News of the World
Today, 02:24 AM
(This post was last modified: Today, 05:03 AM by kyonides.
Edit Reason: DC Grand Juries Article
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USA
Quote:President Trump announced Tuesday that US Space Command is relocating to Alabama after former President Joe Biden canceled plans to build Space Force’s headquarters in the Southern state.
“I am thrilled to report that the US Space Command headquarters will move to the beautiful locale of a place called Huntsville, Alabama — forever to be known from this point forward as Rocket City,” Trump said in the Oval Office, referring to a nickname already used by the city — the home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
“This decision will help America defend and dominate the high frontier, as they call it,” Trump said, confirming Space Command’s move from Colorado Springs, Colo.
“We initially selected Huntsville for the SPACECOM headquarters, yet those plans were wrongfully obstructed by the Biden administration, and as you know, they moved them to a different locale and today, we’re moving forward with what we want to do,” Trump said.
The new SPACECOM HQ will also help develop America’s “Golden Dome” integrated missile defense program, the president announced.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), also present in the Oval Office, asserted that the Alabama location would save taxpayers $480 million.
But Trump identified other reasons for the move.
“The problem I have with Colorado — one of the big problems — they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections,” the president said during his initial announcement.
Trump then revisited the matter when asked by a reporter if he was concerned about some Space Force workers not wanting to move.
“The problem with Colorado is they have a very corrupt voting system,” Trump replied. “If you have mail-in voting, you will have corrupt elections.”
Last week, Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey teased the move was coming.
“Space Command coming to Huntsville? Count on it,” Ivey posted to X Aug. 28. “Huntsville was already chosen once before as the home for U.S. Space Command — and for good reason. I remain confident that Alabama is the right place for this mission to take root and thrive.”
Trump had ordered the Space Force headquarters be moved to Huntsville in the final months of his first term in office — only for Biden to overturn the decision.
Republicans accused Biden of canceling the move for political reasons, as his administration aimed to avoid building new military facilities in states with abortion restrictions.
The GOP also alleged it was in retaliation for Tuberville’s unilateral hold on military promotions in protest of a Pentagon policy covering troops’ travel expenses to receive reproductive healthcare — such as in-vitro fertilization and abortions — during the Biden administration.
“I want you to know that I disagree with the way Sen. Tuberville did things,” Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) told Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall about the move during a 2023 hearing. “But to me, my concern is, it looks like it’s payback from the president of the United States – and payback is a very dangerous game.”
Quote:The Defense Department will send 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges to resolve millions of backlogged cases, according to a memo.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo on Aug. 27 which declared a first tranche of 150 lawyers will be sent to the DOJ “as soon as practicable” in order to resolve immigration cases which have a backlog of 3.5 million cases.
It is not clear when the remaining 450 attorneys will be sent on their domestic mission.
The helping-hand comes at the request of the Justice Department, and will be in effect for at least 179 days with the chance for renewal at the end of that term.
There are currently roughly 600 immigration judges adjudicating the massive backlog of cases —- meaning the Defense Department influx would double the ranks of the DOJ roster of immigration attorneys.
A White House official told the Associated Press that resolving immigration cases should be “a priority that everyone — including those waiting for adjudication — can rally around.”
The shuffling comes on the heels of the Trump administration being temporarily blocked from swiftly deporting illegal migrants from the US.
DC-based District Judge Jia Cobb, a Biden appointee, stated that migrants living in the country illegally for less than two years need to be afforded due process as the Trump administration seeks to qualify this group for expedited removal.
“This activist judge’s ruling ignores the President’s clear authorities under both Article II of the Constitution and the plain language of federal law,” a Department of Homeland Security official told The Post at the time of the ruling.
“President Trump has a mandate to arrest and deport the worst of the worst. We have the law, facts, and common sense on our side.”
Quote:Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser opened the door for federal agents to continue policing the district indefinitely as President Trump’s emergency order tackling crime in the nation’s capital is set to expire.
Bowser issued an order on Tuesday requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with their federal counterparts “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District,” the Washington Post reported. The order has no expiration date.
She signed the directive three weeks after Trump called in troops to clean up the capital’s streets and before the president’s federal takeover of DC’s local police force is set to expire next week after 30 days is up.
