Comey wants to help

This week, former FBI director James Comey said that he would like to see an end to what he describes as disorder in the White House amid the impeachment inquiry. Rather than doing what most former intelligence leaders do after their tenure (e.g., think tanks, political commentators, private sector work), Comey promised to spend the next thirteen months working to remove Trump from power.

Comey’s announcement was not well received by everyone since many consider him to be the reason Trump won the 2016 election after he reopened an investigation involving Hillary Clinton, which later went public. Nonetheless, Comey hopes to use his platform on The Washington Post and his touring to end the current administration.

Russia bombs hospitals

Observers have long speculated that Russia systematically bombs hospitals and clinics in Syria in an effort to help Bashar al-Assad win the now 8-year-old civil war. However, this week, previously unpublished Russian Air Force radio recordings, ground spotter logs and witness accounts confirmed Russia’s responsibility in deliberately bombing four Syrian hospitals in May within the span of twelve hours.

Though intentionally attacking a hospital is a war crime, Russia’s position as a permanent member of the U.N.’s Security Council has protected it from severe scrutiny and has made other U.N. agencies reluctant to place blame on Russia’s Air Force for any one of the 266 such attacks since 2015.

Warren challenges Facebook

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren bought a political ad on Facebook that purposefully includes false statements about Mark Zuckerberg and President Trump. Warren described her post as an effort to get the social network to remove misinformation in political ads ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

The ad, which was posted on Thursday and was announced to be “breaking news”, claims that Facebook and Zuckerberg are backing Trump’s re-election campaign. However, neither Zuckerberg nor the company have expressed support in favor of any candidate. The ad ends by admitting its falsity.

On Saturday, Warren tweeted that given Facebook’s history of allowing politicians to run false ads, she wanted to see “just how far it goes.” In the same tweet, Warren said that Zuckerberg should be held accountable for his “disinformation-for-profit machine.”

Mosque attacked

Fifteen people were killed and several others were injured during an attack on a mosque in Burkina Faso while prayers were being held Friday evening. The identities of the gunmen remain unclear.

This year, the Western African country has experienced an influx of Islamist insurgents with links to ISIS and Al-Qaeda from bordering Mali, causing ethnic and religious tensions throughout the state, particularly in the northern regions.

Until recently, Burkina Faso has remained relatively unaffected by the violence in the Sahel region, which has displaced 500,000 people since January in the worst-hit areas.

Earlier this month, twenty people were killed in a gold mine in northern Burkina Faso by suspected jihadists.

Tunisian candidate released from jail

Tunisian presidential candidate Nabil Karoui was released from jail four days before the vote.

Karoui, a top contender and leader of the secular Qalb Tounes, was arrested on Aug. 23 while he was being investigated for money laundering and tax fraud. Karoui has denounced the investigation as a politically motivated attempt to topple his reputation.

To preempt complaints that Karoui did not enjoy equal chances and opportunity in the case that he loses the vote, his opponent Kais Saied, a retired law professor with no party affiliation, has not campaigned since Karoui’s arrest.

Saied, an anti-corruption independent, is projected to win due to the endorsements he received from major political parties whose candidates failed to make it to the final vote. However, it is possible that Karoui’s release might give him enough of a boost in the polls to clinch a victory in this runoff election.