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For weeks, Spain has rejected repeated U.S. requests for the extradition of former Venezuelan spy chief Hugo Carvajal, wanted in the United States on drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges.

Now, the reasons for Madrid’s refusal are emerging: he is cooperating in Spain’s efforts to mediate Venezuela’s drawn out political crisis.  Spanish court documents say Carvajal was operating under “directions and orders from the Presidency of Venezuela,” and analysts say Spain’s protection of him may be influenced by his importance as an intelligence asset to the Spanish Foreign Intelligence Service, CNI.

The weight of the charges levied by the United States is hefty. The indictment, sent to Voice of America by the Department of Justice, alleges that Carvajal “worked with terrorists and other drug traffickers to dispatch thousands of kilograms of cocaine” to the United States. U.S. Justice department officials say that to accomplish this, he worked with the leadership of the militant Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, during his near decade-long tenure as head of Venezuela’s powerful military counterintelligence service, DGCIM.
 
Carvajal and his alleged shady dealings have long been on the U.S. radar.  In 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury accused Carvajal of assisting the FARC in protecting Colombia’s Arauca Department, a region known as a center of cocaine production, and providing the FARC with official Venezuelan government identification.
 
 FARC used profits from its drug trafficking networks to fund its decades-long insurgency against the Colombian government. The United States designated the FARC as a terrorist group in 1997. 
 
The Department of Justice further alleged that Carvajal was a member of the Cartel De Los Soles. According to the indictment, the cartel is a group of high-ranking Venuezelan officials who not only cooperate with the drug traffickers, but also provide heavily armed security, military grade weapons, and intelligence to protect some of these drug shipments.

After serving under the Nicolas Maduro and Hugo Chavez Venezuelan governments for nearly two decades, Carvajal defected in February. In a direct rebuke to Maduro, he filmed a video expressing support for Juan Guaido as interim president before fleeing the country in dramatic fashion.

Carvajal secured a boat for a night trip to the Dominican Republic, evading the Venezuelan military before boarding a direct flight to Madrid. According to testimony, Spanish intelligence agents escorted Carvajal from the plane and into a four wheel drive vehicle, bypassing immigration and customs inspections. The escort ended at a luxury apartment, rented by his son, where Carvajal resided until his arrest on an Interpol warrant some weeks later.
 
Carvajal’s VIP treatment by Spanish intelligence officials indicates that he is benefiting from his previous cooperation with the Spanish government, say analysts. Court records do not specify how long Carvajal has been in service to the CNI, but his relationship precedes his arrival in Spain. The records show that he collaborated in botched uprisings and negotiations to try and ease current Venezuelan president Maduro out of power.  
 
The Spanish continue to see Carvajal as valuable despite his break with the Maduro government. As a member of the Cartel de los Soles, Carvajal was privy to highly sensitive information on the Venezuelan government’s involvement with drug trafficking. Carvajal claims to have specific information on the group’s money laundering operations, including those of the group’s top officials. What he knows could prove important, as the US Department of Justice believes officials as high in the government as Vice President Tareck El Aissami are involved.

Carvajal’s claim on information, however, may be just that. It is unclear how involved he was with the group’s activities after his tenure as intelligence chief ended, and the information could be too dated to prove useful.
 
Carvajal has escaped U.S. warrants before. In 2011, the Netherlands refused to turn over Carvajal to American authorities after apprehending him in Aruba. The Netherlands freed Carvajal after accepting Venezuela’s claim that the general enjoyed diplomatic immunity as their consul-general appointee for the island.
 
Spain, and the European Union, appear ready to again frustrate any further U.S. efforts to extradite Carvajal. The Spanish government maintains a strong interest in its former colony, with 200,000 dual nationals residing there. Madrid is in the lead role for the EU in mediating the current crisis in Venezuela, and these efforts are taking precedence over U.S. efforts to prosecute former members of the Maduro government.
 

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Spain’s Supreme Court on Monday sentenced 12 prominent former Catalan politicians and activists to lengthy prison terms for their roles in a 2017 bid to take the wealthy region out of Spain and create a new European country.

The landmark ruling, after a four-month trial, inflamed independence supporters in the northeastern region bordering France where Catalan identity is a passionate issue.

Nine of the Catalans on trial in association with their efforts to achieve independence received between nine and 13 years in prison for sedition. Four of them were additionally convicted for misuse of public funds, and three more were fined for disobedience. The Spanish Constitution says the country can’t be divided.

Spain’s caretaker prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said he hoped the sentence would mark a watershed in the long standoff between national authorities in Madrid and separatists in the Catalan capital Barcelona. Sánchez said the court’s verdict proved the 2017 secession attempt had become “a shipwreck.”

He urged people to “set aside extremist positions” and “embark on a new phase” for Catalonia.

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Catalan Separatist Leaders Sentenced up to 9 and 13 years in Prison

Former head of Catalonia’s regional government called the ruling an atrocity

Authorities will respond firmly to any attempt to break the law, Sánchez said in a live television address, as thousands of people joined protest marches in the Catalan capital Barcelona shortly after the court’s verdict. Some protesters held banners saying, “Free political prisoners.”

Grassroots pro-secession groups previously had warned that guilty verdicts would bring what they called “peaceful civil disobedience.” Spanish authorities deployed hundreds of extra police to the region in anticipation of the ruling.

“Today, they have violated all their rights. It is horrible that Europe doesn’t act,” 60-year-old civil servant Beni Saball said at a Barcelona street protest, referring to those convicted.

But retired 73-year-old bank clerk Jordi Casares said he wasn’t surprised by the verdict.

“It is fair because they went outside the law,” he said, walking out of his home on a Barcelona street. “I hope that after a few days of tumult by the separatists the situation can improve.”

Catalan regional president Quim Torra described the verdict as “an act of vengeance.”

“The Spanish state’s refusal to launch a dialogue and seek a democratic solution to the political conflict will not stop us from acting on our determination to build an independent state for our nation,” Torra said in a speech in Barcelona.

In their ruling, the seven Supreme Court judges wrote that what the Catalan leaders presented as a legitimate exercise of the right to decide was in fact “bait” to mobilize citizens and place pressure on the Spanish government to grant a referendum on independence.

Although prosecutors had requested convictions for the more severe crime of rebellion, which under Spanish law implies the use of violence to subvert the constitutional order, judges convicted nine defendants of sedition, implying that they promoted public disorder to subvert the law.

Ex-Catalan regional Vice President Oriol Junqueras was sentenced to 13 years for sedition.

He and three other former Cabinet members — Raül Romeva, Jordi Turull and Dolors Bassa, who were sentenced to 12 years — were also convicted for misuse of public funds.

The former regional parliament speaker, Carme Forcadell, was given 11 ½ years in prison; ex-Cabinet members Joaquim Forn and Josep Rull 10 ½ years each; and grassroots pro-independence activists Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart got nine years.

Three other former members of the Catalan Cabinet — Santiago Vila, Meritxell Borràs y Carles Mundó — were fined for disobedience.

All of them were barred from holding public office.

The trial featured over 500 witnesses, including former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and 50 nationally televised hearings.

At the center of the prosecutors’ case was the Oct. 1, 2017 independence referendum that the Catalan government held even though the country’s highest court had disallowed it.

The “Yes” vote won, but because it was an illegal ballot most voters didn’t turn out and the vote count was considered of dubious value. The Catalan Parliament, however, unilaterally declared independence three weeks later, triggering Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.

Seven separatist leaders allegedly involved in the events, including ousted Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, fled the country and are regarded by Spain as fugitives.

