US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has yet again lashed out at the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, claiming that Moscow wants it as “leverage” over Europe, and vowed to continue efforts to disrupt it.

Pompeo, well known for his vocal criticism of the pipeline project, touched upon the topic while giving a speech at the Centre for Policy Studies in London on Wednesday.

“Russia wants Nord Stream 2 to use energy as a leverage over Europe. We shouldn’t allow it to proceed,” Pompeo stated, while praising the close relationship between the US and the UK.

The pipeline, constructed by Russia’s Gazprom in partnership with five European energy majors under the Baltic Sea, has been repeatedly criticized by Washington and others, including Kiev. The criticism has included speculation that the new pipeline would bring the amount of Russian transit gas – and profits from it – for the Ukrainian authorities to zero.

Senior US officials, including Pompeo, have repeatedly “warned” Europe of the alleged threats that Nord Stream 2 bears, claiming it would deepen the EU’s dependence on Russian energy. Despite the pressure from the US, Europe – namely Germany, the major partner in the project – has not caved in to it and the construction of the pipeline, expected to provide transit for 70 percent of Russian gas sales to the EU, goes on.

While Washington’s concerns about the “dependence” of the EU on Russia might appear genuine, the US has actually been actively seeking to get its own share in the European energy market, trying to sell more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned the UK that allowing Huawei to bid on 5G contracts could spell the end of the US-UK “special relationship” – and, apparently, the UK’s membership in the Five Eyes.

“With respect to 5G, the United States has an obligation to ensure that the places we will operate, the places where American information is, the places where we have our national security risks, that they operate inside trusted networks,” Pompeo said in a speech to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Wednesday.

While “each country has a sovereign right to make its own decision about how to deal with the challenge,” of whether to invite Chinese firms like Huawei and ZTE to bid on infrastructure contracts, the UK certainly wouldn’t want to make the wrong decision, Pompeo hinted, adding, “I have great confidence that the UK will never take an action that will break this special relationship.”

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt rushed to reassure the American. “We would never take a decision that compromised our ability to share intelligence with our Five Eyes colleagues, or particularly with the US,” Hunt pleaded. “We are absolutely clear that the security relationship that we have with the US is what has underpinned the international order since 1945… the preservation of that is our #1 foreign policy priority.” The Five Eyes is a highly secretive global intelligence network formed in the aftermath of World War II to share intelligence between Anglophone allies the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Pompeo invoked late former PM Margaret Thatcher at a speech later that day commemorating the 40th anniversary of her election, seemingly trying to shame PM Theresa May into committing to a stronger stance against Chinese tech after rumors emerged last week that the UK was considering awarding Huawei contracts for some non-core work on its 5G network.

“Would the Iron Lady be silent when China violates the sovereignty of nations through corruption and coercion? Would she allow China to control the internet of the future?” Pompeo asked, painting a fearsome picture of what could happen if the UK went “wobbly” on China.

“Insufficient security will impede the United States’ ability to share certain information within trusted networks. This is exactly what China wants – to divide Western alliances with bits and bytes, not bullets and bombs,” Pompeo said.

In case the Brits missed his point, Pompeo reprised his threats in an interview with Sky News, where he was “crystal clear” about Huawei and ZTE. “We don’t believe you can have those technologies in your systems and still have a trusted network,” he said, emphasizing the “real risk if countries choose that path that we won’t be able to participate in those networks because of the risk.”

The threats are more of the same from the US diplomat, who declared last month that the US categorically would not “partner” with countries that embrace Huawei’s 5G tech, a position that has created significant friction with other EU countries, particularly Germany.

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An Indian diamond dealer who is a chief suspect in a huge bank fraud and money laundering case has been denied bail by a British court as he fights extradition to India.

Nirav Modi, 48, was arrested in London, in March, on suspicion of being the main beneficiary of a huge illicit scheme focused on defrauding Punjab National Bank in India of up to $2 billion, and then laundering the alleged proceeds of that fraud. He denies the allegations, dismissing them as “politically motivated.”

Westminster Magistrates Court refused bail on the grounds the judge feared Modi would not appear in court for his extradition hearing, which is scheduled to begin at the end of this month. It’s the third time British courts have denied his application for bail.

Modi had reportedly been living a lavish lifestyle in London after his name was put on Interpol’s Red Notice list by New Delhi authorities in July 2018. He was arrested while opening a new bank account on March 19, though his lawyers argue that he was preparing to surrender himself to police.

CCTV footage has emerged showing the suspected suicide bomber and the very moment of the deadly blast that killed 10 and injured over 20 near a Sufi shrine in the city of Lahore.

