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Country Garden Holdings said that there is some uncertainty over its ability to continue as a going concern as it posted net loss for the first half of 2023 after writing down the value of property projects amid a slump in the Chinese real-estate market.

Government launches plan to locate the remains of hundreds.

New York's attorney general says a judge doesn't need to wait until an October trial in her civil lawsuit against former President Donald Trump to rule that he committed fraud while building his real estate empire.

Republicans in Washington and Georgia are looking for ways to punish Willis for indicting Trump. But Georgia Gov. Kemp and some other Republicans in the state are opting out of the push, even as Trump eggs it on.

The closest full moon of the year is dazzling stargazers on Wednesday night.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze during a media gaggle Wednesday, prompting new concerns about his health.

This is a summary of a request from Strudel Holdings to hire Porter Hedges as counsel, filed Aug. 18 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston.

Video captured by Air Force pilots evacuating ahead of Hurricane Idalia has gone viral – because the storm appeared to create bolts of lightning sparking out of the aircraft.

The incident marks the second time McConnell appeared to freeze and fall silent for several seconds.

"The timing of this rescue was fortunate," Chief Warrant Officer James B. Corbisiero said.

The state's first lady said she was inside the mansion with their three children at the time, but no one was hurt.

Two rescue operations were launched Wednesday for migrants crammed on board sailboats, one far off a western Greek island and the other off a Cycladic island near the Greek capital, the coast guard said. A group of 76 people were rescued from a sailing boat in distress 74 miles southwest of the Ionian Sea island of Zakynthos in western Greece, the coast guard said. All were taken on board a passing Egyptian-flagged cargo ship, and there were no reports of any missing people. It was not immediately clear where the sailboat had set out from, but the area lies on the route often used by smuggling vessels carrying migrants from Turkey or northern Africa to Italy. MIGRANT FISHING VESSEL CAPSIZES OFF COAST OF GREECE KILLING AT LEAST 78, DOZENS STILL MISSING In the second incident, a rescue operation was launched for about 60 people on a sailboat near the northwestern coast of Kythnos island, one of the Cyclades to the southeast of Athens. Two private boats and one coast guard patrol vehicle on land were in the area, while another three coast guard patrol boats were heading to the location, authorities said. Also Wednesday, the Greek coast guard picked up 17 migrants from a boat off the island of Samos, near Turkey in the eastern Aegean Sea. On Tuesday, another 90 people were rescued in four separate incidents from small boats off Samos and the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Greece has seen an increase in the arrival of smuggling boats bringing migrants into the country over the last two months, mainly small dinghies heading to eastern Aegean Sea islands from the nearby Turkish coast. For decades, the country has been a preferred entry point into the European Union for people fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia and hoping for a better life in Europe. More than 17,300 people have reached Greece by land and sea so far this year, according to the latest United Nations figures. About 13,500 of them arrived by sea with 5,500 reaching Lesbos alone. 4 DEAD, 18 RESCUED OFF GREEK ISLAND AFTER MIGRANT BOAT SINKS Arrivals make up more than a tenth of this year’s total successful Mediterranean crossings, most of which — about 113,000 — were to Italy. Arrivals in Greece for the whole of 2022 totaled 19,000. In June, a battered fishing trawler heading from Libya to Italy with an estimated 500-750 people on board sank in international waters off southwestern Greece. Only 104 survivors were found, and Greek authorities were heavily criticized for failing to evacuate the vessel in time. The government has attributed the rise in migrant crossings since then to better summer weather, unrest in Africa and smugglers taking advantage of an increase in Aegean small boat traffic during the tourist season. After nearly a million people entered Greece at the height of Europe’s 2015 migration crisis, the vast majority hoping to move north to wealthier European countries, Greece increased patrols along the sea and land border with Turkey to halt arrivals. Human rights groups and migrants denounced the government for carrying out summary deportations of people arriving in the country without allowing them to apply for asylum, an accusation the government strongly denied.

