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Solomon Islands look beyond Taiwan alliance as election looms

A boy walks past a sign with voting instructions on his way to school in Honiara
A boy walks past a sign with voting instructions on his way to school in Honiara, Solomon Islands, March 11, 2019. Picture taken March 11, 2019. ISHMAEL AITOREA/Handout via REUTERS

March 20, 2019

By Charlotte Greenfield and Tom Westbrook

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – As politicians hit the hustings across the Solomon Islands two weeks out from a general election in the South Pacific archipelago, the loyalty of one of Taiwan’s few remaining allies is in the balance.

Some Solomons’ candidates are promising to review lucrative, but loosening, ties with Taipei that if broken, could trigger a reshaping of diplomatic relations in a region home to a third of Taiwan’s shrinking list of allies.

Although Pacific island states offer little economically to either China and Taiwan, their support is valued in global forums such as the United Nations and as China seeks to isolate Taiwan. China see the democratically ruled island as a renegade province with no right to state-to-state ties.

In the Solomons, where two-thirds of exports go to China, many politicians are questioning whether diplomatic ties with Taiwan are still in their best interests.

“Sooner or later, when we see our country hasn’t been able to grow out of this relationship, we are at liberty to review our relations and to explore other avenues,” said former Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo, who is contesting the election.

Lilo’s views, echoed in the rival ruling Democratic Alliance Party policy manifesto, and by other candidates, have caught Taipei’s attention.

Taiwan this month sent its deputy foreign minister to the tropical capital of Honiara shore up the alliance.

President Tsai Ing-wen is also touring the South Pacific this week, visiting other allies Palau, Nauru and the Marshall Islands to “deepen ties and friendly relations”.

Already five countries have switched recognition to China since Tsai took office in 2016, leaving just 17 mostly small, undeveloped countries that formally recognize Taiwan.

Four of the six Pacific island nations aligned with Taiwan have elections this year, putting its Pacific stronghold under increasing pressure.

The elections also come at a time when traditional regional powers from the West and Japan have been boosting their presence in the Pacific due to unease at China’s growing influence there.

Last week, the new U.S. ambassador to Australia said China was using “pay-day loan diplomacy” to exert influence in the Pacific.

“The West is watching the outcome of the election in the Solomon Islands very closely. There is no doubt that there are some Solomon Islands lawmakers who would like to align with China,” said a senior U.S. diplomatic source.

“There is a legitimate worry that it will have a domino effect.”

FLASHPOINT OR CASHPOINT?

Acknowledging that China takes the position that there is “one China” and Taiwan is part of it is the “common consensus of international society”, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

“The Chinese government, under the one China policy and the principles of peaceful coexistence, develops friendly cooperation with countries across the world,” he said, without elaborating.

Shifting allegiances are nothing new in the South Pacific.

Vanuatu flirted with recognizing Taiwan in 2004 but ultimately stuck with Beijing, while Kiribati and Nauru have each switched sides in the past.

The Solomons have recognized Taiwan since 1983.

The chain of islands stretching across some 600,000 sq km (232,000 sq miles) of ocean is a strategic gateway to the South Pacific and was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in World War II.

It is the largest of Taiwan-aligned Pacific countries, with access to the airfields and deepwater ports the conflict left behind.

The Solomons’ situation is further complicated by an unpredictable coalition building process after the vote, expected to last weeks before a government is formed.

FUNDING CRITICISMS

Taiwan is fighting to retain its ties.

“I think China is trying everything they can do to replace us in our diplomatic allies,” Taiwan’s deputy chief of mission to the Solomons, Oliver Liao, told Reuters in a phone interview.

He said Taipei was cautiously optimistic of retaining Honiara’s friendship because it has a long history of rural-development donations.

“Many friends here continue to share with us how much they appreciate Taiwan’s support and how they appreciate the flexibility this budgetary support allows – politicians and also the citizens.”

Its strategy, though, has come under fire.

Taiwan’s support of around $9 million a year is paid directly into a government account which lawmakers tap for projects in their far-flung provinces, with little oversight.

“In the rural areas there is no tangible development,” said Andrew Fanasia, politics reporter at the Solomon Star newspaper.

