At another time in history, the indictment of two jail guards responsible for monitoring Jeffrey Epstein on the night he killed himself might have served as an emphatic rebuttal to suspicions that the wealthy sex offender was actually slain.    Not in 2019.    Conspiracy theories continued to flourish, even after prosecutors took pains to point out the ample evidence backing a medical examiner’s determination that Epstein hanged himself.    Video surveillance confirmed, they said in a news release and an indictment, that nobody had entered the area where Epstein was locked in his cell.    The locked door to the unit, they said, could be opened only remotely by an officer in the jail’s control center, plus there was a second locked door to which only correctional officers assigned to the high-security housing unit had the key. Epstein had no roommate, they said, and died alone.  ‘People aren’t buying’ story   No matter. Social media buzzed with “Epstein didn’t kill himself” memes, fueled by the financier’s past associations with Britain’s Prince Andrew and U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.    “People aren’t buying the suicide story,” said one tweet.    “Epstein is alive on a beach somewhere in the …

An advocacy group says internet connectivity is rapidly being restored in Iran after a weeklong government-imposed shutdown in response to widespread protests. The group NetBlocks said Saturday that connectivity had suddenly reached 60% Saturday afternoon. It said on Twitter: “Internet access is being restored in (hash)Iran after a weeklong internet shutdown amid widespread protests.” Confirmed: Internet access is being restored in #Iran after a weeklong internet shutdown amid widespread protests; real-time network data show national connectivity now up to 64% of normal levels as of shutdown hour 163 📈📵#IranProtests#Internet4Iran 📰https://t.co/XQmiaOlRL7pic.twitter.com/eimWEIEmrI — NetBlocks.org (@netblocks) November 23, 2019 There were reports that internet service remained spotty in the capital, Tehran, though others around the country began reporting they could again access it. The order comes a week after the Nov. 15 gasoline price hike, which sparked demonstrations that rapidly turned violent, seeing gas stations, banks and stores burned to the ground. Amnesty International said it believes the unrest and the crackdown killed at least 106 people. Iran disputes that figure without offering its own. A U.N. office earlier said it feared the unrest may have killed “a significant number of people.”   …

When he left the house last week, Joseph, a 19-year-old Hong Kong college student, told his parents he was going to hang out with friends. That was only partly true. In reality, Joseph was headed for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he and a group of hundreds of other young people barricaded themselves on campus, blocked a major highway, and stockpiled homemade weapons in preparation to battle police. Night after night last week, the urban campus become a battlefield, as police rained tear gas and rubber bullets on students, who responded with Molotov cocktails, bricks, and whatever else they could find. Though Hong Kong has seen five months of protests, this kind of violence is new. The pro-democracy movement that had been marked by massive street rallies now risks being overtaken by a smaller group of hardcore students who have shown they are willing to go beyond peaceful demonstrations and engage in prolonged battles with police in their push for democratic reforms. “I would definitely admit that we’re using a certain level of violence,” says Joseph, who spoke via an encrypted messaging app. “But in order to protect the innocent protesters and create pressure on the government, a certain …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, dubbed by critics “Putin on the Nile,” is set to boost his burgeoning relationship with Russia by dispatching his son, Mahmoud, to Moscow as a military attache, independent regional media outlets are reporting. Russian officials say they welcome the prospect of Mahmoud el-Sissi being based in Moscow.   The reassignment would coincide with an open rupture between Cairo and Washington over Egyptian plans to buy advanced Russian warplanes. In Washington, a senior U.S. State Department official Thursday threatened the Cairo government with sanctions if Egypt goes ahead with a $2 billion agreement to purchase more than 20 Su-35 fighter jets, a deal the relocated Mahmoud el-Sissi would likely oversee as military attache. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the Trump administration  was still discussing how to address its defense needs with Egypt adding that U.S. officials “have also been very transparent with them in that if they are to acquire a significant Russian platform like the Sukhoi-35 or the Su-35, that puts them at risk towards sanctions.” The United States has provided billions of dollars in economic and military aid to Egypt, a longtime ally, whose military has been operating the U.S.-supplied F-16 …