The new order will “provide the pathway forward beyond the Presidential emergency,” the mayor wrote on X.
Bowser touted the accomplishments of the federal intervention and crime crackdown in the district, including its impact on the homeless population.
“Outreach teams identified 764 total individuals living outside, with 81 people living in tents,” the release stated. “Since the start of the surge, approximately 80 additional individuals have entered the District’s shelter system.”
The president also lauded the program’s success.
“We don’t have a crime problem in Washington anymore,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “And the mayor has been very helpful.”
Quote:A New York City woman locked up for making deranged social media posts threatening to kill President Trump was quietly released by a Democrat-appointed judge last week.
Chief US District Judge James Boasberg, appointed by President Barack Obama, released Nathalie Rose Jones, a 50-year-old Big Apple resident, under electronic monitoring on Aug. 27 and ordered that she see a psychiatrist once back home, court documents revealed.
The surprise release comes just days after US Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya denied Jones bond over the persistent threats on Trump’s life she issued over social media earlier this month.
“Here’s where we are,” Jones wrote in a long Facebook post on Aug. 6.
“I literally told FBI in five states today that I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present,” she allegedly wrote, ending the paragraph, “Let’s deal with this and restore domestic tranquility.”
In other posts, Jones urged Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “please arrange the arrest and removal ceremony of POTUS Trump as a terrorist on the American People from 10-2pm at the White House on Saturday, August 16th, 2025.”
Officials were aware of concerning posts starting on Aug. 2 and Jones herself told Secret Service agents in an Aug. 15 interview that she would “carry out the mission of killing” Trump with a “bladed object” if she were given the chance.
Many of her social media posts tagged federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Department of Homeland Security.
Friends of Jones told Boasberg, appointed by Obama in 2011, that she has a history of “schizophrenia” and mental illness but has never become violent, Law and Crime reported, citing court docs.
Wait! There's more to this story! 
Quote:Grand juries in Washington, D.C. refused to indict two people accused of threatening the life of President Donald Trump, prosecutors confirmed to Fox News Digital Tuesday.
Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington said both cases involved threats against the president while jurors rejected charges, preventing the cases from moving forward to trial.
One case involved Nathalie Rose Jones, who is accused of posting online threats to assassinate Trump and later repeating those threats directly to Secret Service agents during an interview.
U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, whose office pushed for the indictment, blasted the jury’s refusal on Tuesday.
"A Washington D.C. grand jury refused to indict someone who threatened to kill the President of the United States. Her intent was clear, traveling through five states to do so," Pirro told Fox News in an exclusive statement.
"She even confirmed the same to the U.S. Secret Service. This is the essence of a politicized jury. The system here is broken on many levels. Instead of the outrage that should be engendered by a specific threat to kill the president, the grand jury in D.C. refuses to even let the judicial process begin. Justice should not depend on politics," Pirro added.
In a second case, another grand jury declined to indict Edward Alexander Dana, who allegedly threatened to kill Trump while being arrested last month on unrelated charges of vandalism in Northwest D.C.
According to charging documents, Dana told police he was intoxicated, admitted making the threat and described himself as a descendant of the Huguenots, French Protestants who waged rebellions in the 1600s.
Then, magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey denied a request by prosecutors to keep the jury’s decision sealed, ordering the disclosure of the "no true" bill to Dana’s attorney.
Dana’s defense attorney, Elizabeth Mullin, told Fox News Digital she had "never seen anything like it" in over 20 years of practice.
"This is the result of them taking weak cases and trying to shoehorn them into federal district court," Mullin said.
Meanwhile, Pirro said grand juries in D.C. are politically motivated and unwilling to hold violent or threatening defendants accountable.
Last week, she told Fox News that residents were "so used to crime" that they’re increasingly unwilling to indict.
On Tuesday, she called the decisions not to indict Jones and Dana "a sign the system is collapsing from within."
Quote:A man charged with trying to assassinate President Trump last year in South Florida is set to represent himself during a pretrial conference Tuesday, as final preparations are made for trial.
Barring any delays, jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in Fort Pierce federal court for the case against Ryan Routh. US District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off on Routh’s request to represent himself in July but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel.
