Iranian intelligence service suspected of attempted attack in Denmark -security chief

Denmark said on Tuesday it suspected an Iranian intelligence service had tried to carry out a plot to assassinate an Iranian Arab opposition figure on its soil. A Norwegian citizen of Iranian background was arrested in Sweden on Oct. 21 in connection with the plot and extradited to Denmark, Swedish security police said. The attack was meant to target the leader of the Danish branch of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz (ASMLA), Danish intelligence chief Finn Borch Andersen said.

ASMLA seeks a separate state for ethnic Arabs in Iran’s oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan. “We are dealing with an Iranian intelligence agency planning an attack on Danish soil. Obviously, we can’t and won’t accept that,” Andersen told a news conference. Iran’s foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday, a public holiday in the Islamic Republic. Andersen said the arrested Norwegian citizen had denied charges in court of helping a foreign intelligence service plot an assassination in Denmark.

Iranian Arabs are a minority in mainly ethnic Persian Iran, and some see themselves as under Persian occupation and want independence or autonomy. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said on Twitter that the reported attack plot was “completely unacceptable”. “The government will respond to Iran and is speaking with European partners on further measurements,” Samuelsen said.

On Sept. 28, Danish police shut two major bridges to traffic and halted ferry services from Denmark to Sweden and Germany in a nationwide police operation to prevent a possible attack. A few days earlier, the Norwegian suspect had been observed photographing and watching the Denmark home of the ASMLA leader, police said. In November 2017, Ahmad Mola Nissi, an Iranian exile who established ASMLA, was shot dead in the Netherlands. The Danish security service then bolstered police protection of the ASMLA leader in Denmark and two associates. Last month, Iran summoned the envoys of the Netherlands, Denmark and Great Britain over a Sept. 22 shooting attack on a military parade in Khuzestan in which 25 people were killed.

Iran accused the three countries of harboring Iranian opposition groups. Another Arab opposition group, the Ahwaz National Resistance, and the Islamic State militant group both claimed responsibility for the parade attack, though neither has provided conclusive evidence to back up their claim. Last week, diplomatic and security sources said France had expelled an Iranian diplomat over a failed plot to carry out a bomb attack on a Paris-area rally by an exiled Iranian opposition group.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-denmark-security/iranian-intelligence-service-suspected-of-attempted-attack-in-denmark-security-chief-idUSKCN1N41N4?il=0

Turkey presses Saudi to say who sent Khashoggi killers: Erdogan

The Turkish lawyer looking into the death of Jamal Khashoggi has asked Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor to disclose who sent the team involved in the journalist’s killing, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Saudi prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb held talks with Istanbul’s prosecutor on Monday and Tuesday about Khashoggi’s death in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which has escalated into a crisis for the world’s top oil exporter.

Riyadh at first denied any knowledge of, or role in, his disappearance four weeks ago but Mojeb has contradicted those statements, saying the killing of Khashoggi, a critic of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was premeditated. The case has put into focus the West’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia - a major arms buyer and lynchpin of Washington’s regional plans to contain Iran - given the widespread scepticism over its initial response. Turkey has kept up the pressure on the Saudis, demanding a full explanation and releasing a steady flow of evidence which undermined Riyadh’s early denials.

Saudi Arabia says that 18 suspects in the case will face justice in the kingdom, despite repeated calls from Ankara for them to be extradited for trial in Turkey. “Yesterday, our prosecutor told the Saudi prosecutor that the prosecution could be carried out in Turkey since the location of the crime is Istanbul,” Erdogan told reporters at Turkey’s parliament. Saudi officials also needed to disclose who had sent a 15-strong team to Istanbul to carry out the operation targeting Khashoggi, as well as the identity of a local agent said to have helped dispose of his body. “Our prosecutor asked who sent the group that came here and said that this needed to be looked at,” Erdogan said. “Saudi officials need to reveal the local cooperators. Let us know whoever this person is and we will find them. “We cannot leave this issue unsolved, we need to solve it now. There is no point in procrastinating or trying to save some people from under this.”

Saudi prosecutor Mojeb held talks with Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Irfan Fidan, at Istanbul’s main court house for a second time on Tuesday before heading for the consulate where Khashoggi was killed, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported. On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called on Riyadh to conclude the investigation as soon as possible. “The whole truth must be revealed,” he said. “We believe (Mujeb’s) visit is important for these truths to come out.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-saudi-khashoggi-turkey/turkey-presses-saudi-to-say-who-sent-khashoggi-killers-erdogan-idUSKCN1N40VC?il=0

U.S. restricts exports to Chinese semiconductor firm Fujian Jinhua

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration took action on Monday to cut off a Chinese state-backed chipmaker from U.S. suppliers amid allegations the firm stole intellectual property from U.S. semiconductor company Micron Technology Inc (MU.O).

The Commerce Department said it had put Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co Ltd on a list of entities that cannot buy components, software and technology goods from U.S. firms. The administration is concerned the Chinese firm could flood the market with cheap chips that are also made by U.S. companies that supply the U.S. military. If the U.S. chipmakers go out of business, the military would lose a supplier for an item that must come from the United States.

Trade experts said the Trump administration’s move may be an unprecedented effort to use a legal tool known for punishing foreign companies that send U.S.-origin goods to sanctioned countries such as Iran to instead protect the economic viability of a U.S. firm. The move escalated what until now had been a business dispute into the realm of an international trade conflict between the United States and China. The Commerce Department spokesman said the move was “based on the regulatory standard.” The action against Fujian Jinhua is likely to ignite new tensions between Beijing and Washington since the company is at the heart of the “Made in China 2025” program to develop new high-technology industries.

