Police in four countries have smashed an international drug-trafficking ring in which cocaine was smuggled aboard commercial jet flights.

Colombian police say 30 people have been arrested, including the suspected ringleader, Jorge Juan Merlo of Spain. He was arrested in the Colombian city of Cali.

Other suspects were nabbed in Australia, Spain, and the United States. Nearly 800 kilograms of cocaine, $200,000 in cash, and cars and cell phones were also seized.

Authorities say the drug ring was centered in Colombia from which cocaine was flown to other countries hidden in luggage aboard regular passenger jets.

Also Thursday, Spanish authorities say they found nearly six tons of cocaine hidden inside a shipment of bananas. Sixteen people were arrested.

Police also confiscated cash, guns and luxury cars in a raid in the southern port of Malaga.

Spain says Dutch criminals were behind the ring in which cocaine from South America was smuggled aboard ships to Portugal, then trucked to Spain and the Netherlands.
…

Russian State Duma lawmakers on Tuesday passed new legislation that would expand the federal government’s ability to ban foreign nongovernmental organizations accused of meddling in Russian elections. 

The legislation builds on a series of Russian laws that in 2012 began targeting “undesirable” activities, mainly by foreign advocacy groups, nonprofit organizations and news media outlets. The “undesirable” designation bans them from operating inside Russia, with any violation punishable by fines and jail time. 

In 2017, Russia warned nine U.S. government-funded news operations — including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and seven separate regional outlets — that they would probably be designated “foreign agents” under legislation drafted in retaliation against a U.S. demand that Kremlin-supported television station RT register as such in the United States.  

Under Russian law, being declared a foreign agent requires designees to regularly disclose their objectives, full details of finances, funding sources and staffing. 

According to Riga-based online news portal Meduza, Tuesday’s expanded legislation, authored by deputies of all legislative parties, defines election meddling as any activities that “create obstacles to nominating or electing candidates or voting in referenda.” 

“Russian citizens who continue working for these banned groups risk criminal penalties,” Meduza reported. “Currently, Russia has designated 15 undesirable organizations, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation, the Open Russia Civic Movement and the German Marshall Fund.” 

Stephen Nix, Eurasia director for the Washington-headquartered International Republican Institute, said the latest legislation further restricted civil society space and open dialogue in Russia. 

“IRI closed our office in Moscow a few years prior to receiving the ‘undesirable’ designation in 2016, so it did not directly affect our work, since we had already left the country,” Nix told VOA’s Russian service in a prepared statement Wednesday.  

“In recent years, the Kremlin’s practice of issuing these designations has severely undermined the already limited civil society space in Russia,” he added. “This most recent bill is a clear attempt to deflect attention away from the Kremlin’s brazen and malignant interference in elections abroad as part of its campaign to undermine democracies around the world. Now more than ever, it is crucial that democracies speak out against these practices, the chief victims of which are the Russian people.” 

This story originated in VOA’s Russian service.  
…

The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to ban single-use plastic products such as straws, eating utensils and coffee sticks across the European Union.

The measure passed 571 to 53, with 34 abstentions.

If approved by the European Commission — the EU executive — and individual states, the ban would become law in 2021.

Supporters say plastics are a major source of pollution that chokes oceans, litters cities, and can take decades to disintegrate.

Some U.S. cities have moved to ban plastic straws in restaurants after a heartbreaking video of a wildlife rescuer pulling a straw out of a turtle’s bloody nose was posted on the internet earlier this year.

A consortium of European plastics manufacturers called the EU bill “disproportionate” and said banning single-use plastics discourages investment into new ways to recycle.

The EU plastics bill also includes deadlines for reducing or recycling other plastics such as bottles, fishing lines, food wrappers, and cigarette filters.

 
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin is warning of a new arms race if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through with his threat to pull out of a key arms control agreement. 

After talks in Moscow with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Putin said Russia would respond “in kind” if the U.S. deployed intermediate-range missiles in Europe. 

“If they will deliver them to Europe, naturally our response will have to mirror this,” Putin said, adding that the Russian response would be “very quick and effective.” 

He also cautioned that European countries agreeing to host U.S. missiles would put themselves at risk of a Russian attack. 

Meeting in November?

But Putin said he wanted to discuss the issue with Trump if the two meet in Paris next month. Both will be attending ceremonies marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. 

“I don’t understand why we should put Europe in such a grave danger. I see no reason for that. … We are ready to work with our American partners without any hysterics,” Putin said. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday blamed Russia for violating the arms control treaty Trump wants to abandon. But he said he did not foresee a nuclear arms buildup in Europe. 

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987. It bans the United States and Russia from building, testing and stockpiling ground-launched nuclear missiles with a range of 500 to 5,000 kilometers (310 to 3,100 miles). 

Trump has accused Russia of violating the treaty by deploying land-based cruise missiles that pose a threat to NATO. 

Russia denies violating the INF pact and says it is U.S. missile defense systems in Europe and other unprovoked steps that are in violation. 

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, who met with Putin on Tuesday in Moscow, called Russian violations of the treaty “long and deep.” 

“The threat is not America’s INF withdrawal. … The threat is Russian missiles already deployed,” Bolton said.  “The American position is that Russia is in violation. Russia’s position is that they are not in violation. So, one has to ask how to ask the Russians to come back into compliance with something that they don’t think they are violating.” 

But Bolton has implied that the INF deal with Russia might have run its course. He believes bilateral Cold War treaties may not apply to the current global security environment when other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, have also developed missiles.
…

Smugglers and other organized criminals are likely to exploit gaps in border enforcement if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement, a watchdog warned Wednesday, amid a growing chorus of warnings about the disruptive impact of a “no-deal” Brexit.

Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but London and Brussels have not reached an agreement on divorce terms and a smooth transition to a new relationship. The stalemate has heightened fears that the U.K. might leave without a deal in place, leading to chaos at ports and economic turmoil.

The National Audit Office said in a report that political uncertainty and delays in negotiations with the EU have hampered preparations for new border arrangements, and the government is now racing to bolster computer systems, increase staffing and build new infrastructure to track goods.

The office said that 11 of 12 major projects may not be delivered on time or at “acceptable quality,” with those who rely on the border “paying the price.” It added that “organized criminals and others are likely to be quick to exploit any perceived weaknesses or gaps in the enforcement regime.”

“This, combined with the U.K.’s potential loss of access to EU security, law enforcement and criminal justice tools, could create security weaknesses which the government would need to address urgently,” the office’s report said.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reported that Transport Secretary Chris Grayling had raised at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday the idea of chartering ships to bring in food and medicines through alternative ports if new customs checks led to gridlock on the main shipping route between Dover in England and Calais in France.

“We remain confident of reaching an agreement with the EU, but it is only sensible for government and industry to prepare for a range of scenarios,” the Department for Transport said in a statement.

Prime Minister Theresa May said this week that a divorce deal is “95 percent” done, but the two sides still have a “considerable” gap over the issue of the border between the U.K.’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. Britain and the EU agree there must be no barriers that could disrupt businesses and residents on both sides of the border and undermine Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace process. But so far, each side has rejected the other’s solution.

May has attempted to break the impasse by suggesting that a post-Brexit transition period, currently due to end in December 2020, could be extended to give more time for new trade and customs arrangements to be put in place that would eliminate the need for border checks.

EU has said it is open to the proposal, but the idea has infuriated May’s political opponents on both sides of Britain’s Brexit divide.

Pro-Brexit politicians see it as an attempt to bind the country to the bloc indefinitely, while pro-EU politicians say it is a sign of May’s weak bargaining hand and an attempt to stall for time.

On Wednesday, May will try to stem a growing revolt within her Conservative Party over her Brexit blueprint. She’ll address the 1922 Committee, a grouping of backbench Conservative legislators with a key role in deciding who leads the party.

Under Conservative rules, a vote of no-confidence in the leader is triggered if 15 percent of party lawmakers write to the 1922 Committee requesting one. The required number currently stands at 48; only committee chief Graham Brady knows how many have been submitted.