The separatist effort fell flat when it won no international recognition. The Spanish government stepped in and fired the Catalan regional government, with prosecutors later bringing charges.

Defense lawyers argued that the leaders of the secessionist movement were carrying out the will of roughly half of the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia who, opinion polls indicate, would like the region to be a separate country.

The Catalan leaders — jailed for nearly two years while their case was heard — have grown into powerful symbols for the separatists. Many sympathizers wear yellow ribbons pinned to their clothes as a sign of protest.

The verdict will almost certainly become another rallying point for the separatist cause, which is going through its most difficult period in years with its most charismatic leaders behind bars or abroad.

The Catalan separatist movement’s two main political parties disagree on the next moves, and the grassroots organizations that have driven the movement are starting to criticize the lack of political progress.

The verdict also came less than a month before Spain holds a general election on Nov. 10 to choose a new government, and the political handling of the Catalan independence question will undoubtedly be one of the top issues.

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Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on Sunday defended his work in Ukraine and China after calls by President Donald Trump that the two countries investigate his business dealings, pleas that have engulfed Trump in an impeachment inquiry.

The younger Biden, whose father is one of the leading Democratic candidates seeking to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election, said in a statement issued by his lawyer that despite Trump’s accusations of improprieties while he was a board member of the Burisma energy company in Ukraine for five years, no foreign or domestic law enforcement agency has accused him of any wrongdoing.

Hunter Biden left the Burisma board last April and said, without giving an explanation, that he would leave the board of China’s BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company at the end of October.

Published accounts say that he was paid as much as $50,000 a month to serve on the Burisma board, although his Sunday statement did not mention the salary he received. The younger Biden’s lawyer, George Mesires, said the position with the Chinese investment firm was unpaid, but that Hunter Biden two years ago invested $420,000 for a 10% equity stake in the firm, which he still holds, although has not received any return on his investment.

“Hunter undertook these business activities independently,” Mesires said. “He did not believe it appropriate to discuss them with his father, nor did he.”

But Trump in a late July call to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked for “a favor,” that Ukraine investigate the younger Biden’s business activities there and Joe Biden’s efforts while he was President Barack Obama’s second in command to get a Ukrainian prosecutor dismissed, a demand that by numerous accounts did not relate to Burisma’s activities and at the time was supported by other Western countries. Trump subsequently publicly asked China to investigate the younger Biden.

With disclosure of Trump’s demands by an U.S. intelligence community whistleblower, and the White House’s subsequent release of a rough account of the Trump-Zelenskiy call confirming the U.S. leader’s call for a Ukrainian investigation, Democrats in the House of Representatives opened an impeachment inquiry against Trump. The elder Biden says Trump “has convicted himself,” and “should be impeached.”

Mesires said that when Hunter Biden “engaged in his business pursuits, he believed that he was acting appropriately and in good faith. He never anticipated the barrage of false charges against both him and his father by the president of the United States.”

The lawyer said that if Joe Biden is elected president, Hunter Biden “will readily comply” with any White House strictures on “purported conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts,” along with refraining from serving on any boards of foreign companies or working for them.

Until Sunday, the younger Biden had remained silent as Trump called him “a loser” with few business skills and assailed him at a political rally last week for being kicked out of the U.S. Navy Reserve in 2013 for cocaine use.

“Hunter, you know nothing about energy,” Trump said. “You know nothing about China. You know nothing about anything, frankly. Hunter, you’re a loser.”

On Sunday, Trump tweeted, “Where’s Hunter? He has totally disappeared! Now looks like he has raided and scammed even more countries!”

Where’s Hunter? He has totally disappeared! Now looks like he has raided and scammed even more countries! Media is AWOL.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2019

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Seven people were wounded after a mortar attack by al-Shabab militants hit the area around Mogadishu airport on Sunday, Somali witnesses and officials say

The mortars landed on the heavily-guarded Halane area of the airport that houses the African Union and United Nations Mission in Somalia.

Witnesses told VOA Somali that six mortars were fired at the vicinity just after 1pm local time.

The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General for Somalia, James Swan, confirmed that the mortars landed inside the U.N. and AMISOM facilities.

 “I am appalled by this blatant act of terrorism against our personnel, who work together with the Somali people on humanitarian, peace building, and development issues,” Swan said in a statement. “There is no justification for such despicable acts of violence, and the United Nations remains determined to support Somalia on its path to peace, stability and development.”

Al-Shabab uses mobile vehicles that transport mortars from one location to another. The mortars are then dissembled immediately after being fired and hidden in the bush or in a car, according to security sources.

Al-Shabab attacked the same facility with mortars earlier this year injuring two United Nations staff members and a contractor.

The attack on Sunday comes a day before Somalia marks the deadliest terrorist attack in Somalia and in Africa.

October 14 is the second anniversary of the truck bomb in Mogadishu that killed 587 people and injured hundreds of others.

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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan held talks Sunday with leaders in Iran to formally begin a diplomatic offensive he said was aimed at defusing the neighboring country’s escalating tensions with Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Khan told a joint news conference after his “wide-ranging consultations” with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani that his country’s close ties with both Tehran and Riyadh go a long way back and Islamabad will do its utmost to prevent a conflict between the two Islamic countries.  

“We recognize that it’s a complex issue. But we feel that this can be resolved through dialogue,” Khan stressed and announced he plans to travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to further his peace mission.

“I have been very encouraged talking to you Mr. President. I feel encouraged and I go in a very positive frame of mind to Saudi Arabia and we will act as a facilitator. We would like to facilitate talks [between Tehran and Riyadh],” Khan said.

The Pakistani leader noted his country has previously hosted Saudi Arabia and Iran for talks to help them iron out mutual differences and it is ready to do it again.

For his part, Rouhani said he agreed with Khan that regional tensions must be settled through political talks, promising to assist Pakistan in its peacemaking efforts.

“I told Mr. Prime Minister that we openly welcome any goodwill gesture by Pakistan to promote regional  peace and stability,” the Iranian president stressed.

US-Iran tensions

Khan emphasized his peace Middle East mission is “purely a Pakistan initiative”, though he acknowledged the United States also has a role in it. He also has said previously that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has asked him to help mediate tensions with Iran.

“When we were in New York, President Trump spoke to me and he wanted us to facilitate some sort of a dialogue between Iran and the United States… I know there are difficulties but whatever we can do we will be happy to facilitate,” Khan said while referring to his last month’s meeting with Trump on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Rouhani said he discussions with Khan also focused on how Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers could be restored to its previous status and ultimately fully implemented.

Last year, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting the Shi’ite Muslim nation to gradually reduce its stated commitments to limit controversial uranium enrichment operations.

“We emphasized as a key point that the United States should return to the JCPOA and lift the sanctions,” Rouhani said.

Washington and Riyadh blame Tehran for being behind last month’s strikes against key Saudi crude oil processing facilities, which fuelled regional tensions. Iranian officials deny the charges.

Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen, which are fighting a Riyadh-led military coalition, took responsibility for the September 14 attacks.

Rouhani noted he also conveyed his concerns to Khan regarding Friday’s missile attack on one of Iranian oil ships near the port of Jeddah. The Iranian leader said his country  has “clues” and will continue investigations to determine who the culprit is behind the attack before coming up with a “proper response.”

Pakistan’s challenges

Khan met Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei before concluding his one-day official visit to Tehran.

