New York Post

As the Yankees pursue pitching help, for better or worse, here stands the reality about their farm system:

No one is untouchable. No one should be unattainable.

That speaks in large part to the strength of their major league roster, with positions and roles claimed for the long term. It also reflects their win-now, all-in mode; they no longer reside in the pupa stage as they did from, say, 2014 through 2017, when they protected many of their top prospects.

And, yes, it says something about the condition of their farm system, which has been drained by myriad graduations and trades yet still has more than enough to offer.

“It’s a really good system,” a talent evaluator from another team said Monday, on the condition of anonymity. “They certainly have the pieces to be aggressive.”

The top piece, diminutive right-hander Deivi Garcia, recently pitched in the Futures Game and made his Triple-A debut for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday night. As YES Network researcher/statistician James Smyth noted, Garcia, at 20 years and 57 days old, became the youngest player in Triple-A.

While the Yankees certainly wouldn’t give up Garcia for a rental like Giants legendary lefty Madison Bumgarner, a high-end pitcher with more team control — the Tigers’ Matthew Boyd? Cleveland’s Trevor Bauer? The Mets’ Noah Syndergaard? — could land the Dominican right-hander in return. Omar Minaya, special assistant to Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen, watched Garcia’s game Monday.

Celebrated outfielder Estevan Florial, who has struggled to stay healthy, could be had in the right deal as well, according to an industry source.

Garcia and outfielder Clint Frazier, who already has proven his ability to hit major league pitching, stand as the Yankees prospects closest to major league ready. Most of the Yankees’ top trade chips are younger and play lower in the minors.

“They’ve done a great job on the international stage of late,” the official from another team said. “Lots of power arms and toolsy outfielders.”

A top power arm didn’t come to the Yankees directly from Latin America, however. Luis Gil, the 21-year-old right-hander currently pitching for Single-A Charleston, arrived in a March 2018 trade with the Twins in return for outfielder Jake Cave. Gil is likely to be in demand, too. The Yankees’ list of internationally acquired arms include right-handers Luis Medina (20 years old, at Charleston), Osiel Rodriguez (17, DSL Yankees in the Dominican Republic) and Yoendrys Gomez (19, at Rookie level Pulaski).

Joining Florial on the list of toolsy outfielders are Everson Pereira (18, Single-A Staten Island), Anthony Garcia (18, Pulaski) and Raimfer Salinas (18, Gulf Coast Yankees). Throw in guys drafted (right-hander Clarke Schmidt, catcher Anthony Seigler) and acquired in trades (outfielder Josh Stowers), and the Yankees appear well equipped for the trade sweepstakes that has yet to begin in earnest and that might have lost a key target in the Mets’ Zack Wheeler, who went on the injured list Monday . Of course, the fact the Mets probably wouldn’t have traded Wheeler across town means this news impacts the Yankees less than other clubs looking for pitching.

Remember that the Yankees made their biggest pickup of the 2018 trade deadline, Toronto’s J.A. Happ, by getting creative and using an experienced major-leaguer, Brandon Drury as the centerpiece; Drury has been a bust for the Blue Jays. In 2017, they took on a good amount of money from the White Sox, in the forms of Todd Frazier and David Robertson, and gave up only one prospect of consequence, outfielder Blake Rutherford, to also receive Tommy Kahnle, and they swapped a pair of injured minor leaguers (Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian) as part of a package to get the A’s Sonny Gray.

This year, the Yankees’ likely angle will be younger talent, which could work given that selling clubs like the Giants and Blue Jays don’t look to contend in the near future. We’ll find out over the next two-plus weeks whether the angle works. The early guess, though, is that they’ll land what they want — since they appear to have enough of what their trading partners want.

Yankees’ all-in approach means no one is off-limits

Mail Online

Belinda Sharpe will become the first top flight female rugby league referee in Australia when she officiates the NRL match between Canterbury and Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium on Thursday night.

The 31-year-old former newspaper sub-editor's appointment marks a breakthrough in the code which has never had a woman referee in 111 years of the professional game.

Sharpe became an NRL touch judge in 2014 and officiated in that capacity at the 2017 World Cup.

Belinda Sharpe (pictured right with husband Clayton) will become the first top flight female rugby league referee in Australia when she officiates Thursday's blockbuster clash

Sharpe (pictured right with referees Philip Bentham and Adam Gee) became an NRL touch judge in 2014 and officiated in that capacity at the 2017 World Cup

She began refereeing Queensland Cup matches in 2015 and handled a Broncos' trial match against Wynnum-Manly in February this year.

In May, Sharpe and Kasey Badger were upgraded to full-time referee contracts, suggesting the significant appointment wasn't too far away.

'At that stage I was just focused on coming down to Sydney and joining the full-time squad and getting my feet into that environment,' Sharpe told NRL.com.

'That was the first and foremost thing for me. Certainly it's been a whirlwind couple of months for me, and that appointment was a stepping stone to this Thursday for sure.

Sharpe described the refereeing environment as 'high pressure' but said her gender was irrelevant in a lot of ways.

Mrs Sharpe developed a true passion and love for the game of rugby league from a young age but her dad didn't want her playing the physical game.

Instead a family friend told Mrs Sharpe if she really loved the game and wanted to take part she could always take on refereeing, the NRL.com reported.

The AFL appointed its first female on-field umpire in May 2017, Eleni Glouftis, whom Mrs Sharpe approached for some advice.

Sharpe (pictured far left, with Erin Molan, Renee Gartner and Allana Ferguson) began refereeing Queensland Cup matches in 2015 and handled a Broncos' trial match against Wynnum-Manly in February this year

'I've not met her yet but I've spoken to her on the phone. She's made some great strides in AFL and is travelling along really well,' she said.

'Certainly I'll look forward to comparing notes with her in future conversations.'

Head of Football Graham Annesley has also praised the decision to make Mrs Sharpe the code's first top tier female referee.

'This is an historic moment for the game and I'm so happy for Belinda, she has worked extremely hard, served her apprenticeship, and earned her elevation on merit,' he said.

The NRL announced Mrs Sharpe's appointment on its Facebook page and a number of fans were quick to praise the move.

'Congratulations. You have worked hard to get to this point. Well deserved. Hope more woman follow suit,' one fan wrote.

