UK Labour leader Keir Starmer condemned an attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, saying it must

A social media profile that appears to belong to a gunman who killed eight people in a busy Dallas-area shopping mall on 6 May includes dozens of Nazi-related images and hate-filled rants against women and racial minorities. The profile on the Russian-based platform ok.ru also includes more than two dozen photos of the Texas mall and surrounding areas, including Google location information that shows when the mall is at its busiest. It was posted in the days leading up to the attack. Posts reviewed by The Independent and extremism researchers include photos showing SS and swastika tattoos, praise for Adolf Hitler, misogynistic screeds that echo incel (or involuntary celibate) ideas and forums, and complaints about the state of his mental health. The profile allegedly belongs to Mauricio Garcia, the 33-year-old who was fatally shot by police after he fired an AR-style rifle at the outlet mall, killing eight and injuring seven others. Law enforcement officials have not publicly disclosed or suggested a motive behind the mass shooting. A federal law enforcement bulletin notes that the FBI’s “review and triage of the subject’s social media accounts revealed hundreds of postings and images to include writings with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist rhetoric, including neo-Nazi materials and material espousing the supremacy of the white race.” The profile did not have any followers or appear to have any engagement from other users. One image on the ok.ru profile includes a picture of his hand which appears to be the same tattoo that belonged to the gunman. Another photo receipt from January has the name “Mauricio” and a phone number that appears to match one that belongs to Garcia. Photos on the profile also include dumped-out boxes of ammunition, posted at the same time with images outside the mall. The profile had appeared to telegraph preparations for violence for years; a photo of a written diary entry in a spiral-bound notebook from 2019 details a dream about racist violence. In what appears to be a final post, the user claims that a psychologist would not be able to “fix” him. A link to a YouTube video posted by the same person on the day of the shooting shows Garcia removing a Scream mask and asking, “Not quite what you were expecting, huh?” During the attack, he was reportedly wearing a patch reading “RWDS,” an acronym for “Right Wing Death Squad” – a flak jacket with the patch appears on the ok.ru profile. This catchphrase has emerged in recent years as both a far-right brand and rallying cry popular with the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group. Its also often associated with memes and T-shirts praising Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his extrajudicial killing of political enemies by throwing them from helicopters. “Dissidents, particularly leftists, socialists, and supporters of the previous government, were dropped to their death from helicopters by Pinochet’s regime,” West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center notes in its research of the “Right Wing Death Squad” meme. “Today, the reference often features an image of a helicopter and is often accompanied by slogans such as ‘Right Wing Death Squad,’ ‘Free Helicopter Rides,’ and other iterations.” The phrases are emblazoned on T-shirts and stickers; several members of the Proud Boys who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their actions surrounding the January 6 attack have been photographed with similar patches or T-shirts reading “Pinochet Did Nothing Wrong.” “RWDS” has appeared at neo-Nazi gatherings, far-right protests and other events attracting Proud Boys members and other fascist groups within the years after the 2016 election. The phrase was scrawled on shields during the so-called “Unite the Right” rally white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. At the time, Facebook removed several racist groups from the platform, including one called “Right Wing Death Squad”. In 2019, federal investigators uncovered an alleged plot involving an active-duty US Marine to kill minorities, drug users and members of the Democratic National Committee in a group chat called “Right Wing Death Squad”. Allen is among one of the most diverse suburbs of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, home to roughly 105,000 people. Many of the posts allegedly written by Garcia also discuss or reference his Hispanic heritage, underscoring the ways in which white supremacism, fascism and violent extremist ideologies often escape rigid racial or ethnic lines. Virulent antisemite and white nationalist Nick Fuentes has a half-Mexican father, and Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys who was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Capitol attack, is Afro-Cuban. Nazi propaganda website The Daily Stormer also began publishing in Spanish in 2017 in an effort to seize on Latin American audiences. The ok.ru profile mentions the website and its founder Andrew Anglin. “I think I even read in the news Hispanics could be the new white supremist [sic],” one of the ok.ru post reads. “Just the other day this black dude told me the line is blurring. He can’t tell the difference anymore. Someone would look white but their [sic] actually Hispanic.” In photographs of his spiral-bound diary entries, he also said he wore an “It’s OK to be White” shirt and that he is Hispanic whether he “likes it or not.” Garcia was heavily armed and armoured when he began firing indiscriminately with an AR-style rifle at the Allen Premium Outlets shopping centre on 6 May. Among the eight victims are a three-year-old boy, an eight-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl, according to the Allen Police Department. An Allen police officer who was already at the scene for an unrelated incident fatally shot him. There have been more than 200 mass shootings, including 21 mass murders, so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. White supremacists are behind the highest number of extremism-related murders in most years, according to an analysis from the Anti-Defamation League. Last year, 21 of 25 extremism-linked murders were committed by white supremacists – but “all the extremist-related murders in 2022 were committed by right-wing extremists of various kinds,” the report found. Read More Allen mall shooting - update: Parents and three-year-old son named among eight killed by Texas outlet shooter Mauricio Garcia: Everything we know about the Texas mall gunman who killed eight Two days, three attacks, 18 dead: Texas reels from horrifying weekend of violence

