In Voter Fraud, Penalties Often Depend on Who’s Voting – The New York Times
In Voter Fraud, Penalties Often Depend on Who’s Voting – The New York Times

Charles Eugene Cartier, 81, of Madison, N.H. and Attleboro, Mass., pleaded guilty in New Hampshire to voting in more than one state, a Class B felony, in the 2016 election. He was fined $1,000 plus a penalty assessment of $240, and had his 60-day prison sentence suspended on condition of good behavior.

At least four Oregonians cast votes in two states in 2016; none were fined more than $1,000, and felony charges were reduced to violations, akin to traffic tickets.

Two federal prosecutors in North Carolina, Matthew G.T. Martin and Robert J. Higdon, made national headlines in 2018 with a campaign to prosecute noncitizens who voted illegally. In the end, around 30 charges were brought, out of some 4.7 million votes cast in 2016. But prison sentences in those cases were few, and usually measured in months; fines, usually in the hundreds of dollars or less.

Still, there are exceptions, often apparently meant to send a message in states where politicians have tried to elevate fraud to a major issue.

Foremost is Texas, where convictions that would merit probation or fines elsewhere have drawn crushing prison sentences. Rosa Maria Ortega, a green-card holder who cast illegal votes in 2012 and 2014, was sentenced to eight years in prison for a crime she says she unknowingly committed. Crystal Mason, who cast a ballot in 2016 while on federal probation for a tax felony, drew five years for violating felon voting laws. The court has been ordered to reconsider her case.

Both prosecutions were the work of the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, perhaps the nation’s most zealous enforcer of voter-fraud laws. Mr. Paxton runs a $2.2 million-a-year election integrity squad that claims a 15-year record of prosecutions, though some of its high-profile cases, like a lengthy one against a South Texas mayor, ended in acquittals.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/us/voter-fraud-penalties.html

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Trump Special Master Ruling Lifts Profile of Judge Aileen Cannon – The New York Times
Trump Special Master Ruling Lifts Profile of Judge Aileen Cannon – The New York Times

“Aileen was always an incredibly dedicated and diligent student,” said Alejandro Miyar, a lawyer who worked for the Obama administration. He was one of 17 Ransom graduates who signed a letter in 2020 supporting Ms. Cannon’s nomination.

The letter described her as “personable and trustworthy, a genuinely caring person who treats others as she would want to be treated herself.”

“What more can we ask of another human being?” it read.

Ms. Cannon graduated from Duke University, spending a semester in Spain and a summer writing short feature articles for El Nuevo Herald, a daily Spanish-language newspaper, then graduated from the University of Michigan Law School.

In 2008, she married Josh Lorence, who is an executive for Bobby’s Burgers, the celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s fast-casual restaurant chain, according to his LinkedIn profile, which was no longer publicly viewable on Monday. He proposed while they were on vacation in Greece. They have two children and live in Vero Beach, along Florida’s Treasure Coast. Public records show that Ms. Cannon has registered as a Republican. In 2018, she and her husband each contributed $100 to Ron DeSantis’s campaign for governor.

Through his office, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, reached out to Ms. Cannon in 2019 about filling a judicial vacancy, she said in her questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Howard Srebnick, a Miami lawyer who went to the same high school as Judge Cannon, said she had all the necessary credentials to be a federal judge. She worked as a federal prosecutor, clerked for a conservative federal judge and spent time in a large law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, in Washington, where she was known as a quiet presence who disliked attention.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/us/politics/aileen-cannon-judge-trump.html

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‘Heartbroken’ family of Memphis heiress Eliza Fletcher speak out – follow live – The Independent
‘Heartbroken’ family of Memphis heiress Eliza Fletcher speak out – follow live – The Independent

The “heartbroken” family of murdered Memphis heiress Eliza Fletcher have issued a statement saying they are devastated by her “senseless loss”.

“Liza was such a joy to so many – her family, friends, colleagues, students, parents, members of her Second Presbyterian Church Congregation and everyone who knew her,” the statement, shared by Newstalk 989, read.

Ms Fletcher, 34-year-old mother of two and granddaughter of billionaire Joseph Orgill III, was snatched while out jogging near the University of Memphis campus and forced into an SUV at 4am on Friday.

Her body was recovered on Monday, four days after her abduction from a vacant duplex after a series of searches over the Labour Day weekend.

Police have charged Cleotha Abston with the kidnapping and killing of the business heiress. He was jailed on Saturday in connection with her abduction after police detected his DNA on a pair of sandals found near where Fletcher had last been seen.

“We are grateful beyond measure to local, state and federal law enforcement for their tireless efforts to find Liza and to bring justice to the person responsible for this horrible crime,” the family statement said.

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Abston to make second court appearance on murder charges

Abston is set to appear in court again today at 9am local time to be arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping.

In his first appearance on Tuesday, Abston was arraigned in two cases: the first charged with especially aggravated kidnapping and tampering with evidence in Ms Fletcher’s kidnapping and the second on three unrelated theft counts.

A second court appearance was scheduled for Wednesday as the judge learned that murder charges had been filed moments before the hearing.

Watch his first appearance:

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Community to hold run in Fletcher’s honour

The Memphis community is planning to hold a run event on Friday to honour Eliza Fletcher and raise awareness around the harrowing circumstances of her death.

Called “Let’s Finish Liza’s Run”, the event was originally intended for a few friends to jog 10 miles together but quickly exploded as a Facebook post announcing it went viral.

“My intention was to start near her home and run down Central to Zach H Curlin and back down Central,” organiser Danielle Heineman told ABC24. “However, it blew up from my original Facebook post, so now we’re looking at starting from either Peabody and Belvedere or Central and Belvedere as to not have a crowd near her home.”

Ms Heineman said she is hoping the event will send a message to critics who have cast blame on Ms Fletcher for going out for a jog at a time they deem unsafe.

“We do run at four o’clock in the morning, and you know what, we can run at four o’clock in the morning,” she said. “And we can wear our sports bra and our shorts and not be fully covered up head to toe.”

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Everything we know about suspect in murder of Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher

Cleotha Abston, who has been charged with the abduction and murder of heiress Eliza Fletcher, spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and robbery before being released in 2020.

Here’s everything we know about Mr Abston.

Cleotha Abston: Everything we know about suspect in kidnapping of Eliza Fletcher

Suspect in murdered heiress case spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and robbery before being released in 2020, according to authorities

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Previous kidnapping victim of Cleotha Abston believed he was going to be killed

Memphis attorney Kemper Durand said in a 2003 victim impact statement that he was “lucky” to escape from Abston, now 38, during the violent kidnapping back in 2000.

Rachel Sharp has the full story.

Kidnap victim believed Cleotha Abston would kill him – before Eliza Fletcher’s murder

Cleotha Abston was convicted of kidnapping Memphis attorney Kemper Durand in 2000

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Everything we know about the kidnapping of Memphis teacher as body found

Eliza Fletcher, a 34-year-old mother-of-two, was snatched while on an early morning jog near the University of Memphis campus on Friday (2 September).

The following day, 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, a convicted kidnapper who was released from prison in 2020 after serving 19 years, was arrested on suspicion of her abduction.

On Monday afternoon, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) announced it had found a body later confirmed to be Ms Fletcher. Abston was subsequently hit with new murder charges.

Here’s everything we know about the case.

Eliza Fletcher: Everything we know about the kidnapping of Memphis teacher

Four days after Eliza Fletcher was snatched and bundled into a car in Memphis, police say they have located a body

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Eliza Fletcher’s school says it is ‘heartbroken’ over murder of ‘beloved teacher’

St Mary’s Episcopal School in Memphis issued a statement to say it was “heartbroken” after its teacher Eliza Fletcher’s death was confirmed on Tuesday morning.

“We are heartbroken at the loss of our beloved teacher, colleague, and friend Liza Fletcher,” the school said on Twitter.

“Our hearts are with the Fletcher, Orgill, and Wellford families.”

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Eliza Fletcher’s family break silence on ‘senseless’ killing of Memphis heiress

“Now it’s time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much for her,” family of Eliza Fletcher said in a statement.

Rachel Sharp has the full story.

Eliza Fletcher’s family break silence on ‘senseless’ killing of Memphis heiress

The body of the kindergarten teacher was discovered on Monday afternoon in long grass behind a vacant apartment in south Memphis – more than 48 hours on from her violent abduction

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Police reveal new details on how they located Eliza Fletcher’s body

Police have released new details about how they located Eliza Fletcher’s body in an amended affidavit filed on Tuesday.

According to the affidavit, officers from Memphis Police Department, and federal and state partners searching for Ms Fletcher noticed vehicle tracks in tall grass leading to a vacant apartment at at 1666 Victor St at 5.07pm on Monday.

A search and rescue officer smelled an “odour of decay” and spotted a set of footprints in the rear driveway of the premises. He then saw an “unresponsive female” lying on the ground.

