Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talk as they attend the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw on Feb 14. | Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images
Even as U.S. officials pressured European allies this week to break with Tehran, there was little indication the Islamist regime is worried about survival.
WARSAW — The Trump administration is warning Iran’s Islamist rulers that, after 40 years, their time in power is almost up. But the Iranian government is betting Trump will be gone first.
Even as top Trump officials traveling in Europe this week threatened to hit Iran with more economic sanctions and pressured allies to break with Tehran, there was little indication that the country’s theocratic regime fears it is in mortal peril.
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In fact, on the same day the Trump administration hosted a conference in Poland unofficially intended to rally global opposition against Tehran, Iran’s president was meeting his Russian and Turkish counterparts, in part to discuss new international financial mechanisms to evade U.S. sanctions.
Meanwhile, in Poland, Trump’s closest aides and a top ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, unfurled unexpected comments that likely left Iran with even more leverage and incentive to run out the clock on the Republican president.
First, Netanyahu set off alarm bells with a tweet suggesting a coming “war” with Iran, undermining the administration’s effort to portray its Poland event as a peace conference. Then, Vice President Mike Pence went off script to demand that the Europeans quit the Iran nuclear deal, a call sure to be dismissed. It also did not go unnoticed that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, called for regime change in Iran at a separate gathering in Warsaw.
The developments come as a flock of Democrats have launched White House bids, a probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign continues to encircle the president and Republicans wonder if Trump will face a primary challenge or even not run again.
“Both sides are waiting and hoping for regime change in one another’s countries, but the clock in Washington is running faster than the clock in Tehran,” said Ali Vaez, an Iran analyst with the International Crisis Group.
For now, Trump’s top advisers are certainly not willing to countenance the possibility that their boss may be a one-term president. Instead, the administration is doubling down on what it calls a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.
But the conference in Warsaw — which faced numerous stumbles, including boycotts by allies and crucial players in the Middle East — cast serious doubt that the pressure campaign would succeed anytime soon.
For much of this week, the administration sought to capitalize on the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brought Islamists to power in Tehran. Trump himself sent out tweets in both Farsi and English slamming the regime.
“40 years of corruption. 40 years of repression. 40 years of terror. The regime in Iran has produced only #40YearsofFailure,” he tweeted on Monday. “The long-suffering Iranian people deserve a much brighter future.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif replied with his own tweet, claiming the U.S. has shown “#40YearsofFailure to accept that Iranians will never return to submission.”
National security adviser John Bolton released a video message attacking Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “You are responsible for terrorizing your own people and terrorizing the world as a whole,” Bolton said. “I don’t think you’ll have many more anniversaries to enjoy.”
But despite its heated rhetoric, the Trump administration still insists it is not seeking to oust the Iranian regime. Instead, it said, the regime must change its behavior.
Such assertions have proven tough to swallow for U.S. allies, especially Britain, France and Germany. The three countries have worked to preserve the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in the months since Trump abandoned it. And on Thursday, Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, flatly rejected the idea of Europeans ditching the deal.
“For us it is a matter of priority to keep implementing it at full,” Mogherini said.
The Europeans have set up an economic mechanism called INSTEX that is designed to allow companies to do business with Iran without violating the U.S. sanctions Trump reimposed on the country after walking away from the nuclear deal. Under the deal, the Obama administration had rolled back economic sanctions in exchange for strict curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.
Pence on Thursday slammed the financial work-around, calling it “an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the E.U. and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.”
Supporters of the nuclear deal say its survival hinges on biding time — and especially on Tehran’s willingness to stick with the agreement, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
One ex-official who helped draft the deal said the Iranian government appears to be calibrating its approach by trying to gauge Trump’s political prospects.
“Iran is driving this in the sense that I think Iran believes that if it looks like Trump is not going to be reelected maybe they should stay where they are, and then resurrect some form of the JCPOA,” the ex-official said. “If it looks like Trump is going to get reelected, then it’s a different ballgame. So I think they are trying to assess what their best posture is.”
As evidence of Iran’s struggle to find the right balance, the ex-official pointed to threats last month by Iran nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi that Iran could enrich uranium up to 20 percent within four days — well above the 3.67 percent enrichment cap set in the JCPOA.
The ex-official said such proclamations were a way for the Iranian government to answer hardliners, including those in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who are insisting their country should just abandon the deal in response to Trump’s withdrawal.
Such threats, the ex-official said, are “a way for them to say to the IRGC, ‘We’re being tough. We’re … not going to get pushed around. We hold all the cards,’ while at the same time, not actually taking action that would abrogate the deal.”
“Right now, the world is mad at the Trump administration, not mad at Iran,” the ex-official added. “If they start doing things that undercut the deal, then Iran becomes the bad guy quite quickly.”
The Trump administration, too, has been trying to strike its own balance.
It is warning the world that Iran — through its sponsorship of terrorism, its human rights violations, its ballistic missile program and its military activity in neighboring countries — is a menace that must be confronted.
But it’s also trying to do so while insisting that Trump made the right move by walking away from what he deemed a terrible nuclear agreement. The latter is an argument that many U.S. allies don’t support.
“For us, the implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran is a matter of European security … and we see it is working,” said Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, who skipped the Warsaw conference. “On other issues, we can work very closely together with the United States.”
Tensions between the U.S. and other countries were on full display throughout the Warsaw conference this week.
The gathering was originally designed to focus on Iran, but after it became clear many U.S. allies might not attend, the Trump administration sought to broaden the agenda to look at security and stability in the Middle East. Even then, many top European officials declined to participate.
Poland, which has been trying to curry favor with Trump for a variety of reasons, was a conference co-host. But the country officially still supports the Iran nuclear deal. Polish diplomats repeatedly had to explain that stance, making for several awkward, tongue-tied moments.
Netanyahu, perhaps America’s most staunch supporter in its anti-Iran campaign, raised eyebrows before leaving for Warsaw when declared “Iran” would be the focus of the event, contradicting U.S. claims. Once at the event, Netanyahu again startled with a tweet saying he looked forward to sitting with Arab leaders to “advance the common interest of war with Iran.” The tweet was later changed to say “combating” Iran, but Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, still lashed out at “Netanyahu’s illusions.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin was hosting a rival gathering with Iran President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, further adding to the sense that U.S. influence in the Middle East is eroding.
At the Russian-hosted event in Sochi, Erdoğan, reportedly said that not only is Turkey willing to join the European’s INSTEX financial vehicle, but it may also create a bilateral mechanism to facilitate trade with Iran.
Rouhani, for his part, tried to turn the tables by criticizing Washington. “While we are taking new steps for boosting stability in the region and fighting terrorism in Syria,” he said in a statement, “some who are sponsoring terrorists are hatching plots against the region in Warsaw.”
The main message out of Sochi, however, seemed to be that these three countries — far more than the Americans — would determine the future of the Middle East.
Back in Warsaw, Trump administration supporters stressed some of the strides made in holding the conference. For one thing, Israel’s leader was in the same space as a number of prominent Arab officials, all of whom have grown weary of Iran’s military assertiveness and other meddling throughout the Middle East.
The conference also gave Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner a venue to discuss his efforts to craft a new peace deal for the Israelis and Palestinians. Kushner told officials that the plan will likely be unveiled after Israeli elections in April.
Toward the end of the conference, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted that more than 60 countries sent representatives to the event.
“No country, no country spoke out and denied any of the basic facts that we all had laid out about Iran — the threat it poses, the nature of the regime. It was unanimous,” he insisted.
