Vladimir Putin has pushed more troops to the frontline in Avdiivka, Ukraine, despite a failing offensive which has incurred heavy losses. The reinforcements are set to arrive after Russian soldiers have become bogged down there in recent weeks, the ISW reported, citing Russian military bloggers. Russian assaults in Avdiivka have contributed to “a 90 per cent increase in Russian casualties”, the Ukrainian ministry of defence claimed. It comes as Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of 802 children from 23 settlements in Kherson, according to the Reintegration ministry. The children with their parents or legal guardians will leave the Beryslav, Kakhovka, and Kherson districts for safer regions, the ministry said on Telegram. Meanwhile, Russia has amassed “150,000-190,000 permanent casualties” in the war with Ukraine, the UK defence ministry said. In other developments, six people have been killed in a Russian missile attack that hit a postal distribution centre in Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials have said, as Kherson has seen a record number of bomb attacks in the past 24 hours. Read More Spanish police say they have confiscated ancient gold jewelry worth millions taken from Ukraine Ukraine destroys all Russia-launched drones and cruise missile in overnight attacks Ukrainian and Russian forces clashed 82 times in a single day

Long viewed as the most formidable challenger to Donald Trump in the Republican US presidential nominating contest, Ron DeSantis boasts a record of ultra-conservative legislative wins...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for protection of civilians in both the Gaza Strip and Israel as the Israeli military ordered half of the Palestinian territory’s population to evacuate in advance of an expected ground assault

The United Nations says it has been forced to cut food, cash payments and assistance to millions of people in many countries because of “a crippling funding crisis” that has seen its donations plummet by about half as acute hunger is hitting record levels

Martin Truex Jr. has won at Sonoma Raceway for the fourth time

Slow starts and big finishes

Donald Trump kept classified documents from seven agencies after leaving the White House, the 49-page and 37-count unsealed indictment against the former president has revealed. The agencies include the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Department of Energy, and the Department of State and its Bureau of Intelligence and Research. The indictment outlined the responsibilities of each agency with the CIA being in charge of “providing intelligence on foreign countries and global issues to the president”, the DoD being responsible for “providing the military forces needed to deter war and ensure national security”, the NSA working on “foreign signals intelligence and cybersecurity”, the Geospatial Intelligence Agency leading “the exploitation and analysis of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geospatial information in support of the national security objectives”. A number of the agencies are under the umbrella of the Defense Department, including the Reconnaissance Office which is “responsible for developing, acquiring, launching, and operating space-based surveillance”, while the Department of Energy is in charge of “maintaining a safe, secure, and effective nuclear deterrent to protect national security”. “The Department of State was responsible for protecting and promoting United States security, prosperity, and democratic values. Within the Department of State, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research was a member of the USIC and responsible for providing intelligence to inform diplomacy and support United States diplomats,” the indictment states. The indictment, unsealed on Friday afternoon, stems from Mr Trump’s allegedly unlawful retention of hundreds of documents at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago. Trump aide Walt Nauta has also been charged after he was apparently spotted on surveillance footage moving boxes at the property. The ex-president stands accused of having moved classified documents from the White House at the end of his presidency despite not having the right to do so. In a short statement on Friday, the man in charge of DoJ’s investigations into Mr Trump, Special Counsel Jack Smith, said: “Today, an indictment was unsealed, charging Donald J. Trump of felony violations of our national security laws, as well participating in a conspiracy to obstruct justice. This indictment was voted by a grand jury of citizens in the southern district of Florida.” “It is very important for me to note that the defendant in this case must be presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. To that end, my office will seek a speedy trial in this matter,” he added. Fox News commentator Jonathan Turley said: “It is an extremely damning indictment ...This is not an indictment you can dismiss.” Mr Trump took to Truth Social to slam the Special Counsel, calling him a “Trump Hater” and a “deranged ‘psycho’”. The ex-president said Mr Smith “shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with ‘Justice,’ other than to look at Biden as a criminal, which he is!” “Under the Presidential Records Act, I’m allowed to do all this,” Mr Trump claimed in a subsequent statement. “There was no crime, except for what the DOJ and FBI have been doing against me for years,” he added. “Nobody said I wasn’t allowed to look at the personal records that I brought with me from the White House,” Mr Trump said. Read More Read Donald Trump’s 37-count federal indictment in full Trump indictment: Ex-president kept nuclear and military papers and showed some to unauthorised people Trump indictment — latest: Trump ‘plotted to hide documents from FBI after showing military docs to visitors’

By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to a nine-month

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Prominent economists Larry Summers and Mohamed El-Erian joined a cohort of their peers in criticizing Fitch Ratings’ decision

The Washington DC judge in the election interference case against Donald Trump has responded to his legal team’s request that she recuse herself from the case with a stern warning. The former president’s legal team argued that Judge Tanya Chutkan should leave the case because of statements she had made when sentencing defendants for taking part in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The lawyers for the former president argued that Judge Chutkan “agreed with portions” of a sentencing memo for one of the January 6 defendants which “wrongly placed blame on President Trump and complained that he had not been charged”. The defence lawyer for the defendant referred to in the motion said in a sentencing memo that “those voices, including the voice of the then-president himself, had convinced persons such as Mr. Palmer that the election was fraudulent and that they must take action to stop the transition of the presidency. . . . While many of the people who participated in the Capitol riot will be going to prison, the architects of that horrific event will likely never be charged with any criminal offense”. The Trump lawyers added that “although Judge Chutkan correctly noted that she does not have any influence on charging decisions, her ... comments stating ‘you have made a very good point . . . that the people who exhorted you and encouraged you and rallied you to go and take action and to fight have not been charged’ and ‘you have a point, that the people who may be the people who planned this and funded it and encouraged it haven’t been charged, but that’s not a reason for you to get a lower sentence’ reflect her apparent opinion that President Trump’s conduct ... occurred, and supports charges”. “Otherwise, she would not have characterized the point as ‘very good’,” they said. “Judge Chutkan’s statement that ‘I have my opinions’ suggests that in her view—formed almost two years before the initiation of this matter—President Trump should be charged,” the Trump legal team added. After that filing, Judge Chutkan ordered that the prosecution, the legal team of Special Counsel Jack Smith, should file any opposing arguments within three days. She also warned the Trump legal team that they must notify the special counsel’s office before filing that kind of motion or they might risk that later motions be “denied without prejudice”. “Upon consideration of Defendant’s 50 Motion for Recusal, it is hereby ORDERED that the government shall file any opposition no later than September 14, 2023, and the defense shall file any reply within three calendar days from the filing date of the government’s opposition,” the judge wrote in the order on Monday. “All other deadlines set by the court remain in effect.” “Defense counsel is reminded of the requirement to confer with opposing counsel before filing any motion and to indicate whether the motion is opposed ...Future motions that fail to comply with that requirement may be denied without prejudice,” she added. Read More Biden slammed for falsely claiming he visited Ground Zero the day after 9/11 Trump lashes out at Biden over prisoner swap deal with Iran after demanding Jan 6 judge recuse herself - live Putin calls Trump’s laundry list of criminal charges ‘persecution’