The person, who matched a description of Ms Fletcher, was pronounced dead by the medical examiner shortly afterwards, according to the court document.

Police found a pair of purple Lululemon running shorts that were consistent with a pair Ms Fletcher was wearing when she disappeared discarded in a trash bag nearby.

Surveillance footage showed Mr Abston’s black GMC Terrain nearby between 5.48am and 5.52am, the affidavit states.

Eliza Fletcher’s purple Lululemon running shorts were found discarded in a trash bag close to where her body was found, police say

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Tucker Carlson blames suspect’s early release for Fletcher’s killing

Tucker Carlson slammed the authorities for the early release of Cleotha Abston, the man charged with the killing of Eliza Fletcher, as he highlighted what he claimed was a lax law and order situation in Memphis.

“Cleotha Abston was a predator,” began Carlson in his Fox News show. “In 2000, he was convicted of kidnapping a local attorney at gunpoint downtown and forcing him into the trunk of his own car,” he said.

“…But like most life long criminals, Cleotha Abston was never full punished for what he did.

“He was released years before the end of his prison sentence. Nor was he in any way sense reformed by his experience behind bars,” Carlson said.

“Abston was well known in his apartment complex as of last week for his sexual aggression and his perversity. He terrified his neighbours, but no one from any part of the justice system seems to have intervened.”

Cleotha Abston on Saturday, 2 September 2022

Remembering Memphis as “one of the richest, best organised cities in the country” about 100 years ago, Carlson said, it was now the “most dangerous city in the United States”.

“Last year, it recorded a total of 342 murders. Now, how many is that? Well, by comparison, San Antonio, Texas, which has more than twice the population, recorded fewer than half as many murders,” he said as he attacked Joe Biden voters for allegedly dismissing the crime on racial grounds.

“In the hours after Eliza Fletcher’s disappearance, Biden voters on social media seemed to dismiss the crime on racial grounds. ‘Why are we paying so much attention to the kidnapping of an attractive, privileged White woman? That’s racist’,” he said.

“Others seem to blame Fletcher for the atrocity committed against her. ‘Why was she jogging at that hour, anyway? In Memphis? Come on.’“An American citizen should be able to live or walk anywhere in America without being raped or murdered for it, period. That is the baseline requirement for civilisation. It’s called order,” he added.

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Lengthy criminal record of Cleotha Abston

Cleotha Abston, the suspect charged with the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher, had been on the wrong side of the law since he was 11 years of age, reported CBS affiliated WREG News.

Though he had a “good relationship with his family”, Abston had a rough childhood, say court documents, adding that he was first arrested for theft in 1995.

In the subsequent years, he was arrested for several felony offences including burglary, theft, aggravated assault, violation of curfew, truancy, rape and evading arrest, reported the outlet.

Cleotha Abston appears in Judge Louis Montesi courtroom for his arraignment on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 in Memphis

According to his file, he had no suicidal gestures, medical problems or mental illness but was listed as “100 per cent violent”.

Abston was only 16 at the time when he pleaded guilty for kidnapping in 2000 and ended up serving two decades in prison.

His victim said he was “extremely lucky he was able to escape” that night as he feared he “would have been killed” had he not slipped.

Source Article from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/memphis-jogger-eliza-fletcher-kidnapping-body-found-b2160528.html

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Steve Bannon expected to surrender to New York prosecutors Thursday: Sources – ABC News
Steve Bannon expected to surrender to New York prosecutors Thursday: Sources – ABC News

Steve Bannon, former adviser to former President Donald Trump, is expected to surrender to prosecutors in New York on Thursday, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.

The details of the charges are unclear, however, the sources confirmed to ABC News that the charges brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office stem from the federal prosecution of Bannon over “We Build the Wall,” an online fundraising campaign for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the federal case, Bannon was accused of defrauding donors and using the money for personal expenses.

Trump pardoned Bannon on his final day in office but two codefendants who did not receive pardons pleaded guilty.

The pardon only applies to the federal case and does not preclude the state charges, the specifics of which were not immediately clear.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had no comment when reached by ABC News.

Bannon, via a spokesperson, issued a statement to ABC News Tuesday, saying, in part, “This is nothing more than a partisan political weaponization of the criminal justice system.”

The Washington Post first reported the news.

Bannon, who served as Trump’s chief strategist before departing the White House in August 2017, was found guilty in July of defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Bannon was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel for records and testimony in September 2021.

After the House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt for defying the subpoena, the Justice Department in November charged him with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress.

ABC News’ Mike Levine contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/steve-bannon-expected-surrender-york-prosecutors-thursday-sources/story?id=89432102

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Barr: Justice Department should appeal ‘deeply flawed’ ruling approving special master in Trump documents case – CNN
Barr: Justice Department should appeal ‘deeply flawed’ ruling approving special master in Trump documents case – CNN
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          MUST WATCH

    CNN’s Mary Kay Mallonee contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/bill-barr-special-master-doj-trump/index.html

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    A cyberattack hits the Los Angeles School District, raising alarm across the country – NPR
    A cyberattack hits the Los Angeles School District, raising alarm across the country – NPR

    Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, comments on a cyberattack on the LAUSD information systems at a news conference on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.

    Damian Dovarganes/AP


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    Damian Dovarganes/AP

    Alberto Carvalho, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, comments on a cyberattack on the LAUSD information systems at a news conference on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.

    Damian Dovarganes/AP

    LOS ANGELES — A ransomware attack targeting the huge Los Angeles school district prompted an unprecedented shutdown of its computer systems as schools increasingly find themselves vulnerable to cyber breaches at the start of a new year.

    The attack on the Los Angeles Unified School District sounded alarms across the country, from urgent talks with the White House and the National Security Council after the first signs of ransomware were discovered late Saturday night to mandated password changes for 540,000 students and 70,000 district employees.

    Though the attack used technology that encrypts data and won’t unlock it unless a ransom is paid, in this case the district’s superintendent said no immediate demand for money was made and schools in the nation’s second-largest district opened as scheduled on Tuesday.

    Such attacks have become a growing threat to U.S. schools, with several high-profile incidents reported since last year as pandemic-forced reliance on technology increases the impact. And ransomware gangs have in the past planned major attacks on U.S. holiday weekends, when they know IT staffing will be thin and security experts relaxing.

    While it was not immediately clear when the LA attack began — officials have only said when it was detected and a district spokesperson declined to answer additional questions — Saturday night’s discovery reached the highest levels of the federal government’s cybersecurity agencies.

    According to a senior administration official, this pattern of support was consistent with the Biden administration’s efforts to provide maximum assistance to critical industries affected by such breaches.

    The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the federal response, said the school district did not pay ransom, but would not get into detail on what potentially might have been stolen or damaged and what systems were affected by the breach.

    The White House’s response to the LA incursion reflects a growing national security concern: A Pew Research Center survey, published last month, found that 71% of Americans say cyberattacks from other countries are a major threat to the U.S.

    Authorities believe the LA attack originated internationally and have identified three potential countries where it may have come from, though LA Superintendent Alberto Carvalho would not say which countries may be involved. Most ransomware criminals are Russian speakers who operate without interference from the Kremlin.

    LA officials did not identify the ransomware used.

    “This was an act of cowardice,” said Nick Melvoin, the school board vice president. “A criminal act against kids, against their teachers and against an education system.”

    So far this year, 26 U.S. school districts — including Los Angeles — and 24 colleges and universities have been hit by so-called ransomware, according to Brett Callow, a ransomware analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.

    With victims increasingly refusing to pay to have their data unlocked, many cybercriminals instead use the same technology to steal sensitive information and demand extortion payments. If the victim doesn’t pay, the data gets dumped online.

    Callow said at least 31 of the schools hit this year had data stolen and released online, and noted that eight of the school districts have been hit since Aug. 1. The upsurge on schools as summer vacations end is almost certainly not coincidental, he said.

    “It is the No. 1 threat to our safety,” said Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It is an invisible foe and it is tireless.”

    Tireless — and expensive, even outside of any monetary demands. A ransomware extortion attack in Albuquerque’s biggest school district forced schools to close for two days in January, while Baltimore City’s response to a 2019 hit on its computer servers cost upwards of $18 million.

    The LA attack was discovered around 10:30 p.m. Saturday when staff first detected “unusual activity,” Carvalho said. The perpetrators appear to have targeted the facilities systems, which involves information about private-sector contractor payments — which are publicly available through records requests — rather than confidential details like payroll, health and other data.

    He said district IT officials detected the malware and stopped it from propagating but not until after it infected key network systems, necessitating the reset of passwords for all staff and students.

    Authorities scrambled to trace the intruders and restrict potential damage.

    “We basically shut down every one of our systems,” Carvalho said, noting that each one had been checked and all but one — the facilities system — restarted by late Monday night, when the district first notified the public of the hit.

