New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood sued President Trump and his three eldest children on Thursday as directors of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, seeking to dissolve the not-for-profit organization for "persistent illegal conduct," according to court documents.

The petition alleges that the foundation engaged in "extensive unlawful political coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing transactions to benefit Mr. Trump's personal and business interests, and violations of basic legal obligations for non-profit foundations," per a statement released by the Office of the Attorney General.

A long-awaited report by the Justice Department's watchdog Thursday found no indication that political bias affected decisions in the FBI's 2016 investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server, but the review criticized agents and ex-FBI Director James Comey for violating bureau norms during the probe.

The department's inspector general turned up fresh evidence of FBI officials exchanging messages critical of President Donald Trump and of leaking to the media, and the report faulted the FBI for several weeks of inaction following the September 2016 discovery of emails relevant to its investigation on a laptop belonging to former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was married to a top Clinton aide.

Comey was singled out for withering criticism by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, including accusations of insubordination against top Justice Department officials and of making "a serious error of judgment" in notifying Congress shortly before the 2016 election that the FBI was re-opening its Clinton email probe. Comey later reiterated his recommendation that she not face charges, but Clinton has said the letter nonetheless helped cause her loss.

In what is sure to be a surprise to President Trump's base, who generally don't support further entrenchment in Syria - but not entirely unexpected - the U.S. State Department on Thursday announced that the president had authorized $6.6 million in new funding for the controversial White Helmets group.

A State Department spokeswoman announced in a press release that President Trump had authorized $6.6 million to continue what it calls "the vital, life-saving operations of the Syrian Civil Defense, more commonly known as the White Helmets."


"The United States Government strongly supports the White Helmets who have saved more than 100,000 lives since the conflict began including victims of Assad's chemical weapons attacks," the press release states.

Donald Trump has slammed the "fake news media" for showing his encounters with the G7 leaders in a "bad" light and unleashed a series of tweets depicting his friendly relationship with the world elite, full of coziness and smiles.

Last week Trump made an early exit from the gathering, departing the Group of Seven talks in Quebec, Canada, hours before the leaders of advanced economies gathered to discuss climate change. The US president's departure was widely seen as the last straw, following two days of severed discussions, after which he called the host, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, "weak" and "dishonest," and refused to sign the final joint G7 communiqué.

In the present geopolitical climate, the idea of a pact between the UK and Russia seems far-fetched to say the least. But in the summer of 1941 the two did come together against a common foe.

What lessons can be learned from the 'Anglo-Russian agreement' which played a key part in the defeat of Nazi Germany?

The date: Monday, July 14, 1941. The headline of the News Chronicle (price, one penny), states: 'Britain and Soviet Sign Pact.' Such a headline would have been unthinkable a few years previously. The British Conservative Party, the dominant member of the 'National' government which ruled Britain from 1931-1940, had been fiercely opposed on ideological grounds to the Bolshevik government in Moscow.

It was Tory leader and Prime Minister Winston Churchill who, 13 years earlier, had supported giving aid to the Russian armies who were fighting what he called "the foul baboonery of Bolshevism."

The good news is the Deep State seems less competent than we originally feared.

It will be easy to miss the most important point amid the partisan bleating over what the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General report on the FBI's Clinton email investigation really means.

While each side will find the evidence they want to find proving the FBI, with James Comey as director, helped/hurt Hillary Clinton and/or maybe Donald Trump, the real takeaway is this: the FBI influenced the election of a president.

In January 2017 the Inspector General for the Department of Justice, Michael Horowitz (who previously worked on the 2012 study of "Fast and Furious"), opened his probe into the FBI's Clinton email investigation, including public statements Comey made at critical moments in the presidential campaign. Horowitz's focus was always to be on how the FBI did its work, not to re-litigate the case against Clinton. Nor did the IG plan to look into anything regarding Russiagate.

For some time now, Russia has been strengthening its position in Southeast Asia by developing partnerships with the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states, including Indonesia.

The Republic of Indonesia is a country with a number of unique characteristics. It is the largest island nation surrounded by both the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. Indonesia is located on a strategically important part of the shipping route between Europe and Asia: between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula lies the Strait of Malacca, used to transport up to a quarter of all the goods shipped by sea in the world. Besides, Indonesia is home to the largest Muslim population in the world, which facilitates ties in the Islamic world. Hence, Russia benefits from a partnership with Indonesia in a number of ways, even outside the scope of its cooperation with ASEAN as a whole.

Russia and Indonesia have had friendly relations since the times of the USSR. Soviet - Indonesian diplomatic relations were established in 1950 when the Soviet Union provided development aid to the newly established Republic of Indonesia. In the 1950s and 1960s, the USSR supplied the Indonesian army with weapons and military equipment, including dozens of war ships, submarines, airplanes, helicopters, tanks, missiles and ammunition exceeding $1 billion in value. Aside from this, at the end of the 1950s, thousands of Soviet military servicemen visited Indonesia with the aim of training their Indonesian counterparts on the use of the delivered military supplies. In the 1960s, the USSR helped Indonesia win its territorial dispute with its former colonial power, Holland. Despite help from other Western nations, the Netherlands had to cede part of the New Guinea island to Indonesia.

Three US senators have called on the Pentagon to immediately reveal the extent of US military support to the Saudi-led Arab coalition that launched an attack on Hodeidah, a key port city and last humanitarian lifeline in Yemen.

"We call on you to immediately disclose the full extent of the US military role in the Saudi-led war against Yemen's Houthis, including the use of special operations forces; disclose any role that the Pentagon is currently performing, has been asked to perform, or is considering performing regarding an attack on the port of Hodeida," says the letter sent to Defense Secretary James Mattis on Friday, and signed by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut)

Sanders, Lee and Murphy also asked Mattis to "issue a public declaration opposing this impending assault," and restate the Trump administration's position that Saudi Arabia and other participants in the conflict "should accept an immediate ceasefire and move toward a political settlement."

A federal judge has revoked bail conditions for Trump's ex-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. The decision means he will await his criminal trial for allegedly tampering with witnesses in the Russian investigation while in jail.

US District Judge Amy Berman made the decision after prosecutors working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia probe, alleged that Manafort and one of his associates had tried to tamper with witnesses in the case, US media reports.

Mueller filed a third amended indictment against Manafort last week, alleging that he and Russian-Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik attempted to persuade potential witnesses not to testify against them.

Former FBI Director James Comey "usurped authority" and made a "serious error of judgment" in handling the Hillary Clinton email probe in 2016, says the newly published report by the Department of Justice inspector general.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz's document contains criticism of Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and several FBI employees involved in the Clinton email probe, known as "Midyear Exam."

Comey's announcement that no charges will be filed against Clinton in July 2016 usurped Lynch's authority and went against FBI policy, while his October 2016 announcement the FBI had found additional emails and reopened the investigation likewise violated policy and represented a "serious error of judgment." Comey is also accused of using personal email to conduct FBI business.