NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT FRIDAY 10/18/2019  NEWSDUMP FRIDAY 

(SERVICE IS LIMITED AS TO POSTING TIMES BUT WILL CONCLUDE LATE TONIGHT WITH POSTS AND EDITING EXTENDING PAST MIDNIGHT EASTERN TIME TILL AROUND 115 AM)

"This is about manslaughter, rape and more"

The words of US Senator, Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon, speaking on the floor of the Senate Thursday.

What information does the FBI have about the Saudi government's role in spiriting its citizens out of the United States to avoid criminal prosecution?

Wyden's  Saudi Fugutives Declassification act passed the US Senate by "unanimous consent" Thursday requiring the FBI Director in conjunction with the Director of National Intelligence to declassify documents related to Saudi government activities to help Saudis flee justice in the United States.

"OregonLive/The Portland Oregonian" investigated cases of Saudi citizens accused of crimes in the US finding seven such cases and additional cases in seven other states bringing the total to 25.

Three-quarters of the cases involved sexual assault.

More from "OregonLive"........LINK

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed today that Boeing turned over documents it discovered "some months ago".

Internal instant messaging from inside the company in 2016 between two employees suggests Boeing may have misled the FAA about a key safety component of the now grounded 737 MAX aircraft.

Product recalls announced Friday.

The maker of Zantac Sanofi recalling the product in the United States and Canada.    Other countries and retailers had already taken the product off the shelf in recent months.

The Food and Drug Administration investigating the notion that ranitidine, the generic name for the product, is contaminated with or may interact with use to create a cancer causing agent.

Johnson and Johnson recalling 33-thousand bottles of baby powder after traces of asbestos were found.    An  FDA test found the contamination in a bottle purchased online.

The State Department's internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of private email found violations by 38 people.   

The 38 people are current and former State Department officials who are not identified.   In 91 cases they sent classified information to Clinton's personal email.

Some may face disciplinary action.    The report says that no deliberate or systematic mishandling of classified information occurred.

This Associated Press story was published by "The New York Post" on the matter......LINK

Japan is considering sending its own protection force to the Strait of Hormuz area but not associate itself with the United States-Gulf Arab protection force organized in the aftermath of recent oil tanker attacks and seizures in the region.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga revealed this at a Friday news conference.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is close to President Trump, played the role of intermediary in June talking to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Japan also has close economic ties to Iran importing Iranian oil and does not want to appear hostile.

Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" has more on the story.....LINK

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday.

Pompeo reassuring Israel that the United States has a policy focused on the "Iranian threat".  The withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria is considered inconsistent with an anti-Iran policy in Israel and among leading figures in both major political parties in the United States, among other places.

President Trump's Syria policy is considered an plus in this commentary on the "Moon of Alabama" website posted today.......LINK

From the conflict in northeastern Syria word Friday of Turkish forces and their armed Syrian supporters attacking Kurds in spite of the cease-fire agreed to on Thursday.

The French President Emmanuel Macron announcing a joint initiative with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel aiming at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.  

Macron speaking to reporters at the summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

ALSO IN SYRIA FRIDAY AIRSTRIKES AGAINST JIHADISTS IN NORTHWESTERN SYRIA WITH THE RUSSIAN AEROSPACE FORCES (AIR FORCE) OPERATING IN SOUTHERN IDLIB PROVINCE.

TALK FROM PRO-GOVERNMENT SOURCES OF AN IMPENDING GROUND ATTACK BY SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FORCES THERE BUT NO SIGN OF IT HAPPENING YET.

A day of arm twisting and cajoling for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he tries to round up 320 House of Commons members to pass his Brexit "deal" with the European Union.

A special Saturday session planned to vote on the "deal".

Advocates for a clean break from the European Union call the deal "Brexit In Name Only".

Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, led a list of speakers at a rally in Westminster Friday night.

There's a BBC blog following the latest news about the "deal" today.....LINK 

A general strike underway today in Catalonia protesting the Spanish Supreme Court's hundred years worth of prison sentences for Catalan leaders involved in the 2017 independence referendum.

Highways blocked including the main highway connecting Spain with France.

Protesters marching on the capital city of Barcelona from five other cities for a mass rally attended by half a million people.

Four days of protests in the city including some clashes with police involving the use of molotov cocktails by protesters and anti-riot bullets by the police.

Late Friday fighting again erupted on the streets of Barcelona with rocks and fireworks from protesters and rubber bullets and tear gas from the police.

More from France's AFP News Agency.......LINK

A live multiplex video stream of the protests was posted Friday morning.....LINK

Another stream began later in the day currently up at 625 am Eastern US time Friday.....LINK

This live video also up from "Ruptly" of the protesters who are fighting the police.....LINK

This video link shows the non-violent march and rally and the massive crowd in downtown Barcelona today.......LINK

There is a state of emergency after a protest against fare hikes in Santiago, Chile's subway system Friday included attacks on subway stations by hooded protesters who lit fires.

Pots were clanged and streets blocked after dark in the city.  The headquarters building of an Italian energy company was set on fire.

The subway in the city will remain closed over the weekend.   Military patrols began in the city after the state of emergency was declared.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera saying:

"This is not protest, it is crime"

Tonight in a televised address President Pinera declared a state of emergency in Santiago...."The Guardian" reports.....LINK

A video report on the protest from "The Guardian".....LINK

Live video from "24 Hours" news channel in Chile......LINK

A Muslim comedian and radio host in France, Yassine Belattar, resigning from President Emmanuel Macron's Council of Cities.

In an open letter to the President published in the newspaper "Liberation",  Belattar blames the recent controversy over a Muslim woman wearing a veil during a school trip and the criticism of it by some of Macron's cabinet ministers.

Belattar writes in part:

....I am disappointed that some ministers you have chosen do not even support the idea of seeing a woman veiled on the territory..."

While the cabinet ministers have expressed their views, President Macron himself is not advocating for any laws to ban the wearing of the veil  expressing his concern that Muslims in France should not be "stigmatized" as he also says he supports France's secular tradition. 

Strongest opposition in connection with the veil wearing incident has come from the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen.

The family of an Israeli woman being held on drug trafficking charges in Russia with a seven year plus prison sentence wants Israel's Justice Minister to delay the extradition of a Russian hacker to the United States.

The case of Aleksey Burkov appears related to the treatment of Naama Issachar and her family's lawyer says there is more that the government can do about the case.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin have appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for a pardon of Naama Issachar.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holding a meeting of his security cabinet following the Thursday incident in the city of Culiacan heavy fighting broke out in the city when police captured the son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

President Obrador said on Friday:

"The capture of a criminal is not worth more than people's lives"

The police freed Ovidio Guzman Lopez to stop the violence.

Eight killed and 21 wounded in the fighting.

The bombing of a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan during Friday prayers.     At least 62 killed and more than 100 wounded.   Several blasts in the attack.

The "Extinction Rebellion" climate change protesters defying a ban on protest in London blockading Oxford Circus in the city center Friday.

Police removed demonstrators perched on wooden pyramids using a cherry picker.

Later in the day a protester climbed Big Ben dressed as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and displayed banners.

More from the BBC......LINK

And a tropical storm approaching Florida's west coast.    Nestor has maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour.    The storm to make landfall Saturday morning on the Florida panhandle.

And for now that's the way it really is for Newsdump Friday October 19th, 2019.