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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR 

An Israeli intelligence commander, who critics say played a key role in failing to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks, is resigning, Israel’s military told CNN. Yossi Sariel is the second high-profile military official to resign over Oct. 7, after the head of military intelligence resigned in April. Jennifer Hauser and Lauren Iszo report; Dov Lieber reports for the Wall Street Journal.

ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 

International condemnation grew yesterday of a deadly Israeli strike on a school that the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians said killed six of its staff members. Britain’s Foreign Secretary called the deaths of the U.N. workers “appalling,” while Qatar’s government called the strike a “horrifying massacre.” Liam Stack and Thomas Fuller report for the New York Times; Reuters reports.

ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CONFLICT

Details are emerging of an apparent Israeli raid on a “Hezbollah missile production facility” in Syria. Israel has not commented on the operation, which U.S media say took place earlier this week. Syrian state media reported that 18 people were killed on Monday in the raid, with several dozens injured. Thomas Mackintosh reports for BBC News; Barak Ravid reports for Axios.

An Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon killed three people overnight, Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported. AP News reports. 

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

President Biden is poised to approve Ukraine’s use of long-range Western weapons in Russia, as long as it does not use U.S.-weapons, European officials say. The issue will be high on the agenda as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer makes his first official visit to Washington today. David E. Sanger, Helene Cooper, and Eric Schmitt report for the New York Times.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday repeated his warnings about the West using long-range weapons to target Russia, saying Moscow would take “appropriate decisions” if NATO allowed Kyiv to strike inside Russian territory. BBC News reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced yesterday that Russia had launched a counteroffensive in Ukrainian-controlled areas in Kursk. The counteroffensive had long been expected and was planned for, Zelenskyy said. Anastacia Galouchka and Lizzie Johnson report for the Washington Post.

Three Red Cross workers were killed and two wounded yesterday when artillery fire struck an aid distribution site in Donetsk, the aid organization said. Eve Sampson reports for the New York Times.

Zelenskyy said yesterday that a Russian missile struck a cargo ship in the Black Sea that was ferrying wheat to Egypt. Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Andrew E. Kramer, and Maria Varenikova report for the New York Times.

U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Federal authorities are preparing to file criminal charges over Iran’s alleged hack and leak attack against former President Trump’s campaign, sources say. It was not immediately clear when the charges will be announced or whom they will target. Josh Dawsey and Devlin Barrett report for the Washington Post; Eric Tucker reports for AP News.

TRUMP LEGAL MATTERS

The Judge overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Trump and others yesterday dismissed three counts in the indictment, including two counts brought against Trump, saying that they exceed the state’s jurisdiction. Judge McAfee allowed the rest of the case to move forward, including eight charges against Trump, out of the original 13. Kate Brumback reports for AP News; Max Matza reports for BBC News.

New York’s highest court yesterday rejected Trump’s appeal to lift the gag order in his hush money case. The ruling means Trump has exhausted his last option to dismiss the order, which bars him from commenting on prosecutors and court staff until his sentencing in November. Avery Lotz reports for Axios.

A federal appeals court rejected Trump’s request to halt post-conviction proceedings in his hush money case, leaving Trump’s sentencing on track for after the November election. Michael R. Sisak reports for AP News.

OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS

A pro-Israel rally in a Boston suburb turned violent yesterday when a passerby was shot after confronting a group of demonstrators, authorities said. AP News reports.

In a blow to the Newsmax network, a judge ruled yesterday that Smartmatic’s case over 2020 election lies will head to trial this month. Marshall Cohen reports for CNN.

The Justice Department yesterday charged two men with assaulting a New York Times photographer on Jan. 6, 2021, accusing them of assaulting her, stealing her camera, and unlawfully entering the Capitol. Michael D. Shear reports for the New York Times.

A former CIA officer who spied for China has been sentenced to ten years in federal prison, the Justice Department said. Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, 71, received bribes in exchange for providing Chinese security officers classified material, according to his plea agreement. Josh Campbell reports for CNN.

New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban yesterday announced his resignation, about a week after his electronics were seized in an ongoing federal investigation into alleged corruption. Shayna Jacobs reports for the Washington Post.

Federal judiciary leaders have asked Congress to weigh impeaching a federal judge in Alaska for alleged sexual misconduct. Tobi Raji and Ann E. Marimow report for the Washington Post.

U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS

The United States will withdraw most troops from Iraq over the next two years but leave a small force in the northern Kurdistan region, U.S. and Iraqi officials say. Mustafa Salim, Missy Ryan, and Abigail Hauslohner report for the Washington Post.

The United States announced sanctions on 16 officials closely aligned with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro following his disputed election victory. Vanessa Buschschlüter reports for BBC News.

The U.S. and Chinese militaries are taking steps to revive diplomatic talks after a two-year freeze in relations, as they seek to dial back the risk of confrontations amid tensions over the South China Sea and Beijing’s support of Russia. Brian Spegele and Chun Han Wong report for the Wall Street Journal. 

The United States has approved $165 million in weapons sales to Israel for delivery in 2027, the State Department announced yesterday. Tara Copp reports for AP News.

The United Arab Emirates would seek to revive a multi-billion dollar U.S. deal for F-35 warplanes and armed drones if Trump wins the presidential election, sources told Reuters. Alexander Cornwell reports. 

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS 

Mexico’s states yesterday approved an amendment to the Constitution that would create the most far-reaching judicial overhaul ever attempted by a large democracy. The measure, championed by Mexico’s President, would mean voters elect judges at every level, drastically restructuring the third branch of the government. Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, James Wagner and Alan Yuhas report for the New York Times.