The Cook County sheriff’s office is questioning if a hospital violated state law by not immediately reporting that a woman who claimed to be the mother of a newborn had not given birth.
The woman, Clarisa Figueroa, and her daughter, Desiree, were later charged with strangling the baby’s mother, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, and cutting the newborn from her womb.
At a bail hearing last week, prosecutors explained how the 46-year-old Figueroa was examined in a birthing center at Christ Medical Center on April 23 “but showed no signs consistent with a woman who had just delivered a baby.”
A technician at the Oak Lawn hospital cleaned blood from Figueroa’s arms, face and hands, prosecutors said, but it was unclear if anyone verified that she had actually given birth.
Figueroa was allegedly able to pass off the baby as her own for weeks.
It wasn’t until May 9 that a “mandated reporter” — someone required to report suspected neglect or abuse — notified the Department of Child and Family Services about the newborn, DCFS spokesman Jassen Strokosch said. The child was then taken into protective custody.
After a DNA test proved that the baby was actually that of Ochoa-Lopez’s husband, the agency let the 48-hour protective custody lapse, and the baby was turned over to his father, Strokosch said.
Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. | Google Maps
The sheriff’s office has asked DCFS why it was not notified sooner that Clarisa Figueroa claimed to have given birth but showed no signs of it.
On Monday, the sheriff’s office said it will investigate the hospital if it finds the medical center violated the Abuse and Neglected Children Reporting Act.
“We will consult with DCFS and if they determine the facts and circumstances of this tragedy were such that should have been reported by mandated reporters, we will ensure an investigation takes place,” sheriff’s office spokeswoman Cara Smith said in an email.
In a statement, DCFS said it “will provide any support needed to the family in this case and to those handling any investigations into this matter.”
There is currently no law or regulation to ensure a baby belongs to the person presenting the baby at a hospital.
Hospital regulation falls under the purview of The Illinois Department of Public Health and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Strokosch said.
A spokesman for Christ Medical Center said the hospital cannot comment due to patient privacy laws. The hospital is cooperating with local authorities, the spokesperson said.
Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter are being held without bail in the murder of 19-year-old Ochoa-Lopez and cutting the baby out of her womb. The newborn is on life support and not expected to survive.
In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, a soldier walks with his family following a ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, for soldiers from the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry 3rd Brigade, who returned home from deployment in Iraq.
Erich Schlegel/AP
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In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, a soldier walks with his family following a ceremony at Fort Hood, Texas, for soldiers from the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry 3rd Brigade, who returned home from deployment in Iraq.
Among the thousands of responses: harrowing tales of trauma, depression and sexual assault.
In a thread, an Army tweet that preceded the question featured a video by Pfc. Nathan Spencer, a scout with the Army’s First Infantry Division.
In the video, Spencer says, “To serve something greater than myself. The Army’s afforded me the opportunity to do just that, to give to others, to protect the ones I love, and to better myself as a man and a warrior.”
Soon after the U.S. Army tweeted its question, thousands of responses began flooding in. Many people tweeted about the positive impact military service had on their lives, but others posted stories of post-traumatic stress disorder, illness and suicide brought on by experiences ranging from seeing loss of life to sexual assaults in the military.
One man responded, “How did serving impact me? Ask my family.” He wrote of a “Combat Cocktail” which included “PTSD, severe depression, anxiety. Isolation. Suicide attempts. Never ending rage.”
The “Combat Cocktail”: PTSD, severe depression, anxiety. Isolation. Suicide attempts. Never ending rage. It cost me my relationship with my eldest son and my grandson. It cost some of my men so much more. How did serving impact me? Ask my family.
Another person wrote, “After 15 years in I was kicked out after showing obviously signs of PTSD and depression. Now I can’t function in society because of my major depressive disorder. So now what?”
After 15 years in I was kicked out after showing obviously signs of PTSD and depression. Now I can’t function in society because of my major depressive disorder. So now what?
Responses to the U.S. Army’s Twitter post now number more than 11,000.
Many women responded with stories of sexual harassment and assault while serving in the military. One wrote of suffering from depression and anxiety, and said she “still can’t deal well with loud noises. I was assaulted by one of my superiors. When I reported him, with witnesses to corroborate my story, nothing happened to him. Nothing. A year later, he stole a laptop and was then demoted. I’m worth less than a laptop.”
Depression, anxiety, still can’t deal well with loud noises. I was assaulted by one of my superiors. When I reported him, with witnesses to corroborate my story, nothing happened to him. Nothing. A year later, he stole a laptop and was then demoted. I’m worth less than a laptop.
Another response: “My wife and I served in the @USArmy. We spent over 5 years geographically separated from each other. She was sexually assaulted on deployment and kicked out of the army for seeking treatment bc she was then deemed unfit for service. I got out bc her assaulters went unpunished.”
Others wrote of loved ones, friends and relatives who had taken their own lives during or after their service in the military.
My cousin committed suicide while on duty at the armory after coming home from a tour abroad.
One Twitter user wrote, “Some say this thread back-fired but this is just the thread that is needed each memorial day so we remember the sacrifices military members and their families make and how we as a country need to understand the true cost of service and improve our support.”
Some say this thread back-fired but this is just the thread that is needed each memorial day so we remember the sacrifices military members and their families make and how we as a country need to understand the true cost of service and improve our support.
The U.S. Army responded to the outpouring on May 25, tweeting: “To everyone who responded to this thread, thank you for sharing your story. Your stories are real, they matter, and they may help others in similar situations. The Army is committed to the health, safety, and well-being of our Soldiers.”
In a separate tweet, it said: “As we honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice this weekend by remembering their service, we are also mindful of the fact that we have to take care of those who came back home with scars we can’t see.”
To everyone who responded to this thread, thank you for sharing your story. Your stories are real, they matter, and they may help others in similar situations. The Army is committed to the health, safety, and well-being of our Soldiers.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are approximately 20 million veterans in the U.S., and fewer than half receive VA benefits or services. The department says suicide rates among veterans are rising, and in 2016, the suicide rate was 1.5 times greater than for non-veteran adults. A VA report last year found more 6,000 veterans have died by suicide each year from 2008 to 2016.
If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (En Español: 1-888-628-9454; Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
HANOI, Vietnam — For his second summit with President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un opted to go retro — riding the rails like his grandfather decades before.
Kim’s decision to take the train all the way across China was probably prompted at least in part by security considerations— his train is built like a tank and almost as slow. But it also marks a major attempt at showmanship designed to bring back memories of North Korean “eternal president” Kim Il Sung’s many travels by railroad.
Kim Jong Un’s journey aboard his forest green train from Pyongyang to the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang took more than two and a half days. That’s longer than it took Trump to fly halfway around the world, even with Air Force One stopping for fuel along the way.
“Kim Jong Un is already putting on a big show, opting for more than a 60-hour train journey, when he can get to Hanoi in just four hours by flight,” Nam Sung-wook, a former South Korean intelligence official, told Reuters.
For that trip, Kim traveled aboard an Air China Boeing 747, meaning the first images from that history-making arrival showed him disembarking from an American-made plane emblazoned with a Chinese flag.
This time around, when Kim stepped down early Tuesday from his distinctive yellow-trimmed train, he was greeted with a bouquet of flowers on a patterned red carpet lined with a Vietnamese honor guard and the five-pointed communist-starred flags of North Korea and Vietnam. He then switched to a black limousine for the final drive to Hanoi.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Vietnam on Tuesday.Nhac Nguyen / AFP – Getty Images
That’s a much more on-message scene for the North Koreans, who want their home audience to see Kim as the man in charge.