'I have two daughters that watch the game. Great to see the ladies smashing it. Well deserved!!' another added.

'Fantastic. We have followed her progress in the QLD Cup and this appointment is warranted,' a third replied.

Meet the footy-loving woman who will make history as the NRL's first female referee

Hespress هسبريس

هسبورت - سعيد إبراهيم الحاج*

شرعت الجامعة الملكية المغربية لكرة القدم في التحضير لاعتماد تقنية حكم الفيديو في الملاعب الوطنية بداية من منافسات الموسم الكروي الجديد، حيث بدأت لجنة من الجامعة بمعية ممثلين عن الشركة الإسبانية المكلفة بالمشروع، قبل أيام، في زيارة ميدانية للعديد من الملاعب الوطنية، كما تم تحديد لائحة لمجموعة من الحكام المعنيين بالدورة التكوينية الأولى.

وأكد مصدر جامعي موثوق لـ"هسبورت" أن جهاز التحكيم التابع للجامعة الملكية المغربية للعبة وضع لائحة 12 حكما رئيسيا فقط للمشاركة في الدورة التكوينية الأولى في تقنية الـVAR، رغبة منه في تجويد التكوين وتسريع وتيرته لإنهاء تكوين الفوج الأول قبل الموعد المحدد لبداية منافسات الموسم الكروي الجديد.

وأوضح المصدر ذاته أن جهاز التحكيم داخل الجامعة سيشرع في تكوين الحكام المغاربة على هذه التقنية مباشرة بعد نهاية بطولة كأس إفريقيا للأمم، على أن تتم برمجة دورات تكوينية أخرى لباقي الحكام بعد بداية منافسات الدوري قصد توسيع قاعدة الحكام المؤهلين لقيادة المباريات بتقنية الـ"فار".

ويتقدم الحكام الدوليون لائحة الفوج الأول، وهم كل من عادل زوراق وسمير الكزاز وهشام التيازي وجلال جيد وكريم صبري، إضافة إلى بعض الحكام الآخرين المتميزين في ساحة التحكيم المغربية خلال المواسم الأخيرة، فيما سبق لكل من رضوان جيد ونور الدين الجعفري الحصول على رخصة الـ"فار" من الاتحاد الدولي.

ويعتبر رضوان جيد الحكم المغربي الوحيد الذي سبق له أن قاد مباراة رسمية كحكم للفيديو، بعد أن كان بجانب الفرنسي بينوا في الطاقم المشرف على التقنية في مباراة نصف نهائي كأس إفريقيا للأمم بمصر بين منتخبي تونس والسنغال.

* لمزيد من أخبار الرياضة والرياضيّين زوروا Hesport.Com

جامعة الكرة تختار 12 حكما لـ" VAR البطولة"

Two blue penguins moved into a New Zealand sushi shop and refused to leave even after the owners called the police.

The little birds decided to nest under a sushi store's food truck in the capital city of Wellington before they were removed by police and rescuers.

But hours later they cheekily returned and had to be removed a second time.

The little penguins decided to nest under a sushi store's food truck in the capital city of Wellington

The owner of the sushi shop, Long Lin, said he lured the group with salmon from his store before grabbing them and putting them inside.

'They were trying to come out from underneath the house, and I caught one and put it inside the house, I just didn't want it to run away. Then another one came out, he was obviously looking for his mate and I caught it,' Mr Lin told RNZ.

After he caught the two penguins and locked them away, he contacted the DOC so they could be rescued and relocated.

Department of Conservation Volunteer Mike Rumble arrived with another ranger and brought trapping nets and boxes with them.

Mr Rumble restrained and examined the penguins to ensure they were not hurt before relocating them to another nesting site.

The two penguins were placed on Waterloo Quay which is close to the water.

The owner of the sushi shop, Long Lin, said he lured the cheeky penguins with salmon from his store before grabbing them and putting them inside

The new location also allows the penguins to roam on land with needing to cross a four-laned road.

'We've got two boxes over at the warf which have never been used, we are going to put them there for the night and see if they come back, and I'm willing to bet they will. Then the backup place is around near Days Bay,' Mr Rumble said.

Blue penguins often mate for life and return to the same nest sites year after year.

Penguins move into sushi shop and refuse to leave even after desperate owners called the police

Guardian

The flightless birds were found huddling near the grills under the shop, where it was warm

'Something fishy': penguins detained by New Zealand police after sushi shop stakeout

“Waddling vagrants” in the form of two little blue penguins have been released by police after they were detained for setting up home under a Wellington sushi outlet.

Their cover was blown after a shop worker heard them making a cooing, humming sound. It is understood that the penguins were hiding near the grills beneath the sushi shop, where it was warm.

Constable John Zhu responded, “after sensing something fishy,” Wellington police confirmed on their Facebook page. The penguins were described as “little and blue”.

World’s fattest parrot, the endangered kākāpō, could be wiped out by fungal infection Read more

“This was not the first report police received about the fishy birds.”

They were spotted on Monday at dawn outside the Wellington railway station before taking shelter under the nearby Sushi Bi.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) had been monitoring the site as it was thought that they were likely to return.

The department says the birds are quite common in Wellington harbour, which is home to about 600 pairs of penguins. However, this is the first time the agency had heard of them setting up home in the station.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Two members of the public and a Wellington police officer evict a pair of penguins who had set up beneath a sushi shop Photograph: Wellington Police

It warned people should keep their distance from the penguins, which can bite.

Wini Morris, who works at the sushi shop, told Radio NZ that she heard the birds making a “cooing, humming sound”.

“It’s pretty insane the idea that some penguins are camping out under your shop,” he said. “But it’s adorable I think - they’re probably terrified but it’s adorable.”

The little blue penguins conservation status is considered to be “at risk” to “declining”.

Constable Zhu removed the penguins and with some help from the public. DOC and Wellington Zoo were then contacted.

“With some inter-agency cooperation the adventurous pair were released back into Wellington Harbour,” police said.





