Month: September 2024

Meta said that it is banning some of Russia’s largest state media networks from its platforms for using ‘deception to run an influence campaign and to hide its efforts.’ The ban on the state-run media networks will expand to all Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp platforms, beginning sometime this week.

Meta said in a statement: “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity.”

The latest restrictions come after the U.S. State Department earlier this month designated Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other Russian news outlets as foreign missions after accusing two RT employees of taking part in a $10 million scheme to finance a company that published English-language videos on Instagram as well as TikTok, X and YouTube.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded harshly to the ban, telling reporters during a daily conference call that “such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable. Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves. We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta.”

RT (formerly known as Russia Today) and Russia Segodnya (the parent company behind state news agency RIA Novosti and news brand Sputnikalso) also denounced the move.  RT shared in a statement: “It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better.” While Rossiya Segodnya added that Meta’s decision “was not unexpected for us. Meta is a deeply politicized organization. We will continue our work in the countries where we are present and this decision will not affect our work.”

Meta had previously joined other social media outlets to block Russian state media outlets in the European Union, Britain and Ukraine after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also announced last week new sanctions against RT, alleging the Russian government had embedded “a unit with cyber-operational capabilities and ties to Russian intelligence” within the outlet.

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Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail and will be held in custody after his indictment on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution on Tuesday, September 17, one day following his arrest in New York.

Combs appeared at his arraignment Tuesday wearing a black long-sleeve shirt and gray sweatpants, and entered a plea of not guilty in court.  But despite a bail proposal made by Combs’ attorneys, a federal judge in New York ruled that Combs be held behind bars during his arraignment on Tuesday, Sept. 17, while prosecutors alleged that Combs had drugs in the hotel room in which he was arrested on Monday, September 16.

The Southern District of New York had announced that Combs was arrested by federal agents on Monday, with ABC News detailed that the arrest took place at the Park Hyatt hotel on West 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan by Homeland Security Investigations agents. In March, federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles.

According to the indictment unsealed on Tuesday, federal prosecutors allege that dating back to 2009, Combs, 54, ran an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes, adding that he “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” Prosecutors also allege that Combs “ensured participation” by giving them narcotics, holding sway over their careers, threatening to cut them off from financial support and using violence and intimidation.

Speaking outside the federal courthouse in New York, Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo said that the music mogul was “going to plead not guilty, obviously. He’s going to fight this with all of his energy and all of his might and the full confidence of his lawyers, and I expect a long battle with a good result for Mr. Combs.”  In an additional statement, Agnifilo said: “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community. He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal. To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

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The FBI is investigating what they call an apparant, second “attempted assassination” of former President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

On Monday, the suspect, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with two firearm offenses (possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial numbe) in federal court. If convicted on the two firearms charges, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years. Court records show more than 100 criminal counts have been filed against Routh in North Carolina.

The criminal complaint against Routh revealed Monday that his cellphone was in the same vicinity near the Trump golf course for nearly 12 hours:  “Agents requested T-Mobile, on an emergency basis, to provide law enforcement with information pertaining to ROUTH’s mobile phone usage. Those records indicated that Routh’s mobile phone was located in the vicinity of the area along the tree line described above from approximately 1:59 AM until approximately 1:31 PM, on September 15, 2024.”

According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Routh was armed with an AK-47-style rifle and was allegedly 300-500 yards away from Trump at Trump International Golf Course when members of the Secret Service detail spotted him and opened fire in the direction of the rifle. Witness say they saw a man, later identified as Routh, fleeing the area of the tree line, entering a Nissan sport utility vehicle and leaving at a high rate of speed. In the area of the tree line where Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, two bags, a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food. The serial number on the rifle “was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye.”

Routh was pulled over and detained about 50 miles away after a law enforcement alert was issued for the black Nissan with the license plate number. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office shared body cam video Monday of the moment deputies arrested suspect Routh on Sunday afternoon, which shows multiple officers wearing bulletproof vests as one officer ordered the suspect to step backward with his arms raised. He was detained without incident.

Trump took to X on Monday afternoon to thank the Secret Service and local law enforcement, commending them for doing an “outstanding” job handling the potential attempt on his life. He thanked Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw by name: “I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes – It was certainly an interesting day!  Most importantly, I want to thank the U.S. Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his Office of brave and dedicated Patriots, and, all of Law Enforcement, for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE. THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”

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The state department announced that Pastor David Lin, a U.S. citizen wrongfully detained in a Chinese prison for nearly two decades, has been released after 18 years.   A spokesperson for the US State Department said in a statement: “We welcome David Lin’s release from prison in the People’s Republic of China. He has returned to the United States and now gets to see his family for the first time in nearly 20 years.”

American officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, have repeatedly raised the issue during their visits to China, citing it as a “top priority” to resolve their cases (per CNN).

According to a statement shared to Politico, Lin’s daughter, Alice Lin, confirmed her father’s release saying the State Department informed her Saturday that he would be released and arrive in Texas on Sunday: “No words can express the joy we have — we have a lot of time to make up for.”

68-year-old David Lin, a California pastor, was detained shortly after arriving in Beijing in 2006 after helping to construct an unapproved Christian training center. He was later sentenced to life in prison for contract fraud in 2009, a charge he denied. Lin visited China frequently in the 1990s and started to preach the Gospel there in 1999, according to ChinaAid, a US-based non-profit Christian human rights organization.

Lin was one of three Americans deemed by the US State Department to have been wrongfully detained in China, along with businessmen Kai Li and Mark Swidan (who are still held behind bars, on espionage and drug-related charges respectively). On Wednesday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China will hold a hearing on Swidan and Kai Li.

John Kamm, executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, told CBS News of Lin’s release that “this was a long time coming,” The foundation has spent years keeping Lin’s incarceration in front of U.S. officials. The Bring Our Families Home Campaign, a group that represents the loved ones of Americans held abroad, said in a statement Monday it is “elated” by the news of Lin’s release and “applauds the efforts of the Biden administration in making David’s release possible. Unfortunately, two other Americans — Kai Li and Mark Swidan — remain wrongfully detained in China. The Campaign is pleased to see that the administration has acknowledged this but urges President Biden to back this up by acting quickly and decisively to build on the momentum of David’s release and free Kai and Mark.”

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