◽️Maricopa County agrees to settle an agreement with the Arizona Senate, a special employee is hired to provide answers to the Senate.
◽️The French government has announced the recall of its ambassadors to the United States and Australia for consultations in connection with the defense agreement with the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, which excludes France and cancels the multi-billion dollar submarine deal between France and Australia. This is the first time that France has recalled its ambassador to the United States in more than 200 years of close relations, since France’s support for the American Revolution.
◽️”Allies do not do this” – France cancels the dinner and criticizes Biden after it was excluded from the agreement on the protection of the three states.
◽️Thousands of outraged New Yorkers protest against the introduction of covid passports in Times Square on September 18.
◽️The head of the US Federal Reserve, Powell, as well as other officials owned securities that the central bank acquired during the pandemic.
◽️Joe Biden: “We have set a goal to rid our energy sector of carbon by 2025.”
◽️The investigation revealed that World Bank executives pushed employees to overestimate the ratings of China and Saudi Arabia in high-profile reports.
◽️It became known that despite the orders of President Trump, his White House attorney Pat Cipollone refused to release documents showing the illegal actions of the Department of Justice and the FBI in false collusion with Russia.
◽️Michael Sussmann, a lawyer associated with Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie, pleaded not guilty on Friday following the Durham investigation to one count of making false statements to a federal agent. He faces up to five years in prison.
◽️A US official said that the government plans to send a “huge” number of migrants from the Texas border to Haiti on flights starting on Sunday.
◽️An influential federal advisory group has unanimously approved Pfizer’s vaccinations for people 65 years and older or those who are at risk of serious diseases.
◽️A complete power outage is reported in Syria.
◽️On September 16, two explosive devices were found in mobile phone stores in Salt Marie and Cheboygan, Michigan. The FBI is appealing to the public to help identify the person (s) who installed the explosive devices.
◽️In Russia, the first day of the State Duma elections ended in the evening.
In the Central Election Commission (CEC) It was estimated that as of 20:00 Moscow time, the turnout across Russia was 16.85 percent of the registered number of voters. This number did not include Russians who cast their votes online.
◽️Around midnight, Pavel Durov announced that the Telegram messenger will limit the work of bots related to election campaigning in Russia. From 00:30 Moscow time on September 18, the “Smart Voting” bot stopped working.
◽️Google and Apple have removed the Navalny app from Google Play and the App Store. According to Apple’s official response, the reason for blocking the application was the recognition of the FBK as an extremist organization in Russia. According to Roskomnadzor and the Prosecutor General’s Office, the application contains “content prohibited in Russia” and ” allows you to interfere in elections.”
◽️The Golos movement (included in the register of”foreign agents” movements) counted 2,130 possible violations throughout the country. 382 of them are in Moscow, 171 — in St. Petersburg. Basically, these are violations of the rights of observers (according to OVD-info, 10 observers or members of commissions were detained), the use of administrative resources, as well as violations when handling safe packages (where ballots should be stored during the voting out of the reach of potential falsifiers), the absence of a bottom at the safes at the polling stations or the absence of the safes themselves.
A large number of videos with violations and stuffing were published by journalists and observers from St. Petersburg.
◽️The leaders of Russia, China and India did not come to the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Dushanbe because of serious contradictions within the SCO on the Afghan issue. This opinion was expressed by some political scientists.