The trial will begin nearly a year after prosecutors say a US Secret Service agent thwarted Routh’s attempt to shoot Trump as he played golf. Routh, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, and several firearm violations.
Prosecutors have said Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club.
A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before Trump came into view.
Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.
Law enforcement obtained help from a witness who prosecutors said informed officers that he saw a person fleeing.
The witness was then flown in a police helicopter to a nearby interstate where Routh was arrested, and the witness confirmed it was the person he had seen, prosecutors have said.
Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii.
Quote:Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem went on a tirade against CBS News on Sunday over allegations the network edited her interview about alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal migrant whom the Trump administration deported to El Salvador earlier this year.
Noem was on CBS’ “Face the Nation” discussing Abrego Garcia on Sunday morning, she said on X, but noticed by afternoon that the footage had been clipped to remove part of her answer.
“This individual was a known human smuggler, a MS-13 gang member, an individual who was a wife beater, and someone who was so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors, and even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off, he was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children,” the DHS chief said in the full, unaired clip.
“So he needs to never be in the United States of America and our administration is making sure we’re doing all that we can to bring him to justice,” she added.
“Secretary Noem’s ‘Face the Nation’ interview was edited for time and met all CBS News standards,” a CBS rep told The Post. “The entire interview is publicly available on YouTube, and the full transcript was posted early Sunday morning at CBSNews.com.”
Noem wrote on X, “This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.”
A US immigration judge ruled in 2019 that Abrego Garcia couldn’t be deported to El Salvador due to threats from local gangs — but the Trump administration flew him along with hundreds of other alleged gang members out of the country to a megaprison in the Central American nation earlier this year.
Quote:Democratic Socialist of America members — including New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — should leave the Democratic Party and create their own, Rep. Tom Suozzi said.
“Zohran Mamdani and other Democratic Socialists should create their own party because I don’t want that in my party,” Suozzi, a Democrat, said of the far left policies on CBS New York’s “The Point” show with Marcia Kramer that aired Sunday.
Suozzi — whose third congressional district includes parts of Queens as well as Long Island — also said he hopes “he [Mamdani] doesn’t win” the mayoralty because “it will be bad for the Democratic Party.”
And he said House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries should not endorse Mamdani, the party’s nominee for City Hall, because it will “be bad for the Democratic Party nationwide.”
Suozzi endorsed Andrew Cuomo in the June Democratic primary — but Mamdani handily defeated the former governor to cinch the party’s nomination.
The Queens assemblyman is now favored to win the mayoralty in a race that includes Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, Cuomo and lawyer Jim Walden, a trio running as independents.
Mamdani’s ascension, in particular, has been a headache for suburban Democrats in swing districts.
Republicans are using Mamdani as a club against Dems in upcoming elections, including in the Nassau County District Attorney’s race and are expected to do so in next year’s House midterm races should he win the mayoralty.
Mamdani is pushing for higher taxes on the wealthy to finance his plan to provide free buses and child care. He has been on record backing defunding the police, decriminalizing prostitution, advocating for “seizing the means of production” and boycotting Israel — positions that are not popular with many more moderate suburbanites and upstate residents.
Quote:Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano resumed erupting on Tuesday, firing lava 330 feet (100 meters) into the sky from its summit crater.
It’s the 32nd time the volcano has released molten rock since December, when its current eruption began. So far, all the lava from this eruption has been contained within the summit crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Lava emerged from the north vent in Halemaumau Crater after midnight. The vent began shooting fountains of lava at 6:35 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said.
By mid-morning, it was also erupting from the crater’s south vent and a third vent in between.
Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It’s located on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago.
It’s about 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.
Quote:Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discussed how to downplay concerns about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and avoid “too precise” comparisons between the benefits of the jab and natural immunity, according to explosive emails obtained by The Post Tuesday.
The messages reveal agency leaders frequently met to discuss public relations strategies that failed to communicate full information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines combatting SARS-CoV-2.
In a Sept. 22, 2023, email, members of the agency’s COVID Coordination Unit brainstormed how to make Americans “more easily visualize their relative risk of getting very sick” based on whether they were vaccinated or used other protective measures.
“Don’t want it to be too precise of a visualization such that people can infer an exact risk or protection score,” reads the message from the address “covidtransition@cdc.gov.”
