'I implore my South Asian community to hold this administration accountable,' Rupi Kaur wrote in a statement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s groundbreaking career in politics was documented in photos from the moment she was sworn in as San Francisco mayor in the aftermath of tragedy to her long-awaited return to the U.S. Senate after illness earlier this year.

No. 21 Notre Dame might be out of the college football playoff chase

Georgia’s top elections official received a phone call from Donald Trump on 2 January, 2021, with a warning that he would be taking a “big risk” declaring Joe Biden the victor weeks after then-President Trump lost the state in the 2020 presidential election. “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” then-President Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger during the hour-long call, four days before a joint session of Congress convened to certify the electoral college results – a ceremony violently interrupted by a mob of Mr Trump’s supporters. Mr Raffensperger, a Republican, told a federal courtroom on 28 August that Mr Trump’s “outreach to that extent was extraordinary.” That call is central to a sweeping racketeering indictment from state prosecutors charging Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants for their alleged criminal enterprise to keep him in power at whatever cost. Mr Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was on that call, is asking a judge to remove the case from the jurisdiction of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and into federal court. Mr Meadows also testified during the hearing on Monday. Mr Raffensperger, who was subpoenaed by Ms Willis to appear in US District Court in Atlanta, testified that he believed a call with White House would be inappropriate. “I told my deputy I don’t think this is in our best interest,” he said, according to CNN. He also said he did not initially return a call because Mr Meadows didn’t leave him a phone number. Mr Meadows sent a text message to Mr Raffensperger in December 2020 asking him to call the “White House switchboard” because his voice mailbox was full, according to messages he provided to the House select committee separately investigating the events surrounding the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021 Prosecutors played audio clips from the call during the hearing; Mr Raffensperger noted that there were no officials from the US Department of Justice or the White House counsel’s office on the call. “I thought that it was a campaign call,” Mr Raffensperger said. He also stressed that the White House nor presidential campaigns do not play any role in the state certification of election outcomes – an argument that undermines arguments from Mr Meadows and his attorneys that he was merely fulfilling his duties as part of his federal duties on behalf of the president. Asked by prosecutors whether he believed Mr Trump won the 2020 election, Mr Raffensperger said: “They lost the election.” Defending the integrity of the state’s election results and ongoing attempts to undermine them, he said: ”We spoke the truth.” Monday’s hearing comes two weeks after a Fulton County grand jury indictment presented the largest and most significant case yet facing Mr Trump and others connected to an alleged racketeering scheme in which they “knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election” to ensure he remained in power. Mr Meadows faces two counts in the sprawling 41-count indictment outlining dozens of acts that encompass the conspiracy: one count of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO statute, and one count of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. The 19 defendants were booked in Fulton County jail and released on bond last week. They are scheduled to appear in court for their arraignment hearings on 5 September. Attorneys for Mr Meadows have asked for the “prompt removal” of the case from Fulton County, citing federal law that allows US officials to remove civil or criminal trials from state court over alleged actions performed “under color” of their offices, with Mr Meadows performing such acts during his “tenure” as White House chief of staff, they wrote in court filings. Prosecutors, however, have argued that Mr Meadows was acting on behalf of the Trump campaign, performing acts that were “all ‘unquestionably political’ in nature and therefore, by definition, outside the lawful scope of his authority” as chief of staff. “Even if the defendant somehow had been acting as authorized under federal law (rather than directly contrary to it), that authority would be negated by the evidence of his ‘personal interest, malice, actual criminal intent,’” they wrote. Read More Trump handed two key court dates as bid to delay trials until after election falls apart - latest Mark Meadows grilled on witness stand over Trump’s Georgia call to ‘find’ votes and false election claims Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump Trump has raised more than $7m off of his Georgia mug shot Trump made life hell for two Black women election workers. He will have to answer for it in court

A review of the status of a vanishing species of whale found that the animal’s population is in worse shape than previously thought

China has been operating military and intelligence facilities in Cuba since at least 2019 and is continuing to expand its intelligence gathering capabilities around the world, a Biden administration official and two other sources told CNN Saturday.

This week’s new entertainment releases include albums from Dove Cameron and Peter Gabriel, Harrison Ford’s last hurrah as Indiana Jones swings onto Disney+ and Elvis will be honored with a starry special “Christmas at Graceland” featuring Post Malone, Alanis Morissette, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves and Kane Brown

The wildfire that swept across Maui nearly a week ago turned one of the nation’s most celebrated island vistas into an ashen moonscape and killed at least 99 people, a number that officials warn could rise by scores as the search continues.