Senior Russian security official Sergei Shoigu held talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a visit to Pyongyang today, Russian news agencies said. Reuters reports.

North Korea today revealed a weapons-grade uranium-manufacturing site for the first time. Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times.

Russia revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats it has accused of espionage. The U.K. foreign office has not commented at the time of writing. Hafsa Khalil reports for BBC News.

A 27-year-old Syrian national “suspected of radical Islamist views has been arrested over a plot to kill German soldiers with machetes in the Bavarian town of Hof,” prosecutors said today. Reuters reports.

Senegal’s President yesterday dissolved the opposition-led parliament to call a snap legislative election for Nov. 17, six months after he was voted in. Monika Pronczuk and Babacar Dione report for AP News.

The post Early Edition: September 13, 2024 appeared first on Just Security.

The protest did not go off as planned. In February 2023, government recruiters came to the student union at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, stacking National Security Agency-branded plastic cups and splaying out pamphlets about Navy fringe benefits.

The activists had come to protest the expansion of Camp Grayling, already the largest National Guard training facility in the country. The opposition had arisen a year earlier, when the military had proposed leasing more than 150,000 acres of forest land managed by Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources, doubling the size of the training installation.

The National Guard, though, did not make an appearance at the University of Michigan career fair. The activists proceeded with their plan anyway.

“Want blood on your hands?” read the flyers activists distributed on recruiting tables. “Sign up for a government job.” When the recruiters returned from lunch, two protesters rushed in, dousing the NSA recruiting table and two Navy personnel with fake blood sprayed out of a ketchup container. (The NSA did not respond to a request for comment.) The “Stop Camp Grayling” protesters were subdued, booked, and charged.

“We’ve seen over the years that the FBI opens very aggressive investigations based on a very low criminal predicate in cases against protest groups.”

Everything about the protest had been relatively routine, right down to the arrests, but the local and federal authorities saw something more sinister. According to public records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the local sheriff’s office in Oakland County, Michigan, documented the incident in a case report as a hate crime against law enforcement. (The sheriff’s office did not respond to a request for comment.)

The FBI recorded the incident as part of a terrorism investigation.

“We’ve seen over the years,” said Michael German, a former FBI agent and fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, “that the FBI opens very aggressive investigations based on a very low criminal predicate in cases against protest groups.”

Over the following months, according to the documents obtained by The Intercept and Defending Rights & Dissent, the FBI’s counterterrorism investigation unlocked additional federal resources, deepened coordination with military intelligence, generated sustained counterterrorism attention on minor acts of vandalism, and ultimately culminated in a six-person boots-on-the-ground operation conducting physical surveillance of the Stop Camp Grayling Week of Action.

“The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) does not participate in civilian law enforcement investigations or surveillance of any group,” said Michigan National Guard public affairs officer David Kennedy, when asked about state police sharing intelligence with the military. “We do occasionally receive law enforcement notification of individuals or groups who are expressing intent to take action or threaten the safety of military members, training events or facilities.”

Green Scare

Treating the Stop Camp Grayling protesters as terrorists is the latest episode in a worldwide trend of governments smearing climate and environmental activists as terrorists — an ongoing Green Scare. Misapplication of the terrorism label frequently serves as pretext for invasive surveillance and sustained scrutiny.

The FBI has a long history of fixating on environmental protest movements as terrorism suspects. The focus escalated in the 1990s. Most of the movements are engaged in routine First Amendment-protected activity; a few use minor property damage as a protest tactic.

The FBI maintains federal domestic terrorism categories that include “anti-government violent extremism” and “animal rights/environmental violent extremism.” Under pressure to generate investigations, the FBI has launched probes against environmental groups based on thin evidence of criminal activity — or sometimes no evidence at all.

“Since the FBI created ideological categories, they’re incentivized to open cases in those categories,” German said.

“Since the FBI created ideological categories, they’re incentivized to open cases in those categories.”

Because the counterterrorism division does not collect incident data, he said, there is little accountability for the FBI investigations. “If you can’t see how the FBI divides up its domestic terrorism resources between ideological categories where there are a number of homicides and bombings, versus low-level vandalism and other regular protest activities, then you can’t determine whether the FBI is actually investigating true terrorism versus just targeting groups for investigation because they don’t like their political beliefs,” said German.

According to the FBI’s own definition, domestic terrorism comprises acts dangerous to human life or “intended to influence the policy of government by intimidation or coercion.” Yet few of the investigated environmental groups have threatened human life in any meaningful way; not a single homicide can be attributed to the environmental movement. (The FBI did not respond to a request for comment.)

Stop Camp Grayling — like most other movements organized around environmental activism — is not engaged in any type of systematic criminal activity. Movement adherents have never endangered human life. Much of their protest activity involved banner drops, teach-ins, and graffiti on billboards.

Yet the FBI saw fit to share an activist zine with military intelligence, drag in other alphabet agencies, and justify physical surveillance operations — all underpinned by the designation of the movement as worthy of a domestic terrorism investigation.

PFAS Polluters

In 2022, activists convened to fight the proposed expansion of Camp Grayling, a National Guard base that sprawls across three counties in Michigan. Already the largest National Guard base in the country, Camp Grayling announced plans in 2022 to more than double its size.

As host to an annual joint exercise that draws 6,300 participants, Camp Grayling argued that expansion into protected Department of Natural Resources land would facilitate on-the-ground training while expanding airspace available for fighter jet maneuvers.

