Cassidy Hutchinson had implicated Donald Trump in US Capitol attack during testimony before House committee
The justice department on Tuesday failed to secure a grand jury indictment against a former White House staffer who provided dramatic but disputed testimony against Donald Trump before a House committee investigating the 6 January 2021 US Capitol insurrection, according to two people familiar with the matter.
A grand jury in Washington rejected prosecutors’ request to return an indictment charging Cassidy Hutchinson, said the people, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case. It’s the latest setback in the justice department’s efforts to charge perceived adversaries of the Republican president.
Ação da Polícia libertaram, na noite da última segunda-feira (26), uma criança de quatro meses, mantido refém pelo próprio pai em Ribeirão Preto, interior de São Paulo. Depois de uma negociação, o homem se rendeu e foi preso.
O homem mantinha a esposa e a filha dentro de casa o dia todo, a mãe conseguiu sair e chamou a PM. Ainda segundo as autoridades, o suspeito se trancou com a filha em um quarto e bloqueou a entrada com um móvel.
O homem se recusou a entregar o bebê e ameaçou matá-lo.
As equipes policiais dividiram a tarefa em duas equipes, uma para negociação e outra para uma eventual intervenção e ataque. Após minutos de diálogo, os policiais conseguiram acalmar o pai, que acendeu as luzes e abriu a porta, permitindo a libertação da criança em segurança, sem a necessidade de invasão do imóvel.
Veja ação policial
As vítimas foram levadas à UPA (Unidade de Pronto Atendimento), receberam atendimento médico e foram liberadas. O agressor tem passagem por tráfico de drogas, associação ao tráfico e lesão corporal
O caso foi registrado na Delegacia de Defesa da Mulher, onde o marido permaneceu detido pelos crimes de cárcere privado, ameaça, dano e violência doméstica. A investigação seguirá com a Polícia Civil.
DIA included the higher-resolution image of the Chinese spaceplane in a new unclassified report on global security challenges outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, which was released yesterday. A satellite belonging to Maxar Technologies (now Vantor) captured the image, but when exactly remains unclear. It does have a 2024 copyright date.
The image shows a miniature space shuttle-like design with small wings and twin vertical tails. It also has upward-opening doors above a central payload bay. There is also an extension at the tail end with solar panels seen deployed on either side. There are what look to be side-by-side ventral bays, which are likely for the main gear in a tricycle landing gear configuration. Overall, the core design is extremely similar to that of the U.S. X-37B, which also features tricycle landing gear and can also be fitted with an extended payload module at the tail. One major difference is that the wings on the Chinese design have a much longer chord compared to the X-37B.
A side-by-side comparison of the on-orbit shot of the experimental Chinese reusable spaceplane (at left) and a U.S. X-37B fitted with an extended payload module being prepared for launch (at right). Vantor/U.S. Space ForceAnother look at an X-37B, seen here sitting on its tricycle landing gear after returning from a mission in space. USAF The X-37B used on the OTV-6 mission on the flight line at the Kennedy Space Center after its return to Earth on November 12, 2022. USAF
“A key capability for reusable space activities are spaceplanes like this PRC [People’s Republic of China] Spaceplane captured by Maxar. Spaceplanes can launch into orbit to place objects in space or even test them and return to earth [sic],” reads the caption to the picture in DIA’s report.
As noted, the basic fact of the existence of this image is not new. U.S. Space Force Col. John Patrick, then head of U.S. Space Forces-Korea (SPACEFOR-KOR), included a much lower-resolution version in a presentation at the Open Space Forum in South Korea in 2024. It was also not immediately clear at that time whether or not the picture simply showed an X-37B. TWZ had reached out at the time to the U.S. Space Force and Maxar for more information, and both had declined to comment. Two X-37Bs were built, and they have been sent on eight orbital missions, in total, since 2010. The Orbital Test Vehicle 8 (OTV-8) mission was launched on August 22, 2025.
