Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized after experiencing chills and fever, the court said Saturday. 

In a statement, the court’s public information office said Ginsburg was admitted Friday night to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. She was initially evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington before being transferred to Johns Hopkins for further evaluation and treatment of any possible infection. 

With intravenous antibiotics and fluids, her symptoms abated and she expected to be released from the hospital as early as Sunday morning, the statement said. 

Earlier this month Ginsburg, 86, suffered what the court described as a stomach bug. She was absent from arguments on November 13 but returned for the court’s next public meeting, on November 18. 

She has been treated for cancer twice in the past year and two other times since 1999. Over the summer she received radiation for a tumor on her pancreas. Last winter she underwent surgery for lung cancer. 

Read more at https://projects.voanews.com/mosul-library/?break-cache-and-show-edits

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s centrist rival Benny Gantz on Saturday urged leaders of the premier’s Likud party to join him in forming a government after their chief’s indictment on corruption charges. 
 
“In light of the circumstances, I call for the formation of the largest possible government under my leadership,” Gantz told a news conference, addressing members of the right-wing Likud. 
 
“I would be the prime minister for the first two years,” he said. 
 
And if Netanyahu “is cleared [of any wrongdoing] he could return and become prime minister,” Gantz added. 
 
Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced Thursday that he had charged Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, prompting speculation that the end of the premier’s decade-long tenure was nigh. 
 
The indictment came as Israel edged closer to its third general election in a year, after two inconclusive polls in April and September. 
 
On Wednesday, Gantz, a former army general whose party gained one more seat than Likud in the September poll, said he was unable to form a government and secure a majority in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. 
 
Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White coalition, was asked to form a government by President Reuven Rivlin after Netanyahu also failed to do so. 
 
Netanyahu remains the country’s interim premier, however. 

Third election looms

Parliament now has less than three weeks to find a candidate who can gain the support of more than half of the Knesset’s 120 lawmakers, or a deeply unpopular third election will be called. 
 
Gantz, speaking in Tel Aviv, said his proposal was “the only alternative to holding new elections.” 
 
Under Israeli law, while ministers cannot remain in place after being indicted, a prime minister is not legally required to resign unless convicted and with any appeals processes exhausted. 
 
In addition to the premiership, Netanyahu holds portfolios including agriculture and health, positions he may have to vacate in the coming days. 
 
Netanyahu, the first Israeli prime minister to be indicted in office on corruption charges, has denounced a “coup” against him, dismissed the charges as “false” and “politically motivated,” and vowed to hold on to power. 

At another time in history, the indictment of two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein on the night he killed himself might have served as an emphatic rebuttal to suspicions that the wealthy sex offender was actually slain. 
 
Not in 2019. 
 
Conspiracy theories continued to flourish, even after prosecutors took pains to point out the ample evidence backing a medical examiner’s determination that Epstein hanged himself. 
 
Video surveillance confirmed, they said in a news release and an indictment, that nobody had entered the area where Epstein was locked in his cell. 
 
The locked door to the unit, they said, could be opened only remotely by an officer in the jail’s control center, plus there was a second locked door to which only correctional officers assigned to the high-security housing unit had the key. Epstein had no roommate, they said, and died alone. 

‘People aren’t buying’ story
 
No matter. Social media buzzed with “Epstein didn’t kill himself” memes, fueled by the financier’s past associations with Britain’s Prince Andrew and U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. 
 
“People aren’t buying the suicide story,” said one tweet. 
 
“Epstein is alive on a beach somewhere in the Middle East,” said another. 
 
Democrats and Republicans — and even Epstein’s family and his alleged victims — were united in skepticism that Epstein could have taken his own life a month after his arrest on sex trafficking charges. 

At a news conference Thursday, lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents several women who say they were sexually abused by Epstein, said there remains quite a few “suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.” Dr. Michael Baden, the forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s family to observe his autopsy, also remained incredulous, saying he wanted to hear from the guards before deciding whether it was suicide or homicide. 
 
Eric Oliver, a University of Chicago professor who studies conspiracy theories, said no amount of evidence presented by government authorities is likely to change some people’s minds. 
 
“When there’s already this kind of profound mistrust of the political system, of political institutions, of the media, any kind of official channel that seeks to overturn this belief is likely to be viewed with suspicion,” he said. 
 
Oliver said a survey he conducted two weeks ago found that 30% of respondents believed Epstein’s death was a homicide. Most conspiracy theories gain traction with less than 20% of respondents, he said. The Trump-perpetuated theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. peaked at about 24%. 
 
The Epstein conspiracy theories also cut across the ideological spectrum, Oliver said, in part because they speak to concerns some Americans have about concentrations of wealth and power. 
 
“The idea that somehow or another they were able to sneak into his jail cell and murder him speaks to both that power — that they’re somehow or another above the law — and the nefariousness of their intentions, that they’d be willing to murder some guy who could potentially expose the wealthy,” Oliver said. 
 
The two corrections officers at the Metropolitan Correctional Center charged in connection with Epstein’s August 10 death are accused of the relatively mundane crime of falsifying prison logs. 