 
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a senior White House envoy on Tuesday as the U.S. affirmed President Donald Trump’s intention to exit a landmark nuclear treaty amid charges of violating the agreement.

US National Security Advisor John Bolton’s meeting with the Russian leader capped two days of talks with senior Kremlin officials aimed at paving the way for the United States’ withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The deal, brokered between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, required the elimination of all short- and intermediate-range land-based nuclear and conventional missiles in Europe — then divided by the world’s two great superpowers.

For now, the U.S. has yet to formally exit the agreement. Yet Bolton left no doubt that the move was imminent.

“The INF is ignored and outmoded,” said Bolton. “It’s a Cold War treaty for a multipolar world.” 

President Trump has justified the withdrawal by pointing to a recent history of Russian transgressions — a charge Moscow has repeatedly levied against Washington. 

“Russia has not, unfortunately, honored the agreement,” said Mr. Trump, in comments at a political rally over the weekend. “So we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out.”

“Until people come to their senses – we have more money than anybody else, by far,” added the American leader. 

Bolton echoed that rationale before reporters again in Moscow. 

“This question of Russian violations is long and deep,” said Bolton, noting that Russian violations had dated back to the Obama administration. 

“The threat is not America’s INF withdrawal from the treaty. The threat is Russian missiles already deployed.”

Arms race 2.0?

From President Putin on down, Kremlin officials have repeatedly warned any new US arms deployments that result from the treaty’s collapse will be met in kind.

Such exchanges have unnerved key European allies — including Germany and France — who fear a return to the days of the Cold War when Europe served as a nuclear sparring ground between the world’s two superpowers.

Other American allies, such as Poland and England, have voiced support for the move. 

Yet behind the US decision: the growing military capabilities of nations not included in the INF — such as China and Iran. 

“One-third to one-half of Chinese missiles today would violate the INF,” argued Bolton. 

“Exactly one country is constrained by the INF treaty: the United States.”

Thou doth protest too much?

In Moscow, debate has centered on whether the Kremlin tacitly achieved its aim — or doom — by prompting the U.S. withdrawal of a treaty in lieu of NATO’s subsequent expansion into Eastern Europe.

“For Russia, it’s beneficial to have in its arsenal a class of nuclear and strategic weapons to combat regional threats without the distraction of the limitations of the strategic arsenal aimed at the USA,” argues independent analyst Vladimir Frolov in the online publication Republic. 

“It’s a big diplomatic accomplishment for Vladimir Putin,” he added. 

“It’s sad to watch,” countered opposition activist Vladimir Milov in a Facebook post. “Trillions and trillions will be thrown to the wind.”

“The decades-old system of global security is being destroyed before our eyes, and will not be easy to resuscitate.” 

Either way, the Kremlin seemed eager to embrace Bolton’s visit — the second in the past 4 months — as a willingness to engage despite ongoing allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections. 

“We barely respond to any of your steps but they keep on coming,” said President Putin, joking to Bolton before cameras at the Kremlin in a reference to U.S.-Russian tit-for-tat sanctions over ongoing allegations of election meddling.

In turn, Bolton argued Russia’s actions had not changed the outcome of the 2016 race. Rather they’d made it all but impossible for progress in U.S.-Russian relations. 

The two sides, noted Bolton, did make progress on reinstating cooperative efforts relative to terrorism, Syria, and North Korea. And, President Trump had accepted Putin’s offer to meet on the sidelines of the upcoming celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the armistice marking the end of World War I in Paris in November. 

But much hinges on how the U.S. views Russian cyber activities ahead of an already charged political season when Americans head to the polls November 6th for midterm elections. 

Depending on how things go, warned Bolton, the U.S. position could change “with a keystroke.” 
…

Saudi Arabia has detained 18 people and dismissed five senior government officials as part of an investigation into the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi policies, disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 to obtain documents for his marriage.

Saudi Arabia initially denied knowledge of his fate. Then, on Saturday, its public prosecutor said he had been killed in a fight in the consulate, an explanation that has drawn international scepticism.

Turkish security sources say that when Khashoggi entered the consulate, he was seized by 15 Saudi intelligence operatives who had flown in on two jets just hours before.

A senior Saudi official confirmed to Reuters they were among the 18 Saudis detained, along with three local suspects.

Most of the 15 worked in the Saudi military or security and intelligence services, including at the royal court, according to Saudi and Turkish officials and several sources with ties to the royal court.

Turkey’s pro-government Sabah newspaper published what it said were photographs of the men taken from surveillance footage at the airport, two hotels they briefly checked into, the consulate and the consul’s residence.

The following profiles of some of those detained or dismissed are based on those photographs, Saudi media reports and information from Saudi officials and sources.

Saud al-Qahtani

Saud al-Qahtani, 40, seen as the right-hand man to Prince Mohammed, was removed as a royal court adviser and is the highest-profile figure implicated in the incident.

Qahtani entered the royal court under the late King Abdullah. He rose to prominence as a confidante in Prince Mohammed’s secretive inner circle. He regularly spoke on behalf of the crown prince, known as MbS, and has given direct orders to senior officials including in the security apparatus, the sources with ties to the royal court said.

Tasked with countering alleged Qatari influence on social media, Qahtani used Twitter to attack criticism of the kingdom in general and Prince Mohammed in particular. He also used Twitter to attack critics and ran a WhatsApp group with local newspaper editors, dictating the royal court line.

Qahtani had tried to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia after he moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, according to people close to the journalist and the government.

In an August 2017 Twitter thread asking his 1.35 million followers to flag accounts for a black list for monitoring, Qahtani wrote: “Do you think I make decisions without guidance? I am an employee and a faithful executor of the orders of my lord the king and my lord the faithful crown prince.”

The senior Saudi official said Qahtani had authorized one of his subordinates, Maher Mutreb, to conduct what he said was meant to be a negotiation for Khashoggi’s return to the kingdom.

Qahtani also supplied Mutreb with unspecified information based on his earlier conversations with Khashoggi, the official said. Qahtani did not respond to questions from Reuters. Reuters was not able to reach Mutreb for comment.

Maher Mutreb

General Maher Mutreb, an aide to Qahtani for information security, was the lead negotiator inside the consulate, according to the senior Saudi official. He is a senior intelligence officer and part of Prince Mohammed’s security team. He appeared in photographs with the crown prince on official visits this year to the United States and Europe.

According to the Saudi official, Mutreb was selected for the Istanbul operation because he already knew Khashoggi from their time working together at the Saudi embassy in London.

“He knew Jamal very well and he was the best one to convince him to return,” the official said.

Mutreb received Khashoggi at the Saudi consul’s office around 1:25 pm. He began urging him to come home and claimed he was wanted by Interpol, the official said.

The official said Khashoggi told Mutreb he was violating diplomatic norms and asked whether Mutreb planned to kidnap him. Mutreb said yes, the official said, in an apparent attempt to intimidate Khashoggi.

Sabah newspaper published stills from surveillance cameras that appear to show Mutreb entering the consulate three hours before Khashoggi, and later outside the consul’s residence.

Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that Mutreb served as a first secretary for a period including 2007.

Salah Tubaigy

Salah Tubaigy is a forensic expert at the Saudi Ministry of Interior’s criminal evidence department, according to a biography posted online by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties.

In the Istanbul operation, he was supposed to remove evidence such as fingerprints or proof of the use of force, according to the Saudi official.

Tubaigy spent three months in 2015 at Australia’s Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine to observe death investigation procedures and learn about the use of CT scanning for mass fatality incidents, director Noel Woodford told Reuters.

Photographs from the institute’s 2015 annual report, which resemble the suspect named by Turkish media, show Tubaigy wearing medical scrubs, a smock and rubber gloves in a laboratory setting, and separately chatting with colleagues.

Tubaigy did not respond to an email sent by Reuters.