“Mostly these people blame their leaders and this fund.”

Anti-graft agency Transparency Solomon Islands says “vote buying” with cash linked to development funds is by far the most common complaint it fields, according to data it collected in 2017 and 2018.

Lawmakers say there are successes, and the government’s rural development website lists health and sanitation projects, community buildings, and text-message testimonies from citizens about improvements to their lives.

But even Taiwan’s Liao – and former prime minister Lilo – say economic progress has not been fast enough.

And in the capital, patience with the incumbents charged with disbursing Taiwan’s largesse is in short supply.

“Most students would really like to see a change in the leadership and style,” said law student Ishmael Aitorea, 25, on the phone from the student association office of the University of the South Pacific in Honiara.

“The perception is that if the old parliament members go back, nothing will change.”

(Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield in WELLINGTON, Tom Westbrook and Colin Packham in SYDNEY, Yimou Lee in TAIPEI and Philip Wen in BEIJING; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

Source: OANN

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Release of long-awaited Mueller report on Russia a watershed moment for Trump

FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Mueller testifies at a security threat hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington
FILE PHOTO: Robert Mueller, as FBI director, testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington March 12, 2013. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

April 18, 2019

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report on Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election will be released on Thursday, providing the first public look at the findings of an inquiry that has cast a shadow over Donald Trump’s presidency.

Attorney General William Barr’s planned release of the nearly 400-page report comes after Mueller wrapped up his 22-month investigation last month into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia and questions about obstruction of justice by the president.

Its disclosure, with portions expected to be blacked out by Barr to protect some sensitive information, is certain to launch a new political fight spilling into the halls of Congress and the 2020 presidential campaign trail, as Trump seeks re-election in a deeply divided country.

The release marks a watershed moment in Trump’s presidency, promising new details about some of the biggest questions in the probe, including the extent and nature of his campaign’s contacts with Russia and actions Trump may have taken to hinder the inquiry including his 2017 firing of FBI Director James Comey.

It also may deepen an already bitter partisan rift between Trump’s fellow Republicans, most of whom have rallied around the president, and his Democratic critics, who will have to decide how hard to go after Trump as they prepare congressional investigations of his administration.

Barr said he would hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) on Thursday to discuss the report, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel in May 2017.

Copies of the report will be delivered to Capitol Hill more than an hour later, between 11 a.m. and noon (1500-1600 GMT), a senior Justice Department official said. The delay in seeing the report sparked Democratic complaints that Barr, a Trump appointee, wanted to shape the public’s views during his news conference before others had a chance to draw their own conclusions.

Mueller’s investigation, which Trump has called a “witch hunt,” raised questions about the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency and laid bare what the special counsel and U.S. intelligence agencies have described as a Russian operation to derail Democrat Hillary Clinton’s candidacy and elevate Trump, the Kremlin’s preferred candidate.

Some Democrats have spoken of launching impeachment proceedings against Trump in Congress, allowed under the U.S. Constitution to remove a president from office for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” but top Democrats have been notably cautious.

Mueller charged 34 people and three Russian companies. Those who were convicted or pleaded guilty included figures close to Trump such as his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, personal lawyer Michael Cohen and national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Mueller submitted the report to Barr on March 22. Two days later, Barr sent lawmakers a four-page letter saying the inquiry did not establish that Trump’s 2016 campaign team engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia and that Mueller had not exonerated Trump of committing the crime of obstruction of justice. Barr subsequently concluded that Trump had not committed obstruction of justice.

‘SMEARS AND SLANDER’

Since Barr released that letter, Trump has claimed “complete and total exoneration,” and condemned the inquiry as “an illegal takedown that failed.” At a March 28 rally in Michigan, Trump said that “after three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead.”

Citing people with knowledge of the discussions, the New York Times reported on Wednesday that White House lawyers held talks with U.S. Justice Department officials in recent days about the conclusions in Mueller’s report, aiding them in preparing for its release.

Justice Department regulations gave Barr broad authority to decide how much of Mueller’s report to make public, but Democrats have demanded the entire report as well as the underlying investigative files. Barr is due to testify to Congress in public about the report in early May.

