Far-right group’s chair among those accused over alleged plot to block Biden’s certification on 6 January. Plus, UK PM survives leadership vote
Good morning.
The criminal investigation into the Capitol attack develops apace. Top leaders of the far-right Proud Boys group, including its national chair, have been charged with seditious conspiracy over an alleged plot to obstruct the rubber-stamping of Joe Biden’s election win on 6 January last year.
The Proud Boys leaders used a group chat called MOSD Leaders Group, described by Tarrio as a “national rally planning committee”, according to the indictment. Other group chats told members to travel “incognito” for the “DC Trip”, the government said, without wearing their familiar black and yellow colors.
A nine-page document, entitled 1776 Returns, named after the year of American independence from Britain, allegedly laid out a plan to occupy “crucial buildings” on January 6. Only a grand jury knows the identity of the individual who is said to have sent this plan to Tarrio at the end of 2020.
Russia is “pilfering” Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for profit, according to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who cited “credible reports” as prices of grain soar. Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies.
Pressure is building for a rescue mission for 20m tonnes of Ukraine’s grain, which Kyiv urgently wants to sell to access important foreign currency during the conflict. Ukraine produces as much as half the world’s sunflower seeds.
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