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REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstWASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Congress aim to pass bills protecting same-sex marriage, clarifying lawmakers' role in certifying presidential elections and raising the nation's debt ceiling when they return from the campaign trail on Monday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen both signaled that addressing the nations' looming debt ceiling would be a priority during the session. Some Republicans have threatened to use the next hike in the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, expected in the first quarter of 2023, as leverage to force concessions from Biden. Pelosi, who would lose her position as speaker if Republicans win a majority in the House, told ABC News on Sunday that the best way to address the debt ceiling was "to do it now." "We'll have to, again, lift the debt ceiling so that the full faith and credit of the United States is respected."

The sources say Justice Department officials are looking carefully at a cross section of past cases involving the mishandling of classified material. Though his comments were about the separate Jan. 6 investigation, Justice Department officials said they apply broadly. Experts say the public evidence in the Mar-a-Lago case seems unambiguous. Less clear is whether there are aggravating factors — such as whether the Justice Department can prove Trump obstructed justice by failing to turn over documents despite a grand jury subpoena. Martin’s lawyers said he was a hoarder, and prosecutors concluded that he had not given classified information to anyone.

☆ Factbox: How Wall St and billionaires have donated to U.S. elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( John Mccrank | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which struck down limits on political contributions by corporations or unions, political contributions of billionaires made up around 3% of overall political contributions, she said. Griffin said in a statement: "I hope that my political engagement will help to protect the American Dream. * Crypto-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX was the sixth-largest donor, at $39.8 million with the vast majority going to help Democrats. * Elliott Management founder Paul Singer spent $19.7 million to support Republicans, making him the 15th-largest donor. * Renaissance Technologies founder Jim Simons, together with Marilyn Simons, were the 20th-largest donors, spending nearly $16 million to help Democrats.

☆ Pentagon, U.S. arms makers to meet on labor and supply chain
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Prior meetings between Pentagon officials and top arms makers including Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N) and General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) were focused on Ukraine and hypersonic weapon development. Pandemic related supply-chain issues are still hurting defense contractors because components and materials fail to arrive on time, which delays production and ultimately payment. read moreTHE LONGEST POLEIn the meantime, the defense industry is taking steps on its own to shore up supplies and labor. "If I had to boil it down to the longest pole in the tent, it's the labor issues that are pervasive throughout the supply chain," Raytheon Chief Financial Officer Neil Mitchill told Reuters. read moreReporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Alexandra Alper and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ South Korea scrambles dozens of fighter jets after detecting 180 North Korean warplanes near their border
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

South Korea mobilized dozens of fighter jets after detecting 180 warplanes from the North. The US and South Korea's air forces have been conducting joint air training all week. Seoul responded by launching 80 warplanes, including the F-35A fighter jet, and there were no reports of clashes between the rival sides. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have soared this week, as Pyongyang expresses anger about joint military drills between the US and South Korea. North Korea's missile launching spree and threatening rhetoric have drawn international criticism, including from the US and South Korea.

☆ South Korea issues air raid alert after North fires missiles
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

SEOUL, South Korea — Air raid sirens sounded in South Korea after the North fired about a dozen missiles in its direction Wednesday, at least one of them landing near the rivals’ tense sea border. South Korea’s military said North Korea launched more than 10 missiles of various kinds off its eastern and western coasts. The North Korean missile’s landing site is also 104 miles northwest of South Korea’s Ulleung island, where an air raid alert was then issued. It said South Korea has strengthened its surveillance posture on North Korea. Some experts still doubt North Korea could use nuclear weapons first in the face of U.S. and South Korean forces.

☆ Rising tensions between 2 of NATO's biggest militaries are driving fears of the first war between alliance members
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Greece and Turkey have two of NATO's largest militaries and are in an important corner of Europe. Their tensions have escalated in recent years, stoking new fears about the first war within NATO. Greece's defense spending in 2022 was the highest in the alliance as a share of GDP. (NATO also calls for 20% of members' defense spending to go toward equipment purchases and upgrades.) Greece's defense minister said that "as long as there is a threat of territorial sovereignty, it renders futile any attempt at communication."

