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The Vatican released a statement clarifying comments from Pope Francis regarding Russia on Wednesday, saying he was not praising a Russian imperialist agenda. Francis addressed a gathering of Russian Catholic youths last week and urged them to be proud of their Russian heritage. Many observers, however, criticized the remarks as justifying the imperial ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "In the words of greeting addressed to several young Russian Catholics a few days ago, as is clear from the context in which he pronounced them, the Pope intended to encourage young people to preserve and promote what is positive in Russia's great cultural and spiritual heritage, and certainly not to exalt imperialistic logics and governmental personalities, cited to indicate certain historical periods of reference," Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, wrote Wednesday. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) had reacted with dismay at Francis' comments earlier this week. Head and Father of the UGCC Sviatoslav Shevchuk wrote on Tuesday that the words caused "great pain and concern." PUTIN COMMITS TO CHINA VISIT IN FIRST MAJOR TRIP SINCE ARREST WARRANT POPE FRANCIS BLASTS ‘BACKWARDNESS’ OF CONSERVATIVES IN US CATHOLIC CHURCH "We hope that these words of the Holy Father were spoken spontaneously, without any attempt at historical evaluations, let alone support of Russia’s imperialist ambitions," Shevchuk said. "Nonetheless, we share the great pain which they caused, not only among the episcopate, clergy, monastics, and faithful of our Church, but also among other denominations and religious organizations." Ukrainian officials argued Francis' words had echoed the Putin regime's own justifications for its ongoing invasion. PUTIN NOT PLANNING TO ATTEND PRIGOZHIN FUNERAL "Never forget your heritage. You are the descendants of great Russia: the great Russia of saints, rulers, the great Russia of Peter I, Catherine II, that empire – educated, great culture and great humanity. Never give up on this heritage," the pope had told Russian youths. "You are descendants of the great Mother Russia, step forward with it. And thank you – thank you for your way of being, for your way of being Russian," he added. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday that this language echoed "imperialist propaganda" through which "the Kremlin justifies the killing of thousands of Ukrainians and Ukrainian women and the destruction of hundreds of Ukrainian cities and villages." At the outset of the invasion of Ukriane, Putin had compared himself to Peter I, or Peter the Great. "It is very unfortunate that Russian grand-state ideas, which, in fact, are the cause of Russia's chronic aggression, knowingly or unknowingly, come from the Pope's mouth, whose mission, in our understanding, is precisely to open the eyes of Russian youth to the disastrous course of the current Russian leadership," Nikolenko wrote.

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Hurricane Idalia rapidly intensified in the Gulf of Mexico before hitting Florida's Big Bend region Wednesday morning.

Russia will reportedly not be investigating the plane crash that killed several high-ranking members of the Wagner mercenary group under international rules. The Center for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents in Brazil contacted the Russian government last week to ask if a probe will be opened under the United Nations' civil aviation rules, according to a report from Reuters. Russia told the Brazilian officials that they will not be moving forward with the proposed U.N. investigation for now, according to the outlet. WHITE HOUSE 'INCREASINGLY CONFIDENT' WAGNER LEADER PRIGOZHIN DIED IN PLANE CRASH "They are not obliged, only recommended to do that," CENIPA head Air Brigadier Marcelo Moreno said, according to Reuters. "But if they say they’ll open the investigation and invite Brazil, we will participate from afar." Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, along with members of his top brass, was killed in an aerial disaster on Aug. 23 on a flight from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The deadly crash came two months after Prigozhin, 62, spearheaded a daylong mutiny against Russia's military, leading his Wagner mercenary troops from Ukraine toward Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin decried the act as "treason" and vowed punishment for those involved. NOTORIOUS RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF TAPPED TO PREPLACE PRIGOZHIN IN WAGNER'S AFRICA OPERATIONS Russia's decision not to launch an investigation under international rules has only heightened suspicions that the government is involved in the disaster. The White House on Tuesday appeared to formally acknowledge that the government believes Prigozhin was assassinated by Putin. "It seems pretty evident what happened here," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday, referring to President Biden's earlier remarks on Prigozhin's death.  "There's not much that happens in Russia that Putin is not behind," Biden said last week after Prigozhin was reported killed in a private plane crash.  Jean-Pierre’s comments came a day after the Russian Investigative Committee said genetic testing on the 10 bodies recovered at the crash site confirmed the identities of all of those listed on board the doomed flight – including Prigozhin and some of his top lieutenants.  The Investigative Committee did not indicate what might have caused the business jet to plummet from the sky halfway between Moscow and Prigozhin's hometown of St. Petersburg.

