Also on today’s menu:
Thousands Flee Canadian Wildfires
Hurricane Approaches Southern California
Russia Reports Drone Attack On Moscow
(Today we’re a little rushed as we wait for the electrician to deal with a problem from old wiring in the house. Apologies for the brevity.)
Lawyers for former president Donald Trump have asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to put off his trial on charges of plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election until April 2026, nearly a year and a half after the 2024 presidential election. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team has asked that the trial begin on Jan. 2, 2024.
Trump’s lawyers say in their motion filed on August 17 that the delay is warranted because of the “massive” amount of information they have to review and because of potential scheduling conflicts with the other criminal cases Trump is facing.
Prosecutors have produced more than 11.5 million pages of documentation to support their charges against Trump.
Thousands Flee Canadian Wildfires
Canadian officials have set a deadline of noon today for residents in the capital of the Northwest Territories to evacuate their homes as one of hundreds of wildfires raging in the territories moved closer to Yellowknife, a city of 20,000.
Thousands have fled to safety or have been waiting in long lines for emergency flights as the fire reached within 16 kilometers (10 miles) of Yellowknife’s northern border on August 16. Officials are worried that strong northern winds could push the flames toward the only highway leading away from the fire.
Shane Thompson, a government minister for the Territories, said that, without rain, the fire might reach the city’s outskirts by the weekend, but he said there is still time to evacuate by highway or air.
Hurricane Approaches Southern California
Hurricane Hilary, which has rapidly reached Category 4 strength off Mexico’s Pacific coast, could become the first tropical storm to make landfall in Southern California since September 25, 1939.
The storm could reach the state Sunday, bringing with it “significant and rare impacts” that include extensive flooding, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
The storm had sustained winds near 145 mph at 4 a.m. and was expected to continue intensifying throughout the day before starting to weaken. It would still be a hurricane when approaching Mexico’s Baja California peninsula on Saturday night, and could approach Southern California on Sunday as a tropical storm.
Russia Reports Drone Attack On Moscow
Russian officials say Ukraine launched a drone attack early this morning on a building in Moscow, causing an explosion heard across the city’s business district. Unverified video on social media appeared to show thick gray smoke rising into the night sky over Moscow.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses shot down the drone with its debris falling on the city's Expo Center.
Ukraine officials have made no immediate comment on the attack, but they have never formally acknowledged launching any of the attacks that have taken place on targets in Moscow.
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