LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Merchant ships remained backed up in lanes around the Black Sea on Monday as ports struggled to clear backlogs amid growing unease among insurers and shipping companies a day after a Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo vessel.

Russia said its Vasily Bykov patrol ship on Sunday fired on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection. After an inspection, the vessel continued its journey towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail along the Danube river, Russia said.

ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump and 18 allies were indicted in Georgia on Monday over their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state, with prosecutors using a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power.

15 August 2023; MEMO: Former Israeli army general and ex-senior Mossad agent, Amiram Levin, yesterday said that the Israeli occupation army is a “partner in war crimes”, adding that the situation in the occupied West Bank is “total apartheid”, Kan radio reported.

15 August 2023; MEMO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled his vacation in the Golan Heights yesterday and met with Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.

Israeli Channel 12 reported that Netanyahu summoned Halevi to the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv for issues described as urgent, and postponed his vacation until today. They discussed the army’s readiness for any emergency and how it was affected by the wave of discontent over the judicial overhaul.

ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened her investigation into Donald Trump after the release of a recording of a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger.

Trump suggested during the call that Raffensperger, a Republican and the state’s top elections official, could help “find” the votes needed to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a show of preemptive counterprogramming, President Joe Biden on Tuesday travels to Wisconsin to highlight his economic policies in a state critical to his reelection fortunes, just a week before Republicans descend on Milwaukee for the party’s first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign.

His trip comes on the eve of the anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, major economic legislation that he signed into law with great ceremony — although polls show most people know little about it or what it does.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. payments giant PayPal announced Monday that its senior Intuit executive Alex Chriss will become the new president and CEO, replacing current CEO Dan Schulman.

The members of PayPal's board shared the appointment, effective on Sept. 27, 2023, in a press release.

Chriss joined Intuit 19 years ago. Since January 2019, he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intuit's Small Business and Self-Employed Group.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States, Japan and South Korea are expected to announce plans for expanded military cooperation on ballistic missile defenses and technology development in the face of growing concern about North Korea’s nuclear program when the countries’ leaders gather at Camp David for a summit Friday, according to two senior Biden administration officials.

15 August 2023; MEMO: Qatar Postal has secured a 40 per cent stake in prominent Turkish e-commerce platform, Turkish Souq, Hurriyet daily reports.

According to the report, serving as an international e-commerce hub, Turkish Souq offers consumers high-quality products from leading brands, combining an international shopping experience with competitive pricing.

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — The unprecedented violence shaking Ecuador claimed the life of another political leader Monday, bringing the number of politics-related slayings within the last four weeks to three, including that of a presidential candidate.

The fatal shooting of Pedro Briones, a local leader of Revolución Ciudadana, the party of former President Rafael Correa, was confirmed by Luisa González, the frontrunner in Sunday’s special presidential election and member of the same party.

LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — The number of deaths caused by the Maui wildfires stood at 99 Monday, a figure that is likely to increase as search crews comb neighborhoods where flames moved as fast as a mile a minute.

The blazes that consumed most of the historic town of Lahaina are already the deadliest in the U.S. in more than a century. The cause was under investigation.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Thousands of Bosnians took to the streets on Monday to demand authorities act to curb violence against women after a man last week shot and killed his ex-wife while streaming the slaying live on Instagram.

Protests were held simultaneously in several Bosnian cities. In Sarajevo, the capital, a huge crowd of people walked through the city center to press for more protection for women, curbing of violent media content and control of police work in cases of violence.