http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2019/01/23/2019012301525.html

N.Korean Official in Secret Meeting with Deputy CIA Chief

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's right-hand man Kim Yong-chol, who heads North Korea's spy agency, met with the deputy director of the CIA during his three-day visit to Washington last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The daily said Kim Yong-chol held a closed-door meeting with Vaughn Bishop but did not say where and when exactly.

The Washington Post reported last week that Kim was expected to meet CIA Director Gina Haspel, but he ended up meeting the deputy director instead.

Bishop is a 30-year veteran with the CIA and was called out of retirement by U.S. President Donald Trump in August last year.

The only parts of Kim's itinerary that were disclosed to the media were a meeting with Trump at the White House on Friday and talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

But Kim, who was mostly holed up in his hotel room, was spotted leaving it at 7:10 p.m. on Friday, and that may have been the time when he was on his on his way to meet Bishop, according to the WSJ.

The daily pointed out that intelligence channels play a bigger role than diplomats in U.S.-North Korean talks. The daily quoted a former official at the U.S State Department as saying, "Generally speaking, in countries like North Korea, the foreign ministry has limited influence, so you need to be able to speak to the guys with the guns."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/4-gop-senators-urge-trump-to-put-isis-prisoners-from-syria-in-gitmo

Four Republican senators from southern states urged President Trump to use the Guantanamo Bay detention center on the American base in Cuba to hold fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS) group captured in Syria.

Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida said in a letter sent Tuesday: “We urge you to consider transferring the worst of these Islamic State fighters to the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, where they will face justice.

“As U.S. and partner forces have waged a campaign against the Islamic State over the past four years, we have captured hundreds of foreign enemy combatants. Our partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), are currently detaining over 700 of these battle-hardened terrorists in northeast Syria. These detainees include two of the so-called ‘Beatles,’ expatriated British citizens suspected of joining ISIS and beheading Western hostages.”

When he took office, Trump soon reversed an order from President Barack Obama to close Gitmo. There are 40 prisoners still held there.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jan/23/barossa-winemaker-peter-seppelt-to-stand-trial-on-child-sexual-abuse-charges

A prominent South Australian winemaker has been ordered to stand trial over child sexual abuse charges dating back to the 1990s.

Peter Seppelt, 54, pleaded not guilty in the Adelaide magistrates court to charges of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child and unlawful sexual intercourse.

The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 1994 and 1996 at Springton, near the Barossa Valley wine region.

Magistrate Elizabeth Sheppard continued Seppelt’s bail to appear in the district court in April.

Seppelt is a fifth-generation winemaker from one of the region’s oldest and most well-known winemaking families.

He made no comment as he left court accompanied by another man.

“He’ll be pleading not guilty and anything he’s got to say he’ll be saying in court, not elsewhere,” the associate said.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/23012019-china-hands-over-scientist-who-edited-embryo-genes-to-police/

The report accused He of using “fake” blood samples to get around Chinese law preventing people with HIV from taking part in aided reproduction.

It said two of the study’s eight volunteers became pregnant, with one giving birth to twin girls known only as Lulu and Nana. “The other is still pregnant,” Xinhua said, adding that the two mothers would be kept under medical observation and offered follow-up appointments.

William Hurlbut, a physician and bioethicist at Stanford who has known He for two years, told Agence France-Presse that he last heard from him seven days ago.

Heng He, a U.S.-based commentator with a PhD in biology, said the fact that He had managed to complete a cutting-edge and highly controversial procedure at all showed how lax ethical and medical regulation is in China.

“Why can’t you do this anywhere in the world, and yet you can do it in China?” Heng said. “At the very least, it shows that there is very little regulation of clinical trials on humans in China.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dhs-issues-emergency-order-to-civilian-agencies-to-squelch-cyber-hijacking-campaign-that-private-analysts-say-could-be-linked-to-iran/2019/01/22/40a3fce2-1eab-11e9-8e21-59a09ff1e2a1_story.html?

The Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday issued an emergency directive to all non-national-security agencies requiring them to take steps to protect their networks against a cyber-hijacking campaign that private-sector researchers suggest may be linked to Iran.

According to a directive issued by Christopher Krebs, head of the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, attackers have affected “multiple executive branch” agencies by redirecting and intercepting Web and mail traffic.