But it’s also familiar on another level.
North Koreans grow up seeing images of Kim’s grandfather traveling by train, which he took to the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, among other places. Kim Il Sung visited Vietnam in 1958 and 1964, though he used a mix of airplanes and trains on those journeys.
A mock-up of a car from the train is on permanent display at the mausoleum where Kim Il Sung and his son, late leader Kim Jong Il, lie in state, along with maps that light up to show the routes he took on his travels.
Inside the car is a desk used by the leaders, along with chairs and a sofa. Guides explain that the carriage was used as a mobile office — proof, they insist, the leaders worked tirelessly for the people.
Kim Jong Un will mimic aspects of his grandfather’s trip to Vietnam by traveling to some of the same locations visited by the elder Kim, two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning told Reuters.
“This is legacy politics,” said Christopher Green, a North Korea expert with the International Crisis Group. “North Korea will want to play up Kim’s succession to the role of his grandfather, who successfully built up North Korea’s international legitimacy after the establishment of the state.”
Kim Jong Il, who was Kim Jong Un’s father, was known to have hated flying and traveled by train on several trips to China. He is said to have fitted his train out to accommodate lavish parties and karaoke sessions.
During his father’s rule, trips abroad were often not reported for days after they were over, if at all.
But that appears to be changing, also suggesting the importance in the minds of the North’s propagandists of getting their own visuals out quickly to the nation.
Kim Jong Un waves from his train before leaving Pyongyang on his way to Vietnam.KCNA via KNS / AP
It took North Korean state media less than half a day from the time his train — which is made up of carriages decked out with pink leather chairs and big-screen televisions — was spotted crossing the border into China to report that Kim was onboard.
Images released by the official Korean Central News Agency showed him inspecting an honor guard in Pyongyang and waving from the train.
Canadian authorities said they commited more resources to search for two teens wanted for three murders.
Officers were swarming a community in the Canadian province of Manitoba on Sunday after a possible sighting of the two teens suspected of at least three murders – including the killings of an American woman and her Australian boyfriend, police said.
Chief Leroy Constant with York Factory First Nation said Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) would be conducting a search for Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky “in our community of York Landing” after a “possible sighting” around a landfill on Sunday night.
Police said Sunday the search for Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky continues. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
About two-and-a-half hours later he added, “Police have deployed multiple resources in the area of York Landing” in an attempt to apprehend the suspects.
Constant said the suspects had not been caught and that RCMP would stay in the area with helicopters, police dogs and emergency response teams “until further notice.”
He said “heavily armored officers” were “conducting ground searches with dogs,” but helicopters and drones were limited because of heavy winds.
“Everyone please remain indoors with your doors locked. And all vehicles should be parked,” Constant advised.
RCMP confirmed its presence in the area tweeting on Sunday evening that multiple police resources were being sent to York Landing “to investigate a tip that the two suspects are possibly in, or near, the community.”
“A heavy police presence can be expected in the area,” the tweet continued.
A source close to the investigation told Fox News on Saturday that McLeod and Schmegelsky may have escaped from the Manitoba town where they were last seen “with someone who is not police friendly.”
The source added that the two may have altered their appearances and offered cash to a driver to leave the area of Gillam, a town of approximately 1,200 people in the north of the province. Gillam is about a four-hour drive from York Landing.
Earlier Sunday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police tweeted that officers had spent the day searching cottages, cabins, waterways, and along the rail line in Gillam for any signs of the suspects. They added that the search of remote areas was being conducted both on the ground and in the air.
The tweet went on to say, “The terrain is immense & varied w/lakes, ponds, muskeg etc.”
Police have been asking “anyone who may have inadvertently provided assistance to the suspects to come forward and contact police.”
Earlier Sunday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said officers were searching cottages, cabins, waterways, and along the rail line for any signs of the suspects. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)
On Friday, police confirmed that a resident of Cold Lake, Alberta, had helped the suspects get their Toyota Rav-4 unstuck from a local trail on July 21. Investigators said the suspects “continued on their way after a short, unremarkable interaction.”
McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18, were wanted in connection with the deaths of American Chynna Deese, 24, her Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler, 23, and Leonard Dyck, 64, of Vancouver, British Columbia.
23-year-old Australian Lucas Fowler, left, and 24-year-old American girlfriend Chynna Deese posing in an undated photo. The couple turned up dead earlier this month. (Deese Family via AP, File)
Deese and Fowler’s bodies turned up July 15 along the side of the Alaska Highway near Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia. Both had been shot to death.
McLeod and Schmegelsky have been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Dyck, whose body was discovered five days after the remains of Deese and Fowler were found.
A possible motive was unclear.
The teens originally were considered missing but were named as suspects in the murders this past Tuesday. On Thursday, the RCMP said the suspects had been spotted in the area of Gillam, over 2,000 miles from where the three bodies were found.
The RCMP said Saturday that officers had started canvassing “every home and building in the Gilliam area.” Assets from the Canadian Armed Forces arrived in Gillam early Saturday to assist with the aerial search, officials added.
Media captionBoris Johnson: “We are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures”
Boris Johnson has unveiled a “conditional plan” to reopen society, allowing people in England to spend more time outdoors from Wednesday.
The PM also said people who could not work from home should return to the workplace – but avoid public transport.
He said a new Covid Alert System with five levels would govern how quickly lockdown restrictions could be eased.
He hoped the next step “at the earliest by 1 June” would be for some primary pupils to return to school in England.
In an address to the nation, Mr Johnson said this stage would also involve reopening shops – but he cautioned this would only happen if supported by science.
The next step could see some hospitality businesses and other public places reopen – “if the numbers support it” – but not earlier than 1 July.
He said these steps formed part of a “first sketch of a roadmap for reopening society”.
The PM added: “This is not the time simply to end the lockdown this week. Instead we are taking the first careful steps to modify our measures.”
Mr Johnson also confirmed that fines for the “small minority who break” lockdown rules will increase.
Further details about England’s lockdown are expected in guidance to be published on Monday.
A government official told the BBC the new guidance will say you can meet one person from outside your own household in a park, if you stay two metres apart.
People will also be allowed to drive to parks and beaches in England as long as they observe social distancing while there, according to the official.
However, there will be no change in the advice for those who are shielding and have been asked to stay at home for at least 12 weeks.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said that, while the coronavirus has started to come under control, the PM’s cautious announcement was “certainly not some kind of dramatic flinging of the doors open”.
Clarifying the conditions in which schools and shops would reopen, Mr Johnson said: “Throughout this period of the next two months we will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity.
“We are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health.
“And I must stress again all of this is conditional, it all depends on a series of big ifs.”
The PM explained how the “R” number – the reproduction rate of the virus – would be crucial in deciding whether lockdown could be eased further.
Experts have said that keeping R below 1 – meaning one person with the virus passes it on to one other person – is the priority.
“It depends on all of us – the entire country – to follow the advice, to observe social distancing, and to keep that R down,” he said.
The PM said those who could not work from home would now be encouraged to return to work – but they should avoid using public transport to get there if possible.
Mr Johnson mentioned construction and manufacturing as examples of the sorts of industries where restarting would now be explicitly encouraged.
Workplaces would receive guidance on how to become “Covid secure”, he added.