The nearly 600 pages of internal documents were uncovered by the Public Health Reform Alliance pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The disclosures come on the heels of several public reversals by the CDC on public health measures during the pandemic — including the efficacy of masks, whether the virus was airborne, whether natural immunity provided the same protection, or better protection, as vaccination and whether post-jab infections were occurring.
A House Republican panel report released in October found that the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the CDC, spent $911 million on a COVID vaccine promotion campaign that misrepresented the effectiveness of masking, vaccines and boosters — and “consistently overstated” the risk of the virus to children.
The emails have also been made public after the high-profile firing of Trump-appointed CDC Director Susan Monarez by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy.
The COVID Coordination Unit ultimately produced a graphic indicating that cloth face masks, ventilation, outdoor air, and respirators offered at least some protection from infection.
The visualization aid was developed more than a year and a half after a January 2022 CDC study cited evidence that natural immunity was better at warding off repeated infection than vaccination alone by late 2021.
It marked a shift in the CDC’s approach to handling the pandemic, emphasizing the vaccine’s ability to curb more serious illness rather than prevent infections altogether.
By January 2024, CDC communications professionals were crafting responses to questions about mRNA in the COVID jabs — without answering any of the questions raised in state-level inquiries about the safety and effectiveness of the technology.
Quote:Chicago’s Labor Day weekend bloodbath left eight people dead and scores wounded — while left-wing Mayor Brandon Johnson continued to rail against President Trump’s proposed National Guard deployment to tackle the city’s crime.
At least 58 people were shot across the city, with gunfire erupting in at least 32 different shootings throughout the holiday weekend, WLS reported.
One neighborhood saw two mass shootings within 48 hours — with seven people being injured in a drive-by shooting Saturday night and five more being wounded blocks away Monday.
A 17-year-old was critically hurt in the Monday shooting, but is expected to survive.
Despite the violence, Johnson doubled down on his resistance to federal troops being dispatched to address the city’s crime in a fiery Labor Day speech.
“No federal troops in the city of Chicago. No militarized force in the city of Chicago,” Johnson declared Monday.
“We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago,” he added, according to the Chicago Tribune. “We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.”
And just days earlier, on Saturday, Johnson signed an executive order intended to resist Trump’s possible deployment by reaffirming the city’s control of the Chicago Police Department.
He also directed city officials to submit regular Freedom of Information Act requests on the Department of Homeland Security’s actions related to the city.
Quote:Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he endured the worst pain of his life after a freak car crash in New Hampshire left him hospitalized with serious injuries and strapped in a back brace.
Giuliani and advisor Ted Goodman, also banged up in the wreck, relived the terrifying moment a speeding car plowed into the back of their rented SUV Saturday night — with Giuliani saying he would have been “killed” had he not been wearing his seatbelt.
“We got hit in the back, I would say, the hardest I’ve ever been hit in my whole life, including two accidents I was in when I was a child and playing football,” the two-term mayor, 81, said on “The Rudy Giuliani Show,” Tuesday night.
“It seemed like the car was going maximum speed 70-80 miles an hour, kind of spinned us a teeny bit…instead of getting a whiplash in my neck, I got a whiplash in my body. My body got thrown forward in a second and thrown back and I could feel the pain immediately in the middle of my body.”
Giuliani said he was frozen in agony but managed to look over at Goodman, who was driving, to see if he was okay, noting his confidant was “constricted by the steering wheel.”
“I got terrible injuries but I would have been killed if I didn’t have my seatbelt on,” Giuliani added.
“I would have gone right through the window, so thank God I had the seatbelt on. I felt more pain than maybe I ever felt.”
Goodman recalled his battered boss’s first words were to ask if he was hurt — and then about the other driver, whose wrecked car sat in the median of Interstate-93 following the 10 p.m. accident.
Quote:Two more detainees died while in the custody of the city over the last week — adding to an alarming trend that also saw a Rikers Island inmate found dead, cops and sources said.
Musa Cetin, 29 — a pedicab driver in custody for operating without a license, according to online court records — was discovered unconscious and unresponsive inside a cell at the Midtown South NYPD headquarters on West 35th Street near Ninth Avenue at 8:33 p.m. Friday, cops said.
He appeared to have hanged himself with a jacket, law enforcement sources said.
