North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un & US President Donald Trump
The next summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is likely to happen early next year, a senior administration official said on Friday.
The two sides have been engaged in talks on the leaders' second meeting after the first, unprecedented, one in Singapore in June.
"A meeting is likely sometime after the first of the year," the U.S. official told a small group of reporters.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday he hopes to meet his North Korean counterpart soon to lay the groundwork for a "big step forward" on denuclearization during the next summit.
Pompeo, in an interview with Voice of America on a trip to Mexico City, said Kim told him two weeks ago he was committed to the promises he had made to Trump during their first summit.
"I'm very hopeful we'll have senior leader meetings here in the next week and a half or so between myself and my counterpart to continue this discussion so that when the two of them get together there is real opportunity to make another big step forward on denuclearization," he told VOA.
Pompeo met North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
The U.S. government on Friday charged a Russian national with playing a key financial role in a Kremlin-backed plan to conduct "information warfare" against the United States, including ongoing attempts to influence next month's congressional elections.Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, 44, became the first person charged with a crime for attempting to interfere in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, according to a government official with knowledge of the investigation.Khusyaynova was the chief accountant for Project Lakhta, an operation started in 2014 and financed by a Russian oligarch close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and two companies he controls, according to a criminal complaint.The oligarch, Evgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, and his two companies were indicted in February in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's separate investigation of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to boost eventual winner Donald Trump over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.The case against Khusyaynova was unsealed on the same day that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies issued a warning about attempts by Russia, China, Iran and other foreign entities to interfere with Nov. 6 congressional elections, in which Trump's Republicans are trying to maintain majority power in Congress, and national elections in 2020.The complaint detailed new examples of Russians using fake personas on social media to stoke divisions over race, gun rights, voter fraud and other contentious issues. Some messages targeted next month's elections, indicating the operation has not been deterred by Mueller's indictments earlier this year."This one shows that the threat from Russia is not over," said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. Attorney in Michigan. "This is a true propaganda war."Russia called the allegations an attempt by the United States to fabricate a pretext to impose sanctions as part of a "disgraceful slander campaign" against Moscow."Have been spreading impudent lies about the mythical 'hand of Moscow' for more than two years - since the previous presidential election - Washington is now trying to play the same card," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a statement on Saturday."The United States clearly overestimates its own capabilities. By demonstrating hostility towards Russia and a contemptuous attitude towards the whole world, it will only be getting an increasingly strong pushback," he added.Using social media and other avenues, the Russians are waging "information warfare against the United States," to sow distrust in the political system, according to the complaint, which charged Khusyaynova with conspiracy to defraud the United States.The complaint included Facebook and Twitter posts that were both critical of Republicans and supportive of President Donald Trump. One post in March, for example, suggested Trump deserved the Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiations with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un aimed at denuclearization.Trump, who at a news conference in Helsinki in July with Putin cast doubt on his own intelligence agencies' findings that Russia had meddled with the 2016 election, dismissed the latest charge against Russia as unrelated to him."It had nothing to do with my campaign," Trump told reporters in Scottsdale, Arizona. "If they are hackers, a lot of them probably like Hillary Clinton better than me."Russia's Putin to meet US security adviser Bolton next weekRussia and Uzbekistan start work on nuclear power plantUS general doesn't believe he was target of Kandahar attackNot Mueller's CaseThe Khusyaynova case is being prosecuted by assistant U.S. attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia. It is not being handled by Mueller because it touches on the 2018 elections, which is not part of his remit, the government official said.Khusyaynova oversaw the financial operations for the project, which had a proposed budget of $35 million for January 2016 to June 2018 and used those funds to wage similar campaigns in the European Union and Ukraine, in addition to the United States."It is a global campaign for a regime that views democracy as an existential threat," said John Carlin, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for National Security.Khusyaynova, who is a resident of St. Petersburg, Russia, and is not in