    On Tuesday, federal authorities separately warned of potential ransomware attacks by the criminal syndicate known as Vice Society, which has allegedly disproportionately targeted the education sector.

    Authorities have not said whether they believe Vice Society is involved in the LA attack and the group did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

    “The fact that a joint cybersecurity advisory relating to Vice Society was issued within days of the attack on LAUSD being discovered may be telling, especially as this gang has frequently targeted the education sector in both the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Callow, the ransomware expert.

    Vice Society first appeared in May 2021 and, rather than a unique variant, it has used ransomware widely available in the Russian-speaking underground, security researchers say. Among victims claimed by Vice Society are the Elmbrook School district in Wisconsin and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

    Ransomware gangs routinely dissolve after high-profile attacks such as last year’s Colonial Pipeline incident, which triggered runs on gas stations. Their members then reconstitute under new names.

    While there was pressure to cancel school in Los Angeles on Tuesday, officials ultimately decided to stay open.

    Had the activity not been discovered on Saturday night, Carvalho said there could have been “catastrophic” consequences.

    “If we had lost the ability to run our school buses, over 40,000 of our students would not have been able to get to school, or it would have been a highly disrupted system,” he said.

    The district plans to do a forensic audit of the attack to see what can be done to prevent future incursions.

    “Every teacher, every employee, every student can be a weak point,” said Soheil Katal, the district’s chief information officer.

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121422336/a-cyberattack-hits-the-los-angeles-school-district-raising-alarm-across-the-coun

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    Putin and Xi to meet in Uzbekistan next week, official says – The Associated Press
    Putin and Xi to meet in Uzbekistan next week, official says – The Associated Press

    Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to meet next week in Uzbekistan, a Russian official said Wednesday, announcing a summit that could signal another step in warming ties between two powers that are increasingly facing off against the West.

    The meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — a political, economic and security forum that China and Russia dominate — comes at delicate times for both leaders.

    Putin is dealing with the economic and political fallout of his war in Ukraine that has left Russia more isolated. Xi, meanwhile, is also facing a slowing economy as he seeks a third five-year term as Communist Party leader. While he’s expected to secure it, that would represent a break with precedent. Both have seen their countries’ relations with the West deteriorate.

    Russian Ambassador to China Andrei Denisov told reporters that the two would meet at the organization’s summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand on Sept. 15-16. “We are actively preparing for it,” Denisov was quoted by Russia’s state news agency Tass as saying.

    The visit to Uzbekistan, if it goes ahead, would be part of Xi’s first foreign trip in 2½ years. Xi has only left mainland China once — to make a one-day visit to the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong — since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019.

    When asked about the trip, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a daily briefing Wednesday: “On your question, I have nothing to offer.”

    Moscow and Beijing have increasingly aligned their foreign policies to oppose liberal democratic forces in Asia, Europe and beyond, making a stand for authoritarian rule with tight borders and little regard for free speech, minority rights or opposition politics.

    The Russian military held sweeping military drills that ended Wednesday in the country’s east that involved forces from China, another show of increasingly close ties between the two.

    Each leader may also be hoping to bolster his standing at home with the meeting. For Putin, it’s an opportunity to show that he still has powerful allies. For Xi, it could be a chance to be seen as standing up to Western opposition to the Ukraine war and burnish his nationalist credentials at a time when relations with the U.S. have grown increasingly tense over trade, technology, human rights issues and its threats to attack Taiwan.

    Coming just ahead of China’s party congress, the overseas visits would also show Xi as confident of his position.

    Putin and Xi last met in Beijing in February, weeks before the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine. The two presidents oversaw the signing of an agreement pledging that relations between the sides would have “no limits.” It remains unclear whether Xi knew at the time of Russia’s plans to invade Ukraine.

    While offering its tacit support for Russia’s campaign there, China has sought to appear neutral and avoid possible repercussions from supporting the Russian economy amid international sanctions.

    Even though Moscow and Beijing in the past rejected the possibility of forging a military alliance, Putin has said that such a prospect can’t be ruled out. He also has noted that Russia has been sharing highly sensitive military technologies with China that helped significantly bolster its defense capability.

    Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-china-beijing-xi-jinping-84239cfea4b649e3d184561ffc734622

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    From border town to ‘border town,’ bused migrants seek new lives in D.C. area – The Washington Post
    From border town to ‘border town,’ bused migrants seek new lives in D.C. area – The Washington Post

    So far, more than 230 buses carrying nearly 9,400 migrants, including families with young children, have arrived in D.C. since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) began offering free passage to the nation’s capital in April, with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) following suit in May. Last month, buses from Texas started heading to New York and Chicago, too.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/09/07/migrants-dc-buses-texas/

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    California averts rolling blackouts amid heat wave – Los Angeles Times
    California averts rolling blackouts amid heat wave – Los Angeles Times

    For nearly three hours Tuesday night, California officials warned of imminent rolling blackouts as the state’s electrical grid struggled to keep up with surging demand during a punishing heat wave.

    The Golden State avoided widespread outages, though three Northern California cities experienced brief losses of power.

    At 8 p.m., the California Independent System Operator downgraded its level 3 alert, the final step before calling for rolling blackouts, saying that “consumer conservation played a big part in protecting electric grid reliability.”

    There were “no load sheds for the night,” the grid operator said; however, Alameda, Palo Alto and Healdsburg officials said they implemented short “rotating outages.”

    In Alameda, municipal utility officials said at 6:20 p.m. that rotating outages were beginning. Power would be shut off to two circuits for one hour, according to Alameda Municipal Power.

    The fire tore through 2,000 acres around Hemet on Monday and continued to grow Tuesday

    Just before 7:30 p.m., utility officials in the Bay Area city said the second hour of power interruptions had been called off.

    “No more rotating outages for tonight,” the utility said in a tweet. “Crews are working to get power restored to all customers shut off in the initial hour of outages.”

    City officials in Healdsburg confirmed outages around 6:30 p.m.

    “As directed by CAISO, rolling power outages to begin,” according to a Facebook post by the Sonoma County city.

    Outages lasting about an hour per zone would cycle through each block until the energy shortage is over, the city officials said.

    “Due to lower system loads, the need for rotating outages has ended,” city officials said at 8:10 p.m.

    Palo Alto officials said around 7 p.m. that they had been cleared to restore power to about 1,700 customers after outages to meet Cal ISO’s “load-shedding requirements.”

    “We did not order rotating outages,” Anne Gonzales, an ISO spokesperson, said in an email to The Times on Tuesday night. “We held at [Energy Emergency Alert] 3 with no load shed, and [the alert] ended at 8 p.m.”

    Gonzales did not respond to several requests for clarification by phone.

    Though some progress has been made, there have also been setbacks, including some proposed state legislation that has stalled.

    Shortly after 7 p.m., Cal ISO noted that peak grid demand had hit 52,061 megawatts, “a new all-time record.”

    The alert did not affect Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers, as the utility operates its own grid and is separate from Cal ISO.

    “We’re not suspecting any blackouts due to energy shortages and are not a part of any rolling blackouts [Cal ISO] has planned,” said Mia Rose Wong, a spokesperson for the municipal utility.

    The DWP forecast Tuesday’s demand to be elevated but not enough to surpass available electrical generation and reserve capacity, Wong said.

    Nevertheless, the utility advised its customers to conserve power and follow the state grid regulator’s guidance, including setting thermostats to at least 78 degrees and not using large appliances.

    In addition to urging its customers to reduce energy use, the DWP makes excess power available to Cal ISO when available, Wong said, though it was not clear whether there was any excess power Tuesday night.

    The heat wave is now expected to last through Friday, but the worst of it could be over for the southern half of the state — even as temperatures remain dangerously high.

    For much of Northern California, the heat was expected to peak Tuesday, but temperatures are predicted to remain well above average through the week, according to the National Weather Service.

    By late Tuesday afternoon, the weather service confirmed that downtown Sacramento had set an all-time temperature record. A preliminary high of 115 degrees broke the previous record of 114 set on July 17, 1925, meteorologists said. About an hour later, officials reported that the temperature had topped out at 116.

    The state capital has seen a barrage of extremes over the last year, Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and California climate fellow at the Nature Conservancy, said in a tweet Tuesday evening.

    “First its longest dry spell on record, which ended with wettest day on record, followed by driest start to a calendar year on record, now followed by its hottest day on record,” Swain wrote.

    In Hanford, the weather service office stated that as of 3 p.m., “all major weather reporting airports in the San Joaquin Valley have set daily record temperatures.”

    Four cities in the Bay Area broke maximum temperature records tallied on any day of the year, according to the weather service.

    San Jose’s temperature of 109 Tuesday beat the previous all-time high of 108, set Sept. 1, 2017.

    Santa Rosa’s high of 115 broke the high of 113 set in 1913; Napa’s 114 broke the record of 113 set in 1961; and King City in Monterey County hit 116, breaking the record of 115 set in 2017.