China is understood to have conducted four separate orbital spaceplane missions using the same experimental vehicle since 2020. Three of those missions had concluded before Col. Patrick gave his presentation. The most recent launch occurred on February 7 of this year, and the vehicle has not yet returned, at least as far as we are aware.
On the third mission, which lasted from December 14, 2023, to September 6, 2024, the Chinese spaceplane was observed releasing multiple smaller objects into orbit. What those payloads may have been remains unknown, but they could have been released from the main payload bay, which is seen open in the on-orbit image. The bay could have opened without any subsequent release of objects on either of the two prior missions, as well.
DIA’s report also says that “China has two primary spaceplane models: the Shenlong and Tengyun,” but does not specify which one is seen in the image. The name Shenlong has been commonly used to refer to the spaceplane China has been experimenting with to date. Images said to show a prototype or test article of this design slung underneath an H-6 bomber for testing purposes had emerged in 2007.
Images that emerged in 2007 of a reusable spaceplane prototype, or a related test article, referred to as Shenlong, underneath an H-6 bomber. Chinese internet
Images showing wind tunnel testing of a Chinese two-stage-to-orbit concept. Chinese internet
There have been other spaceplane developments in China in recent years. This includes designs from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) subsidiary Chengdu. The design from Chengdu is called Haolong and has been in development officially as an option for resupplying the country’s Tiangong space station.
In general, “spaceplanes are … reusable and feature enhanced maneuverability, making them more suitable for certain missions than traditional satellites,” DIA’s report notes.
As we often mention in the context of the X-37B, spaceplanes also have distinct advantages when it comes to rendezvousing with and maneuvering very close to other objects in space. They can execute course changes and other maneuvers in ways that traditional satellites cannot. All of this only underscores their potential as weapon systems, as well as for gathering intelligence. The fact that a Maxar (now Vantor) satellite took an on-orbit picture – a service the company is known to offer – of a Chinese spaceplane further highlights the kind of cat-and-mouse games that are increasingly emerging in space. The general risks posed by these kinds of activities were recently thrust into the public eye by the unprecedentedly close shadowing of a commercial radar imaging satellite tied to Ukraine by another satellite belonging to Russia.
China has been making massive investments, in general, in new space-based intelligence and other capabilities in recent years. Chinese space developments have now also extended into reusable space launch rocket boosters. Space launch company LandSpace became the first in China to achieve a successful recovery of a reusable space launch rocket booster on land in August. That followed CASC’s successful recovery of a reusable space launch rocket booster at sea using a specially configured ship the month before.
In general, “access to space traditionally requires expendable spacecraft: single-use launch vehicles, satellites, and one-time use capsules designed to maximize performance. Reliance on expendable vehicles has made access to space expensive and exclusive,” DIA’s report explains. “Reusable technologies, while even more difficult and expensive to develop and build, stand to greatly reduce the cost of spaceflight by recovering, refurbishing, and reusing rocket stages, fairings, and capsules.”
Chinese spaceplanes, one of which we have not definitively gotten a view of in orbit, look set to become an increasingly important part of this growing ecosystem.
Update: 6:32 PM ET –
Vantor has now provided an additional copy of the image of the Chinese spaceplane, elements of which look to be redacted, and some additional details. The company has confirmed it was taken on May 28, 2024, by the WorldView-3 satellite at a range of just under 56 miles (90 kilometers).
“There is a separate satellite docked to the aft section of the vehicle whose structure and solar arrays are visible,” Vantor also told us. “The spacecraft’s payload bay doors are visibly open.”
"The long-term goal is to achieve statehood and autonomy," says Kymone Freeman, the Green Party candidate for Washington, D.C.'s nonvoting delegate seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. "The short-term leverage to achieve that is tax resistance."
