Harlan Crow, a billionaire Republican donor, has refused a second request by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden

The skies in the eastern US are starting to become clearer, after smoke from the worst wildfires in

The Supreme Court has dismissed a case about limits on lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government

Vladimir Putin claimed that Russians were more united than ever after responding to the short-lived but dramatic mutiny by his private mercenary Wagner group and its march on Moscow. The Russian president was speaking alongside Asian leaders such as his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi at the virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday. He was delivering his first remarks outside of Moscow acknowledging June’s aborted coup – the biggest challenge to the Russian leader’s rule in decades. “The Russian people are consolidated as never before,” he said "Russian political circles and the whole of society clearly demonstrated their unity and elevated sense of responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland when they responded as a united front against an attempted armed mutiny,” Mr Putin said in his remarks to his allies. The speech on a united front to Russia’s key allies by Mr Putin comes as he looks to assure the leaders about his challenged authority on the world stage while Russian forces continue to carry out a full-scale invasion of Ukraine for nearly 500 days. Hundreds of Wagner fighters led by Mr Putin’s affiliate and the group’s chief Yevgeny Prigozhin marched on Moscow after taking control of a southern city on 24 June, threatening to overthrow the defence ministry. After a failed rebellion, Mr Putin accused the Wagner group of a “stab in the back” and said Russia was “facing treason”. He also thanked his army and security services for averting chaos and civil war. On Tuesday, 10 days after the Wagner’s insurgency, Mr Putin shifted his focus to the invasion of Ukraine in his public remarks at the virtual summit helmed by New Delhi and tried to project confidence. He said Russia will stand up against the West’s sanctions and “provocations”. Moscow and the country’s oligarchs are reeling under hundreds of financial sanctions imposed by the international community for launching a war on Ukraine. Thanking the SCO nations for backing the Russian authorities during the rebellion, he said that the West turned Ukraine into “a virtually hostile state – anti-Russia”. Mr Putin said Moscow was looking to boost ties with the SCO member nations, and backed the transition to settlements in local currencies in foreign trade. The Russian president, who launched a “special military operation” on Ukraine in February last year, added that the world was seeing an increasing potential for conflicts, and that the risk of a global economic crisis was on the rise. Experts have said the summit gave Mr Putin a rare window to demonstrate control over rumblings in Moscow. “Putin will want to reassure his partners that he is very much still in charge, and leave no doubt that the challenges to his government have been crushed,” said Tanvi Madan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. The summit of the security-led group saw the top leaders of its member states China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in attendance as Indian prime minister Narendra Modi commenced the gathering virtually. Mr Modi, who wrapped up his state visit to the US two weeks earlier with pomp and fervour after meeting Joe Biden, did not mention the war in Ukraine in his opening remarks. While he warned of global challenges to food, fuel and fertiliser supplies, Mr Modi did not blame Moscow’s continuing invasion and halt on grain deal which has shot up the prices across the world. International trade, especially for Russia’s allies, suffered a major setback but all SCO members avoided directly mentioning the war. Mr Modi instead kept his focus on indirectly targeting Pakistan for terrorism, asking the SCO members to not hesitate while criticising the nations “using terrorism as an instrument of its state policy”. India has largely protested any support to Pakistan, accusing its neighbour of breeding terrorism and armed insurgent groups for decades. “Terrorism poses a threat to regional peace and we need to take up a joint fight,” Mr Modi said without naming Pakistan. He was joined by Pakistan prime minister Shahbaz Sharif in condemnation of terrorism, who defended his nation’s fight against it. “While the sacrifices made by Pakistan in fighting terrorism are without parallel, this scourge continues to plague our region and remains a serious obstacle to the maintenance of peace and stability,” Mr Sharif said. “Any temptation to use it as a cudgel for diplomatic point scoring must be eschewed,” Mr Sharif said. The Asian security grouping founded by Russia and China in 2001 to counter Western alliances also welcomed Iran as a new member, bringing its membership to nine nations. Belarus has also queued up at the summit for membership. Read More Russia-Ukraine war– live: Putin claims Russia ‘united’ days after mutiny pushes country to brink of civil war Ukraine’s push to smash Russian defences on the battlefield: ‘Small advances have colossal meaning’ Russia ‘arrests General Armageddon’ over knowledge of Wagner mutiny Putin admits Moscow paid Wagner mercenaries £800m in wages in a year – and that his forces ‘stopped civil war’ A week after an armed rebellion rattled Russia, key details about it are still shrouded in mystery

