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The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana issued a shelter in place alert after cartel members torched numerous vehicles and cars in five of the main cities in the border state of Baja California. The attacks are tied to an apparent demand by one of Mexico’s most violent drug cartels to release some jailed members. The violence began on Friday evening when numerous gunmen reportedly from Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) began torching passenger buses, cars, and businesses in several cities. According to the message from the U.S. Consulate, the cartel attacks took place in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Tecate, and Ensenada. 1/2 The U.S. Consulate General Tijuana is aware of reports of multiple vehicle fires, roadblocks, and heavy police activity in Tijuana, Mexicali, Rosarito, Ensenada, and Tecate. U.S. government employees have been instructed to shelter in place until further notice. pic.twitter.com/oghBX1P7qX — U.S. Consulate Tijuana (@ConsuladoUSATJ) August 13, 2022 Alleged … [Read more...] about U.S. Consulate Orders Shelter in Place as Cartel Terrorizes Mexican Border State

The US and Russia are discussing a prisoner exchange that would involve trading a notorious Russian arms trafficker for an American basketball star, a Russian diplomat said on Saturday. It marked the first time that Russia said that the talks concerned exchanging Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” for two-time Olympian Brittney Griner. “The discussions on the very sensitive topic of an exchange are proceeding via the channels chosen by our presidents,” Alexander Datchiev, the head the North America department at the Russian foreign ministry, was quoted as saying by the state news agency TASS. “Silent diplomacy continues and should bear fruit if Washington, of course, is careful not to fall into propaganda,” he said. Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February for possessing vape cartridges with a small amount of cannabis oil. The 31-year-old, who was in Russia to play for the professional Yekaterinburg team during her off-season from the Phoenix Mercury, was … [Read more...] about Russia, US in Talks Over Trading ‘Merchant of Death’ Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner

ROME — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on the phone with Pope Francis Friday, thanking him for his prayers and asking for support. In a Twitter post Friday, Zelensky said he had briefed the pontiff on Russian aggression against Ukraine and “its horrible crimes” while also underscoring Ukraine’s need for “support of world spiritual leaders who should convey to the world the truth about acts of horror committed by the aggressor.” “I thanked Pope Francis for praying for Ukraine during a talk with him,” Zelensky wrote in a separate post on Instagram. “I spoke about Russia’s aggression and the terrible crimes against our state.” As Vatican News reported , Friday’s phone call was the third conversation between the two leaders since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the first being on February 26 and the second on March 22. The Ukrainian Ambassador to the Holy See, Andrii Yurash, took advantage of the news story to reiterate Ukraine’s invitation to Francis to visit … [Read more...] about Ukraine’s Zelensky Tells Pope Francis of Russia’s ‘Terrible Crimes’

Alexander Darchiev, a Russian Foreign Ministry official, warned the United States on Friday that if it designates Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism it will have crossed a "point of no return." The comments from Darchiev, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's North American Department, came in an interview with the Russian-state news agency TASS, and as some lawmakers from both sides of the aisle pressure the Biden administration to give Moscow such a label. Senator Lindsey Graham , a South Carolina Republican, and Senator Dick Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, told CNN last week that Biden or Congress should make such a designation amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine . "I hope the president will decide to adopt this stance voluntarily and he hasn't taken it off the table on the state-sponsored terrorism," Blumenthal said in an interview with the network earlier this month. Meanwhile, Graham said he'd "like to work" with the Biden administration to enact … [Read more...] about U.S. calling Russia terrorism sponsor would be “point of no return”: Moscow

Nagasaki paid tribute to the victims of the U. S. atomic bombing 77 years ago on August 9, with the mayor saying Russia's war on Ukraine showed the world that another nuclear attack is not just a worry but “a tangible and present crisis.” Mayor Tomihisa Taue, in his speech on August 9 at the Nagasaki Peace Park, said nuclear weapons can be used as long as they exist and their elimination is the only way to save the future of humankind. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and threat of nuclear weapons use came only a month after it and four other nuclear powers pledged in a statement that nuclear war should never be fought, Mr. Taue noted. United Nations chief urges nuclear powers to abide by no-first-use pledge “This has shown the world that the use of nuclear weapons is not a groundless fear but a tangible and present crisis,” he said. The belief that nuclear weapons can be possessed not for actual use but for deterrence “is a fantasy, nothing more than a mere hope." The … [Read more...] about Nagasaki marks atomic bombing anniversary amid nuclear war fears