Khan explained Pakistan is promoting peace because it can ill-afford another regional conflict at a time when it is already dealing with security and economic challenges stemming from the 18-year-old war in neighbouring Afghanistan. The Pakistani prime minister has lately also facilitated peace talks between the U.S. and the Taliban to help bring an end to the Afghan war.

Pakistan has traditionally relied on financial assistance and import of oil on deferred payments from Saudi Arabia to support its troubled economy. Pakistani military troops are also stationed on Saudi soil to train local forces. More than 2.5 million of Pakistanis are living and working in the kingdom.

However, with its large Shi’ite minority and a nearly 900-kilometer border with Iran, Pakistan has stayed neutral in Middle East tensions. It declined a Saudi call a few years back to join the military alliance fighting the Houthi insurgents in Yemen.

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Armed men stormed a mosque in the volatile north of Burkina Faso as worshippers were at prayer, killing 16 people and sending residents fleeing, security sources and locals said Saturday.

The attack on the Grand Mosque in the town of Salmossi on Friday evening underscores the difficulties faced by the country in its battle against jihadists.

One source said 13 people died at the scene and three succumbed to their injuries later. Two of the wounded are in critical condition.

“Since this morning, people have started to flee the area,” one resident from the nearby town of Gorom-Gorom said.

He said there was a “climate of panic despite military reinforcements” that were deployed after the deadly attack.

Although hit by jihadist violence, many Burkinabes oppose the presence of foreign troops — notably from former colonial ruler France — on their territory.

Terrorism, foreign military

On Saturday, a crowd of about 1,000 people marched in the capital Ouagadougou “to denounce terrorism and the presence of foreign military bases in Africa.”

“Terrorism has now become an ideal pretext for installing foreign military bases in our country,” said Gabin Korbeogo, one of co-organizers of the march.

“The French, American, Canadian, German and other armies have set foot in our sub-region, saying they want to fight terrorism. But despite this massive presence … the terrorist groups … are growing stronger.”

Jihadists arrive in 2015

Until 2015, the poor West African country Burkina Faso was largely spared violence that hit Mali and then Niger, its neighbors to the north.

But jihadists, some linked to Al-Qaida, others to the so-called Islamic State group, started infiltrating the north, then the east, and then endangered the southern and western borders of the landlocked country.

Combining guerrilla hit-and-run tactics with road mines and suicide bombings, the insurgents have killed nearly 600 people, according to a toll compiled by AFP.

Civil society groups put the number at more than 1,000, with attacks taking place almost daily.

Burkina’s defense and security forces are badly equipped, poorly trained and have shown themselves to be unable to put a halt to the increasing violence.

France has a force of 200 in Burkina Faso but also intervenes frequently as part of its regional Barkhane operation.

Almost 500,000 people have fled their homes because of the violence, according to the U.N. refugee agency, which has warned of a humanitarian crisis affecting 1.5 million people.

Almost 3,000 schools have closed, and the impact on an overwhelmingly rural economy is escalating, disrupting trade and markets.

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Britain remains a long way from agreeing on a final Brexit deal and the next few days will be critical if it is to reach departure terms with the European Union, a Downing Street source said Saturday.

Negotiators for Britain and the EU entered intense talks over the weekend to see if they can break the Brexit impasse before a crucial summit next week and a deadline for Britain to leave the bloc Oct. 31.

News of progress in the talks sent financial markets surging Friday after Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar identified a pathway to a deal following months of acrimony.

But on Saturday the deputy leader of the Northern Irish party that holds a key role in the talks signaled his concern about the mooted proposal and the Downing Street source said Britain remained ready to leave without a deal if needed.

“We’ve always wanted a deal,” the person said, on condition of anonymity. “It is good to see progress, but we will wait to see if this is a genuine breakthrough.

“We are a long way from a final deal and the weekend and next week remain critical to leaving with a deal on Oct. 31. We remain prepared to leave without a deal on Oct. 31,” the source said.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported that Johnson, the face of Britain’s 2016 campaign to leave the EU, was now desperate to secure a deal after security chiefs warned that leaving in a disorderly manner could inflame tensions in Northern Ireland.

Ireland has proved the toughest nut to crack in the Brexit talks, specifically how to prevent the British province of Northern Ireland from becoming a backdoor into the EU’s markets without having border controls.

Ireland fears controls on the 500-km (300-mile) border with Northern Ireland would undermine the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian and political conflict that killed more than 3,600 people.

Johnson is likely to talk to senior EU leaders Monday to reassess the situation, the source said.
 

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Turkey’s military said it captured a key Syrian border town under heavy bombardment Saturday in its most significant gain since an offensive against Kurdish fighters began four days ago, with no sign of relenting despite mounting international criticism.

Turkish troops entered central Ras al-Ayn, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry and a war monitor group. The ministry tweeted: “Ras al-Ayn’s residential center has been taken under control through the successful operations in the east of Euphrates” River. It marked the biggest gain made by Turkey since the invasion began Wednesday.

The continued push by Turkey into Syria comes days after President Donald Trump pulled U.S. forces out of the area, making Turkey’s air and ground offensive possible, and said he wanted to stop getting involved with “endless wars.” Trump’s decision drew swift bipartisan criticism that he was endangering regional stability and risking the lives of Syrian Kurdish allies who brought down the Islamic State group in Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces was the main U.S. ally in the fight and lost 11,000 fighters in the nearly five-year battle against IS.

Turkish troops and allied Syrian opposition fighters have made gains recently capturing several northern villages in fighting and bombardment that left dozens of people killed or wounded. The invasion also has forced nearly 100,000 people to flee their homes amid concerns that IS might take advantage of the chaos and try to rise again after its defeat in Syria earlier this year.

US moral responsibilities

The Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, said the United States should carry out its “moral responsibilities” and close northern Syrian airspace to Turkish warplanes, but that it didn’t want the U.S. to send its soldiers “to the front lines and put their lives in danger.”

During a meeting Saturday in Cairo, the 22-member Arab League condemned what it described as “Turkey’s aggression against Syria” and warned that Ankara will be responsible for the spread of terrorism following its invasion. The league said Arab states might take some measures against Ankara. It called on the U.N. Security Council to force Turkey to stop the offensive.

The Turkish offensive was widely criticized by Syria and some Western countries, which called on Turkey to cease its military operations.

Arms exports curtailed

France’s defense and foreign ministries said Saturday that the country was halting exports of any arms to Turkey that could be used in its offensive.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also announced that Germany would curtail its arms exports to Turkey. Maas told the weekly Bild am Sonntag that “against the background of the Turkish military offensive in northeastern Syria, the government will not issue any new permissions for any weapons that can be used by Turkey in Syria.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey won’t stop until the Syrian Kurdish forces withdraw at least 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the border.

During the capture of Ras al-Ayn’s residential center, an Associated Press journalist across the border heard sporadic clashes as Turkish howitzers struck the town and Turkish jets screeched overhead. Syrian Kurdish forces appeared to be holding out in some areas of the town.

The SDF released two videos said to be from inside Ras al-Ayn, showing fighters saying that it was Saturday and they were still there.

The fighting was ongoing as the Kurdish fighters sought to reverse the Turkish advance into the city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor.

Ras al-Ayn is one of the biggest towns along the border and is in the middle of the area where Turkey plans to set up its safe zone. The ethnically and religiously mixed town with a population of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians and Syriac Christians had been under the control of Kurdish fighters since 2013. IS members tried to enter Ras al-Ayn following their rise in Syria and Iraq in 2014 but failed.

Most of the town’s residents have fled in recent days for fear of the invasion.