Not-guilty pleas
 
Guards Tova Noel and Michael Thomas were supposed to be checking on Epstein every half-hour. But prosecutors said they shirked that duty and were instead sleeping or surfing the internet for bargains on furniture and motorcycles, and Epstein “committed suicide overnight while unobserved.” The guards have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail. 
 
Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press this week that he initially had his own suspicions about Epstein’s death but concluded that failures by the jail’s staff had allowed Epstein to take his own life. 
 
Barr said he could understand people “whose minds went to sort of the worst-case scenario, because it was a perfect storm of screw-ups.” 

The phrase “Epstein didn’t kill himself” has taken on a life of its own — sometimes more as a pop culture catchphrase than an actual belief. 
 
It has shown up on a screen at San Diego’s airport, on a California brewery’s beer cans and as the name of a new Michigan brew. 
 
This month, a former Navy SEAL appearing on Fox News blurted, “Epstein didn’t kill himself,” during an unrelated interview. 
 
Last week, a man tried to register for a spot on the New Hampshire primary ballot as Rod “Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself“ Webber. 

On Monday, the day before the officers were charged, a woman who said Epstein sexually assaulted her when she was 15 wore a bracelet to a news conference that spelled out: “Epstein didn’t kill himself.” 
 
Even members of Congress got in on the act. 
 
Representative Paul Gosar, an Arizona Republican, spelled out the phrase with the first letter of each in a series of 23 tweets last week. At a prison oversight hearing on Tuesday, Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, said drywall, Christmas ornaments and Epstein were “three things that don’t hang themselves.” 
 
“That’s what the American people think, and they deserve some answers,” he said. 
 
Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, the new director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said during that oversight hearing that Epstein’s death was “a black eye on the entire Bureau of Prisons.” But in an exchange with South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, she reiterated that it was a suicide. 
 
“Do you have any evidence to suggest otherwise?” Graham asked. 
 
“I do not,” Hawk Sawyer said. 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, dubbed by critics “Putin on the Nile,” is set to boost his burgeoning relationship with Russia by dispatching his son, Mahmoud, to Moscow as a military attache, independent regional media outlets are reporting.

Russian officials say they welcome the prospect of Mahmoud el-Sissi being based in Moscow.  

The reassignment would coincide with an open rupture between Cairo and Washington over Egyptian plans to buy advanced Russian warplanes.

In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official Thursday threatened the Cairo government with sanctions if Egypt goes ahead with a $2 billion agreement to purchase more than 20 Su-35 fighter jets, a deal the relocated Mahmoud el-Sissi would likely oversee as military attache.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the Trump administration  was still discussing how to address its defense needs with Egypt adding that U.S. officials “have also been very transparent with them in that if they are to acquire a significant Russian platform like the Sukhoi-35 or the Su-35, that puts them at risk towards sanctions.”

The United States has provided billions of dollars in economic and military aid to Egypt, a longtime ally, whose military has been operating the U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter. Moving his son to Moscow is seen by Western diplomats here as a signal to Washington by el-Sissi of his intent to go ahead with buying the Su-35s.

“He’s playing hardball with Washington,” said a Western diplomat based here, who asked not to identified for this article.

According to independent media, Mahmoud el-Sissi’s reassignment, planned for next year, has the added benefit for Egypt’s president of moving his son out of the spotlight in Cairo. His role as a top official in the country’s domestic and foreign intelligence agency, the General Intelligence Service, has prompted turmoil within that agency, as well as growing public criticism of his father for not curbing his son, who has also been drawing allegations of corruption.

General Intelligence Service sources told Mada Masr, an Egyptian online newspaper, the reassignment to Moscow is “based on the perception within the president’s inner circle that Mahmoud el-Sissi has failed to properly handle a number of his responsibilities and that his increasingly visible influence in the upper decision-making levels of government is having a negative impact on his father’s image.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been intensifying his engagement with Middle Eastern and North African leaders, and seeking to rebuild Russian influence in the region, clout that was lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to analysts. Some analysts see the re-engagement as an effort to safeguard established strategic interests.  They cite as an example Russian intervention in Syria, where Moscow has its only Mediterranean naval base and needed to prop up the government of President Bashar al-Assad if it wanted to ensure its continuance.

Others say Russia’s renewed assertiveness is being overblown.

“Putin’s apparent victories in spreading Russian influence are mirages, some of which have come at a great cost,” according to Rajan Menon, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies. “Putin’s gambit in Syria had more to do with safeguarding a long-standing strategic investment that appeared imperiled than with outmaneuvering the United States,” he said in a Foreign Policy magazine commentary.

Nonetheless the dispatch of Mahmoud el-Sissi to Moscow is coming at a time of heightened disagreement between Washington and Cairo. Washington has told Cairo that buying the Russian warplanes would place U.S. and NATO military cooperation at risk. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote jointly to the Egyptian leader urging him to reverse the decision to buy Russian jets.

Ties between el-Sissi and Putin began warming in 2014, when the Obama administration curtailed military aid to Egypt after the Egyptian army ousted the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi. Cairo’s generals, smarting at Washington’s criticism of the coup that brought el-Sissi to power, talked openly of forging a “strategic realignment” with the Kremlin, evoking Egypt’s Nasser-era alliance with the Soviets.