The Justice Department has been working for weeks to prepare the redactions, which will be color coded to reflect the reason material is omitted.

Barr said he would redact parts to protect secret grand jury information, intelligence-gathering sources and methods, material that could affect ongoing investigations and information that unduly infringes on the privacy of “peripheral third parties” who were not charged.

Democrats are concerned that Barr, appointed by Trump after the president fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, could black out material to protect the president.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch; Additional reporting by David Morgan, Andy Sullivan, Jan Wolfe, Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: OANN

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Israeli police detain Jewish suspects with sacrificial goats

Israeli police say they detained four suspects involved in an attempt to smuggle two baby goats into Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site for a ritual sacrifice.

Police said on Thursday that two Jewish minors intended "to cause provocations" by sacrificing the goats ahead of Passover. Two journalists who planned to film the ritual were also detained.

Police say such incidents occur every year as zealots challenge longstanding restrictions by attempting to perform sacrifices in the spot where biblical Temples once stood. In ancient times, animals were sacrificed at the Temple on Passover.

The landmark, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is considered the holiest site in Judaism and third-holiest in Islam. The competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Source: Fox News World

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HPV Infections Declining Thanks to Vaccinations

Infections with two strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) are showing marked declines among American women, and rising vaccination rates could be driving the trend.

That is the finding from a new study involving thousands of U.S. women who tested positive for precancerous conditions of the cervix.

Infection with HPV is by far the leading cause of cervical cancer, and it has also been tied to genital warts and cancers of the mouth, throat, vulva, vagina, and anus.

But the new study finds rates of infection with HPV 16 or 18 – the two strains most heavily implicated in cervical cancer – have markedly declined between 2008 and 2014.

It is during those years that rates of the use of HPV vaccines such as Gardasil and Cervarix became more widespread. Both vaccines target HPV 16 and 18, among other strains.

The bottom line: "This is clear evidence that the HPV vaccine is working to prevent cervical disease in young women in the United States," said study author Nancy McClung, an epidemiologist researcher at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"In the coming years, we should see even greater impact as more women are vaccinated during early adolescence and before exposure to HPV," McClung added.

The CDC currently recommends routine vaccination of girls and boys by ages 11 and 12, because protection is best if done before initiation of sexual activity.

One obstetrician/gynecologist who was not involved in the new study was heartened by the findings.

"I suspect that this initial reduction will continue to increase until we see an approximate 70 percent reduction in HPV-related disease, since HPV 16 and 18 are responsible for 70 percent of cervical cancers worldwide," said Dr. Adi Davidov, interim chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City.

Certainly, avoiding HPV infection is the key way to avoid cervical cancer, McClung said.

"Almost all sexually active individuals will get HPV at some point in their lifetime, but most HPV infections go away on their own without any treatment," McClung explained in a news release from the American Association for Cancer Research.

"If an HPV infection does not go away, it can cause cell changes that, over time, develop into a lesion on the cervix called a cervical pre-cancer," she said. "Cervical pre-cancers allow us to observe the impact of HPV vaccination earlier than cervical cancer, which can take decades to develop."

So, how effective has vaccination been in curbing the most dangerous HPV infections?

To find out, the CDC team looked at more than 10,000 lab samples of cervical tissue obtained from women diagnosed with pre-cancerous cervical conditions between 2008 and 2014. The women ranged in age from 18-39.

The investigators tracked the presence of 37 strains of HPV, but were most interested in HPV 16 or HPV 18.

The result: In 2008, either of these two strains most often tied to cervical cancer were detected in 55 percent of samples taken from vaccinated women, but by 2014 that number had dropped to just 33 percent, the study showed.

McClung explained the vaccinated women had probably contracted HPV before being inoculated. Most of the vaccinated women in the study got the shots in their 20s – typically past the age where they had begun sexual activity.

In any case, the steep, recent decline in HPV 16 and 18 infection is encouraging, the researchers said.

Less dramatic – but still significant – declines were observed in samples taken from unvaccinated women. In this group, HPV 16/18 infection fell from 51 percent in 2008 to just over 47 percent by 2014.

