Wednesday morning news: September 4, 2024

Garland announces charges against Hamas leader » The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas militants.

Attorney General Merrick Garland:

GARLAND: In the early morning hours of October 7th of last year, Hamas, led by these defendants, committed its most violent large-scale terrorist attack to date.

Garland noted the murder over the weekend of six Israeli hostages, including 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

GARLAND: We are investigating Hersh’s murder, and each and every one of the brutal murders of Americans, as acts of terrorism.

The criminal complaint filed in federal court in New York City includes charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, resulting in death.

The impact of the case may be mostly symbolic given that Sinwar is believed to be hiding out in tunnels.

Cease-fire push, protests » Meantime, the State Department says the United States remains committed to achieving a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas to bring peace to Gaza and secure the freedom of the remaining Israeli hostages.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller:

MILLER: Over the coming days, the United States will continue to push for a final agreement. During talks last week, we made progress in dealing with the obstacles that remain.

Many thousands of Israeli demonstrators have flooded the streets, calling for a cease-fire agreement after the bodies of those six Israeli hostages were recovered from a tunnel in Gaza.

Campus protests » Meantime, in New York City …

AUDIO: [Campus protests]

As a new school year begins, protesters are back on the campus of Columbia University, the epicenter of last spring's pro-Palestinian, and often anti-Israeli, campus demonstrations.

Administrators say they're working to deescalate tensions, while circulating new guidance on protests.

Russian attacks in Poltava » In Ukraine, at least 50 people were killed after two Russian ballistic missiles hit an educational facility and a hospital in the city of Poltava.

Pentagon spokesman Gen. Pat Ryder says the United States condemns what he called Russia’s “vicious” attacks on civilian targets …

RYDER: To include on civilian infrastructure as we go into the winter, Russia targeting, uh, infrastructure, energy infrastructure, uh, that will be vital, uh, as it gets colder in Ukraine.

And he said Washington continues to work with allies on further bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses.

Mongolia ignores warrant, rolls out red carpet for Putin » Meanwhile, in Mongolia …

AUDIO: [Mongolia band]

A military band performed while Russia’s Vladimir Putin received a red-carpet welcome Tuesday as the country ignored calls to arrest him on an international warrant for war crimes. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN: Putin’s visit Tuesday was Putin's first to a member country of the International Criminal Court since it issued the warrant in March 2023.

Ahead of his visit, Ukraine urged Mongolia to hand Putin over to the court in The Hague.

But the European Union expressed concern that Mongolia might not execute the warrant.

After decades under communism with close ties to the Soviet Union, Mongolia transitioned to democracy in the 1990s and built new relations with the United States, Japan and others. But the landlocked country remains economically dependent on its two much larger and more powerful neighbors, Russia and China.

For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Conditions 'very fragile' at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia power plant » The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog is renewing warnings about the risk of a serious incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

IAEA Director Rafael Grossi:

GROSSI:  I have very often characterized it as a very, as very fragile with a certain, for some days we have some stability and then the next day there is, uh, uh, an event, uh, an issue, a drone impact.

The warning follows fresh attacks near the site in central Ukraine.

The Zaporizhzhia plant came under Russian control in the wake of Moscow's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Congo prison break » In Africa, at least 129 people are dead after an attempted jailbreak at a prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Officials say authorities shot and killed 24 inmates when they tried to escape, dozens of others died in a stampede.

KALENGA (Lingala): We were asleep and suddenly we heard gunshots from the prison. We were told that the prisoners had broken through the wall and they escaped.

This resident says he was jolted awake in the early morning hours by gunshots.

The prison in the capital of Kinshasa and has been the site of other jailbreaks. Amnesty International says the facility is severely overcrowded.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Swing state politics on Washington Wednesday. Plus, World Tour.

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