He said in addition to being able to leave home as many times as they wish for exercise or to sunbathe in parks, people in England would also be able to drive to other destinations.
The PM also said he was “serving notice” that it would soon be the time to impose a quarantine on people coming into the country by air.
In a joint statement later, Mr Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed quarantine measures would not apply between France and the UK “at this stage”.
‘Trying to pull off the impossible’
The prime minister is effectively trying to pull off the impossible. He wants to try to restart normal life, while keeping the virus at bay with limited means to do so.
With no vaccine, the government is reliant on containing any local outbreaks.
But the problem is that even with the extra testing that has been put in place over the past month, there are big holes in the UK’s ability to suppress the virus. It takes too long to get test results back – several days in some cases – and those most in need of regular testing, such as care home staff for example, are still reporting they cannot always access tests.
Our ability to trace the close contacts of infected people remains unknown – the piloting of the system, which involves the use of an app and army of contact tracers, has just started on the Isle of Wight. It means we are effectively fighting this “invisible killer” with one hand behind our back.
We are not alone in struggling, similar problems are being encountered by other countries. But we are still some way behind the best prepared and equipped, such as Germany and South Korea.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson’s speech lacked “clarity and consensus” and raised “as many questions as it answers”.
He told BBC News that millions of people who cannot work from home were effectively being told to go to work with just 12 hours’ notice – and not to use public transport.
“That’s why I say the statement raises as many questions as it answers,” he said.
Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said he did not understand why the government had changed its messaging at this stage.
“It risks what people have fought so hard for,” he said.
Media captionLabour’s Sir Keir Starmer says PM statement “raises as many questions as answers”
Mr Johnson said in his speech he had consulted “across the political spectrum, across all four nations of the UK” and that his plan was a “a general consensus on what we could do”.
Wales’ health minister Vaughan Gething also said there had not been a “four-nations agreement” on the new “stay alert” message and that the advice to “stay at home” in Wales was unchanged.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have powers over their own lockdown restrictions, with England’s measures set by the government at Westminster. While leaders have expressed a wish to move forward as one, they may do so at different speeds.
Previous guidance published by the government said people could leave home once a day to exercise in England.
Image copyright AFP
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The government has unveiled a new message of “stay alert” in England
A further 269 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths recorded to 31,855.
The number of deaths recorded tends to be lower over the weekend because of reporting delays.
“Mr. Parnas learned from former Ukrainian Prosecutor General Victor Shokin that Nunes had met with Shokin in Vienna last December,” Bondy said.
Shokin was dismissed from his post in 2016 after a pressure campaign from Western leaders, including Biden, over concerns that he was taking insufficient action to tackle corruption.
Nunes is one of the White House’s chief allies on Capitol Hill and emerged as one of the most vocal defenders of President Trump during the impeachment hearing, which he dubbed a “circus.”
Nunes’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
Bondy told CNN that Parnas put Nunes in touch with Ukrainians to help Nunes get damaging information on Biden, one of the president’s chief political rivals.
Giuliani has previously discussed his conversations with Shokin and Parnas as part of his work on behalf of the president. However, Bondy’s discussions with CNN mark the first time Nunes has been implicated in the effort to dig up dirt on Biden.
Parnas and his business partner, Igor Fruman, have been thrust to the heart of the House’s impeachment investigation into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.
Parnas and Fruman were indicted in connection with an alleged campaign finance fraud scheme in which they planned to use a shell company to donate money to a pro-Trump election committee. Parnas has indicated that he will cooperate with the House’s impeachment investigation.
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Shrinking Cuyahoga County lost another 4,514 residents last year, yet – as the population shifted – there was little change in the total population for the seven-county Cleveland-Akron area, estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Cuyahoga, with the ninth largest drop nationally, now is America’s 35th largest county with an estimated 1,243,857 residents. Cuyahoga ranked 33rd a year earlier, before being passed by Travis County, Texas, and Hennepin County, Minnesota.
At the time of the 2010 census, Cuyahoga ranked 29th nationally and first in Ohio with 1,280,122 residents. Cuyahoga is down 36,265 since then, dropping six spots in the national rankings and to second in Ohio behind Franklin County.
Only Wayne County, Michigan, which includes Detroit, has lost more people since the 2010 census, falling by 66,691 to 1,753,893. Last year, the biggest drop was in Cook County (Chicago), which was down 24,009 but remains the nation’s second largest county.
Two firefighters from Cosumnes Fire Department carry water hoses while holding a fire line to keep the Caldor Fire from spreading in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Friday.
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Two firefighters from Cosumnes Fire Department carry water hoses while holding a fire line to keep the Caldor Fire from spreading in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., on Friday.
Jae C. Hong/AP
As California battles wildfires throughout the state, a new crop of suspicious fires that erupted over Labor Day weekend added to an already busy wildfire season.
Officials warned residents in Sonoma County to remain vigilant after more than a dozen fires erupted late Monday.
State Sen. Mike McGuire tweeted at around 10 p.m. local time that several “suspicious” fires started over the course of the evening. Fire engines and emergency personnel gathered in the Healdsburg area, and responded quickly to as many as 15 new blazes, McGuire told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Firefighters were able to stop most of the forward progress on multiple fires in the area overnight, he said. Images and videos shared on Twitter show firefighters battling smoke and flames on glowing hillsides along the side of the road.
Over the weekend, at least three other fires started.
In Amador County, near where the long-burning Caldor Fire is, the Lawrence Fire, that started Sunday engulfed 46 acres by Monday, Cal Fire reports. Roads were briefly closed and some evacuations were carried out by fire officials before the blaze was nearly 90% contained by 6:30 local time on Monday.
Further north, the Bridge Fire was reported Sunday afternoon. By the next day, the fire had burned more than 400 acres, but was 15% contained, allowing evacuation orders and evacuation warnings to be lifted. Officials kept the Auburn State Recreation Area closed, however.
In San Diego County, the Aruba Fire also started Sunday afternoon. Firefighters made quick work of it, however, and by Monday, it was 60% contained.
Crews still battle major blazes
Earlier Monday, officials announced significant progress in battling the Caldor Fire. Some evacuation warnings were lifted around Lake Tahoe as it reached 44% containment. Evacuation orders for South Lake Tahoe were downgraded to evacuation warnings, allowing some residents to return home after a week away.
A sign outside a South Lake Tahoe Fire Station welcomes residents back to town after the lifting of the evacuation order Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. The resort town of some 22,000 was cleared last week due to the Caldor Fire.
Samuel Metz/AP
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A sign outside a South Lake Tahoe Fire Station welcomes residents back to town after the lifting of the evacuation order Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. The resort town of some 22,000 was cleared last week due to the Caldor Fire.
Samuel Metz/AP
The blaze, active for 22 days, has burned 216,358 acres (338 square miles). Cal Fire reports that at least 965 buildings were destroyed in the blaze and another 76 damaged.
About a dozen fires are ongoing in California. So far this year, 7,139 fires burned across the state scorching more than 2 million acres(more than 3,100 square miles). The Dixie Fire can be blamed for much of that damage. The fire has burned more than 900,000 acres since it erupted more than 50 days ago.
At least one firefighter died while battling the blaze, according to officials. Marcus Pacheco, an assistant fire engine operator for Lassen National Forest with 30 years of experience, died on Thursday from an illness.
No other details on Pacheco’s death were provided.