Hurricane Idalia is unleashing life-threatening wind and rain in Florida and Georgia

Kosovo’s president on Wednesday lashed out at France’s Emmanuel Macron for saying this week that Paris may review visa-free EU travel rules in 2024 for Kosovo and Serbia over their stalled talks on normalizing ties. President Vjosa Osmani said any suspension of visa-free travel to the European Union for her country’s citizens next year would "kill the dialogue once and for all" with Serbia. EU lawmakers in April gave the green light for citizens from Kosovo to travel without visas for up to 90 days in six months in Europe’s 27-nation Schengen passport-free area, starting next year. Kosovo was the last country in the Western Balkans not to have such travel arrangements with the EU. On Monday, Macron warned that visa promises to both Serbia and Kosovo may be "reviewed if both parties do not behave responsibly." "We must be very careful in this regard, especially when the stability of the Western Balkans is at risk," Macron said. KOSOVO PARLIAMENT DESCENDS INTO CHAOS AFTER LAWMAKER THROWS WATER ON PRIME MINISTER "That would be the most efficient method to kill the dialogue once and for all," Osmani told journalists. "Such measures ... are against the people." Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti ’s policies in the country's north strained relations with the Western powers after police-backed ethnic Albanian mayors took office following an election that the ethnic Serb majority in the area had widely boycotted. The United States and the European Union pressured Kurti to help calm the situation after violence broke out in May, with dozens of people injured in clashes between local Serbs and Kosovo police and NATO-led peacekeepers, fueling fears of a conflict similar to the 1998-99 one that killed more than 10,000 people. Kosovo is a former province in Serbia whose 2008 declaration of independence Belgrade does not recognize. Most ethnic Serbs in Kosovo also have refused to acknowledge Kosovo’s statehood, which is backed by the U.S. and most EU nations but not Russia and China. Serbia pulled out of Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombed the country to stop the onslaught against ethnic Albanian separatists. Kosovo and Serbia aspire to join the EU but Brussels has made it clear to both countries that they should solve their dispute through a mediated dialogue in order to join the bloc. After the spring turmoil in Kosovo's north, Brussels imposed some punishing measures — though it stopped short of calling them sanctions — on Kosovo, suspending funding of some projects and halting visits of top diplomats. Osmani said Kosovo has fulfilled all of Brussels’ recent requests on holding new elections in the north, or gradually reducing the presence of special police there. "I expect during September … the EU notices its requests on de-escalation have been fulfilled and lifts the (previously set) measures, which were unfair and disproportionate," she said. Western officials fear further instability in Europe as the war continues in Ukraine. NATO has sent additional troops to its peacekeeping mission in Kosovo to boost security.

Flight attendants for the carrier voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, but a walkout remains unlikely.

Syria's Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed forces and an allied militia announced Wednesday they have removed the militia's commander from his post after his arrest this week led to intense clashes in the country’s east that have killed at least 32 people, including at least three civilians. The clashes spread to several towns and villages in the province of Deir el-Zour and were the worst in years in a region where hundreds of U.S. troops have been based since 2015 to help in the battle against the militant Islamic State group. The fighting erupted early Monday, a day after the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces detained the commander and several members of the Deir el-Zour Military Council, after inviting them to a meeting in the northeastern city of Hassakeh. The militia had been allied with the Kurdish-led force against IS. The clashes pitted SDF members against the militia and some regional Arab tribesmen who had sided with the Deir el-Zour Military Council. The SDF and the council jointly said on Wednesday that Ahmad Khbeil, better known as Abu Khawla, would no longer command the Deir el-Zour Military Council. He and four other militia leaders were dismissed over their alleged involvement in "multiple crimes and violations," including drug trafficking. RAMASWAMY'S EYEBROW-RAISING HALEY ATTACK, VIOLENCE ERUPTS AT PROTEST AND MORE TOP HEADLINES Khbeil was also removed over "coordination with external entities hostile to the revolution" — apparently a reference to his purported contacts with the Syrian government in Damascus and its Iranian and Russian allies. The latest round of clashes raised concerns of more divisions among the SDF and its allies in eastern Syria, where IS had once controlled large swaths of territory and where IS militants still stage occasional attacks. On any day, there are at least 900 U.S. forces in eastern Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. They partner with the SDF to work to prevent an IS comeback. The fighting continued on Wednesday as the SDF captured the eastern town of Ezba after hours of clashes with local tribesmen who had sided with Khbeil's militia, two Syrian opposition activists said. Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said SDF fighters set free several fighters who were captured by the tribesmen a day earlier.' Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet that covers news in the region, said that if the latest fighting lasted long enough, the Syrian government and its allies, Russia and Iran, could take advantage of the chaos. The Observatory said the fighting in the eastern province killed at least 32 people, mostly fighters on both sides but also three civilians, a woman and two children. The dead also include 19 tribesmen, six SDF fighters and four as yet unidentified people.

