Nation and world news in brief for September 3

Trump says he had ‘every right’ to interfere in 2020 election

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Republican former U.S. President Donald Trump, who faces federal and state charges accusing him of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden, insists he had “every right” to interfere in that election.

“Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it?” Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired on Sunday.

A federal indictment accuses Trump of defrauding the U.S. by attempting to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory and deprive voters of their right to a fair election. He faced a revised federal indictment last month accusing him of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Russian ‘spy whale’ Hvaldimir found dead near Norway

(Reuters) — A beluga whale that was suspected of spying for Russia after being discovered in Norwegian waters five years ago has been found dead, according to the non-profit organisation that had been monitoring the whale.

The body of Hvaldimir — a combination of the Norwegian word for whale and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin — was spotted floating in the sea by a father and son fishing in southern Norway over the weekend, Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported.

Hvaldimir was wearing a harness with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera when he was first found in 2019 near the island of Ingoya in Norway’s north, around 300km (190 miles)from the Russian maritime border. The harness was stamped with “Equipment St Petersburg” in English.

Anthony Scaramucci says Melania Trump ‘hates’ her husband

(TNS) — Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, believes Melania Trump despises her husband Donald Trump, who’s on the campaign trail with hopes of being re-elected to the presidency in November.

“She hates him,” Scaramucci told the MeidasTouch podcast over Labor Day weekend.

Scaramucci spent 10 days with the Trump Administration before being unceremoniously booted in January 2019.

The 60-year-old Port Washington native said he’ll be voting for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in November and suspects the former first lady will also be rooting against her husband of nearly 20 years on Election Day.

“I judge the hatred of Donald Trump by the Melania standard,” Scaramucci said. “I’ve met one person that actually hates Trump more than Melania, that’s Gen. [Mark] Milley.”

Milley served as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Trump administration before retiring in September. In his farewell address, Milley appeared to refer to his former boss as a “wannabe dictator” and stated that U.S. service members take an oath to guard against “all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

Venezuela issues arrest warrant for opposition leader Gonzalez, AG says

CARACAS (Reuters) — Venezuela’s attorney general’s office said on Monday a court has issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, accusing him of conspiracy and other crimes amid a dispute over whether he or President Nicolas Maduro won a July election.

Attorney general Tarek Saab shared a photo of the warrant with Reuters via a message on the application Telegram.

The issue of an arrest warrant against Gonzalez would amount to a major escalation in Maduro’s government’s crackdown against the opposition following the disputed election.

Venezuela’s national electoral authority and its top court have said Maduro was the victor of the July 28 election with just over half of the votes, but tallies shared by the opposition show a resounding victory for Gonzalez.

Putin says Russia advancing fast in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russian forces are advancing faster in eastern Ukraine than they have done for a long time, taking several square kilometers per day, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday as Moscow’s forces tried to smash through a Ukrainian defensive line.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged the difficulties in the east, particularly near the city of Pokrovsk, but said Russia’s military had made no further advances in the past two days.

Russian forces, which control 18% of Ukraine, have been advancing in eastern Ukraine since the failure of Kyiv’s 2023 counter-offensive to achieve a major breakthrough.

Despite a Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s southern Kursk region that began on Aug. 6, the numerically stronger Russian army has been thrusting though settlements in eastern Ukraine on the approach to logistically important Pokrovsk.

Southern California heat wave to bring temperatures up to 119 degrees

LOS ANGELES (TNS) — Southern California was bracing Monday for a heat wave expected to bring triple-digit temperatures to much of the region this week.

Driven by weak offshore winds and a heat dome over the southwestern United States, temperatures are forecast to rise over the course of the week before peaking Thursday and Friday. Portions of the Los Angeles Basin could reach 113 degrees by the weekend while the mercury could climb to 119 in the Coachella Valley.

Tropical storm Yagi kills 7 in the Philippines

MANILA (Reuters) — Floods and a landslide killed seven people in the Philippines on Monday as tropical storm Yagi, locally known as Enteng, dumped heavy rain on the capital Manila and nearby provinces, a disaster agency official said on Monday.

In a hilly community in Antipolo east of Manila, three people were killed, including two schoolboys and a 27-year-old pregnant woman, when a landslide hit two houses, according to Relly Bernardo, the city’s disaster management chief.

Bernardo said four other people died in separate incidents of drowning in the same province, Rizal.