☆ A top national security prosecutor has joined the team investigating Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents, indicating the probe is heating up, WaPo reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

David Raskin joined the team investigating Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents, The Washington Post reported. The prosecutor recently oversaw a case of an FBI analyst who pleaded guilty to keeping classified materials at home. Raskin is regarded as one of the US's most successful terrorism prosecutors, WaPo reported. More recently, Raskin served as a prosecutor in Missouri, where he investigated the case of FBI analyst Kendra Kingsbury, who on October 13 pleaded guilty to keeping national defense documents in her home. National security law experts told the Post that prosecutors appear to have gathered enough evidence to meet at least some of the criteria for bringing charges against Trump.

☆ Afghan commandos that were trained by US Navy SEALs are being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elite Afghan commandos are being contacted with offers to fight for Russia in Ukraine, reports Foreign Policy. One Afghan official said he believed Russia's mercenary Wagner Group is behind the recruitment drive. One former Afghan commando officer told Foreign Policy that he believed the shadowy Wagner Group was behind the recruitment drive. The Afghan Elite National Army Commando Corps, made up of 20,000 to 30,000 volunteers, was partly trained by US Navy SEALs and the British Special Air Service, per Foreign Policy. A former senior Afghan security official, speaking anonymously to Foreign Policy, said that the Afghan fighters "would be a game-changer" in the war.

☆ North Korea fires missiles toward sea as U.S. warns against using nuclear weapons
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

South Korea’s military has strengthened its surveillance posture and maintains readiness amid close coordination with the United States, it said. North Korea sees such regular drills by Seoul and Washington as practice for launching an attack on the North, though the allies say their exercises are defensive in nature. The area was apparently closer to South Korea than any other missile launch site North Korea has used so far this year. South Korea and the United States have strongly warned North Korea against using its nuclear weapons preemptively. North Korea has said the artillery firings were in reaction to South Korean live-fire exercises at land border areas.

The decision to cancel the submarine-launched cruise missile could help President Joe Biden address calls from fellow Democrats to scale back America's nuclear arsenal without sacrificing major components of its nuclear "triad" of nuclear-tipped ground-based inter-continental ballistic missiles, nuclear-capable bomber aircraft and submarine-launched nuclear arms. The Biden administration released three documents on Thursday: the National Defense Strategy, Nuclear Posture Review and Missile Defense Review. Under President Donald Trump's administration, the military made a decision in 2018 to develop a new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missile, with a focus on the threat from Russia. But the Biden administration said in its review the sea-launched cruise missile program (SLCM-N) was unnecessary and would be cancelled because the United States already had the "means to deter limited nuclear use." U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters the military did not need the SLCM-N because there was enough capability in the nuclear inventory already.

☆ Xi’s ‘action men’ now lead China’s military. Here’s what that means for Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The rhetoric from both sides and Beijing’s recent maneuvers have stoked fears that an attempted Chinese military takeover of Taiwan could be next on the horizon. Besides that joint command experience, He possesses another key attribute sought in top PLA leadership – field experience in hostile situations. Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said He was one of Xi’s “action men” on the military commission. Zhang served on the previous military commission and has been retained and promoted despite being past the unofficial retirement age of 68. There’s just too much work to be done with Xi’s military modernization to achieve good odds of success, they said.