A former U.S. Army soldier recently pleaded guilty to federal charges concerning the sexual abuse of a 6-year-old child. He has a history of other sexual assaults against children and is facing multiple state charges for those cases. At the time of the abuses, the soldier was on active duty and stationed in Fort Bliss near the Texas-Mexico border. This week, 28-year-old Trevor Dylan Lehew went before U.S. District Judge Leon Schydlower at a federal court in El Paso and pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. The please comes as part of a deal with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. Judge Schydlower is expected to sentence Lehew later this year. He faces a minimum term of 30 years and a maximum of life in prison. Court documents revealed that a Grand Jury handed down a two-count indictment against Lehew in December 2021. While details of the charge are not available, the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed that between 2014 and … [Read more...] about Imprisoned Fort Bliss Soldier Pleads Guilty to Federal Child Sexual Abuse Charge

Hosts on Russia's state-owned Russia-1 television channel said that officials in Moscow have already been "studying" top secret and other classified documents the FBI sought through a search warrant of former President Donald Trump 's Mar-a-Lago resort home. The FBI, with the approval of Attorney General Merrick Garland , carried out a raid of Trump's Florida residence looking for top secret and sensitive compartmentalized information, as well as other classified documents, on Monday. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that records related to nuclear weapons were sought by the federal agents, but Trump described that reporting as a "hoax." Russia-1 reported on the raid in a segment shared to Twitter late Friday evening by Julia Davis, a columnist for The Daily Beast and the creator of the Russian Media Monitor. During the segment, state-run television host Evgeny Popov mentioned the reporting about nuclear weapons. "Turns out that the investigation against … [Read more...] about Moscow already “studying” top-secret records from Trump raid: Russian media

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russia’s military pounded residential areas across Ukraine overnight, claiming gains, as Ukrainian forces pressed a counteroffensive to try to take back an occupied southern region, striking the last working bridge over a river in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. A Russian rocket attack on the city of Kramatorsk killed three people and wounded 13 others Friday night, according to the mayor. Kramatorsk is the headquarters for Ukrainian forces in the country’s war-torn east. The attack came less than a day after 11 other rockets were fired at the city, one of the two main Ukrainian-held ones in Donetsk province, the focus of an ongoing Russian offensive to capture eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed Saturday its forces had taken control of Pisky, a village on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk, the provincial capital that pro-Moscow separatists have claimed since 2014. Russian … [Read more...] about Ukraine: Moscow Claims Success in East, Kyiv Claims Success in South

MASK CONFUSION… NY TIMES… DAVID LEONHARDT: A Confusing Message — The C.D.C. recommends indoor masking for the vaccinated, but only in some places. As you can see, most of the Northeast and upper Midwest, as well as much of the West, have only “moderate” or “low” transmission. If that stays true, vaccinated residents in those places can generally remain unmasked, the C.D.C. says. […] Breakthrough infections among the vaccinated appear to be only a modest reason that the number of new cases has been rising, as I explained in Monday’s newsletter. When vaccinated people do get the virus, they are less likely to pass it on to others — and much less likely to get very sick. […] The country was polarized long before Covid. But the C.D.C. has not maximized its chances of being heard, either. That’s the communication problem I mentioned above. Its announcement of the new guidelines was both vague and technical, making it hard for many nonexperts to understand. The agency … [Read more...] about Editor Daily Rundown: Mask Confusion

The FBI recovered documents that were labeled “top secret” from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, according to court papers released Friday after a federal judge unsealed the warrant that authorised the unprecedented search this week. A property receipt unsealed by the court shows FBI agents took 11 sets of classified records from the estate during a search on Monday. The property receipt is a document prepared by federal agents to specify what was taken during a search. Classified and top secret The seized records include some that were marked as classified and top secret. The court records did not provide specific details about the documents or what information they might contain. In a statement on Friday, Mr. Trump claimed that the documents seized by agents at his Florida club were “all declassified,” and argued that he would have turned over the documents to the Justice Department if asked. While incumbent presidents have the power to … [Read more...] about ‘Top secret’ documents recovered in raid on Donald Trump’s home: U.S. court papers