Just 14 minutes earlier, at 8:19 p.m., precinct cops had checked on Cetin as part of their “standard checks” but found nothing amiss, the sources said.
Police officers and EMS workers “performed life-saving measures,” but Cetin was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries two days later, authorities said.
His death is under investigation by the NYPD’s Force Investigation Division.
Meanwhile, around 10:15 p.m. Friday, Christopher Nieves, 46, was found unconscious and unresponsive inside a holding cell at Kings County Criminal Court on Schermerhorn Street near State Street in downtown Brooklyn, cops said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by responding EMS workers.
Nieves appeared to have suffered a heart attack, according to law enforcement sources.
His official cause and manner of death will be determined by the city medical examiner’s office, and the department’s Force Investigation Division is probing the case.
Quote:A final damage assessment of the wrath the Dragon Bravo Fire unleashed inside the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is complete, and its numbers are grim: Nearly half the infrastructure in the North Rim was damaged or destroyed.
Among the 106 structures scorched or destroyed by flames were the Grand Canyon Lodge, the visitor’s center, and a wastewater treatment plant, according to the Department of Interior’s Burned Area Emergency Response Team.
The popular area inside the national park was home to 229 structures before the wildfire.
Crews will also need to clean up hazardous materials at three high-risk sites, including the wastewater treatment plant and areas adjacent to the lodge, the BAER team said.
In addition, about 1,000 feet of the 3,300-foot water pipeline within the burn area sustained damage.
The Dragon Bravo fire ignited by a lightning strike on July 4. A week later, strong winds raced through the area, and the fire exploded in size.
By Aug. 1, the fire crossed over 100,000 acres burned, reaching “mega fire” status.
The fire closed the Grand Canyon’s North Rim for the remainder of the 2025 season after causing significant damage.
As of Tuesday, the fire had consumed nearly 150,000 acres but is now 80% contained.
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News in an exclusive interview that “all options are on the table” as the Trump administration weighs sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin continued to bombard Ukraine despite recent talks about peace.
Bessent spoke with Senior National Correspondent Rich Edson at Martin’s Tavern in Washington, DC, responding to a question about potential sanctions on Russia.
“I think everything’s on the table,” Bessent said. “President Putin, since the historic meeting in Anchorage, since the phone call, when the European leaders and President Zelensky were at the White House the following Monday, has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do. As a matter of fact, he has, in a despicable, despicable manner, increased the bombing campaign.”
Bessent added: “So I think with President Trump, all options are on the table, and I think we’ll be examining those very closely this week.”
In the weeks after meeting with President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, in an attempt to advance a peace deal, Putin has yet to back off from attacking Ukraine.
On Thursday, Russia pummeled Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing at least 17 people and wounding 48 others in Kyiv. Among the dead were four children between 2 and 17, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration.
Experts told Fox News Digital last week that the attack could be a signal Putin is utilizing diplomacy to buy himself more time to advance his goals and continue to attack Ukraine, all while avoiding secondary sanctions that the Trump administration has threatened to impose.
Bessent was also asked by Edson about the status of the US-India relationship given the Trump administration’s recent tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil, which the White House views as helping to finance Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting with his Russian and Chinese counterparts.
“This is a longstanding meeting, it’s called the Shanhai Cooperation Organization and I think it’s largely performative,” Bessent said. “I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”
Quote:The Trump administration wants Europe to stop buying Russian oil and join in its proposed sanctions targeting nations that continue to, a senior White House official told The Post on Tuesday.
Some European countries continue to rely on Moscow to meet their energy needs, helping to fuel Russia’s war machine despite reducing their reliance since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to a February report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
While China, India and Turkey make up nearly 75% of all Russian fossil-fuel purchases with a combined $187.3 billion in sales last year, European nations still collectively purchased roughly $25.5 billion worth of them in 2024, according to the report by the Helsinki-based think tank. The US does not import Russian oil.
The figures mean Europe spent more money importing Russian oil last year than it did on financial aid for Ukraine, which was estimated to be roughly $21.7 billion.
The idea of the proposed US sanctions has been around, but now, after weeks of stalled peace efforts, President Trump is again considering them — but European partners must be willing to join in, the senior official said.