Navarro told Judge Ahmit Mehta Tuesday that Trump had made it "very clear" that he wanted Navarro to invoke certain privileges and not respond to the Jan. 6 committee's subpoena.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged letters pledging to increase their cooperation, the White House said.

A judge has ruled that former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday, amid ongoing military drills between the U.S., South Korea and Japan. The U.S. and Japan flew two long range B-1 Lancer bombers over the Sea of Japan on Wednesday as part of exercise Ulchi Freedom Shields. Defense officials say the North Korean launch was likely a response to the exercises, which are scheduled to continue through Thursday. North Korea has launched a record number of missiles over the past 12 months as it seeks to project power against South Korea. Ulchi Freedom Shields is one of several joint training exercises that the U.S. and South Korea take part in each year. "U.S. Forces and the Japan Self-Defense Forces conducted a bilateral bomber exercise over the Sea of Japan on August 30, 2023, demonstrating the enduring deterrence options readily available to the U.S.-Japan Alliance," a spokesperson for the U.S. Forces in Japan told Fox News. NORTH KOREAN, RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTERS HOLD MEETING IN PYONGYANG AMID CELEBRATIONS "Two B-1 Lancer bombers with the U.S. Air Force integrated with eight Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighter aircraft and four F-15 fighter aircraft, exemplifying our alliance's ability to quickly and decisively respond to threats against Japan and the region," the spokesperson continued. "The U.S. remains committed to peace and prosperity throughout the Indo-Pacific alongside our Japanese allies, together acting as the cornerstone of regional peace and security and presenting an ironclad defense of Japan." NORTH KOREAN PLANE TAKES OFF FROM BEIJING, SIGNALING PYONGYANG’S BORDER REOPENING POST-PANDEMIC The exercise coincides with increased aggression from North Korea in recent months. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced on Tuesday that his country's navy will soon be equipped with nuclear weapons. The leader blamed the U.S. military for increasing "the danger of a nuclear war" during an address on the country's Navy Day. "Owing to the reckless confrontational moves of the U.S. and other hostile forces, the waters off the Korean Peninsula have been reduced into the world's biggest war hardware concentration spot, the most unstable waters with the danger of a nuclear war," Kim was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency. North Korea's military failed its second attempt to deploy a satellite in orbit last week, with its rocket failing in the third stage of flight. North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration said it will attempt to launch a spy satellite again in October. PENTAGON DISPUTES PYONGYANG'S CLAIM THAT US SOLDIER TRAVIS KING WILLINGLY SOUGHT 'REFUGE' IN NORTH KOREA The country has also increasingly allied itself with U.S. adversaries like China and Russia. The U.S., Japan, U.K. and South Korea released a statement on Wednesday condemning a potential arms deal between Russia and the DPRK. "We cannot – and we will not – stay silent as we receive more information that Russia continues to turn to rogue regimes to try to obtain weapons and equipment in order to support its brutal war of aggression," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a statement. Fox News' Liz Friden contributed to this report.