'Something fishy': penguins detained by New Zealand police after sushi shop stakeout

Al-Masry Al-Youm

اشترك لتصلك أهم الأخبار

درجت تركيا فى السنوات الأخيرة على ضرب الحائط بكافة المبادئ والقواعد الدولية للقانونين: القانون الدولى العام والدولى للبحار، فمارست سياسة فرض الأمر الواقع فى شرق البحر المتوسط، بحثا واستكشافا للغاز الطبيعى والبترول، وكان تبنى تركيا لدبلوماسة قديمة منبوذة، استحدثتها الدول العظمى، وهى دبلوماسية البوارج الحربية فى أعالى البحار وقبالة سواحل الدول الصغيرة، بغرض إكراه هذه الدول الصغيرة على الانقياد لمجرة هذه الدول العظمى، أو لتحقيق مآرب الدول العظمى من هذه الدول الصغيرة.

لقد تجلت دبلوماسية البوارج التركية فى شرق البحر المتوسط فى 2018، حين أجبرت المدمرات الحربية التركية حفار شركة إينى الإيطالية على الانصراف من المياه الاقتصادية الخالصة لدولة قبرص، بزعم أن المنطقة التى كان يعمل فيها الحفار الإيطالى تخضع لسيادة ما يسمى بجمهورية قبرص التركية، وهو الكيان الذى أنشأته غصبا القوات المسلحة التركية فى عام 1974 ولم يعترف به دوليا إلا تركيا ذاتها التى أنشأته. لم تتوقف تركيا عن ذلك الحد، ففى شهرى مايو ويوليو أقدمت تركيا على إرسال سفن البحث والتنقيب عن الغاز فى ذات المناطق المحددة ضمن المنطقة الاقتصادية الخالصة للجمهورية القبرصية، وفى هذه المرة رافقت البوارج الحربية التركية سفن التنقيب التركية، فى تظاهرة عسكرية للقوة التركية، بما يمثل تهديدا باستخدام القوة المسلحة، فى انتهاك فاضح لميثاق منظمة الأمم المتحدة ومبادئ القانون الدولى.

إن الدفع التركى بأن الممارسات التركية فى شرق المتوسط تجد أساسها القانونى فى كون تركيا الدولى الضامنة لحقوق «قبرص التركية»، يعد دفعا معدوما صدر عن دون أى صفة أو مصلحة، فمن الذى أكسب تركيا وصف المركز القانونى للدولة المتبوعة أو الحامية أو المنتدبة أو الوصية على ذلك «الجيب الانفصالى»، فى شمال الجمهورية القبرصية؟

فى ذات السياق، فالحقيقة القانونية والمادية أيضا أن تركيا لم تبرم اتفاقية دولية لتعيين الحدود مع «الجمهورية المزعومة فى شمال قبرص»، ولم تبرم أيضا أى اتفاقية دولية فى ذات الشأن مع أى من الدول الساحلية فى شرق البحر المتوسط، سواء المتقابلة أو المجاورة لتركيا، مما يجعل كافة الدول والمنظمات الدولية تنظر نظرة الريبة للسياسة التركية فى هذا الشأن.

لكننا لا نعترض على الدفع التركى بعدم التزام تركيا باتفاقية الأمم المتحدة لقانون البحار عام 1982، باعتبار أن تركيا ليست طرفا فى هذه الاتفاقية، ولا نذهب أيضا مذهب النفر القليل من الباحثين الزاعمين بانطباق الاتفاقية على تركيا قسرا وجبرا، بزعم استناد كل مواد الاتفاقية على العرف الدولى، ولكننا ننبه القيادة التركية بأن القانون الدولى للبحار لا يقتصر على هذه الاتفاقية، وأن عدم انضمام إسرائيل- تدليلا- للاتفاقية المشار إليها، لم يمنعها من توقيعها اتفاقية لتعيين الحدود مع لبنان وأيضا مع قبرص.

إن التمادى التركى فى الخروقات الجسيمة لمبادئ حسن الجوار، وحظر التهديد أو اللجوء للقوة المسلحة لتسوية النزاعات الدولية، والمساواة فى سيادة الدول كبيرها وصغيرها، وحل المنازعات الدولية وفقا لمبادئ العدل والقانون الدولى، وحسن النية فى تنفيذ التزامات تركيا بموجب ميثاق الأمم المتحدة، وعدم تعريض السلم والأمن الدوليين للخطر، لن يمر مرور الكرام من الجماعة الدولية فى كل حادثة خطيرة.

لقد عزم الاتحاد الأوروبى على فرض جزاءات دولية رادعة ضد تركيا لكبحها وردعها وإعادتها لجادة الصواب، ووفقا لمصادر الاتحاد الأوروبى سيقوم الاتحاد بفرض جزاءات على الأفراد والهيئات الذين يتعاونون مع تركيا فى أعمال التنقيب فى المياه القبرصية واليونانية، وتجميد الاتصالات رفيعة المستوى مع تركيا وخفض تدفقات الأموال إليها، وتعليق المفاوضات حول اتفاقية فى مجال الطيران مع أنقرة، ودعوة بنك الاستثمار الأوروبى إلى مراجعة الإقراض المدعوم سياديا لصالح تركيا.

أيمن سلامة يكتب: دبلوماسية البوارج التركية للتنقيب عن الغاز في شرق المتوسط

Sky News Arabia

قرر الاتحاد الاوروبي تعليق المفاوضات حول اتفاق النقل الجوي الشامل مع تركيا ووقف اجتماعات مجلس الشراكة والاجتماعات رفيعة المستوى مع تركيا في الوقت الحالي.

كما وافق على اقتراح المفوضية بتخفيض مساعدات تركيا قبل الانضمام لعام 2020 ودعا بنك الاستثمار الأوروبي إلى مراجعة أنشطة الإقراض في تركيا.

وأكد الاتحاد الاوروبي التأثير السلبي الخطير للأعمال غير القانونية التي تقوم بها تركيا في البحر الابيض المتوسط على العلاقات بين تركيا والاتحاد الأوروبي ، ودعا المجلس تركيا مرة أخرى إلى الامتناع عن مثل هذه الأعمال والعمل بروح حسن الجوار واحترام سيادة قبرص وحقوقها السيادية وفقا للقانون الدولي.

كما رحب الاتحاد الاوروبي بالدعوة التي وجهتها حكومة قبرص للتفاوض مع تركيا ومعالجة حدود المناطق الاقتصادية الخالصة والجرف القاري من خلال الحوار والتفاوض بحسن نية ، مع الاحترام التام للقانون الدولي.

