Russia's prosecutor general on Monday said it had banned a foundation started by US film star George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal. "The activities of The Clooney Foundation for Justice are declared undesirable on the territory of our country," it said in a statement. The organisation "conducts extensive work aimed at discrediting Russia , actively supports false patriots and members of banned terrorist and extremist groups".
"Under the guise of humanitarian ideas, these 'warriors for justice'...
advance initiatives of criminal probes against the highest Russian authorities," it said in the statement entitled "The Russian Prosecutor General's Office Appreciates Hollywood Activists' Acting Talent". After Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russian authorities have upped repression of dissent to levels not seen since the Soviet Union. In July, the Clooney Foundation, along with several other non-governmental organisations, filed a case with the UN Human Rights Committee, accusing Russia of violating the human rights of Ukrainians killed in a 2022 missile attack on Vinnytsia.
In early August, Russia's prosecutor general banned as "undesirable" German pro-democracy foundation Konrad Adenauer and in July did the same with the Moscow Times news outlet. The "undesirable" status forces organisations to shut down in Russia and means Russians that work for, fund or collaborate with them can also be liable to prosecution Scandal-plagued former congressman George Santos, a New York Republican who was ejected from the House after being charged with bankrolling a lavish lifestyle with stolen donor cash, intends to plead guilty on Monday, US media reported. The 36-year-old's outlandish downfall came after it was revealed he had fabricated almost his entire backstory and was indicted on dozens of federal charges in 2023 of stealing from campaign donors, credit card fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
Santos, who has previously denied the charges, allegedly used donor money for Botox treatments and the OnlyFans porn website, as well as luxury Italian goods and vacations to the Hamptons and Las Vegas, according to a congressional ethics committee. US media reported Saturday that Santos is expected to plead guilty in federal court in Central Islip, New York, to multiple counts. The story was first reported by Talking Points Memo, which cited Republican donors who were fleeced by Santos and who were notified of his plea deal by federal prosecutors.
Terms of the deal and any sentencing were not yet clear, according to the New York Times. The ex-lawmaker, who was otherwise scheduled to head to trial on September 9, could still change his mind. Santos swept into the House of Representatives in 2022, helping the Republicans grab a tiny majority, but it quickly emerged that almost his entire backstory was a fabrication, from his education and religion to his personal history and professional experience.
His bizarre biographical fabrications included claiming to have worked for Goldman Sachs, being Jewish and having been a college volleyball star. He was ultimately doomed by a congressional ethics investigation that found "overwhelming evidence" of misconduct and accused him of seeking to "fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy." Santos became only the third person to be ejected as a US lawmaker since the Civil War, a rebuke previously reserved for traitors and convicted criminals.
He was initially indicted on 13 charges in May 2023, before 10 more counts were added in October. In February, voters in his suburban New York district picked Democrat Tom Suozzi to replace him. Ernesto restrengthened into a hurricane Sunday as it traveled well off the shore of eastern United States, threatening wind and rain along the US and Canadian coasts after pummeling Puerto Rico and Bermuda.
The hurricane, whose center is forecast to pass near southeastern Newfoundland, Canada late Monday into Tuesday, was creating dangerous conditions for residents and vacationers along the North American Atlantic seaboard, the US National Hurricane Center said. "Beach goers should be aware that there is a significant risk of life-threatening surf and rip currents, and should stay out of the water if advised by lifeguards," the NHC said. Ernesto brushed past Puerto Rico earlier in the week leaving more than 600,000 customers without power, then hit Bermuda directly on Saturday, causing more than 70 percent of customers to lose electricity.
Michael Weeks, Bermuda's minister of national security, reported Sunday that the island "made it through Hurricane Ernesto without any injuries or major incidents," according to The Royal Gazette newspaper. Packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, Ernesto was a Category 1 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale as of the NHC's latest advisory at 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) Sunday, with some increase in speed expected overnight. Swells from Ernesto are affecting parts of the Bahamas, Bermuda, the US East Coast and Atlantic Canada, the NHC said.
There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, with the storm located some 520 miles south of Halifax in Canada. Warmer-than-normal Atlantic waters threaten to supercharge this year's hurricane season, scientists have warned. Scientists say climate change likely plays a role in the rapid intensification of storms because there is more energy in a warmer ocean for them to feed on.
Kamala Harris arrived in Chicago on Sunday ahead of her star turn at the Democratic National Convention, perhaps the most pivotal moment yet for her short but stunning election campaign against Donald Trump . The US vice president has reenergized the party after an astonishing month that has seen her replace President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket and wipe out Republican rival Trump's lead in the polls. On the way to Chicago, Harris stopped in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania -- which Trump won in 2016 and Biden in 2020 -- and embarked on a day-long bus tour in a bid to keep up the momentum.
Accompanied by her running mate Tim Walz and their respective spouses, they set off from Pittsburgh on a coach emblazoned with their names to a series of rust-belt towns to woo blue-collar voters. But Harris insisted that Trump was still the favorite to win and that she would campaign hard with just 79 days until the November 5 election. "I very much consider us the underdog, we have a lot of work to do to earn the vote of the American people," Harris told reporters in Pennsylvania.
"That's why we're on this bus tour today." - 'Fight for the future' - Her rapid rise has unsettled 78-year-old former president and convicted felon Trump, who is resorting to his favored tactic of personal insults against America's first female, Black and South Asian vice president. A day earlier at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump lashed out at Harris as a "lunatic" and bragged that he was "much better looking" than 59-year-old Harris.
Harris's headline convention speech on Thursday will now be a vital opportunity to sell her story to an electorate that is still getting used to the new name at the top of the Democratic ticket. She is expected to cast the election as a "fight for the future" against a second Trump term, while promising an optimistic vision for Americans struggling with high prices. Harris is set to join Biden on stage when he addresses the convention on Monday -- a speech that just a few weeks ago he expected to be giving as the Democratic candidate.
The ageing president is reportedly still fuming over the way Democrats pushed him out, believing he still could have beaten Trump. But Biden is expected to focus instead on passing the torch and on what he terms the threat to democracy posed by Trump, as he seeks to cement his legacy by helping Harris to victory. - ' Gaza genocide' - Harris's rapid rise has allowed Democrats to hope again, just a few short weeks after a disastrous debate performance by Biden led many to think the election was already lost.
A Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos survey published Sunday showed Harris with a narrow lead over Trump among registered voters across the country, where one month ago it had Trump and Biden in a dead heat. But the shadow of protest against the Biden-Harris administration's support for Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza is hanging over the convention. Security has been ramped up for the four-day meeting with tens of thousands of people expected to descend on the city to hold daily protests, the biggest of which are set for Monday and Wednesday.
On Sunday several hundred noisy demonstrators gathered in downtown Chicago carrying a banner saying "Feminist and LGBTQ + People for a Free Palestine." "The march was going to be for reproductive rights, then the Gaza genocide exploded. That's why we're here," said 76-year-old David Finkel, from Michigan, who said he was also in Chicago for the infamous 1968 protests at the Democratic convention.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said the planned protests would be allowed as long as they remained peaceful.
"If there are troublemakers, they are going to get arrested and they are going to get convicted," he told CNN ..
