By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) -A judge in Guatemala suspended the party of anti-graft presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo, a

A Deutsche Bank executive says the bank followed its own guidelines — which include independently verifying information — when deciding to lend Donald Trump’s company hundreds of millions of dollars

The students were apparently suspended as they were involved in an off-campus incident of spraying graffiti containing antisemitic symbols and texts

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founder of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, on Tuesday

The Bank of England will push the UK into recession by the end of the year in its

It was the URL heard around the world. On Monday, a document seemingly announcing 13 counts against Donald Trump was briefly published online on a Fulton County web system – before being deleted just as quickly – kicking off rampant speculation about the looming indictment and instantly fuelling claims of foul play from the former president. The initial charge sheet seemed to show an extensive list of criminal charges against Mr Trump stemming from the long-running Georgia investigation into his attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, according to Reuters, which first reported the document. It was published hours before the grand jury eventually voted to indict the former president and a group of his closest allies for running a criminal enterprise to overturn the 2020 election in the state and keep Mr Trump in power. The document, which can still be viewed on the Reuters website, was quickly taken down. Hours later, when the indictment was handed down, it appeared under a different case code. It also included Mr Trump’s 18 co-defendants – something the original document did not. But there were some similarities between the initial posting and the final charge sheet, with both including the exact same 13 charges against the former president. In a statement to The Independent on Tuesday, the Fulton County clerk’s office explained in greater detail what prompted the confusion. It said Ché Alexander, Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Courts, used an online document system to conduct a “trial run” of posting a large indictment to test for potential issues. “Unfortunately, the sample working document led to the docketing of what appeared to be an indictment, but which was, in fact, only a fictitious docket sheet,” they explained. “Because the media has access to documents before they are published, and while it may have appeared that something official had occurred because the document bore a case number and filing date, it did not include a signed ‘true’ or ‘no’ bill nor an official stamp with Clerk Alexander’s name, thereby making the document unofficial and a test sample only.” The office, once it was aware of the mixup, said it “immediately removed the document and issued correspondence notifying the media that a fictitious document was in circulation and that no indictment had been returned by the Grand Jury,” the statement added. However, this explanation was only available after the fact. Throughout Monday, little was known about what prompted the initial document to appear then disappear. Officials only said it was “fictitious.” The lack of information was quickly exploited by Mr Trump. In an email to his supporters asking for donations to his campaign, the former president claimed the document was another sign of the “Witch Hunt” against him and asked his supporters for more money. “This is an absolute DISGRACE. These rabid left-wing prosecutors don’t care about uncovering the truth. They don’t care about administering justice or upholding the rule of law,” he wrote to his donors in an email with the subject line “LEAKED CHARGES AGAINST ME.” “The Grand Jury testimony has not even FINISHED – but it’s clear the District Attorney has already decided how this case will end.” Online commentators also began speculating that the document was a hack or maybe a leak; after all, the unthinkable and unexpected already happened once in recent months, with the 2022 leak of a draft opinion of the Supreme Court’s eventual decision overturning Roe v Wade. Republican lawmakers meanwhile flew into a rage. "This is OUTRAGEOUS government conduct and is a very legitimate basis to deem the entire Grand Jury process tainted & corrupted,” Florida Representative Matt Gaetz wrote on social media. “MOTION TO DISMISS!!!" The overarching political narratives – judgment day for Mr Trump, or a political prosecution gone too far – had for a time outrun the verifiable facts on the ground. All the while, the actual grand jury process, the body that eventually recommended Mr Trump’s fourth major criminal indictment of the year, continued throughout Monday, extending into after-hours testimony from Georgia officials. Outside, police continued with a stepped-up security posture including K-9 dogs. Media organisations surrounded the court complex, with lines of tents and cameras that heightened the atmosphere of anticipation. When the indictment was unsealed it emerged that there were 13 felony charges against Mr Trump, including RICO, conspiracy to commit forgery, filing false documents, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer and more. In addition, 18 Trump associates have also been indicted, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. The document drama was the latest bizarre twist in a high-profile investigation that began shortly after an infamous 2021 phone call, in which Mr Trump was recorded giving explicit requests for top state officials to “find” him enough votes to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia. Most recently, Mr Trump has falsely claimed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had an affair with a rapper who was the target of a racketeering probe by her office. Read More Trump indictment live: Trump and 18 allies ordered to surrender on RICO charges for Georgia election plot What is Georgia’s RICO law? Why a law created to prosecute the Mafia is being leveled against Trump All the bombshell charges against Trump and his allies in Georgia RICO case How did a Trump charge sheet get published hours before grand jury vote? Truth Social are doxxing grand jurors who indicted Trump in Georgia Trump claims mystery press conference report clears him of Georgia election charges