The Saudi Society of Forensic Medicine lists him as a board member. He earned a master’s degree in forensic medicine from the University of Glasgow in 2004, the biography shows. A university spokeswoman declined to comment.

Tubaigy is 47 years old, according to a passport copy provided to U.S. media by Turkish officials.

Ahmed al-Asiri

Ahmed al-Asiri, former deputy head of General Intelligence, was among those sacked by King Salman. He joined the military in 2002, according to Saudi media reports, and was spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition which intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015.

Asiri was named deputy chief of foreign intelligence by royal decree in April 2017.

Reuters was unable to reach Asiri for comment.

Moustafa al-Madani 

Moustafa al-Madani led the intelligence efforts for the 15-man team in Istanbul, the senior Saudi official said.

According to that official, Madani donned Khashoggi’s clothes, eyeglasses and Apple watch and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to make it look like the journalist had walked out of the building.

Madani is a government employee who studied at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, according to a Facebook profile with photographs resembling the suspect identified by Turkish media.

Reuters was unable to reach Madani for comment. University officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Meshal Saad Albostani 

Meshal Saad Albostani is lieutenant in the Saudi Air Force from the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, according to a Facebook profile with multiple photographs resembling the suspect identified by Turkish media.

The senior Saudi official said he was responsible for the Istanbul team’s logistics.

Albostani studied at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, according to Facebook. University officials contacted by Reuters said they could not confirm a graduate of that name.

A LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo says he has served in the air force since 2006.

He is 31 years old, according to a passport copy provided to U.S. media by Turkish officials.

Albostani could not immediately be reached for comment.

Other members of the team

Abdulaziz Mohammed al-Hawsawi is a member of the security team that travels with the Saudi crown prince, according to a New York Times report that cited a French professional who has worked with the royal family. He is 31, according to a passport copy provided to U.S. media by Turkish officials. Reuters could not reach Hawsawi for comment.

General Rashad bin Hamed al-Hamadi was removed as director of the general directorate of security and protection in the General Intelligence Presidency.

General Abdullah bin Khaleef al-Shaya was removed as assistant head of General Intelligence for human resources. General Mohammed Saleh al-Ramih was removed as assistant head of General Intelligence for intelligence affairs.

The three generals could not be reached for comment. 
…

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands highlighted the “shadow of uncertainty” hanging over Dutch nationals living in Britain due to Brexit in an address to the British parliament on Tuesday during a two-day state visit.

The king used a speech to lawmakers and diplomats in one of parliament’s grandest halls to express his regret over Britain’s decision to leave the European Union next year – a body he said was flawed, but which had also made great achievements.

“It truly saddens us to see a close partner leave. But of course we respect your country’s choice,” he said.

Reaching a deal and predicting the consequences of Brexit was a highly complex task, he said, adding that the 150,000 Dutch nationals living in Britain and 50,000 British nationals living in the Netherlands deserved special attention.

“Many of them have lived and worked here for many years. They feel at home in their local community and their contribution to society is valued,” he said.

“Yet these individuals now live under the shadow of uncertainty about their future status. I understand how difficult this is for them and I trust this uncertainty will be resolved.”

Earlier, the king and Queen Maxima were formally welcomed by Queen Elizabeth with a Guard of Honor before taking a state carriage procession along the Mall in London to lunch at Buckingham Palace.

The Dutch royals were also visiting the grave of William III and Mary II of England, the Anglo-Dutch couple who ruled Britain at the end of the 17th Century, and were also due to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in Westminster Abbey.

After his address to parliament the king was scheduled to take afternoon tea with Elizabeth’s heir Charles at his official Clarence House residence.

Elizabeth was later hosting the Dutch royals at a banquet to celebrate the first UK state visit by Dutch monarchy for 36 years.

Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus visited Britain in 1982, while Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip paid a state visit to Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1958.
…

A man who swore allegiance to the Islamic State militant group before killing four foreign cyclists in ex-Soviet Tajikistan went on trial Tuesday in a process closed to the public.

Tajikistan’s Supreme Court spokesperson told AFP Tuesday the trial for the “brutal murder of four foreign cyclists” had begun in the suspect’s high-security detention center.

Hussein Abdusamadov, 33, already confessed to killing American cycling tourists Lauren Geoghegan and Jay Austin, Dutch citizen Rene Wokke and Swiss citizen Markus Hummel in July.

The victims were struck by a car as they cycled back from the remote Pamir Highway, a popular route among adventure tourists, before being set upon with knives and firearms.

Four of Abdusamadov’s accomplices were killed by police during a manhunt.

A video of the five men pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was released by an official IS media channel.

Tajik authorities have so far ignored the video evidence, instead blaming a former opposition party – the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan – that was banned by the government in 2015.

The fact the trial is closed has raised concerns about due process in a country with a poor record on political freedoms and human rights.

Abdusamadov implicated the IRPT as the ultimate organizer of the attack in a televised confession, but critics say the government is using the case to tar the opposition.

A dozen senior members of the IRPT are serving long sentences up to life on charges government critics say are trumped up.

In addition to Abdusamadov, 16 other people stand accused of not offering information to the authorities that could have prevented the attack, a source in the police told AFP.

 
…

The United States has launched a cyber campaign aimed at Russian operatives in an effort to curb misinformation ahead of the November 6 congressional elections, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, in what it said was the first known such operation to protect American elections.

The Times, citing unnamed defense officials briefed on the operation, said the U.S. Cyber Command, the military’s cyber warfare division, was using direct messages to target individuals behind influence campaigns in an effort to deter them from spreading propaganda and fake information.

While the United States was not directly threatening any individuals, its previous sanctions and indictments could help deter the Russian operatives once they realized they had been identified, according to the Times report.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Kremlin-backed entities meddled in the 2016 presidential election campaign to try to boost Republican candidate Donald Trump, an accusation Moscow has repeatedly denied. Intelligence officials have said that Moscow remains a threat to U.S.

elections.

On Friday, the U.S. government unveiled what one official said was the first criminal charges linked to attempted interference in next month’s midterm elections. Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, a 44-year-old Russian national, was charged with playing a key financial role in a Kremlin-backed plan to conduct “information warfare” against the United States, including ongoing attempts to influence American voters.

The Times said the protective operation included missions taken in recent days, but has been limited in part to prevent Moscow from escalating its response beyond election-related actions that could target the U.S. power grid or other targets.

U.S. Cyber Command has also sent teams to Europe in an effort to help allies fight Russian intrusions, officials told the Times.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the Times report, and representatives for the Pentagon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton, in Moscow for meetings this week, told Russian officials on Monday that its election meddling sowed distrust.

More than a dozen Russians and three Russian entities have been indicted as part of a U.S. investigation into the 2016 interference and possible collusion by Trump’s campaign, including 12 Russian intelligence officers and a St. Petersburg-based group known for its trolling on social media.

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion.
…

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says he told Russian officials that its meddling in the 2016 election did not affect the outcome but instead created distrust.

“The important thing is that the desire for interfering in our affairs itself arouses distrust in Russian people, in Russia. And I think it should not be tolerated. It should not be acceptable,” Bolton said Monday on Ekho Moskvy radio.

Bolton is in Moscow for talks with Russian leaders on President Donald Trump’s intention to pull the United States out of a 1987 arms control agreement.

Before joining the White House, Bolton called Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 election an “act of war.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russian election interference and allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign — allegations both Trump and Russia deny.

The U.S. has charged a number of Russian citizens and agents with election meddling.

Last week, the Justice Department charged a Russian woman with “information warfare” for managing the finances of an internet company looking to interfere in next month’s midterm elections.

The company is owned by a business executive with alleged ties to President Vladimir Putin.

The woman, Elena Khusyaynova, said Monday she is “shocked” by the charges against her. She calls herself a “simple Russian woman” who does not speak English.
…

A Russian woman accused by the U.S. of helping oversee a social media effort to influence the 2018 U.S. midterm elections mocked the accusations Monday, saying that they made her feel proud.