Highway targeted

Earlier Saturday, Turkish troops moved to seize control of key highways in northeastern Syria, the Turkish military and the Syrian Observatory said. Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said that Turkey-backed Syrian opposition forces had taken control of the M-4 highway that connects the towns of Manbij and Qamishli. The SDF said that Turkish troops and their Syrian allies reached the highway briefly before being pushed back again.

Kurdish news agencies including Hawar and Rudaw said that Hevreen Khalaf, secretary general of the Future Syria Party, was killed Saturday as she was driving on the M-4 highway. Rudaw’s correspondent blamed Turkish forces for targeting Khalaf’s car, and Hawar blamed “Turkey’s mercenaries.”

The Observatory said six people, including Khalaf, were killed by Turkey-backed opposition fighters on the road that they briefly cut before withdrawing.

The Turkish military aims to clear Syrian border towns of Kurdish fighters’ presence, saying they are a national security threat. Since Wednesday, Turkish troops and Syrian opposition fighters backed by Ankara have been advancing under the cover of airstrikes and artillery shelling.

Thousands displaced

The U.N. estimated the number of displaced at 100,000 since Wednesday, saying that markets, schools and clinics also were closed. Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian crisis, with nearly a half-million people at risk in northeastern Syria.

A civilian wounded in a mortar strike from Syria on Friday in the Turkish border town of Suruc died, Anadolu news agency reported Saturday, bringing the civilian death toll to 18 in Turkey. Turkey’s interior minister said hundreds of mortars, fired from Syria, have landed in Turkish border towns.

The Observatory said 74 Kurdish-led SDF fighters have been killed since Wednesday as well as 49 Syrian opposition fighters backed by Turkey. That’s in addition to 38 civilians on the Syrian side. It added that Turkish troops now control 23 villages in northeastern Syria.

Turkey’s defense ministry said it “neutralized” 459 Syrian Kurdish fighters. The number could not be independently verified. Four Turkish soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the offensive, including two who were killed in Syria’s northwest.

France’s leader warned Trump in a phone call that Turkey’s military action in northern Syria could lead to a resurgence of IS activity. President Emmanuel Macron “reiterated the need to make the Turkish offensive stop immediately,” his office said in a statement Saturday.

A Kurdish police force in northern Syria said a car bomb exploded early Saturday outside a prison where IS members are being held in the northeastern city of Hassakeh. It was not immediately clear if there were any serious injuries or deaths.

Kurdish fighters are holding about 10,000 IS fighters, including some 2,000 foreigners. 

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A heavy downpour and strong winds pounded Tokyo and surrounding areas Saturday as a powerful typhoon forecast as the worst in six decades approached landfall, with streets and train stations deserted and shops shuttered.

Store shelves were bare after people stocked up on water and food. Nearby beaches had not a surfer in sight, only towering dashing waves.

Typhoon Hagibis, closing in from the Pacific, brought heavy rainfall in wide areas of Japan ahead of its landfall, including Shizuoka and Mie prefectures, southwest of Tokyo, as well as Chiba to the north, which had suffered power outages and damaged homes from last month’s typhoon.

Under gloomy skies, a tornado ripped through Chiba Saturday, overturning a car in the city of Ichihara and killing a man inside, city official Tatsuya Sakamaki said. Five people were also injured when the tornado ripped through a house. Their injuries were not life-threatening, Sakamaki said.

The rains caused rivers to swell, flipped anchored boats and whipped up sea waters in a dangerous surge along the coast, flooding some residential neighborhoods and leaving people to wade in ankle-deep waters. Authorities also warned of mudslides, common in mountainous Japan.

Rugby World Cup matches, concerts and other events have been canceled. Flights were grounded and train services halted. Authorities acted quickly, with warnings issued earlier this week, including urging people to stay indoors.

Some residents taped up their apartment windows in case they shattered. TV talk shows showed footage of household items like a slipper bashing through glass when hurled by winds as powerful as the approaching typhoon.

The typhoon that hit the Tokyo region in 1958 left more than 1,200 people dead and a half-million houses flooded.

About 17,000 police and military troops have been called up, standing ready for rescue operations.

Hagibis, which means “speed” in Filipino, was advancing north-northwestward with maximum sustained winds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. It was expected to make landfall near Tokyo later Saturday, unleashing up to 55 millimeters (20 inches) of rains and then blow out to sea eastward.

Evacuation advisories have been issued for risk areas, including Shimoda city, west of Tokyo. Dozens of evacuation centers were opening in coastal towns, and people were resting on gymnasium floors, saying they hoped their homes were still there after the storm passed.

The storm has disrupted this nation’s three-day weekend, which includes Sports Day on Monday. Qualifying for a Formula One auto race in Suzuka was pushed to Sunday. The Defense Ministry cut a three-day annual navy review to a single day on Monday.

All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines grounded most domestic and international flights scheduled Saturday at the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya airports. Central Japan Railway Co. said it will cancel all bullet train service between Tokyo and Osaka except for several early Saturday trains connecting Nagoya and Osaka. Tokyo Disneyland was closed.

Ginza department stores and smaller shops throughout Tokyo shuttered ahead of the typhoon.

Mike Alsop, 57-year-old executive coach from England, was visiting Japan for the World Rugby tournament, but was left stranded at an abandoned Tokyo train station.

“We were hoping to watch England play against France today, disappointed that we won’t be able to but completely understand it,” he said.

…

Edwin Bernard, 73, is no stranger to flames that have frequently menaced his sunburned corner of Los Angeles, but they never arrived as quickly or came as close to his home before.

Fire swept down the hill across the street and spit embers over his home of 30 years, sizzling through dry grass and igniting trees and bushes. He and his wife scrambled to go, leaving behind medication, photo albums and their four cats.

“It was a whole curtain of fire,” Bernard said. “There was fire on all sides. We had to leave.”

Bernard’s home and the cats left inside survived — barely. His backyard was charred.

Bernard and his wife were among some 100,000 residents ordered out of their homes because of a wind-driven wildfire that broke out Thursday evening in the San Fernando Valley. It spread westward through tinder-dry brush in hilly subdivisions on the outskirts of the nation’s second-largest city and was only 13% contained Friday night.

Fire officials said 13 buildings were destroyed, many probably homes. Another 18 were damaged. A middle-aged man who was near the fire went into cardiac arrest and died after apparently trying to fight the fire himself, authorities said.

Those under mandatory evacuation orders packed shelters. On Friday, police allowed some to return to their homes for five minutes to gather precious items.

They won’t be allowed to return permanently until the danger had passed.

“It’s not the fire itself but the danger of wind taking an ember, blowing it someplace, and seeing entire neighborhoods overnight get lit,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Friday.

Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph M. Terrazas said he flew over the fire Friday and saw “hundreds, if not thousands of homes” with charred backyards where firefighters had just managed to halt the flames.

“Be patient with us,” he urged evacuees. “We want to make sure you’re safe.”

About 450 police were deployed in the area, and Police Chief Michel Moore said there would be “no tolerance” for looters.

Smoke belching from the burning chaparral covered some neighborhoods in gray haze. Interstate 5, the main north-to-south corridor in the state, was shut down for much of the day, choking traffic until finally reopening.

The region has been on high alert as notoriously powerful Santa Ana winds brought dry desert air to a desiccated landscape that only needed a spark to erupt. Fire officials have warned that they expect more intense and devastating California wildfires due, in part, to climate change.

By late Friday, the winds had subsided but the National Weather Service still warned of extreme fire danger in some Southern California areas because of very low humidity.

