NORWAY
Russia accused of hacking
Russia was behind a cyberattack launched against parliament in August, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Soereide said on Tuesday, an accusation Moscow denied. The parliament on Sept. 1 said that it had sustained a cyberattack the previous week and that the e-mail accounts of several lawmakers and employees had been hacked. “Based on the information available to the government, it is our assessment that Russia stood behind this activity,” Soereide said in a statement. The Russian embassy in Oslo said that the accusations were not backed up with evidence and were unacceptable. “We regard this as a serious deliberate provocation, harmful for bilateral relations,” the embassy said. When authorities announced the incident last month, they did not say who they thought was behind the attack. “The fact that we go out with an attribution is a strong signal ... from Norwegian authorities,” Soereide told reporters. “We cannot accept that parliament is the subject of such attacks.”
KAZAKHSTAN
Three blast off to ISS
Two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut yesterday blasted off on a high-speed journey to the International Space Station (ISS) in the first such launch aboard a Russian capsule since SpaceX’s game-changing debut manned flight from US soil. Sergey Ryzhikov, Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and NASA’s Kathleen Rubins launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Their journey was the first manned flight to the ISS to last just over three hours before docking — a new fast-track profile that takes half the time of standard trips. Only an unmanned cargo ship had previously used the profile, which requires just two orbits of the Earth.
UNITED STATES
Pompeo defends detainees
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday defended the 12 Hong Kongers who were detained by China while allegedly trying to flee to Taiwan by boat in August, saying that they had “committed no crime.” “They simply believe that they are worthy of freedom and the unalienable rights due to every person,” Pompeo said in a speech from the Department of State delivered virtually at the John S. McCain Freedom Award Ceremony. “They aren’t alone in that belief. America stands with them.” The 12, some of whom are linked to protests and were facing charges in Hong Kong prior to their arrest, are being held in Shenzhen, China, where they await prosecution. Two are suspected of organizing an illegal border crossing, while the other 10 are suspected of entering Chinese waters illegally.
CANADA
Trudeau criticizes China
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said that China’s “coercive diplomacy,” repressive measures in Hong Kong and detention of Uighurs are counterproductive for itself and the rest of the world. Trudeau took aim at Beijing’s record as he marked the 50th anniversary of the nation’s diplomatic ties with China. “We will remain absolutely committed to working with our allies to ensure that China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens alongside other citizens of other countries around the world is not viewed as a successful tactic by them,” he said at a news conference. He also mentioned Ottawa’s “concern for the protection of human rights and places like Hong Kong and ... with the Uighurs.” Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor have been held in China for nearly two years and have been charged with spying.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
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