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu electrified the crowd by scoring a record 37 of a possible 40 points to easily win the 3-point shooting contest at the WNBA All-Star Game

A behind-closed-doors “farewell ceremony” has been held for the Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin – a funeral avoided by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Secrecy had surrounded the funeral arrangements for Prigozhin, killed in a plane crash on 23 August, two months to the day after staging a 24-hour mutiny that was the biggest challenge to Mr Putin’s authority since he rose to power in 1999. The low-key ceremony stands in stark contrast to Prigozhin’s aggressive self-promotion, with videos from Ukraine having become a regular fixture of his months-long feud with Moscow’s military command over the invasion Mr Putin started. That ended with his forces marching on Moscow, only stopping 125 miles from the capital when a deal was struck with the Kremlin. “The farewell to Yevgeny Viktorovich took place in a closed format. Those who wish to say goodbye may visit Porokhovskoye cemetery,” his press service said in a short post on Telegram, accompanied by a photo of Prigozhin. But the seemingly private ceremony suits the Kremlin and Mr Putin, with Prigozhin having gone from years-long ally of the Russian president to being branded a “traitor” over his armed uprising. It meant that the event could not be turned into a large-scale show of support for the Wagner chief, who as well as collecting enemies had gained admiration among some of Moscow’s elite for throwing his troops into some of the bloodiest battles of Mr Putin’s war. That included around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, control of which has gained symbolic significance for both Kyiv and Moscow. Wagner forces were at the vanguard of that fight and helped Russian forces take it – although fierce battles continue around the suburbs of the ruined city. Hence why Mr Putin and the Kremlin have to walk a fine line in not denigrating Prigozhin, despite few observers believing the Russian president would let the embarrassment of the Wagner mutiny stand without retribution. Comments from Mr Putin have reflected that stance. He noted last week that Wagner leaders “made a significant contribution” to the fighting in Ukraine and described Prigozhin as a “talented businessman” and “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life”. Pictures published on social media showed Prigozhin’s dark granite tombstone surrounded by a sea of flowers, mostly red roses, in the cemetery on the northeast edge of his hometown. Other makeshift memorials have appeared in recent days in both Moscow and St Petersburg. Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst, noted that Prigozhin has become a legendary figure for his supporters who are increasingly critical of the authorities. “Prigozhin’s funeral raises an issue of communication between the bureaucratic Russian government system that doesn’t have much political potential and the politically active patriotic segment of the Russian public,” Mr Markov said. Russia‘s top criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, officially confirmed Prigozhin’s death on Sunday, but it has not given a cause for the crash. A number of leaders in the West, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, have suggested that nothing of this magnitude could occur in Russia without Mr Putin’s knowledge. The Kremlin has claimed that such accusations are an “absolute lie”. The Kremlin had confirmed earlier on Tuesday that Mr Putin would not attend Prigozhin’s funeral. Also on Tuesday, prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin failed in an appeal against his pre-trial detention on charges of inciting extremism, a Moscow court said. Mr Girkin, also known as Strelkov, has fiercely criticised the way that Russia has conducted the war in Ukraine and his arrest was seen as an extension of a crackdown on dissent by Putin. The Embraer Legacy 600 private jet on which Prigozhin was travelling to St Petersburg from Moscow crashed north of Moscow with the loss of all 10 people on board, including top Wagner bosses Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, and a crew of three. Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Chekalov, the head of Wagner logistics, was buried at another St Petersburg cemetery. His family was joined by dozens of people, including Wagner mercenaries and employees from Prigozhin’s business empire. On the battlefield in Ukraine, a military spokesperson said Kyiv’s forces were advancing against Russian forces in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia after recapturing Robotyne, the latest of a cluster of villages it says it has taken back in recent weeks. Kyiv also said its troops had had some “success” in the direction of the village of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region, but gave no details. Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said fighting was heavy in the country but that Ukrainian forces were making progress around Bakhmut, while Russian shelling killed a 45-year-old man and wounded at least one other person in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk. Russia also said it had downed two drones over the Black Sea it said were launched by Ukraine. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary White House says Kremlin has ‘long history’ of killing opponents The key to Ukraine punching through Russia’s defences | Askold Krushelnycky Russian hard-line nationalist ordered to stay in prison after accusing Putin of weakness

Derek Rosa, who allegedly stabbed his sleeping mother, Irena Garcia, 39, to death in their Hialeah apartment, has entered a plea of not guilty

The military says a solider has been killed and five others have been hurt in the crash of a tactical vehicle at Fort Bliss in Texas