Category Archives: US national security

US has never asked WikiLeaks rival to remove leaked cables, court told

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Cryptome also published documents that are at centre of Julian Assange extradition case

US authorities have never asked a WikiLeaks rival to take down unredacted cables that have been among those at the centre of the legal battle to send Julian Assange to the US, his extradition hearing has been told.

The evidence was given by a veteran internet activist whose website, Cryptome, published more than 250,000 classified documents a day before WikiLeaks began placing them online.

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Trump says he approves TikTok Oracle deal which may include Walmart

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  • President says he will allow Chinese-owned app in US
  • Walmart could acquire stake and seat on global board

Donald Trump has said he “approves a deal in concept” that will allow TikTok to continue to operate in the US, after threatening to ban the Chinese-owned app.

Related: China attacks US 'bullying' over ban on Tiktok and WeChat

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Trump threatens to retaliate with ‘1,000 times greater’ force against any Iran attack

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  • US intelligence said to fear attack on US envoy to South Africa
  • Trump claims he had discussed plan to assassinate Syria’s Assad

Donald Trump has warned that the US will retaliate with “1,000 times greater” force against any Iranian attack on its interests.

Related: ‘The US feels very volatile’: former ambassador warns of election violence

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Trump told Sarah Sanders to ‘take one for the team’ after Kim Jong-un wink

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  • Ex-press secretary describes boorish remarks in new memoir
  • ‘Kim Jong-un hit on you,’ Trump said, after gesture at summit

Donald Trump told Sarah Sanders she would have to “go to North Korea and take one for the team”, after Kim Jong-un winked at the then White House press secretary during a summit in Singapore in June 2018.

Related: Trump denies 'series of mini-strokes' after book reports mystery hospital visit

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US defense department creates taskforce to investigate UFOs

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Taskforce to detect and anlyze unidentified aerial phenomena that could ‘potentially pose a threat’ to national security, Pentagon said

The US department of Defense has formed a new body to investigate what it calls “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAPs) following reported sightings of what most people call UFOs.

The move is likely to spark wide interest in alien hunters worldwide looking for signs that humanity is not alone in the universe. Although the dry language of the Pentagon’s announcement of the new group belied its intent as watchers of the sky for potential first contact.

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US and Russia to hold talks on regulating militarisation of space

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  • US claims Russia tested satellite-launched weapon this month
  • Negotiators to meet in Vienna on Monday

US and Russian officials will meet in Vienna on Monday to discuss whether and how to regulate the militarisation of space, in the wake of an alleged Russian satellite-launched missile test.

The two governments agreed to hold a “space security exchange” in January, but the meeting was put off as a result of the pandemic.

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The Room Where It Happened review: John Bolton fires broadside that could sink Trump

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The ex-national security adviser is no hero or martyr and certainly no prose stylist either. What counts is how damaging his memoir will be

John Bolton’s near-600-page tome is the most damning written account by a Trump administration alumnus, the one that stands to haunt the president come November. In the author’s judgment, “I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job.” Joe Biden couldn’t say it better himself.

Related: John Bolton: judge declines to block tell-all Trump book

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Why Trump loves the US military – but it doesn’t love him back

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The president’s West Point speech went smoothly but protests have focused a harsh light on his use of the military

Donald Trump attempted to solidify his bond with the US army on Saturday, delivering the graduation speech to cadets at the United States Military Academy and boasting of a “colossal” $2tn rebuilding of American martial might.

Related: Top US military general Mark Milley apologizes for Trump church photo-op

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Fumbling the nuclear football: is Trump blundering to arms control chaos?

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The president believes he alone can negotiate away nuclear weapons and win a Nobel prize – but he has quit three treaties and gutted his administration of experts

The Trump administration signaled this week that it was ready to get back in the business of nuclear arms control. A newly appointed envoy, Marshall Billingslea, made his first public remarks to announce talks with Russia are about to resume.

“We have concrete ideas for our next interaction, and we’re finalizing the details as we speak,” Billingslea said.

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World nuclear arms spending hit $73bn last year – half of it by US

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  • Spending by nine nuclear-armed states rose 10%
  • Trump boosted nuclear funding but cut pandemic prevention

The world’s nuclear-armed nations spent a record $73bn on their weapons last year, with the US spending almost as much as the eight other states combined, according to a new report.