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Reports of a Ukrainian “sabotage” attack across the Russian border on Wednesday morning are coming in, as Moscow has claimed four people were killed in the incident. According to Sky News, Bryansk regional governor Aleksandr Bogomaz wrote on Telegram that an “attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group consisting of six militants to penetrate the territory of the Bryansk region was foiled at 7am today”. Russia usually blames these attacks on Ukraine, who rarely claims responsibility for these cross-border incursions. Earlier today, Russian troops were reportedly seen fleeing cluster bombs as a Ukrainian drone was reportedly downed over Crimea. Footage released by the Ukrainian defence ministry shows US-supplied cluster munitions, which spray “bomblets” across a wide area, hitting Russian forces amid Kyiv’s recapturing of the key strategic settlement of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region. “Ukrainian troops have liberated Urozhaine village, Donetsk region!” the Ukrainian defence ministry posted on X on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone over Crimea, Interfax reported, the latest in a flurry of what Moscow calls "terrorist attacks". Read More Ukraine’s intelligence service claims responsibility for Crimean Bridge drone attack Wagner mercenaries issue a chilling message on Poland’s doorstep: ‘We are here’ What are cluster bombs and why are they banned in some countries?

A four-count federal indictment against Donald Trump accuses the former president of conspiring with his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and deprive Americans of their right to have their votes counted. The detailed, 45-page federal indictment on 1 August outlines three criminal conspiracies and Mr Trump’s alleged obstruction of the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, a multi-state scheme built on a legacy of lies and conspiracy theories to undermine the democratic process. Mr Trump appeared in court in Washington, DC, on 3 August to plead not guilty to the charges and once more complained that he was the victim of political persecution by his enemies. “When you look at what’s happening this is a persecution of a political opponent,” he told reporters afterwards. “This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot so if you can’t beat them you persecute them or prosecute ‘em,” Here are eight key points from the historic indictment of the former commander-in-chief. A five-part scheme to overturn election results The indictment outlines five major elements of an alleged scheme that forms the basis of the charges against Mr Trump, including a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The indictment states that Mr Trump and co-conspirators relied on knowingly false claims about election fraud to pressure state lawmakers and officials to subvert election outcomes by ignoring the popular vote, then dismissing legitimate electors and assigning illegitimate ones loyal to Mr Trump. They then organised those fraudulent slates of electors in states that the Republican lost, according to prosecutors. Mr Trump and his allies then allegedly used the authority of the Justice Department to conduct sham investigations and press state lawmakers into action to approve those false slates of electors. Then-President Trump and his allies then attempted to enlist then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject legitimate results, including an attempt on 6 January 2021 to fraudulently alter the results while overseeing the certification of the election, according to the indictment. And after it was clear that Mr Pence would not do so, Mr Trump “exploited” the chaos from a mob of his supporters, fuelled by his election lies, to continue to delay the certification based on those same false claims, the indictment states. Trump knew his election lies were lies Mr Trump’s “prolific lies” about election fraud span “dozens of specific claims” that he knew were false, according to prosecutors, despite “candid advice” from his own aides, administration officials and the Justice Department and determinations from the courts and election administrators across the country, which the former president then “deliberately disregarded”. His “knowingly false statements” were “integral to his criminal plans to defeat the federal government function, obstruct the certification, and interfere with others’ right to vote and have their votes counted,” according to prosecutors. Many of the examples included in the indictment were previously known, though prosecutors isolated claims and schemes involving five key battleground states that Mr Trump lost. “Despite having lost, [Mr Trump] was determined to remain in power,” according to the indictment. “These claims were false, and the Defendant knew that they were false. In fact, the Defendant was notified repeatedly that his claims were untrue – often by the people on whom he relied for candid advice on important matters, and who were best positioned to know the facts – and he deliberately disregarded the truth.” There are six co-conspirators Six unnamed co-conspirators who allegedly ushered through Mr Trump’s actions are listed throughout the indictment. Based on their alleged actions that match previous descriptions and events surrounding the case in the aftermath of the 2020 election, those co-conspirators are likely to include Trump-connected attorneys Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Sidney Powell – all of whom face professional sanctions in the wake of their efforts. The other co-conspirators are likely to include former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark – who “attempted to use the Justice Department to open sham election crime investigations and influence state legislatures with knowingly false claims of election fraud” – and Kenneth Cheseboro, another attorney who