U.S. custody, billed Prigozhin and his companies to pay for advertisements on Facebook, bloggers, and for "development accounts" on Twitter, the complaint says.Prigozhin has been dubbed "Putin's cook" by Russian media because his catering business has organized banquets for the Russian leader and other senior political figures. He has been hit with sanctions by the U.S. government.The criminal complaint said there was no evidence that Khusyaynova or others in the conspiracy succeeded in impacting the outcome of any U.S. election.In their joint statement on Friday the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Justice Department, FBI and Department of Homeland Security also said they did not have any evidence that anyone went far enough to prevent voting or change vote counts. Some state and local governments, which run polling sites, have reported attempts to access their networks, but officials were able to "prevent access or quickly mitigate these attempts," the statement said.Mueller's office has not announced any new indictments since July when it charged 12 Russian intelligence officers who were accused of hacking Democratic computer networks as part of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.Mueller has been widely expected to remain quiet in the run-up to the November elections to avoid actions that might sway votes.But the decision to unseal the Khusyaynova case now appears to reflect changes to Justice Department guidelines last month instructing U.S. attorneys to lean towards disclosing foreign influence operations as a means of deterrence, Carlin said.The Khusyaynova case shows "in detail that when we talk about Russian interference it is not something in history it is now," Carlin said. "Making it public is an important way to neutralize them."Russia's Putin to meet US security adviser Bolton next weekRussia and Uzbekistan start work on nuclear power plantRussia's Putin to discuss Syrian refugees at summit in Istanbul
Russian charged with conspiring to interfere in US congressional elections
Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa hailed former general secretary Peter Velappan as "one of the most important architects" of the game in the region after the Malaysian passed away on Saturday.Velappan was the longest-serving general secretary in the confederation's 64-year history, heading up the administrative arm from 1978 until his retirement in 2007. He was 83."On behalf of the entire Asian football family, I send my condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the family of one of the most important architects of growing the game in Asia," said Sheikh Salman."Peter served Asian football with passion and professionalism and the news of his passing will shock and sadden all those who are involved in our great game on this continent."He deserves immense credit for everything that he achieved with the AFC and beyond."Velappan served under three presidents at the AFC after joining the confederation from the Football Association of Malaysia.He was also coordination director for the organising committee for Asia's first World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan in 2002.
Asian football 'architect' Velappan dies
Several countries including the United States and China agreed "in principle" on Saturday to multilateral guidelines to manage unexpected encounters between their military aircraft, joining 10 Southeast Asian nations already in the pact.The world's two biggest economies as well as Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea tentatively joined the agreement, which was initially adopted on Friday by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to a joint statement issued after a meeting of defence ministers from the 18 countries in Singapore.The voluntary, non-binding guidelines build on an existing code to manage sea encounters adopted by all 18 countries last year, which was designed to mitigate risks following a boom in the region's maritime and air traffic in recent years."We all know that if there is a physical incident it changes the name of the game...it creates a cascade of activities that you cannot control," Singapore defence minister Ng Eng Hen, the host, said at a press briefing following the meeting.The air code has been hailed as the first multilateral deal of its kind, although such arrangements exist at bilateral levels. The U.S. and China, for instance, in 2015 signed a pact on a military hotline and rules governing air-to-air encounters.U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, on Thursday that their countries needed to deepen high-level ties so as to navigate tension and rein in the risk of inadvertent conflict.The U.S. military flew B-52 bombers across the South China Sea in September. Earlier this month, a U.S. Navy destroyer sailed near islands China claims, drawing the ire of Beijing. 
US, China, others tentatively agree to multilateral air encounter code
A State Department spokeswoman declined to clarify if Pompeo meant he would meet his counterpart in Washington, saying she had no meetings to announce.
The Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's official party newspaper, said the United States should not take an approach with "two faces" as Washington touts progress in denuclearization talks while keeping sanctions in place.
"We do not want good will and generosity of the U.S. but urge it to act with the elementary give-and-take principle," the Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary on Saturday.
The United States and South Korea on Friday said they had suspended upcoming joint air defense drills in a bid to ensure diplomatic efforts with North Korea continue.
The two Koreas have held three summits this year.
