Donald Trump issued pardons and commuted dozens of sentences for people incarcerated for drug crimes while he was in the White House. His administration also hailed the passage of the First Step Act during his presidency as a rare bipartisan achievement towards criminal justice reform. But during his presidency, and throughout his 2024 campaign for the Republican nomination for president, with a string of violent, provocative statements from inside the White House and to crowds at campaign rallies, he has called for executing people convicted for drug crimes. In an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier that aired on 20 June, the host noted that Mr Trump’s demands to kill drug offenders would have applied to people like Alice Marie Johnson, a high-profile formerly incarcerated person who was pardoned by Mr Trump during an Oval Office event in 2020. “She’d be killed under your plan,” Mr Baier said. “Huh?” Mr Trump said after a pause. “No, no, no. Oh, under that? Uh, it would depend on the severity,” he said. “She can’t do it, OK? By the way, if that was there? She wouldn’t be killed, it would start as of now. So you wouldn’t go to the past.” He also stated that Ms Johnson would not have committed any crime, if she knew that a potential sentence, if convicted, was her death. In 2020, one day after she praised his administration during the Republican National Convention, Mr Trump granted a full pardon to Ms Johnson, who had served 22 years of a life sentence on charges related to cocaine distribution and money laundering. He had already commuted her sentence in 2018, but he issued a surprise pardon – effectively deleting her conviction and restoring her rights as a citizen – the day after she delivered a supportive speech at the RNC. “We’re going to give a full pardon. We’re going to do it right now. That means you have been fully pardoned. That’s the ultimate thing that can happen. That means you can do whatever you want in life and just keep doing the great job you’re doing,” he told her during an Oval Office event. Kim Kardashian had also personally lobbied him to take up her case at the White House. “Some say you do the crime, you do the time. However, that time should be fair and just,” Ms Johnson said during her RNC speech in 2020. “We all make mistakes. None of us wants to be defined forever based on our worst decision.” Republican officials and right-wing pundits have relied on “tough-on-crime” messaging – after 2020 uprisings against police violence, a steady stream of sensational crime coverage across media networks, and the villainizing of so-called “progressive prosecutors” in Democratic-led cities. GOP candidates competing with Mr Trump for the 2024 nomination are now turning to the former president’s attempts at criminal justice reform, zeroing in on Mr Trump’s support for the First Step Act. The law shortened some federal prison sentences, gave judges alternatives to mandatory minimum penalties, and retroactively applied 2010’s Fair Sentencing Act to eliminate racial disparities in prison sentences for cocaine possession. Ron DeSantis called the First Step Act a “jailbreak bill.” Mr Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence said “we need to take a step back” from the law. Meanwhile, after praising China’s policy of capital punishment for drug traffickers while he was in the White House, Mr Trump has directly called on members of Congress to approve the death penalty for the same crimes in the US in his 2024 campaign. “Under Democrat [sic] control the streets of our great cities are drenched in the blood of innocent victims,” Mr Trump said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania weeks before formally declaring his candidacy last year. “We would solve that problem so fast” he added. “I’m calling on Republicans and Democrats immediately to institute – to get to Washington and institute the death penalty for drug dealers. You will no longer have a problem.” Mr Trump’s push to execute drug dealers would appear to violate the US Constitution as affirmed by the US Supreme Court, which has held on multiple occasions that death sentences for non-lethal offences are considered cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment. Read More Trump news – live: Judge sets Mar-a-Lago classified papers trial date as Hunter Biden reaches plea deal Trump calls Fox News ‘hostile’ as he declines to commit to first GOP debate on network Donald Trump helped release drug prisoners. Now he wants to execute them

By Jorge Otaola MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina Corporate Argentina is strongly against full dollarization of the economy, one