A Saudi court has sentenced a man to death over his posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, and his activity on YouTube, the latest in a widening crackdown on dissent in the kingdom that has drawn international criticism. The judgement against Mohammed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, seen Wednesday by The Associated Press, comes against the backdrop of doctoral student Salma al-Shehab and others facing decadeslong prison sentences over their comments online. The sentences appear part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's wider effort to stamp out any defiance in the kingdom as he pursues massive building projects and other diplomatic deals to raise his profile globally. "Al-Ghamdi’s death sentence over tweets is extremely horrific but stands in line with the Saudi authorities’ escalating crackdown," said Lina Alhathloul, the head of monitoring and advocacy at the London-based advocacy group ALQST. "Lengthy prison sentences issued for free speech, such as 27 years against Salma al-Shehab, have not received sufficient outcry, and the authorities have taken this as a green light to double down on their repression," Alhathloul said. "They are sending a clear and sinister message — that nobody is safe and even a tweet can get you killed." UN CALLS ON SAUDIS TO RELEASE 2 WOMEN JAILED OVER TWEETS CRITICIZING SALMAN REGIME Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the sentence handed down by Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court, which was established to hear terror cases but now also weighs charges against activists. According to court documents, the charges levied against al-Ghamdi include "betraying his religion," "disturbing the security of society," "conspiring against the government" and "impugning the kingdom and the crown prince" — all for his activity online that involved re-sharing critics' posts. Saudi officials offered no reason for why they specifically targeted al-Ghamdi, a retired school teacher living in the city of Mecca. However, his brother, Saeed bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, is a well-known critic of the Saudi government living in the United Kingdom. "This false ruling aims to spite me personally after failed attempts by the investigators to have me return to the country," the brother tweeted last Thursday. Saudi Arabia has used arrests of family members in the past as a means to pressure those abroad into returning home, activists and those targeted in the past say. The sentence drew immediate criticism from international rights groups. "Repression in Saudi Arabia has reached a terrifying new stage when a court can hand down the death penalty for nothing more than peaceful tweets," said Joey Shea, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's top executioners, behind only China and Iran in 2022, according to Amnesty International. The number of people Saudi Arabia executed last year — 196 inmates — was the highest recorded by Amnesty in 30 years. In one day alone last March, the kingdom executed 81 people, the largest known mass execution carried out in the kingdom in its modern history. However, al-Ghamdi's case appears to be the first in the current crackdown to level the death penalty against someone for their online behavior.