Putin was quick to endorse el-Sissi as Egypt’s president, telling him during a 2014 visit to Moscow, “I wish you luck both from myself personally and from the Russian people.”

Putin also gave el-Sissi a black jacket with a red star on it, which el-Sissi wore during the Russian trip. Both men have much in common, coming from modest backgrounds and having gravitated toward the most powerful institutions in their closed societies, the KGB and the Egyptian army. They each rose cautiously up the bureaucratic ladder.

Last month, el-Sissi and Putin co-hosted the first Russia-Africa Summit, held at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.  It was the third meeting between the two presidents this year. In October the Egyptian air force’s tactical training center near Cairo hosted joint Russian-Egyptian military exercises dubbed Arrow of Friendship-1. The two countries have held several joint naval and airborne counterterrorism exercises since 2015.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said during a visit to Cairo this month, “When we are in Egypt we always feel like at home.” The Russian military, he said, “is ready to assist in strengthening Egyptian military forces and defense capabilities.”

Shoigu’s delegation included top officials from Russia’s trade ministry, Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms exporter, and the deputy director of the Federal Service on Military-Technical Cooperation, prompting speculation among military analysts that Moscow and Cairo may be discussing arms deals other than the Su-35s and weapons systems co-production arrangements.

 

 

A week of back-to-back impeachment hearings in Washington may have been marred by bickering between Democrats and Republicans and thus unpleasant to watch, but at least in one aspect, they inspired confidence in the American experiment.
 
As Americans watched the House of Representatives conduct contentious public hearings — steps toward the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump — viewers got a reminder of the important role that immigrants have played in the nation’s development and the opportunities the country has afforded them.

Four key figures in the impeachment hearings are naturalized citizens, two of them children of refugees. Of the four, two earned positions in the White House itself, working on the ultra-sensitive National Security Council. A third worked her way up to the top of the country’s diplomatic corps. A fourth was seated on the dais, as an elected congressman and a member of the House Committee on Intelligence.

Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is the child of immigrants who fled first from the Soviet Union, and then from the Nazi occupation of Europe. Born in Canada, she grew up in Connecticut and became a naturalized U.S. citizen when she turned 18. She went on to graduate from Princeton University and the National Defense University, and to serve out a distinguished career in the State Department including three ambassadorships.

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was born in Ukraine, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. His family fled to the U.S. when he was a small child. Like both of his brothers, Vindman joined the U.S. Army, earning numerous commendations including a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat in Iraq. He is now Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council.

Fiona Hill, who until recently served in a senior position on the NSC, where she was Vindman’s functional superior, opened her testimony by describing herself as “American by choice.” Born in a hardscrabble coal mining town in Northern England, she came to the U.S. as an adult, attended Harvard University, and became a citizen in 2002.

Each of the three, at some point, found themselves being questioned by a fellow immigrant. Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic member of the intelligence committee, was born in New Delhi, India, and came to the U.S. as an infant. He went on to earn degrees from Princeton and Harvard universities, and was elected to Congress in 2017.

Lieutenant Colonel Vindman’s family came to the U.S. in 1973, with the help of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees.  

Melanie Nezer, the senior vice president for public affairs at HIAS, said that watching immigrants and refugees who have assumed high-ranking positions in the federal government “just shows you the benefits that refugees bring to this country.”

“It shows the talent, the dedication, the patriotism — all of those things that are contributions that refugees make,” she said. “It’s not just in later generations, but even in the first generation, when they arrive. You see how grateful they are for the opportunity to start new lives in this country and how dedicated they are to giving back.”

To be sure, participating in the public sphere also comes with its own dangers.

Yovanovitch was personally singled out by President Trump for attacks on Twitter, and was the focus of a concerted effort by supporters of the president to force her from her post as ambassador to Ukraine. Vindman found himself the target of online abuse so severe that the Army reportedly considered moving him and his family to safe housing on a military base.

Nevertheless, both appeared before Congress eager to express their dedication and gratitude to the country that took their families in.

“My service is an expression of gratitude for all that this country has given my family and me,” Yovanovitch testified. “My late parents did not have the good fortune to come of age in a free society. My father fled the Soviets before ultimately finding refuge in the United States. My mother’s family escaped the USSR after the Bolshevik revolution, and she grew up stateless in Nazi Germany, before eventually making her way to the United States. Their personal histories—my personal history—gave me both deep gratitude towards the United States and great empathy for others.”

Vindman, wearing his dress military uniform, used his testimony to hit many of the same notes. “Next month will mark 40 years since my family arrived in the United States as refugees,” he said. “When my father was 47 years old he left behind his entire life and the only home he had ever known to start over in the United States so that his three sons could have better, safer lives.”

“His courageous decision inspired a deep sense of gratitude in my brothers and myself and instilled in us a sense of duty and service,” he added. “All three of us have served or are currently serving in the military. Our collective military service is a special part of our family’s story in America.”

 

A U.S. federal judge has awarded a Washington Post journalist and his family nearly $180 million in their lawsuit against Iran over his 544 days in captivity and torture while being held on internationally criticized espionage charges.