    Redwood City in San Mateo County hit 110, tying the record set in 1972.

    Livermore topped out Tuesday at 116, tying the record set a day earlier. The previous maximum temperature recorded in Livermore was 115, set Sept. 3, 1950.

    The state will need to make good on a number of other promises to achieve its climate goals. Here’s how California is faring toward those goals.

    In a video posted to Twitter on Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the heat across California unprecedented, and warned that the state is headed into the most severe stretch.

    “The risk for outages is real, and it’s immediate,” Newsom said. “These triple-digit temperatures throughout much of the state are leading, not surprisingly, to record demand on the energy grid.”

    He said the heat wave is “on track to be the hottest and longest on record” for California and parts of the West for September.

    The West has long experienced episodes of extreme temperatures, but studies have shown that human-caused climate change is making these heat waves more prolonged, frequent and intense.

    Heat tips

    Stay informed

    You can monitor your area’s forecast by going to the National Weather Service’s website and searching by city, state or ZIP Code for the latest weather updates and alerts. Follow local officials and agencies on social media for tips and information on available resources in your area. Keep an extreme heat checklist to make sure you are prepared.

    Stay indoors and dress in light clothing

    Officials from the National Weather Service and public health offices advise people to stay indoors as much as possible, particularly between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., when the sun is strongest. If you exercise outdoors, it’s recommended to do so early in the morning or later in the evening.

    If you don’t have air conditioning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends going to a mall or public library. You can also refer to your county’s website or call the local health department to learn about cooling centers in your area. Other options include taking a cool shower twice a day or even finding a shaded yard or park. (Health officials at UCLA say electric fans will not prevent heat-related illnesses when temperatures reach the high 90s and above.)

    An excessive heat watch is in place for much of Southern California this week. Keep yourself, your kids and your pets safe during hot temperatures with these tips.

    Watch out for heat-related illnesses

    According to the CDC, heat-related illnesses can range from heat rashes and sun burns to more serious conditions, including heat exhaustion and heatstroke, and result from the body’s inability to cool down by sweating. Signs of heatstroke, the most serious of the heat-related illnesses, include a temperature of 103 degrees or higher; hot, red, dry or damp skin; fast, strong pulse; headache; dizziness; nausea; confusion and losing consciousness. If you’re experiencing these symptoms, seek immediate medical attention. The CDC advises against drinking anything and recommends moving to a cool place and into a cold bath or using a cold cloth.

    Signs of heat exhaustion include heavy sweating; cold, pale and clammy skin; a fast, weak pulse; nausea or vomiting; muscle cramps; fatigue; dizziness; headaches and fainting. If you’re showing these symptoms, get out of the sun immediately, seek a cool place or cool towels and sip water. Monitor your symptoms and get help if you are vomiting, if the symptoms worsen or if they last longer than an hour.

    Stay hydrated

    Drinking plenty of fluids, particularly before going outdoors, is critical in preventing heat-related illnesses. Officials at UCLA warn against waiting until you’re thirsty to drink. During times of extreme heat, it’s best to drink at least two to four cups of water per hour. (For those working outside, the CDC suggests one cup of water, or 8 ounces, every 15 to 20 minutes.) Health officials also advise against drinking alcohol during times of extreme heat, as it causes dehydration and increases the risk of heat-related illnesses.

    It’s also important to replenish the salt and minerals your body loses when it sweats by drinking low-sugar fruit juices or sports drinks. Dietitians also recommend eating foods with high water content — think watermelon, celery and cucumbers — along with drinking the right fluids.

    Signs of dehydration in adults include extreme thirst; fatigue; dizziness; lightheadedness; dry mouth and/or lips, and infrequent urination. In infants or young children, look for dry mouths and tongues; no tears when crying; no wet diaper for more than three hours; sunken eyes and cheeks; a sunken soft spot on top of their head, and irritability or listlessness.

    (If your doctor has you on a particular diet, or regulates how much water you drink, ask about what steps you should take during heat waves to stay properly hydrated.)

    If you think it’s hot outside, then your pet is definitely feeling it. Here are tips on how to keep your furry friends cool in the heat.

    Check on the most vulnerable

    In addition to keeping yourself safe and healthy, check in frequently with those who are at high risk, including seniors, children, pregnant women, the unhoused, those who work outside and those without air conditioning. Heat also affects your pets, so keep them indoors, or if they will be outside, make sure they have plenty of water and a shaded area. Never leave a child or pet in the back seat of a car, as temperatures inside a vehicle can quickly skyrocket, even with windows cracked.

    To help homeless people, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health suggests donating water, electrolyte packages, light and loose-fitting clothing, tents, towels and other supplies to local organizations.

    Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-09-06/here-is-how-long-socals-heat-wave-will-last-and-how-the-forecast-is-slowly-changing

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    Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – The Washington Post
    Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – The Washington Post

    The Washington Post previously reported that FBI agents who searched Trump’s home were looking, in part, for any classified documents relating to nuclear weapons. After that story published, Trump compared it on social media to a host of previous government investigations into his conduct. “Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more. Same sleazy people involved,” he wrote, going on to suggest that FBI agents might have planted evidence against him.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/06/trump-nuclear-documents/

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    Trump-backed Geoff Diehl will take on Democrat Maura Healey in Massachusetts governor’s race, CNN projects – CNN
    Trump-backed Geoff Diehl will take on Democrat Maura Healey in Massachusetts governor’s race, CNN projects – CNN

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/massachusetts-primary-elections-diehl-doughty-healey/index.html

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    New video: Fake Trump elector lets poll deniers into Georgia office – Business Insider
    New video: Fake Trump elector lets poll deniers into Georgia office – Business Insider
    • A new video has added a layer of intrigue in the Georgia probe of Trump’s post-election actions.
    • A fake Trump elector was seen on tape letting Trump-linked operatives into the Coffee County office
    • The group included Cyber Ninjas’ CEO Doug Logan, the man behind the botched Arizona vote audit.

    A newly sourced video shows a fake Trump elector in Georgia letting data extraction experts associated with Donald Trump into an elections office on the day that the office’s voting systems were breached, according to CNN.

    Cathy Latham, who was working as the Coffee County elections supervisor during the 2020 election, was filmed allowing in at least two men who worked with the data firm SullivanStricker and whose visit was coordinated by Latham and former Trump attorney Sidney Powell.

    According to CNN, the two men in the video that Latham let in, Scott Hall and Paul Maggio, confirmed in court documents that they were able to extract at least half a terabyte of data from Dominion Voting Systems machines in the office.

     

    Latham was among the 16 GOP officials in Georgia who rejected the voters’ choice for then-presidential candidate Joe Biden and instead cast state electoral votes for Trump in a closed-door meeting on December 14, 2020. She was also the chairwoman of the Coffee County Republican Party at the time.

    Per The New York Times, this new video footage also shows that Doug Logan — CEO of Cyber Ninjas, a firm that gained infamy for its haphazard vote audit in Arizona’s Maricopa County — was one of the consultants let into the Coffee County office in January 2021. 

    After the election, a criminal probe was launched by the Fulton County District Attorney into election officials who breached election data, and Latham’s actions have become a focal point in the investigation. Trump and several allies, including Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham, have also been embroiled in the probe into whether state election laws were violated. 

    According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Latham had in May denied that she had allowed operatives in and that they had extracted data. 

    “That’s bull hockey. If that had happened, that would have been all over town,” Latham said. According to AJC, at least four visits between the data firm and Latham were coordinated. 

    Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported last month that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is also probing how a data firm linked to former Trump lawyer Powell had made copies of data from Dominion voting machines in Coffee County. It is currently unclear if the Powell associates who visited the Coffee County office or Logan had made any copies of data. 

    “While Mrs. Latham does not pretend to remember the details of all that occurred on that specific date more than a year and a half ago, she does remember going to the Elections Office after teaching school on January 7, 2021 to check in on some voter review panels from the runoff election, and she truthfully testified to those facts,” Robert Cheeley, her lawyer, told The Washington Post. Cheeley also claimed that his client “would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election.” 

    Latham did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. The Fulton County DA did not immediately provide comment.

    Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/video-fake-trump-elector-letting-election-deniers-georgia-county-office-2022-9

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    Bannon to Surrender to New York Authorities to Face Sealed Indictment – The New York Times
    Bannon to Surrender to New York Authorities to Face Sealed Indictment – The New York Times

    A federal judge declared a mistrial in the case against Mr. Shea in June after jurors reported an impasse, saying one juror had spoken in deliberations of a “government witch hunt” and refused to consider the evidence. Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said he planned to retry the case.

    We Build the Wall was popularized in Instagram and Twitter posts boasting of ties to Mr. Trump. It was also promoted by Donald Trump Jr. and assembled an advisory board of right-wing luminaries. They included David Clarke, the former sheriff of Milwaukee County in Wisconsin; Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state; and Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater, now known as Academi.