The U.S. State Department on Wednesday urged all U.S. citizens to leave the Caribbean country of Haiti as soon as possible.  "Given the current security situation and infrastructure challenges, U.S. citizens in Haiti should depart Haiti as soon as possible via commercial or private transport," the State Department said in an updated security alert. "Multiple airlines and charter companies currently offer flights from Haiti’s international airports (Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien)."  "Flights fill up quickly and seats may only be available several days or even weeks in advance of departure. Given that there may be a limited number of seats, U.S. citizens should consider booking flights in advance, the alert added, providing a "non-exhaustive list" of commercial airlines servicing Haiti: American Airlines, JetBlue, Spirit. Air Caraibe and Sunrise Airways.  "U.S. citizens wishing to depart Port-au-Prince should monitor local news and only do so when considered safe," the alert said. "Please contact ACSPAP@state.gov if you are having challenges in departing Haiti or if you need to apply or request the return of a U.S. passport (or other travel document) to travel to the United States."  HAITI POLICE PROBE KILLINGS OF PARISHIONERS WHO WERE LED BY PASTOR INTO GANG TERRITORY U.S. citizens are urged to use extreme caution in traveling around the country and avoid demonstrations and large gatherings of people. Americans who might encounter a roadblock are encouraged to turn around and get to a safe area.  The State Department said to make and practice contingency plans for sheltering in place and/or accessing airports and to review the guidance on travel to high-risk areas. Traveling to high-risk areas "may put you at increased risk for kidnapping, hostage-taking, theft, and serious injury," according to the State Department websites.  In high-risk areas, U.S. citizens are subject to the laws and the legal system of the country they are visiting, and in many of those high-risk areas, the State Department says it "cannot help you."  The security update did not say what led to the State Department's decision to issue it, but escalating gang violence in the country has prompted local evacuations and protests.  The director of Haiti’s National Police vowed Monday to hold accountable those who encouraged hundreds of parishioners to take up machetes and sticks over the weekend to try and rid a community of gang members, only to be fatally shot by them.  Police Chief Frantz Elbé said the group’s religious leader, identified as Marcorel Zidor, participated in the protest Saturday and was accompanied by unidentified people clad in olive green carrying assault rifles as they and the parishioners marched toward the community of Canaan. KIDNAPPING OF AMERICAN NURSE, HER DAUGHTER IN HAITI DEALS BLOW TO AID EFFORTS IN IMPOVERISHED NATION Elbé said the group drew gunfire from gang members, and that "multiple" people were killed and several kidnapped, though he did not provide numbers. Also this week, a judge in Haiti is for the first time interrogating some of the 18 Colombian suspects arrested more than two years ago and accused of being part of a mercenary squad that assassinated President Jovenel Moïse, according to The Associated Press.  The former Colombian soldiers earlier had refused to talk when questioned by a judge who previously had been assigned to the case. The first two suspects were transported on Monday and Tuesday from Haiti’s main penitentiary in downtown Port-au-Prince to a government office in nearby Petion-Ville, where they were undergoing interrogations by Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire.  The 18 Colombians are among more than 40 suspects, including elite Haitian police officers who were arrested in Haiti, after Moïse was fatally shot in July 2021 in his private residence. The investigation in Haiti has moved very slowly, in part due to a high turnover of judges overseeing the case. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A former member of Belarus President Aleksander Lukashenko’s special security forces is set to face trial in Switzerland next month for the forced disappearances of political opponents in the late 1990s, according to human rights and victims advocacy groups Wednesday. Activists and opponents called it a "watershed moment" in international justice that could trigger prosecutions abroad of other Belarus officials — including Lukashenko, whose regime has come under renewed criticism over a crackdown against opposition leaders that began in August 2020 and support for Russia's military invasion of Ukraine last year, among other things. The case against Yuri Harauski, a former member of a military unit known as SOBR, is set to take place Sept. 19-20 in the northern Swiss regional court of St. Gallen and centers on the enforced disappearances of three people in 1999. An extract of the court filing, obtained by The Associated Press, indicated that prosecutors planned to seek a three-year prison sentence — of which two would be suspended — against Harauski for his alleged role in the disappearances. Harauski lives in Switzerland, where he applied for asylum in 2018, advocacy groups said. He has made high-profile confessions about his involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Lukashenko's political opponents in 1999. UN INVESTIGATORS ACCUSE ISRAEL OF 'DELEGITIMIZING' PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP WITH TERRORISM ACCUSATIONS The motives behind the confessions were not entirely clear. He could become the first official during Lukashenko’s 29-year rule to be convicted of crimes against regime opponents. "For the first time, a member of Lukashenko’s murder squad stands trial for involvement in the enforced disappearances of political opponents," Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told the Associated Press. "This groundbreaking case delivers a powerful message to the Belarus regime: no one will escape justice." The pending trial was brought to light by advocacy groups Trial International in Switzerland and FIDH, a Paris-based non-governmental organization whose name translates as the International Federation of Human Rights. "This could be a watershed moment for international justice for the Belarusian regime’s crimes," said Ilya Nuzov, head of FIDH’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk. A conviction, Nuzov said, "could also establish facts which could later be used to go after those who had ordered the commission of the crime, including Lukashenko himself." Harauski will be tried over the enforced disappearances of Yuri Zakharenko, a former interior minister who was fired by Lukashenko in 1996; opposition leader Viktor Gonchar, and publisher Anatoly Krasovsky, the advocacy groups said in a statement released Wednesday. "The case is groundbreaking: for the very first time, a Belarusian national stands trial for enforced disappearance on the basis of universal jurisdiction," the advocacy groups said, referring to a legal principle that allows foreign jurisdictions to prosecute severe crimes that happened in other countries. The prominent Belarus rights group Viasna, which last week was outlawed by the country's government as an extremist organization, applauded the announcement of the case. "With this first-ever prosecution of an alleged member of Lukashenka’s hit squad we are sending a strong signal," said Viasna lawyer Pavel Sapelko. "Justice for international crimes can and will be delivered, regardless of state borders or time elapsed since the crimes have been committed." The Belarus Ministry of Internal Affairs declined to answer questions about the case. The SOBR, of special rapid reaction detachment, was created in June 1999 and brought together about 300 personnel. Its unofficial nickname was the "Death Squadron," and its first commander was Dmitri Pavlichenko. Harauski has been quoted in press reports that he participated in the abductions and murders of Lukashenko's opponents and said his unit had arrested the three opposition figures, and that he witnessed their assassination — but didn't kill them himself. Court officials in the northern city of Rorschach, who brought the case, and the larger cantonal, or regional, court in St. Gallen to the south did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press. Benoit Meystre, a legal adviser for Trial International, said the trial would be held in St. Gallen for security reasons as well as the need for a larger courtroom.