Like many D.C. locals, Freeman believes it's unfair that residents of the nation's capital pay federal income taxes without a voting representative in Congress. Freeman has made it a key plank in his policy platform that D.C. residents should be exempt from paying federal income tax until the district is granted statehood. "We're celebrating the 250th anniversary of America's resistance to taxation without representation, so I think it's time," says Freeman. The nation's capital is a federal district, not a U.S. territory like Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, so D.C. residents are still subject to federal income tax requirements.
Federal district or not, imposing income taxes on D.C. residents without representation would likely offend America's Founders, who met in New York in October 1765 and proclaimed that it is "inseparably essential to the freedom of a people…that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives." Taxation is a form of theft. Compounding the issue, D.C. residents have little recourse to challenge their tax burden.
The U.S. is the only democratically governed nation to withhold voting representation from citizens living in its capital. Worse, local officials—such as the city's mayor and the D.C. Council—must solicit congressional approval for the district's budget and laws with little more than a figurehead serving as their lone representative in the federal legislature. Reason's analysis of the Internal Revenue Service's latest available adjusted gross income data shows that D.C. tax filers paid more federal income tax per return than residents in any other state, about $26,900, compared to a national average of roughly $14,300.
While that's partly because the city has many high-income earners, data show that excluding those in the city earning over $1 million, D.C. residents still paid more in income tax per return than filers in any state, about $16,500 compared to $8,900 nationally.
"We don't have a system where public policy is determined by public input because of the status quo," says Freeman. But challenging that status quo has proven difficult, as Congress resists attempts to make D.C. the 51st state. In 2021, the House of Representatives passed a party-line bill sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D–D.C.) to establish D.C. as the 51st state. It later died in the (barely) Democratically controlled Senate.
Democrats once opposed D.C. becoming the 51st state; however, they've since warmed to the idea, unlike Republican lawmakers at the federal level, who have been reluctant to support statehood for D.C., viewing it as a move that would give Democrats an electoral stronghold. That argument has some truth: No elected Republicans serve on the D.C. Council. The city hasn't had a Republican mayor since its local government was established, and the district has reliably voted for a Democrat in every presidential election since 1964.
Even though Republicans at the national level do not support statehood for D.C., the District's local GOP does support ending taxation without representation. Denise Rosado—the Republican candidate for D.C.'s delegate seat—thinks statehood for the district is "unlikely" and "undesirable." That hasn't stopped her from campaigning for an end to federal income taxes in D.C., an outcome she claims can be "accomplished quickly."
That's doubtful given Congress' pace. Still, there's no logic in making statehood a prerequisite to abolishing the federal income tax requirement for district residents.
German defense AI firm Helsing has unveiled Contra, an AI-run air defense system and two interceptor missiles designed to chase Russia’s jet-powered Geran drones, the company announced on 26 October. Officials pitch it as cheap, but it won’t reach the market this winter.
That leaves Ukraine on its own defenses as Russia shifts to jet drones. By early October, jet models made up about 40% of Russian drone launches, and Ukraine’s own interceptors for them won’t arrive in needed numbers before late November, Air Force Deputy Commander Yurii Cherevashenko said.
Two missiles, one AI brain
Contra is the command layer of air defense: it links radars and other sensors, tracks incoming drones and missiles, and assigns a weapon to each target, while people keep control over decisions, Helsing said. Besides the company’s own missiles, it can also use other firms’ interceptors, lasers, guns, or nets. AD-1 Inferno is jet-powered and designed to loiter, swarm, and re-engage targets, while AD-2 Ambush, a solid-fuel rocket, is designed to reach Mach 2.5, over twice the speed of sound, and a range of more than 20 km, the company said.
Inferno, with a 700 km/h speed and a 20-km range, would be the everyday shooter. Ambush would handle “leakers,” drones about to hit the ground, said Maxwell Adams, Helsing’s senior product director. Each shot should cost under $100,000, company officials said.
Built for the faster Gerans
Ukraine once downed 90% of Russia’s slower, propeller-driven Gerans, copies of Iran’s Shahed, Defense News reported. Russia has since fielded thousands of jet Geran-4s and Geran-5s flying at 400–700 km/h, and almost half now get through, Helsing co-founder and co-CEO Gundbert Scherf said.
