Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Wednesday Briefing: The Georgia case against Trump

Plus, the Australia vs. England semifinal at the World Cup

Good morning. We're covering the fourth indictment of Donald Trump and China's record-high youth unemployment.

Plus, the Australia vs. England semifinal at the World Cup.

Trump is indicted for the fourth time

Former President Donald Trump has 10 days to turn himself in to face accusations in Georgia that he and 18 other people orchestrated a "criminal enterprise" to reverse the results of the 2020 election in the state and subvert the will of voters.

The 41-count indictment released late Monday also brings charges against some of Trump's most prominent advisers, including Rudy Giuliani, his former personal lawyer, and Mark Meadows, who served as White House chief of staff at the time of the election.

All 19 defendants — including a former senior Justice Department official and the former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party — were charged under the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, or RICO.

Georgia's RICO Act is patterned after a federal law that was passed to dismantle organized crime groups. The charges under the statute will require prosecutors to prove that the defendants were part of an enterprise that tried to "accomplish the illegal goal of allowing Donald J. Trump to seize the president's office."

Looking ahead: Trump could stand trial four times before the presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024 — and would have to leave the campaign trail each time.

China suspends youth unemployment report

Beijing, facing an expected seventh consecutive monthly increase in youth unemployment, said yesterday that it was suspending release of the information.

The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds in urban areas hit 21.3 percent, a record, in June. It has risen every month this year and was widely forecast to have climbed further last month. China's decision could exacerbate concerns from investors and executives who say that tightening government control of information is making it harder to do business there.

The announcement drew more than 140 million views on Weibo, one of the biggest social media platforms in China, within hours. Many people commenting said that they believed Beijing was trying to hide negative information, and others said the public had the right to be informed.

Related: How one real estate company's financial crisis is threatening China's economy.

Russia's wartime financial problems pile up

The Russian central bank yesterday raised interest rates by the most it had since the early weeks of the war in Ukraine, a dramatic move that underlines the scale of concern about Russia's economic stability. It was the bank's second attempt to cool down the economy in less than a month, after a one-point increase on July 21.

Background: The recent economic turmoil partly stems from spending increases to pay for the war in Ukraine, as well as Western sanctions. On Monday, the ruble briefly slipped past the symbolically important exchange rate of 100 to the dollar.

In the war: Russia made good on its threat to enforce its blockade on Ukraine last weekend when it boarded a freighter in the Black Sea.

After the war: Those who see to the mental health of Ukrainian soldiers say the horrors they face are greater than the treatments available, and will linger for years.

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THE LATEST NEWS

Asia Pacific
Around the World
  • A fire and an explosion at a gas station killed at least 35 people in southern Russia. Another 66 people were hospitalized.
  • Survivors of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000 and the families of the 17 sailors who were killed are still waiting for a trial, and fear the case is being forgotten.
  • Five people were arrested in London in February on suspicion of spying on British intelligence. Three are Bulgarian nationals suspected of spying for Russia, the BBC reported.
  • The former head of counterintelligence for the F.B.I. in New York pleaded guilty to violating U.S. sanctions and laundering payments from a Russian oligarch.
  • New research showed that about 30 percent of Americans have been addicted to opioids, or have had an addicted relative.
A Morning Read

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SPORTS

Soccer with goals far from the World Cup

In dusty Australian towns a thousand miles from the nearest Women's World Cup stadium, Indigenous leaders like John Moriarty, the first Aboriginal Australian selected for a national soccer team, aim to use the sport to offer hope and opportunity for Indigenous children.

For a two-day soccer carnival last week in Tennant Creek, boys and girls of all ages were bused from schools all over the Barkly Region, an expanse of the outback roughly the size of Finland with a population of about 8,000 people. On the sun-baked fields, children playing in shoes, socks or their bare feet barely took breaks between games, choosing instead to practice.

"The talent for football in the bush is deep, and the potential for football to break the cycle of intergenerational disadvantage is huge," Moriarty wrote in an email. He and the other members of Indigenous Football Australia have called for more meaningful support of Indigenous-led programs from soccer's Australian and global governing bodies.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Cook this shrimp scampi with orzo in a buttery, garlicky pan sauce.

Read these three new novels about fractured families around the world.

Watch "Untold: Hall of Shame," a Netflix documentary about a high-profile doping scandal in the U.S. in the early 2000s.

Keep this trash can in your car.

Play the Spelling Bee. (If you're stuck, the Bee Buddy can help.) And here's the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku.

That's it for today's briefing. I'll be back tomorrow. — Justin

P.S. Desiree Ibekwe, an audience editor in Audio, is joining The Morning team as a writer based in London.

We welcome your feedback. Write to us at briefing@nytimes.com.

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