When the expansion was proposed, it drew the ire of environmental and anti-militarism activists. An alliance of local residents and activists pointed to Camp Grayling’s dismal environmental record, particularly its use of PFAS “forever chemicals” in fire suppressant foam in the ’70s and ’80s.

PFAS levels in local bodies of water had already caused health warnings, leading a state regulator dealing with PFAS to oppose the Camp Grayling expansion. The expansion would have included sensitive riparian ecosystems, leaving only a razor-thin portage as protection against contamination of two rivers leading to Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

A vigorous protest movement sprung up in Michigan. The Stop Camp Grayling protesters took their inspiration from “Stop Cop City,” the movement to block a massive police training facility to be built on public forest land at the outskirts of Atlanta.

Stop Camp Grayling came onto the Michigan State Police’s radar during a October 23, 2022, protest at the home of the Department of Natural Resources director, followed by vandalism of several historic police vehicles at the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum.

“Our troopers are frequently called upon to ensure protestors can safely exercise their rights by blocking traffic during marches and protecting protestors participating in lawful activities,” said Shanon Banner, the director of the Michigan State Police’s Communications and Outreach Division.

It wasn’t long before the state police sought help from federal authorities. After the first protest at the DNR director’s house, a senior counterterrorism analyst sought recommendations for an FBI agent to join the case. By the end of the week, an agent from the FBI Detroit field office began gathering intelligence on Stop Camp Grayling protesters.

Some of this intelligence fell squarely within the domain of First Amendment-protected activity. At one point, the FBI agent assigned to the case forwarded a zine to military intelligence headquarters at Camp Grayling. The zine criticized American militarism and detailed the ecological impacts of the proposed expansion.

The University of Michigan recruiting fair protest marked a turning point in the ways authorities — both local and federal — viewed Stop Camp Grayling protests. Within a week of the recruiting fair incident, the national FBI Counterterrorism Division became involved in the case.

Days after the fake blood incident, an Army special agent with the National Joint Terrorism Task Force wrote to an agent at FBI headquarters, according to the public records. “We noted this incident and other related activity have been documented by FBI DE in an open 266 file,” the Army investigator said, referencing a classification reserved for domestic terrorism investigations.

“I Will Be There in Person”

In April 2023, the acting director of the DNR blocked the no-strings-attached lease of 162,000 acres to Camp Grayling, attributing the decision to an inundation of public concern and opposition from tribal governments. The DNR decided instead to allow limited-use permits on 52,000 acres of public lands.

The movement had scored a victory, but for hard-line Stop Camp Grayling activists and conservation groups, the substitute DNR decision left lingering concerns over the ecological impacts of testing electronic warfare systems in the Michigan forest. The Stop Camp Grayling protesters proceeded with a week of action that included demonstrations, community building, and strategizing about next steps.

The protests, however, were on authorities’ radar well before any demonstrators set foot in the forest. Because the end of the week of action nearly coincided with the August 4 start of Operation Northern Strike, police and military officials were on high alert. Even the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, tasked with addressing foreign intelligence entities, was read into FBI operations on the ground.

“I’ll in turn forward their info to military intel and federal LE partners.”

The Department of Homeland Security agent working on the case decided to travel to the area. “I will be working out of Grayling this Friday through the following Friday,” Dan Lorenz, the DHS officer, wrote to an intelligence official in the state police, “so if you need anything or if I need to respond to anything I will be there in person.” (DHS did not respond to a request for comment.)

A Michigan State Police officer instructed his colleagues to collect intelligence on Stop Camp Grayling protesters they encountered. “I’ll in turn forward their info to military intel and federal LE partners,” First Lt. Scott McManus wrote.

Banner, the Michigan State Police spokesperson, said, “The Michigan Intelligence Operations Center (MIOC)” — a so-called fusion center for information sharing — “adheres to strict guidelines that prohibit the collection of information based solely on an individual’s or group’s participation in lawful activities. If criminal activities are identified, the MIOC may play a role with relevant local and/or federal partners in an effort to keep our residents safe.”

During the Stop Camp Grayling Week of Action, all eyes were on the protesters. A lawful protest, mostly involving chanting, sparked a flurry of emails. The vandalism of two billboards sent intelligence and law enforcement agencies into conniptions. “This makes the cut,” Lorenz wrote in response to a Michigan State Police write-up of the graffiti. “I will get it into reporting first chance I get.”

Eventually, the FBI decided that watching from afar was no longer sufficient. On July 26, the FBI planned to carry out in-person surveillance against Stop Camp Grayling protesters.

“Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that we will need both of you for FISUR” — physical surveillance — “on Friday,” an FBI official with the Joint Terrorism Task Force wrote to two colleagues in the Detroit field office.

Six FBI agents, including two with Portland field office designations, were sent a 13-page operation plan, along with an attached document called “Camp Attendees.docx.” The entire operation plan, beyond confirmation that six FBI agents were involved, is redacted. The Michigan State Police indicated that it withheld a significant portion of documents responsive to The Intercept and Defending Rights & Dissent’s records request, due to claimed exemptions to freedom of information laws.

The section heading in the physical surveillance plan reveal that six officers took part in the physical surveillance, with two more case agents listed. Another line lists a Michigan State Police “Contact for Traffic Stop.”

Below the list, followed by a black redaction that covers most of the page, is another section labeled: “DEADLY FORCE POLICY.”

The post They Protested a Military Base Expansion. So the FBI Investigated Them as Terrorism Suspects. appeared first on The Intercept.