    Few ideas were as galvanizing to Mr. Trump’s supporters as creating a physical barrier at the border. Chants of “build that wall” rang out during rallies. Many supporters saw the structure as the embodiment of Mr. Trump’s “America First” policies.

    We Build the Wall was created to spur on the administration, which ultimately built about 450 miles of a wall along the border.

    Mr. Kolfage had launched a GoFundMe campaign to further the effort. Prosecutors said that he raised about $17 million in a week with Mr. Shea’s help. But GoFundMe suspended the campaign, saying it would return the donated money unless Mr. Kolfage found a nonprofit group to administer it, prosecutors said.

    Soon Mr. Bannon and Mr. Badolato, who were working on a nonprofit meant to promote economic nationalism and American sovereignty, joined the campaign.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/07/nyregion/bannon-surrender-sealed-indictment.html

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    New Mexico judge bars "Cowboys for Trump" founder from office over participation in Jan. 6 assault – CBS News
    New Mexico judge bars "Cowboys for Trump" founder from office over participation in Jan. 6 assault – CBS News

    Washington — A New Mexico state court judge ruled Thursday that the founder of the group “Cowboys for Trump” must be removed from his post as an Otero County commissioner due to his participation in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

    Judge Francis Mathew, of the 1st Judicial District Court in Santa Fe, ordered Couy Griffin to be stripped of his position effective immediately and permanently prohibited him from seeking or holding any federal or state position. In his ruling, Mathew said Griffin is barred from public office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment because he “engaged in” the Jan. 6 insurrection and became disqualified from serving in federal or state elected positions the day he participated in the Capitol assault.

    An obscure provision of the 14th Amendment, Section 3 states that “no person shall be a senator or representative in Congress” or “hold any office, civil or military” if they, after having taken an oath to support the Constitution, “engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” The provision was originally meant to bar members of the Confederacy from holding office after the Civil War.

    Griffin was convicted in March of illegally entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 and sentenced in June to 14 days in jail, with credit for time served and one year of supervised release. He was also required to pay a $3,000 fine and complete 60 hours of community service.

    In his 49-page decision, Matthew accused Griffin of attempting to “sanitize” his actions on Jan. 6. Griffin’s “protestations and characterizations” of the events of Jan. 6 are “not credible and amount to nothing more than attempting to put lipstick on a pig,” the judge said.

    “The irony of Mr. Griffin’s argument that this court should refrain from applying the law and consider the will of the people in District Two of Otero County who retained him as a county commissioner against a recall effort as he attempts to defend his participation in an insurrection by a mob whose goal, by his own admission, was to set aside the results of a free, fair and lawful election by a majority of the people of the entire country (the will of the people) has not escaped this court,” Mathew wrote.

    Tuesday’s ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed in March by a group of New Mexico residents, represented by the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). New Mexico law allows any private citizen of the state to file a lawsuit to remove a person who unlawfully holds public office there, and they argued Griffin is disqualified from federal and state office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment due to his engagement in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol and related events.

    In his decision, Mathew mapped out Griffin’s actions in the run-up to and during the Jan. 6 attack, and said he and Cowboys for Trump played a “key role” in the “Stop the Steal” movement, participating in rallies and amplifying baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. 

    After examining the events of Jan. 6 and Griffin’s actions, Mathew deemed the attack on the Capitol an insurrection and concluded Griffin engaged in it.

    “Because state law required Mr. Griffin to take an oath to support the Constitution as a county official and he did so, the court concludes he is subject to disqualification under Section Three,” he wrote.

    The ruling from Mathews marks the first time in more than 150 years that a court has disqualified a public official under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment and the first time any court has found the events of Jan. 6 were an insurrection, according to CREW.

    The group’s president, Noah Bookbinder, called the decision “a historic win for accountability.”

    “Protecting American democracy means ensuring those who violate their oaths to the Constitution are held responsible,” he said in a statement. “This decision makes clear that any current or former public officials who took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution and then participated in the January 6th insurrection can and will be removed and barred from government service for their actions.”

    Section 3 of the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War to keep former Confederate officers and officials from holding office again unless they received permission from Congress to do so. While seldom invoked over the last 150 years, the group Free Speech for People has spearheaded lawsuits targeting lawmakers in other states over their roles in the Jan. 6 assault, though none have succeeded.

    An administrative law judge in Georgia ruled in May that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican, may remain on the ballot in the state after a group of voters attempted to disqualify her from running for reelection under Section 3.

    A federal district court judge in North Carolina also blocked the state Board of Elections from hearing a challenge to GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s candidacy. The challenge was dismissed after Cawthorn lost his primary.


    Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/couy-griffin-january-6-new-mexico-judge-14th-amendment/

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    Eliza Fletcher – live: ‘Heartbroken’ family of Memphis heiress speak out as Cleotha Abston charged with murder – The Independent
    Eliza Fletcher – live: ‘Heartbroken’ family of Memphis heiress speak out as Cleotha Abston charged with murder – The Independent

    The “heartbroken” family of murdered Memphis heiress Eliza Fletcher have issued a statement saying they are devastated by her “senseless loss”.

    “Liza was such a joy to so many – her family, friends, colleagues, students, parents, members of her Second Presbyterian Church Congregation and everyone who knew her,” the statement, shared by Newstalk 989, read.

    Ms Fletcher, 34-year-old mother of two and granddaughter of billionaire Joseph Orgill III, was snatched while out jogging near the University of Memphis campus and forced into an SUV at 4am on Friday.

    Her body was recovered on Monday, four days after her abduction from a vacant duplex after a series of searches over the Labour Day weekend.

    Police have charged Cleotha Abston with the kidnapping and killing of the business heiress. He was jailed on Saturday in connection with her abduction after police detected his DNA on a pair of sandals found near where Fletcher had last been seen.

    “We are grateful beyond measure to local, state and federal law enforcement for their tireless efforts to find Liza and to bring justice to the person responsible for this horrible crime,” the family statement said.

    1662540300

    Eliza Fletcher’s family break silence on ‘senseless’ killing of Memphis heiress

    “Now it’s time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much for her,” family of Eliza Fletcher said in a statement.

    Rachel Sharp has the full story.

    Eliza Fletcher’s family break silence on ‘senseless’ killing of Memphis heiress

    The body of the kindergarten teacher was discovered on Monday afternoon in long grass behind a vacant apartment in south Memphis – more than 48 hours on from her violent abduction

    1662536700

    Police reveal new details on how they located Eliza Fletcher’s body

    Police have released new details about how they located Eliza Fletcher’s body in an amended affidavit filed on Tuesday.

    According to the affidavit, officers from Memphis Police Department, and federal and state partners searching for Ms Fletcher noticed vehicle tracks in tall grass leading to a vacant apartment at at 1666 Victor St at 5.07pm on Monday.

    A search and rescue officer smelled an “odour of decay” and spotted a set of footprints in the rear driveway of the premises. He then saw an “unresponsive female” lying on the ground.

    The person, who matched a description of Ms Fletcher, was pronounced dead by the medical examiner shortly afterwards, according to the court document.

    Police found a pair of purple Lululemon running shorts that were consistent with a pair Ms Fletcher was wearing when she disappeared discarded in a trash bag nearby.

    Surveillance footage showed Mr Abston’s black GMC Terrain nearby between 5.48am and 5.52am, the affidavit states.

    Eliza Fletcher’s purple Lululemon running shorts were found discarded in a trash bag close to where her body was found, police say

    1662535190

    Tucker Carlson blames suspect’s early release for Fletcher’s killing

    Tucker Carlson slammed the authorities for the early release of Cleotha Abston, the man charged with the killing of Eliza Fletcher, as he highlighted what he claimed was a lax law and order situation in Memphis.

    “Cleotha Abston was a predator,” began Carlson in his Fox News show. “In 2000, he was convicted of kidnapping a local attorney at gunpoint downtown and forcing him into the trunk of his own car,” he said.

    “…But like most life long criminals, Cleotha Abston was never full punished for what he did.

    “He was released years before the end of his prison sentence. Nor was he in any way sense reformed by his experience behind bars,” Carlson said.

    “Abston was well known in his apartment complex as of last week for his sexual aggression and his perversity. He terrified his neighbours, but no one from any part of the justice system seems to have intervened.”

    Cleotha Abston on Saturday, 2 September 2022

    Remembering Memphis as “one of the richest, best organised cities in the country” about 100 years ago, Carlson said, it was now the “most dangerous city in the United States”.

    “Last year, it recorded a total of 342 murders. Now, how many is that? Well, by comparison, San Antonio, Texas, which has more than twice the population, recorded fewer than half as many murders,” he said as he attacked Joe Biden voters for allegedly dismissing the crime on racial grounds.

    “In the hours after Eliza Fletcher’s disappearance, Biden voters on social media seemed to dismiss the crime on racial grounds. ‘Why are we paying so much attention to the kidnapping of an attractive, privileged White woman? That’s racist’,” he said.