Ukraine’s military has said troops were seeing battlefield success after recapturing another village at a time Western nations indicated that a major warfare – likely a phase of counteroffensive – is taking place in the besieged country War-time president Volodymyr Zelensky has confirmed success on one of the front lines in southeast Ukraine. Mr Zelensky confirmed Ukrainian troops had taken the village of Staromaiorske. “I thank everyone who is fighting for Ukraine! Thank you for the liberation of Staromaiorske. Congratulations again, guys!” he said in his nightly address. Ukraine’s military had earlier said it was “solidifying positions” it had reached in the same area, east of the city of Zaporizhzhia. This comes as Vladimir Putin admitted that Ukrainian attacks have intensified in recent days, as Kyiv ramps up the counteroffensive against Russian troops. Speaking in St Petersburg at a summit of African leaders, the Russian president admitted that attacks by Ukrainian forces have “intensified significantly”, primarily in the Zaporizhzhia region. Battles in recent weeks have taken place on multiple points along the 1,500-kilometer front line as Ukraine wages its counteroffensive. Read More Even Putin admits Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russia’s forces – but progress will be slow Putin promises grain aid to Africa despite withdrawing from Ukraine deal Ukrainian fencer disqualified from world championships for refusing handshake with Russian opponent Russian defence minister meets Kim Jong-un during visit to arms exhibition in North Korea

Dating, dating, dating. Where do we even begin? Once upon a time, people had no other option than to find love organically. It wasn't until 1965 that two Harvard students created the first computer-generated matchmaking service. Singletons were asked to fill out questionnaires based on their preferences and would receive a list of potential matches in return. Then came along Match.com in 1995 – the world's first dating website – which later evolved into the online phenomenon we know today with apps and social media accounting for 80 per cent of the modern dating scene. But now, opportunists are looking elsewhere – and it may surprise you. People are seemingly ditching the apps and turning to LinkedIn. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, LinkedIn is not and should not be used to seek out romantic relationships. It is a professional networking site and should be preserved for exactly that. If the intention is to purely find love, it not only comes across as creepy but also incredibly awkward – as one woman experienced herself. One TikTok user found herself in a LinkedIn love bomb when she was approached by an unidentified MBA student shooting his shot. She shared a screenshot of the interaction, which read: "Hey Hannah–skipping the line on a dating app and coming straight to you." "Aggressive move, [I know, I know.] Life’s too short not to go for what I am highly interested in," he continued, before softening the blow with an ever so slightly shift to a professional tone: "Happy to connect regardless of your openness to meet. Kindest regards." His attempt was met with fury online, with one calling it a "red flag," adding: "My rage would never. I would say LinkedIn is not a dating site it is a place to find a job." That said, making connections with people who share similar interests could naturally blossom into something more – and it's surprisingly working well for people across the world. TikToker Amber said people should be putting themselves in "environments with high-quality people," and believes LinkedIn is exactly that. "If you're on LinkedIn, I would say you're pretty ambitious and pretty driven," she said. "If you're going to dedicate and commit and be passionate about your career, then why don't you do that for a girl?" Explaining how it took her two years to find a romantic partner, she acknowledged it may be difficult to shift the conversation to dating. However, she believes "if you stick it through, it's going to be well worth it." @appleberryolivia Replying to @princesskynnnn be matched with your dream career and dream man ?? elite. #lovestory Meanwhile, for Noah at New Wave Media, his LinkedIn love story started by innocently looking for a job on the platform. He connected with a woman whose "profile was full of detail about how she'd made an impact within her company and also how she had gotten there." "I reached out to her through the messaging system, asking if we could meet for coffee sometime," he told Indy100. "To my surprise, she said yes. We met at a local coffee shop one afternoon after work one week later—and we've been together ever since!" Marketing executive Shelley also opened up about her unique encounter after reconnecting with her teenage fling through the professional platform. She and her now-husband briefly dated in her earlier years, before losing contact, moving to different states and marrying other people. Twenty years later, Shelley noticed he had moved to Denver, where her parents live. "I mentioned to my mom that John was living in Denver and she encouraged me to reach out," she explained. "The only way I had to reach out to him was on LinkedIn, so I did and we got together for brunch the day after Christmas. He had just gotten divorced as well." She added: "Since then, he moved to Pittsburgh to be with me, we survived the pandemic together, moved to Brooklyn last August and are still going strong!" The desire for love can have no boundaries, and people are more willing to take risks, according to Clarissa Silva, Behavioural Scientist, Relationship Coach, and Creator of Your Happiness Hypothesis Method. "All social media platforms eventually become dating platforms," Clarissa told Indy100. "LinkedIn is no exception. It's solving for our desire to find love when other options have failed." However, Clarissa explained that shopping on LinkedIn for a partner based on career may not yield the result you are looking for and you can soon become the topic of their network's conversation. "If you are using LinkedIn because other dating sites failed you, then you might want to reconsider your strategy and freshen up your profile," she continued. "Adding an additional platform to your search strategy also increases your rejection and ghosting rates which can have an adverse effect on your self-esteem." Meanwhile, Stacy Thomson, mental health clinician and performance coach behind the dating app Reddi, believes approaching people on LinkedIn for love is a "big no, no." "It’s a protected professional space, and people should feel safe," Stacy told Indy100. "However, LinkedIn is the perfect place for building relationships with strangers, and networking. This opens the door for the potential development of romance should two people become attracted to one another." "I guess, LinkedIn provides the opportunity to meet people who are similar to you professionally, and also maybe personally who you may not bump into outside of work." We've got to also consider the the power dynamic on the platform, especially when people are connecting over business or future job prospects. In some instances, this could lead to people using "'work' as a smokescreen when they have different intentions" Jordan Dixon, clinical psychosexual and relationship psychotherapist suggested. An example given by Jordan was someone setting up a business meeting with a hidden romantic interest – which would inevitably bring up ethical questions. "However, for some it might be the case that people may start speaking to one another about work and then attraction may fruition from these interactions and this can be very positive," Jordan continued. "We all know that many relationships can be first formed through our work and many people can find career success very sexy, and LinkedIn can potentially feel like a bit of a sexy taboo thing for some because its not so explicit and can be a turn on for some." Going forward, Jordan advises people to always be mindful, act respectfully and with transparency – otherwise it could backfire massively. Indy100 reached out to LinkedIn for comment. 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Watch the highlights from day two of London Fashion Week 2023 on Saturday (16 September), as Jourdan Dunn appeared on the runway during an emotional evening for Richard Quinn. The show, which was dedicated to the designer’s late father, brought Quinn to tears as he embraced his mother at the end. Elsewhere in the city, the Roksanda SS24 collection was shown on an outdoor catwalk at the Barbican Centre. Designer Roksanda Ilincic said she was inspired by 15th-century fresco paintings from the monasteries of her native Serbia.