Nationwide, as of Monday, there are 81 large fires or complexes that have burned more than 2.8 million acres in 11 states. Incidents in California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington reported very active fire behavior, with several large fires making significant runs, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Wildfires continue to burn amid high heat and smoke
Heat advisories were issued for several parts of California by the National Weather Servicethrough the rest of the week. Fire risks are expected through Friday due to this stretch of hot, dry weather.
Smoke shrouds parts of Lake Tahoe visible from Ski Run Marina in downtown South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. Officials lifted the evacuation order on Sunday after firefighters successfully stalled the Caldor Fire from entering the resort town but warned residents that wildfires continued to cloak the city in smoke.
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Smoke shrouds parts of Lake Tahoe visible from Ski Run Marina in downtown South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. Officials lifted the evacuation order on Sunday after firefighters successfully stalled the Caldor Fire from entering the resort town but warned residents that wildfires continued to cloak the city in smoke.
Samuel Metz/AP
The heat compounded by the smoke from the wildfires is also creating serious air quality issues.
Air quality officials extended a Spare the Air alert, which is raised when the air is forecast to be unhealthy, through Tuesday for the Bay Area.
“Wildfire smoke combined with high inland temperatures and vehicle exhaust are expected to cause unhealthy smog, or ozone, accumulation in the Bay Area,” according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “Smoke from Northern California wildfires is expected to continue to impact the region creating hazy and smoky skies.”
“Climate change is impacting our region with more frequent wildfires and heat waves leading to poor air quality,” said Veronica Eady, senior deputy executive officer of the Air District. “We can all help by driving less to reduce smog and improve air quality when respiratory health is top of mind for us all.”
The Covington Catholic High School students were criticized for their manic response to the Native drummer, Nathan Phillips, who was participating in the Indigenous Peoples March. One student, Nick Sandmann, stood inches from Phillips with a wide smirk.
Media captionBercow: “We… cannot be conducting a debate as to whether adherence to the law is required.”
John Bercow has vowed “creativity” in Parliament if Boris Johnson ignores a law designed to stop a no-deal Brexit.
The Commons Speaker also said in a speech that the only possible Brexit was one backed by MPs.
A new law, passed before the suspension of Parliament, forces the PM to seek a delay until 31 January 2020, unless a deal or no-deal exit is approved by MPs by 19 October.
The PM has said he would rather be “dead in a ditch” than ask for a delay.
Responding to Mr Bercow’s comments, Tory Brexiter MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said the role of the Speaker had become “irretrievably politicised and radicalised”.
Meanwhile, Downing Street has announced Mr Johnson will travel to Luxembourg on Monday to hold talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and the country’s prime minister Xavier Bettel.
Delivering a lecture in London, Mr Bercow said: “Not obeying the law must surely be a non-starter. Period.”
He said it would be a “terrible example to set to the rest of society”.
“The only form of Brexit which we will have, whenever that might be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed,” he said.
“Surely, in 2019, in modern Britain, in a parliamentary democracy, we – parliamentarians, legislators – cannot in all conscience be conducting a debate as to whether adherence to the law is or isn’t required.”
He called it “astonishing” that “anyone has even entertained the notion”.
If the government comes close to disobeying the law, Mr Bercow said that Parliament “would want to cut off such a possibility and do so forcefully”.
“If that demands additional procedural creativity in order to come to pass, it is a racing certainty that this will happen, and that neither the limitations of the existing rule book nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so,” he added.
Image copyright PA Media
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Boris Johnson has said he would rather ‘die in a ditch’ than seek a further Brexit delay
The new law could force a Brexit delay beyond the current 31 October deadline by requiring the prime minister to request an extension to the UK’s EU membership.
This would be done by making him write to EU leaders to prolong talks under Article 50 – the part of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty which sets out what happens when a country decides that it wants to leave the EU.
The law forcing the PM to seek a delay unless MPs vote for a deal or no deal received royal assent on Monday, the final day that MPs sat in this session.
Parliament was suspended – or prorogued – in the early hours of Tuesday and is not scheduled to return until 14 October.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the government would abide by the law, but would “test to the limit” what it requires of ministers.
Mr Bercow said: “One should no more refuse to request an extension of Article 50 because of what one might regard as the noble end of departing from the EU as soon as possible, than one could possibly excuse robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards.”
Sir Bernard, who chairs the constitutional affairs select committee in Parliament, said the Commons should “adapt itself” to a new role for the Speaker.
He accused Mr Bercow of launching a “personal attack” on the prime minister, insisting this would have been “unthinkable 10 or 15 years ago”.
The current position allows the occupant “unregulated and untrammelled power”, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“It’s a kind of majoritarian dictatorship position,” he added.
Another Leave-voting Conservative MP, Michael Fabricant, said Mr Bercow had brought the office of Speaker into disrepute:
On Thursday, Mr Johnson insisted the UK “will be ready” to leave the EU by the current deadline without an agreement “if we have to”.
In response to the publication of the government’s Yellowhammer document, an assessment of a reasonable worst-case scenario in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Mr Johnson reiterated it was “the worst-case scenario”.
“In reality we will certainly be ready for a no-deal Brexit if we have to do it and I stress again that’s not where we intend to end up,” Mr Johnson said.
Mr Bercow has announced he will stand down as Commons Speaker and MP at the next election or on 31 October, whichever comes first.
The House of Commons has confirmed an election to choose his successor will take place on Monday 4 November.
Media captionJohn Bercow’s most memorable moments as Speaker of the House
‘No reason to be optimistic’
The Speaker’s warning came as the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator told political leaders in the European Parliament on Thursday that he could not say whether contacts with the UK government would result in a deal by mid-October.
Michel Barnier, in a speech to MEPs, suggested that negotiating a new withdrawal agreement remained uncertain despite discussions between Mr Johnson’s team and the EU.
“I cannot tell you objectively whether contacts with the government of Mr Johnson will be able to reach an agreement by mid-October,” he said.
“While we have previously reached an agreement, as far as we can speak, we have no reason to be optimistic.”
He added: “We will see in the coming weeks if the British are able to make concrete proposals in writing that are legally operational.”
Media captionBoris Johnson on Brexit, privacy and his character
Boris Johnson has admitted he would need EU co-operation to avoid a hard Irish border or crippling tariffs on trade in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the favourite to be the next PM said: “It’s not just up to us.”
But he said he did “not believe for a moment” the UK would leave without a deal, although he was willing to do so.
Asked about a row he’d had with his partner, he said it was “simply unfair” to involve “loved ones” in the debate.
Reports of the argument on Friday with his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, dominated headlines over the weekend after the police were called to their address in London.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd told Radio 4’s Today programme she found Mr Johnson’s decision to ignore live TV debates “very odd” and urged him “to reconsider”.
Following days of criticism that he has been avoiding media scrutiny, Mr Johnson has given a number of other interviews, including with LBC and Talk Radio.
He told Talk Radio’s political editor Ross Kempsell he would “not rest” until the UK had left the EU, insisting Brexit would happen on 31 October “come what may… do or die”.
In his interview with BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Johnson said the existing deal negotiated by Theresa May “is dead”.
He insisted it was possible to broker a new deal with the EU before the end of October because the political landscape had changed in the UK and on the continent.
“I think actually that politics has changed so much since 29 March,” he said, referring to the original Brexit deadline.
“I think on both sides of the Channel there’s a really different understanding of what is needed.”
At the moment, the UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October after the PM’s Brexit deal was rejected three times by Parliament, and the EU has previously said the withdrawal agreement reached with the UK cannot be reopened.