The order in the case filed by Jason Rezaian came as Iranian officials appeared to begin restoring the internet after a weeklong shutdown amid a security crackdown on protesters angered by government-set gasoline prices sharply rising. The U.S. government has sanctioned Iran’s telecommunications minister in response to the internet shutdown.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington entered the judgment late Friday in Rezaian’s case, describing how authorities in Iran denied the journalist sleep, medical care and abused him during his imprisonment.

“Iran seized Jason, threatened to kill Jason, and did so with the goal of compelling the United States to free Iranian prisoners as a condition of Jason’s release,” Leon said in his ruling.

The judge later added: “Holding a man hostage and torturing him to gain leverage in negotiations with the United States is outrageous, deserving of punishment and surely in need of deterrence.”

Iran never responded to the lawsuit despite it being handed over to the government by the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which oversees U.S. interests in the country. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

Rezaian and his lawyers did not respond to a request for comment. Martin Baron, the executive editor of the Post, said in a statement that Rezaian’s treatment by Iran was “horrifying.”

“We’ve seen our role as helping the Rezaians through their recovery,” Baron said. “Our satisfaction comes from seeing them enjoy their freedom and a peaceful life.”

Rezaian’s case, which began with his 2014 gunpoint arrest alongside his wife Yeganeh Salehi, showed how the Islamic Republic can grab those with Western ties to use in negotiations. It’s a practice recounted by human rights groups, U.N. investigators and the families of those detained.

Despite being an accredited journalist for the Post with permission to live and work in Iran, Rezaian was taken to Tehran’s Evin prison and later convicted in a closed trial before a Revolutionary Court on still-unexplained espionage charges.

Iran still focuses on the case even today, as a recent television series sought to glorify the hard-liners behind the arrest.

It remains unclear how and if the money will be paid. It could come from the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, which has distributed funds to those held and affected by Iran’s 1979 student takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and subsequent hostage crisis. Rezaian named Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, this year designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration, as a defendant in the case.

 

A political fundraiser accused of funneling foreign money into U.S. elections offered six witnesses in his case more than $6 million to keep quiet, federal prosecutors said Friday.

Prosecutors also revealed new allegations that the donor, Imaad Zuberi, acted as an unregistered agent for the Turkish government and Libyan government officials, among other foreign countries.

The allegations came hours before Zuberi pleaded guilty Friday in Los Angeles to charges of tax evasion, campaign finance violations and failing to register as a foreign agent.

California, New York scrutiny

Zuberi has been under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in both California and New York over millions of dollars in political contributions, including big donations to the inaugural committees of both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.

So far, he has been charged only in Los Angeles. Zuberi’s attorneys had requested a delay of Friday’s hearing, saying they had been blindsided by prosecutors in New York saying they intended to charge him with additional crimes.

In a court filing, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles accused Zuberi of stalling. The office told the judge that if Zuberi did not plead guilty as scheduled, his plea agreement would be voided and he would be hit with additional charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice related to $50,000 Zuberi is alleged to have paid a witness.

The filing said prosecutors would present evidence at sentencing that Zuberi had obstructed the investigation “by paying, or offering to pay, $6,150,000 to six witnesses in return for their false testimony or silence.”

The papers also said prosecutors would present evidence that Zuberi had acted as an unregistered agent for Sri Lanka and Turkey and Libyan government officials, as well as a Bahraini national, a Ukraine national and Pakistani nationals.

Zuberi’s attorney declined to comment on the allegations.

Turkey connections

The allegation that Zuberi acted as an unregistered agent for Turkey comes about a month after investigators probing his activities questioned a prolific Democratic Party donor who has ties to the administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to law enforcement records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The records show that prosecutors and FBI agents quizzed the donor, Murat Guzel, a Turkish-American businessman, about his dealings with Zuberi and several U.S. lawmakers and foreign officials. Guzel was granted immunity to speak with authorities, the records show.

As part of their investigation, authorities also examined a $50,000 check Zuberi gave to Guzel earlier this year, according to other records reviewed by the AP.

It was not clear from those records or Friday’s court filings whether Guzel was among the witnesses Zuberi is accused of trying to pay off.

Guzel declined to comment through his attorney. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan also declined to comment. The Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment.

‘Commercial diplomat’

A self-described “commercial diplomat,” Guzel has been an outspoken supporter of Turkey while being active in politics as a member of the Democratic National Committee. He immigrated to the U.S. more than 30 years ago and owns organic fruit companies in Pennsylvania.

Guzel’s Facebook account, which featured pictures of him with several prominent Democratic lawmakers at fundraisers and other events, was deleted after he was contacted by The Associated Press.

Guzel has actively advocated for policies backed by Erdogan. Last year he led a news conference outside Congress where he criticized U.S. support for Kurdish fighters. Guzel’s emails also appear in a 2016 Wikileaks dump of Erdogan son-in-law’s emails. In one email, Guzel boasted of getting a former congressman to write an op-ed praising Turkey as a key ally.

Guzel and Zuberi are also connected through federal campaign finance records and social media postings.

