Important Takeaways:
- A federal judge in Georgia has temporarily blocked President Biden’s administration from implementing its plan to waive federal student loans for almost 30 million borrowers.
- The ruling is the latest in a long series of roadblocks to the administration’s campaign to wipe the slate clean on tens of billions of dollars in student debt via the Higher Education Act of 1965.
- Seven GOP-led states filed the lawsuit earlier this week challenging the Biden administration’s most recent student debt forgiveness plan, accusing the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) of taking steps to cancel loans beginning as early as this week.
- In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in a Brunswick, Georgia, federal court, attorneys general from Republican-led states — including Georgia and Missouri — took aim at a rule by the DOE proposed in April, which would provide for a waiver of federal student loan debts for approximately 27.6 million borrowers.
- The attorneys argue that the DOE does not have the authority to cancel the student loan debt. The Thursday order temporarily restrains the Biden administration from implementing the program.
- Missouri and Georgia are joined in the lawsuit by Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Dakota and Ohio.
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Important Takeaways:
- A popular tourist island south of mainland China has been hit by the most powerful typhoon in a decade, leaving the area facing potentially catastrophic winds and torrential rain.
- A super typhoon is equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane.
- Super typhoon Yagi slammed into Wenchang city in the north-east of Hainan Island with winds of 138 mph at 16:00 local time on Friday, according to state media.
- Some 400,000 people in Hainan Island were evacuated to safe ground ahead of Yagi’s arrival.
- Chinese authorities believe Yagi will be the strongest typhoon to hit its southern coast in a decade.
- Earlier this week, floods and landslides brought by Yagi killed at least 13 people in northern Philippines, with thousands of people forced to evacuate to safer ground.
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Important Takeaways:
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was as clear as he has ever been that he does not believe a ceasefire and hostage deal is likely in Gaza in a sharp rebuke to the Biden administration’s insistence it’s close at hand.
- On Sunday, President Joe Biden claimed that the parties were on the verge of a deal, and on Wednesday, a senior administration official claimed 90% of the agreement had been completed.
- “It’s exactly inaccurate. There’s a story, a narrative out there, that there’s a deal out there,” the Israeli Prime Minister said of the statement
- US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby doubled down on those assessments in comments to the press Thursday, saying, “90% – verge of a deal. You call that optimistic, I call that accurate.”
- “What Hamas has been demanding here, the Israelis have come forward to meet the terms as best they can,” the official said. “And Hamas, frankly, on this issue, we’ve had a pretty frustrating process.”
- The official said Hamas’s recent killing of six hostages had “colored” the ongoing negotiations and thrown into question Hamas’s willingness to reach a deal.
- Netanyahu has held two news conferences this week to argue that maintaining permanent control of the Philadelphi Corridor is vital to Israeli security.
- On Thursday, Netanyahu claimed Hamas “don’t agree to anything. Not to the Philadelphi Corridor, not to the keys of exchanging hostages for jailed terrorists, not to anything. So that’s just a false narrative.”
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States and nine allied nations on Thursday formally accused the Russian government of masterminding cyberattacks in 2020 on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, among many other targets.
- The countries pinned the attacks, which largely used a type of malware known as “WhisperGate,” on GRU Unit 29155, a Russian military hacking group.
- Hacking efforts as part of this campaign began in 2020, and included attacks on Ukrainian groups in January 2022 ahead of Russia’s invasion, along with critical infrastructure organizations in government, transportation, financial, health and other sectors in NATO member states.
- According to the FBI, this hacking activity included more than 14,000 observed instances of scanning networks in more than 20 NATO member states and European nations, along with targeting of groups in Central American and Asian nations.
- The Justice Department accused the group of carrying out attacks, including the probing of an unnamed Maryland-based U.S. government agency between August 2021 and February 2022, and of hacking the transportation infrastructure of an unnamed Central European nation supportive of Ukraine in mid-2022.
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Important Takeaways:
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suing the Wisconsin Elections Commission in an attempt to remove his name from the ballot in the battleground state just two months before the presidential election.
- The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Dane County, argued independent candidates such as Kennedy are treated unfairly by the elections commission because they operate under different deadlines from party-aligned candidates when it comes to ballot access.
- Party-affiliated candidates had until 5 p.m. on Sept. 3 to certify their candidacy, according to guidance from the elections commission, while independent candidates had until 5 p.m. Aug. 6. Kennedy ended his campaign on Aug. 23.
- Wisconsin law holds that anyone who files nomination papers and qualifies to appear on the ballot — which Kennedy did — cannot decline nomination.
- The only exception to that provision is “in case of death of the person,” according to the law.
- “The only way he gets to not be on the ballot is to up and die, which I’m assuming he has no plans on doing,” WEC chairwoman Ann Jacobs, a Democrat, said last week. “The statute is absolutely clear on this.”