Justice Department prosecutors alleged Friday that Elena Khusyaynova helped manage the finances of the same social media troll farm that was indicted earlier this year by special counsel Robert Mueller. The troll farm, the Internet Research Agency, is one of a web of companies allegedly controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with reported ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Khusyaynova responded Monday in a video on the internet news site Federal News Agency, reportedly also linked to Prigozhin. She said she was bewildered by the allegations that she could have influenced the U.S. elections even though she is just a simple bookkeeper who doesn’t speak English.

Justice Department prosecutors claimed that Khusyaynova, of St. Petersburg, ran the finances for a hidden but powerful Russian social media effort aimed at spreading distrust for American political candidates and causing divisions on hot-button social issues like immigration and gun control. It marked the first federal case alleging foreign interference in the 2018 midterm elections.

“I was surprised and shocked, but then my heart filled with pride,” Khusyaynova said. “It turns out that a simple Russian woman could help citizens of a superpower elect their president. Dear people of the world! Let’s all help the American people elect such politicians who would behave in a humane way and lead our planet to peace and goodness. Let’s all wish America to become a great and peaceful country again!”
…

U.S. media reports say CIA director Gina Haspel is traveling to Istanbul to meet with Turkish officials who are investigating the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Sources told news outlets that Haspel departed Monday for Turkey to work on the investigation into Khashoggi’s death.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he has “top intelligence people in Turkey,” but did not give further details. Trump said he is still not satisfied with the explanation he has heard about Khashoggi’s death, but said “we’re going to get to the bottom of it.” 

The president said he had spoken with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler — since Khashoggi’s death. He said he will know more about the death once U.S. teams investigating the killing return to Washington from Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

In another development Monday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin met Saudi Arabia’s embattled crown prince in Riyadh. The Saudi Foreign Ministry posted a photograph of the meeting on its Twitter account.

Mnuchin canceled his plans to attend a three-day investment conference hosted by Saudi Arabia beginning Tuesday, but said he would meet the Saudi crown prince to discuss counterterrorism efforts. 

New surveillance video released Monday from Istanbul appears to show a Saudi agent wearing Khashoggi’s clothing and leaving Riyadh’s consulate on Oct. 2, an apparent attempt to cover up his killing by showing he had left the diplomatic outpost alive.

The video was taken by Turkish law enforcement and shown Monday on CNN, suggesting Saudi agents used a body double in an effort to conceal the killing. 

The video surfaced as Saudi officials offered yet another explanation for the death of the 59-year-old Saudi journalist who had been living in the U.S. in self-imposed exile while he wrote columns for The Washington Post that were critical of the Saudi crown prince and Riyadh’s involvement in the conflict in Yemen. 

The Saudis at first said Khashoggi had left the consulate and that they did not know his whereabouts. Later, they said he died in a fistfight after an argument inside the consulate. Now, the Saudis are saying Khashoggi died in a chokehold to prevent him from leaving the consulate to call for help. 

It is not known what happened to Khashoggi’s remains, although Turkish officials say he was tortured, decapitated and then dismembered. One Saudi official told ABC News that Khashoggi’s body was given to a “local cooperator” in Istanbul for disposal, but Saudi officials have said they do not know what happened to his remains.

In Washington, White House adviser Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, told CNN the U.S. is still in a “fact-finding” phase in trying to determine exactly what happened to Khashoggi. 

“We’re getting facts in from multiple places,” Kushner said. He said that Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will then decide how to respond to Saudi Arabia, a long-time American ally.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is vowing to reveal details about the case in a Tuesday speech to his parliament.
…

Norwegian resistance fighter Joachim Ronneberg, whose bravery helped keep Nazi Germany from building nuclear weapons, has died at 99.

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg called him one of the country’s heroes and possibly the last of the World War II resistance fighters.

Ronneberg fled Norway when the Nazis invaded in 1940. He trained with the Norwegian resistance in Britain and returned behind enemy lines.

Ronneberg led Operation Gunnerside — the 1943 secret mission that blew up a German plant producing heavy water, a necessary component in early nuclear research.

The Nazis were working on building nuclear weapons and may have developed a bomb to use on New York or London if the plant had not been destroyed and Hitler defeated in 1945.

Ronneberg’s story was dramatized in the 1965 film The Heroes of Telemark.

Ronneberg later became a journalist and rarely talked about his wartime experiences except to warn younger generations of the dangers of totalitarian governments.

 
…

The killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul is unlikely to halt Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rise to power, but could cause irreparable harm to relations with Western governments and businesses, potentially endangering his ambitious reform plans.

International outrage over Khashoggi’s Oct. 2 slaying at the hands of Saudi officials, under still-disputed circumstances, has marked the greatest crisis in the 33-year-old’s rapid rise, already tarnished by a catastrophic war in Yemen and a sweeping roundup of Saudi businessmen and activists.

The prince had hoped to galvanize world support for his efforts to revamp the country’s oil-dependent economy, but now the monarchy faces possible sanctions over the killing. Saudi Arabia has threatened to retaliate against any punitive action, but analysts say that wielding its main weapon — oil production — could backfire, putting the prince’s economic goals even further out of reach.

“The issue now is how Western governments coordinate a response and to what extent they wish to escalate this in a coordinated fashion,” said Michael Stephens, a senior research fellow who focuses on the Mideast at London’s Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.

“Would financial sanctions be considered sufficient as to have sent a message to Saudi Arabia that this will never happen again?” Stephens added. “Some may feel this is inadequate, while others, like the Americans, may feel this is going too far.”

Senior aides close to the prince have been fired over Khashoggi’s killing, and 18 suspects have been arrested. But the prince himself, protected by his 82-year-old father, King Salman, has been tapped to lead a panel to reform the kingdom’s intelligence services, a sign he will remain next in line to the throne.

The king has the authority to change the line of succession — as he did when he appointed his son crown prince in the first place, upending the previous royal consensus.

But any direct challenge to Prince Mohammed’s succession “may be destabilizing for the kingdom as a whole,” said Cinzia Bianco, a London-based analyst for Gulf State Analytics. “Being young and being so close to his father, there is a chance that his behavior can be constrained with the influence of his father and other actors around the world,” Bianco said.

That only holds as long as King Salman remains in power. If Prince Mohammed ascends the throne, he could be in power for decades, longer than any other royal since the country’s founding in 1932, including its first monarch, King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.

The firing and arrests announced by the kingdom appear to be at least an acknowledgement by the royal family of how serious the crisis has become.

“While it might be too early to evaluate the reaction of the international community, these moves might be read as a serious initial signal that the Saudi leadership is course correcting,” wrote Ayham Kamel, the head of Mideast and North Africa research at the Eurasia Group.

“Despite speculation that the crisis spells the end of Mohammad bin Salman, the recent announcements prove that the king still believes that the current line of succession is suitable.”

The Saudis’ greatest concern is the United States, a crucial military ally against archrival Iran and a key source of the kind of foreign investment they will need to reform the economy. A strong American response could encourage other Western countries to follow suit, further amplifying the crisis.

President Donald Trump has thus far sent mixed signals, vowing “severe punishment” over the death of the Washington Post columnist but saying he doesn’t want to imperil American arms sales to the kingdom.

Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first overseas trip as president, and his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has developed close ties with Prince Mohammed, apparently seeing him as an ally in advancing his yet-to-be-released peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians.

But even if the Saudis keep Trump on their side, they could face a reckoning from the U.S. Congress, where Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed outrage over the killing. Some have suggested using the 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, which makes it possible to impose entry bans and targeted sanctions on individuals for committing human rights violations or acts of significant corruption.

Saudi Arabia last week threatened “greater action” if faced with sanctions. While no official has explained what that would entail, the general manager of a Saudi-owned satellite news channel suggested it could include weaponizing the kingdom’s oil production.