عقوبات أوروبية على تركيا بسبب أنشطة التنقيب في المتوسط

The Daily Beast

If there is a question of who worked on behalf of the Turkish government to influence the 2016 Donald Trump campaign, then the court should look no further than former national security adviser Michael Flynn, lawyers for Bijan Kian, the Iranian-American businessman and former Flynn partner, told jurors in the Eastern District of Virginia Monday.

Kian is charged with two felonies—illegally lobbying on behalf of the Turkish government and conspiring covertly to influence U.S. politics about Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish cleric who is now living in Pennsylvania. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.

But Kian’s team of attorneys said in their opening statements Monday that their client “did not conspire with anyone” to work on behalf of the Turkish government in the U.S. When questioning the Turkish government’s influence operations in the U.S., the jury should look at the newly announced cache of evidence the government has on Flynn, said attorney Bob Trout. Kian isn’t referenced in any of it, Trout said.

In the opening statements Monday the Kian legal team spent the majority of their time arguing that their client did not work on behalf of the Turkish government when he attempted to influence public opinion in the U.S. about Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen currently lives in Pennsylvania and is wanted by the Turkish government for allegedly planning a military coup in the country in 2016. Kian instead worked on behalf of a Turkish-Dutch businessman named Ekim Alptekin, Trout said. (Alptekin is named as a defendant in the Kian case but will likely avoid appearance because he is living in Istanbul.)

Toward the end of his statements, Trout tried to create a degree of separation between Kian and Flynn who is currently awaiting sentencing in Washington for crimes carried out during his time working with the Trump team. He pointed to the government’s evidence, which was mentioned in a hearing last week, and said that prosecutors had all but conceded that Kian was not involved. The jurors have not seen the evidence yet and the details of what the government currently has in its position is unclear.

According to a government indictment filed last year, Flynn and Kian worked together throughout the fall of 2016, when Flynn was an advisor to then candidate Trump, on a project to try and extradite Gulen back to Turkey. Prosecutors said the two took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Turkish government to execute the plan.

Flynn was also at the time accused of lying about his communications with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. He entered into a cooperation deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and admitted to lying about the communications and about his consulting firm’s business with the Turkish government. He said that the registration he filed for the Turkey-focused project in 2017 contained several inaccuracies, though his lawyers maintain that Flynn did not intentionally lie on the documents.

As part of his deal with the government, Flynn was supposed to testify against Kian and his sentencing in Washington was postponed so he could appear as a witness in Virginia.

That all changed last week when the government removed Flynn from the witness list and instead named him as a co-conspirator in the case. The government also said it had extensive information that the Turkish government attempted to influence the Trump campaign through Flynn. It was the first mention of an additional set of materials that show how Flynn was being extensively involved in the Turkish lobbying.

It’s that evidence that lies at the heart of who really committed the crime of illegally lobbying for Turkey, Kian’s lawyers said Monday. Kian “didn’t know” about the alleged separate communications between Alptekin and Flynn that are in the government’s possession, Trout said.

For its part, the government in its opening statement barely mentioned the former national security adviser, instead referring several times to Kian’s business team members as “associates.” The government focused on Kian’s email correspondences, including with Flynn, about the Gulen project and attempted to lay out for the jury how the money that flowed into Kian’s account for services rendered connected back to the Turkish government.

After nearly an hour and a half of opening statements, both of which were at times tangled and difficult to follow, the jury seemed to fade by 5:30 p.m. Several individuals closed their eyes and appeared to be sleeping.

They’re due back in court Tuesday morning for testimony, including evidence to be entered into the record and for witness examinations.

Michael Flynn’s Ex-Business Partner Points the Finger at Him in Court

The New York Times

A strong undersea earthquake shook the resort island of Bali, Indonesia, on Tuesday, forcing tourists to leave their hotels as a precaution.

The magnitude 6.1 quake followed days of seismic activity in the region, including a powerful magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Sunday that killed at least two people in a sparsely populated area of eastern Indonesia. That quake displaced 2,000 people and damaged scores of homes.

Pictures on social media after Tuesday’s quake showed tourists at one hotel in Bali being led to safety.

Bali Earthquake Forces Hotel Evacuations

A massive 6.2 magnitude earthquake has hit Bali.

Tourists are being evacuated from their hotels in Seminyak on the southern end of Bali, after the strong earthquake hit just south of the Indonesian island.

More to come

A massive 6.2 magnitude earthquake has hit Bali

Strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake hits Bali as tourists are evacuated from their hotels in Seminyak

The Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday the detention of a Canadian citizen accused of involvement in a drug-related case in Yantai, a coastal city in Shandong province.

Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news conference that a drug-related case involving foreign students is under investigation and one of the people involved in the case is a Canadian citizen.

Geng also said that the case has nothing to do with a recent drug-related case in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, where a police crackdown resulted in the arrest of 19 people, including 16 foreigners.

He said public security authorities had made consular notifications to relevant embassies in a timely manner and will arrange consular visits.

China will safeguard the legitimate rights of the parties concerned in accordance with law, Geng added.

The new case came as tensions continue in Sino-Canadian relations, sparked last year by the detention of Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Vancouver at the request of the United States, which is seeking her extradition.

Agence France-Presse quoted a source familiar with the latest detention as saying that there was no indication that the case was related to the arrests of Canadians Michael Kovrig, an ex-diplomat, and businessman Michael Spavor, who have been arrested in China on spying charges.

Also on Monday, Geng said the Chinese government and its enterprises will not cooperate or have business contacts with U.S. companies selling arms to Taiwan.

Geng reiterated that China will impose sanctions on those companies in order to safeguard national interests.

He said while details of sanctions will not be disclosed now, the Chinese people are always "true in words and resolute in deeds".

The planned sale seriously violates international law and basic norms of international relations, as well as the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, he said. It also harms China's sovereignty and national security, he added.

Last week, the U.S. State Department said it had approved a planned sale of weapons worth $2.2 billion to Taiwan, including M1A2 Abrams tanks and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

Canadian held in Yantai drug case

The Chinese government and enterprises will cut business ties with U.S. firms involved in selling weapons to Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday.