Police in the Netherlands arrested over 3,000 climate activists this week during ongoing protests against government subsidies given to planet-heating fossil fuels. Extinction Rebellion, the organisation which called for protests, said this is the highest number of arrests they have faced from a single demonstration. “It's the most we have ever had," Hester Op De Laak, a representative of Extinction Rebellion told The Independent. She said around 2,400 people were arrested on Monday alone, with several hundred arrests taking place on Saturday and Sunday. The protests continued on the fifth consecutive day on Wednesday with hundreds of people blocking a major highway which connects to The Hague, the seat of the Dutch government. Local police said activists marched onto the A12 highway and blocked all incoming traffic to the city, the news agency ANP reported. Authorities said they warned protesters to stay off the road and detained people who ignored orders to leave. The group said it would continue till the Dutch government stopped using public funds to subsidise the oil and gas industry, as they have done in recent months. All the detained protesters have been released after being removed from the scene, the authorities said. On Monday, the police deployed water cannons to disperse the crowd, with photos and videos showing activists drenched in water and some being taken off the scene. No injuries have been reported, authorities said. “25,000 People Block Amsterdam A12 Motorway,” said Just Stop Oil on Monday, another group of climate activists, sharing a video of protestors holding banners as police fired water cannons. In one video, activists could be heard chanting: “What do we want? Climate justice!” On Saturday an estimated 10,000 activists joined the protest, while on Sunday several hundreds blocked the road, Reuters news agency reported. Earlier this year in May, 1,579 protestors of Extinction Rebellion were arrested from the same spot. The police released most of them but said 40 people would face charges. Over 1,000 arrests took place in the UK in 2022 after climate protestors blocked oil terminals. According to a report published last week by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, these subsidies total around €37.5bn (£32.23bn) each year. Burning fossil fuels – such as coal, oil and gas – is responsible for the majority of carbon pollution that is heating the world and fuelling more extreme weather and disasters. Scientific assessments have found that the global average temperature has already risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius and it is set to rise more, triggering worse extreme heatwaves, droughts, hurricanes and wildfires. The year 2023 has seen the hottest summer on record, the United Nations confirmed this month with temperatures between June to August standing at 1.5C higher than normal. Read More Climate activists attack Walmart heiress’ $300m yacht – again What we know about 2023 Burning Man’s flooding chaos Hurricane Lee tracker: Alerts issued across coastal New England Just Stop Oil: Are the climate group’s demonstrations at sporting events against the law? Sadiq Khan says Just Stop Oil ‘really important’ amid Pride parade sponsors row UK police have new expanded powers to crack down on protests

Pope Francis has been discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring

By Andrew Gray and John Irish BULBOACA, Moldova The presidents of Serbia and Kosovo insisted on Thursday they

Russian officials say multiple missiles were shot down over the crucial bridge connecting the annexed Crimea to the mainland on Saturday, the latest in a series of apparent Ukrainian attacks in the region.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is expected to depart her post this summer, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Lebanon on Friday marks three years since one of history's biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut. Yet nobody has been held to account as political and...