Zuberi, 49, was a major donor to former President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton but became a generous supporter of President Donald Trump within hours of his 2016 election.

Federal prosecutors in New York scrutinized a $900,000 donation he made to Trump’s inaugural committee and singled him out in a subpoena to the inaugural committee seeking a wide array of records about the $107 million celebration. The inaugural committee has not been accused of wrongdoing.

In the Los Angeles case, Zuberi was accused of soliciting donations from foreign nationals and companies and then acting as a straw donor to make donations to several U.S. political campaigns. The charges in that case are unrelated to Trump’s inauguration.

A self-confessed Chinese spy has given Australia’s counterespionage agency inside intelligence on how Beijing conducts its interference operations abroad and revealed the identities of China’s senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, media reported.

Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters Saturday that the detailed accusations of China infiltrating and disrupting democratic systems in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are “very disturbing.”

The Nine network newspapers reported Chinese defector Wang “William” Liqiang told ASIO, the country’s counterespionage agency, that he was involved in the kidnapping in 2015 of one of five Hong Kong booksellers suspected of selling dissident materials. The incident has been a reference point for protesters during the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong.

He would be the first Chinese intelligence operative to blow his cover.

“I have personally been involved and participated in a series of espionage activities,” Wang reportedly said in a sworn statement to ASIO in October.

He revealed he was part of a Hong Kong-based investment firm, which was a front for the Chinese government to conduct political and economic espionage in Hong Kong, including infiltrating universities and directing harassment and cyberattacks against dissidents.

Using a South Korean passport, Wang said he meddled in Taiwan’s 2018 municipal elections and claimed there were plans to disrupt the presidential vote on the democratic self-ruled island next year. China claims Taiwan as its territory to be reunited by force if necessary.

Wang said he faced detention and possible execution if he returned to China.

Seeking asylum

He said he currently was living in Sydney with his wife and infant son on a tourist visa and had requested political asylum.

Australia’s Home Affairs Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond Saturday to a faxed request for comment on Wang.

In Hong Kong, calls to the China Innovation Investment Limited office went unanswered Saturday. The company was identified by Wang as a front for Chinese intelligence operations in the city.

According to its website, CIIL is an investment holding company incorporated in Cayman Islands in February 2002 and listed on Hong Kong’s stock exchange in August the same year. It has investments in several companies in Hong Kong and China involved in energy storage products, lightning products, energy saving and media terminals.

Frosty Australia-China relations

Resource-rich Australia relies on China for one-third of its export earnings, but relations have been frosty for some time.

The Australian government has been trying to neutralize China’s influence by banning foreign political donations and all covert foreign interference in domestic politics.

“These are very disturbing reports,” Frydenberg said. “The matter is now in the hands of the appropriate law enforcement agencies.”

“The government makes no apologies for the strong measures that we’ve taken to ensure that we have foreign interference laws in place,” he added. “We will always stand up for our national interest whether it’s on matters of foreign policy, foreign investments or other related issues.”

Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis warned on Friday that the Chinese government was seeking a “takeover” of Australia’s political system.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison dismissed such concern, saying that national intelligence agencies were on top of any threats.

Documents released late Friday show Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was in contact with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the months before the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was abruptly recalled.

The State Department released the documents to the group American Oversight in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. They show that Pompeo talked with Giuliani on March 26 and March 29.

Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said the documents reveal “a clear paper trail from Rudy Giuliani to the Oval Office to Secretary Pompeo to facilitate Giuliani’s smear campaign against a U.S. ambassador.”

Last week, former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch told House impeachment investigators she felt “kneecapped” by a “smear campaign” Giuliani led against her. She was withdrawn from her post in Ukraine in May.

The documents released Friday also include a report, that appears with Trump hotel stationery, that appears to summarize a Jan. 23, 2019, interview with Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, Victor Shokin. The summary says Giuliani and two business associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were present.

Parnas and Fruman were arrested last month on a four-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsification of records. The men had key roles in Giuliani’s efforts to launch a Ukrainian corruption investigation against Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

In the document, Shokin claims he was removed from his position under pressure from Biden.

A second memo appears to be a summary of an interview with Yuri Lutsenko, also a former prosecutor general of Ukraine, conducted in the presence of Giuliani, Parnas and Fruman. Lutsenko is quoted raising questions about compensation that Hunter Biden received from the Ukrainian oil company Burisma.

Authorities in Jakarta say they have arrested 74 people on suspicion of terrorism and membership in the Jamaah Ansarud Daulah (JAD) group, which is affiliated with the Islamic State terror group, in a series of counterterrorism operations across Indonesia in the past week.

The suspects were apprehended during several anti-terror operations in 10 provinces after the Nov. 13 suicide bombing of a police station in Medan, in North Sumatra, National Police Chief Idham Azis said. The majority of the arrests, 30, were made in North Sumatra.

“In addition to revealing the identity of the suicide bombers, the Indonesian National Police has also arrested 74 suspects linked to a terror network in 10 regional areas within eight days of the incident,” Azis told lawmakers Wednesday during a meeting of Commission III of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia.