Persons: Xi Jinping’s, Xi, –, Tsai Ing, ”, James Char, ” Char, Weidong, Nancy Pelosi, Rod Lee, Lee, Xi Jinping, ” Lee, Carl Schuster, Zhang Youxia, Zhang, Xi’s, Meia Nouwens, Joel Wuthnow, he’s, ” Wuthnow, Zhang’s, Li Shangfu, Wuthnow, There’s, “, Char Organizations: CNN, Central Military Commission, Communist Party’s National, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, Chinese Communist Party, China Program, Institute of Defense, Strategic Studies, Theater Command, Eastern Theater Command, US Air Force Air, China Aerospace Studies Institute, People’s Armed Police, Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Center, Chinese Military Affairs, US National Defense University, Party, US Air University Locations: China, Taiwan, Beijing, Taiwan Strait, Asia, Singapore, India

☆ China still the biggest threat to the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina still the biggest threat to the U.S. Despite Russia’s brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine, China is still the biggest threat to the United States, according to the Pentagon’s new national defense strategy, which is out today. Michael O’Hanlon, sr. fellow at the Brookings Institution, joins Kayla Tausche and ‘The News with Shepard Smith’ to discuss.

☆ The U.S. Army is struggling to find the recruits its needs to win the fight over the future
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

That has also impacted the U.S. Army, which as the largest branch of the U.S. military has a current workforce of 466,400. "Wages have gone up a lot, and that's great for Americans, but it's making it harder for us in the Army to compete." The Army missed its recruitment goal for fiscal 2022 by 25% or 15,000 soldiers, the military service said earlier this month. However, changing the broader propensity of Americans to serve in the military is a challenge that is a much longer-term. The Army also needs to change how parents think about the Army and the risks it poses to children.

The Musk video by reAlpha included “robust disclaimers” establishing it as satire, said Christie Currie, chief marketing officer. The first Musk video went live days after reAlpha launched a public offering under regulation A+ in 2021. But the ease of creating deepfakes means some celebrities could soon be deluged by ads featuring their unauthorized, but very convincing likenesses, Mr. Moss said. At the same time, the language in contracts written years before the technology existed may be vague enough to allow marketers to use existing footage to create new deepfake videos. Companies most often request celebrity deepfake videos to use internally for training, communications, parties or other purposes—but not for ads, said Daynen Biggs, owner of Slack Shack Films, which produced the Elon Musk videos.

☆ Biden knows there are limits on American power, but they're nowhere to be found in his first major security strategy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Gil Barndollar | Defense Priorities | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This month, the Biden administration released its long-delayed National Security Strategy. The brief moment of post-Cold War American hyperpower is long gone, a victim of both natural power dynamics and three decades of incessant American foreign policy hubris and error. Six months before the assault on Ukraine began, the Biden administration admitted the limits of American power in another land that defeated Russian invaders: Afghanistan. The saving grace of the National Security Strategy may be its meaninglessness. The Biden administration's actual emerging national security strategy could be far better than the document lets on.

☆ How Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt helped write AI laws in Washington without publicly disclosing investments in AI start-ups
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Eamon Javers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

'Conflict of interest'Schmidt's investment was just the first of a handful of direct investments he would make in AI start-up companies during his tenure as chairman of the AI commission. Altogether, Schmidt and entities connected to him made more than 50 investments in AI companies while he was chairman of the federal commission on AI. To Poulson, Schmidt was simply given too much power over federal AI policy. The new entity would continue the work of the congressionally created federal commission, with many of the same goals and much of the same staff. More than a dozen staffers from the federal commission followed Schmidt to the new private sector project.

☆ Some DOJ prosecutors believe they have enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction in the Mar-a-Lago records case: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Some prosecutors believe there's enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction in the Mar-a-Lago case, Bloomberg reported. The feds executed a search warrant at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in August. Conviction on this count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Conviction on this count carries a maximum penalty of three years and disqualification from holding public office. Conviction on this count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

☆ Mike Pence said there's no room for Putin 'apologists' in the Republican Party as he criticized Russia's 'unconscionable war' in Ukraine: AP
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mike Pence spoke out against Putin "apologists" and the growing populism in the GOP on Wednesday. Several Republicans have either supported Putin or dismissed the war he's waged against Ukraine. Pence also criticized the group of Republicans who have defended Russia's war in Ukraine or dismissed it by arguing the US should stay out of foreign affairs. "As Russia continues its unconscionable war of aggression to Ukraine, I believe that conservatives must make it clear that Putin must stop and Putin will pay," he added. "There can be no room in the conservative movement for apologists to Putin.