A week of back-to-back impeachment hearings in Washington may have been marred by bickering between Democrats and Republicans and thus unpleasant to watch, but at least in one aspect, they inspired confidence in the American experiment.   As Americans watched the House of Representatives conduct contentious public hearings — steps toward the possible impeachment of President Donald Trump — viewers got a reminder of the important role that immigrants have played in the nation’s development and the opportunities the country has afforded them. Four key figures in the impeachment hearings are naturalized citizens, two of them children of refugees. Of the four, two earned positions in the White House itself, working on the ultra-sensitive National Security Council. A third worked her way up to the top of the country’s diplomatic corps. A fourth was seated on the dais, as an elected congressman and a member of the House Committee on Intelligence. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch is the child of immigrants who fled first from the Soviet Union, and then from the Nazi occupation of Europe. Born in Canada, she grew up in Connecticut and became a naturalized U.S. citizen when she turned 18. She went on to graduate from Princeton University …

A U.S. federal judge has awarded a Washington Post journalist and his family nearly $180 million in their lawsuit against Iran over his 544 days in captivity and torture while being held on internationally criticized espionage charges. The order in the case filed by Jason Rezaian came as Iranian officials appeared to begin restoring the internet after a weeklong shutdown amid a security crackdown on protesters angered by government-set gasoline prices sharply rising. The U.S. government has sanctioned Iran’s telecommunications minister in response to the internet shutdown. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington entered the judgment late Friday in Rezaian’s case, describing how authorities in Iran denied the journalist sleep, medical care and abused him during his imprisonment. “Iran seized Jason, threatened to kill Jason, and did so with the goal of compelling the United States to free Iranian prisoners as a condition of Jason’s release,” Leon said in his ruling. The judge later added: “Holding a man hostage and torturing him to gain leverage in negotiations with the United States is outrageous, deserving of punishment and surely in need of deterrence.” Iran never responded to the lawsuit despite it being handed over to the government by the …

Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Saturday in the highest-level American trip since President Donald Trump ordered a pullback of U.S. forces in Syria two months ago. Flying in a C-17 military cargo jet to preserve the secrecy of the visit to the conflict zone, Pence landed in Erbil to meet with Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani. The visit was meant to reassure the U.S. allies in the fight against the Islamic State after Syrian Kurds suffered under a bloody Turkish assault last month following the Trump-ordered withdrawal. Earlier he received a classified briefing at Iraq’s Al-Asad Air Base, from which U.S. forces launched the operation in Syria last month that resulted in the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and spoke by phone with Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. It was Pence’s second trip to the region in five weeks after Trump deployed him on whirling trip to Ankara, Turkey, last month to negotiate a cease-fire after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seized on the U.S. withdrawal to launch an assault on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. Trump’s move had sparked some of the most unified criticism of his administration to date, as lawmakers …

Twenty-four people have been swept away in massive landslides in villages in Kenya’s West Pokot County, 350 kilometers northwest of Nairobi, the capital, following relentless rainstorms.    Twelve bodies, including those of seven children, have been recovered, County Commissioner Apollo Okello told Kenya’s Daily Nation newspaper. Okello said two children were pulled out alive and “rushed to the hospital.” Rescue efforts have been hampered because roads have been transformed into rivers and bridges have been washed away.   …

President Donald Trump was non-committal Friday about signing bi-partisan legislation supporting pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.    In a telephone call to “Fox and Friends,” Trump seemed torn between supporting human rights and gaining a trade deal with China.   Trump said, “Look we have to stand with Hong Kong.”  However, he added, “But I’m also standing with President Xi (Jinping).  He’s a friend of mine.  He’s an incredible guy.” Trump said the world’s two largest economies are “in the process of making the largest trade deal in history and if we could do that that would be great.”   The U.S. legislation, consisting of two bills, is aimed at insuring that Hong Kong retains enough autonomy to justify favorable U.S. trading terms.  It also threatens sanctions for human rights violations. In his “Fox and Friends” call, Trump also boasted that he is responsible for preventing a violent incursion from China into Hong Kong to quell the pro-democracy rallies. “If it weren’t for me, Hong Kong would have been obliterated in 14 minutes.  He’s got a million soldiers, standing outside of Hong Kong,” said the president, referring to the Chinese president.  Trump also said he had asked the Chinese leader …