His comments came after the U.S. State Department on July 8 announced a plan to sell 2.22 billion U.S. dollars' worth of weapons to Taiwan. China subsequently announced that it would impose sanctions on U.S. enterprises involved in the sale, which Geng called a serious violation of international law, the basic norms of international relations, the one-China principle and the three joint communiques between China and the United Statesã

The sale undermined China's sovereignty and national security, he continued.

"In order to safeguard national interests, China will impose sanctions on U.S. companies involved in the arms sales to Taiwan," the spokesman said.

China to cut business ties with U.S. firms involved in Taiwan arms sale

Epoch Times

Carnival Ride Breaks in Half, Killing 2 and Injuring 27

A carnival ride in an adventure park dramatically broke into half, killing two and injuring 27 in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on July 14.

The ride, shaped like a hammer, was carrying 30 people when the main beam holding the seats broke into half as people were mid-air, reported New Delhi Television (NDTV).

“Twenty-nine people were brought to the hospital out of whom two died while twenty-seven are being treated,” Ahmedabad Mayor Bijal Patel told Ahmedabad Mirror, a local media.

Ahmedabad: 2 people died&26 injured after a joyride at an adventure park in Kankaria area broke this afternoon. Vijay Nehra,Commissioner, Municipal Corporation says,”Police along with the FSL team is investigating the matter.Proper treatment is being given to injured.” #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/YmV1qS9w2F — ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2019

According to the Press Trust of India, police identified those killed as a 24-year-old girl, Manali Rajwadi, and a 22-year-old man, Mohammad Javed.

“There are 32 seats in the ride that go round. The pipe of the main shaft broke and crashed on the ground. How that pipe broke is a matter of investigation by Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL),” Chief Fire Officer MF Dastoor told Indian wire services.

The accident happened just a few minutes after the ride left the ground at the Kankaria Adventure Park, according to Times Now News.

While police have launched an investigation, 14 people are reported to be critically injured.

Amusement Park Accidents

Amusement parks can be a real source of adventure, thrill, and joy for people and they can also be the cause of accidents and tragedies.

In 2017, 12 carnival rides were shut down when a similar ride broke down, killing one and injuring seven at the Ohio State Fair, according to CBS Chicago.

In 2016, an 11-year-old lost her eyesight when her scalp got ripped off as her long red hair became tangled in a carnival ride at the Cinco de Mayo Festival in Omaha on May 7. Her father said she could be maimed for life, facing permanent loss of her eyesight.

In May the same year, El Paso Times reported that a 16-year-old girl lost her life when she was thrown out of a ride at the St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church’s Dia De Los Niños carnival.

A ride breakdown at the Delta Fair in Tennessee in September 2016 landed eight people in the hospital, according to the WMC5.

Skydive rides have also caused accidents, with two girls sustaining injuries after they were thrown out of such a ride at the Geauga County Maple Festival in 2010, reported the Vindicator.

According to a study published in Sage Journals in 2013, 92,885 children sought treatment U.S. hospital emergency departments for injuries involving amusement rides from 1990 to 2010.

“An improved national system for monitoring injuries involving amusement rides is needed. There are opportunities to improve the safety of amusement rides for children, especially to prevent injuries from falls,” the study said.

According to government data, Saferparks reported that an estimated 9,000 people in the United States landed in hospital emergency rooms from amusement park injuries in 2017, up from 6,778 in 2016.

Carnival rides killed 51 people in the United States from 1987 to 2000—roller coasters claimed 16 and whirling rides killed 11 people.

Sherley Boursiqut contributed to this report.

Carnival Ride Breaks in Half, Killing 2 and Injuring 27

Sputnik

The growth of China’s gross domestic product (GDP) decelerated to 6.3 percent from the year earlier in the first half of 2019, in line with the 6-6.5 percent target span, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement on Monday.

According to the bureau, in the second quarter of 2019, China's GDP growth decelerated to 6.2 percent from 6.4 percent in the first quarter, marking the slowest pace since 1992. While these figures fit into Beijing's GDP growth target span of between 6 and 6.5 percent for 2019, they also show that China's economy has been reportedly under pressure because of the ongoing trade war with the United States.

Pauline Loong, Award-Winning Researcher and head of Asia Analytica shares her insights on the situation.

Sputnik: According to Chinese government reports, the country's gross domestic product grew at 6.2 percent in the quarter ended June - the slowest quarterly growth rate since 1992 and down from 6.4 percent in the previous quarter. How significant is this and what are the causes for this slowdown in growth for China?

Pauline Loong: It is significant in that the slowdown is being confirmed, it's not significant in the sense that it's widely accepted that the Chinese economy was slowing down well before the first shots were fired in the trade war.

The economy was already on a knife edge.

Now with the pressures from the trade war, things have just got worse, a little more quickly and again you have to look at the background. China is facing a rising debts mountain that is almost three times as large as GDP, compared with 140 percent, a decade ago.

Between 2007 and 2018, Chinese household debt rose nine fold against the three fold increase in nominal household incomes and NPLs continue to rise.

I could go on but it is quite well known that the economy was facing a lot of difficulties and now with the trade war as well. Things are getting really bad for China and the Chinese government is looking at some very serious options.

Sputnik: When we look at this slowdown in growth; how much is this attributed to the current ongoing trade war between the US and China? Essentially are we seeing the true effect of the trade war between the US and China, or is there more to it than that?

Pauline Loong: The numbers that we're seeing for the second quarter is only minimally attributed to the trade war.

As I said, the Chinese economy was already on a knife edge. If the trade works continues, the biggest danger is to come. The biggest danger does not come from slowdown in growth as such but in terms of foreign investment, leaving China and this is not just foreign money.

Chinese factories themselves are already looking at Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and other places where they could produce in order to get away from a trade war that many people say will not end too soon.

Sputnik: What actions and policies could we see from Bejing to protect economic growth and moreover the country?

Pauline Loong: In terms of domestic growth expect the usual raft of stimulus policies, more accommodative monetary policy to lower interest rates, tax breaks, and investment push the government and state owned entities spending more money investing in new projects.

What’s even more important is that the government will try to prop up confidence in the system - that is more important than growth.

