WASHINGTON -- U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has ordered federal prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation into allegations that officials from former President Barack Obama's administration fabricated intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters Monday.
The probe follows a referral from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who last month declassified documents she claims reveal a "treasonous conspiracy" to falsely link then-candidate Donald Trump to Moscow. Gabbard has threatened to seek prosecutions of Obama-era officials. (US-DOJ-Obama)
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JERUSALEM -- Israel said on Tuesday it will allow the entry of certain goods into the Gaza Strip through local private merchants, as the United Nations warned that famine is spreading in the enclave of Palestine.
"A mechanism was approved for the gradual and controlled renewal of the entry of goods through the private sector in Gaza," said a statement from the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli Defense Ministry unit responsible for civilian affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The move was approved by the Israeli cabinet. (Israel-Gaza-Humanitarian aid)
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MOSCOW -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that the country no longer considers itself bound by self-restrictions on deploying medium- and short-range ground-based missiles.
The foreign ministry noted the disappearance of "conditions for maintaining a unilateral moratorium on the deployment of similar systems" under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. (Russia-U.S.-Missiles)
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BRASILIA -- Brazil is preparing to formally challenge the newly imposed U.S. tariffs at the World Trade Organization (WTO) while keeping the door open to negotiations, officials said Monday.
The move comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 50 percent tariff on a range of Brazilian exports, including coffee, beef and petrochemicals, set to take effect Wednesday. The measure affects roughly 35 percent of Brazil's exports to the United States, though key products such as energy products and certain minerals were excluded. (Brazil-US-Tariff-WTO) ■