Ukraine’s own nightly rates swing widely. On 28 September, President Zelenskyy put the shoot-down rate for jet drones at 57%. Overnight on 7 October, it exceeded 82%, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Ihor Klymenko said. Russian output of the two models has reached 4,000 a month, Helsing said, citing unspecified intelligence reports.
Explore further
German company introduces AI-powered HX-2 drone for Ukrainian military
Helsing has signed one Contra contract, Scherf said, but the system is still in testing, and he expects it on the market in the second half of 2027. Ukraine already uses Helsing’s HX-2 strike drones. Scherf said they should be integrated into a system like Contra.
Online hate is spilling into the real world, AFP warns
AFP Commissioner KrissyBarrett began her late-night appearance at the Senate estimates hearing noting “a heaviness that hangs across Australia” after the alleged attack on independent MP HelenHaines.
Lone actors are being motivated by a convergence of personal grievances, mental health vulnerabilities and ideological concerns …
What helped keep us safe in recent times, such as our geography, analogue systems and far away criminals, has been impacted by fully integrated technology, social media and artificial intelligence.
We hear about the devastating impacts of racism from communities every day. But many experiences go unreported or uncounted, and our systems often do not capture the full picture.
This is not about collecting more data to prove racism exists. We already know it does. It is about making inequality visible, holding institutions to account and giving communities greater agency over their data to drive real change.
The constituents of the recently created Mecca Defence Alliance held their maiden meeting with Iran in Tehran on Monday, October 26, seeking ways to end the ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and a larger understanding over regional security.
The participants agreed “to continue the dialogue to strengthen cooperation among the four regional countries, including for peace and security in the region,” a brief joint press statement, issued after the meeting said.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Türkiye created the Mecca Pact in August amidst the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran and the growing fear of Israeli expansionism. The members have claimed the pact is based on the principle of collective security and was defensive in nature. Some of them have also hinted they are seeking to expand its membership.
On Monday, Defense Minister of Saudi Arabia Khalid Bin Salman, Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir, and Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization Director Ibrahim Kalin met with the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Mohsen Rezaei and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
The Mecca Pact officials also met separately with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier in the day.
The meeting came at a time when there is a growing speculation about the renewal of US-Israeli aggression on Iran which has ceased since August. It also coincides with escalation in Saudi Arabia’s conflict with Ansar Allah in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia has faced increased retaliatory attacks from Ansar Allah forces in Yemen after it violated a 2022 UN-sponsored ceasefire and attacked Sanaa International Airport in July. Ansar Allah seeks the end of Saudi interference in the country and the lifting of over a decade-long Saudi blockade on the country.
Pakistan and Türkiye have since announced the deployment of their forces in Saudi Arabia.
Citing unknown Pakistan officials, Reutersclaimed that the negotiations between the four countries also featured fresh proposals to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Regional cooperation on peace and security
Informing about the meeting, Esmail Baghaei, official spokesperson of Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier said that it could be a prelude to establishing endogenous security in the region.
“From our perspective, the fact that regional countries are seeking to establish, or at least consider, regional security mechanisms based on their own interests and concerns is a welcome development,” Baghaei said, underlining that Iran has long advocated for ending external reliance and building a regional security mechanism.
Iranian resilience against the joint US-Israeli aggression has “shown that sustainable and reliable security in our region can only be achieved through building trust and cooperation among regional countries,” Baghaei had claimed.
After the meeting, Rezaei announced that all the participants have agreed that “the security in West Asia must be endogenous and that any foreign interference must be prevented.”
SNSC’s Deputy Secretary Bagheri Kani also claimed that though there were differences in priorities and approaches, the quadrilateral meeting “reflected a shared understanding among the four parties of the need for cooperation,” Press TVreported.