- Wisconsin is not the only battleground state where Kennedy appears likely to remain on the ballot. Elections officials in Michigan and North Carolina have also said Kennedy cannot withdraw from the ballots.
- There will be eight presidential candidates on Wisconsin’s ballot in November, including Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent candidate Cornel West.
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Important Takeaways:
- The 14-year-old suspect in a shooting at a Georgia high school that killed four people and his father will both stay in custody following back-to-back court hearings Friday morning where their lawyers declined to seek bail.
- Colt Gray was charged as an adult with four counts of murder in the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53.
- Because he’s a juvenile, the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole.
- Shortly after Colt Gray’s hearing, his father, Colin Gray, was brought into court. Colin Gray, 54, was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting, including with counts of involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder. “His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said.
- Nine people were also hurt in Wednesday’s attack.
- According to arrest warrants obtained by The Associated Press, Colt Gray is accused of using a “black semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” to kill two students and two teachers at the school. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how he obtained the gun or got it into the school.
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Important Takeaways:
- Two employees of Russian state media, Russia Today (RT), were indicted, dozens of internet domains were seized for “malign influence campaigns” and a new visa restriction policy was introduced as part of the efforts to check foreign influence.
- According to an indictment unsealed by the Justice Department on Wednesday, two senior employees of the state-funded RT used shell companies and fake identities to pay $10m to a Tennessee-based media operation to create content benefitting Russia.
- US Attorney General Merrick Garland told reporters that the operation involved millions of followers and never disclosed that it was being directed by Moscow while falsely claiming it was being funded by a private investor.
- According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Treasury, sanctions were imposed on a total of 10 individuals and two entities.
- The State Department has also imposed visa restrictions on the designated individuals and offered a reward of up to $10m for information pertaining to foreign interference in the US election.
- Moscow allegedly wants to see Trump become president for a second time because the Republican candidate has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine.
- US authorities have said their efforts to counter interference operations are ongoing.
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Important Takeaways:
- On Tuesday, federal prosecutors unsealed the indictment against 41-year-old Linda Sun, born in China and a naturalized American citizen, and her husband, 40-year-old Chris Hu. The indictment charges the couple with operating a money laundering and bank fraud scheme thanks in part to Sun’s allegedly acting as an agent of influence for China while working in Cuomo and Hochul’s administrations.
- The couple were arrested and arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
- The 64-page indictment is far-reaching, detailing Sun’s alleged work as an agent for China and her husband’s subsequent illegal business dealings in China. In particular, the indictment lays out how Sun allegedly acted on behalf of the CCP while working for Cuomo, who is called “Politician-1,” and Hochul, who is called “Politician-2.” The indictment states:
- The defendant LINDA SUN acted at the order, direction, or request of representatives of the [People’s Republic of China (PRC)] government and the CCP to engage in political activities intended to influence the public, including the [New York State (NYS)] government, with respect to the political or public interests of the PRC government and the CCP.
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Important Takeaways:
- NATO is planning to deploy an armored brigade in Finland to serve as a deterrent against Russia, newspaper Iltalehti reported on Thursday, citing sources within the US-led military bloc and the government in Helsinki.
- The unit, which could range in size from 4,000 to 5,000 troops, will be stationed at Mikkeli in the south-eastern part of Finland, according to the daily. Mikkeli, which has a population of 51,000, is just 87 miles (140 kilometers) from the border with Russia.
- According to the newspaper’s sources, the brigade will comprise NATO troops from neighboring Sweden and Norway.
- Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen told state-owned broadcaster Yle on Wednesday that Helsinki was in talks with several NATO states about deploying their soldiers to Finland even if the country does not face an immediate military threat. The bloc’s contingent should be “comprehensive and large enough to form a sufficient presence in crisis situations,” he stressed. According to Hakkanen, soldiers from his own and from other NATO countries could, among other activities, stage large-scale military exercises if there is a “tense atmosphere at the border” with Russia.
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Important Takeaways:
- The devastation left behind from a series of landslides on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is still very apparent on Tuesday, with large cracks in the roads and tarps covering various hillsides behind red-tagged homes.
- Even still, months after the movement began, earth continues to shift, creating an unexpected and stunning new stretch of shoreline near Rancho Palos Verdes.
- The devastation left behind from a series of landslides on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is still very apparent on Tuesday, with large cracks in the roads and tarps covering various hillsides behind red-tagged homes.
- Even still, months after the movement began, earth continues to shift, creating an unexpected and stunning new stretch of shoreline near Rancho Palos Verdes.
- Phipps suggests that anyone considering taking a hike in the area should think again, as the land is actively moving and at the toe of a landslide that is literally falling into the ocean.
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