The new spending figures, reflecting the highest expenditure on nuclear arms since the height of the cold war, have been estimated by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), which argues that the coronavirus pandemic underlines the wastefulness of the nuclear arms race.

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Mike Pompeo: ‘enormous evidence’ coronavirus came from Chinese lab

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The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, claimed on Sunday there is “enormous evidence” the coronavirus outbreak originated in a Chinese laboratory – but did not provide any of the alleged evidence.

Related: Pandemic brings Trump's war on science to the boil – but who will win?

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Pentagon releases three UFO videos taken by US Navy pilots

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The previously leaked videos were declassified to ‘clear up any misconceptions’ on whether they were real

The Pentagon on Monday released three declassified videos that show US Navy pilots encountering what appear to be unidentified flying objects.

The grainy videos, which the Pentagon says depict “unexplained aerial phenomena”, were previously leaked, with some believing they show alien unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

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Donald Trump ‘strongly considering full pardon’ for Michael Flynn

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Donald Trump is “strongly considering a full pardon” for Michael Flynn, his first national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his dealings with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.

Flynn cut a deal as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian election interference and links between Trump and Moscow.

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US and Taliban sign deal to withdraw troops from Afghanistan – video

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The US and the Taliban have signed a peace agreement aimed at ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan. 

According to the agreement, the US will start withdrawing thousands of troops in exchange for Taliban commitments to prevent Afghanistan from being a launchpad for terrorist attacks

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Trump reportedly calls John Bolton a ‘traitor’ and wants to block his book

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  • President said book shouldn’t be published before election
  • Key impeachment witness Marie Yovanovitch to release memoir

John Bolton is “a traitor” and his book should not be published before the election in November, Donald Trump reportedly told aides and media figures.

The president’s views on news of a book deal for Marie Yovanovitch, another key figure in the Ukraine scandal which led to Trump’s impeachment, were not immediately clear.

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US and Taliban to sign deal paving way for troop pullout and peace talks

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A seven-day ‘reduction of violence’ deal will begin on Friday night, Mike Pompeo said, leading to signing of a peace agreement

The US and Taliban are due to sign an agreement on 29 February that will lead to the withdrawal of thousands of US troops and the start of comprehensive peace talks between the Afghan government and the insurgents.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, announced that the agreement would be signed once there has been a week-long “nationwide reduction in violence”, to start at midnight on Friday, according to an understanding reached by US and Taliban negotiators meeting in Doha.

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Pompeo touts partial ceasefire with Taliban in push for election-year troop reduction

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US secretary of state calls for significant drop in violence before formal peace talks can begin

Mike Pompeo has hailed “a pretty important breakthrough” in Afghan peace talks, as officials confirmed that the Taliban had agreed to a partial week-long ceasefire as a precursor to broader peace talks and the withdrawal of at least some US troops.

But the US secretary of state said that Washington still wanted to see a significant reduction in violence before formal negotiations could begin. “If we can get there – if we can hold that posture for a while – then we’ll be able to begin the real, serious discussion which is all the Afghans sitting at a table,” Pompeo said on Thursday.

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Jared Kushner appeared ignorant of what Nato actually does, book claims

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Sinking in the Swamp says Trump’s ‘lead point of contact’ for US allies seemed unaware of alliance members’ commitment to defend each other from attack

Though Jared Kushner was a “lead point of contact” for US allies worried about Donald Trump’s threats to Nato, the president’s son-in-law did not “seem to know what Nato actually did”, a new book claims.

Related: Jared Kushner may have an ethics problem - to the tune of $90m | Vicky Ward

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Trump appears to confirm killing of al-Qaida leader in Yemen

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  • New York Times reports Qassim al-Rimi of AQAP believed dead
  • President retweets intelligence analyst and reporter

Donald Trump appeared on Saturday to confirm the death of Qassim al-Rimi, the leader of an al-Qaida affiliate in Yemen, through a series of tweets.

Related: Yemeni terror chief warns US: 'Your security has broken away'

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Two US military service members killed in Afghanistan

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  • Roadside bomb explosion seems certain to stall Taliban talks
  • Two US service members wounded, military says

Two US service members were killed and two injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the US military said on Saturday.

In keeping with defense department rules, the military did not identify the service members.

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