Top 8 today

Top eight stories for today including people living in four Ukrainian regions mostly under the control of Russian troops began voting in annexation referendums; The Supreme Court said Alabama could move forward with the execution of Alan Eugene Miller; The rout on Wall Street continued, and more.

National

Federal Reserve freaks out markets as Wall Street tests new lows

The rout on Wall Street continued this week as the Federal Reserve’s further hawkishness has investors worried the central bank has no plans to back off its rate hikes.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks at a news conference Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, at the Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Supreme Court set to start new term with more opportunities to overturn precedent

The Supreme Court will embark on its new term with public approval at an all-time low and questions of legitimacy dominating headlines. As the country contends with the fallout from blockbuster rulings upending years of precedent, the justices are preparing to put more long-established rulings on the chopping block.

The U.S. Supreme Court on May 16, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

Justice Department gears up for Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy trial

Prosecutors are gearing up for one of the biggest Capitol riot trials yet as five members of the right-wing extremist Oath Keepers group are set to go before a jury next week on seditious conspiracy charges tied to an alleged plan to oppose by force the transfer of presidential power on Jan. 6, 2021.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Regional

Supreme Court allows Alabama to execute inmate after overturning lower court pause

In a divided ruling late Thursday night, the Supreme Court said Alabama could move forward with the execution of Alan Eugene Miller despite a pending legal battle over his method of execution.

A police official escorts Alan Eugene Miller in Pelham, Alabama, on Aug. 5, 1999. (Foto AP/Dave Martin, archivo)

Feds lobby Ninth Circuit to dissolve Mongol Nation Motorcycle Club’s trademark logo

The federal government asked a Ninth Circuit panel on Friday to dissolve the rights of the Mongol Nation Motorcycle Club to enforce their trademark of their logo, typically worn on patches sewn on jackets and vests of their members.

The Mongols motorcycle club's logo adorns clothing and motorcycles at a Los Angeles news conference, Oct. 21, 2008. A federal judge in 2019 fined the Mongols motorcycle club $500,000 in a racketeering and conspiracy case but refused the latest attempt by the government to take away the club's control over its logo. (AP Photo/Ric Francis, File)

International

Russia holds referendums in occupied regions of Ukraine

People living in four Ukrainian regions mostly under the control of Russian troops began voting on Friday in annexation referendums deemed a sham by Western powers and Kyiv.

A serviceman votes in a polling station in Luhansk People's Republic, controlled by Russia-backed separatists, in eastern Ukraine on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. (AP Photo)

Catholics outnumber Protestants for first time in Northern Ireland

Census results released on Thursday in the United Kingdom have revealed that Northern Ireland’s Catholic population now outnumbers the Protestant community for the first time in the country’s 101-year history.

An anti-Brexit sign is affixed to a pole in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2019 outside the Falls Road offices of Sinn Fein, a left-wing political party pushing for a united Ireland. It is one of Northern Ireland's dominant parties and predominantly supported by pro-Irish and Catholic voters. (Cain Burdeau/Courthouse News)

Italy votes and a shocker’s coming: Leader of ‘post-fascist’ party set to win

Italian voters on Sunday are poised to deliver a profound and disorienting shock to the European Union by throwing their support behind Giorgia Meloni, a far-right firebrand who leads a “post-fascist” nationalist party called the Brothers of Italy.

A poster of Italian premier candidate Giorgia Meloni is seen on the side of a bus in Rome on Sept. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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