You can grow a little quicker, you can grow a little slower but it's not the end of the world to grow at 6 percent, or even 5 percent or 4 percent. That's the sort of growth the developed world would really kill for.

What is more important is if there is a sudden drop in confidence in the system, which would be very bad.

I can see the government moving very strongly to ensure that confidence in the system does not slip, so that when certain small banks get into trouble, as they did over the past couple of weeks, the government can immediately say ‘We are behind it, do not worry’. So I believe that is going to be the new focus in Beijing policy.

Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Pauline Loong and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

Trade War Targets Foreign Investments in China, Beijing Should Prop Up Economic Confidence - Pundit

There is little sign, though, that China’s loss is America’s gain. Much of the business activity is shifting to other low-cost countries, like Vietnam, with a transition cost attached for American companies that depend on them.

Numerous companies have announced changes in their supply chains or other effects from the tariffs, and more could be revealed as companies report second-quarter earnings in coming weeks. Nintendo has accelerated the shift of its Switch console to Vietnam from China, according to Panjiva, a supply chain research firm, while GoPro, Hasbro and other companies are reworking their supply chains to reduce their exposure to China.

The president and his advisers have argued that now is the time to try to force China to change trading practices that they say have hurt American companies and resulted in the loss of American jobs. The administration argues that the status quo was not without costs to the American economy. An investigation by the administration into Chinese intellectual property theft found that China’s policies had resulted in harm to the American economy of at least $50 billion per year.

Many trade experts and business leaders support confronting Beijing, and some have said the heavy cost of the trade war will be worth it if the United States can persuade China to open up its economy. But most disagree with the administration’s claim that the trade war is having no negative effect on American businesses.

“Certainly it is absolute folly to suggest that this is cost free for the U.S.,” said Rufus Yerxa, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council, which represents major American exporters.

Numerous studies have shown that American consumers are bearing much of the cost of the tariffs. Studies from the Tax Foundation in Washington and the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the tariffs amount to a significant tax increase on Americans, by raising the prices of goods. The damage is concentrated, as a percentage of income, among the lowest earners, who spend a larger share of their pay on imports than the upper middle class and the rich.

The administration has gradually increased the amount of Chinese goods subject to tariffs over the last year, from an initial $34 billion to a total of $250 billion, and ramped up the tariff rate on those goods.

Tariffs on China Don’t Cover the Costs of Trump’s Trade War

Country still has room to render policy support for economic growth, World Bank official says

China's GDP growth slowed to 6.2 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, its slowest pace in the 27 years since quarterly record keeping began. But analysts said the brisk retail sales growth and stable employment, together with possible support measures to be rolled out in the second half, will help bolster full-year growth.

Growth in the April-June period was 0.2 percentage point lower than the first quarter. GDP growth came in at 6.3 percent in the first half, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Retail sales rose by a higher-than-expected 9.8 percent year-on-year in June, the fastest since March 2018, and increased by 8.4 percent year-on-year in the first half, compared with 8.3 percent in the first quarter.

Industrial output rose by 6.3 percent year-on-year in June, beating general market expectations, compared with 5 percent in the previous month, the NBS said. But in the first half, industrial output growth dropped to 6 percent, down from 6.5 percent in the first quarter.

Fixed-asset investment growth was 5.8 percent in the first six months, compared with 6.3 percent in the first quarter, the NBS said.

Mao Shengyong, a spokesman for the NBS, said that "growth remained on track despite increasing external uncertainties and new downward growth pressure".

"The 6.3 percent growth in the first half is in line with our expectations and our full-year forecast of 6.2 percent growth," said World Bank Country Director for China Martin Raiser. In fact the data suggest "some stabilization of domestic demand, which is welcome", Raiser added.

"The growth rate in the first half is within a reasonable range," said Liang Haiming, dean of the Hainan University Belt and Road Research Institute. "It's not a very poor reading."

Yan Se, an economist at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, warned that downward pressure remains heavy, and he cited uncertainties arising from the Sino-US trade dispute, significant local government debt weighing on investment and a lackluster property sector.

"We think that in the third quarter, growth could continue to dip to about 6.1 percent," he said.

Yan added that the central government will likely further resolve local government debt risks, increase infrastructure investment and resort to monetary expansion to stimulate growth. "Those efforts will help the Chinese economy bottom out in the fourth quarter," he said.

Liang expected authorities will lower banks' reserve requirement ratio by 100 basis points in the second half as part of growth-stabilizing measures. "If growth further weakens, interest rate cuts would not be ruled out," said Liang, who is also chairman of the China Silk Road iValley Research Institute.

Raiser said that China still has some room to render more policy support if the situation continues to deteriorate, although "at this stage, this seems unwarranted".

Apart from short-term fiscal and monetary policy reactions, China needs to carry out structural reforms to boost productivity growth by further reducing distortions such as those in the allocation of land and capital. Promoting competition and opening-up to encourage greater diffusion of technologies, and stimulating discovery through investment in R&D, including basic research, is also necessary, he said.

GDP data seen as 'reasonable' despite pressure

Trillion-dollar e-commerce company Amazon’s “Prime Day” has become a major digital holiday over the years, but employees at the company’s Minnesota and German facilities used the internet craze to amplify their grievances with the company. By the looks of Amazon’s plans for automation, however, their outrage may already be accounted for.

While some would expect Amazon’s continued economic success, various state subsidies and expansions to be returned in terms of a living wage and benefits for their facility workers, productivity-based firings, physically taxing work conditions and the mental stressors of precarious employment appear to remain commonplace at Amazon facilities whether one is working there full- or part-time.

Germany’s strikes, which began Sunday night in Werne, Rheinberg, Leipzig, Graben, Koblenz and Bad Hersfeld saw some 2,000 demonstrators, according to CNN, but early reports from the Minnesota facility’s six-hour walk-out registered around 100 workers in attendance.

To explain how Amazon could appear so indifferent to its employees’ concerns and what that means for the future of the tech-driven company, Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of economics at Saint Mary's College of California and author of “Central Bankers at the End of Their Ropes: Monetary Policy and the Coming Depression,” joined Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear on Monday.