The cause of the Los Angeles blaze wasn’t immediately known, though arson investigators said a witness reported seeing sparks or flames coming from a power line near where the fire is believed to have started, said Peter Sanders, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

A Sylmar man, Robert Delgado, said he saw flames under a high-voltage electrical transmission tower near his home at around the time the fire broke out.

“We had just finished praying the rosary, like we do every night” when his wife looked out a window and saw fire at the bottom of the tower, Delgado told KABC-TV.

“We immediately ran downstairs, went to the backyard, pulled out the hoses,” he said, but the wind-whipped flames moved with terrifying speed.

“There were flames and embers flying over those bushes at the back of our house and over our house,” Delgado said. “I was overwhelmed at the sight.” He called it a miracle that his home survived.

Southern California Edison said it owns the transmission tower shown on KABC-TV, but a spokeswoman would not confirm that was where the fire began. The utility said it could take a long time to determine the cause and origin of the fire.

Jonathan Stahl was driving home to Valencia when he saw the smoke and immediately diverted to a mobile home park in Sylmar where his grandmother and aunt live together.

The park had been nearly wiped out in 2008 when one of the city’s most destructive fires leveled 500 homes.

“Oh my God, it’s coming this way,” his aunt said when Stahl called to alert them and she looked out the window, he said.

Stahl helped his grandmother, Beverly Stahl, 91, who was in her pajamas, and his aunt to pack clothing, medication and take their two dogs. They saw flames in the distance as they drove away.

“We just packed up what we could as fast as we could,” Stahl said at an evacuation center at the Sylmar Recreation Center, massaging his grandmother’s shoulders as she sat in a wheelchair with a Red Cross blanket on her lap. “If we’d stuck around, we would have been in trouble. Real big trouble.”

The Los Angeles fire broke out hours after flaming garbage in a trash truck sparked another blaze when the driver dumped his load to keep the rig from catching fire. But the dry grass quickly ignited and powerful winds blew the flames into a mobile park in Calimesa, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.

Seventy-four buildings were destroyed and 16 others were damaged. Several residents of the park were unaccounted for.

The family of 89-year-old Lois Arvickson feared she died in the blaze that destroyed her home.

Arvickson had called her son to say she was evacuating.

“She said she’s getting her purse and she’s getting out, and the line went dead,” Don Turner said.

He said neighbors saw his mother in her garage as flames approached. They later saw the garage on fire. Her car was still parked in the driveway.

…

Jane Fonda was arrested at the U.S. Capitol Friday while peacefully protesting climate change.

The actress and activist was handcuffed on the east side steps and escorted into a police vehicle. Video of the arrest circulated online.

Fonda was one of 16 people arrested for unlawfully protesting and was charged with “crowding, obstructing or incommoding.” She was released hours later.

On Thursday, the actress vowed to join Friday protests at the Capitol “inspired and emboldened by the incredible movement our youth have created.”

Ira Arlook, of the group Fire Drill Fridays, confirmed that Fonda was arrested at the inaugural demonstration Friday.

Before her arrest, Fonda in a speech called climate change “a collective crisis that demands collective action now.”

…

Editor’s note: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was named Friday as this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. In late May, he gave his first interview to a Western news organization when he spoke to the Voice of America’s Horn of Africa service reporter Eskinder Firew, in Addis Ababa, in Amharic. These highlights from their conversation have been edited for brevity and clarity.

For the past year, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has led Ethiopia through dramatic changes. Entrenched ethnic tensions and complex regional conflicts have posed ongoing challenges to the young leader’s reform agenda, but he remains resolute in his desire to make the most of his time in office. Abiy spoke to VOA’s Eskinder Firew about Ethiopia’s relationship with neighbor Eritrea, judicial reforms and the imprint he hopes to leave.

Eskinder Firew: On the occasion of your first anniversary as prime minister, you said, “I am only planning to elevate Ethiopia to high standards, awaken the public and lift up a country that is hanging its head. I don’t have any other ill intentions other than that.” What did you mean by that?

Abiy Ahmed: I don’t believe that it’s proper to stay in power for long periods of time. And as long as I have power, I believe that I should use that to change people’s lives. But within my efforts working to bring change, there may be errors — but all of my intention and action is aimed at elevating Ethiopia.

My agenda is not to use certain groups. To attack certain groups. Or to push specific groups or oppress people. What I am working on is work that elevates Ethiopians. That’s what I want, and that is what I do.

I can confidently say that I will not be involved in killing people or benefiting by illegal means by taking away from other people’s pockets as long as I am in a position of leadership.

EF: In your message to the government and people of Eritrea on the occasion of Eritrea’s Independence Day, you expressed Ethiopia’s readiness to remain committed to jointly addressing all outstanding issues the countries face. What are these “outstanding issues”?

AA: If we take the problem between Somalia and Kenya, we want Eritrea and South Sudan, along with Ethiopia, to help one another and provide support to solve these issues. We know that any problem between Somalia and Kenya can spill over toward us. Because of this, we would like to work together to solve it.
 
There is a wide-ranging issue as it relates to South Sudan. We don’t think that Ethiopia alone can solve the problem, and the same when it comes to the problem between us and Eritrea.
 
And there are also problems between Eritrea and other countries, too. So this is a region that has a lot of problems. But additionally, this is also a region that wants to move in the direction of integration.

EF: The border closing between the two countries (Eritrea and Ethiopia) has continued until today. What is the situation currently?

AA: When the peace process started between the two sides, we saw the borders were widely opened on both sides. We can say that people were moving to and from — not like foreign countries, but movement similar to what happens within a country. There weren’t strict controls. And many people came from there to here, and from here to there. But that was not the only thing. Ethiopian opposition members who were based in Eritrea returned to Ethiopia, and Eritrean opposition members based in Ethiopia returned to Eritrea.
 
There needs to be a system where there is control and a custom-check system. And we need that capacity so that it would be possible to know what people are bringing in and out. There is a concern that if we leave the borders opened uncontrolled, that it would be difficult to prevent problems. We want to ensure that, if people are going from Ethiopia to Eritrea or from Eritrea to Ethiopia, it has to be for peace, development and tourism.

EF: Regarding change in Ethiopia and legal reforms, some people say that, if the measures taken are enough, we would see the results. But because the measures taken aren’t enough, we see continuation of some things. What’s your response?

AA: Everyone should get equal treatment in the face of the law. It should never be used as a tool for revenge. When we respect the rule of law, it should be in accordance to that. So, when a government takes action, there are some who say that this decision was made by someone from my ethnic group or my community. But unless this thinking is gone or is depleted, it threatens the possibility of protecting the rule of law.

Within just this past year, there are so many people that could be jailed or face detention. Thousands are in prison charged with national security, corruption and displacement, etc. There is no need to put so many people in such a situation, because we want to reduce crime and not add prisoners.

But we still have people undergoing these legal processes through the federal and regional levels. But this is not because we are not taking action, it is because we are in the process of focusing on clamping down on crimes that are serious. On the other hand, if we don’t think that the law doesn’t apply to all equally, we can’t have a sustainable future.

…

Labor rights advocates are warning that an Oct. 1 U.S. ban on imports from a Malaysian rubber glove maker over evidence of forced labor won’t be the country’s last if employers fail to act quickly to mend conditions for long-suffering migrant workers.

Washington announced the ban on the Malaysian firm WRP Asia Pacific along with products from four other countries because of evidence that they were being made with forced labor. Other companies and commodities include a Chinese apparel maker and gems from Zimbabwe’s Marange Diamond Fields.