Reacting to the development, Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute claimed that though the meeting had the immediate objective of the Mecca alliance seeking Iranian help to resolve the ongoing conflict between Yemen and Saudi Arabia, it also reflects a changing security dynamic in the region.
Contrary to “Washington’s conventional wisdom,” the countries in the region “are showing greater agency and taking responsibility for the region’s security themselves” as the US pulls back militarily following the humiliation faced in its eight-month-long war against Iran, Parsi claimed.
US is not a reliable partner
“Some regional countries once imagined that by aligning themselves with a major power like the US they could shield themselves from any threat. In practice, however, they discovered that this notion did not align with reality,” he said.
Saudi Arabia and Türkiye have several US military bases in the country. Pakistan has maintained a close military partnership with the US for decades.
Some of the US bases in Saudi Arabia were damaged during Iranian retaliation earlier this year. The US has reportedly refused to come to Saudi’s aid despite it seeking the same to counter Ansar Allah’s advances in Yemen.
The meeting on Monday was a result of the realization “that there is no alternative but to rely on regional engagement and to establish security based on cooperation and synergy among the countries of the region,” Kani said.
He also claimed that the members felt the urgency for the meeting as the Zionist regime has “demonstrated its savagery and an unbridled appetite for expansion” in recent years, indicating the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza and its aggression and occupation in other Palestinian territories, Lebanon, and Syria.
It was reported that all parties of the meeting demanded that Israel must end its genocide in Gaza and end its occupation in Lebanon and Syria.
The Trump administration announced $498 million in federal grants Tuesday to modernize U.S. ports, funding 35 projects across 19 states ranging from aging dock replacements and cargo-handling equipment to fuel...
Abel Ferreira, técnico do Palmeiras, e Leonardo Jardim, comandante do Flamengo, são alvos do Sporting, de Portugal.
O clube português, que vive um momento de crise e pode trocar de treinador, vê nos técnicos que duelam pelo título do Campeonato Brasileiro opções para o comando. A informação é do jornal A Bola.
No Campeonato Português, o Sporting ocupa a terceira colocação, com 18 pontos, após perder para o Académico na última rodada. A distância para os líderes Porto (27 pontos) e Benfica (22 pontos) é considerável, aumentando a pressão sobre a equipe.
A situação não é melhor na Champions League. Apesar de ter vencido dois jogos, o Sporting perdeu em casa para o LASK Linz, da Áustria, na última rodada, quebrando o aproveitamento de 100% na fase de grupos. A torcida tem questionado o trabalho do atual técnico, Rui Borges, e a diretoria estuda uma mudança.
Leia Mais:
Contratos e disputa por títulos no Brasil
Apesar do interesse, Abel Ferreira e Leonardo Jardim têm contratos com Palmeiras e Flamengo, respectivamente, até 2027. Ambos estão na reta final da temporada brasileira brigando por títulos. Por isso, uma eventual mudança para Portugal só seria possível em dezembro, após o término das competições no Brasil.
Leonardo Jardim comanda o Flamengo, que lidera o Campeonato Brasileiro com 70 pontos. O clube carioca tem um ponto de vantagem sobre o Palmeiras, de Abel Ferreira, na disputa acirrada pelo título nacional.
Sob a batuta de Abel Ferreira, o Palmeiras é o vice-líder do Brasileirão e ainda disputa outros dois títulos em 2026. A equipe alviverde está na final da Copa Libertadores, onde enfrentará o Estudiantes, e nas semifinais da Copa do Brasil, com o Vasco como próximo adversário.
Esse texto foi gerado por inteligência artificial com base no conteúdo produzido pela Itatiaia. Todas as informações são apuradas e checadas por jornalistas. O texto final também passa pela revisão da equipe de jornalismo da CNN Brasil.
The Egyptian Parliament on Monday voted to give President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the authority to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia, where they would help the kingdom repel attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen.
Encontro transfronteiriço em Miranda do Douro reuniu as entidades parceiras para partilhar os resultados de dois anos e meio de trabalho na valorização turística e cultural dos rios que unem Portugal e Espanha.