Forty-five years ago, Saudi Arabia joined other OPEC nations in an oil embargo over the 1973 Mideast war in retaliation for American military support for Israel. Gas prices soared, straining the U.S. economy.

But it’s unclear whether such a move would work in today’s economy. Saudi Arabia has been trying to claw back global market share, especially as Iran faces new U.S. oil sanctions beginning in November. Slashing oil exports would drain revenues needed for Prince Mohammed’s plans to diversify the economy, while a spike in oil prices could revive the U.S. shale industry and lead other countries to boost production.

“The Saudis have been very helpful by accelerating oil production, especially as sanctions on Iran ramp up,” said Kristin Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “It would be very foolish of Saudi Arabia to forfeit the trust of the oil market earned over decades by injecting politics into their oil policy.”
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U.S. lawmakers of both political parties remain incredulous of Saudi Arabia’s explanation for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared at the kingdom’s consulate in Turkey nearly three weeks ago. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington.
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Catholic bishops are entering their final week of debate over hot-button issues facing young Catholics, including how the church should welcome gays and respond to the clerical sex abuse scandal that has discredited many in the church hierarchy.

The monthlong synod of bishops ends next Saturday with the adoption by the 260-plus cardinals, bishops and priests of a final document and approval of a separate, shorter letter to the world’s Catholic youth.

Some of the youth delegates to the meeting have insisted that the final document express an inclusive message to make LGBT Catholics feel welcome in a church that has often shunned them.

The Vatican took a step in that direction by making a reference to “LGBT” for the first time in its preparatory document heading into the meeting.

But some bishops have balked at the notion, including Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput, who insisted in his speech that “there is no such thing as an ‘LGBTQ Catholic’ or a ‘transgender Catholic’ or a ‘heterosexual Catholic,’ as if our sexual appetites defined who we are.”

But other bishops have expressed a willingness to use the language, though it remains to be seen if the final document or the letter will. Each paragraph will be voted on one by one and must obtain a two-thirds majority.

“The youth are talking about it freely and in the language they use, and they are encouraging us ‘Call us, address us this because this is who we are,”’ Papua New Guinea Cardinal John Ribat told a press conference Saturday.

One of those young people, Yadira Vieyra, who works with migrant families in Chicago, said gays often feel attacked and shunned by the church.

“We know that’s not true, any Catholic knows that’s not true,” she said. But she added bishops need to communicate that “the church is here for them.”

Catholic church teaching holds that gays should be loved and respected but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”

The Oct. 3-28 synod has unfolded against the backdrop of the clergy sex abuse scandal exploding anew in the U.S., Germany, Poland and other nations. Some conservatives have charged that a gay subculture in the priesthood is to blame, even though studies have shown that gays are not more likely than heterosexuals to abuse.

Many of the young delegates have insisted that the final document address the abuse scandal straight on, and Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli hinted that it would.

“One of the key things that will be important going forward is not just that there might be a word of apology, of recognition and of aiming for better practices, but that there is action associated with that,” he said.

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said young people are also demanding accountability and transparency from the church’s leadership, which has been excoriated for having covered-up the abuses of predator priests for decades.

He repeated his call, first made in an interview last week with National Catholic Reporter, for bishops to cede their own authority and allow an external process involving lay experts to investigate them when an accusation against them has been made.

“Lay people want us to succeed. People want us to get this right,” Cupich said. “Yes, there’s a lot of anger out there. But beneath that anger there’s a sadness. There’s a sadness that the church is better than this, and that we should get this right.”
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The vast majority of British firms are poised to implement their Brexit contingency plans by Christmas if there isn’t greater clarity over the country’s exit from the European Union, a leading business lobby group warned Sunday.

The Confederation of British Industry said these could include cutting jobs, adjusting supply chains outside the U.K., stockpiling goods, and relocating production and services overseas.

Fear of no deal

The warning comes amid growing fears that Britain may crash out of the EU in March without a deal on the future relationship. That could see tariffs placed on British exports, border checks reinstalled, and restrictions imposed travelers and workers — a potentially toxic combination for businesses.

“The situation is now urgent,” said Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI’s director general. “The speed of negotiations is being outpaced by the reality firms are facing on the ground.”

Discussions between the two sides have hit an impasse largely over how to maintain an open border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

Christmas deadline

A summit of EU leaders last week failed to yield a breakthrough and another gathering in November was canceled. December is now the next scheduled summit, leaving the Brexit process tight ahead of Britain’s official departure date. Even if a deal is forged, there are doubts over British Prime Minister Theresa May’s ability to secure the necessary majority in Parliament given bitter divisions on the topic.

“Unless a Withdrawal Agreement is locked down by December, firms will press the button on their contingency plans,” Fairbairn said. “Jobs will be lost and supply chains moved.”

Fairbairn’s warning was based on a survey of 236 member firms tilted toward small- and medium-sized companies with up to 500 employees, undertaken from Sept. 19 to Oct. 8. The survey found that 82 percent of firms will have started to implement contingency plans by December if the Brexit process isn’t any clearer.

Negative impact

The CBI also said that 80 percent of firms say Brexit has already had a negative impact on their investment decisions, more than double the 36 percent recorded a year ago. The survey found that 66 percent of businesses said Brexit has had an impact on the attractiveness of the U.K. as a place to invest, while 24 percent said there had been no impact.

Some big companies are becoming increasingly vexed by the impasse in the Brexit talks. Last week, ahead of the summit in Brussels, pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca and carmaker Ford issued statements raising doubts about their investments in Britain.

“Uncertainty is draining investment from the U.K.,” said Fairbairn. 
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As Saudi Arabia faced intensifying international skepticism over its story about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a senior government official laid out a new version of the death inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul that in key respects contradicts previous explanations.

The latest account, provided by a Saudi official who requested anonymity, includes details on how the team of 15 Saudi nationals sent to confront Khashoggi on Oct. 2 had threatened him with being drugged and kidnapped and then killed him in a chokehold when he resisted. A member of the team then dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes to make it appear as if he had left the consulate.

After denying any involvement in the disappearance of Khashoggi, 59, for two weeks, Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning said he had died in a fistfight at the consulate. An hour later, another Saudi official attributed the death to a chokehold, which the senior official reiterated.

Turkish officials suspect the body of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was dismembered, but the Saudi official said it was rolled up in a rug and given to a “local cooperator” for disposal. Asked about allegations that Khashoggi had been tortured and beheaded, he said preliminary results of the investigation did not suggest that.

The Saudi official presented what he said were Saudi internal intelligence documents that appeared to show the initiative to bring back dissidents as well as the specific one involving Khashoggi. He also showed testimony from those involved in what he described as the 15-man team’s cover-up, and the initial results of an internal probe. He did not provide proof to substantiate the findings of the investigation and the other evidence.

​Changing narratives

This narrative is the latest Saudi account that has changed multiple times. The authorities initially dismissed reports that Khashoggi had gone missing inside the consulate as false and said he had left the building soon after entering. When the media reported a few days later that he had been killed there, they called the accusations “baseless.”

Asked by Reuters why the government’s version of Khashoggi’s death kept changing, the official said the government initial account was based on “false information reported internally at the time.”

“Once it became clear these initial mission reports were false, it launched an internal investigation and refrained from further public comment,” the official said, adding that the investigation is continuing.

Turkish sources say the authorities have an audio recording purportedly documenting Khashoggi’s murder inside the consulate but have not released it.

Riyadh dispatched a high-level delegation to Istanbul on Tuesday and ordered an internal investigation, but U.S. President Donald Trump said n Saturday he is not satisfied with Saudi Arabia’s handling of Khashoggi’s death and said questions remain unanswered. Germany and France on Saturday called Saudi Arabia’s explanation of how Khashoggi died incomplete.

​Latest version of events

According to the latest version of the death, the government wanted to convince Khashoggi, who moved to Washington a year ago fearing reprisals for his views, to return to the kingdom as part of a campaign to prevent Saudi dissidents from being recruited by the country’s enemies, the official said.