promoted the fraudulent electors scheme. A sixth unnamed co-conspirator is described as a “political consultant who helped implement a plan to submit fraudulent slates of presidential electors to obstruct the certification proceeding”. A pressure campaign and fraudulent electors The attempts among Mr Trump and his allies to pursue a so-called “alternate” fraudulent elector scheme are well reported and central to the House select committee investigation surrounding January 6. The indictment outlines Mr Trump’s use of “deceit” with the aid of his six co-conspirators to pressure officials in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to subvert legitimate election results and change electoral votes. Mr Trump then relied on “dishonesty, fraud and deceit” to organise those fraudulent electors to submit false vote certificates to Congress, according to prosecutors. Mr Trump and his network of co-conspirators and Republican Party officials directed officials to perform “sham” proceedings that would ultimately position Mr Pence to oversee the fraudulent certification of a bogus slate of electors that would allow Mr Trump to cling to power, the indictment states. The former president also allegedly leveraged the Justice Department and the White House to advance those electors, while Mr Trump ignored legal counsel from the US attorney general to convince Mr Pence to overturn the election. Trump’s attempts to convince Pence to overturn the election When Mr Pence called Mr Trump on Christmas Day in 2020, the president quickly turned the conversation to the upcoming joint session of Congress on 6 January 2021, when Mr Pence was set to preside over the ceremonial certification of the electoral college votes, according to the indictment. “You know I don’t think I have the authority to change the outcome,” Mr Pence said, according to prosecutors. On 1 January, Mr Pence resisted Mr Trump’s efforts again, to which Mr Trump allegedly replied: “You’re too honest.” Days later, Mr Trump and a co-conspirator believed to be Mr Eastman pressed Mr Pence to unilaterally reject the legitimate results or send them back to state legislatures, a strategy that Mr Pence questioned was even defensible, prosecutors wrote. “Well, nobody’s tested it before,” Mr Eastman allegedly replied. The indictment states that Mr Pence took “contemporaneous notes” from that meeting. Mr Trump continued to press Mr Pence, in both one-on-one White House meetings and in public statements in remarks leading up to the attack on the Capitol. That morning, an “agent” for Mr Trump contacted an unnamed US senator asking him to “hand deliver” fraudulent elector certificates from Michigan and Wisconsin, according to the indictment. Mr Pence rejected them. Mr Trump later called Mr Pence demanding once against that he either reject or return legitimate results for Mr Biden. Trump officials considered the Insurrection Act Three days before January 6, a co-conspirator believed to be Mr Clark spoke with a deputy White House counsel who had previously warned Mr Trump that “there is no world, there is no option in which you do not leave the White House” on 20 January 2021. That same White House counsel allegedly tried to dissuade Mr Clark from assuming the role of acting US attorney general, stressing that there was no evidence of widespread fraud and that if Mr Trump successfully overrides the election there would be “riots in every major city in the United States”, according to the indictment. “Well,” Mr Clark allegedly replied, “that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.” Mr Trump had previously threatened to use the Insurrection Act to quash Election Day protests and civil rights groups and legal analysts had feared his months-long campaign to undermine election results could serve as a pretext to deploy militarised federal and civil law enforcement into American streets. Trump ‘exploited’ the Capitol attack to keep delaying the inevitable Following an hours-long siege at the Capitol and Mr Trump’s initial refusal to urge his supporters to leave, the president’s aides and co-conspirators tried to pressure members of Congress to object to the election results. That evening, White House aides tried calling two senators, Mr Giuliani tried calling five senators and a US representative, another co-conspirator tried to reach six senators and Mr Giuliani left a voicemail urging a senator to “slow it down so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you,” according to the indictment. In another message to a senator, he repeated bogus statements about election fraud and told them to “object to every state and kind of spread this out a little bit like a filibuster,” the indictment states. The attack obstructed Congress and delayed the certification for approximately six hours. Mr Pence ultimately announced the certification of Mr Biden’s victory at 3.41am. A charge that stems from the Civil War’s aftermath A crime of conspiracy against rights invokes Section 241 of Title 18 of US Code, a law that dates back to bedrock civil rights protections for newly enfranchised Black Americans in a turbulent Reconstruction era in the aftermath of the Civil War. It was among criminal codes under the Enforcement Acts, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts, designed to protect Americans’ civil rights enshrined under then-newly enacted 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. The acts effectively allow the federal government to protect the rights of people to vote, hold office, serve on juries and receive equal protection under the law. Section 241 criminalises conspiracies to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person” from exercising such rights. Read More Live updates: Trump pleads not guilty at arraignment in 2020 election case Trump, January 6 and a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election: The federal investigation, explained Will Donald Trump go to prison? Trump’s election fraud claims were always bogus. Will his history of lies finally catch up to him? Jack Smith held nothing back. Here’s what the Trump indictment really means Why Trump is charged under a civil rights law used to prosecute KKK terror Trump may face up to 20 years in prison. But that doesn’t stop him from doing harm

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