The United States has recently detected indications of increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables, CNN reports. The news is adding to existing concerns over the vulnerability of critical undersea communications infrastructure at a time when the Kremlin is accused of waging an escalating hybrid war against the West in parallel to its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Undersea cables play a key role in many aspects of modern society, accounting for the vast majority of digital communication including internet traffic and more than $10 trillion in daily worldwide financial transactions. Hundreds of undersea cables run across the world’s seas and oceans, with cables in the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea seen as being particularly at risk from potential Russian sabotage.

The world’s critical undersea infrastructure is largely unguarded and its exact positions are available in the public domain, creating a potentially tempting target for the Kremlin. Western intelligence officials believe Russia’s efforts to monitor and build up technical capability to access this vast undersea infrastructure are expanding and are currently spread among a number of different branches of the country’s military and security services, including the Russian Navy and the Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research (GUGI).

Though Russian officials have remained largely tight-lipped over the Kremlin’s alleged interest in undersea cables, former Russian President and close Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev stated in 2023 that there were no longer any constraints left “to prevent us from destroying the ocean floor cable communications of our enemies.”

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Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began just over two and a half years ago, reports of suspicious Russian activity close to undersea cables have been mounting. This threat to underwater infrastructure is viewed as one of the many tools in a far broader Kremlin toolbox of hybrid warfare methods against the West.

In September 2024, CIA and MI6 chiefs accused Russia of engaging in a “reckless campaign of sabotage” across Europe. Alleged recent Russian attacks on communications systems have included disruption to the Global Positioning System (GPS) that affected thousands of civilian passenger flights in the Baltic Sea, Black Sea, and eastern Mediterranean regions.

Attempts to disrupt vital digital infrastructure are all too familiar to Ukrainians. For example, just one month before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Moscow launched a massive cyber attack that shut down more than sixty Ukrainian government sites. Russia was also linked to a major attack on one of Ukraine’s largest telecommunications companies in late 2023 that temporarily left approximately twenty four million users without connection to phone or internet services.

Amid mounting alarm over the possibility of Russian attacks on undersea cables, security measures are currently being reviewed and beefed up. NATO has set up an undersea infrastructure coordination group that brings together a wide range of public sector, military, and business representatives to share information regarding potential threats. Late last year, the alliance also announced that it was stepping up naval patrols in the Baltic Sea in response to damage to underwater infrastructure in the region.

In spring 2024, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Norway, and Denmark signed an agreement to protect critical underwater infrastructure in the North Sea from potential Russian sabotage. The move came amid recognition that the North Sea now serves as a critical hub connecting European countries through power cables, gas pipelines, and telecommunications links.

Alarm over the security of the world’s vital undersea communications arteries comes as concern mounts over a possible further escalation in Russia’s hybrid war. The Kremlin is believed to be considering a variety of options as it looks to retaliate for Western military support provided to Ukraine. While direct military action is viewed as unlikely, attacks on critical infrastructure could cause chaos and impose significant costs.

With no end in sight to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the threat to undersea cables looks set to remain for some time to come. A range of measures are already being implemented to improve security, but much more needs to be done. As Western governments look to bolster protection for existing underwater infrastructure, it may also be wise to further expand backup capacity in order to minimize disruption and bolster Western resilience against potentially devastating attacks.

Aleksander Cwalina is assistant director for the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

Further reading

The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.

Read more from UkraineAlert

UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics, economy, civil society, and culture.

The post Concerns grow over possible Russian sabotage of undersea cables appeared first on Atlantic Council.

A St. Louis County, Missouri, judge upheld the murder conviction of Marcellus Williams, ruling that a prosecutor who contaminated key evidence by handling it without wearing gloves before Williams’s trial had not acted in “bad faith,” but instead was merely following his normal procedure.

The ruling, issued on Thursday by Circuit Court Judge Bruce Hilton, dismantles Williams’s latest attempt to prove his innocence and paves the way for his execution on September 24. “There is no basis for a court to find that Williams is innocent,” Hilton wrote. “Williams is guilty of first-degree murder, and has been sentenced to death.”

The ruling comes three weeks after the judge had agreed to a deal between Williams and St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell’s office that would have spared Williams’s life. The agreement, which would have seen Williams sentenced to life in prison, was based on the recent discovery that prosecutors had failed to adequately preserve the murder weapon used to kill Felicia Anne Gayle Picus in 1998.

Lawyers representing Attorney General Andrew Bailey scoffed at the deal, arguing that Hilton didn’t have the right to resentence Williams. Bailey ran to the Missouri Supreme Court to stop the proceeding, which it did, ordering Hilton to hold an evidentiary hearing instead.

During that hearing, on August 28, Bell and Williams’s attorneys maintained that the contamination of the murder weapon had violated Williams’s rights. Lawyers representing the attorney general meanwhile argued that handling evidence without protection was merely what the prosecutors did in St. Louis County at the time of Williams’s trial. Hilton has now agreed with that position.

In a statement following the ruling, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project and one of Williams’s attorneys, emphasized how rare and meaningful it was for Bell’s office to seek to vacate Williams’s conviction. “The decision of a prosecutor to move to vacate a murder conviction and death sentence is not done lightly,” she said, but Bell had done so because “there is overwhelming evidence that Marcellus Williams’s trial was unconstitutionally unfair, including revelations that the State contaminated the most critical evidence in the case — the murder weapon.”

A Deal Undone

Keith Larner, a retired former prosecutor who handled Williams’s case, was a key witness during the evidentiary hearing. He admitted that, before Williams’s trial, he had repeatedly handled the butcher knife used to kill Picus without wearing gloves that would have preserved any biological material on it linking her killer to the murder.

