ex-president’s ‘illegal and dangerous’ documents trove South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary
1970-01-01 08:00

States accelerate efforts to block Chinese purchases of agricultural land
A growing number of states are considering or have passed measures this legislative term to ban "foreign adversaries" and foreign entities -- specifically China -- from buying farmland.
1970-01-01 08:00

Mass Immigration Experiment Gives Canada an Edge in Global Race for Labor
At a time industrialized countries around the world are confronting declining birth rates and aging workforces, Canada is
1970-01-01 08:00

Biden to highlight climate commitments during West Coast swing
President Joe Biden will highlight climate commitments made by his administration and announce new federal funding for climate resilience projects as part of a three-day trip to the Bay Area in Northern California that begins Monday, according to a White House official.
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