5: Russia connection – The FBI investigated the Trump campaign’s links to the Kremlin
The FBI looked into Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia over the summer and found no evidence of any direct ties between his campaign and the Kremlin, the New York Times revealed Monday. According to unnamed bureau sources, the FBI looked for any direct lines of communication between Trump Tower and the Kremlin, as well as financial links between Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort and the Russian government.
The FBI’s probe also did not find any direct relationship between the Trump campaign and the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign staffers, for which U.S. security agencies identified Russia as the culprit. News of the investigation comes days after FBI Director James Comey announced a renewed investigation into the home email server Clinton used while secretary of state after discovering “pertinent emails in connection with an unrelated case.” The “unrelated case” was an investigation into former Congressman Anthony Weiner (the estranged husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin) allegedly sexting with a minor, the Times reported.
Vice News
4: HERE’S THE PROBLEM WITH THE STORY CONNECTING RUSSIA TO DONALD TRUMP’S EMAIL SERVER
ON MONDAY NIGHT, Slate’s Franklin Foer published a story that’s been circulating through the dark web and various newsrooms since summertime, an enormous, eyebrow-raising claim that Donald Trump uses a secret server to communicate with Russia. That claim resulted in an explosive night of Twitter confusion and misinformation.
The gist of the Slate article is dramatic — incredible, even: Cybersecurity researchers found that the Trump Organization used a secret box configured to communicate exclusively with Alfa Bank, Russia’s largest commercial bank. This is a story that any reporter in our election cycle would drool over, and drool Foer did:
The Intercept
In Iceland, the anarchist Pirate Party made big gains in Sunday’s national elections, raising the prospect it will form a coalition government with other left-wing parties. The Pirates won 10 seats in Iceland’s 63-member Parliament, up from three in the last election. The Pirate Party hopes to pass the world’s first crowdsourced constitution. Its core platform calls for direct democracy, freedom of expression, civil rights, net neutrality and transparency. The Pirates saw their popularity surge in April, after Iceland’s prime minister resigned following revelations he and his wife used an offshore company to conceal millions of dollars’ worth of investments. Women also won big in this weekend’s elections, taking 30 seats in Iceland’s Parliament—more than any single party. With female candidates winning nearly half of the seats, Iceland now reportedly has the “most equal Parliament in the world.” For more, we speak with Birgitta Jónsdóttir, member of the Icelandic Parliament and co-founder of the country’s Pirate Party. She is also a poet, activist, web developer and a former WikiLeaks activist. And she is the chairperson of the International Modern Media Institution.
Democracy Now
2: Iraqi forces advance to eastern edge of Mosul
The Iraqi army says its forces have advanced to the eastern edge of Mosul for the first time since the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) overran the city more than two years ago.
The country’s Joint Operations Command said in a statement on Tuesday that its forces had entered Judaydat al-Mufti, an area on the outskirts of Mosul and some 3km away from the city’s airport.
Meanwhile, Iraqi State TV reported that the 9th armoured brigade had entered the district of Dweikhlah, in an attempt to open up a separate front in the battle against the armed group.
Aljazeera
1: Calais camp hit by riots as remaining refugees prepare to be removed
Rioting broke out on the site of the largely cleared Calais camp among teenagers, hours before they were due to be taken from the site in buses to undisclosed locations around France.
About 20 police riot vans arrived early on Tuesday evening and teargas was used to quell fighting and protests among the remaining estimated 1,500 asylum seekers, most of whom are teenagers.
The violence came at the end of a day of mounting tension after minors were told that they were to be removed to “juvenile centres” across France on Wednesday morning. Those with family in the UK, or who have specific vulnerabilities that may make them eligible to claim asylum in the UK, were told that their applications would be processed from the new locations.
The Calais prefecture issued a notice in nine languages informing the people still living in disused shipping containers on the site of the now-demolished camp that they needed to register for wristbands, securing them a place on the buses which will begin leaving at 8am.
The Guardian