U.S. health officials Friday told people to avoid romaine lettuce grown in Salinas, California, because of another food poisoning outbreak. The notice comes almost exactly one year after a similar outbreak led to a blanket warning about romaine. Officials urged Americans not to eat the leafy green if the label doesn’t say where it was grown. They also urged supermarkets and restaurants not to serve or sell the lettuce, unless they’re sure it was grown elsewhere. The warning applies to all types of romaine from the Salinas region, include whole heads, hearts and pre-cut salad mixes. “We’re concerned this romaine could be in other products,” said Laura Gieraltowski, lead investigator of the outbreak at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Voluntary labeling Officials said their investigation led to farms in Salinas and that they are looking for the source of E. coli tied to the illnesses. Salinas is a major growing region for romaine from around April to this time of year, when growing shifts south to Yuma, Arizona. After last year’s pre-Thanksgiving outbreak tied to romaine, the produce industry agreed to voluntarily label the lettuce with harvest regions. Health officials said that would make it easier to …

California is increasing business tax rates on legal marijuana, a move that stunned struggling companies that have been pleading with the state to do just the opposite. Hefty marijuana taxes that can approach 50 percent in some communities have been blamed for pushing shoppers into California’s tax-free illegal market, which is thriving. Industry analysts estimate that $3 are spent in the illegal market for every $1 in the legal one. The California Cannabis Industry Association said in a statement that its members are “stunned and outraged.” The group said the higher taxes that will take effect Jan. 1 will make it even worse for a legal industry struggling under the weight of heavy regulation and fees, local bans on pot sales and growing and a booming underground marketplace. Illicit market “Widening the price … gap between illicit and regulated products will further drive consumers to the illicit market at a time when illicit products are demonstrably putting people’s lives at risk,” the group said, referring to the national vaping health crisis. Los Angeles dispensary owner Jerred Kiloh, who heads the United Cannabis Business Association, said the increased levies added to the heavily taxed market “seems like a slap in the …

A self-confessed Chinese spy has given Australia’s counterespionage agency inside intelligence on how Beijing conducts its interference operations abroad and revealed the identities of China’s senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, media reported. Australia’s Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters Saturday that the detailed accusations of China infiltrating and disrupting democratic systems in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are “very disturbing.” The Nine network newspapers reported Chinese defector Wang “William” Liqiang told ASIO, the country’s counterespionage agency, that he was involved in the kidnapping in 2015 of one of five Hong Kong booksellers suspected of selling dissident materials. The incident has been a reference point for protesters during the ongoing unrest in Hong Kong. Demonstrators march during a protest over the disappearance of booksellers in Hong Kong, Jan. 10, 2016. He would be the first Chinese intelligence operative to blow his cover. “I have personally been involved and participated in a series of espionage activities,” Wang reportedly said in a sworn statement to ASIO in October. He revealed he was part of a Hong Kong-based investment firm, which was a front for the Chinese government to conduct political and economic espionage in Hong Kong, including infiltrating universities and directing harassment …

A political fundraiser accused of funneling foreign money into U.S. elections offered six witnesses in his case more than $6 million to keep quiet, federal prosecutors said Friday. Prosecutors also revealed new allegations that the donor, Imaad Zuberi, acted as an unregistered agent for the Turkish government and Libyan government officials, among other foreign countries. The allegations came hours before Zuberi pleaded guilty Friday in Los Angeles to charges of tax evasion, campaign finance violations and failing to register as a foreign agent. California, New York scrutiny Zuberi has been under scrutiny by federal prosecutors in both California and New York over millions of dollars in political contributions, including big donations to the inaugural committees of both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump. So far, he has been charged only in Los Angeles. Zuberi’s attorneys had requested a delay of Friday’s hearing, saying they had been blindsided by prosecutors in New York saying they intended to charge him with additional crimes. In a court filing, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles accused Zuberi of stalling. The office told the judge that if Zuberi did not plead guilty as scheduled, his plea agreement would be voided and he would …