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Thousands of Twitter users reported problems with the social media platform this weekend, with many receiving a message saying “rate-limit exceeded” on their personal feed page meant for curated content. Many users complained of several issues over the weekend, such as disappearing timelines, an inability to retrieve or send out their own tweets or even send a direct message. Users could scroll only a limited number of times on their curated “For You” personal feed pages before hitting limits. Twitter owner and chief technology officer Elon Musk explained on Saturday that the platform was issuing temporary reading limits with verified accounts being restricted to reading 6,000 posts a day. Mr Musk said the new restriction was applied “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation”. The Tesla chief then later added that the “rate limits” were increasing to “8,000 for verified, 800 for unverified and 400 for new unverified”. He then followed it with another update, raising the limits to 10,000, 1,000 and 500 respectively. It remains unclear for how long the new restrictions will be in place as many users continue to face the “Rate limit exceeded. Please wait a few moments then try again” message. Mr Musk has been attempting to generate more revenue for Twitter by making changes to the platform’s policy regarding the use of its API – the system used to communicate with other services. The Tesla and SpaceX chief has previously expressed displeasure with third-party clients, including artificial intelligence firms, using Twitter’s data to train their AI models. The company has been cutting its free API support, which has effectively killed off third-party services that rely on it. Commenting on the outage, Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the UK’s professional IT body, said while data scraping may be “part of the reason”, there are likely to be “underlying technical problems” on the platform. “The alleged data scraping could well be caused by Twitter now charging exorbitant fees for API access, which may have led to a secondary market for tweet data,” he said. Mr Musk retweeted an Elon Musk parody account that said “we are all Twitter addicts and need to go outside”. “I’m doing a good deed for the world here. Also, that’s another view you just used,” the tweet read. Read More Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter Twitter limits number of tweets people can read in a day, Elon Musk announces Is Twitter down? Thousands of users complain of issues with social media website and app Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter Twitter limits number of tweets people can read in a day Twitter applies temporary reading limits amid ongoing problems with platform

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