Top News Stories for Today – Oct 4, 2018
Top News Stories for Today – Oct 4, 2018
Russia targeted chemical weapons body
Dutch security services expelled four Russians in April over a plot targeting the global chemical weapons watchdog, officials said. The cyber operation by Russia’s GRU military intelligence targeted the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Dutch officials said. The OPCW has been probing the chemical attack on a Russian ex-spy in the UK. It has also been investigating alleged chemical attacks in Syria.
Russia has always denied carrying out any chemical attacks. The four suspects had diplomatic passports and included an IT expert as well as support agents, officials said. They hired a car and were seen to be scouting to carry out a closed access hack operation targeting the OPCW. A laptop seized from the suspects had been used in Brazil, Switzerland and Malaysia. BBC
Kavanaugh vote will held Saturday
The nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill an open seat on the US Supreme Court is moving toward a final vote as early as Saturday. First though, senators are expected Thursday to review an FBI report on allegations Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a woman when both were teenagers and that he exposed himself to another woman during their first year of college. Kavanaugh has denied the accusations.
The sharp partisan battle over the lifetime appointment to the nine-member court has polarized the US Senate with the majority Republicans accusing Democrats of unnecessarily dragging out the process, while Democrats say Republicans are rushing to confirm Kavanaugh without properly considering the allegations against him. VOA
Law professors urge Senate to reject Kavanaugh
On Wednesday night, The New York Times published a letter signed by 1,000 law professors and counting that states why they believe the Senate should not confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last Thursday, Kavanaugh “displayed a lack of judicial temperament that would be disqualifying for any court, and certainly for elevation to the highest court of this land,” the letter says.
While the signers have “differing views about the other qualifications of Judge Kavanaugh,” the letter adds, they are “united, as professors of law and scholars of judicial institutions, in believing that he did not display the impartiality and judicial temperament requisite to sit on the highest court of our land.” The New York Times
FBI releases Kavanaugh report
The US Senate has received an FBI report on its inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. Its conclusions will not be made public, but senators will be able to review the report.
Republicans and Democrats remain bitterly divided on whether to approve Mr Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court judge. The judge has vehemently denied all allegations against him. BBC
S Koreans in Pyongyang for anniversary
South Korea’s Unification Minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, led a delegation of about 160 others to Pyongyang Thursday along with Democratic Party leader Lee Hae-chan. The three-day trip is set to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the October 4 Declaration, signed in 2007 by then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his counterpart North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during their inter-Korean summit. The festivities are scheduled to take place Oct. 5.
The envoys will travel to Pyongyang along the direct western route, as South Korean President Moon Jae-in did last month for his third summit with Kim Jong Un. VOA
Judge blocks Trump from ending protections for immigrants
On Wednesday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from ending legal protections for more than 300,000 immigrants. The immigrants from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sudan, and Haiti have Temporary Protected Status (TPS), given to people who flee their home countries due to natural disasters and conflicts.
The Trump administration claimed that the conditions that forced them to leave their home countries are no longer present, but US District Court Judge Edward Chen ruled that the recipients and their children will “indisputably” suffer if they lose their status. Many of the recipients have lived in the United States for decades, and some have children who were born in the US Politico
US man arrested for ricin mailing
US officials have arrested a Utah man in connection with suspicious letters mailed to the president and the Pentagon. William Clyde Allen of Logan, Utah, was arrested Wednesday in the mailing of the letters that contained castor seeds, from which highly toxic ricin can be derived. The 39-year-old Allen is a US Navy veteran.
One letter was addressed to President Donald Trump. “The envelope was not received at the White House, nor did it ever enter the White House,” the Secret Service said Tuesday. Two letters were sent to the Pentagon — one addressed to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and the other to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. VOA