A Odiana – Associação para o Desenvolvimento do Baixo Guadiana, sedeada em Castro Marim, participou, entre os dias 19 e 21 de outubro, no encontro transfronteiriço da RED CIFT – Rede Ibérica de Cruzeiros Fluviais Transfronteiriços, que decorreu em Miranda do Douro. A iniciativa reuniu as entidades parceiras do projeto para partilhar os resultados alcançados e reforçar a cooperação entre os territórios ribeirinhos de Portugal e Espanha.
Um dos momentos centrais do encontro teve lugar no dia 20 de outubro, durante a Jornada de Conclusões do projeto, no Auditório de Miranda do Douro, onde foram apresentados os resultados referentes ao projeto nos cinco destinos fluviais associados aos rios Minho, Lima, Douro, Tejo e Guadiana.
Em representação da Odiana, Catarina Cavaco, Diretora Executiva, participou na apresentação do destino Guadiana, dando a conhecer o trabalho desenvolvido em torno do Grande Rio do Sul e as rotas náutico-culturais criadas ao longo dos dois anos e meio de execução do projeto.
Esta apresentação permitiu destacar a riqueza natural, cultural e paisagística do Baixo Guadiana, bem como o potencial do rio enquanto elemento de ligação entre as duas margens e recurso estratégico para a valorização turística do território.
As rotas desenvolvidas no âmbito do RED CIFT constituem uma oportunidade para promover novas formas de descobrir o Guadiana, aproximando o património, a cultura e as experiências associadas ao rio.
O evento, organizado pela Associação Ibérica de Municípios Ribeirinhos do Douro (AIMRD) com a colaboração da Câmara Municipal de Miranda do Douro, terminou a 21 de outubro com uma visita técnica à Estação Biológica Internacional (E.B.I.) em Miranda do Douro, que incluiu um cruzeiro fluvial por águas internacionais, proporcionando aos parceiros um contacto direto com a realidade de um dos territórios abrangidos pelo projeto.
A Odiana acrescenta que a RED CIFT, tem como Beneficiário Principal o Clúster Marítimo-Marinho da Andaluzia (CMMA) e reúne oito entidades parceiras portuguesas e espanholas, ligadas ao turismo, às atividades náticas e ao desenvolvimento territorial. O projeto é cofinanciado em 75% pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER), através do programa VI-A Espanha-Portugal (POCTEP) 2021-2027.
A little more than a year ago, President Donald Trump publicly demanded that Pam Bondi, then the attorney general, find a crime to pin on former FBI Director James Comey. Trump's underlings have repeatedly tried to do that, first charging Comey with lying to Congress and then accusing him of threatening to assassinate the president. But the first indictment was dismissed because Trump had illegally appointed the prosecutor who obtained it, and the second was doomed right out of the gate because it aimed to punish constitutionally protected political speech.
The Justice Department's latest attempt to follow Trump's marching orders was revealed on Monday, when U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden unsealed a "criminal information" that claims Comey illegally shared classified information with The New York Times on October 5, 2016. In an attempt to meet the statutory deadline for that charge, prosecutors filed it exactly 10 years after the alleged disclosure. But Comey's lawyers argue that federal law required the government to obtain a grand jury indictment within 10 years of the alleged offense, which it failed to do.
Whatever you make of that dispute, the president has made it clear that he wants to imprison Comey, a longtime nemesis because of his role in the "Russiagate hoax" during Trump's first term, and does not much care about exactly how that happens. Justice Department officials, meanwhile, are keen to pursue Trump's personal vendetta by using their prosecutorial powers as an instrument of his revenge.
The new case "would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of the Department of Justice," Comey said in an online video on Monday. "I'm still innocent. I'm still not afraid of these people, and I still believe in the independent federal judiciary."