Crashes involving multiple trucks, including one transporting hazardous materials and another carrying tanks of nitrous oxide, killed two people on a highway in Germany, according to German news agency dpa. The chain of collisions happened Tuesday by a construction site on the A2 highway near the city of Magdeburg. The truck with the hazardous materials crashed into three other trucks and then a fifth truck loaded with the high-pressure tanks crashed into the other four, dpa said Wednesday. A fire quickly developed, and the flames spread from the truck with the nitrous oxide containers to the one with the hazardous materials. It was not immediately clear what kind of materials the latter was transporting, but authorities said toxic substances were released. STRIKE PLANNED FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS AT LEBANON'S ONLY CIVILIAN AIRPORT Several explosions were reported, and nearby residents were asked to stay home with their windows closed to avoid exposure to the fumes. Authorities established a safety perimeter with a 711-yard radius around the accident site that nobody was allowed to enter, including rescue personnel, dpa said. Officials said it was not clear if more people had died since emergency crews could not completely access the crash site between the towns of Theessen and Burg. One person was reported injured. A stretch of the A2 highway remained closed Wednesday morning due to the danger of more explosions, dpa said.

Idalia, which threatens to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall, came ashore in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan will remain in a high-security prison for at least another two weeks despite being granted bail the previous day, as an anti-terrorism court extended his detention Wednesday in a case involving the revealing of an official secret document, a defense lawyer said. The anti-terrorism court announced the decision after a brief closed-door hearing that was held at a high-security Attock prison in the eastern Punjab province, lawyer Intazar Hussain Panjutha said. The next court hearing will be on Sept. 2, he said. PAKISTANI COURT SUSPENDS FORMER PRIME MINISTER IMRAN KHAN’S CONVICTION, SENTENCING Khan's other lawyer, Salman Safdar, told reporters that he is petitioning a court to seek bail for Khan in the latest case. He said he is challenging Khan's imprisonment and jail trial as "it is illogical and unconstitutional." The latest development was a blow to Khan and his legal team, which expected his release after a court in the capital, Islamabad, suspended the corruption conviction and three-year prison term of the former premier. Tuesday's ruling by the Islamabad High Court, which also granted bail, was a major legal victory for Khan. He has been held in prison since Aug. 5, when he was arrested after his conviction and sentencing by another court. Khan has been embroiled in more than 150 cases since his ouster through a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022. One of the key cases against him was registered by the Federal Investigation Agency earlier in August on charges of "exposing an official secret document," which Khan had waved at a political rally in Islamabad after his removal. In his televised speeches, Khan repeatedly described the document as proof of a threat to him from the United States. IMPRISONED FORMER PAKISTANI PM IMRAN KHAN PLANS TO CHALLENGE GRAFT CASE The document, dubbed Cipher, has not been made public by the government but apparently contained diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad. Before his arrest, Khan publicly said his removal was a conspiracy by the United States, his successor Shehbaz Sharif, and the Pakistani military — accusations that they all deny. Sharif stepped down July 28 after the parliament’s term ended. Khan’s continued detention will give an edge to his political rivals ahead of the vote to be held later in the year. Pakistan’s election oversight body said that elections must be delayed for at least three to four months because it needs more time to redraw constituencies to reflect the recently held census. It is widely believed that the vote will be delayed until February. However, until then, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar is running the day-to-day affairs.

