August 3

China has threatened to hold major military exercises around Taiwan this week in response to Pelosi's visit to the island. Shortly after Pelosi landed in Taipei ...

The government said that the spokesperson, Mathias Gillmann, had made “indelicate and inappropriate” statements which contributed to the tensions between the population and MONUSCO. “The Congolese government considers that the presence of this official on the national territory is not likely to promote a climate of mutual trust and calm between Congolese institutions and MONUSCO,” said the statement from the foreign affairs ministry. “I count on the continued cooperation of the parties to meet their commitments and implement all elements of the truce and to negotiate in good faith to reach an expanded truce agreement, and to put Yemen on a path to sustainable peace. However, U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta said that a postponement would upend the court’s trial calendar and that trying to schedule the trial to avoid any potential conflict with the Jan. 6 committee would be unwise and likely ineffective. Mehta also denied former President Trump’s bid to dismiss three lawsuits brought by police officers injured in the Jan. 6 attack, rejecting his assertion that he is “absolutely immune” from the claims. Court records published on the website of the watchdog group American Oversight indicate that the Pentagon “wiped” the government-issued phones of senior Defense Department and Army officials who were in charge of mobilizing the National Guard to respond to the attack, including then-acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. The admission makes the Defense Department the latest known part of the federal government, including the Secret Service and other parts of the Department of Homeland Security, to have deleted records that could have assisted investigations into the events of Jan. 6. The first trial on seditious conspiracy charges related to the Jan. 6 attack is on track to begin next month after a federal judge turned down a bid by nearly all 9 defendants to delay the trial til next year. “Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated” at the plant, he said, “what is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.” Edith M. Lederer report for AP. In addition to Kabaeva, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against a number of other oligarchs, a major steel production company and two of its subsidiaries as well as a financial institution accused of running a sanctions evasion operation and its general director. The State Department has warned that there is a “higher potential for anti-American violence” following the U.S. killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. “The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks, demonstrations, and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas,” the agency said in a Worldwide Caution advisory issued yesterday. The Treasury Department has sanctioned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reputed girlfriend as part of a series of measures designed to punish the Kremlin for its ongoing war in Ukraine. Alina Maratovna Kabaeva, who has been romantically linked to the Russian leader, was sanctioned “for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of the Government of the Russian Federation,” a Treasury Department statement said. China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has called Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan a “complete farce,” warning that “those who play with fire will perish.” “The United States is violating China’s sovereignty under the pretense of democracy,” Wang told reporters. James Lewis, the director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, downplayed the attacks, noting they were likely not tied back directly to the Chinese government, and describing them as “squeals of rage.” Maggie Miller reports for POLITICO.