Even unvaccinated women have benefited by the widespread uptake of the HPV vaccine, McClung explained, due to what is known as "herd immunity." Herd immunity occurs when widespread inoculation against a germ means that it simply ceases to circulate as widely as it used to in a population.

According to the latest CDC statistics, 49.5 percent of girls and 37.5 percent of boys aged 13 to 17 are up-to-date on all recommended doses of the HPV vaccine.

Dr. Jennifer Wu is an obstetrician/gynecologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She called the new findings "very exciting."

"Rates of cervical pre-cancers are declining significantly," she said, and "as vaccinated patients get older, decreasing rates of cervical pre-cancerous lesions show the continued effectiveness of the vaccine."

Wu pointed out the study showed certain populations – Hispanic and Asian Americans, specifically – did not seem to benefit as much as white or black women. But that could change, she said.

"Rates of HPV 16 and 18 did not fall as much on Asian and Hispanic populations, which typically had lower vaccination rates," Wu said. "But current data shows that these populations have reversed trends and now have very good vaccination rates."

The new findings were published Feb. 21 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Source: NewsMax America

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Long-time New York Times’ liberal columnist argues for Trump’s border wall: ‘The solution is a high wall’

President Trump has an unlikely new ally -- one of The New York Times’ most liberal and well-known voices.

Thomas Friedman, a long-time member of The New York Times and columnist for the newspaper since 1995, has been scathing in his criticism of President Trump. In a column last February, the award-winning writer described Trump as the “biggest threat to the integrity of our democracy today.”

During a CNN interview, the Pulitzer Prize winner also called Trump “disturbed,” adding that if Hillary Clinton were president and “done one of the things Donald Trump” was accused of doing, she would have been impeached.

Yet, Friedman now finds himself standing on the same side as Trump on one of the president’s signature issues -- the border wall.

TRUMP SAYS NEW YORK TIMES WILL HAVE TO 'GET DOWN ON THEIR KNEES,' 'BEG FOR FORGIVENESS' OVER THEIR COVERAGE

The veteran scribe’s latest column begins by detailing a recent trip he took to parts of the southern border.

“On April 12, I toured the busiest border crossing between America and Mexico — the San Ysidro Port of Entry, in San Diego — and the walls being built around it,” the piece reads.

“Guided by a U.S. Border Patrol team, I also traveled along the border right down to where the newest 18-foot-high slatted steel barrier ends and the wide-open hills and craggy valleys beckoning drug smugglers, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants begin.

“It’s a very troubling scene.”

MEDIA BUZZ: NEW YORK TIMES SAYS WHITE MALENESS MAY BE A 2020 ALBATROSS

Friedman continued: “The whole day left me more certain than ever that we have a real immigration crisis and that the solution is a high wall with a big gate — but a smart gate.”

“Without a high wall, too many Americans will lack confidence that we can control our borders, and they therefore will oppose the steady immigration we need.”

The piece continued to discuss how he believes the wall needed a “smart and compassionate” gate, and the country must welcome immigrants and asylum seekers “at a rate at which they can be properly absorbed into our society and work force.”

The column is in stark contrast to a piece published in February by the Times' Editorial Board, titled, "Phony Wall, Phony Emergency."

The column, published in the wake of President Trump's national emergency declaration, charged: "In reality, the wall is not a done deal, and Mr. Trump has spent the past few months — the past two years, really — failing to convince either Congress or Mexico to pay for it. This week’s bipartisan spending bill, which contained no more wall money than the one over which Mr. Trump shut down the government in December, was a particularly humiliating defeat."

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President Donald Trump speaks as he visits a new section of the border wall with Mexico in Calexico, Calif., Friday April 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump speaks as he visits a new section of the border wall with Mexico in Calexico, Calif., Friday April 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

"Desperate to save face, the president and his team cooked up a nonemergency emergency with the aim of seizing funds already appropriated for other purposes. Currently, the plan is to pull $2.5 billion from the military’s drug interdiction program, $3.6 billion from its construction budget and $600 million from the Treasury Department’s drug forfeiture fund. The White House plans to “backfill” the money it is taking from the Pentagon in future budgets.