Larner testified that after the local crime lab failed to find any fingerprints on the weapon and had matched blood found on it to Picus, he felt free to handle the knife without taking precautions because the testing was complete. Larner also said he had already concluded that Picus’s killer had worn gloves. There is no concrete evidence in the case record that Picus’s killer wore gloves. Nonetheless, Larner insisted that there “was nothing to link anybody to the crime on that knife.” Larner recalled touching the knife at least five times prior to the trial without wearing protective gloves.

Williams maintains his innocence in the killing. No crime scene evidence linked him to the murder inside Picus’s home, and Williams long argued that testing of the weapon used to kill Picus could prove he was innocent. The trial judge denied his attorneys’ request to test the knife for DNA before trial, and he was convicted in 2001 based on the questionable testimony of two informants. DNA testing done in 2016, however, revealed unknown genetic material on the knife’s handle.

Based in part on the unidentified DNA, Bell filed a motion in January to vacate Williams’s conviction, invoking a relatively new Missouri law that allows elected prosecutors in the state to undo convictions they believe their offices wrongly obtained. The court was scheduled to hold an evidentiary hearing on the case, where a special-appointed counsel was slated to argue that Williams should be freed. Yet additional testing on the knife revealed at the last minute that neither Larner nor his investigator could be excluded as the source of the unknown DNA. In other words, whatever crime scene DNA might have been on the knife was irrevocably lost by the prosecution team’s handling of it before Williams’s trial.

Because of those findings, Bell admitted that the road to exonerate Williams would be steep. In mid-August, Bell struck a deal with Williams and his attorneys: The prosecutor would take the death penalty off the table if Williams would enter a so-called Alford plea that would allow him to maintain his innocence while conceding the state had enough to convict him. In exchange, Williams would be resentenced to life in prison. Picus’s husband, Dan Picus, had also approved the deal; he believes Williams is guilty, but told the court he does not want to see Williams executed.

Yet that wasn’t enough for the attorney general’s office, whose appeal to the state’s high court scuttled the agreement and prompted the court to schedule the evidentiary hearing the following week.

“There Is Still Time”

In his ruling on Thursday, Hilton concluded that because Larner’s actions weren’t intentional, under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Williams’s rights had not been violated. The handling of the knife had been part of the prosecution’s normal practices, Hilton found. Larner, the judge wrote, had a “good faith basis and reasons for handling the knife without gloves.”

Hilton also rejected Williams and Bell’s other claims, including that Williams’s previous attorneys were ineffective in representing him at trial, and that Larner had struck people from the pool of potential jurors on Williams’s case because they were Black, which is unconstitutional. During the hearing, Jonathan Potts, who is working with Williams’s attorneys at the Midwest Innocence Project, pressed Larner about his stated decision to strike one potential juror because the man “looked very similar” to Williams. Larner said that what he meant was that they looked like “brothers,” he said. “Like familial brothers, not like Black people.”

During his short tenure as attorney general, Bailey has spent a considerable amount of time fighting efforts to exonerate the wrongly convicted. Still, as of Thursday afternoon, his office had not released a statement regarding Hilton’s ruling.

Rojo Bushnell, of the Midwest Innocence Project, said Williams’s legal team would continue to seek relief via the courts and Gov. Mike Parsons, who could grant clemency. “We will continue pursuing every possible option to prevent Mr. Williams’s wrongful execution,” she said in her statement. “There is still time … to ensure that Missouri does not commit the irreparable injustice of executing an innocent person.”

The post A Prosecutor Wanted to Spare Marcellus Williams’s Life. Missouri’s Attorney General Got in the Way. appeared first on The Intercept.

From gathering and analyzing information to battlefield operations, States are integrating AI into a range of military and intelligence operations. Gaza and Ukraine are battle labs for this new technology. But many questions remain about whether, and how, such advances should be regulated.

 As political and military leaders, industry, academics, and civil society confront a rapidly changing world, how should they approach the role of AI in the military? This week, more than two thousand experts from over 90 countries gathered in Seoul, South Korea, for the second global summit on Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM). The Summit focused on three themes: understanding the implications of AI on international peace and security; implementing responsible application of AI in the military domain; and envisioning the future governance of AI in the military domain.

Just Security Senior Fellow Brianna Rosen and Co-Editor-in-Chief Tess Bridgeman were among the participants at the REAIM Summit, chairing and speaking on several breakout sessions. Today, Brianna joins the show to share her key takeaways from the Summit, including on how it could inform future efforts to build consensus and strengthen AI governance in the military domain.

Listen to the episode, with a transcript available, by clicking below.

The post The Just Security Podcast: Strategic Risks of AI and Recapping the 2024 REAIM Summit appeared first on Just Security.

Three Brooklyn residents faced an early morning nightmare Thursday after armed robbers came calling in a dramatic home invasion, authorities said.

Four men climbed through a window near the foyer of a home on the 1900 block of 80th Street in Bensonhurst, at around 4 a.m. on Sept. 12, according to police sources.

Once inside, cops said, the armed intruders used a handgun to pistol-whip a 34-year-old man across his head, causing a large laceration. Another assailant punched a 41-year-old man in the face, causing a cut to his cheek, law enforcement sources reported.

Both male victims and a 19-year-old woman were zip-tied by the suspects, who then ransacked the house looking for valuables, police said.

Moments later, the violent crooks made off watches, pocketbooks, and $20,000 in cash, according to police. The perpetrators — who, authorities said, wore all-black clothing — fled inside a dark-colored vehicle.

The incident was reported to the 62nd Precinct. The female victim was not injured.