“Well, it’s probably one of those smaller facilities that know their days are numbered,” Rasmus told hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou. “That’s grinding work, working in a warehouse: grabbing stuff, and stowing stuff, and hustle, hustle. And they probably know that the plan of Amazon is to quickly automate out those jobs.”

Earlier this year, Sputnik reported Amazon had fired over 300 employees at a Baltimore facility between August 2017 and September 2018 over their failure to meet productivity quotas. An Amazon worker’s efficiency is monitored by an automated system that uses a “time off task” metric to assess productivity, deliver warnings and even terminate employees without consulting a single human in the process.

“Amazon’s a job killer,” the professor said, adding, “All this media hoopla about jobs and so forth being created - that’s just temporary. Amazon’s on a crash course to automate out. And they’re introducing new machinery now to do just that at the rate of hundreds of thousands of jobs at every warehouse.”

Boston Dynamics, an American engineering and robotics design company that notably attended Amazon’s Re:Mars conference last month, recently revealed footage of its “Handle” mobile manipulation robot in action.

Though innovations such as Handle certainly enhance productivity and may even get your package delivered to your door quicker, Rasmus argues that Amazon’s boasting of creating thousands of jobs in new cities basically comes with an asterisk in terms of sustaining that number. Furthermore, he says it's even a possibility that the production-monitoring devices could be a way for Amazon to test the limits of the human body and know when to make the switch to automation.

The professor also referenced Amazon’s July 11 press release pledging to invest upwards of $700 million in “upskilling training programs” by 2025, which, according to the multi-national, trillion-dollar company, would build on its “$15 minimum wage and comprehensive benefits including medical insurance, 401k savings plan, and generous parental leave.”

Rasmus pointed out that not only would the plan only benefit 100,000 so-called “Amazonians,” but it would only cover up to $12,000 per worker in fees.

“What Amazon needs is highly skilled workers at this point if they’re going to automate out the simple work ... They want data scientists, they want computer guys, they want software guys and so forth. $12,000 doesn’t even pay a fifth of what it costs for one year in a university with an advanced degree,” he told the hosts.

“Very few will be able to make that transition, but it’s good PR,” Rasmus noted before highlighting that “the workers aren’t stupid; they know that.”

“Amazon’s not a warehouse company only: Amazon’s a big tech company, and it makes most of its profits now from government contracts from the Pentagon. That’s where it’s making its money,” Rasmus concluded.

‘Amazon’s a Job Killer’: Tech Giant Shrewdly Using Strikes, Layoffs to Prepare for Automation

International Business Times

Long-festering employee discontent at Amazon.com, the world’s largest e-commerce marketplace, once again surfaced with fulfillment center workers in Shakopee, Minnesota walking out Monday afternoon in the midst of the two-day Amazon Prime Day that began on the same day.

Minnesota employees said they’ll go on strike for a six-hour period that overlaps with the morning and evening shifts. They’re protesting dangerous working conditions, wage practices, unfair scheduling and impossible demands being made on them on a daily basis by management.

Media reports said there were about 75 workers outside the fulfillment center (called MSP1) at 5:00 p.m. ET Monday. The striking employees shouted “We work, we sweat, Amazon workers need a rest!” and “Amazon, hear our voice!”

The Minnesota strike is the first major strike of Amazon workers in the U.S. during Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales extravaganza. Analysts said the strike might also be a warning sign Amazon’s move to increase to increase its minimum wage to $15 per hour is insufficient to satisfy workers’ needs.

The exhausting nature of fulfillment center jobs seems to be a huge issue among employees.

“Amazon has the means to do so much more for all of its employees, and we would like to see less physically and mentally draining jobs,” said William Stolz, who has worked in an Amazon warehouse for over two years, according to CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”

“We would like to see workers have better job security, better treatment for those that are injured, bringing back some of the benefits and bonuses that we used to have.”

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the largest federation of unions in the United States, threw its wholehearted support behind the striking workers and also released a video Monday expressing solidarity with the strikers.

“They’re working under insane deadlines, often in unsafe conditions,” said AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Schuler in the video. “We’re standing strong in solidarity with the workers in Shakopee and beyond, but we hope you will too. When you stand up together collectively, that is how we change corporate behavior.”

Presidential hopefuls of the Democratic Party, especially those known to champion workers’ rights, also showed their support.

On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted: “I fully support Amazon workers' Prime Day strike. Their fight for safe and reliable jobs is another reminder that we must come together to hold big corporations accountable.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Amazon workers deserve higher wages, safe working conditions, fair scheduling, and reasonable production demands.

There’s a cultural aspect to the Minnesota strike, as well. Most of the workers at MSP1 are East African Muslims and they’ve previously protested Amazon’s disregard for their religious practices.

For these East Africans (mostly Somalis), the strike is part of their demands Amazon “provide safe and reliable jobs, increase respect and opportunities for advancement for the predominantly East African workforce, protect the right to organize and advocate for better working conditions, and to demand concrete action from Amazon to address critical issues like climate change,” said the organizers.

Photo: KEREM YUCEL/AFP/Getty Images

The Minnesota strike follows a similar one in Germany where more than 2,000 walked out of their jobs at seven company locations across Germany. The striking Germans demand Amazon provide better pay and benefits and demand the company comply with a collective bargaining agreement. The strikers have adopted the slogan, "No more discounts on our incomes."

"While Amazon fuels bargain hunting on Prime Day with hefty discounts, employees are being deprived of a living wage," said Orhan Arkan, a retail specialist in the Verdi workers union.

In reply to the strike, Amazon claims it’s already granted the strikers’ demands.

“These groups are conjuring misinformation to work in their favor, when in fact we already offer the things they purport to be their cause -- industry leading pay of $15 per hour, benefits, and a safe workplace for our employees,” said Amazon.

“If these groups -- unions and the politicians they rally to their cause -- really want to help the American worker, we encourage them to focus their energy on passing legislation for an increase in the federal minimum wage, because $7.25 is too low.”

Amazon Prime Day 2019 Rocked By Employee Walk Out At Minnesota Fulfillment Center

On Monday, CNN published a report based on “exclusive documents”, said to have been obtained by the media outlet, claiming that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange worked with alleged Russian hackers and other intelligence officials in a bid to damage Hillary Clinton’s reputation and ruin her 2016 presidential run.