"And so, in a breathtaking display of executive disregard for the separation of powers, the White House is thumbing its nose at Congress, the Constitution and the will of the American people, the majority of whom oppose a border wall."

Source: Fox News Politics

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Kremlin: hope Trump’s statement on Golan Heights will remain just ‘a call’

FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers stand on tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
FILE PHOTO: Israeli soldiers stand on tanks near the Israeli side of the border with Syria in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Israel May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

March 22, 2019

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Friday there was a hope that U.S. President Donald Trump’s call to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights would remain just a call, and not be enacted.

“It is just a call for now. Let’s hope it will remain a call,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call. He also said such calls risk seriously destabilizing the Middle East and harm efforts to find a peace settlement in the region.

Trump tweeted on Thursday it was time to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory that Israel seized from Syria in 1967.

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: OANN

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Officials announce Houston officer's case review, FBI probe

Prosecutors say they will review more than 1,400 criminal cases that involved a Houston police officer who the police chief says lied in an affidavit justifying a drug raid on a home in which two residents were fatally shot by officers.

Authorities also have announced that the FBI is opening an investigation to determine whether any civil rights were violated as a result of the raid and shooting.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Wednesday that the review will look at cases spanning decades that involved Officer Gerald Goines. Twenty-seven of those cases are active.

Goines has been suspended in the wake of the Jan. 28 raid in which a 59-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman were killed. Four officers, including Goines, were shot as they tried to enter the home.

Source: Fox News National

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Logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the Exxon Mobil Corp is seen at the Rio Oil and Gas Expo and Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil September 24, 2018. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Exxon Mobil Corp on Friday reported first-quarter profit fell sharply on lower oil and gas prices and weakness in its refining and chemicals businesses that offset modest production gains.

The largest U.S. oil producer’s first quarter earnings fell to $2.35 billion, or 55 cents a share, from $4.65 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year ago.

Analysts had expected Exxon to earn 70 cents per share, according to Refinitiv Eikon estimates.

Shares were trading down about 2.7 percent in premarket trading on Friday.

Exxon’s oil equivalent production rose 2 percent to 4 million barrels per day, up from 3.9 million bpd in the same period the year prior. The company said its output in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale basin, rose 140 percent over a year ago.

(Reporting by Jennifer Hiller; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: OANN

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A Baha’i advocacy group has expressed concerns over the fate of minority Baha’is at the hands of Yemen’s Houthi rebels ahead of the appeals hearing for one of the community leaders sentenced to death.

The Baha’i International Community said in a statement Friday that the hearing for Hamed bin Haydara, detained in 2013 and sentenced to death last year on espionage and apostasy charges, is due on Tuesday.

The statement quotes Bani Dugal, the Baha’i community representative at the United Nations, as saying the prosecution hasn’t addressed Haydara’s appeal but is instead making “absurd, wide-ranging accusations.”

International rights groups have decried the prosecution of Yemeni Baha’is by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Iran has banned the Baha’i religion, which was founded in 1844 by a Persian nobleman considered a prophet by followers.

Source: Fox News World

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Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during the inauguration of the newly-elected parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

April 26, 2019

By Rupam Jain and Hameed Farzad

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani encouraged newly-elected lawmakers to participate in the peace process with the Taliban as he opened on Friday the first session of parliament since a controversial election.

Ghani has invited thousands of politicians, religious scholars and rights activists to an assembly known as a loya jirga next week to discuss ways to end the 17-year war.

Several opposition leaders have said they will boycott the four-day assembly in Kabul, saying it was pulled together without their input and is being used by Ghani as he seeks a second term in a September presidential election.

“We have presented the peace plan on a regular basis and we are committed to it,” Ghani said in the first session since parliamentary elections marred by technical problems, militant attacks and accusations of voting fraud last year.

“Based on this plan, there will be no peace deal and negotiation that does not have the green card of the parliament,” he added.

Officials from the United States and the Taliban have held several rounds of talks to end the Afghan war.

U.S. negotiator, Zalmay Khalilzad, has reported some progress toward an accord on a U.S. troop withdrawal and on how the Taliban would prevent extremists from using Afghanistan to launch attacks as al Qaeda did on Sept. 11, 2001.