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The US, South Korea, and Japan strongly condemned the supply of military equipment by North Korea to Russia and said these deliveries would significantly increase the human toll of Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The US and its Asian allies said in a joint statement they could now confirm that such weapons deliveries have taken place between the two countries which are isolated on the world stage. The condemnation came amid increasing speculation of an arms deal between Russia and North Korea following a number of high-profile visits between the diplomats and leaders of both the countries. “Such weapons deliveries, several of which we now confirm have been completed, will significantly increase the human toll of Russia’s war of aggression. “We will continue to work together with the international community to expose Russia’s attempts to acquire military equipment from (North Korea),” said the top diplomats of the three countries. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied the allegations that Russia was receiving munitions from North Korea, claiming instead that Washington has failed to prove the charge. Both countries have increasingly sought to rely on each other as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approached its second winter. Seoul, Washington, and Tokyo said they were closely monitoring any materials that Russia provides to North Korea in support of Kim Jong-un’s military objectives. “We are deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear- or ballistic missile-related technology to (North Korea),” the statement said. The joint condemnation signed by South Korean foreign minister Park Jin, US secretary of state Antony Blinken, and Japanese foreign minister Yoko Kamikawa also underscored that arms transfers to and from North Korea would violate UN Security Council resolutions, which Russia, a permanent Security Council member, previously voted for. Earlier this year, the North Korean leader had visited Russia and met Mr Putin in the most prominent sign that the countries were looking to prop up their regimes by supporting each other by sharing military hardware and technology. The talks reportedly focused on an arms deal in exchange for technological support to Pyongyang’s fledgling space programme. Just last week, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov also visited Pyongyang and met the North Korean leader. Both leaders praised the ties between their countries that they said had increased to a “new level”. Mr Lavrov said in a reception speech that Moscow “deeply” valued Pyongyang’s “unwavering and principled support” for Russia in the war. The meeting was seen as groundwork for a potential second summit between Mr Kim and Mr Putin after the Kremlin leader accepted the invitation to travel to North Korea at “a convenient time”. Analysts have said the two countries have been forced to turn to each other as they have been isolated on the world stage. North Korea’s supply of its arsenal holds importance for Moscow as it has been going through artillery shells, missiles and other munitions for its Ukraine invasion. This comes as Moscow’s domestic production has struggled to keep up with biting Western sanctions as Ukraine has unleashed a months-long counteroffensive that has been rolling on since June. Earlier this month, the White House claimed North Korea delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia. The White House released satellite images it said showed the containers were loaded onto a Russian-flagged ship before being moved via train to southwestern Russia. A US think-tank had last month shared satellite images showing continued activity around a North Korean port near Russia. It captured at least six trips by sea between North Korea’s port of Rajin and Russia’s Dunai port since late August. These shipments were possibly related to the transfer of North Korean munitions to Russia, the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies had said. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary 82-year-old man in South Korea chokes to death after eating ‘still wriggling’ octopus Suspected North Korean defectors found in small wooden boat near sea border Thousands of remote IT workers sent wages to North Korea, says FBI

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This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for

You heard it. Amber Heard mained Overwatch healer Mercy for Elon Musk. Or at least that's according to Elon Musk's new biography, penned by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson spent two years on Musk's trail, and has shared plenty of details in his new book, suitably titled 'Elon Musk'. Many of those details explain Musk's relationships, and it goes fairly deep on his on-again-off-again relationship with the Aquaman star. Including the pair's costumed habits off-set. According to Isaacson's biography, Heard allegedly ordered the commission of the Mercy costume to 'roleplay' the character after a two-month design process. All because she wanted to role-play the video game character for Musk after he said Heard resembled the character. Mercy could be Musk's favourite for a few reasons. Urban Dictionary lists 'Mercy Main' as a person who has the most play time on Mercy often being referred to being a "Mom Friend", 'Weeb', thirsty freak or egirl, with questionable abilities on the hero. Kotaku note that the character is particularly popular in online adult animations that feature Overwatch. All un-officially sanctioned, of course. Heading back to the pair, the biography details how their relationship started. Musk first noticed Heard in her role in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills. Heard also became interested in Musk and his work - meeting him at SpaceX a year later. She reportedly told Isaacson that "I guess I could be called a geek for someone who can also be called a hot chick." And it also shows a light on how it ended, according to Heard. "Elon loves fire, and sometimes it burns him," Heard told Isaacson. Ouch. In other Musk news, Bill Gates has detailed how the billionaire was 'super mean' to him after a stock related debacle involving the pair. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

By Brad Brooks Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state's top law-enforcement official, could lose his job in