The importers hit with the U.S. “withhold release orders” can either re-export the shipments that have arrived or prove that they were not made with forced labor to get them through customs.

“Our message here is clear,” Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner in U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade, told reporters in Washington.

“If you are a trading partner that does not abide by and uphold your commitments to end child or forced labor, the U.S. will do what it takes to protect vulnerable workers from exploitation, safeguard American jobs and create a fair and level playing field for companies and countries that do play by the rules.”

Andy Hall, a migrant worker rights specialist, told VOA that forced labor remains “systemic” throughout Malaysia’s manufacturing sector. He said he helped with the U.S. probe of WRP and was told by U.S. authorities that several more Malaysian companies in the rubber glove industry and others, more than a dozen in all, were under investigation for possible withhold release orders.

“They’re investigating so many cases in Malaysia, and the pressure is on,” he said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection told VOA it would respond to a request to confirm that it was investigating other companies in Malaysia but failed to do so by the time of publication.

Drawing on a large natural rubber industry, Malaysia has become the world’s top supplier of medical rubber gloves, meeting more than half of global demand, according to the Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council. The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA) says 65% of what its members make heads to the U.S.

WRP alone exported $79.5 million worth of gloves to the U.S. last year. It is the first company in Southeast Asia to face a withhold release order.

Like much of its manufacturing sector, Malaysia’s rubber glove industry draws heavily on workers from poorer neighboring countries willing to work for lower wages than most locals. The government claims the country hosts 1.7 million such workers, but the International Labor Organization says the true figure, including many in the country illegally, may reach 4 million — nearly a third of Malaysia’s workforce.

Reports of human trafficking and labor abuse among Malaysia’s migrant workers have been rife for years. The Guardian newspaper reported on forced labor-tainted rubber gloves made by WRP and another leading local manufacturer, Top Glove, filling the stockrooms of British public hospitals late last year.

Both companies have denied the allegations.

Hall said some factories have made improvements, returning confiscated passports to migrant workers and abiding by the legal limit on overtime hours. At the same time, the labor rights advocate said he has seen few if any curbs on debt bondage, through which migrants take on crippling loans to land a job — working through agencies, recruiters or others — and become all but enslaved to their employers to pay them off. He said workers from Bangladesh have been hit hardest, paying up to $5,000 for a job in Malaysia and sometimes committing suicide under the pressure.

Hall said the import ban on WRP was meant to put the rest of the industry on notice.

“What WRP will find now is when they negotiate with U.S. authorities to try to lift the ban, the U.S. authorities will be saying to them, ‘But all these workers are in debt bondage, and so the only way that you can get them out of debt bondage and hence out of forced labor is to pay back the money.’ And so once WRP realized that, the message will start going through the industry,” he said.

K. Veeriah, a secretary division secretary for the Malaysian Trade Union Congress in Malaysia’s Penang state, a hub for electronics manufacturers, agreed that debt bondage was still common in factories and that more local companies were at risk of having their exports to the U.S. blocked.

“If they don’t mend their ways, they continue on with this scheme of hiring employees who have to pay huge amounts of money to be recruited and then come here and be caught in this whole vicious circle of debt … I think more employers may have to face the same possibility of a ban,” he said.

WRP and Malaysia’s Human Resources Ministry did not reply to multiple requests for an interview.

In the wake of the U.S. ban, however, Human Resources Minister Murugeson Kulasegaran has proposed adding a chapter on forced labor to Malaysia’s Employment Act to better protect workers, and offered glove makers the government’s help in carrying out social compliance audits to international standards, according to local media.

In a statement reacting to the ban, MARGMA said it took international standards “very seriously” and had a plan to meet them, including a compliance committee and seminars for exporters.

…

French carmaker Renault dismissed its chief executive officer on Friday, overhauling its leadership once again after the jailing of its previous chairman and CEO.

It came days after Nissan, with which Renault shares a deep alliance, named a new CEO, indicating the two companies were intent on cleaning house after a scandal over former chief Carlos Ghosn rattled their upper ranks.

The decision by the board to dismiss Thierry Bollore was effective immediately.

Bollore replaced Ghosn after the former CEO was jailed in Tokyo in last November on charges of falsifying financial reports in under-reporting compensation and breach of trust. Ghosn, who led the Nissan-Renault alliance, is currently awaiting trial and denies wrongdoing.

The company said Bollore will be replaced on an interim basis by current Chief Financial Officer Clotilde Delbos.

Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard will become president during the interim period.

Renault owns 43% of Nissan but their alliance came under strain after Ghosn’s jailing. Renault considered a merger offer from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that would have created the world’s third-largest automaker, but the talks fell apart due to concern over Nissan’s role.

…

Sudan’s ruling council has appointed the country’s first woman chief justice. The appointment is seen as another step forward for female representation in the new transitional government. 

The Sovereign Council has officially confirmed the pick of Neemat Abdullah as chief justice of the country’s judiciary, a first in Sudan and the entire Arab world.

Many in Sudan see the appointment as a major step forward for Sudanese women.

Researcher and politican Nahid Jabrallah, the founder of the Sima center for children, said the appointment of Judge Neemat Abdullah is a victory for Sudanese women and very symbolic of Sudanese women’s participation in the 30-year fight [against Bashir].  It also shows a commitment to women and women’s issues.

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Sudan’s Copts See Hope in Appointment of First Christian

Sudanese Copts who fled Bashir era begin returning with new hopes for equal rights

Abdullah was initially appointed chief justice soon after military leaders and the opposition signed a power-sharing agreement in August.  She was quickly replaced, only to be re-appointed after huge street protests.

The demonstrators demanded an unbiased judiciary, which they think Abdullah can provide based on her background.

She has been a judge in the High Court for years, and has never been a part of a political party, unlike most judges at her level, the majority of whom were loyalists to ousted president Omar al-Bashir.

At the recent U.N. General Assembly, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Amok praised women’s role in the protests that toppled Bashir and ensured there would be civilian representation in the transitional government.  

Four women have been appointed to cabinet positions in the new government, including the country’s first female minister of foreign affairs, Asma Mohamed Abdalla.

Former president Bashir is now on trial for money corruption charges, but many Sudanese believe there will be no real punishment for him or his allies unless Sudan’s judiciary is completely restructured.

…

The Swedish Academy’s decision to bestow the 2018 Nobel Prize in literature on Polish author Olga Tokarczuk has given a rare morale boost to liberal Poles only three days before a national election that is likely to be won by the country’s right-wing populist party.

Tokarczuk, 57, is a literary celebrity in Poland, whose reputation has risen fast in the English-speaking world, particularly after she won the Man Booker International prize in 2018 for her novel “Flights.” She won the Nobel for what the prize committee said was “a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.”

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Polish Author Tokarczuk and Austria’s Handke Win Nobel Literature Prize

The Swedish Academy did not name a winner for the prize last year following accusation of sexual abuse and other wrongdoing by people connected to the academy

But she is not loved by all in her native land.

She has been criticized by Polish conservatives _ and received death threats _ for criticizing aspects of the country’s past, including its episodes of anti-Semitism. Some of her works have celebrated the rich ethnic heritage of Poland, which was a cultural and religious melting pot before the Nazi German genocide during World War II and the postwar resettlement of ethnic populations.

Her very appearance, with a dreadlock style known as a “plica Polonica” or Polish tangle, which has roots in Polish history, makes her stand out as a progressive icon as the country’s leadership seeks to put its conservative mark on the nation.
 
