Little Rock's first popularly elected Black mayor is in the middle of a tough reelection bid four years after he promised to unite Arkansas' capital.

Federal prosecutors described Zuberi, who reports to prison May 25, as a “mercenary” political donor who gave to anyone he thought could help him. Pay to play, he explained to clients, was just “how America work(s).”Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips for a stiff sentence, calling the scope of Zuberi's scheme unprecedented. AdPhillips noted the sophistication of Zuberi's straw donor scheme and also spoke of the role such campaign finance investigations play in preserving the integrity of American elections. AdThe trove of court documents offered new details about how prosecutors unraveled Zuberi’s scheme and also include photographs of him rubbing shoulders with then-Vice President Biden and other prominent officeholders. Zuberi secretly lobbied the Trump White House and Congress on behalf of the small gas-rich monarchy, which has paid him $9.8 million, prosecutors have alleged in court papers.

MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin is suggesting that he was a key figure in the takeover of Kosovos airport by Russian troops at the end of the 1999 war. The occupation of the Slatina airport outside the capital Pristina produced one of the most tense standoffs between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. And I told him: 'If you consider it appropriate, then do it,' Putin said. Russia, which resented NATOs denial of a peacekeeping sector in Kosovo, sent peacekeeping forces from Bosnia into Kosovo and took control of the airport. Reports later said Jackson claimed such a move could start a third world war.The standoff was resolved when Russian forces were allowed to deploy throughout Kosovo outside of NATOs command.