Anyone with information regarding the incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on Thursday responded to Venezuela’s disputed July presidential election by imposing sanctions against 16 allies of President Nicolas Maduro, accusing them of obstructing the vote and carrying out human rights abuses. 

Those targeted by the Treasury Department include the head of the country’s high court, leaders of state security forces and prosecutors. The move came days after the departure into exile of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the former diplomat who represented the main opposition parties and claimed to have won the July 28 presidential election by a wide margin. 

Venezuela’s electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor hours after polls closed, but unlike previous elections, they never released detailed vote tallies to back up their claim. Global condemnation over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela’s high court, stacked with ruling party loyalists, to audit the results. 

The court reaffirmed his victory. 

Experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, which at the invitation of Maduro’s government observed the election, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility.

(NewsNation) — Police chiefs of America’s largest cities have published the first guide about UAPs, or unidentified aerial phenomena, which details encounters and how officers can report the incidents.

Major Cities Chiefs Association, a forum for police executives, says UAPs and UFOs pose a national security threat and it’s the responsibility of police officers to know how to detect, track and report them.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings discussed the importance of having a unified plan to handle any encounter or sighting of UAPs on NewsNation’s “Morning in America” on Thursday.

Jennings said the 11-page guide is to help officers understand that unexplained occurrences do happen and it’s important for them to know what to do if they ever encounter that experience.

“They’re happening. Whether you believe in what the origin of them is or not, they’re happening, and it’s important that we are able to report,” Jennings said.

Jennings hasn’t personally seen a UAP or UFO, and sighting reports are fairly low in his city. However, he said they do happen more often in other parts of the U.S.

“We just want to make sure that they’re reporting properly, and they’re taken seriously,” Jennings said.

His police department doesn’t have resources dedicated to UAPs and UFOs, and most departments across the nation don’t have funding for it either. However, police leaders are hoping the little handbook can work as a guide and bring awareness to departments in the U.S.

The goal of the guidebook is to normalize UAP and UFO sightings so that when and if an officer does encounter something, the officer knows what to do and the command to which the officer is reporting, takes them seriously.

“It’s important to make sure we’re tracking these incidents,” Jennings said.

LANSING, Kansas — The shuttered Kansas prison where the killers chronicled in Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood were executed is now a tourist attraction. 

Starting Friday, former wardens and corrections officers will lead two-hour tours of the stone-walled building in Lansing that first began housing inmates in the 1860s, The Kansas City Star reported. 

The building, originally called the Kansas State Penitentiary, was without purpose after the Kansas Department of Corrections opened the newly constructed Lansing Correctional Facility in 2020. But instead of demolishing it, the Department of Corrections transferred control of the building to the Lansing Historical Society and Museum. 

Upcoming events include a car show inside the prison walls later this month. 

“We’re expecting the prison to open up to large crowds who want to know what went on inside those walls,” Debra Bates-Lamborn, president of the society, said after state prison officials handed over the keys this week. 

For years, the prison carried out executions by hanging at the gallows — a site that visitors will not be able to access during tours. Since removed from prison grounds, the wooden gallows are now disassembled and under the state’s custody. 

Among the notable inmates executed at the prison were Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith, who were convicted of murdering four members of the Clutter family on Nov. 15, 1959, in the family’s home near Holcomb, Kansas. 

Capote, along with his close friend and fellow writer Harper Lee, visited the prison while doing research for the book about the killings. Hickock and Smith were executed in April 1965, among the last inmates to be hanged in the state. 

One spot on the tour is the Chow Hall, where the late country music legend Johnny Cash performed for inmates in 1970. 

“Johnny Cash has always said that audiences in prisons are the most enthusiastic audience he’s ever played to,” Bates-Lamborn said. 

The prison tour is modeled off of a similar tour in Missouri. About a year ago, a state lawmaker approached the Lansing Historical Society and Museum with the idea of preserving the prison by converting it into a tourist attraction. 

Bates-Lamborn said she and another board member made the trip to Jefferson City to tour the Missouri State Penitentiary, which has been open for tours since 2009. 

“Afterwards, I thought ours is a shoo-in and we’re so much better,” she said. 

Tours of the facility will be held on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and are scheduled to run until October 26. Since the facility has no heat or electricity, the tours stop over the winter and will return in the spring.

Hispanic Heritage Month Events Round Up 2024

Hispanic Heritage Month runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. It’s a great time to celebrate Hispanic heritage with your family and teach your children about the different cultures that co-exist in New York City.

Here’s a round up of events this Hispanic Heritage Month in New York City!

Click on your region to jump to events near you!

• Manhattan
• Bronx
• Brooklyn
• Queens
• Staten Island

Manhattan

The Latin GRAMMYs®: 25 Years of Musical Excellence
The Paley Museum, 25 W. 52nd St, Upper West Side
Friday, Sept. 13, and Wednesdays – Sundays, 12 – 6 pm, through Nov. 3
All Ages
Free

The Paley Museum, in partnership with The Latin Recording Academy®, salutes the 25th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards®, and honors Hispanic Heritage Month with its latest in-depth exhibit, The Latin GRAMMYs®: 25 Years of Musical Excellence. Visitors will have the opportunity to experience the excitement of the Latin GRAMMY Awards® via an array of memorable outfits and instruments from Latin GRAMMY®–winning recording artists including Shakira, Ricky Martin, Juan Gabriel, and Carlos Santana. The collection will also feature dozens of photos of iconic and thrilling Latin GRAMMY® moments, screenings of the 2023 Latin GRAMMY Awards® in Spain, and many other unforgettable experiences. Plus, visitors can take their picture on a Latin GRAMMY® red carpet ahead of the 25th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards®.