She was photographed recently at a gay pride parade in her hometown of Wroclaw holding small rainbow flags at a time when the ruling Law and Justice party has been depicting the gay rights movement as a mortal threat to Poland’s culture.

Just this week, Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski lashed out during a campaign stop at filmmakers and other cultural elites who he claims have tried to “destroy Poland’s reputation” with their explorations of Polish crimes, including the participation of some in killing Jews during the war. He said under his party, cultural elites will be “no longer working for our enemies.”

“Those who work (for the enemy) are being stigmatized and will be stigmatized further,” Kaczynski said.

Those remarks sparked sharp criticism by some opposition politicians, while others found poetic justice in the world’s most prestigious literary award going to Tokarczuk.

“Olga Tokarczuk is an outstanding representative of the elites hated by Kaczynski,’” said Tomasz Lis, the editor of Newsweek Polska.
 
On Thursday, however, the country’s conservative authorities had only words of praise for Tokarczurk, with Polish President Andrzej Duda calling it a “great day for Polish literature.”

Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, who said recently that he had tried to read her books but just couldn’t finish them, said he would try harder now. And he was happy to claim her accomplishment as one for the Polish nation.

“A Nobel Prize is a clear sign that Polish culture is well appreciated in the world,” Glinski tweeted. “Congratulations!”

European Union leader Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister who is also a critic of the current government, said on Twitter: “What joy and pride!”
 
Speaking Thursday before readers in Bielefeld, Germany, Tokarczuk described her surprise at winning, and had a message for people back in Poland: ‘let’s vote in a right way for democracy,” she said.

Law and Justice is leading opinion polls ahead of the country’s parliamentary election on Sunday, its popularity boosted by generous state spending and an assertive Poland-first foreign policy.

Two Nobel Prizes in literature, one for 2019 and one for last year, were announced Thursday after the 2018 literature award was postponed following sex abuse allegations that had rocked the Swedish Academy. The recipient of this year’s Nobel award for literature was Austrian writer Peter Handke.

…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has denied that his American counterpart, Donald Trump, tried to blackmail him. Claims that Trump requested a corruption investigation into Hunter Biden, son of Democrat Joe Biden – in return for military aid – are the subject of an impeachment inquiry in the United States. Henry Ridgwell has more from Kyiv.

…

A woman who worked at NBC News claimed that Matt Lauer raped her at a hotel while on assignment for the Sochi Olympics, an encounter the former “Today” show host claimed was consensual.

The claim outlined by Brooke Nevils in Ronan Farrow’s book, “Catch and Kill,” puts a name and details behind the event that led to Lauer’s firing by NBC in 2017. It also provoked the first public response from Lauer, who said in a defiant and graphic letter made public by his lawyer that “my silence was a mistake.”

Variety first reported Nevils’ charges after obtaining a copy of Farrow’s book. The Associated Press typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault, unless they step forward publicly as Nevils has done.

Nevils, who was working for Meredith Vieira in Sochi, met her for drinks one night and Lauer joined them. Nevils said she had six shots of vodka and wound up going to Lauer’s room.

“It was nonconsensual in the sense that I was too drunk to consent,” Nevils told Farrow, according to Variety. 

In his letter, Lauer admitted to his extramarital affair with Nevils. He said on that night in Sochi that they consensually performed a variety of sexual acts.

“She was a fully enthusiastic and willing partner,” he wrote. “At no time did she behave in a way that made it appear she was incapable of consent. She seemed to know exactly what she wanted to do.”

Lauer’s defense of his behavior extends beyond his relationship with Nevils. He said he has “never assaulted anyone or forced anyone to have sex. Period.”

He also acknowledges other extramarital encounters, and criticized the women involved for having “abandoned shared responsibility” for the affairs to shield themselves from blame behind false allegations.

“They have avoided having to look at a boyfriend, a husband or a child in the eye and say, `I cheated,”‘ Lauer said. “And I will no longer provide them the shelter of my silence.”

Lauer said the night in Sochi was the first of several sexual encounters he had with Nevils over several months, including one in his dressing room at NBC, which “showed terrible judgment on my part.”

Nevils’ lawyer did not immediately return a message for comment on Lauer’s letter Wednesday.

Eleanor McManus, who co-founded the group Press Forward to support victims of sexual abuse in the news industry, said Lauer’s letter was “unbelievable.

“Lauer’s statement demonstrates not only his lack of remorse, but his lack of understanding of sexual harassment and the (hash)MeToo movement,” said McManus, who said she was harassed by journalist Mark Halperin (who lost jobs at NBC and elsewhere because of these and other accusations). “Nowhere in his letter does Lauer acknowledge the power he yielded as a celebrity and the star of NBC’s highest-rated show. The two people in that hotel room in Sochi did not have equal power.”

Farrow’s publisher, Little, Brown & Co., said that the book has been fact-checked and incorporates the responses of individuals and institutions that were included. When it is published, “readers will understand the full context and impact of Farrow’s work, and the bravery of the sources who entrusted him with their stories.”

NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack sent a memo to his staff on Wednesday, saying that any suggestion that NBC knew of Lauer’s conduct prior to the night before he was fired for “inappropriate sexual conduct” was wrong. There were no claims or allegations of improper conduct by Lauer prior to that, he said, although settlements were reached with two women regarding Lauer after he was fired.

“Matt Lauer’s conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time,” NBC News said in a statement Wednesday.

“That’s why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague.”

Nevils’ story was reported Wednesday on the show Lauer hosted for two decades. His former co-host, Savannah Guthrie, called it shocking and appalling.

“We’re disturbed to our core,” Guthrie said.

Lauer said in his letter that he ended the affair poorly and understands how that must have made Nevils feel.

He said that he hadn’t responded publicly before to allegations in order to spare his family pain, but that now he has their support to address them publicly.

“Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a very private person,” Lauer wrote. “I had no desire to write this, but I had no choice.”

…

The United States has taken custody of two Islamic State prisoners accused of taking part in beheading American journalists in 2014, The Washington Post reports.

The two men were taken from a Kurdish-run prison in northern Syria, where Kurdish forces can no longer guarantee they can keep detaining the prisoners after the Turkish military incursion.

The Post said the two are Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh. They were allegedly part of a quartet of British-born Islamic militants who their hostages dubbed “The Beatles.”

One U.S. official told the Post the two have been taken to Iraq, while another simply said they are in U.S. military custody but would not say where they are.

“The Beatles” were led by an IS militant named Mohammed Emwazi, nicknamed “Jihadi John.”

Emwazi beheaded American journalist James Foley, Israeli American journalist Steven Sotloff and U.S. aid worker Peter Kassig before a TV camera in 2014.

“The Beatles” are also suspected of murdering other Western hostages.

Emwazi was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2015. A fourth “Beatle” is in a Turkish prison.

Kurdish forces captured Kotey and Elsheikh, who have dened taking part in the executions. They told The Washington Post in a prison interview last year that their role was to carry out ransom negotiations.

If the two are brought to the United States for trial, they could be charged as conspirators in hostage-taking resulting in death — a charge that carries a possible death sentence, according to the Post.

President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday the United States has moved what he calls some of the “most dangerous” IS prisoners from Kurdish custody to “different locations where it’s secure.”

But some critics of Trump’s decision to pull U.S. forces out of northern Syria, which has led to a Turkish offensive against the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), could allow thousands of imprisoned IS fighters to flee

“This is like a victory for the ISIS fighters. I think it’s just appalling,” James Foley’s mother, Diane, said, using an acronym for the militant group. “It’s an abdication of our responsibility to ensure safety for our own citizens and allies.”