    “Others seem to blame Fletcher for the atrocity committed against her. ‘Why was she jogging at that hour, anyway? In Memphis? Come on.’“An American citizen should be able to live or walk anywhere in America without being raped or murdered for it, period. That is the baseline requirement for civilisation. It’s called order,” he added.

    1662531349

    Lengthy criminal record of Cleotha Abston

    Cleotha Abston, the suspect charged with the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher, had been on the wrong side of the law since he was 11 years of age, reported CBS affiliated WREG News.

    Though he had a “good relationship with his family”, Abston had a rough childhood, say court documents, adding that he was first arrested for theft in 1995.

    In the subsequent years, he was arrested for several felony offences including burglary, theft, aggravated assault, violation of curfew, truancy, rape and evading arrest, reported the outlet.

    Cleotha Abston appears in Judge Louis Montesi courtroom for his arraignment on Tuesday, 6 September 2022 in Memphis

    According to his file, he had no suicidal gestures, medical problems or mental illness but was listed as “100 per cent violent”.

    Abston was only 16 at the time when he pleaded guilty for kidnapping in 2000 and ended up serving two decades in prison.

    His victim said he was “extremely lucky he was able to escape” that night as he feared he “would have been killed” had he not slipped.

    1662529500

    Previous kidnapping victim of Cleotha Abston believed he was going to be killed

    Memphis attorney Kemper Durand said in a 2003 victim impact statement that he was “lucky” to escape from Abston, now 38, during the violent kidnapping back in 2000.

    Rachel Sharp has the full story.

    Kidnap victim believed Cleotha Abston would kill him – before Eliza Fletcher’s murder

    Cleotha Abston was convicted of kidnapping Memphis attorney Kemper Durand in 2000

    1662527749

    Abston informs court he cannot afford $510,000 bond and attorney

    Cleotha Abston, a convicted kidnapper charged with the kidnapping and first-degree murder of Tennessee heiress Eliza Fletcher, informed the court that he cannot afford a $510,000 bond or an attorney.

    Prosecutors have sought more time to adjust the bond after Abston’s charges were upgraded from kidnapping to include first-degree murder.

    According to the police, the sandals they recovered near Fletcher’s water bottle and cell phone after her abduction had DNA which matched that of Abston.

    He was also seen wearing them the night before her abduction, it said.The arrest affidavit from the police also claimed that his cell phone was found in the same area where Fletcher was abducted.

    Court records show that Abston, 38, was previously charged with aggravated kidnapping in June 2000 and served 20 years in prison before being released in 2020.

    1662525900

    Timeline of events in abduction and murder of Memphis heiress

    Cleotha Abston has been charged with her murder and abduction.

    Here is a timeline of events in the case.

    Eliza Fletcher: Timeline of events in abduction and murder of Memphis heiress

    Cleotha Abston has been charged with the kidnapping and murder of Eliza Fletcher. Here is a timeline of events in the case

    1662524149

    Video emerges of Eliza Fletcher singing to her students and playing with her dog, as alleged killer is charged

    In the clip, Fletcher, a junior teacher at St Mary’s Episcopal school in Memphis, sings “This Little Light of Mine” and tells students about her dog.

    The video, which has been viewed more than 530,000 times on Twitter, comes from Fletcher’s YouTube channel.

    Read the details in this report from Josh Marcus:

    Video emerges of Eliza Fletcher singing to students, as alleged killer is charged

    Suspected killer has been arrested

    1662522308

    Everything we know about suspect in kidnapping of Memphis teacher Eliza Fletcher

    Cleotha Abston, who has been charged with the abduction and murder of heiress Eliza Fletcher, spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and robbery before being released in 2020.

    Here’s everything we know about Mr Abston.

    Cleotha Abston: Everything we know about suspect in kidnapping of Eliza Fletcher

    Suspect in murdered heiress case spent 20 years in prison for kidnapping and robbery before being released in 2020, according to authorities

    1662521596

    Video footage shows murder suspect Cleotha Abston cleaning SUV after Eliza Fletcher’s murder

    The 95 second clip shows Mr Abston returning to the apartment at Longview Garden, South Memphis in a GMC Terrain at 7.57am on the morning, the station reports.
    He parks the vehicle and can then be seen carrying materials to the car from an apartment block.

    My colleague Bevan Hurley has more:

    Video footage shows murder suspect Cleotha Abston cleaning SUV after heiress’s murder

    Police say Cleotha Abston washed the SUV with a commercial cleaning product after abducting Eliza Fletcher

    Source Article from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/memphis-jogger-eliza-fletcher-kidnapping-body-found-b2160528.html

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    Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – The Washington Post
    Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago – The Washington Post

    The Washington Post previously reported that FBI agents who searched Trump’s home were looking, in part, for any classified documents relating to nuclear weapons. After that story published, Trump compared it on social media to a host of previous government investigations into his conduct. “Nuclear weapons issue is a Hoax, just like Russia, Russia, Russia was a Hoax, two Impeachments were a Hoax, the Mueller investigation was a Hoax, and much more. Same sleazy people involved,” he wrote, going on to suggest that FBI agents might have planted evidence against him.

    Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/06/trump-nuclear-documents/

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    Surveillance video shows Georgia ‘fake elector’ escorting operatives into elections office before alleged data breach – NBC News
    Surveillance video shows Georgia ‘fake elector’ escorting operatives into elections office before alleged data breach – NBC News
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    Video fills in details on alleged Ga. election system breach – The Associated Press – en Español
    Video fills in details on alleged Ga. election system breach – The Associated Press – en Español

    ATLANTA (AP) — Two months after the 2020 presidential election, a team of computer experts traveled to south Georgia to copy software and data from voting equipment in an apparent breach of a county election system. They were greeted outside by the head of the local Republican Party, who was involved in efforts by then-President Donald Trump to overturn his election loss.

    A security camera outside the elections office in rural Coffee County captured their arrival. The footage also shows that some local election officials were at the office during what the Georgia secretary of state’s office has described as “alleged unauthorized access” of election equipment.

    Security footage from two weeks later raises additional alarms — showing two people who were instrumental in Trump’s wider efforts to undermine the election results entering the office and staying for hours.

    The security video from the elections office in the county about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta offers a glimpse of the lengths Trump’s allies went in service of his fraudulent election claims. It further shows how access allegedly was facilitated by local officials entrusted with protecting the security of elections while raising concerns about sensitive voting technology being released into the public domain.

    Georgia wasn’t the only state where voting equipment was accessed after the 2020 presidential election. Important information about voting systems also was compromised in election offices in Pennsylvania,Michigan and Colorado. Election security experts worry the information obtained — including complete copies of hard drives — could be exploited by those who want to interfere with future elections.

    “The system is only as secure as the people who are entrusted to keep it secure,” said lawyer David Cross, who represents plaintiffs in a long-running lawsuit over Georgia’s voting machines.

    The Coffee County security footage was obtained through that lawsuit, which alleges that Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines are vulnerable to attack and should be replaced by hand-marked paper ballots. The suit long predates and is unrelated to false allegations of widespread election fraud pushed by Trump and his allies after the 2020 election.

    The alleged breach in Coffee County’s elections office also has caught the attention of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing an investigation into whether Trump and his allies illegally tried to influence the 2020 election results in Georgia.

    Last month, Willis cited the Coffee County activity, among other things, when she sought to compel testimony from Sidney Powell, an attorney who was deeply involved in Trump’s effort to undo the election results.

    Emails and other records show Powell and other attorneys linked to Trump helped arrange for a team from data solutions company SullivanStrickler to travel to Coffee County, which Trump won by nearly 40 percentage points.

    The surveillance video, emails and other documents that shed light on what happened there in January 2021 were produced in response to subpoenas issued in the voting machine lawsuit and were obtained by The Associated Press. Parts of the security video appear to contradict claims by some of the local officials:

    — Footage captures Cathy Latham, then chair of the Coffee County Republican Party, arriving at the elections office shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol. Just a few weeks earlier, she was one of 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Trump had won the state and declaring that they were the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.

    A few minutes after her arrival, she is seen outside greeting SullivanStrickler Chief Operating Officer Paul Maggio and two other people. Less than 10 minutes later, she escorts two other men into the building.

    The video shows her leaving the elections office just before 1:30 p.m., roughly two hours after she greeted the SullivanStrickler team. She returns a little before 4 p.m. and then leaves around 6:15 p.m.

    Latham said under oath during a deposition in August that she stopped by the elections office that evening for “Just a few minutes” and left before 5 p.m. Pressed on whether she had been there earlier in the day, Latham said she couldn’t recall but suggested her schedule as a teacher would not have allowed it.

    A lawyer for SullivanStrickler said in an email attached to a court filing that Latham was a “primary point of contact” in coordinating the company’s work and “was on site” while that work was done.