Corn Craze Family Day

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, One Bowling Green, Lower Manhattan.
Saturday, Sept. 14, 12 – 5 pm
All Ages

Free

Bring the whole family to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with stories, lessons, and family-friendly activities featuring corn.

Bilingual Sunday Story Time (English/Spanish): Paletero Man / ¡Qué Paletero tan Cool!
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park W., Upper West Side
Sunday, Sept. 15, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm
All Ages
$6-$24; free for ages 4 and younger.

Start off National Hispanic Heritage Month with a bilingual Sunday Story Time! Follow a young boy as he passes through his busy neighborhood in search of the Paletero Man (popsicle man). When he finally catches up with him, our boy’s pockets are empty. Oh no! What happened to his dinero? It will take the help of the entire community to get the tasty treat now. The book is titled Paletero Man, written by Lucky Diaz and illustrated by Micah Player. After the story, make your own colorful (and tasty!) popsicle craft.

 National Hispanic Heritage Month at CMOM
Children’s Museum of Manhattan, 212 West 83rd St., Upper West Side
Sept. 17-22, Tuesday – Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm
All Ages
Included with admission: $17

Celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month by exploring different traditions, contributing to a mural, crafts, storytime, and more. 

Family Day: Baila! Canta! Celebra!
Carnegie Hall, 881 7th Ave., Upper West Side
Saturday, Sept. 21, 12 – 4 pm
Ages 3 – 10
Free

Family Day is back with activities offered in both English and Spanish, featuring live music, dance, and celebration. Stop by for a quick visit or join the fun for the whole afternoon!

Explore This! Latin American Design
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., Midtown
Saturday, Sept. 21, 2 – 4 pm
All Ages
Free

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with hands-on activities and explore the exhibition Crafting Modernity: Design in Latin America, 1940–1980. Join anytime and choose activities that interest your family, and move at your own pace. Recommended for families with kids ages five and up. 

Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
Washington Heights Library, 1000 St. Nicholas Ave., Washington Heights
Thursday, Sept. 26, 4 – 5 pm
All Ages
Free

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with stories, crafts and activities.

Call Me Roberto! Children’s Story Time and Art Workshop
Jackie Robinson Museum, 75 Varick Street, New York
Sunday, Oct. 13, 1 – 2:30 pm
Ages 3 – 12 years old
$15-$18; free admission for children younger than 5.

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a special story time and meet-and-greet featuring a new children’s book, Call Me Roberto! Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos! Enjoy a family-friendly reading with author Nathalie Alonso and art activities with illustrator Rudy Gutierrez.

Bronx

Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
Williamsbridge Oval Recreation Center, 3225 Reservoir Oval East, Williamsbridge
Saturday, Sept. 14, 12 – 3 pm
All Ages
Free

Learn, experience, and represent the different cultures of South America, Central America, Spain and the Caribbean! There will be music, dancing, and activities for the kids. Wear your flag and celebrate.

Create Tin Foil Art
Allerton Library, 2740 Barnes Ave., Williamsbridge
Thursday, Sept. 19, 4 – 5 pm
Ages 6 – 12
Free

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by learning about and making tin foil art, a traditional Mexican folk art form that involves manipulating tin into various decorative items such as mirrors, lanterns, ornaments, and religious artifacts. Known as “hojalata” in Spanish, this craft has roots dating back to the 16th century. Everyone will make their own piece of tin foil or hojalata to take home.

Make Your Own Maracas
Bronx Library Center, 310 E Kingsbridge Road, University Heights
Thursday, Sept. 19, 4 – 5 pm
Ages 13 and up
Free

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month by making maracas! Maracas are an inconspicuous but ever-present musical instrument in Latin American music whose roots stretch far back into the misty, pre-Columbian past. Learn about the history of this instrument and listen to some songs in which maracas are featured prominently! 

Festival Latino
Bronx Terminal Market, 610 Exterior Street, Melrose
Saturday, Sept. 21, 1 – 3:30 pm
All Ages
Free

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with music, giveaways, and family fun!

Fiesta on the Hudson
Wave Hill, 4900 Independence Ave., Riverdale
Thursday, Sept. 26, 4:30 – 8:30 pm
All Ages
Free

Dance the night away to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! Learn the basic steps and traditions of dances like salsa and cha-cha, while enjoying live music on the Great Lawn overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades. As the sun sets, the party continues indoors. Specialty food and drinks will be available in Wave Hill House with more music and dancing into the night. Hosting and dance instruction provided by Talia Castro-Pozo and guests.

Brooklyn

The Animals of Latin America: A Craft Activity + Dance Party Concert
Macon Library, 361 Lewis Ave., Bedford–Stuyvesant
Saturday, Sept. 28, 11 am – 12pm
All Ages
Free

Join Broadway performer Facundo on a musical adventure traveling across Latin America. Start by doing a craft activity, where all are invited to make their own animal masks or puppet, while learning about various animals from different Latin American countries. Then end with a celebratory concert, with shakers to make rhythms together, colorful scarves for dancing, our new animal masks and puppets, and ending with a bubble party!

Learn Spanish / Charango Sing Along!
Brooklyn Public Library Sheepshead Bay, 2636 E. 14th St., Sheepshead Bay
Saturday, Sept. 28, 3 – 5 pm
Ages 3 – 8
Free

Immerse yourself in the vibrant culture of Hispanic heritage with the award-winning Araceli Roma! Learn Spanish through catchy songs and playful word repetition with the beautiful charango. Enjoy Spanish instruments and a charming puppet show. 