The documents are said to have originated from security companies conducting surveillance on Assange on behalf of Ecuadorian officials. The cited documents were not published by CNN.

According to the report, Assange - who sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 to escape rape charges in Sweden - enjoyed the cooperation and support of Ecuadoran senior officials, including then-foreign minister Ricardo Patino, granting Assange powers that rivaled that of an ambassador.

The Ecuadorian officials claim, according to the alleged documents, that Assange abused those powers, claiming that he could fire embassy staff, including the ambassador.

The documents cited by CNN allege that Assange used these powers to force embassy staff to install better Internet infrastructure, have numerous non-diplomatic visits, grant his WikiLeaks colleagues immunity from searches and even delete visitor names from embassy logs.

The report alleges that Assange, despite his powers, occasionally conducted meetings in women’s bathrooms, in order to escape surveillance.

According to documents CNN claims to have in its possession, in June 2016, the Ecuadorian embassy in London turned into a beehive of operations against Clinton, the Democratic candidate, as the WikiLeaks founder had some 75 visits, including those with Russian nationals, who, of course, had “Kremlin ties,” according to the US news outlet.

One visitor is named “Yana Maximova”, and no other information on her is provided. Another is Nikolai Bogachikhin, RT’s London division head. In 2012, Julian Assange hosted a TV show on RT.

At the time, WikiLeaks allegedly established contact with “online personas” that US Special Counsel Robert Mueller believes are Russian hackers on the Military Intelligence Directorate payroll. Following the alleged contact, Assange demanded that the embassy beef up his Internet connection, CNN says.

However, the Mueller report says that not only Russian nationals were involved in the scheme. According to documents cited by CNN, Assange met with German hacker Andrew Müller-Maguhn at least 12 times before the 2016 US elections, sometimes accompanied by Bernd Fix, another German national.

The surveillance footage, which CNN says was provided by security companies, show a man wearing a balaclava, a large backpack and shades enter the embassy on July 18, handing - presumably - a flash drive to an embassy guard. On the same day, WikiLeaks allegedly informed the purported Russian hackers that they had received information and were preparing to release it soon. The visit caused security companies to raise red flags, but the guard kept his job, the report says. The actual footage is not included in the report.

“It's not clear if these incidents are related, and the contents of the package delivered to the embassy are unknown,” the CNN report says.

According to CNN, data released by WikiLeaks turned the Democratic Party into a “chaotic mess,” as thousands of Clinton emails revealed how the Democratic National Committee conspired to undermine Bernie Sanders in favor of Clinton. Later leaks of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta also revealed potentially embarrassing details on the Democratic nominee, including transcripts of her closed-door Wall Street speeches, which are believed by some to have buried her chances of winning.

The CNN report says that shortly after the publication of the Clinton emails, US officials rolled out an ultimatum to Ecuador demanding that the nation cut Assange’s ability to influence the elections. In October 2016, Assange was subsequently cut off from the Web and from his phone. On October 18, Assange overrode a visit ban issued by then-Ambassador Carlos Abad Ortiz, resulting in two WikiLeaks staffers who had been granted with search immunity, to remove a box containing approximately 100 hard drives from the embassy in the middle of the night. This late-night visit also made security companies raise alarms to Ecuador, the CNN report says.

According to CNN, US intelligence agencies “have said from the very beginning” that WikiLeaks received the stolen emails from the Russian government.

“But the suspects are all living safely in Russia, so the US will likely never publicly produce a smoking gun or prove in court that Russia worked with WikiLeaks,” the report acknowledges.

Russia has denied involvement in the Assange case, with a Russian Embassy in London spokesperson dismissing the allegations and accusations as “insinuations”.

"UK media issued many reports on yesterday's arrest of Assange. Some articles even called the WikiLeaks founder a ‘puppet of the Kremlin’. We are not surprised at such statements,” the spokesperson said in April.

An Australian national, Assange repeatedly denied he worked for Russia and that the source of his leaks was neither “the Russian government” nor “a state party.”

This year, Ecuador voided Assange’s immunity, and UK police removed him from the premises. He is now serving a one-year sentence in a UK prison for skipping bail, and actively fighting extradition to the US where it is thought he could stand trial for treason.

Washington has not accused Assange for crimes related to 2016 events. Instead, he is wanted in the US for his 2010 publication of intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning’s leaked diplomatic cables and war logs. If extradited to Washington, he could face a minimum of five years in prison.

Following his arrest in April, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the "hand of ‘democracy' is squeezing the throat of freedom".

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed hope that Assange’s rights would be respected after his arrest, while the Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Dmitry Polyanskiy, described the arrest of Assange as "a blow to media freedom".

Assange Masterminded 2016 Clinton Leaks from Ecuadorian Embassy, Report Claims

Julian Assange was able to turn the Ecuadorian embassy in London into a command center for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, a report said Monday.

Documents obtained by CNN detail how the WikiLeaks founder received in-person deliveries, potentially containing hacked materials from Russian operatives during sometimes hour-long meetings at the embassy.

The hundreds of pages of surveillance reports and visitor logs were compiled by UC Global, a private Spanish security firm hired by the Ecuadorian government.

The information supports the suggestion raised by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his report that WikiLeaks helped the Russians undermine the US election.

The reports show that Assange met with Russians and “world-class hackers” before critical leaks.

He also got his hands on computer and network hardware updates to help with the transfer of massive encrypted files from Russian operatives, according to the documents.

The security logs said that Assange personally managed some of the document releases “directly from the embassy.”

After the election, the security company assessed Assange’s allegiance and found that there was “no doubt that there is evidence” that the Australia-native has ties to Russian intelligence agencies.

see also Mueller report details Trump campaign's ties to WikiLeaks Special counsel Robert Mueller probed whether President Trump’s election campaign...

Assange has always denied working for the Kremlin and insists his source for the leaks “is not the Russian government and is not a state party.”

In April, the US unsealed a computer hacking indictment against Assange for his role in helping Chelsea Manning infiltrate Pentagon computers.

Assange is now serving a one-year prison sentence in London for skipping bail in the UK and is fighting extradition to the US.

A dozen Russian intelligence officers were indicted in 2018 as part of Mueller’s probe for working with WikiLeaks and hacking the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.