The Belgian government said Wednesday it will no longer provide shelter for single men seeking asylum, arguing its insufficient reception capacity should prioritize families, women and children. Europe's foremost human rights organization and aid groups condemned the move as reneging on international commitments. Belgium has long come under criticism for failing to provide enough shelter to the thousands of people who are seeking protection from persecution back home. Long lines of tents along streets outside the main processing center in Brussels have become a stain on Belgium's reputation. On Wednesday, Asylum State Secretary Nicole de Moor said increasing pressure on asylum housing was expected over the coming months and she wanted "absolutely to avoid children ending up in the streets this winter." Instead, single men will have to fend for themselves. GREECE ELECTION: ECONOMY, MIGRATION, SCANDALS LOOM LARGE IN PIVOTAL VOTE According to the EU Agency for Asylum, male applicants last year accounted for 71% of asylum claims. Belgium's move was met with criticism from human rights organizations, with the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent's most important human rights group, taking the lead. Contacted by The Associated Press, the CoE's Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatović said that "the lack of accommodation has serious consequences for the human rights of people applying for asylum in Belgium, including from the perspective of their right to health." Last December, she urged Belgian authorities to provide better assistance to asylum-seekers after hundreds of people slept on Brussels streets in freezing temperatures, scenes that went on through much of the winter. "I reiterate my call to the authorities to implement swift measures and durable solutions to address structural shortcomings in the asylum system in Belgium and ensure that accommodation is available for all those seeking international protection, including single men," she said. Others were more scathing. GREEK AUTHORITIES PULL 39 MIGRANTS FROM RIVER ISLET ON TURKISH BORDER "We thought we’d seen it all, but no. The Belgian government isn’t just sitting on human rights, it’s burying them by ‘suspending’ the reception of single male asylum-seekers," said Philippe Hensmans, director of Amnesty International Belgium. De Moor complained that the influx of asylum-seekers over the past two years in the nation of 11.5 million had filled shelters almost to their capacity of 33,500. Last year, Belgium had nearly 37,000 applications for protection, the federal agency Fedasil said. On top of the asylum-seekers, Belgium is also giving help to some 62,000 Ukrainian refugees who fled Russia’s war in their country. Last year alone, labor courts convicted Fedasil over 5,000 times for failing to provide proper shelter. Still, said de Moor, "our country has already done more than its share for a long time," and she called on some other EU nations to increase their effort instead.

He’s certain that it ‘works,’ but there’s no data. Is this how we approve drugs now?