Friday, September 27, 2019

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 9/27/2019 NEWSDUMP FRIDAY





(MORE UPDATING AS ABLE WHICH WILL COME UNTIL 12 NOON EASTERN AND AFTER 10 PM EASTERN FRIDAY)




We start with some of the story of the political drama in Washington.    Three House committees controlled by Democrats issuing a subpoena aimed at Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.   They want all relevant documents within a week and are asking Pompeo to testify next Friday October 4th.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying the "impeachment inquiry" will continue for how ever long it takes.


President Trump wondering about the so-called "whistle blower" in the matter of his phone call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.


The person involved does not have direct knowledge of much of the matters in the complaint getting information from others.   Trump wonders who those "others" are.


Also word coming out Friday night of the resignation of Kurt Volker, US Special Envoy for Ukraine.


Volker a longtime inside the beltway figure and Executive Director of the McCain Institute.


Volker's name is mentioned in the "whistle blower" complaint.






Brexit deal talks resuming again as we go into the weekend.    British Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay traveling to Brussels.


The British government sees progress being made in the talks with obstacles to reaching a deal.


European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier reported saying the "Irish backstop" proposal from the British government dealing with Northern Ireland's border with Ireland won't work.


The Greater London Authority referring Prime Minister Boris Johnson to police who will investigate whether he was involved in misconduct as Mayor of London.


The allegation surrounds Johnson's involvement with a businesswoman alleged to have received favorable treatment when he was mayor.


Johnson denies any wrongdoing in the matter.



Police in Nigeria say they have freed more than 300 students from an Islamic school where they were being abused.  


Nigerian authorities say the students at the boys school were beaten, chained, and sexually abused.




The interpretation of the story from the "Sunday Times" in South Africa.....LINK




Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in isolation at HMP Belmarsh in London, the British Gitmo, facing serious health problems.    That's the word from his lawyer Carlos Poveda who says Assange's isolation has caused him to lose weight.



Its Saturday in Afghanistan this Friday night and the polls are open in that country's presidential election.    Violence has been threatened by the Taliban to disrupt the electoral process.    Tight security across the country with troops and police deployed.    The polls close at 1030 am Eastern US time Saturday.


15 candidates running in the election with incumbent Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah considered the top contenders.





Suicides in the US military are at a record high.     The Pentagon released a report Thursday revealing a 24.8 per 100,000 rate of suicides in 2018, up from 18.5 in 2013.


The suicide rate at its highest among National Guard members at 30.6 per 100,000.    The most common suicides involve enlisted men under the age of 30.


More from "Fox News"......LINK



200 US soldiers and a Patriot missile battery being sent to Saudi Arabia.



That's the substance of the US military response to the Saturday September 14th attacks on Saudi oil facilities.




President Trump says he refused to withdrawal sanctions against Iran in exchange for a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani this week in New York.




Three countries involved in the 2015 JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran say they may have to pull out of it.    France, Germany and the United Kingdom warning that Iran's decision to breach aspects of the agreement imperil their continued involvement.


Iran made its moves after the United States pulled of the JCPOA and began an ever increasing tightening of sanctions against it.




The political standoff in Israel continues.   President Reuven Rivlin handed the baton to form a new government to the Likud Party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.    Likud keeps pushing the notion of a "unity government" that would include the party that got the most votes in the election, Blue and White, but make Benjamin Netanyahu prime minister instead of its leader, Benny Gantz.


Four and a half hours of talks between Likud and Blue and White Friday.  Talks that went nowhere.  Likud trying to keep the talks going on Saturday night but Blue and White proposing Sunday morning as the time for the next meeting.


"Israel National News" with more......LINK


As we move into the weekend with the attempt to form a new government in Israel and the impending indictments of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there's a report suggesting imminent Israeli military action in northern Syria.


Here's a link to that story.....LINK





The Syrian Air Force continuing to step up the pace of its attacks on Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists in northwestern Syria Friday.    Attacks in both Hama and Latakia provinces reported.   There have been multiple cease-fire violations in those regions by the jihadists.


Syrian opposition activists say pro-Iranian militia were attacked in the eastern part of Syria again on Friday.




US claims of chemical weapons attacks in Syria may undermine attempts to improve the political situation in that country.


Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said:


"It seems strange to us that every time some positive shifts happen, first of all in the political process, statements emerge that may undermine the improvement of the situation in Syria"


Constitutional talks recently got underway in Syria but yesterday US  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Syria's government was responsible for a "chlorine attack" on May 19th in the northwestern part of the country.


In Tripoli, Libya Friday an airstrike on a militia headquarters.   The militia force supports the Government of National Accord which is fighting the Libyan National Army.


The GNA is the UN recognized government in Libya and its reportedly getting military support from Turkey.


The LNA also getting outside support reportedly from the United Arab Emirates among other nations.     


The GNA claimed that Friday's airstrike involved a foreign nation's air force but the LNA says it was a "Libyan Air Force" aircraft involved in the attack.


The United States Africa Command announcing Friday that there was an attack on jihadists in southwestern Libya earlier in the week.

The US saying 17 of the terrorists were killed in the airstrike.


Thousands protesting in the streets of Algiers Friday opposing plans for a presidential election on December 12th.


Two former premiers of Algeria set to face off in the election seen by the protests as a rigged and flawed process.


"Reuters" reports......LINK



In Egypt tightened security measures including the closing off of Cairo's Tahrir Square Friday.  New calls for protest against the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi over allegations of corruption.


More than 11-hundred arrests after last weekend's protests in Cairo and other cities.   Protests called by self-exiled contractor and actor Mohamed Ali.


The President of Poland met with Jewish leaders in New York this week and said his country's  Anti-Semitism was being stirred up by the hostile comments of Israel's Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz.


Katz spoke out about Polish involvement in the Holocaust after Poland passed a law criminalizing speaking about Poles being involved in Nazi atrocities during World War 2.


Polish President Andrej Duda said his countrymen have told him not to travel to Israel until Katz apologizes.


More from "Israel National News"........LINK



New US sanctions linked to Venezuela.   They involve the leader of the Communist Party in Cuba who is its former President.    Raul Castro, brother of the late Fidel Castro, and his family members barred from visiting the United States.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Castro is responsible for efforts to "prop up" the Maduro regime in Venezuela.

A federal district judge issuing an order to stop plans to extend detention for children crossing the border illegally.


US District Judge Dolly Gee moving to stop an attempt by the Trump Administration to deal with the massive influx of illegal immigrants on the southern border.


The New Jersey Attorney General moving Friday to end local law enforcement cooperation in his state with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Saudi Arabia saying it will allow tourists to visit the country and issue visas.


Women tourists will be expected to "dress modestly" when they visit  "the Kingdom" as President Trump calls it.


But you better not visit the country at all is the opinion of a former US military attache to Saudi Arabia, Colonel Pat Lang.


More at Lang's "Sic Semper Tyrannis" blog......LINK



And that's the way it really is for this Newsdump Friday September 27th, 2019.



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