Mr Johnson said he would be able to persuade Brussels to resolve the Irish border issue – a key sticking point – despite repeated warnings from EU leaders that that was impossible.
He said there were “abundant, abundant technical fixes” that could be made to avoid border checks.
When challenged that these did not exist yet, Mr Johnson replied: “Well, they do actually, you have in very large measure they do, you have trusted trader schemes, all sorts of schemes that you could put into place.”
But, he admitted, there was “no single magic bullet” to solve the issue.
A plan full of ifs and buts
Mr Johnson’s really controversial gamble is to say he could do a new trade deal with EU leaders before the end of October.
And he says he would be able to do that before resolving the most controversial conundrum – how you fix the dilemma over the Irish border.
He clearly believes he has the political skill to pull that off. He and his supporters would say that is a plan.
But it is a plan that is full of ifs and buts – either heroic or foolhardy assumptions to imagine that EU leaders and Parliament would be ready to back his vision – and back it by Halloween – on an extremely tight deadline.
The political pressure is on, not just to get it done quickly, but done in a way that does not harm our relations with the rest of the world and the livelihoods of people living in this country.
In terms of the controversies over his personal life, it is absolutely clear even now – when he is on the threshold of No 10 – that Boris Johnson thinks there are questions he simply does not have to answer.
And for a politician about whose character many people have their doubts, that is going to follow him around unless and until he is willing to give more.
Mr Johnson said if he was elected he would start new talks as soon as he reached Downing Street to discuss a free trade agreement.
He also said he hoped the EU would be willing to grant a period of time where the status quo was maintained for a deal to be finalised after Brexit.
He called this “an implementation period”, but accepted this was not the same as the implementation period in the current draft treaty agreed with the EU.
Mr Johnson committed to passing new laws as soon as possible in order to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.
The former foreign secretary also suggested EU leaders might change their attitude to renegotiation because they had Brexit Party MEPs they did not want in their Parliament, and wanted to get the £39bn that had been promised as part of the so-called divorce bill.
He also said MPs could be more willing to back a revised deal because they realised both main parties would face “real danger of extinction” if Brexit were to be stalled.
‘Good reason’
Mr Johnson refused again to give more detail of what happened at his home in the early hours of Friday.
He has faced three days of questions over his private life after the row with his partner Carrie Symonds.
“I do not talk about stuff involving my family, my loved ones,” he said.
“And there’s a very good reason for that. That is that, if you do, you drag them into things that really is… not fair on them.”
Instead of his private life, he said the public actually want to know “what is going on with this guy”?
“Does he, when it comes to trust, when it comes to character, all those things, does he deliver what he says he’s going to deliver?”
Despite widespread criticisms from his fellow Conservatives that he cannot be trusted, Mr Johnson said anyone questioning his character was “talking absolute nonsense”.
He also refused to respond to accusations from leadership rival Jeremy Hunt that he was being a “coward” for avoiding more head-to-head TV debates, promising that if elected he would “govern from the centre right” because the centre “is where you win”.
Ms Rudd, who is supporting Mr Hunt, said Mr Johnson was making a mistake by shying away from the debates and said he needed to “go further” in explaining his Brexit plan.
“This is an incredibly difficult situation and Boris needs to explain how he will deal with both sides of the Conservative Party that have concerns and try and break the impasse with the European Union.
“Enthusiasm and optimism is not sufficient.”
Responding to claims that a dozen Tory MPs would be prepared to bring down a government heading to a no-deal Brexit, she said: “I think that’s about right. I think it’s slightly less than that, but it’s certainly more than two.”
Tsai Ing-wen’s victory is a sign that Beijing’s efforts to co-opt Taiwan’s political and commercial institutions instead mobilized a younger, more pro-independence electorate.
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Tsai Ing-wen’s victory is a sign that Beijing’s efforts to co-opt Taiwan’s political and commercial institutions instead mobilized a younger, more pro-independence electorate.
Carl Court/Getty Images
Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, has won a landslide victory in a hotly contested election, dealing a stinging rebuke to Beijing’s efforts to control the island’s democratic government.
“Democratic Taiwan and our democratically elected government will not concede to threats and intimidation,” Tsai declared to thousands of cheering supporters at an election rally outside her party’s campaign headquarters Saturday night. “The results of this election have made that answer crystal clear.”
A record 8.17 million voters cast their ballots for Tsai, according to Taiwan’s election commission, the most ever for a presidential candidate since the island began holding direct presidential elections in 1996.
Tsai’s vote total put her ahead of her opponent, the populist mayor Han Kuo-yu, by almost 20 percentage points in what has become one of the island’s most closely-watched presidential and legislative races in its short democratic history. Tsai’s party, the Democratic Progressive Party, also maintained its majority in Taiwan’s legislature, clearing a path for Tsai to push through a number of educational and health care reforms.
Tsai’s margin of victory — she garnered more than 57% of the popular vote — marked a stunning turnaround. More than half a year ago, she lagged behind the Kuomintang party’s Han in the polls. She staged a comeback in large part by taking an aggressive stance in support of Hong Kong residents protesting Beijing’s rule.
“Young people in Hong Kong have used their lives and shed their blood and tears to show us that ‘one country, two systems’ is not feasible,” Tsai said, referring to Beijing’s system of governance in Hong Kong, at a rally the night before the vote. “Tomorrow, it is the turn of young people of Taiwan to show Hong Kong that the values of democracy and freedom overcomes all difficulties.”
Han, by contrast, had welcomed closer economic ties with Beijing and promised repeatedly at political rallies to “make Taiwan safe,” an implicit criticism that Tsai’s policy toward China might provoke military action.
Han, who entered the race with deep pockets of support among Taiwan’s rural communities, was hurt by a series of rhetorical gaffes and a perceived unwillingness to confront Beijing over protests in Hong Kong in the months before the election.
Tsai’s victory is a sign that Beijing’s efforts to co-opt Taiwan’s political and commercial institutions through a mixture of sticks and carrots has had the opposite effect, mobilizing a younger, more pro-independence electorate to support Tsai.
“Demographics played in Tsai’s favor. Young people identify with Taiwan and the democratic values that Tsai’s platform promised to represent and protect to a greater degree than her competitor,” said Jonathan Sullivan, China program director at the University of Nottingham and a Taiwan studies specialist. “These same demographics ought to worry Beijing, because they only point in one direction, and it’s not unification.”
China has vowed to “reunify” Taiwan ever since the retreating Kuomintang party set up a government-in-exile on the island in 1949, and it considers Taiwan a Chinese province. In the decades since, Beijing has sought to isolate Taiwan, whittling down Taipei’s diplomatic allies. It has also refused to rule out military force against Taiwan for the sake of reunification.
But while China looms in the background of every Taiwanese election, this presidential race turned into an especially heated proxy vote on how Taiwan should engage with China, whose role in suppressing protests in nearby Hong Kong has cast a shadow over Taiwan’s own future.
Beijing had sought to co-opt Taiwan’s in the months leading up to Saturday’s vote. In July, Beijing banned Chinese citizens from traveling to Taiwan on their own, decimating Taiwanese businesses dependent on mainland tourism. China has sailed its new aircraft carrier, the Shandong, weeks ahead of the presidential election and circled Taiwanese airspace with its fighter jets. Taiwanese authorities also suspect Chinese state-backed agents are behind a wave of political disinformation that have plagued both its 2016 legislative election and this year’s presidential race.