In the New York Timesstory at the center of the case, Charlie Savage and Nicole Perloth reported that Yahoo had adapted "a system intended to scan emails for child pornography" to comply with a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order seeking "messages containing a computer 'signature' tied to the communications of a state-sponsored terrorist organization." Savage and Perloth cited "two government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity."
Dustin Farahnak, a special U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, says that story included "first-time disclosures of classified information not intended for the public domain." According to Farahnak, the government has evidence that Comey "directed staff" to discuss "specific accuracy concerns" about a prior Reuters report on the same subject with Savage. In the process of doing that, Farahnak says, those FBI officials "illegally transferred classified information."
Comey's attempt to set the record straight, according to Trump's henchmen, was a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison under 18 USC 793(d), an Espionage Act provision that applies to an official who "willfully" shares "information relating to the national defense" with an unauthorized recipient when he "has reason to believe" it "could be used to the injury of the United States." Comey also faces a charge of conspiring to violate Section 793, which likewise carries a maximum 10-year sentence.
If Comey's alleged disclosure was such a grave crime, you might wonder, why did it take a decade to charge him? Because two prior investigations of the same incident concluded that criminal charges were not warranted.
Beginning in March 2017, John Durham, the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut, looked into the genesis of the Times article. The investigation found that James Baker, then the FBI's general counsel, was one of the anonymous sources. Baker said he had acted under instructions from FBI Chief of Staff James Rybacki, whom he understood to be conveying Comey's wishes. Durham's investigation included interviews, emails, phone records, and consideration of the relevant statutes. In December 2018, Comey's lawyers note, Durham "wrote a classified memorandum outlining the investigation and recommending 'NO prosecution for Baker or anyone else.'"
The following month, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia "opened an investigation into the same subject matter," Comey's lawyers say. That investigation "was closed without any charges in February 2020" after the office "declined to prosecute."
Given the outcomes of those two investigations, the decision to charge Comey now stinks of desperation to slake Trump's thirst for revenge. According to Comey's lawyers, the tardiness of the charges also fatally undermines the case.
Federal law generally requires that prosecutors file charges within five years of the alleged crime. But the Internal Security Act of 1950 made an exception for Section 793, saying "an indictment for any violation" of that provision "may be found at any time within ten years next after such violation shall have been committed."
The charges against Comey "should be dismissed as time barred," his lawyers argue: "Section 19 of the Internal Security Act gives the government an extended ten-year limitations period in which to charge Section 793 offenses. But as Section 19 unambiguously states, the government may invoke that extended period only by obtaining a grand jury indictment. A criminal information—which the government can issue unilaterally without grand jury involvement—does not suffice. Because the default five-year statute of limitations for federal felonies has long since elapsed on the alleged offenses, and the government's information does not meet the express statutory requirement for an extended ten-year limitations period, the information is untimely and must be dismissed."
Whichever side prevails on that issue, no one should have any illusions that the Justice Department is pursuing the mission suggested by its name. "It remains unclear what [McFadden] will do with the matter and whether DOJ will even be able to secure an indictment—as required by the Constitution," Cato Institute legal fellow Mike Fox says in an emailed press release. "Should the matter proceed, it is unequivocally clear that this case is a vindictive prosecution—a classic case of lawfare by a weaponized Justice Department."
O banco holandês ING e o espanhol CaixaBank são os principais candidatos à aquisição da Cetelem, empresa de crédito ao consumo do grupo francês BNP Paribas em Espanha e Portugal, numa operação cujo desfecho é esperado até ao final deste ano, segundo avançou a imprensa económica espanhola, citando fontes financeiras.
De acordo com o jornal espanhol Cinco Días, o processo de venda entrou na sua fase final, com o BNP Paribas a procurar alienar a Cetelem por mais de mil milhões de euros. No entanto, as propostas preliminares recebidas serão significativamente inferiores à avaliação inicialmente pretendida pelo grupo francês.
