⚖️Raising the stakes on its extraordinary subpoena to Donald Trump, the House committee investigating the Capitol riot indicated Sunday it would not consider letting the former president testify live on television about the direct role that congressional investigators say he played in trying to overturn the 2020 election.

The committee is demanding Trump's testimony under oath and records relevant to its investigation next month. To avoid a complicated and protracted legal battle, Trump reportedly had told associates he might consider complying with the subpoena if he could answer questions during live testimony.

But on Sunday, Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair, rejected the possibility. She said the committee, which makes its major decisions with unanimous consent, would not allow Trump's testimony to turning into a "food fight" on TV. She warned that the committee would take action if he did not comply with the subpoena.

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▪️A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Alaska faces accusations that he sexually harassed a former assistant while he was a borough mayor. The lawsuit filed Friday accuses Charlie Pierce of “constant unwanted physical touching, sexual remarks, and sexual advances,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.

The case did not show up in an online court records system Saturday. The woman’s Anchorage-based attorney, Caitlin Shortell, said in an email to Media the Associated Press (AP) that it was filed in the Kenai Superior Court and expected a judge to be assigned Monday.

“When an elected official abuses their power and position to sexually harass public servants, they must be held accountable,” Shortell said. Pierce is one of four candidates running for governor in Alaska, and all appeared at a forum Saturday morning in Anchorage.

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🇰🇷South Korea's military said Monday it had fired warning shots at a North Korean ship that crossed the countries' de facto maritime border, prompting the North to fire a warning in return.

"The North's continuing provocations and reckless claims undermine peace and stability on the Korean peninsula and international community," Joint Chiefs Staff said in a statement, urging Pyongyang to "stop immediately." Pyongyang's Korean People's Army said a South Korean military vessel had "invaded" the de facto border by 2.5 to 5 kilometers (1.5 to 3 miles) a few minutes later and that the KPA fired ten warning rounds from the country's west coast.

Monday's exchange of warning fire comes on the same day that US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is expected to hold three-way talks with Japan and South Korea in Tokyo in a show of unity after the North's slew of launches.

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🇺🇸 Joe Biden tried to dispel doubts about his mental fitness for the US president’s office: so why vote for him, even though he could “drop dead tomorrow”?

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A number of soldiers from Ukraine's Armed Forces, who laid down their arms, have confessed to committing war crimes

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The Speaker of Russia's State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin on the possibility of Kiev using a “dirty bomb”:

▪️The threat of a terrorist attack in the US and Europe with the use of such a bomb existed until 2011, when Osama bin Laden was destroyed

▪️Osama bin Laden and Zelensky have the same methods of conducting nuclear terror

▪️The Kiev regime has instructed atomic scientists to create a “dirty bomb”

▪️Kiev continues to shell the critical infrastructure of nuclear power plants (in Zaporozhye and Kursk), causing a humanitarian catastrophe

▪️The US President and the heads of European states, became sponsors and accomplices of nuclear terrorism as soon as they provided financial and military assistance to the Zelensky regime

Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expressed concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a "dirty bomb" when talking to colleagues from France, the UK, the US and Turkey.

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"A World Without Superpowers" is the key topic of today's session at the Valdai Club discussion outside Moscow. I will be interviewing political scientists, military and economy experts from India, South Africa, Indonesia on the sidelines of the main event. Stay tuned! @BolotskySputnik

🇬🇧Rishi Sunak looks set to become Britain's first PM of Indian origin

Former UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has withdrawn from the leadership challenge, according to British media. Johnson took himself out of the race to become the Conservative Party's next leader, despite claiming to have the necessary support. Consequently Rishi Sunak is the frontrunner to become Britain’s first PM of Indian origin.

Johnson defended his decision to withdraw by saying that running as a candidate “would simply not be the right thing to do” as he couldn't “govern effectively unless [he had] a united party in Parliament”.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly supports Rishi Sunak to become the country's prime minister

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Russia's Foreign Intelligence Chief Sergei Naryshkin said: The world should not allow Kiev to have nuclear weapons; Russia is very worried by the rhetoric of the West about the possibility of using nuclear weapons, this is unacceptable

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“We got used to living like this”: Women from Donetsk react to the introduction of martial law in their region

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🇬🇧British bookmakers say that there is a 95 percent probability that the UK's former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, will become the country’s new PM, Sky News has reported.

The campaign aimed at returning Boris Johnson to the post by persuading Sunak and leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt to quit the race (the so-called trading day) has failed, according to the Financial Times. Furthermore Johnson only managed to secure few more than 50 votes from the Conservative Party.

More than half of Conservative MPs are now supporting Rishi Sunak in the leadership race - Sky News

Some 178 Tory MPs are supporting Sunak - more than half of the party's 355 tally

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⚡️ Ukrainian 'dirty bomb' threat is real, up to West whether they want to believe it or not, Kremlin says

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov's latest statements:

▪️Many Russian assets, including gold and foreign exchange reserves, have been illegally stolen by the West.

▪️Macron and Scholz show no desire to listen to Russia. Erdogan has taken a different approach.

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⚡️Air raid alert issued in all regions of Ukraine.

❗️Russian MoD briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️Russian troops repelled all enemy attacks in the Kupyansk direction, destroying more than 25 Ukrainian soldiers, one tank, five armored personnel carriers, and four pickup trucks.

▪️The Russian Army stopped the advance of Ukrainian forces with air strikes, artillery fire, and defending units, eliminating more than 20 Ukrainian servicemen and two infantry fighting vehicles in the Krasny Liman direction.

▪️Russian forces repelled an enemy attack with the use of artillery fire, eliminating 25 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three infantry fighting vehicles, and two vehicles in the Southern Donetsk direction.

▪️Russian artillery strikes eliminated more than 80 Ukrainian servicemen, 11 armored combat vehicles, and 15 vehicles in the Nikolaev-Krivoy Rog direction.

▪️The Russian Army destroyed four Ukrainian command posts, 72 artillery units, as well as Ukrainian manpower and military equipment using operational-tactical and army aviation, missile forces, and artillery in 174 districts.

▪️Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian ammunition depot near the village of Dvurechnaya in the Kharkov region.

▪️Russian air defense systems shot down three UAVs, and 21 HIMARS and Olkha rocket system shells.

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❗️Russia welcomes the transformation of Africa into one of the centers of a multipolar world, says Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.