The world’s top two economies are already waging a tariff war over their trade disputes, with U.S. duties in place on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and Chinese duties on $110 billion of U.S. goods. Fujian Jinhua makes so-called DRAM, the memory chips that make computers, phones and other devices run more quickly and smoothly.

Micron, a maker of memory chips with factories in Virginia and Utah, has accused Fujian Jinhua and Taiwanese partner United Microelectronics Corp (2303.TW) of stealing its chip designs in a lawsuit in California. In turn, the companies countersued Micron in China, where courts sided with them and banned some of Micron’s chips in China. “When a foreign company engages in activity contrary to our national security interests, we will take strong action to protect our national security,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement. A Commerce Department spokesman said the agency would review any appeal by Fujian Jinhua.

China’s Commerce Ministry said in a Tuesday statement responding to the news that it opposed the United States interfering in companies’ normal international trade and misusing export control measures. “China urges the U.S. side to take steps and immediately stop its mistaken ways,” the ministry added. Speaking earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the Chinese government had always asked Chinese companies to strictly follow local laws when they operate overseas, and asked foreign governments to provide fair treatment to Chinese firms.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-semiconductors/u-s-restricts-exports-to-chinese-semiconductor-firm-fujian-jinhua-idUSKCN1N328E

>>3663569

Correct, as well as their affiliation with BIS..who is their real master. (yellen, bernanke) So their interest is not in the stability of this country.

Australia spy chief says 5G risks high, in nod to China firms' exclusion

Australia must restrict foreign firms with government ties from its 5G mobile communications network because it is critical infrastructure, the head of one of the country’s intelligence agencies said, helping to explain why China’s Huawei was banned. Australia expanded its national security rules in August to exclude telecommunication equipment suppliers that it believes have ties to foreign governments. Huawei Technologies Co Ltd said after the policy announcement that it would be prohibited from Australia’s new broadband network.

The events soured bilateral relations between Canberra and China. “5G technology will underpin the communications that Australians rely on every day, from our health systems and the potential applications of remote surgery, to self-driving cars and through to the operation of our power and water supply,” Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Signals Directorate, said in rare public comments late on Monday. “A potential threat anywhere in the network will be a threat to the whole network,” he said in a speech that did not mention Huawei or any other firm by name. A spokesman for Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The company has previously denied it answers to the Chinese government.

Speaking in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said cooperation between Chinese and Australian companies was win-win, and Australia should not put up barriers to this. “We urge the Australian side to abandon ideological prejudices and create a fair competition environment for Chinese companies’ operations in Australia. We hope Australia handles this issue with caution,” Lu added. Huawei had offered Canberra access to its technology to satisfy security concerns, while it also argued the company structure hadn’t changed since it was allowed to supply equipment to Australia’s 4G network.

But Burgess said the 5G network requires different rules. “Historically, we have protected the sensitive information and functions at the core of our telecommunications networks by confining our high-risk vendors to the edge of our networks,” Burgess said. “But the distinction between core and edge collapses in 5G networks,” he said.

Western intelligence agencies have raised concerns for years that Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications network gear, is beholden to the Chinese government, raising the risk of espionage. The United States in August restricted access for Huawei and compatriot ZTE Corp to its lucrative market for similar reasons. Australia previously banned Huawei from providing equipment for its fiber-optic network and moved to block it from laying submarine cables in the Pacific. Although widely expected, the move added to tensions in bilateral ties as Canberra had previously accused China of meddling in its domestic politics, which soured trade ties.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-china-huawei/australia-spy-chief-says-5g-risks-high-in-nod-to-china-firms-exclusion-idUSKCN1N40AW

El Chapo loses last minute bid to postpone trial

A U.S. judge on Tuesday turned down a last-ditch effort by accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman to delay his trial, scheduled to begin next Monday with jury selection in Brooklyn federal court. Lawyers for Guzman said in a motion last week that they needed more time to review more than 14,000 pages documents, largely related to key witnesses expected to testify against their client, that prosecutors turned over on Oct. 5.

However, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan said at a hearing on Tuesday that the volume of documents was in line with what they should have expected, noting that prosecutors had said in July that it could be 25,000 pages and that sprawling, complex cases like Guzman’s were necessarily challenging for both sides. “Nobody is going to be as ready to try this case as they would like to be,” he said. In what he called a small concession to the defense, Cogan ruled that opening statements in the trial would begin no earlier than Nov. 13, which could allow some extra time to prepare if jury selection finishes early next week.

Cogan also raised concerns at the hearing about the prosecutors’ planned case at the hearing. He said he was concerned that the prosecutors had indicated that they were prepared to present evidence that Guzman was involved in more than 30 murder conspiracies, even though the charges against him are for drug trafficking. “This is a drug case,” he said. “I’m not in any way going to let them try a murder conspiracy case that happens to involve drugs.” He said that while some evidence of murder conspiracies connected to alleged drug trafficking would be allowed, it would be limited. Guzman, 61, has been in solitary confinement since being extradited to the United States from Mexico in January 2017. He was known internationally as the head of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-elchapo/el-chapo-loses-last-minute-bid-to-postpone-trial-idUSKCN1N424C?il=0

U.S. senator says will offer bill to back Trump birthright citizenship plan

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on Tuesday said he would introduce legislation to support U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to limit U.S. citizenship to certain children born in the United States. Graham, in a statement, said his measure would be “along the same lines” as the executive order that Trump earlier told Axios that he planned to enact. Neither Graham nor Trump gave any details or timeline.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-foreignpolicy-explainer/explainer-how-a-democratic-u-s-house-could-alter-foreign-policy-idUSKCN1N4162?il=0

>>3663929

Interesting role shifts..