Documents released late Friday show Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani was in contact with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the months before the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine was abruptly recalled. The State Department released the documents to the group American Oversight in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. They show that Pompeo talked with Giuliani on March 26 and March 29. Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said the documents reveal “a clear paper trail from Rudy Giuliani to the Oval Office to Secretary Pompeo to facilitate Giuliani’s smear campaign against a U.S. ambassador.” Last week, former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch told House impeachment investigators she felt “kneecapped” by a “smear campaign” Giuliani led against her. She was withdrawn from her post in Ukraine in May. The documents released Friday also include a report, that appears with Trump hotel stationery, that appears to summarize a Jan. 23, 2019, interview with Ukraine’s former prosecutor general, Victor Shokin. The summary says Giuliani and two business associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, were present. Parnas and Fruman were arrested last month on a four-count indictment that includes charges of conspiracy, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission and …

U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland has been a key witness in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Sondland was appointed to his post after donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. The practice of awarding ambassador positions to wealthy political supporters is not new to either party, but some lawmakers and presidential candidates say it is time to limit the practice. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.   …

In late December, it will be one year since Moscow detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan on espionage charges. During his 11 months in the infamous Lefortovo prison, Whelan has denied the allegations and complained of systematic mistreatment. His family in the U.S. is working to bring the former Marine home. Yulia Savchenko met with Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, in Washington to get the latest on the case.   …

A group of nine Nicaraguan mothers whose hunger strike became emblematic of protests roiling the Central American country were taken Friday to a hospital in stable condition, according to a doctor treating the group and a Reuters witness. The nine mothers, along with three activists opposed to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, spent nine days locked in a church in the city of Masaya to demand the freedom of their children, whom they consider to be political prisoners. On Friday, the group of protesters and a Catholic priest serving the church were taken to a hospital in the capital by a representative of the Vatican for treatment. “Everyone is in stable health. Some are dehydrated from prolonged fasting and two are under observation for their chronic conditions,” Maria Eugenia Espinoza, a doctor who serves as director of Vivian Pellas Hospital, told reporters. Father Edwin Roman, the priest who joined the mothers, has complained on social media that after the group began their protest, the police cut off electricity and water in the church and prevented locals from assisting them. Nicaragua’s churches have become political battlegrounds in recent weeks amid protests that have been raging for more than a year and a …

Three police officers were killed in a bomb blast late Friday at a police station in Colombia, after thousands gathered for renewed protests and sporadic looting erupted in the capital of Bogota. A police source told Reuters 10 officers were also injured in the explosion, in the town of Santander de Quilichao in the southwestern province of Cauca, known as a hot spot for drug trafficking and violence. The source did not attribute the bombing to a particular armed group. Police are expected to hold a news conference Saturday morning. Demonstrators gesture during a protest on the second day of a national strike, in Bogota, Colombia, Nov. 22, 2019. Massive march Three people were killed Thursday as more than 250,000 people marched in a national strike to express growing discontent with President Ivan Duque’s government. Their grievances included rumored economic reforms that the president has denied and anger at what protesters call a lack of government action to stop corruption and the murder of human rights activists. Thousands gathered Friday afternoon in Bogota’s Bolivar Plaza for a “cacerolazo” — a traditional Latin American expression of protest in which people bang pots and pans. Anti-government protesters rally in the Bolivar square …

Authorities in Jakarta say they have arrested 74 people on suspicion of terrorism and membership in the Jamaah Ansarud Daulah (JAD) group, which is affiliated with the Islamic State terror group, in a series of counterterrorism operations across Indonesia in the past week. The suspects were apprehended during several anti-terror operations in 10 provinces after the Nov. 13 suicide bombing of a police station in Medan, in North Sumatra, National Police Chief Idham Azis said. The majority of the arrests, 30, were made in North Sumatra. “In addition to revealing the identity of the suicide bombers, the Indonesian National Police has also arrested 74 suspects linked to a terror network in 10 regional areas within eight days of the incident,” Azis told lawmakers Wednesday during a meeting of Commission III of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia. FILE – Members of police forensic team inspect the site of a bombing attack at the local police headquarters in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Nov. 13, 2019. The police headquarters attack in Medan last week reportedly injured six people and killed the bomber. Indonesian police did not immediately release the identity of the bomber, but said its investigations revealed that …