The police headquarters attack in Medan last week reportedly injured six people and killed the bomber. Indonesian police did not immediately release the identity of the bomber, but said its investigations revealed that he had links to a local network of the JAD group.

In another incident last month, in Pandeglang regency of Banten province, a JAD-affiliated man stabbed chief security minister Wiranto during a public gathering. Wiranto survived the attack, but the incident rang alarms in the country with President Joko Widodo, who ordered more security and a crackdown on JAD.

JAD a terrorist organization

JAD was founded in 2015 and was designated in 2017 as a terrorist organization by the United States for its connections to IS. Its leader, Aman Abdurrahman, was sentenced to death last year for masterminding terror attacks and helping set up a jihadi training camp in Aceh province.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, Abdurrahman pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in early 2014 and served as the group’s main translator, disseminating information online from jail, including IS’s call for Muslims to kill Westerners indiscriminately. He acted as the de facto leader of IS supporters in Indonesia, and instructed associates to travel to Syria to join the IS jihadists.

Focus on prevention

Despite the recent attacks by the group, police chief Azis said security forces have successfully reduced the terror attacks by 58% in the country, from 19 incidents in 2018 to eight this year. He added that police this year have arrested about 275 terrorism suspects in the country, many of whom he said have been radicalized through social media.

In a separate meeting with the Indonesian parliament Thursday, Suhardi Alius, the country’s National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief, said his government needs to focus on preventive measures in addition to using law enforcement in combatting terrorism and extremism.

Alius said BNPT, along with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, is working to provide counseling for inmates who hold terrorist views and to ensure extremist ideology is contained in the prisons.

“It has started with the revitalization of prisons on the counseling of terrorism prisoners based on classification, so that gradually the development of terrorist prisoners can be centralized and they no longer mix with regular inmates,” Alius added.

He said BNPT in 2016 submitted a list of 600 former terrorists who had denounced their extremist ideology to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The former terror members will be counseled and fostered, instead of being exiled, he said.

Rise in radicalism

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, has witnessed a rise in radicalization over the years along with occasional terrorist attacks.

A string of bombings by al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiah in 2002 on the tourist island of Bali killed 202 people. The rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the Maute group, in neighboring Philippines, in later years drew hundreds of Indonesians to migrate abroad to join the extremist groups.
 

Amazon.com Inc. Friday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims contesting the Pentagon’s award of an up to $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp.

An Amazon spokesman said the company filed a complaint and supplemental motion for discovery. The filing was under seal. 

“The complaint and related filings contain source selection sensitive information, as well as AWS’s proprietary information, trade secrets, and confidential financial information, the public release of which would cause either party severe competitive harm,” Amazon said in a court document seeking a protective order. “The record in this bid protest likely will contain similarly sensitive information.”

Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper rejected any suggestion of bias in the Pentagon’s decision to award Microsoft the contract after Amazon announced plans to challenge it.

Amazon was considered a favorite for the contract, part of a broader digital modernization process of the Pentagon, before Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner. 

The company has previously said that politics got in the way of a fair contracting process. U.S. President Donald Trump has long criticized Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos.

 A U.S. university in the Western state of Idaho says it is no longer accepting students whose only health insurance is Medicaid, a federal health plan primarily for low-income people.

Brigham Young University-Idaho said it was now requiring students to buy a university-backed health plan, a move that could force some low-income students to drop out.

Students at the private university are required to have health insurance to be enrolled, a practice that is common at colleges across the country, both public and private. Previously, Medicaid qualified as adequate coverage at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Medicaid, funded by the U.S. government, is a health insurance plan for low-income and disabled people.

Brigham Young University is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church.

Students’ options

Following the university’s change in policy, students covered by Medicaid will now have to either buy another health insurance plan or enroll in a university-sponsored plan. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the university health plans are run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and cost $536 per semester for an individual or $2,130 for a family.

A statement from the university explained its reasoning for the decision: “Due to the health care needs of thousands of students enrolled annually on the campus of BYU-Idaho, it would be impractical for the local medical community and infrastructure to support them with only Medicaid coverage.”

Last year, Idaho passed an expansion of Medicaid in which families and individuals who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level would be eligible to receive Medicaid. That was an increase from the previous coverage, which topped out at 100% of the poverty level. The law goes into effect in January.

Local health care providers told media outlets that they were fully prepared to handle the care of new Medicaid patients and said they were not consulted by university officials. Grand Peaks Medical and Dental CEO Lori Sessions told EastIdahoNews.com that her clinic has been working to expand its offering “in anticipation of the influx of patients that Medicaid expansion could possibly bring.”

Protest planned

Thousands of Brigham Young students have signed a petition asking the university to reverse its position. Students say they are planning a sit-in Monday outside the offices of the school’s executives.

Brigham Young University’s main campus in Provo, Utah, has not changed its health insurance policy and still allows students insured only by Medicaid to attend.

U.S. House Democrats’ public impeachment inquiry hearings provided new details on allegations President Donald Trump pushed Ukraine’s president to investigate domestic political rival Joe Biden and his son. But as lawmakers draft the articles of impeachment for an expected vote before the end of the year, Republicans and Democrats remain deeply split over impeachment. VOA congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson reports on where the impeachment inquiry heads next.