“The US wants Europe to join in sanctions with Washington and to stop purchasing Russian oil,” the person said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s top adviser, Andriy Yermak, told The Post he believed Europe would be willing to join the US should Washington bring the sanctions — and pledged to bring the ask to European leaders during talks this week.
“I understand it’s necessary [for the US to receive] additional signal from Europe that [pending] American sanctions, they will immediately join and … [be] ready to not buy Russian oil,” he said. “I understand, and it will be communicated.”
The White House push for European cooperation comes as Trump said Tuesday that he is “very disappointed” with Russian President Vladimir Putin after their peace-designed summit in Alaska, as the dictator continues to bomb Kyiv and avoid meeting with Zelensky.
Quote:The GPS system of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s airplane was jammed while en route on Sunday to Bulgaria, where it landed safely, an EU spokesperson said on Monday, confirming earlier media reports.
“We can indeed confirm that there was GPS jamming, but the plane landed safely in Bulgaria. We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia,” the spokesperson said.
The Russian government did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The EU gave no further details, but the spokesperson said the incident would reinforce the bloc’s “unshakable commitment to ramp up defence capabilities and support for Ukraine” against Russia’s three-and-a-half-year-old invasion.
In a statement, Bulgaria’s government said the GPS signal was lost as von der Leyen’s plane approached the southern city of Plovdiv, prompting air traffic controllers to switch to ground-based navigation systems to ensure a safe landing.
The incident occurred while von der Leyen was on a four-day tour to EU member states that border Russia.
“There she has seen first-hand the everyday challenges of threats coming from Russia and its proxies,” the commission spokesperson said.
“The EU will continue to invest in defence spending and in Europe’s readiness even more after this incident.”
EUROPE
Quote:Finland is finally removing the swastika from the flags of its air force, after the new commander admitted the symbol caused “awkward situations” with NATO allies.
“We could have continued with this flag, but sometimes awkward situations can arise with foreign guests,” Col. Tomi Böhm, the new commander of the unit, the Karelian Air Wing, told Finnish publication YLE,
He added the flag had caused particular friction during joint maneuvers with US forces.
The Finnish air force’s use of the the symbol dates back to 1918 and the civil war between the Soviet-backed Red Guards and the anti-communist Whites.
That’s before it was used by Nazi Germany and the rise of Adolph Hitler.
However, its use does still have a dubious history. Finland’s use of the swastika originates from Swedish aristocrat Count Eric Von Rosen, who gave the Fins their first military aircraft, emblazoned with his personal symbol, a blue hooked cross on a white background.
The National Socialist German Workers Party or Nazi Party, is believed to have adopted the swastika, an ancient symbol found in Hindu and Nordic iconography, when Hitler’s leading ally, Hermann Göring, spotted it at von Rosen’s castle, after he flew the count back to his home in his private plane.
Von Rosen also later became a leader in Sweden’s Nazi party in the 1930s.
Von Rosen’s symbol was used as the national emblem on Finnish aircraft until 1945, before it was added to some air force flags in the 1950s.
The symbol was already removed from air force command in 2020, Col. Böhm said, adding that there had been no external pressure on him to axe the swastika.
Quote:Four candidates and two reserves from the right-wing AfD political party in Germany have dropped dead within 13 days of each other — just before elections, according to reports.
The Alternative for Deutschland candidates were set to appear on ballots in North Rhine-Westphalia on September 14.
Officials said no foul play is currently suspected in any of their deaths, the BBC reported.
Ralph Lange, 66, Wolfgang Klinger, 71, Stefan Berendes, 59, and Wolfgang Seitz, 59, all kicked the bucket within two weeks of each other, the European Conservative reported. Two reserve candidates also died over the same period.
German officials stated that two of the deaths were a result of natural causes, but have not commented on the cause of the others.
The AfD was not expected to be competitive in the regional September elections, the European Conservative reported.
However, the party made significant progress since the last state elections in 2022 — climbing from 5.4% in the polls to 16.8% within North Rhine-Westphalia, the BBC reported.
North Rhine-Westphalia has a population of 18 million and a reported 20,000 candidates will run for office this cycle.
The mass of untimely deaths among AfD candidates has forced officials to reprint ballots several times and invalidate some mail-in ballots, according to the BBC.