    Robert Cheeley, a lawyer for Latham said in an emailed statement that his client doesn’t remember all the details of that day. But he said she “would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election” and “has not acted improperly or illegally.”

    — The video also shows Eric Chaney, a member of Coffee County’s election board, arriving shortly before 11 a.m. the same day and going in and out several times before leaving for the night around 7:40 p.m. Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the voting machine lawsuit wrote in a court filing that a photo produced by SullivanStrickler’s COO shows Chaney in the office as the copying is happening.

    During a deposition last month, Chaney declined to answer many questions about that day, citing the Fifth Amendment. But when an attorney representing the county reached out to him in April regarding questions from the The Washington Post, Chaney wrote, “I am not aware of nor was I present at the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration’s office when anyone illegally accessed the server or the room in which it is contained.” Chaney resigned from the elections board last month, days before his deposition.

    Attempts to reach Chaney by phone were unsuccessful, and his lawyer did not respond to an email seeking comment.

    — About two weeks after the initial breach, video shows Misty Hampton — then the county elections director — arriving at the elections office at 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 18, when it was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She unlocked the door and let in two men — Doug Logan and Jeff Lenberg, who have been active in efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.

    Logan founded Cyber Ninjas, which participated in a partisan and ultimately discredited review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona. The two men remained inside until just after 8 p.m. and then spent more than nine hours there the next day. Lenberg returned for brief visits on at least three more days later that month.

    Hampton resigned as elections supervisor in February 2021 after elections board officials said she falsified her timesheets. Attempts by the AP to reach her were unsuccessful.

    In a statement released by its attorney, SullivanStrickler said the company was retained by attorneys to forensically copy voting machines used in the 2020 election and had no reason to believe they would ask its employees to do anything improper.

    The Georgia secretary of state’s office said it opened an investigation in March and asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for assistance last month. State officials have said the system remains secure because of multiple protections in place.

    Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-technology-donald-trump-voting-92c0ace71d7bee6151dd33938688371e

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    Liz Truss says UK can ‘ride out the storm’ in first speech as prime minister – CNN
    Liz Truss says UK can ‘ride out the storm’ in first speech as prime minister – CNN

    Liz Truss became the third female prime minister in British history on Tuesday and pledged to immediately set about tackling the United Kingdom’s spiraling cost of living crisis, saying she was confident that “together we can ride out of the storm” of economic problems facing the nation.

    Truss, 47, took office on a day of ceremony that saw her scandal-plagued predecessor Boris Johnson bow out in a defiant speech at Downing Street in London before both politicians flew to meet the Queen in Scotland for a transfer of power.

    Truss, who served as foreign minister in the previous government, enters office after winning the most votes in the Conservative Party leadership contest to replace Johnson, who announced his resignation in July in the wake of a series of scandals. Her appointment fills a monthslong leadership void that the UK has endured as its worst economic crisis in decades has worsened.

    Truss’s to-do list is long, with the country facing a deepening cost-of-living crisis, a crumbling healthcare service, and a seemingly endless wave of labor strikes.

    Speaking on the steps of Downing Street on Tuesday evening, Truss said her priorities were delivering tax cuts to grow the economy, improving Britain’s energy security amid soaring prices, and fixing the National Health Service, thoug she did not outline any specific policies.

    She also said she would defend freedom and democracy in the face of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    “I will deal hands on with the energy crisis forged by Putin’s war. I will take action this week to deal with energy bills and to secure our future energy supply,” Truss said. “By delivering on the economy, on energy and on the NHS, we will put our nation on the path to long-term success.”

    She ended on an optimistic note, acknowledging the many difficulties the UK faced at the moment.

    “We should not be daunted by the challenges we face. As strong as the storm may be, I know that the British people are stronger,” Truss said. “Our country was built by people who get things done. We have huge reserves of talent, of energy and determination and I am confident that together we can ride out the storm.”

    The most urgent problem Truss must address is the skyrocketing cost of energy, which could unleash a wave of business closures and force millions of Britons to choose between putting food on the table and heating their homes this winter. Experts have warned that people will become destitute and cold-weather deaths will rise unless something is done fast.

    The Bank of England anticipates that inflation in the UK will jump to 13% as the energy crisis intensifies, and that the country will enter recession before the end of the year. Goldman Sachs has warned inflation could even reach 22% if natural gas prices “remain elevated at current levels.”

    Truss was formally installed as prime minister on Tuesday after visiting Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle, one the royal estates in Scotland, in a break with norms.

    Traditionally, the Queen invites a new prime minister to form a government during an audience at London’s Buckingham Palace – but for the first time in her 70-year reign, the monarch chose not to travel to the British capital as a precaution due to her mobility issues.

    Truss’s meeting with the monarch took place shortly after Johnson met with the Queen to officially resign as prime minister.

    Liz Truss has many challenges ahead of her — including a party now well versed in regicide

    In his farewell speech outside Downing Street early Tuesday, Johnson touted his achievements, made no mention of failures, and pledged to support Truss’ new government.

    “Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plow, and I will be offering this government nothing but my fervent support,” referring to a Roman statesman who according to legend devoted himself to the republic during times of crisis. “It’s time for us all to get behind Liz Truss and her team and her program.”

    Truss will now set out to appoint a Cabinet, and will be expected to promote many allies who backed her leadership campaign. Kwasi Kwarteng and Suella Braverman are tipped for promotions; two Johnson loyalists, Nadine Dorries and Priti Patel, have quit.

    Truss will also be expected to outline her plans for dealing with the UK’s urgent cost-of-living crisis as soon as possible. Her political opponents, both inside and outside the Conservative Party, will not deem it acceptable if the new leader fails to outline specific policies in the next 48 hours.

    Truss will then face the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, for her first Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday afternoon, which will be seen by her team as an important moment to set the tone of her leadership.

    Particular attention will be paid to how much Truss deviate’s from Johnson’s legislative agenda, particularly as she was seen as the Johnson continuity candidate in the leadership race.

    Who is Liz Truss?

    Truss, who served most recently as foreign minister in Johnson’s government, follows Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to become Britain’s third female premier.

    In recent years, Truss has been compared to Thatcher, who, for many on the right, remains the benchmark for Conservative leaders. She was a tax-cutting, hard-nosed leader who took on the unions and played a large role in ending the Cold War. Like Thatcher, Truss has come from relatively humble beginnings to dominate a world inhabited largely by men.

    Truss ran her leadership campaign on a classic Conservative platform, promising tax cuts for citizens and no new taxes for businesses, including ruling out a windfall tax on energy companies to deal with the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

    Analysts are skeptical that Truss’s tax-cutting policies will do much help citizens, especially after a decade of Conservative austerity policies. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent research group focusing on public finances, said last month that Truss and leadership rival Rishi Sunak, who were both promising tax cuts and smaller government spending, “need to recognise this even greater-than-usual uncertainty in the public finances.”

    Despite voting to remain in the European Union back in 2016, in recent years she has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the European Union and staunchest supporters of Brexit.

    Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, is a political shape-shifter. Now she’s set for her toughest transformation yet

    But critics have accused her new-found hardline Brexit stance of being a cynical ploy. They have pointed to the fact that throughout her adult life Truss has evolved, from being an anti-monarchist Liberal Democrat in favor of legalizing drugs in her youth to the embodiment of the Conservative right today.

    Before the Brexit referendum, Truss said that she was “backing remain as I believe it is in Britain’s economic interest and means we can focus on vital economic and social reform at home.” Cabinet colleagues at the time said she never voiced any opposition to staying in the EU, despite having ample opportunities to do so.

    These days, Truss is more than happy to pick fights with Brussels and to claim that it was the EU all along that held the British economy back.

    Truss’ victory over Sunak, the former finance secretary, was smaller than expected, which means she may have to accommodate a wider range of views from her party. That could entail embracing more of Sunak’s ideas around the cost-of-living crisis, and a less aggressive approach to tax cuts.

    Many Conservative MPs are privately worried that Truss’ modern-day Thatcherism could cost them the next election, and will be leaping on the surprisingly low margin of victory to encourage her to soften her economic stance.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/uk/liz-truss-officially-new-prime-minister-uk-gbr-intl/index.html

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    Body found in Memphis identified as abducted jogger Eliza Fletcher – CBS News
    Body found in Memphis identified as abducted jogger Eliza Fletcher – CBS News

    A body found in a Memphis neighborhood Monday was confirmed to be a Tennessee woman who was abducted late last week, police said Tuesday. Eliza Fletcher, 34, was seen on surveillance video being forced into an SUV while she was jogging near the University of Memphis early Friday morning.

    The suspect arrested in the case, 38-year-old Cleotha Abston, is being charged with first-degree murder and first-degree murder in perpetration of kidnapping, police said. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis told reporters it was possible others would be charged in the case but as of Tuesday morning no one else has.

    Davis said it was too early for investigators to determine how and where Fletcher died. Abston hasn’t provided much information to investigators, Davis said.