On Saturday, Chinese state media published muted reports of Tsai’s win, criticizing her for what they saw as her deliberate antagonizing of Beijing.
“Taiwan’s DPP leader Tsai Ing-wen is expected to sweep a landslide victory in elections, and analysts from Chinese mainland forecast more obstacles in cross-Straits relations after her reelection, leading to some calling for a firm preparation for reunification,” Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times tweeted, just minutes after Tsai officially declared victory.
In her next four years in office, Sullivan said, Tsai will have to delicately balance growing calls for independence among her supporters with Beijing’s more pugnacious approach to cross-Strait relations.
“She will face pressure [from her own party] on one side and Beijing on the other,” said Sullivan. “I expect Beijing to continue to squeeze Taiwan internationally, go after more allies, invest in Taiwanese media, keep up its [political influence] activities and indulge in shows of military might and bellicose rhetoric.”
The perceived urgency of this year’s election spurred some voters to undertake extreme measures. Taiwan does not allow absentee voting, so thousands of Taiwanese living abroad flew back to Taiwan to cast their ballot. Twice the number of Taiwanese living abroad registered to vote this year than the number who did so in the last election.
Among those flying to Taipei specifically for the election: Hong Kong residents.
“We want to thank Taiwan for their support of Hong Kong,” said Gary Chiu, a Hong Konger who took a flight to Taiwan ahead of the vote.
Hong Kongers peppered political rallies in support of Tsai throughout the week, eager to witness direct democracy.
“This is only the country with a Chinese community that enjoy real democracy and real freedom,” said Samantha Lu, another Hong Kong resident who was in Taipei for the vote. “Once you lose your freedom, it’s not easy to get it back.”
An audio recording reveals the tense moments before a British-flagged oil tanker was seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces. AP
An audio recording released Sunday reveals the tense moments before a British-flagged oil tanker was seized by Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces rappelling from helicopters to the ship’s deck.
The Stena Impero tanker “was confiscated by the Revolutionary Guards … for failing to respect international maritime rules,” the guard said after the seizure Friday. Video posted online showed Iranian soldiers in black ski masks sweeping onto the ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
In the audio recording released Sunday by the security risk firm Dryad Global, the voice of an apparent Iranian official warns the tanker’s crew to alter course.
“If you obey, you will be safe,” the voice says. “Alter your course 3-6-0 degrees immediately.”
The voice of a British naval officer patrolling the area then can be heard, warning that the ship had a right to continue undisturbed.
“I reiterate that as you are conducting transit passage in a recognized international strait, under international law your passage must not be impaired, intruded, obstructed or hampered,” the British officer says.
The Iranian voice returns, saying that “No challenge is intended. I want to inspect the ship for security reasons.”
Moments later, however, the ship is boarded by Iranian soldiers and the ship is seized.
Two weeks ago, British marines seized an Iranian tanker off the Southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. That tanker was suspected of breaching sanctions against oil shipments to Syria.
On Friday, Gibraltar’s supreme court ruled that the Iranian tanker could be detained for 30 more days, triggering outrage in Tehran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he spoke with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, who viewed seizure of the Stena Impero as a “tit-for-tat” situation.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Hunt said, adding “Our priority continues to be to find a way to de-escalate the situation.”
Tensions between Iran and the West, particularly the U.S., have been steadily rising since President Donald Trump decided last year to pull out of the nuclear pact between Iran and several global powers. A series of confrontations between Iranian naval vessels and oil tankers in the region have highlighted the importance of unfettered shipping through the energy strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The Revolutionary Guard said the Stena Impero was escorted to Iranian coastal waters in Hormozgan province and its control transferred to the Ports and Maritime Organization for further investigation.
Iran has offered multiple explanations for the seizure. Iranian news agencies claimed the ship struck an Iranian fishing boat. The director of the Ports and Maritime Organization’s office in Hormozgan province said he requested the seizure after reports the ship was moving in a volatile manner that made the vessel prone to accident, Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.
FNA also claimed the British ship had switched off its tracking systems in violation of maritime rules and was making an entry from the south, disregarding the established procedures that require all entries be made through the northern pass.
A statement from Stena Bulk, which owns the seized tanker, said the ship had 23 crew members aboard hailing from India, Russia, Latvia and the Philippines.
Hunt warned Iran of “serious consequences” if it does not release the ship but ruled out “military options.”
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The young Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, his wife, 20-year-old Fawzieh Pahlavi, sister of King Farouk of Egypt, and their 1-year-old daughter, Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, in the Royal Palace at Tehran, Iran, on Dec. 10, 1941. AP
(CNN)With the more dangerous Delta variant of Covid-19 sweeping across the nation, state and health officials continue to warn the public that the pandemic is far from over despite summertime reopenings and optimism.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, John Bonifield, Elizabeth Cohen, Melissa Alonso, Chuck Johnston, Alexandra Meeks and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.
A Facebook posting, released by the House intelligence committee, for a group called “Secured Borders.” It and others like it were created by Russian specialists posing as Americans.
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A Facebook posting, released by the House intelligence committee, for a group called “Secured Borders.” It and others like it were created by Russian specialists posing as Americans.
Jon Elswick/AP
Two new reports produced for Senate investigators say that Russian influence efforts infected every major social media platform, extensively targeted African-Americans and amounted to what researchers called a “propaganda war against American citizens.”
The reports, which were drawn up by private cybersecurity firms on behalf of the Senate intelligence committee, offer the most comprehensive look yet at Russia’s online influence operations.
They are based on information provided by the panel and the social media companies themselves.
The reports confirm the U.S. spy agencies’ overarching conclusions that Russia’s efforts ahead of the 2016 election aimed to sow discord, hurt Hillary Clinton and help Donald Trump.
They also echo a warning that U.S. officials have been making for months: that Moscow’s nefarious online activity did not end on Election Day, but rather continue to target Americans to this day.
The reports offer new details on the activities of the Internet Research Agency, the Kremlin-backed troll farm based in St. Petersburg, Russia, that drove Moscow’s online operations.
That entity and 13 of its employees have been charged as part of Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Strategy to divide
The data in the reports “demonstrates how aggressively Russia sought to divide Americans by race, religion and ideology, and how the IRA actively worked to erode trust in our democratic institutions,” said the committee’s Republican chairman, Richard Burr.
The panel’s top Democrat, Mark Warner, said the reports indicate that “these attacks against our country were much more comprehensive, calculating and widespread than previously revealed.”
One of the reports, compiled by researchers at the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge, says the IRA’s most prolific efforts on Facebook and Instagram targeted African-Americans.
“The degree of integration into authentic black community media was not replicated in the otherwise right-leaning or otherwise left-leaning content,” the report concludes.
The goal, it says, appears to have been on “developing black audiences and recruiting black Americans as assets.”
The New Knowledge report also challenges statements from Facebook by Twitter regarding the IRA’s efforts to suppress voters.
It says the troll farm had a three-pronged approach on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to suppress voters: malicious misdirection, such as “text-to-vote scams;” candidate support redirection, such as voting for a third party; and turnout depression, such as, “stay at home on Election Day, your vote doesn’t matter.”
Instagram was a bigger platform than known
The Internet Research Agency, one of a web of companies allegedly controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has reported ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
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Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
The Internet Research Agency, one of a web of companies allegedly controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has reported ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Dmitri Lovetsky/AP
The new research also points to the previously underappreciated prominence of the IRA’s use of Instagram. It notes that IRA posts on the photo-sharing platform received 187 million engagements, which dwarfed the 76.5 million engagements that IRA posts received on Facebook.