Alternative for Deutschland co-leader Alice Weidel amplified speculation when she reposted economist Stefan Homburg’s comment that the number of candidate deaths was “statistically impossible,” the BBC reported.
German police stated they were investigating the deaths and details have been withheld for reasons of family privacy, according to reports.
LATIN AMERICA
Quote:Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Monday accused the United States of seeking regime change in his country amid a naval buildup in the Caribbean.
The military deployment was authorized by President Trump in an effort to disrupt drug cartel activity, as part of his broader border policy.
However, Maduro said the buildup is an intervention in his country’s affairs.
“They are seeking a regime change through military threat,” Maduro told journalists, officials and uniformed military brass in Caracas, echoing comments last week by his government’s representative at the United Nations.
“Venezuela is confronting the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” Maduro added. “A situation like this has never been seen.”
Maduro said Venezuela won’t bow to threats and that it was “super-prepared.”
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of engaging in drug trafficking, going so far as to announce a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
“These cartels have engaged in historic violence and terror throughout our hemisphere — and around the globe — that has destabilized the economies and internal security of countries, while also flooding the United States with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said during an Aug. 19 news conference.
“This requires a whole-of-government effort, and through coordination with regional partners, the Department of Defense will undoubtedly play an important role in meeting the president’s objective to eliminate the ability of these cartels to threaten the territory, safety, and security of the United States and its people,” Parnell added. “As a matter of security and policy, we do not speculate on future operations.”
Quote:Tuesday’s lethal strike by US forces on Venezuelan narco-terrorists “will happen again” if dangerous cartels keep trying to traffic drugs into America, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.
“The United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allow us to interdict and stop drug boats, and we did that and it doesn’t work,” Rubio, also acting national security adviser, said during a visit to Mexico. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”
“We’re going to take on drug cartels wherever they are and wherever they’re operating against the interests of the United States,” he added.
The Navy killed eleven members of the Caracas-linked terror group Tren de Aragua transporting drugs across the Caribbean Sea, a sharp departure from past policy of having the Coast Guard use their law enforcement authorities to confiscate contraband and arrest cartel members.
“We’re not going to allow this kind of activity. You’re poisoning our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told “Fox & Friends.”
“We’ve got incredible assets, and they are gathering in the region,” he added. “And so you want to try to traffic drugs, it’s a new day — it’s a different day … this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate in our hemisphere.”
President Trump on Wednesday said he hoped the strike would serve as a deterrent.
“On the boat, you had massive amounts of drugs,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “We have tapes of them speaking. It was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people and everybody fully understands that. In fact, you see it, you see the bags of drugs all over the boat.
“And they were hit. Obviously they won’t be doing it again, and I think a lot of other people won’t be doing it again. When they watch that tape, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s not do this,’” Trump went on.
“We have to protect our country, and we’re going to. Venezuela has been a very bad actor.”
AUSTRALIA
Quote:A man was arrested on Monday after ramming his car into the gates of the Russian Consulate in Sydney, Australian police said.
The police diplomatic protection unit responded to a request for assistance from the Russian Consulate after an unauthorized vehicle was parked in the driveway, an Australian Federal Police spokesperson said in a statement.
New South Wales Police said its officers responded shortly after 8 a.m. and attempted to speak to the driver before he drove his vehicle into the gates of the consulate in the Sydney suburb of Woollahra.
A neighbor who witnessed the incident said he saw the car force its way through the gates after the driver was instructed to step out of the vehicle.
“The policemen continued to ask him to get out of the car. He didn’t get out of the car. They drew their firearms,” he said, declining to give his name.
“It was quite dramatic on a Monday morning.”
Television footage from Australian networks Sky News and Nine showed a white SUV with a smashed window abandoned next to a Russian flagpole on the consulate grounds.
“Get out of the car now,” police shouted at the man in the car inside the grounds, according to an eyewitness video of the incident viewed by Reuters.
A 39-year-old man was arrested and a 24-year-old constable received an injury to his hand, police said.
A person who answered a phone at the consulate declined to comment on the incident.
Tim Enright, a construction worker who was on the roof of a nearby building at the time, said he saw a police officer taking photos of a car parked near the consulate around 8 a.m.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
