The 44% fall in the kwacha's value will make imports dearer but some argue it was long overdue.

A senior State Department official is voicing hope that North Macedonia will be able to make politically difficult changes to the constitution that would help the country’s bid to join the European Union

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced criminal charges against 16 people who signed certificates falsely declaring that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, part of a nationwide scheme to upend the results in states that the former president lost to Joe Biden. The outcomes of presidential elections rest on slates of electors who decide their votes based on the outcome of their states’ popular vote. As then-President Trump sought a spurious legal effort to reject the outcome, his allies arranged slates of “alternate” electors in several states to cast their votes for him, despite his loss. Ms Nessel’s announcement arrived the same day that the former president said he has received a target letter from federal prosecutors indicating that he is the subject of an investigation into his efforts to overturn election results, suggesting that he could imminently be facing charges. The criminal charges in Michigan against the so-called “fake” electors appear to be the first. They each face eight felony counts, including election law forgery and conspiracy. Her office also has not ruled out charges against other potential defendants, she said. Those 16 people met in the basement of the state’s Republican Party headquarters and signed certificates falsely claiming that they were “the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America for the state of Michigan,” Ms Nessel said in prepared remarks on 18 July. “That was a lie,” she said. “They weren’t the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it.” Those electors then attempted to deliver those documents to the state Senate and to the US Senate, where Vice President Mike Pence presided over the congressional certification of electoral college votes, and where Mr Trump and his allies allegedly pressured him to use those false slates of electors to overturn the election’s outcome and keep Mr Trump in office. “This plan – to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy – was fraudulent and legally baseless,” Ms Nessel said. “The false electors’ actions undermine the public’s faith in the integrity of our election, and not only violate the spirt of the laws enshrining and defending our democracy, but, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan and peaceably transfer power in America.” Ms Nessel, an elected Democratic official, dismissed arguments that the prosecutions are politically motivated. “But where there is overwhelming evidence of guilt, in respect to multiple crimes, the most political act I can engage in as a prosecutor is to take no action at all,” she said. Ms Nessel’s office had previously referred the cases to the US Department of Justice but indicated earlier this year that she was reopening the “parallel investigation” into election crimes in the state, citing “clear evidence” for a prosecution. Prosecutors in Georgia have also indicated that fake electors from that state may also face criminal charges, as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pursues a separate investigation into the former president’s efforts to reject election results in that state. “Every serious challenge to the election had been denied, dismissed, or otherwise rejected by the time the false electors convened. There was no legitimate legal avenue or plausible use of such a document or an alternative slate of electors,” Ms Nessel said in a statement accompanying the announcement of charges. “There was only the desperate effort of these defendants, who we have charged with deliberately attempting to interfere with and overturn our free and fair election process, and along with it, the will of millions of Michigan voters,” she added. “That the effort failed and democracy prevailed does not erase the crimes of those who enacted the false electors plot.” Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has focused his office’s attention in several states, including interviews with the office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who provided a tranche of documents that included communications between the state’s election officials and Mr Trump’s former lawyers and members of his campaign as the former president’s allies targeted the critical battleground state. Mr Smith is investigating an array of schemes pursued by Mr Trump and his allies to reject 2020 results, including the fake electors plot. This is a developing story Read More Trump news – live: Trump could be indicted for a third time as soon as this week in Jan 6 probe Trump says he is about to be arrested again after letter confirms he’s target of Jan 6 grand jury

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Elon Musk has been accused of acting like “a little baby” and being “almost in tears” during an earnings call in which the billionaire struck a pessimistic tone about the economy. The Tesla CEO’s behaviour on the third-quarter earnings call was slammed as “terrible” by financial analyst Kevin Paffrath and the electric automaker’s stock price dropped 15 per cent in the two days following it. “For a leader to cry about the economy rather than funnelling that and coming up with a plan is pathetic,” Mr Paffrath, who owns Tesla stock, told Yahoo Finance. And he added: “We need to know the light is at the end of the tunnel rather than hearing a complaining CEO who’s not actually providing that path.” Tesla reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results, with both earnings per share and revenue of $23.35bn falling short of analysts’ estimates, according to Yahoo Finance. But despite the issues as of Friday, the company’s share price was up 96 per cent year-to-date. Mr Paffrath, a YouTuber with 1.9 million followers, was not the only analyst to criticise Mr Musk’s performance. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives described the call as a “mini disaster” during which a “cautious” Mr Musk downplayed expectations for the Cybertruck and focused on high interest rates. “We dug our own grave with Cybertruck” Mr Musk said on the call, calling it a “great product” but also said he wanted to “temper expectations” for the long-awaited pickup truck. “Demand is off the charts. We have over 1 million people who have reserved the car, so it’s not a demand issue,” he said. “But we have to make it, and we need to make it a price that people can afford, insanely difficult things.” The Independent has reached out to Tesla for comment.

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