☆ China's military is trying to recruit ex-British Air Force pilots for training and intel, UK says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

China's military is headhunting ex-British Air Force pilots for their training skills and expertise — and the U.K. government is working to stop it, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. Recruitment is said to be ramping up, with former pilots being offered large paychecks to work for the Chinese. While training and recruiting pilots is not illegal under U.K. law, the practice presents an intelligence risk as U.K. officials suspect China's military aims to learn about tactics and operations employed by Western pilots. One former Australian Air Force pilot, speaking to CNBC anonymously due to professional restrictions, said he was offered nearly $1 million a year to work for the Chinese military. And President Joe Biden, as part of the U.S.'s national security strategy, named China as America's "most consequential geopolitical challenge."

☆ Mexico president backs defense ministry's refusal to account for massive data leak
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has shaken off criticism against the country's defense ministry for refusing to appear before legislators to explain a major cyber hack, resulting in a massive data breach. Lopez Obrador asked the opposition to calm down and have some tea, during a regular news conference on Tuesday, describing the criticism as politically motivated. Lawmakers summoned Sandoval to explain what measures the armed forces were taking after a massive hack leaked classified information in September. Since taking office in 2018, Lopez Obrador has strengthened the armed forces' role in public security functions, such as infrastructure projects and customs activities. Mexico's Congress last week approved extending the role of the armed forces in public security tasks until 2028.

☆ Inside the only lithium producer in the U.S., which provides critical mineral used in batteries by Tesla, EV makers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Pippa Stevens | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

The town's mining roots are still on display, but the action has shifted to the country's largest lithium brine operation 45 minutes away. Specialty chemicals company Albemarle acquired the site in 2015 from Foot Mineral Company, and has owned it ever since. Under the International Energy Agency's most ambitious climate scenario, lithium supply will have to grow 40-fold by 2040 from today's levels. The U.S. used to be a leader in lithium production, but it's since ceded that position to foreign nations, including China. Albemarle's Silver Peak lithium plant spans 13,000 acres.

☆ Russian airstrikes on Ukraine continue as peace talks near
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Delon Thornton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRussian airstrikes on Ukraine continue as peace talks nearRussia bombarded the Kyiv and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine Thursday night. The strikes came after power was finally restored to most parts of the country following a retaliatory strike by Russia earlier this week. President Zelenskyy is calling for more international defense help, while President Putin is gearing up to meet with Turkey's president for peace talks.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including two justices appointed by Trump, who left office in January 2021. Federal officials obtained a court-approved warrant to search Trump's residence after suspecting that not all classified documents in his possession had been returned after his presidency ended. Investigators searched for evidence of potential crimes related to unlawfully retaining national defense information and obstructing a federal investigation. Trump went to court on Aug. 22 in a bid to restrict Justice Department access to the documents as it pursues a criminal investigation. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will DunhamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Senate Pushes $847 Billion Defense Bill to Meet China, Russia Challenges
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Katy Stech Ferek | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

‘The importance of U.S. support for the Ukrainian people cannot be overstated.’ said Sen. Jack Reed (D.-R.I.), who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee. WASHINGTON—The Senate moved forward on the annual defense policy bill that sets spending levels and provides pay raises for the country’s military, with lawmakers setting goals of bolstering U.S. weapons inventory and improving relationships with countries positioned to help counter threats from China and Russia. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Jack Reed (D., R.I.) put a draft of the National Defense Authorization Act on the floor Tuesday morning. The move tees up lawmakers to debate the hundreds of proposals it contains when they reconvene next month after the midterm elections. Congress is aiming to wrap up the legislation by the end of the year.

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