From right-hand man to critical witness: Pence at heart of Trump prosecution
Former Vice President Mike Pence’s remarkable transformation from Donald Trump’s most loyal lieutenant to an indispensable, if reluctant, witness for his prosecution became clear this week, when he emerged as perhaps the central character in a stinging indictment accusing the former president of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. On Tuesday in the 45-page indictment from special counsel Jack Smith, Pence was involved in some of the most vivid scenes. And at the very center of the charges were Trump’s efforts to pressure Pence to stop Joe Biden from being certified as the Electoral College winner on Jan. 6.
Jury in Pittsburgh synagogue trial condemns gunman to death
Nearly every morning for three months, family members and survivors gathered in a federal courtroom in Pittsburgh. They listened to witnesses recount the terror of Oct. 27, 2018, when Robert Bowers murdered 11 worshippers in their synagogue. On Wednesday, they listened as a judge announced the jury’s unanimous decision that Bowers should be condemned to die. The verdict, after nearly 10 hours of jury deliberations, was met with a mix of solemnity, gratitude and relief among the survivors and relatives of those killed. The massacre is considered the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, and the death sentence is the first handed down in federal court during the Biden administration.
Police give all clear at Capitol Hill
after report of security threat
The U.S. Capitol Police said late Wednesday afternoon that Capitol Hill was clear of a security threat that had briefly prompted a search, evacuations and panic inside Senate office buildings after a report of an active shooter in the Hart Building that the police chief later suggested might have been the result of “a bogus call.” By 4:30 p.m., police said they had been unable to confirm the report, and a sweep of the Capitol complex revealed no injuries, shots or danger. That message came after two hours of fear gripped the Capitol during an otherwise sleepy summer afternoon when lawmakers were out of town for their August recess.
Amid signs of a COVID uptick, researchers brace
for the ‘new normal’
Echoing patterns in prior years, coronavirus infections are slowly ticking up in parts of the country, the harbinger of a possible fall and winter wave. But the numbers remain low for now, and are unlikely to reach the horrific highs seen in previous winters, experts said in interviews. Infections have been trending upward for about four weeks, according to data gathered from wastewater monitoring, test positivity rates and hospitalizations and emergency room visits. Taken together, the figures offer researchers and public health officials the first glimpse of the coronavirus as a post-pandemic, seasonal threat, a permanent fixture of the infectious disease landscape.
Left-leaning Wisconsin groups challenge the state’s political maps
A day after a seismic ideological shift on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a coalition of voting rights groups and left-leaning law firms filed a legal challenge to the state’s legislative districts, arguing that they were unconstitutional gerrymanders and that new maps should be drawn before the 2024 election. The petition, filed on behalf of 19 voters in Wisconsin, comes after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in on Tuesday night, flipping the court from a 4-3 conservative lean to a 4-3 liberal tilt. For years, Wisconsin has had some of the most aggressively drawn partisan gerrymanders in the country. The latest legal maneuver seeks to have new maps drawn by March.
Leprosy may be endemic in
central Florida, scientists report
Leprosy, a fearsome scourge of ancient civilizations, may have become a permanent fixture in Florida, according to a new study. The authors described a 54-year-old man who was diagnosed with the illness but had no known risk factors and had never traveled outside Florida. Other people have similarly become infected without obvious explanation, suggesting that leprosy is now endemic in the state, the researchers said. Still, there is no rising tide of leprosy in Florida. In the United States, the number of infections plummeted after peaking in 1983 but began a slow rise again about 20 years ago, with fewer than 200 cases each year.
A leader of Niger’s coup visits Mali, raising fears of Wagner alliance
A week after a military overthrow of Niger’s elected president, a coup leader and other officers flew to neighboring Mali on Wednesday to meet with its rulers, raising concerns that a key Western ally could grow closer to military leaders in Mali who partner with the Kremlin-backed Wagner private military company. Gen. Salifou Modi, one of the putschists who removed President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger from power last week, was part of a delegation of military officials who visited Mali, according to a post on social media from the office of the president in Mali. The Wagner group has about 1,500 troops in Mali, allied with the military regime there.
Many Iranians blame creaky power grid and gas shortage for sudden holiday
When the government in Iran ordered the nation to shut down for two days starting Wednesday to conserve energy and protect public health because of “unprecedented” broiling summer heat, Iranians and experts alike quickly discerned another, unspoken reason for the enforced holiday. Iran simply does not have enough natural gas, or a strong enough power grid, to keep all the lights on despite sitting on the second-largest reserves of natural gas in the world. And, as skeptical residents pointed out, much of Iran experiences blistering heat every year, especially in the south, which has already endured debilitating temperatures this summer.
Xi’s surprise shake-up exposes problems at top of China’s nuclear force
In the years since China’s leader, Xi Jinping, transformed the People’s Liberation Army, one of his crowning creations has been the Rocket Force, the custodian of China’s expanding nuclear arsenal. The force, with its array of missiles and launch silos, embodied Xi’s ambitions to elevate his country as a respected, and feared, great power ready to counter American supremacy in the region. But this week, Xi abruptly replaced the Rocket Force’s two top commanders with outsiders with no experience in the nuclear force. It was the highest-level upheaval in China’s military in over five years.
Russia strikes Ukrainian port
that’s been lifeline
for shipping
Russia struck the Danube River port of Izmail in southern Ukraine early Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, in a drone attack that targeted a crucial alternative route for grain shipments amid Russia’s blockage of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. No injuries were reported in the attack, which sparked a fire, according to Oleg Kiper, the military administrator for the Odesa region, which includes Izmail. Nearly 44,000 tons of grain that had been destined for Africa, China and the Middle East were damaged, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said in a tweet.
Much less Antarctic sea ice this year
It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, when ice typically forms around Antarctica. But this year, that growth has been stunted, hitting a record low by a wide margin. The sharp drop in sea ice is alarming scientists and raising concerns about its vital role in regulating ocean and air temperatures, circulating ocean water and maintaining an ecosystem crucial for everything from microscopic plankton to the continent’s iconic penguins. “This year is really different,” said Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and an Antarctica expert at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “It’s a very sudden change.”
Justin Trudeau to separate from wife, Sophie Grégoire
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada announced Wednesday that he and his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, had separated after 18 years of marriage. The Trudeaus, who have three children, have “signed a legal separation agreement,” according to a statement released by the prime minister’s office. “As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build. For the well-being of our children, we ask that you respect our privacy and their privacy,” Trudeau said in a post on Instagram. He added that they had decided to separate “after many meaningful and difficult conversations.”
By wire sources