    Steven Mulroy, the district attorney for Shelby County, which includes Memphis, said Abston would be arraigned on the murder charges Wednesday.

    “We have no reason to think this was anything other than an isolated attack by a stranger,” Mulroy told reporters.

    Abston appeared before a judge earlier Tuesday on charges of kidnapping, tampering with evidence, theft, identity theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. Relatives of Fletcher and more than 20 media members were in the courtroom.

    Abston was issued a $510,000 bond. Abston said he could not afford bond and he could not afford a lawyer. General Sessions Judge Louis Montesi appointed a public defender to represent Abston.

    U.S. marshals arrested Abston Saturday after police detected his DNA on a pair of sandals found near where Fletcher was last seen, according to an arrest affidavit.

    Police also linked the vehicle they believe was used in the kidnapping to a person at a home where Abston was staying.

    Late Monday, police tweeted that a body had been found but that the identity of that person and the cause of death was unconfirmed. A large police presence was reported in the area where authorities reported finding the body just after 5 p.m. Memphis police had searched several locations with dogs, ATVs and a helicopter throughout the long Labor Day weekend.

    Fletcher, a school teacher, is the granddaughter of the late Joseph Orgill III, a Memphis hardware businessman and philanthropist. The family has released a video statement asking for help in finding Fletcher and offered a $50,000 reward for information in the case.

    Abston previously kidnapped a prominent Memphis attorney in 2000, the Commercial Appeal reported. When he was just 16 years old, Abston forced Kemper Durand into the trunk of his own car at gunpoint. After several hours, Abston took Durand out and forced him to drive to a Mapco gas station to withdraw money from an ATM.

    At the station, an armed Memphis Housing Authority guard walked in and Durand yelled for help. Abston ran away but was found and arrested. He pleaded guilty in 2001 to especially aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery, according to court records. He received a 24-year sentence.

    Durand, in a victim impact statement, wrote, “I was extremely lucky that I was able to escape from the custody of Cleotha Abston. … It is quite likely that I would have been killed had I not escaped,” the Commercial Appeal reported.

    Durand died in 2013, seven years before Abston would be released in November 2020 at age 36. In the two years since his release, there were no further documented charges against Abston in Shelby County prior to his Saturday arrest, the Commercial Appeal reported.

    During Tuesday morning’s press conference, Mulroy seemed to refer to Abston’s criminal history, saying, “Any kind of violence, of course, is unacceptable, but repeat violent offenders particularly deserve a strong response, and that’s what they’ll get from this district attorney’s office.”


    Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eliza-fletcher-body-identified-memphis-abducted-jogger/

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    Liz Truss becomes Britain’s new prime minister – The Associated Press – en Español
    Liz Truss becomes Britain’s new prime minister – The Associated Press – en Español

    LONDON (AP) — Liz Truss became U.K. prime minister on Tuesday and immediately confronted the enormous task ahead of her amid increasing pressure to curb soaring prices, ease labor unrest and fix a health care system burdened by long waiting lists and staff shortages.

    At the top of her inbox is the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which threatens to push energy bills to unaffordable levels, shuttering businesses and leaving the nation’s poorest people shivering in icy homes this winter.

    Truss, who refused to spell out her energy strategy during the two-month campaign to succeed Boris Johnson, now plans to cap energy bills at a cost to taxpayers of as much as 100 billion pounds ($116 billion), British news media reported Tuesday. She is expected to unveil her plan on Thursday.

    “We shouldn’t be daunted by the challenges we face, “ she said in her first speech outside her Downing Street office. “As strong as the storm may be, I know the British people are stronger.”

    Truss said she would focus on tackling Britain’s energy crisis, struggling economy and overburdened health service. She promised to grow the economy and make the U.K. an “aspiration nation,” but acknowledged the country faces “severe global headwinds” because of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine.

    Truss, 47, took office Tuesday afternoon at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, when Queen Elizabeth II formally asked her to form a new government in a carefully choreographed ceremony dictated by centuries of tradition. Johnson, who announced his intention to step down two months ago, formally resigned during his own audience with the queen a short time earlier.

    It was the first time in the queen’s 70-year reign that the handover of power took place at Balmoral, rather than Buckingham Palace in London. The ceremony was moved to Scotland to provide certainty about the schedule, because the 96-year-old queen has experienced problems getting around that have forced palace officials to make decisions about her travel on a day-to-day basis.

    Truss became prime minister a day after the ruling Conservative Party chose her as its leader in an election where the party’s 172,000 dues-paying members were the only voters. As party leader, Truss automatically became prime minister without the need for a general election because the Conservatives still have a majority in the House of Commons.

    But as a national leader selected by less than 0.5% of British adults, Truss is under pressure to show quick results.

    Ed Davey, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, on Tuesday called for an early election in October — something that Truss and the Conservative Party are highly unlikely to do since the Tories are slumping in the polls.

    “I’ve listened to Liz Truss during the Tory leadership (campaign) and I was looking for a plan to help people with their skyrocketing energy bills, with the NHS crisis and so on, and I heard no plan at all,” he told the BBC. “Given people are really worried, given people are losing sleep over their energy bills, businesses aren’t investing because of the crisis, I think that’s really wrong.”

    Johnson took note of the strains facing Britain as he left the prime minister’s official residence at No. 10 Downing Street for the last time, saying his policies had left the government with the economic strength to help people weather the energy crisis.

    Always colorful, he thinly disguised his bitterness at being forced out.

    “I am like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function,” Johnson said. “I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.”

    Many observers expect Johnson to attempt a political comeback, though he was cyrptic about his plans. Instead, the man who studied classics at the University of Oxford backed Truss and compared himself to Cincinnatus, the Roman dictator who relinquished power and returned to his farm to live in peace.

    “Like Cincinnatus, I am returning to my plow,” he said.

    Johnson, 58, became prime minister three years ago after his predecessor, Theresa May, failed to deliver Britain’s departure from the European Union. Johnson later won an 80-seat majority in Parliament with the promise to “get Brexit done.”

    But he was forced out of office by a series of scandals that culminated in the resignation of dozens of Cabinet secretaries and lower-level officials in early July. That paved the way for Truss, a one-time accountant who was first elected to the House of Commons in 2010.

    Many people in Britain are still learning about their new leader.

    Unlike Johnson, who made himself a media celebrity long before he became prime minister, Truss rose quietly through the Conservative ranks before she was named foreign secretary, one of the top Cabinet posts, just a year ago.

    She is expected to make her first speech as prime minister Tuesday afternoon outside No. 10 Downing Street.

    Truss is under pressure to spell out how she plans to help consumers pay household energy bills that are set to rise to an average of 3,500 pounds ($4,000) a year — triple the cost of a year ago — on Oct. 1 unless she intervenes.

    Rising food and energy prices, driven by the invasion of Ukraine and the aftershocks of COVID-19 and Brexit, have propelled U.K. inflation above 10% for the first time in four decades. The Bank of England forecasts it will hit 13.3% in October, and that the U.K. will slip into a prolonged recession by the end of the year.

    Train drivers, port staff, garbage collectors, postal workers and lawyers have all staged strikes to demand that pay increases keep pace with inflation, and millions more, from teachers to nurses, could walk out in the next few months.

    Truss, a low-tax, small-government conservative who admires Margaret Thatcher, says her priority is cutting taxes and slashing regulations to fuel economic growth. Critics say that will fuel further inflation while failing to address the cost-of-living crisis. The uncertainty has rattled money markets, driving the pound below $1.14 on Monday, its weakest since the 1980s.

    In theory, Truss has time to make her mark: She doesn’t have to call a national election until late 2024. But opinion polls already give the main opposition Labour Party a steady lead, and the worse the economy gets, the more pressure will grow.

    In addition to Britain’s domestic woes, Truss and her new Cabinet will also face multiple foreign policy crises, including the war in Ukraine and frosty post-Brexit relations with the EU.

    Truss, as foreign secretary, was a firm supporter of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia. She has said her first phone call with a world leader will be to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    Truss has also pledged to increase U.K. defense spending to 3% of gross domestic product from just over 2% — another expensive promise.

    But she’s likely to have much cooler conversations with EU leaders, who were annoyed by her uncompromising stance as foreign secretary in talks over trade rules for Northern Ireland, an unresolved Brexit issue that has soured relations between London and Brussels. With the U.K. threatening to breach the legally binding divorce treaty, and the EU launching legal action in response, the dispute could escalate into a trade war.

    “I think she’s got a big, challenging job ahead of her,″ Robert Conway, 71, an electronics manufacturer, said in London. “Hopefully she’ll bring that, a new team, a new start, but it’s going to be a challenging job.”

    ___

    Susie Blann, Sylvia Hui and Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.

    Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-queen-elizabeth-ii-boris-johnson-inflation-economy-04ef887cf023d80606f7c6ccf2d5ac68

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