Prosecutors in southern Mexico said Tuesday that at least six men were killed in an apparent ambush in a township near the Guatemalan border that is known as a migrant smuggling route. Prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said the killings occurred Tuesday along a rural road in the township of Siltepec, about 30 miles from the border with Guatemala. The victims all appear to have been riding in the same pickup truck when attackers opened fire on them from the roadside. DRUG CARTELS RETURN TO WESTERN MEXICO TO EXTORT LIME FARMERS FOLLOWING A VIGILANTE UPRISING 10 YEARS AGO According to videos posted on social media, most of the victims appeared to be wearing black T-shirts and jeans with short haircuts. Officials did not identify the victims and did not disclose their nationalities and whether they were migrants. The area has long been known as a migrant smuggling route. But it has also become the scene recently of bloody turf battles between the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels for control of the smuggling and extortion businesses. In the nearby city of Motozintla, the largest population center in the area, residents and taxi and bus drivers marched to protest what they said were constant threats and extortion from the cartels. "For a safe Motozintla, no to protection payments, no to kidnappings. Peace and Tranquility!" read one of the leaflets handed out at the march Tuesday. Closer to the border, unidentified assailants set a freight truck on fire, blocking the main road in the area.

The U.S. continues to feel the ramifications of its rush to exit the two-decade Afghanistan campaign – a decision that signaled to America’s rivals that it "won’t stand with allies," according to a House Armed Services committee member.  "It absolutely sent a message to our adversaries around the world that the United States won’t stand with allies," Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., Chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Readiness, told Fox News Digital in an interview. Waltz, a decorated veteran who served combat tours in Afghanistan as a Green Beret, said "If Biden was willing to leave Americans and tens of thousands of Afghan allies who fought alongside us, why in the hell should China or Russia think he wouldn’t do the same for Taiwan or Ukraine?" he added. "The consequences were enormous."  The Taliban assumed control of Kabul – and the country as a whole – after President Biden ordered a hasty withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Afghanistan that ended on Aug. 30, 2021. TWO YEARS AFTER ‘EMBARRASSING’ AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL, GOP REP PINS FAILURES ON ONE BIG BIDEN ADMIN DECISION The international security landscape has since grown increasingly unstable, primarily with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started some six months after the U.S. left Afghanistan.  Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., told Fox News Digital the "debacle" of the drawdown "was entirely predictable," showing "a failure of foresight and planning." Moulton also serves on the House Armed Services committee and is U.S. Marine Corps veteran having served four tours of duty in Iraq. "The most experienced American personnel on the ground weren’t surprised at all, yet their voices were drowned out by those in Washington under two successive Republican and Democratic administrations," Moulton argued, stressing that "had they simply started the evacuation months earlier," then "more lives would have been saved, and our reputation might have remained intact." A National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson pushed back on the assertion that the way the drawdown played out emboldened competitor nations, arguing instead that "our true strategic competitors – China and Russia – would love nothing more than the United States continue to funnel billions of dollars in resources and attention into stabilizing Afghanistan indefinitely."  The spokesperson noted that Biden faced a choice to "ramp up the war and put even more American troops at risk or finally end our involvement in the United States’ longest war after two decades … and $2 trillion spent" – an argument the administration has maintained in the two years since the drawdown.  The administration maintains that fully exiting Afghanistan "freed up critical military, intelligence and other resources and ensured we are better poised to confront today’s threats to international peace and stability – whether that be Russia’s brutal and unprovoked assault on Ukraine, China’s increasingly assertive moves in the Indo-Pacific and around the world or terrorist threats in regions around the world," the NSC spokesperson added.  HEROES OF KABUL: ‘ALL GOOD HERE,' STAFF SGT. RYAN KNAUSS WROTE IN LAST MESSAGE TO MOM "We have also demonstrated that we do not need a permanent troop presence on the ground in harm’s way to remain vigilant against terrorism threats or to remove the world’s most wanted terrorist from the earth," the spokesman said.  Moulton supported this view, highlighting the "futile" effort to understand either Russian President Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping’s mentality, but agreed with arguments that "our withdrawal hurt the credibility of our military and our elected officials with both our allies and our adversaries."  "We saw how it strained our relationship with our NATO allies, who, quite fairly, felt abandoned after our unilateral decision to withdraw," Moulton said. "It is notable, however, that only six months later, Putin was surprised that NATO acted so swiftly and decisively in response to his criminal invasion of Ukraine." Biden maintained the plan to complete a military drawdown after then-President Trump had agreed the conditions as part of a peace deal with the Taliban. The U.S. had around 13,000 troops in Afghanistan at the time, and the deal included a roadmap for the country’s future, which linked the drawdown to Taliban promises to help fight terror in Afghanistan.  As the U.S. started the drawdown, the Taliban seized the initiative and started to take territory from Afghanistan’s government, culminating in the Hamid Karzai International Airport suicide bombing.  The bombing killed 13 U.S. service members – 11 Marines, one Navy sailor and one Army soldier – and wounded 18 other U.S. service members. More than 150 civilians died as a result of the bombing. BIDEN'S DISASTROUS AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: REMEMBERING THOSE LEFT BEHIND TWO YEARS AGO  Waltz said he was skeptical about the Taliban’s commitment to Trump’s plan and "live up to their end of the bargain," but that "at the end of the day, when President Trump’s team brought him those facts," he planned to keep a small force at Bagram Air Base.  "For those who like to point at President Trump, at the end of the day, he didn't do what Biden did. He listened to his generals," Waltz said.  "Biden had no problem reversing all kinds of Trump policies on day one of his administration," he continued. "He canceled the Keystone XL pipeline deal, lifted sanctions on Nord Stream 2, completely reversed policy on the border, got back into the Paris Accord, lifted maximum pressure on Iran and tried to get back into the Iran deal … I could keep going." "He had no problem reversing all of those Trump policies the first months of his administration, yet we're supposed to believe that he was completely handcuffed and had his hands tied when it came to Afghanistan? I don’t buy it," he stressed. "I think it’s a bunch of garbage." Moulton noted that Biden’s plan had support from "the majority of Americans … essentially the same promise that Trump had made, but both went counter to most military advice."  The lack of clarity surrounding the withdrawal has continued to plague the U.S. as rival nations – chiefly China and Russia – pursue aggressive foreign policy, ultimately leading to the invasion of Ukraine and unending posturing over the future of Taiwan.  AFGHANISTAN PULL OUT WAS ‘DERLICT OF DUTY,’ SEC. AUSTIN SHOULD BE ‘HELD ACCOUNTABLE’: CHAD ROBICHAUX The difference between Afghanistan and Iraq, according to Waltz, is that the U.S. had bases as well as allies in nations such as Turkey, Jordan and Israel to help push back against the resurgence of ISIS. The U.S. could also turn to Kurdish forces to help supplement its military efforts.  The U.S. lacks those elements in Afghanistan. Military leaders including Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley, and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, then head of U.S. Central Command, testified in the aftermath that they had advised Biden to maintain an operational force of 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base after the rest of the forces had departed.  Both Gens. Milley and McKenzie during testimony before the Senator Armed Services Committee did not discuss specific details of their conversations with the president, but Milley stressed that he recommended keeping 2,500 – 3,500 troops in Afghanistan – an opinion that "remained consistent throughout" the drawdown.  The lack of such a force prevented the U.S. from fully evacuating every American citizen and many Afghan allies from the country, leaving them at the mercy of the Taliban, along with billions of dollars of equipment, which Waltz argued left "Biden, Blinken, Austin, [and] his administration with blood on their hands." MCCARTHY HAS US CAPITOL FLAGS LOWERED HALF-STAFF, HONORS 13 LIVES LOST IN AFGHANISTAN EVACUATION A Department of Defense spokesperson defended Austin’s commitment to the memory of the fallen from the Abbey Gate bombing, expressing how "profoundly grateful" he was to all troops that served in Afghanistan and … the effort of every American who contributed to keeping our safe," including working towards "a brighter future for the Afghan people."  Additionally, the spokesperson explained that the weapons left behind in Afghanistan were not U.S. military-owned equipment, but rather weapons and equipment "procured and transferred to the Afghan government via an established and rigorous security cooperation program."  "These items were owned and operated by the previous Afghan government," the spokesperson added.  "To date, we have not seen strong evidence of significant proliferation of this materiel from Taliban stores, and we have not received any information from other governments concerned about the potential proliferation of heavy equipment, such as former Afghan military armored vehicles, artillery, or aircraft."

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