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NEW YORK, July 31 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged online entrepreneur Richard Heart with illegally raising more than $1 billion in three unregistered cryptocurrency offerings, and defrauding investors out of $12.1 million to buy luxuries including the world's largest black diamond.

In a complaint filed on Monday in Brooklyn federal court, the SEC said Heart, also known as Richard Schueler, touted his Hex token, PulseX asset trading platform and PulseChain asset network on YouTube and other websites as pathways to "grandiose wealth."

UNITED NATIONS, July 30. /TASS/: UNITED NATIONSThe United Nations is against attacks on civilian infrastructure, Deputy Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Farhan Haq told TASS on Sunday.

"We are against all attacks that hit civilian facilities," he said when asked to comment on the latest drone attack on Moscow.

CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) — For a single, unthinkable moment last summer, the Chautauqua Institution was a hostile place for the freedom of expression that has been its hallmark for 150 years: As Salman Rushdie was about to speak, an audience member leapt onto the stage and stabbed the celebrated author more than a dozen times.

NEW YORK (AP) — Chatter on one of Prabha Rao’s WhatsApp groups exploded last week when India announced that it was severely curtailing some rice exports to the rest of the world, triggering worry among the Indian diaspora in the United States that access to a food staple from home might soon be cut off.

As in any crisis situation — think bottled water and toilet paper— some rushed to supermarkets to stock up, stacking carts with bags and bags of rice. In some places, lines formed outside some stores as panic buying ensued.

NEW YORK (AP) — At a moment of growing legal peril, Donald Trump ramped up his calls for his GOP rivals to drop out of the 2024 presidential race as he threatened to go after Republican members of Congress who fail to focus on investigating Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump also urged a halt to Ukrainian military aid until the White House cooperates with congressional investigations into Biden and his family.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ' increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations Security Council relaxed the arms embargo on the Central African Republic, allowing weaponry to flow to government forces, though Bangui still called the decision an “affront.”

The Council said the situation in the country “continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region” and extended the arms embargo — in place since the 2013 civil war — to July 31, 2024.

NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida woman who drained an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor’s life savings by posing as a love interest and then lived lavishly off the $2.8 million she got was sentenced Thursday to over four years in prison.

Peaches Stergo, 36, of Champions Gate, Florida, was described by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos as “unspeakably cruel” and motivated by greed as he announced the sentence in Manhattan federal court.

NEW YORK (AP) — Three men convicted in a post-9/11 terrorism sting have been ordered freed from prison by a judge who deemed their lengthy sentences “unduly harsh and unjust” and decried the FBI’s role in radicalizing them in a plot to blow up New York synagogues and shoot down National Guard planes.

UNITED NATIONS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- In a short statement released by his spokesperson, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday strongly condemned the coup attempt in Niger.

"The secretary-general is following closely the situation in Niger. He condemns in the strongest terms any effort to seize power by force and to undermine democratic governance, peace and stability in Niger," according to the statement.