Jack and Friends Latino Heritage Month: Bilingual Birdies
Park Slope Library, 431 6th Ave., Park Slope
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 4 – 4:45 pm
All Ages
Free

Join Jack and Friends for a family concert with Bilingual Birdies! ¡Hola, hola! ¿Cómo estás? Get ready to sing, dance, jump, shake, laugh, march, run, freeze, tap, smile, and have the most fun ever en español with Bilingual Birdies! Families go on a joyful adventure with songs, dance, and puppetry, to learn new words in Spanish while they’re having a blast in this live music interactive experience. Whether you know a bit of Spanish already or are completely new to the language, this is the perfect way to celebrate diversity and embrace Latin American cultures! 

Brooklyn DA Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
New York City College of Technology, 300 Jay Street, Downtown Brooklyn
Tuesday, Oct. 1, 6 – 8 pm
All Ages
Free
Advanced registration required

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with an annual celebration of culture, music, food, and community. 

Quetzali Travels to Central and South America: Bilingual Puppet Show with Karina Onofre
Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 145 Brooklyn Ave., Crown Heights
Thursday, Oct. 3, 3 – 3:45 pm
Ages 12 and under
Free

Learn about Hispanic heritage with Karina Onofre and Quetzali the puppet and go on an adventure to countries like Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, and Argentina! In this energetic and interactive puppet show, children will sing, dance, learn, and play with Quetzali and her puppet friends while immersing themselves in a celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. 

Calpulli Mexican Dance Company
DeKalb Library, 790 Bushwick Ave., Bushwick
Friday, Oct. 4, 3 – 4 pm
All Ages
Free

Join the Calpulli Mexican Dance Company to celebrate the rich diversity of Mexican and Mexican-American cultural heritage through this dance-based program.

Queens

Kick-off to Hispanic Heritage Month Celebration
Queens Public Library Langston Hughes, 100-01 Northern Boulevard, Corona
Saturday, Sept. 14, 11 am – 4 pm
All Ages
Free

Celebrate the histories, cultures, and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Latin America with live Tango, Cumbia, traditional Mexican dance, arts & crafts, giveaways, trivia, games, and more!

Carnaval De La Cultura Latina
Junction Blvd., bet. Roosevelt Ave. and 37th Ave. Corona
Sunday, Sept. 15, 12 – 6 pm
All Ages
Free

This event will showcase the richness of Latino heritage through music, dance, food, and art. It will also feature a variety of family-friendly activities, making it an inclusive and festive environment for all ages. Vendors will feature all kinds of Latin American arts and crafts, music, food and many other items. Children’s entertainment will include inflatable rides, face painting, games, and lots of giveaways. 

Hispanic Heritage: Wepa! Latin Dance For Kids with Urban Stages
Sunnyside Library, 43-06 Greenpoint Ave., Long Island City
Friday, Sept. 20, 3 – 3:45 pm
All Ages
Free

Experience the vibrant rhythms of the Caribbean with this interactive workshop! Engage in guided listening, rhythmic exercises, body movement, and beginner instruction in various Latin dances. Learn, laugh, and mambo around your house with a newfound appreciation for this rich musical culture. 

Hispanic Heritage: Mexican Bark Painting
Queens Public Library – Fresh Meadows, 193-20 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows
Wednesday, Sept. 25, 4 – 5 pm
Ages 6-11 years old 
Free

Bark Paintings, made by the people of Xalitla, Mexico, are made on amate paper (from the bark of the wild fig tree) and typically depict flowers, birds, plants, and animals. Learn about these beautiful objects and create one to take home with you!

Hispanic Heritage: Latin Dance for Kids with Cucala Dance Company
Queens Public Library – Fresh Meadows, 193-20 Horace Harding Expressway, Fresh Meadows
Saturday, Oct. 12, 3 – 4 pm
All Ages
Free

Queens Public Library is excited to share fun Hispanic Heritage Month programming with children and their families in collaboration with Cucala Dance Company! Dancing is an excellent way to stay active, make friends, and build confidence. The Cucalitos Community is centered around respect, fun, and creativity. This is sure to be an encouraging and interactive program that everyone can enjoy!

Staten Island

Family Friendly Live Folk Concert with Jose Raul (Tito) Ocasio
Greenbelt Nature Center, 700 Rockland Ave., Great Kills
Saturday, Sep. 21, 12 – 4 pm
All Ages 
Free

Jose Raul (Tito) Ocasio presents a free, family friendly live folk concert and artistic presentation during Hispanic Heritage Month honoring a Bronx living legend and award winner Jose Rivera, along with folk artists Bob Wright and Linda Hickman. 

Hispanic Heritage Day
Historic Richmond Town, 441 Clarke Ave., Great Kills
Saturday, September 28, 11 am – 4 pm
All Ages
$10; $5 ages 6-11; free for children younger than 5

Join Historic Richmond Town in celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with a day of special programs in New York CIty’s living history village. In the 3rd County Courthouse, the renowned Calpulli Mexican Dance Company will present a thrilling and informative performance of traditional dance mixed with storytelling and folklore. Visit historic houses and trade shops, which will feature demonstrations of recipes highlighting cuisine from across the Hispanic and Latinx communities, and demonstrations of weaving and broom making. 

PARA MI GENTE HISPANIC HERITAGE CELEBRATION
Stapleton Waterfront Park, Water St., Grymes Hill
Saturday, Sept. 28, 11 am – 6 pm
All ages
Free

Shop Latin items, food, see local artists, and dance outside with guest DJ spinning Latin music, salsa, merengue, bachata, and Latin house music.