To that end, the official said, the deputy head of the General Intelligence Presidency, Ahmed al-Asiri, put together a 15-member team from the intelligence and security forces to go to Istanbul, meet Khashoggi at the consulate and try to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia.

“There is a standing order to negotiate the return of dissidents peacefully; which gives them the authority to act without going back to the leadership,” the official said. “Asiri is the one who formed the team and asked for an employee who worked with (Saud) al-Qahtani and who knew Jamal from the time they both worked at the embassy in London,” he said.

The official said Qahtani had signed off on one of his employees conducting the negotiations.

​Chokehold 

According to the plan, the team could hold Khashoggi in a safe house outside Istanbul for “a period of time” but then release him if he ultimately refused to return to Saudi Arabia, the official said.

Things went wrong from the start as the team overstepped their orders and quickly employed violence, the official said.

Khashoggi was ushered into the consul general’s office where an operative named Maher Mutreb spoke to him about returning to Saudi Arabia, according to the government’s account. Khashoggi refused and told Mutreb that someone was waiting outside for him and would contact the Turkish authorities if he did not reappear within an hour, the official said.

Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, has told Reuters he had handed her his two mobile phones and left instructions that she should wait for him and call an aide to Turkey’s president if he did not reappear.

Back inside the consul’s office, according to the official’s account, Khashoggi told Mutreb he was violating diplomatic norms and said, “What are you going to do with me? Do you intend to kidnap me?”

Mutreb replied, “Yes, we will drug you and kidnap you,” in what the official said was an attempt at intimidation that violated the mission’s objective.

When Khashoggi raised his voice, the team panicked. They moved to restrain him, placing him in a chokehold and covering his mouth, according to the government’s account.

“They tried to prevent him from shouting but he died,” the official said. “The intention was not to kill him.”

Asked if the team had smothered Khashoggi, the official said: “If you put someone of Jamal’s age in this position, he would probably die.”

Where is his body?

To cover up their misdeed, the team rolled up Khashoggi’s body in a rug, took it out in a consular vehicle and handed it over to a “local cooperator” for disposal, the official said.

Forensic expert Salah Tubaigy tried to remove any trace of the incident, the official said.

Turkish officials have told Reuters that Khashoggi’s killers may have dumped his remains in Belgrad Forest adjacent to Istanbul, and at a rural location near the city of Yalova, 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Istanbul.

Turkish investigators are likely to find out what happened to the body “before long,” a senior official said.

The Saudi official said the local cooperator is an Istanbul resident but would not reveal his nationality. The official said investigators were trying to determine where the body ended up.

Meanwhile, operative Mustafa Madani donned Khashoggi’s clothes, eyeglasses and Apple watch and left through the back door of the consulate in an attempt to make it look as if Khashoggi had walked out of the building. Madani went to the Sultanahmet district where he disposed of the belongings.

The official said the team then wrote a false report for superiors saying they had allowed Khashoggi to leave once he warned that Turkish authorities could get involved and that they had promptly left the country before they could be discovered.

​Many questions

Skeptics have asked why so many people, including military officers and a forensics expert specializing in autopsies, were part of the operation if the objective was to persuade Khashoggi to return home of his own volition.

The disappearance of Khashoggi, a Saudi insider turned critic, has snowballed into a massive crisis for the kingdom, forcing the 82-year-old monarch, King Salman, to personally get involved. 

It has threatened the kingdom’s business relationships, with several senior executives and government officials shunning an investor conference in Riyadh scheduled for next week and some U.S. lawmakers putting pressure on Trump to impose sanctions and stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The official said all 15 team members had been detained and placed under investigation, along with three other local suspects.
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Rights group Amnesty International has called on Saudi Arabia to “immediately produce” the body of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi so an autopsy can be completed.

Khashoggi reportedly was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Saudi Arabia says preliminary results from its investigation show he died after a fight with people he met in the consulate.

Amnesty’s director of campaigns for the Middle East, Samah Hadid, said the Saudi version of events cannot be trusted. He said a United Nations investigation would be necessary to avoid a “Saudi whitewash” of the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi’s death.

Hadid said such a cover-up may have been undertaken to preserve Saudi Arabia’s international business ties.

Earlier Saturday, a statement from the Saudi public prosecutor carried by Saudi state TV said 18 Saudi nationals have been arrested so far in connection with Khashoggi’s death. The statement said royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Assiri have been fired from their positions.

The prosecutor said the investigation into Khashoggi’s death remains underway.

The state-run news agency also said King Salman has also ordered the formation of a ministerial committee headed by the crown prince to restructure the kingdom’s intelligence services.

Saturday’s comments are the first admission by the Saudi government that Khashoggi died.

Turkish officials had said they believed he was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul after he entered the building on October 2 to retrieve paperwork for his upcoming wedding. Saudi Arabia had previously denied the allegations and said Khashoggi had left the building shortly after.

The White House said in a statement it “acknowledges the announcement from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that its investigation into the fate of Jamal Khashoggi is progressing and that it has taken action against the suspects it has identified thus far.”

When asked about the Saudi announcement, President Donald Trump told reporters in Arizona “It’s a big first step.” However, he said, “We do have some questions” for the Saudis, and added “we’ll be working with Congress.”

He said that he wants to talk to the Saudi crown prince before the next steps are taken.

When asked whether the Saudis can produce a credible report about the killing of Khashoggi, Trump said, “We’re involved. Turkey is involved. … This has been a horrible event. It has not gone unnoticed.”

Before the Saudi announcement, Trump told reporters Friday he might consider sanctions against Saudi Arabia over the disappearance of Khashoggi.

Earlier Friday, Turkish police said they questioned employees of the Saudi consulate in their ongoing investigation into Khashoggi’s disappearance. More than a dozen Turkish employees of the Saudi consulate were interviewed, including the consul general’s driver, technicians, accountants and telephone operators, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the Khashoggi’s disappearance during an interview Friday with VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren.

Trump has warned there would be “very severe” consequences if Saudi Arabia is behind the disappearance of the journalist, but Pompeo said, “I’m not going to get into what those responses might be. We’ll certainly consider a wide range of potential responses, but I think the important thing to do is that the facts come out.”

Pompeo, who traveled to Riyadh earlier this week to speak to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, told VOA, “I made very clear to them that the United States takes this matter very seriously. That we don’t approve of extrajudicial killings. That we don’t approve of that kind of activity. That it’s not something consistent with American values, and that it is their responsibility as this incident happened in the consulate.”

“It’s their responsibility to get to the bottom of this, to put the facts out clearly, accurately, completely, transparently, in a way that the whole world can see,” Pompeo said. “And once we’ve identified the fact set, then they have the responsibility and the first instance to hold accountable those inside the country that may have been involved in any wrongdoing.”

Turkish authorities also denied Friday they have shared with U.S. officials an audio recording of the torture and killing of Khashoggi.

Media reports said Pompeo heard the recording earlier in the week when he visited Turkey. But Pompeo, traveling in Mexico, told reporters, “I’ve seen no tape … I’ve heard no tape. I’ve seen no transcript.”

According to Anadolu, Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said, “It is out of the question for us to share this or that information with any country.”

Late Friday, some U.S. lawmakers weighed in on the Saudi announcement about Khashoggi’s fate.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, tweeted, “To say that I am skeptical of the new Saudi narrative about Mr. Khashoggi is an understatement.”

Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. should pursue sanctions against those Saudis involved in the journalist’s death under the Sergei Magnitsky, which is named after the anti-corruption Russian accountant who died in police custody.

“The Global Magnitsky Act doesn’t have exceptions for accidents. Even if Khashoggi died because of an altercation, that’s no excuse for his murder,” Menendez tweeted on Friday. “This is far from the end and we need to keep up the international pressure.”  

 
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Thousands of protesters gathered in central London on Saturday to call for a new referendum on Britain’s departure from the European Union.

