Watchdog finds no evidence of political interference in Stone sentencing
(NYTimes) —The Justice Department’s watchdog found no evidence of political interference in the reduction of a prison sentence proposed for longtime Trump ally Roger Stone in 2020, attributing the reversal to “ineffectual” leadership, according to a report released Wednesday. The report concluded a four-year investigation into the decision by Attorney General William Barr in February 2020 to reduce Stone’s proposed sentence to about three years, after initially recommending seven to nine. The decision was announced after President Donald Trump sharply criticized the harsher sentence initially proposed after Stone was convicted in 2019 for lying to Congress during its investigation into Trump’s connections to Russia.
Man charged in Rushdie stabbing is also accused of supporting terrorism
(NYTimes) —The man charged with stabbing Salman Rushdie, the noted author and defiant exemplar of free speech, at a conference in western New York two years ago now faces federal terrorism-related charges, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. Hadi Matar, 26, provided “material support and resources” to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, between September 2020 and the day of the stabbing, according to the indictment, which was unsealed by the U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York. Matar attacked Rushdie while he was onstage at the Chautauqua Institution, which hosts a summertime literary and arts conference, in August 2022. Rushdie was stabbed roughly 10 times and was blinded in one eye.
From space, researchers find pollution spiking near e-commerce hubs
(NYTimes) —Mammoth warehouses handle many of the more than 20 billion packages Americans send and receive each year. But for people who live around them, the round-the-clock semitrailer traffic at these giant hubs significantly worsens air pollution, according to a new NASA-funded study that tracked pollutants from space. The research, led by scientists at George Washington University, is the first of its kind; it used satellite technology to measure a harmful traffic-related pollutant called nitrogen dioxide, zooming in on nearly 150,000 large warehouses across the United States. They found that nitrogen dioxide, which can lead to asthma and other health problems, jumped 20% on average near the warehouses.
A volatile election is intensifying conspiracy theories online
(NYTimes) —After the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, calmer voices on both sides of the political spectrum called for “lowering the temperature” of today’s toxic political discourse. By the time President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the presidential race eight days later, the temperature was as scorching as ever. Most social media platforms profit when outrage and indignation results in more engagement, and ultimately, more advertising revenue. That dynamic appears all but certain to define this year’s presidential election, as it did in 2016 and 2020.
Real estate crisis? Small banks say their loans are fine
(NYTimes) —They see themselves as integral to neighborhoods across the country: backers of local dry cleaners, dentists and sandwich shops. Investors worry that those banks could be a crisis waiting to happen. But executives at these firms caution that small banks are being lumped in with lenders that are in the most trouble. Instead, a majority of commercial building loans by community banks are for smaller buildings that tend to be fully leased. And while there are concerns about financial pressure on apartment building landlords if interest rates remain high, missed payments on those types of mortgages have not risen substantially.
North Korean trash balloons hit South Korean president’s compound
(NYTimes) —Weeks into North Korea’s campaign of launching balloons loaded with trash across the world’s most heavily armed border, some of them hit a symbolically significant target in South Korea on Wednesday: the presidential office in the heart of Seoul, the capital. North Korea has released more than 3,000 of the trash balloons since May, many of which have reached the South after floating across the Demilitarized Zone between the two nations. They have landed on trees, farms and streets, bursting and spilling out waste paper, used cloth, cigarette butts and compost. A response team found “nothing dangerous or contaminating” in Wednesday’s balloons, South Korea’s presidential security service said.
Germany bans Islamic group, accusing it of supporting Hezbollah
(NYTimes) — Germany banned the Islamic Center Hamburg on Wednesday, saying that it is an extremist organization that supports Hezbollah and acts as a front for Iran’s supreme leader. German authorities have been investigating the Shiite Muslim group — also known as the IZH, an abbreviation of its German name — for years, including what they say are links to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia that Germany outlawed in 2020. Germany’s interior minister said the government will also shut down four Shiite mosques, including what is known as the Blue Mosque in Hamburg, which is the group’s headquarters and is considered one of the main centers of the Shiite community in Europe, according to Hamburg authorities.
18 people killed in plane crash in Nepal
(NYTimes) — A small plane crashed while taking off from an airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Wednesday, killing 18 people on board, officials said. The pilot of the Saurya Airlines flight was the only survivor and was seriously injured, authorities said. The plane took off at 11:11 a.m. from Tribhuvan International Airport, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said in a statement. The plane then veered to the right before crashing on the east side of the runway and catching fire, the statement said. Officials said that the cause was not immediately clear and that there would be an investigation.
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