The insurgents have so far rejected U.S. demands for a ceasefire and talks on the country’s political future that would include Afghan government officials.

The loya jirga, a centuries-old institution used to build consensus among competing tribes, factions and ethnic groups, is an attempt by Ghani to influence the peace talks and cement his position for a second term, Afghan politicians and Western diplomats say.

Amid growing political divisions in Kabul, opposition politicians have demanded that Ghani step down when his mandate ends next month, and give way to an interim government to oversee peace talks with the Taliban. Ghani has ruled that out.

The country’s top court said last week Ghani can stay in office until the presidential election in September.

(Reporting by Hameed Farzad, Rupam Jain, Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Source: OANN

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Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Thursday defended special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation while slamming former President Barack Obama’s administration for being slow to take action on Russian interference in U.S. elections and ex-FBI Director James Comey for telling Congress the agency was investigating collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

“Our nation is safer, elections are more secure, and citizens are better informed about covert foreign influence schemes,” Rosenstein said in a speech to the Armenian Bar Association, marking his first public remarks after the Mueller report was released, reports CBS News.

He also pointed out that the investigation revealed a pattern of computer hacking and the use of social media to undermine elections as “only the tip of the iceberg of a comprehensive Russian strategy to influence elections, promote social discord, and undermine America, just like they do in many other countries,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Obama administration also made “critical decisions,” including choosing not to publicize the full story about Russian hackers and social media trolling, “and how they relate to a broader strategy to undermine America,” said Rosenstein.

He noted that the Mueller probe began after Comey disclosed during a hearing before Congress that President Donald Trump “pressured him to close the investigation and the president denied that the conversation occurred.”

Rosenstein said two years ago, when he was confirmed, he was told by a Republican senator that he would be in charge of the probe and that he’d report the results to the American people.

However, he said he didn’t promise to do that, because it is “not our job to render conclusive factual findings. We just decide whether it is appropriate to file criminal charges.”

Source: NewsMax Politics

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FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei's factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province
FILE PHOTO: The Huawei logo is pictured outside its Huawei’s factory campus in Dongguan, Guangdong province, China, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) – Britain must get to the bottom of the leak of confidential discussions during a top-level security meeting about the role of China’s Huawei Technologies in 5G network supply chains, British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Friday.

News that Britain’s National Security Council, attended by senior ministers and spy chiefs, had agreed on Tuesday to bar Huawei from all core parts of the country’s 5G network and restrict its access to non-core elements was leaked to a national newspaper.

The leak of secret discussions has sparked anger in parliament and amongst Britain’s intelligence community. Britain’s most senior civil servant Mark Sedwill has launched an inquiry and written to ministers who were at the meeting.

“My understanding from London (is) that an investigation has been announced into apparent leaks from the NSC meeting earlier this week,” said Hammond, speaking on the sidelines of a summit on China’s Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

“To my knowledge there has never been a leak from a National Security Council meeting before and therefore I think it is very important that we get to the bottom of what happened here,” he told Reuters in a pooled interview.

British culture minister Jeremy Wright said on Thursday he could not rule out a criminal investigation. The majority of the ministers at the NSC meeting have said they were not involved, according to media reports.

Hammond said he was unaware of any previous leak from a meeting of the NSC.

“It’s not about the substance of what was apparently leaked. It’s not earth-shattering information. But it is important that we protect the principle that nothing that goes on in national security council meetings must ever be repeated outside the room.”

Allowing Huawei a reduced role in building its 5G network puts Britain at odds with the United States which has told allies not to use its technology at all because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

There have been concerns that the NSC’s conclusion, which sources confirmed to Reuters, could upset other allies in the world’s leading intelligence-sharing network – the Five Eyes alliance of the United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

However, British ministers and intelligence officials have said any final decision on 5G would not put critical national infrastructure at risk. Ciaran Martin, head of the cyber center of Britain’s main eavesdropping agency, GCHQ, played down any threat of a rift in the Five Eyes alliance.

(Writing by Michael Holden; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: OANN

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