The study also notes that as media coverage in the U.S. zeroed in on the IRA’s operations on Facebook and Twitter, the group shifted much of its activities to Instagram.
“Instagram engagement outperformed Facebook, which may indicate its strength as a tool in image-centric memetic (meme) warfare,” the report says. “Our assessment is that Instagram is likely to be a key battleground on an ongoing basis.”
The second report was drawn up by researchers with the Computational Propaganda Project at Oxford University and the analytical firm Graphika.
It says the IRA’s activities targeting the U.S. began on Twitter in 2013, but quickly expanded to a broader effort that included activities on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, among others.
The IRA’s efforts, the report says, did not stop after it was called out for its interference in the 2016 election. And it notes that spikes in the IRA’s advertising and organic activity match up with important dates in U.S. politics, crises and international events.
Russian influence operatives not only sought to turn up the volume on political controversies online. They also, in some cases, helped organized rallies in the real world at which Americans turned up to protest in person.
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party on Sunday was facing defeat in local elections in the Turkish capital, Ankara, and possibly even Istanbul, its largest city, a result that shook the nation as Mr. Erdogan suffered the first major electoral setback of his decade and a half in power.
The municipal balloting around the country came nine months after national elections that extended Mr. Erdogan’s hold on power. It was closely watched as a barometer of his standing with voters after Turkey’s economy fell into recession and he assumed sweeping new executive powers.
Mr. Erdogan claimed victory over all in the elections, pointing to results that showed his Justice and Development Party 15 points ahead of the opposition Republican People’s Party in districts nationwide.
But for the first time in his political career, Mr. Erdogan was tasting defeat in mayoral races in the center of Turkish political power, Ankara, and maybe even in his hometown, Istanbul, the country’s business center.
Titular del Primer Juzgado de Investigación Preparatoria Nacional comienza audiencia de dictamen. Ahora hace recuento de alegatos de la fiscalía y defensa del imputado.
Juez Concepción Carhuancho: “Juez Concepción: Toledo en Cuarto Poder pedía detalles de cuándo y dónde le pagaron. Pues bien, Barata ha dado todos los detalles.
El magistrado resolvió que el expresidente no tiene arraigo en el Perú. “Alejandro Toledo no tiene arraigo en el país que garantice su sujeción al proceso”, dijo.
El juez Concepción Carhuancho señaló que no tiene los elementos suficientes para pronunciarse sobre el pedido de la defensa para dictar la prescripción de algún delito.
Juez: es creíble que el expresidente #Toledo cometió tráfico de influencias a través de pagos en cuentas de su amigo Josef Maiman
Juez Richard Concepción Carhuancho indicó que a las 6 de la tarde emitirá una resolución sobre el pedido de prisión preventiva.
Benitez: Informe Pari es un doc para investigar, pero no fue aprobado por el Congreso y no sirve de elemento de convicción. @larepublica_pepic.twitter.com/YcTdlS4ndF
Uno de los abogados, el excongresista Heriberto Benítez, afirmó que el fiscal “recién está pidiendo información a Brasil y Palacio de Gobierno para verificar información del colaborador Jorge Barata”.
Por su parte, la defensa de Alejandro Toledo indicó que el pedido de prisión preventiva de la Fiscalia no cumple con las reglas de la Corte Interamericana de DD. HH.
Fiscal: El Sr Toledo dice q colaborara, pero a continuación dice que esto es una venganza. Esta audiencia no es una venganza @larepublica_pe
Añadió que Toledo instruyó a Odebrecht que los pagos sean en empresas offshore vinculadas a Maiman. Tres fueron identificadas en paraísos fiscales.
Para el fiscal Hamilton Castro, el expresidente Alejandro Toledo pactó el tráfico de influencias con Jorge Barata, a través del testaferro Josef Maiman.
La audiencia comenzó a las 10 de la mañana. Desde esa hora, un equipo especial de Fiscalía presenta los argumentos sobre el pedido de prisión preventiva para Alejandro Toledo por el caso Odebrecht.
Información previa
El juez Richard Concepción Carhuancho decidirá este jueves si dicta 18 meses de prisión preventiva para el expresidente Alejandro Toledo.
Se tiene previsto que la audiencia se realice desde las 10 de la mañana en la Sala Penal Nacional, en el Cercado de Lima.
Como se recuerda, la Fiscalía pidió esa medida por la investigación que se le sigue al exmandatario por los 20 millones de dólares que habría recibido en sobornos por parte de Odebrecht.
Toledo estará representado por los abogados Paolo Aldea Quincho y el excongresista Heriberto Benítez. El abogado planteará dos exenciones previas al inicio de la audiencia, mientras que Benítez se opondrá a la prisión preventiva.
En declaraciones a La República, Aldea señaló que planteará la prescripción del delito de tráfico de influencias. Sostiene que es de comisión instantánea y solo se dio en la primera reunión del expresidente con Jorge Barata, en noviembre de 2004.
Si el delito de tráfico de influencias está prescrito y existe otro proceso por lavado de activos, ya no procedería un nuevo proceso de prisión preventiva, pues son los mismos hechos, según el abogado del exmandatario.
Por su parte, la Fiscalía considera que existe el peligro de que Toledo evada las investigaciones, pues se encuentra fuera del país.
Lawmakers are opening the door to reviving immigration negotiations, but a renewed effort to find a deal on border security is facing long odds on Capitol Hill.
But Durbin was noncommittal about the chances that the latest round of talks will break the stalemate between Congress and the administration, which has rejected immigration deals that have emerged from the Senate.
“I can just tell you, this president has broken my heart so many times on immigration,” he told The Hill. “I start with a healthy degree of skepticism that we can do anything substantial.”
Other Democrats involved in the talks described them as “broad,” with no decision yet on the parameters for further negotiations. Lawmakers and the administration are expected to meet again after Congress’s two-week recess.
The path to getting a deal on immigration and border security is fraught with political and policy landmines, with bases in both parties likely to draw hard lines on what they could support in a potential agreement heading into the 2020 election.
Immigration talks have routinely collapsed on Capitol Hill amid deep policy divisions on crucial issues, including an unresolved fight over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a conservative push to cut legal immigration and the perennial battle over Trump’s controversial U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Trump rejected a DACA-border security deal last year that included changes to the State Department’s diversity visa lottery program and family based-immigration policies two days after he told lawmakers that he would “take the heat” by supporting a bill. A separate proposal introduced by a group of Senate centrists last year failed to break a 60-vote filibuster after Trump threatened to veto it.
“Most of the time, the immigration debate is a zero-sum game, and we never quite get there,” he said. “It always ends up breaking your heart.”
Trump is throwing another wild card into the negotiations by lashing out at Democrats even as his administration has reached out to lawmakers. He characterized them as being “treasonous” on border security hours after Mulvaney met with a group of Senate Democrats.
Ramping up the fight Friday, Trump said he is considering sending undocumented immigrants to so-called sanctuary cities, which do not comply with federal immigration law.
“Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only,” Trump wrote in a tweet.
Democrats pounced on Trump’s comments, underscoring the political gap with the White House.
“It can’t all be solved by changing personnel, some of it requires changing the law. That means we have to deal with the Democrats. They’re in the majority in the House,” McConnell said, tipping his hand to the shake-up at DHS that resulted in the department losing several senior officials in the past week.
Republican senators say they are also working to come up with a tightly focused deal that would tackle asylum.
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