Two of President Donald Trump's top advisers got into a heated exchange outside the Oval Office on Thursday as passions boiled over about how to handle illegal immigration, two sources familiar with the incident said.The two advisers were White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who is a former secretary for Homeland Security, and Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, the sources said.One source described the argument as a "tense exchange" but said that it had blown over. Another source said it was "not a big deal."Trump, asked about the incident, told reporters: "That I have not heard about."Trump threatened on Thursday to deploy the military and close the southern U.S. border as Hondurans and Salvadorans joined thousands of migrants in Guatemala hoping to travel north."I must, in the strongest of terms, ask Mexico to stop this onslaught – and if unable to do so I will call up the U.S. Military and CLOSE OUR SOUTHERN BORDER!' Trump said in a tweet.Trump tells Mattis he is 100 pct behind him after 'Democrat' jabTrump says he believes Khashoggi is dead
Two top Trump aides get into heated exchange outside Oval Office
U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday it "certainly looks" like missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is dead, amid speculation he was killed by Saudi Arabia."We're waiting for some investigations, and waiting for the results, and we'll have them very soon. And I think we'll be making a statement, a very strong statement, but we're waiting for the results of about three different investigations," Trump told reporters before departing for a campaign rally in Montana.In an interview with The New York Times published after he made the remarks, Trump said, “Unless the miracle of all miracles happens, I would acknowledge that he’s dead."France suspends political visits to Saudi Arabia"That’s based on everything — intelligence coming from every side,” Trump told the newspaper.During his remarks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump pledged "very severe" consequences if Riyadh is determined to have been responsible for Khashoggi’s disappearance and suspected death but did not elaborate on how Washington might retaliate.The president has previously voiced reluctance to canceling arms sales to Saudi Arabia, saying by doing so the U.S. would "be punishing ourselves."Khashoggi has been missing since Oct. 2 when he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.Aide to Prince Salman seen walking into Saudi consulateOn the same day of Khashoggi's disappearance, 15 other Saudis, including several officials, arrived in Istanbul on two planes and visited the consulate while Khashoggi was still inside, according to Turkish police sources. All of the identified individuals have since left Turkey.On Wednesday, crime scene investigation units arrived at the official residence of Saudi Consul General Mohammad al-Otaibi around 4.40 p.m. local time (1340GMT). Al-Otaibi had left Turkey for Riyadh on Tuesday.Officials from a joint Turkish-Saudi team completed an investigation into the case early Thursday after searching the residence as well as the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.US lawmakers seek sanctions on Riyadh over KhashoggiThe Turkish team concluded its search for evidence in nine hours and left but returned to the Saudi consulate to continue searching the premises.Vice President Mike Pence said "the world deserves answers.""If what has been alleged occurred, if an innocent person lost their life at the hands of violence, that's to be condemned," Pence said Thursday during remarks to reporters in Colorado. "If a journalist in particular lost their life at the hands of violence that's an affront to a free and independent press around the world. And there will be consequences."Saudi response to Khashoggi case raises questions
Trump says he believes Khashoggi is dead
The top U.S. general in Afghanistan said on Friday he did not believe he was the target of an attack that killed a powerful police chief, and Afghan officials said the gunman may have deliberately avoided hitting him.The gunman assassinated the police chief of Kandahar province on Thursday along with a top Afghan intelligence agency officer, but the U.S. commander of Afghanistan's NATO-led force, General Scott Miller, who was standing nearby when the attack occurred, was not hurt."My assessment is that I was not the target. It was a very close confined space. But I don't assess that I was the target," Miller told Afghanistan's Tolo News TV in an interview.General Abdul Razeq, police commander of the southern province and one of Afghanistan's most powerful security officials, was fatally wounded by a bodyguard of the provincial governor as he came from a meeting with officials on Thursday.Election in Afghan province of Kandahar to be delayed a weekIn addition, the local head of the NDS intelligence service was killed and the provincial governor severely wounded, while the attacker himself was killed.Miller was also at the meeting and was heading to his helicopter to return to Kabul when the gunman opened fire.The Taliban claimed the attack in a statement saying both Razeq and Miller were the targets.Two Americans and a coalition contractor were wounded, however Afghan security officials, who believe Pakistan was involved in the plan, said they believed the attacker deliberately avoided killing Miller.Afghanistan in shock after death of powerful police commander"They didn't want repercussions from the U.S. and the international community. It was a pure warning for Miller that they can hit him if they want to," one of the Afghan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.Razeq himself was a fierce critic of Pakistan and its intelligence service, which Afghan officials regularly accuse of supporting Taliban operations, a charge Islamabad denies.On Friday, the chief of the Pakistan army staff issued a statement condemning the Kandahar violence and saying it supported initiatives towards peace in the region.A foreign security official said Razeq had stopped visiting the governor's house in recent months because he feared it had been infiltrated and had only gone because Miller and his delegation were there.The identity of the killer, named by Afghan officials as Gulbuddin, was known immediately, and police have made three arrests, but details of his background or why he carried out the attack remained unclear.One senior foreign security official briefed on the case said the attacker had been recruited this year as part of the governor's security detail.No one had claimed his body, but his colleagues in the security team said his family members lived in the outskirts of Kandahar. 
US general doesn't believe he was target of Kandahar attack