An attorney assisting Gambia with its lawsuit against Myanmar alleging state-sponsored genocide at the U.N.’s top court said Thursday that he was confident that the West African nation would win the case based on copious, strong evidence of army atrocities against the Muslim Rohingyas. 

“The evidence is plentiful,” Paul Reichler, an attorney at Foley Hoag LLC in Washington, told Radio Free Asia’s Myanmar service. He spoke a day after the Myanmar government announced that State Counselor and Foreign Affairs Minister Aung San Suu Kyi would lead a team in defending the country at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the Netherlands. 

“There are many, many fact-finding reports by U.N. missions, by special rapporteurs, by human rights organizations,” Reichler said. 

“There is satellite photography, and there are many, many statements by officials and army personnel from Myanmar, which all together show that the intention of the state of Myanmar has been to destroy the Rohingya as a group in whole or in part,” he said. 

“And we’re very confident that at the end of the day the evidence will be so compelling that the court will agree with The Gambia,” he said. 

In the lawsuit, filed 10 days ago, Muslim-majority Gambia accuses Myanmar of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention for the brutal military-led crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017 that left thousands dead and drove more than 740,000 across the border into Bangladesh. 

The West African country sued on behalf of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The first public hearings at the ICJ will be held Dec. 10-12. 

Myanmar has largely denied that its military was responsible for the violence in Rakhine state, which included indiscriminate killings, mass rape, torture and village burnings, and it has defended the crackdown as a legitimate counterinsurgency against a group of Muslim militants. 

The government has also dismissed credible evidence in numerous reports and satellite imagery that points to the atrocities, and it has claimed that the Rohingya burned down their own communities and blamed soldiers for the destruction. 

Myanmar’s powerful military and civilian-led government are together working with legal experts to take on the lawsuit, Agence France-Presse reported Thursday, quoting military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. 

Separate cases pertaining to the persecution of the Rohingya have been filed at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and in an Argentine court, the latter of which names Aung San Suu Kyi and top military commanders deemed responsible for the atrocities. 

Myanmar has refused to cooperate with the ICC because the country is not a party to the Rome Statute that created the international court. 

On Thursday, Christine Schraner Burgener, the U.N.’s special envoy on Myanmar, welcomed the Southeast Asia country’s decision to defend itself before the ICJ. 

Burgener ended a 10-day mission to Myanmar on November 21, during which she met with government and military officials, diplomats, think tanks and U.N. agencies. 

“She welcomed the government’s position on the case filed by The Gambia to the International Court of Justice that, as a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide since 1956, Myanmar would take its international obligations seriously and would defend itself in front of the ICJ,” said a statement issued by the U.N.’s Myanmar office. 

State responsible for army actions 

Some of Myanmar’s top rights attorneys, meanwhile, weighed in on Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to appear before the ICJ. 

“As foreign minister, it is reasonable that she will lead the defense team,” said Thein Than Oo, one of the founding members of the Myanmar Lawyers’ Network. 

“As a leader of the country, Daw [honorific] Aung San Suu Kyi has consistently denied the accusations. This charge is not just for human rights violations. She will be defending the genocide accusation. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has consistently denied that charge. I think she will deny it in the court, too. She has to.” 

Kyee Myint, chairman of the Union Attorney and Legal Aid Association, noted that the state counselor’s team has very little time to prepare itself for the case. 

“We’ve got a very short period for preparation,” he said. “It’s less than 20 days. They should give us between three and six months, so that we have enough time to prepare the defense.” 

Kyee Myint also said that Aung San Suu Kyi should point out to the ICJ her limited authority over the military, as mandated in Myanmar’s constitution. 

“During the defense at the court, she should demonstrate her limited authorities over the military, showing them a copy of the 2008 constitution,” he said. “If she is willing to take the fall when the military is silent, that’s up to her.” 

But Reichler said that would provide no protection for Aung San Suu Kyi. 

“The army is part of the state. The civilian government is part of the state,” he said. 

“The state is responsible for the behavior of agents, of its organs, of its entities, of its ministries and of its military forces,” he added. 

“The idea that there are people in the government who oppose genocide … does not absolve the state of the responsibility that it has for operations of a different part of its government,” Reichler said. 

“The state is responsible whether the civilians support that genocide or not. It is the state that is carrying it out, whether it is the civilians or the military,” he said. 

Damage to country’s image 

Representatives from Myanmar’s political parties defended the government. 

Pyone Kathy Naing, a lawmaker from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, said that the West has misunderstood the term “clearance operation,” referring to the action that Myanmar security forces took in Rohingya communities in Rakhine state in 2017 in response to deadly attacks by a Muslim militant group. 

“The term ‘clearance operation’ is misunderstood in the Western world,” she said. “The military’s clearance operations were to clear out the terrorists — not to drive out the [Muslims]. We need to clarify it.” 

“For the lawsuit, we need to counter strategically with a highly expert legal team,” she added. 

Soe Thein, an independent legislator and former minister of the president’s office agreed, saying, “We need to fight back with an expert international legal team — spending millions of dollars.” 