Trump said the U.S. has tried but failed to convince such European countries as Britain, France and Germany to take back their citizens who joined IS as foreign fighters and have since been captured.

…

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Wednesday announced a cabinet reshuffle, declared three days of national mourning and said those who shot protesters would be punished as he sought to quell anti-government unrest that has roiled Iraq for days.

Authorities fear that violence, which has killed more than 110 people, mostly protesters angry at government corruption, could spiral, leading war-weary Iraq towards more civil strife.

Protests erupted in Baghdad last week and soon spread to southern cities. Abdul Mahdi’s government has sought to address demonstrators’ grievances.

However, a package of reforms announced by the government — including more job opportunities, subsidies and housing — is unlikely to satisfy Iraqis; nor is a cabinet reshuffle, likely to feature many of the same faces despised by protesters as an out-of-touch political elite.

“We will ask parliament to vote tomorrow on changes to ministries,” Abdul Mahdi said at a news conference, adding that the government would be referring the names of hundreds of corrupt officials to the judiciary for investigation.

Abdul Mahdi’s government will seek to weather the storm, however, backed by powerful Iran-aligned armed groups and political factions determined to preserve the status quo.

Internet blackout

Authorities have used an internet blackout, arrests of protesters and targeting of reporters to try to stem further unrest.

At least 110 people have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded in the capital and the south, since the security forces started cracking down on demonstrators. Reuters journalists have witnessed protesters killed and wounded by shots fired by snipers from rooftops into the crowd.

Abdul Mahdi said that the government did not give orders to shoot.

“We gave clear orders not to use live fire but there were still victims of shooting,” Abdul Mahdi said, adding that it was wrong to damage the country.

Crackdown continues 

Much of the unrest has been at night, but on Wednesday morning there were no reports of serious violence overnight.

Authorities on Wednesday reopened the road leading to Baghdad’s Tayaran Square, scene of bloody protests in recent days.

However, the security forces pressed on with their crackdown, arresting protesters after nightfall on Tuesday in eastern and northwestern parts of Baghdad, police sources told Reuters.

Police carried recent photographs of protesters to identify and arrest them, the sources said.

Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights also said about 500 people had been released from the 800 detained last week.

Intermittent access to internet returned on Wednesday morning, and protesters continued to upload video and photos from the demonstrations. The government shut down coverage almost immediately as protests began, according to an order by the prime minister seen by Reuters.

Media offices attacked

The offices of local and international media were attacked last week, and journalists have said they were warned not to cover the protests. With the internet down, there was little coverage of the protests on television.

Ministers met provincial governors, to address grievances across the country, which include crumbling infrastructure, toxic water and high unemployment. But proposed reforms, some of which have been recycled from a package of proposed reforms after protests in 2015, are unlikely to ease public anger.

The unrest shattered nearly two years of relative stability in Iraq, since the defeat of Islamic State in 2017.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the recent violence and urged Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to exercise maximum restraint and address protesters’ grievances, the U.S. State Department said.  

…

A U.S. Secret Service dog that prevented a potential attack on President Barack Obama in the White House in 2014 has been given the rare honor of an Order of Merit from a British charity, the first foreign animal to receive the award.

Hurricane, a Belgian Malinois, was a highly trained member of the Secret Service and had previously been part of a victorious U.S. Canine Olympic team.

In October 2014, when Obama and his family were home at the White House, an intruder scaled the fence and managed to fight off the first canine team deployed to intercept him. Hurricane and his handler, Special Operations Officer Marshall Mirarchi, were the backup team that night.

“The second he got target lock, I sent him,” Mirarchi said. “He weaved through our teammates and took the individual down. Your normal scenario is that’s it, and you go up and get them. This was obviously different.”

The intruder punched, kicked and swung Hurricane through the air.

“You’re not expecting someone to fight a dog back for that long with that much violence,” Mirarchi recalled. “The individual wasn’t responding to any pain for whatever reason. So, I had to sit back and kind of watch Hurricane go to war. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”

Hurricane’s jaws locked on the suspect’s arm, and he eventually forced the man to the ground where he was detained by armed officers. Hurricane was badly injured.

“To see him afterward after that happened, bring him back to the car and have him look at me, like, you can read his mind. It’s like ‘Dad, did I do a good job?’ He doesn’t know he’s protecting the White House. He doesn’t know the president and his family are inside. He’s doing that for me.”

Hurricane received the Order of Merit last week by British animal charity PDSA. Director General Jan McLoughlin said the award is the animal equivalent of royal recognition.

“It’s given for animals who show distinguished service for society, who go above and beyond that level of human and animal companionship — devotion to duty.”

British Airways gave Hurricane VIP treatment during the trip to London, with a limousine ride to the airport and a flat-bed seat next to Mirarchi.

The 10-year-old dog left active duty in 2016 with health problems caused by the attack. He now lives with Mirarchi in first class retirement. 

…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has condemned deadly violence during protests in Iraq and called on the country’s government to “exercise maximum restraint,” the State Department said Tuesday.

In a call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi, Pompeo “condemned the recent violence in Iraq and noted that those who violated human rights should be held accountable,” the department said in a statement.

“The secretary lamented the tragic loss of life over the past few days and urged the Iraqi government to exercise maximum restraint.

“Pompeo reiterated that peaceful public demonstrations are a fundamental element of all democracies, and emphasized that there is no place for violence in demonstrations, either by security forces or protestors.”

Demonstrations in Iraq began with demands for an end to rampant corruption and chronic unemployment but escalated with calls for a complete overhaul of the political system.

They were unprecedented because of their apparent spontaneity and independence in a deeply politicized society, and have also been bloody — with more than 100 people killed and 6,000 wounded in one week. 

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A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday awarded $8 billion in punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson and one if its subsidiaries over a drug the companies made that the plaintiff’s attorneys say is linked to the abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys.

Johnson and Johnson immediately denounced the award after the jury’s decision in the Court of Common pleas, saying it’s “excessive and unfounded” and vowing immediate action to overturn it.

The antipsychotic drug Risperdal is at the center of the lawsuit, with the plaintiff’s attorneys arguing it’s linked to abnormal growth of female breast tissue in boys, an incurable condition known as gynecomastia.

Johnson & Johnson used an organized scheme to make billions of dollars while illegally marketing and promoting the drug, attorneys Tom Kline and Jason Itkin said in a statement.

Kline and Itkin said that Johnson & Johnson was “a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients.” Thousands of lawsuits have been filed over the drug, but the attorneys said this was the first in which a jury decided whether to award punitive damages and came up with an amount.

Johnson & Johnson said in a statement on its website it was confident that the award would be overturned, calling it “grossly disproportionate” with the initial compensatory damage award and “a clear violation of due process.”

Johnson & Johnson said the court’s exclusion of key evidence left it unable to present a meaningful defense, including what they said was a drug label that “clearly and appropriately outlined the risks associated with the medicine” or Risperdal’s benefits for patients with serious mental illness. They also said the plaintiff’s attorneys failed to present any evidence of actual harm.

“This decision is inconsistent with multiple determinations outside of Philadelphia regarding the adequacy of the Risperdal labeling, the medicine’s efficacy, and findings in support of the company,” Johnson & Johnson said. “We will be immediately moving to set aside this excessive and unfounded verdict.”

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The White House announced Sunday that U.S. troops will pull out of northern Syria as Turkey moves forward with a military offensive. The decision has led to condemnations from Congress, clarification from the Pentagon and fear from local allies. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports.

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