Organizers want the public to have a final say on the government’s Brexit deal with the EU, arguing that new facts have come to light about the costs and complexity of Britain’s exit from the bloc since Britons voted to leave in 2016.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan from the opposition Labor Party was among those set to address the People’s Vote March, which will culminate at a rally in Parliament Square.

Organizers have brought in some 150 buses to ferry thousands of activists from across the country to the British capital.

Those in favor of pulling Britain out of the EU won by 52 percent in the 2016 EU membership referendum. Prime Minister Theresa May of the Conservative Party has ruled out another public vote on the subject.

Britain is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but negotiations have been plagued by disagreements, particularly over the issue of the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It will be the U.K.’s only land border with the EU after Brexit, for Ireland is part of the EU, and Northern Ireland is part of the U.K.

There are growing fears of a “no-deal” British exit, which could create chaos at the borders and in both the EU and the British economies.

May, speaking at an inconclusive EU summit in Brussels this week, said she would consider having a longer post-Brexit transition period — one that could keep Britain aligned to EU rules and obligations for more than two years after its March departure. Pro-Brexit politicians in Britain, however, saw it as an attempt to bind the country to the bloc indefinitely.

“This week’s fresh chaos and confusion over Brexit negotiations has exposed how even the best deal now available will be a bad one for Britain,” said Andrew Adonis, a Labor member of the House of Lords. “Voters will neither forgive nor forget if [lawmakers] allow this miserable Brexit to proceed without people being given the final say.”

 
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Macedonia’s parliament has approved a proposal to change the country’s name, a move that could pave the way for it to join NATO and the European Union.

Eighty members of parliament in the 120-seat body voted in favor of the measure Friday to rename the country North Macedonia, just surpassing the two-thirds supermajority needed to enact constitutional changes.

Parliament was forced to address the issue after a September referendum on the matter failed to achieve the turnout threshold of 50 percent.

According to election officials, only about a third of eligible voters cast ballots in the September referendum. However, they said more than 90 percent of those voting cast ballots in favor of changing the country’s name to North Macedonia. Conservatives in Macedonia strongly oppose the name change and boycotted the referendum.

Macedonians are being asked to change the name of their country to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Greece and pave the way for the country’s admission into NATO and the EU.

Athens has argued that the name “Macedonia” belongs exclusively to its northern province of Macedonia and that using the name implies Skopje’s intentions to claim the Greek province.

The two countries agreed on the name change in June.

Greece has for years pressured Skopje into renouncing the country’s name, forcing it to use the more formal moniker Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the United Nations. Greece has consistently blocked its smaller neighbor from gaining membership in NATO and the EU as long it retained its name.

The process for Macedonia’s parliament to fully change the country’s name is lengthy and will require several more rounds of voting.
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U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton will meet Saturday in Moscow with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, amid reports that Washington will tell Russia it plans to quit a landmark nuclear weapons treaty.

The visit comes ahead of what is expected to be a second summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump this year.

Bolton, who will also meet Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, announced the visit to Moscow in a tweet, saying he would “continue discussions that began in Helsinki,” referring to a summit held in July.

The New York Times said the Trump administration plans to inform Russian leaders in the coming days that it is preparing to leave the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF.

The newspaper said the U.S. accuses Russia of violating the deal, signed in 1987 by president Ronald Reagan, by deploying tactical nuclear weapons to intimidate former Soviet satellite states that are now close to the West.

US-Russia ties are under deep strain over accusations that Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election, as well as tension over Russian support for the Syrian government in the country’s civil war, and the conflict in Ukraine.

However, Washington is looking for support from Moscow in finding resolutions to the Syria war and putting pressure on both Iran and North Korea.

No new summit between Trump and Putin has been announced, but one is expected in the near future.

The two leaders will be in Paris on Nov. 11 to attend commemorations marking the end of World War I.

A senior Trump administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said another potential date would be when the presidents both attend the Group of 20 meeting Nov. 30-Dec. 1.

“There are a couple possibilities, including the G-20 in Buenos Aires or the Armistice Day parade in Paris. At the G20 is probably more likely,” the official said. “President Trump’s invitation to Putin to visit Washington, D.C., still stands.” 
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U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and security agencies are warning that Russia is persistently targeting the country’s upcoming midterm elections. They laid out the latest evidence in new charges against a Russian national connected to the oligarch known as “Putin’s cook.”

The U.S. on Friday unsealed the criminal complaint against Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, of St. Petersburg, making her the first Russian charged in connection with interference in the 2018 election.

According to the criminal complaint, Khusyaynova was the chief accountant for a Russian effort dubbed “Project Lakhta,” a self-described “information warfare” operation run by the Internet Research Agency — the same social media troll farm indicted earlier this year by U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller as part of his Russia investigation.

Charging documents say Khusyaynova oversaw spending for social media advertisements and promotions and proxy servers as she helped to create thousands of social media accounts on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, some of which generated tens of thousands of followers.

Involved in 2018 elections

But unlike previous criminal complaints, U.S. officials said Khusyaynova’s activity extended well beyond the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as she funded efforts to create new social media accounts targeting both issues and candidates, Republican and Democratic, involved the 2018 election, now just a little more than two weeks away.

Like with previous efforts under “Project Lakhta,” all of the accounts were designed to make it appear as though they belonged to actual American political activists, using virtual private networks (VPNs) and other methods to hide their origin. 

U.S. officials also said those running them were told to intensify divisions and distrust between members of all political parties “through supporting radical groups” and to “aggravate the conflict between minorities and the rest of the population.”

Messaging focused on a variety of topics, including immigration, gun control, the Confederate flag and the debate over American football players kneeling for the U.S. national anthem.

Officials said specific incidents, including mass shootings, the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., and decisions coming from the Trump White House were also used as fodder.

“The strategic goal of this alleged conspiracy, which continues to this day, is to sow discord in the U.S. political system and to undermine faith in our democratic institutions,” U.S. Attorney Zachary Terwilliger said in a statement.

Asked about the new charges during a visit to Arizona, President Donald Trump called them irrelevant to his efforts.

“It had nothing to do with my campaign,” he told reporters. “If they are hackers, a lot of them probably like [2016 Democratic presidential nominee] Hillary Clinton better than me.”

Warning and reassurance

Friday’s indictment came as U.S. intelligence and security officials sought to both warn and reassure U.S. voters about the upcoming midterm elections.

“We’re not seeing anything anywhere remotely close to ’16,” Chris Krebs, undersecretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s National Protection and Programs Directorate, told reporters Friday following a tabletop election security exercise.

“2016 had a long lead-up of spear-phishing campaigns, compromise of networks,” he said. “We’re not seeing them right now.”

Krebs and other officials have also said there had been no increase in attempts to infiltrate U.S. voting systems, and that no system involved in tallying votes had been compromised.

Many of those systems have been upgraded or hardened, U.S. officials said, noting that more than 90 percent of the country’s election infrastructure was now being monitored by sensors that can detect malicious activity.

But at the same time, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned Friday of persistent efforts by U.S. adversaries to sway voters.

“We are concerned about ongoing campaigns by Russia, China and other foreign actors, including Iran, to undermine confidence in democratic institutions and influence public sentiment,” ODNI said in a joint statement with the Justice Department, the FBI and DHS.

“These activities also may seek to influence voter perceptions and decision-making in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections,” the statement said.

U.S. officials say both China and Iran have been increasingly active in their efforts to use influence operations, with current and former officials describing Beijing’s efforts as more sophisticated and more intent on generating a favorable view of China over the long term.

But neither yet compares in scope to the Russian efforts, just some of which were unveiled in the criminal complaint. 

Russian-financed

Financial documents obtained as part of the investigation indicate that as of January 2016, Khusyaynova and “Project Lakhta” were working with a budget of $35 million, spending about $10 million in the first half of 2018 alone.

