Fed chair hits back, accusing DoJ of threatening criminal charges because central bank defied Trump’s demands

The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve, a significant escalation in Donald Trump’s extraordinary attack on the US central bank.

In a blistering statement on Sunday, Powell argued he had been threatened with criminal charges because the Fed had set interest rates “based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President”.

Multiple Torah scrolls were damaged after fire broke out early Saturday at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson

A suspect has been taken into custody after a historic synagogue in Mississippi was badly damaged in a fire that authorities described on Sunday as an arson case.

According to officials, the blaze broke out shortly after 3am Saturday at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson. No one was hurt in the fire.

Lawyers for Abu Zubaydah accused British intelligence services of providing questions to his CIA interrogators

The UK has settled out of court by paying a “substantial sum” to a Guantánamo Bay detainee who was suing the government for its alleged complicity in his rendition and torture, according to the inmate’s legal team.

Lawyers for Abu Zubaydah have accused the British intelligence services of providing questions to his CIA interrogators to put to him while they were torturing him at a string of CIA “black sites” around the world where he was held between 2002 and 2006.