Amazon.com Inc. Friday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims contesting the Pentagon’s award of an up to $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft Corp. An Amazon spokesman said the company filed a complaint and supplemental motion for discovery. The filing was under seal.  “The complaint and related filings contain source selection sensitive information, as well as AWS’s proprietary information, trade secrets, and confidential financial information, the public release of which would cause either party severe competitive harm,” Amazon said in a court document seeking a protective order. “The record in this bid protest likely will contain similarly sensitive information.” Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper rejected any suggestion of bias in the Pentagon’s decision to award Microsoft the contract after Amazon announced plans to challenge it. Amazon was considered a favorite for the contract, part of a broader digital modernization process of the Pentagon, before Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner.  The company has previously said that politics got in the way of a fair contracting process. U.S. President Donald Trump has long criticized Amazon and its founder Jeff Bezos. …

 A U.S. university in the Western state of Idaho says it is no longer accepting students whose only health insurance is Medicaid, a federal health plan primarily for low-income people. Brigham Young University-Idaho said it was now requiring students to buy a university-backed health plan, a move that could force some low-income students to drop out. Students at the private university are required to have health insurance to be enrolled, a practice that is common at colleges across the country, both public and private. Previously, Medicaid qualified as adequate coverage at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Medicaid, funded by the U.S. government, is a health insurance plan for low-income and disabled people. Brigham Young University is affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. Students’ options Following the university’s change in policy, students covered by Medicaid will now have to either buy another health insurance plan or enroll in a university-sponsored plan. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the university health plans are run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and cost $536 per semester for an individual or $2,130 for a family. A statement from the university explained its reasoning for the decision: …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said Friday that Twitter Inc. had returned control of his personal account to him after it had been taken over by the White House. “We have now liberated the Twitter account, previously suppressed unfairly in the aftermath of my resignation as National Security Adviser,” Bolton told his more than 790,000 followers in his first tweets since resigning in September. “In full disclosure, the @WhiteHouse never returned access to my Twitter account. Thank you to @twitter for standing by their community standards and rightfully returning control of my account,” he wrote. Bolton did not explain how the White House had blocked his access to the account, but asked in the post if it had been done “out of fear of what I may say?” A senior administration official told Reuters the White House did not block Bolton from the account “and wouldn’t have the technical means to do so.” Twitter declined to comment. Relinquish account control Like other White House officials, Bolton was required to relinquish control of his private Twitter account, including the password, to the White House when he became national security adviser in March 2018, said two people …

Bolivia’s attorney general said on Friday that his office has opened a probe into former President Evo Morales for alleged sedition and terrorism, related to accusations from the interim government that he has been stirring unrest since resigning. The interior minister earlier filed a criminal complaint against the former socialist leader, based on evidence Morales described as fake. Interim President Jeanine Anez, a former senator and opponent of Morales, has faced a wave of demonstrations by his supporters since taking office in a power vacuum last week. Morales and his vice president stepped down under pressure from security forces and anti-government protesters on Nov. 10, amid reports of irregularities in an Oct. 20 election. Morales fled to Mexico, which has granted him asylum, and says he was toppled in a coup. At least 29 have been killed in clashes with security forces since he resigned. Attorney General Juan Lanchipa said the foreign ministry would ask Mexico to allow Morales to provide his statement as a suspect in the investigation, which is based on a video Interior Minister Arturo Murillo distributed to media this week. In the video, a Bolivian man is shown talking to someone on a speakerphone who appears …

A former State Department official and senior employee of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) was sentenced Friday to three months in prison for theft of government property. Haroon Ullah, who from October 2017 to April 2019 served as chief strategy officer for the agency that oversees Voice of America, pleaded guilty in June of swindling tens of thousands of dollars by submitting falsified invoices and by billing the government for personal trips to promote his book. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Ullah faced 10 to 16 months in prison for theft of government property. Prior to Ullah’s sentencing, prosecutors and defense lawyers had agreed to a 60-day sentence to be served over 30 weekends as long as Ullah paid more than $34,000 in restitution, roughly the amount he purloined during a nine-month stealing spree. Ullah made the payment Friday. But federal Judge T.S. Ellis said a higher sentence was warranted as a “general deterrence” to other government employees who might engage in similar conduct. ‘There has to be a consequence’ “I think if you steal this much money from the government, there has to be a consequence,” Ellis told Ullah in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. “The sentence must stand as …