Khusyaynova’s 2018 expenditures included $60,000 for Facebook advertisements, another $6,000 for ads on Instagram, and $18,000 for “bloggers” and for developing accounts on Twitter.

The money, according to U.S. officials, came from Russian businessman Yevgeniy Prigozhin.

Known as “Putin’s cook” because of his catering company’s work for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin is thought to have extensive ties to Russia’s political and military establishments.

He also controls Concord Management and Consulting LLC, one of three entities under indictment as part of the Mueller investigation.

A Washington-based lawyer representing Concord did not respond to a request for comment.

Masood Farivar contributed to this report
…

The International Monetary Fund announced Friday it had reached an agreement with Ukraine on economic policies that would unlock a new loan deal that will provide nearly $4 billion.

The new 14-month standby loan deal replaces an existing four-year financial aid package agreed in March 2015 and due to expire in five months, the IMF said in a statement.

The agreement must be approved by the IMF board, which will come later in the year after authorities in Kyiv approve a 2019 budget “consistent with IMF staff recommendations and an increase in household gas and heating tariffs,” a step the government had agreed on but never implemented.

But the deal also stresses the need for “continuing to protect low-income households.”

Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman had been seeking the additional financing from the Washington-based lender to help his crisis-hit nation.

Groysman on Friday announced a gas price increase of 23.5 percent to take effect November 1.

He said the “incredible efforts” of Ukrainian negotiators managed to reach a compromise with the IMF and reduce the initial demand to raise prices by 60 percent.

“If we are not able to continue cooperation with our international partners … this could lead to the country being put into default,” he said.

Ukraine has not received any money from the IMF since April 2017, when the fund released $1 billion for the cash-strapped country to repay loans. It had received less than $9 billion of the original $17.5 billion package.

Talks on economic reform measures that would satisfy IMF requirements and allow the release of further aid had been hung up for months, as the fund awaited the government’s approval of a budget, pension reform and an anti-corruption court.

A gas price hike is a sensitive issue for the cash-strapped country as its pro-Western leadership faces presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019.

The IMF said the new loan “will provide an anchor for the authorities’ economic policies during 2019.”

Building on progress under the previous financing package, the loan will “focus in particular on continuing with fiscal consolidation and reducing inflation, as well as reforms to strengthen tax administration, the financial sector and the energy sector,” the IMF said.

An IMF lifeline helped the country to recover from crises sparked by a Russian-backed war in the separatist industrial east that began in April 2014 and has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

The loss of industries in the war zone and flight of foreign investors saw the former Soviet republic’s economy shrink by 17 percent in 2014-2015.

The IMF now forecasts the economy will grow by 3.5 percent this year and 2.7 percent in 2019.

Following the announcement, debt rating agency Standard and Poor’s affirmed the country’s credit score at “B-” with a stable outlook.

“We expect the new arrangement will aid Ukraine’s efforts to cover sizable external debt obligations maturing next year, and also help to anchor macroeconomic policies through the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections,” S&P said in a statement.

The IMF loan is also likely to unlock credit from other international donors, the ratings agency said.
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British Prime Minister Theresa May says she is considering a European Union proposal that would keep Britain bound to the bloc’s rules for more than two years after Brexit.

At present the two sides say Britain will remain subject to the bloc’s rules from Brexit day, March 29, until December 2020, to give time for new trade relations to be set up.

With divorce talks stuck, the bloc has suggested extending that period, to give more time to strike a trade deal that ensures a frictionless border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

May said Thursday that the U.K. is considering extending the transition period by “a matter of months.” 

The idea has angered pro-Brexit U.K. politicians, who see it as an attempt to bind Britain to the bloc indefinitely.
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Russian officials say Wednesday’s attack on a school in Crimea in which at least 19 students were killed was not a terrorist attack, but a case of mass murder. They say video footage captured by a closed-caption camera shows a former student armed with a rifle enter the technical college in the Black Sea city of Kerch. Zlatica Hoke reports the suspect in the school shooting also was killed.
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Legendary Turkish photographer Ara Guler, famed for iconic images of Istanbul that captured almost three-quarters of a century of the city’s history, has died at age 90, state media said.

Guler passed away after being rushed to hospital in Istanbul for emergency treatment for heart failure, state-run Anadolu news agency said.

He won fame with extraordinary images of Istanbul in black and white that admirers believe captured the soul of the city more than any other photographer.

His work included images of the city’s best known mosques and landmarks, pictures of workers going about their daily lives to rare pictures of Istanbul covered in a blanket of snow.

Preserving a city

In a city that is now changing at a frenetic pace, Guler’s work preserved facets of Istanbul that have now become irrevocably lost.

Celebrated Turkish writer and Nobel Literature Prize winner Orhan Pamuk famously used Guler’s images in his book “Istanbul: Memories and the City” in which the smoky and misty photos provided the perfect accompaniment to the text.

For many, the work of Guler was infused with the spirit of huzun, the Turkish word for melancholy, which is seen as a particular Istanbul characteristic.

But in a wide-ranging career, he also photographed famous personalities including Salvador Dali, Alfred Hitchcock and Winston Churchill. Another famous subject was the artist Picasso.

​Born in Istanbul

Born to an Armenian family in Istanbul, Guler attended an Armenian school there and began working as a photographer on Turkish newspaper Yeni.

He got his first big international chance as a photographer in 1958 when US magazine Time-Life opened a Turkey office.

He then met the likes of Marc Riboud and Henri Cartier-Bresson who signed him up to join the celebrated photo agency Magnum.

Fans liked to call Guler the “Eye of Istanbul,” but he insisted he was more.

“People call me an Istanbul photographer. But I am a citizen of the world. I am a world photographer,” he said once.

Worked around the world

His work took him around the world to Africa and Afghanistan as well as his native Turkey and resulted in numerous books, which remain a favorite of Istanbul souvenir-hunters to this day.

Guler was a well-known face in Istanbul and even in his last months could regularly be seen at the outside tables of the cafe he owned, Ara Café, in central Istanbul, which is adorned with his pictures.

In August, a photography museum in Istanbul opened in his name.
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Western corporate chiefs are continuing to pull out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia next week, distancing themselves from questions about Riyadh’s involvement in the disappearance and alleged killing of a U.S.-based Saudi journalist in Turkey.

At first, many of the business leaders reserved judgment on what happened to the missing journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. But as reports from Turkey have mounted alleging that Saudi agents tortured, killed and dismembered Khashoggi two weeks ago inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul, the chief executives have announced in recent days they will not be attending the three-day Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh starting Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has denied killing Khashoggi, a critic of the country’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in columns he wrote for The Washington Post. It says it will disclose the results of its investigation into his disappearance.

The conference is being organized by Saudi Arabia’s mammoth sovereign wealth fund and was being billed as a showcase for economic reforms advanced by the crown prince as he attempts to diversify the kingdom’s economy, for decades focused on its role as the world’s leading oil exporter. The gathering had been dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” after the annual meeting of world economic leaders in Switzerland.

JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon and the heads of two top U.S. investment firms — BlackRock and Blackstone — have dropped out of the conference. Top executives at the Ford auto manufacturing company and the MasterCard credit company have said they won’t be going, while the Google internet search engine company said Tuesday that the head of its cloud computing business also would not be at the event.

The chiefs of European bankers BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Societe Generale also rescinded acceptances to the conference.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who says Saudi Arabia should not be judged guilty in the incident while its investigation is being conducted, said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will decide by Friday whether to attend.
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Authorities in the southwest region of France hit this week by destructive flash floods say the death toll has increased to 14, with one person still listed as missing.

Previously, the toll from the floods in the Aude region had stood at 13, with three missing.

The Aude prefect said Wednesday that 74 people were injured in the storms that swept in from the Mediterranean overnight Sunday to Monday, dumping months-worth of rain in a few hours and turning waterways into destructive torrents.

The region’s top local official, Alain Thirion, said Tuesday that flood victims were mainly older people who were “surprised by the amount of rain.”

 
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