Segundo o Expansión, o CaixaBank surge atualmente como o favorito para adquirir a BNP Paribas Personal Finance em Espanha e Portugal. O grupo liderado por Gonzalo Gortázar, que controla o BPI em Portugal, terá contratado a EY para realizar a due diligence ao negócio, num processo de análise que deverá estar concluído até ao final de novembro e que inclui a revisão das áreas financeira, jurídica, fiscal e tecnológica da empresa.
A mesma publicação refere que o Morgan Stanley está a assessorar o CaixaBank na componente financeira da operação.
O BNP Paribas contratou a Goldman Sachs para conduzir o processo de venda da Cetelem, uma decisão revelada pelo Cinco Días em setembro. A alienação insere-se numa estratégia de reorientação do grupo francês na Península Ibérica, privilegiando áreas consideradas mais rentáveis, como a gestão de ativos e a banca de investimento, em detrimento do negócio de crédito ao consumo.
A eventual compra da Cetelem permitiria ao CaixaBank reforçar a sua posição no mercado ibérico do financiamento ao consumo, um segmento em que já detém uma presença relevante através da CaixaBank Payments & Consumer. Por seu lado, o ING procura expandir a sua atividade em Espanha e ganhar escala num mercado onde tem vindo a crescer na banca de particulares.
A operação abrange os negócios da Cetelem em Espanha e Portugal e poderá representar uma das maiores transações recentes no setor financeiro ibérico na área do crédito ao consumo. Até ao momento, não são conhecidos os valores das propostas vinculativas apresentadas pelos potenciais compradores.
Expanded land seizures, military restrictions, mass displacement, and over 100 new Jewish settlements have transformed an already fragmented territory — and the very fabric of Palestinian life.
Estudantes beneficiários do programa Pé-de-Meia que concluírem o ensino médio em 2026 e participarem dos dois dias do Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (Enem) terão direito a um incentivo adicional de R$ 200, conforme as regras do programa federal. O pagamento será realizado após a confirmação da conclusão dessa etapa escolar.Na Bahia, 437.243 pessoas estão inscritas no Enem 2026, segundo dados do Ministério da Educação (MEC). O estado tem o terceiro maior número de participantes do país, atrás de São Paulo e Minas Gerais.
Leia Também:
ENEM
Enem ganha nova função e passa a avaliar ensino médio; entenda
ENEM
Local de prova do Enem 2026 já pode ser consultado
ENEM
Inscrições para 50 mil vagas remanescentes do Fies começam nesta segunda
Do total de inscritos na Bahia, 339.318 farão as provas gratuitamente, o equivalente a 77,6%. Outros 97.925 participantes pagaram a taxa de inscrição, de acordo com levantamento do Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep).O Pé-de-Meia é voltado à permanência dos estudantes na escola e à conclusão do ensino médio, com incentivos financeiros que buscam reduzir a evasão escolar e estimular a continuidade dos estudos.O secretário da Educação da Bahia, Marcius Gomes, destacou o número de inscritos no estado e as ações de preparação realizadas pela rede estadual.“Continuamos com nossas ações nas escolas, com aulões, simulados e dando todo o suporte para que os nossos estudantes façam as provas e realizem o sonho de acessar o Ensino Superior”, afirmou.Datas e horários das provasO Enem 2026 será aplicado nos dias 8 e 15 de novembro. Nos dois domingos, os portões serão abertos às 12h e fechados às 13h, conforme o horário de Brasília.No primeiro dia, os participantes farão as provas de Linguagens, Códigos e suas Tecnologias e Ciências Humanas e suas Tecnologias, além da redação. A aplicação terminará às 19h.No segundo dia, serão aplicadas as provas de Matemática e suas Tecnologias e Ciências da Natureza e suas Tecnologias, com encerramento previsto para as 18h30.Os candidatos podem consultar o local de prova no Cartão de Confirmação de Inscrição, disponível na Página do Participante.
Farmers say they are turning prime agricultural land over to solar panels to survive Labour's tax onslaught because the Net Zero installations pay 10 times as much as food production, which is now often loss-making.