Oo Hla Saw, a lower-house lawmaker from the Arakan National Party (ANP), raised concern about the impact that the ICJ lawsuit would have on Myanmar. 

“This lawsuit’s impact on our society will be huge, especially because our country’s image will be damaged whether we win or lose, since we are accused of rights violations,” he said. 

“The second thing is economic impact,” he said. “We will be isolated. We might be sanctioned by large Western countries. Nobody can be sure, but the impact will be huge because Western countries and the OIC countries will be influencing these motives.” 

“This will be a very big problem for us,” he added. 

Reported by Ye Kaung Myint Maung, Khin Khin Ei, Nay Myo Htun, Thet Su Aung, Thiha Tun and Phyu Phyu Khaing for RFA’s Myanmar service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung and Kyaw Min Htun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. 

There is a historic art museum in Washington that honors people whose lives reflect the American story. It’s called the National Portrait Gallery.   Every two years dignitaries and celebrities from all walks of life gather for a gala to celebrate extraordinary individuals.  Maxim Moskalkov attended this year’s event and spoke with some guests of honor.

Former President Barack Obama warned Democrats on Thursday against adopting “purity tests” in the presidential primary and said any adversity the candidates face in the contest will make whoever emerges an even stronger nominee.

Obama spoke to about 100 donors during a question-and-answer session with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez in Los Altos Hills, California. The event came a day after the fifth Democratic presidential primary in Atlanta and as the 17-person field continues to expand, with the expected entry of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the coming days.

Until recently, Obama largely refrained from opining publicly on the Democratic contest, and his move from the sidelines comes at a moment of deep uncertainty for the party. Many are jittery about the uneven candidacy of his former Vice President Joe Biden, questioning whether Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren can defeat President Donald Trump next year, and skeptical of whether Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor who is surging in Iowa, can appeal to black voters that are a crucial Democratic voting bloc.

“We will not win just by increasing the turnout of the people who already agree with us completely on everything,” Obama said. “Which is why I am always suspicious of purity tests during elections. Because, you know what, the country is complicated.”

‘Chill out’

Obama urged Democrats to “chill out,” saying, “The truth of the matter is that every candidate on that stage believes we should provide” better health care and education and address climate change.

He also noted the historic diversity of the Democratic field, which includes five women, and has three black candidates, a Latino man, an Asian-American man and a gay man. He compared that to his own election as the nation’s first black president.

“We have a number of women candidates and we have one gay candidate. And those candidates are going to have barriers if they win the nomination, or they win the general election — just like I did,” Obama told donors. “You can overcome that resistance if the way you are framing these issues and messages indicate, ‘Look, I’m part of an American tradition … of opening up opportunity.’”

In recent weeks Obama has sought to play both referee and uplifting elder statesman. He’s cautioned “woke” activists against embracing “cancel culture” and urged the party to not adopt positions that could cost them in the general election.

“That’s not bringing about change,” he said during a recent Obama Foundation event. “If all you are doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far.”

Advocating broad appeal 

At the same time, he has offered reassurances that a spirited primary will make the eventual nominee a stronger candidate.

It comes amid a fierce intraparty debate that has divided centrists and an ascendant progressive wing, which has advocated for policies like free college tuition and Medicare for All that would dramatically reshape the role of government in peoples’ lives.

Elections are ultimately won by offering a message that appeals to voters across the demographic spectrum, Obama said.

“We should not be somehow thinking either we’re going for our base voter of young hipsters and African Americans and single women versus Joe lunch-pail, hard-hat guy,” he said. “Because you know what? … I’ve had conversations with all those groups, and they share common dreams and common hopes and a vision for what a fair, just America would look like.”

The fundraiser Thursday was held at the home of Karla Jurvetson, a prominent Democratic donor and Silicon Valley philanthropist. The event raised more than $3 million for the Democratic National Committee, according to a senior party official.

Can sports get too political? South Africa’s first black rugby captain Siya Kolisi, leading the national team to World Cup victory; American footballer Colin Kaepernick, taking a kneel during the national anthem; and Ethiopian runner, Feyisa Lilesa’s protest gesture at the 2016 Olympics — all examples of what happens when sports and politics collide. But, do athletes, who use their influence to address political, social and cultural issues, really make an impact? This week on #VOAOurVoices, we tackle conflict and controversy at the intersection of sports and politics. In our #WomentoWatch segment, we show how women are using the beautiful game to push for an even playing field.

A former CIA officer who pleaded guilty to an espionage conspiracy with China could be facing more than two decades in prison.
                   
Fifty-five-year-old Jerry Chun Shing Lee is scheduled for sentencing Friday in federal court in Alexandria.
                   
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage, but prosecutors and defense lawyers disagree about the extent of the crime.
                   
Prosecutors say Chinese intelligence officers gave Lee more than $840,000 and that Lee likely gave them all the information he had from a 13-year career as a CIA case officer. They are seeking a prison term of more than 20 years.
                   
Defense lawyers say the government never proved that the money came from China or that Lee ever carried out any plans to deliver government secrets. They’re asking for a 10-year sentence.