The explosion rocked the second largest city of Pakistan on Wednesday, a day after the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The suspect targeted a police checkpoint near the major Sufi shrine.

“Police was the prime target in this attack. We are collecting forensic evidences to ascertain the nature of the blast,” deputy inspector general of Lahore police, Ashfaq Khan, said.

The moment of the blast was captured on several CCTV cameras and footage emerged some hours after the attack that killed 10 people, including four police officers, and injured at least 23.

The videos show a heavily clothed man, dressed in black, approaching the police van moments before the blast. Prior to that, the man was spotted wandering around the location, while holding one of his hands to his chest.

The suspect is believed to be a 15-year-old, according to Pakistani authorities. The Pakistan-based branch of the Taliban, the Hizbul Ahrar militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack, insisting that it was carried out when there were no civilians near the police.

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The small French Alps village of Crets en Belledonne is counting sheep, but not to cure insomnia. Instead, they’re enrolling them in school to make up for low attendance.

Yes, you read that right: the Jules Ferry elementary school registered some 15 sheep as pupils on Tuesday in order to fulfill French regulations which set quotas for the number of students required at a school.

“National education is unfortunately only numbers,” said Gaelle Laval, one of the parents behind the odd initiative. “So now, with this surge in numbers, we are good.”

The elementary school risked losing state funding for one of its eleven classes when its enrollment figure fell below the required threshold, prompting residents to symbolically register the animals to ensure the quota was met.
Click Here: kanken mini cheapHuman students at Jules Ferry were elated by the arrival of their new classmates.

“To have sheep in the school, it is super!” said one eight-year-old student. “I’m ready to take one or two in my class. I’m sure they will work well.”

The effort was organized by three parents, but the town’s mayor, Jean-Louis Maret, has come out in support, officially recognizing the animals as students at the school.

The sheep were provided by a local farmer named Michel Girerd, one of just 4,000 residents in the small town.

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The South Korean military’s joint chiefs of staff have claimed that their neighbor to the north fired unidentified projectiles less than a week after its latest high-profile weapons test.

The unidentified projectiles were reportedly fired at approximately 16:30 local time (7:30 GMT) from the Sino-ri missile base some 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of the border with South Korea. They were probably short-range missiles, according to the joint chiefs’ statement.

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test-firing of rockets and at least one short-range missile from the country’s east coast into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea denies its recent missile tests were acts of provocation, insisting the drills were “regular and self-defensive.”

However, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in claimed the recent tests were a somewhat belated response to the failed denuclearization talks with US President Donald Trump.

“North Korea seemed to be discontented it could not reach a deal in Hanoi,” Moon told South Korean broadcaster KBS Thursday. South Korea’s presidential Blue House described the launches as “worrisome” adding that they were unhelpful in improving Korean relations.

The timing of the latest incident coincides with a four-day visit by US envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun to the South Korean capital, Seoul to discuss the possibility of increasing food aid to the north with his counterpart Lee Do-oon.

The test firings have ramped up in recent weeks after denuclearization talks between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump stalled after the US said it was not prepared to lift its North Korean sanctions in their entirety, as Pyongyang requested. The North Korean delegation blamed the US for the abrupt end to the summit.

Tensions were ratcheted up in April as Washington and Seoul carried out joint war games. North Korea criticized the drills as hampering the reconciliation process and warned of a “corresponding response”.

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The vice president of Venezuela’s National Assembly has reportedly been escorted to the HQ of the country’s intelligence agency. Opposition leader Juan Guaido accused Caracas of “kidnapping” the lawmaker.

Edgar Zambrano, the vice president of the opposition-controlled legislature, was apparently taken into custody by the Venezuelan authorities. The lawmaker tweeted Wednesday evening that he was approached by members of the SEBIN intelligence agency, who surrounded his car and demanded he leave the vehicle. Zambrano said that after he refused the order, the agents towed his car to the agency’s main offices in Caracas.

Self-proclaimed ‘interim president’ Juan Guaido sounded the alarm over Zambrano’s alleged arrest, likening his detention to a “kidnapping.”

Zambrano tweeted that he was taken by “surprise” by the SEBIN agents near the office of his Democratic Action (Accion Democratica) party in the La Florida residential area east of Caracas around 6:35pm Wednesday.
The lawmaker, who is the second most senior member of the opposition after Guaido, was apprehended a day after he, along with six other lawmakers, was stripped of parliamentary immunity by the Supreme Court of Justice, loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The court suggested investigating Zambrano and the others for conspiracy, treason and rebellion after he allegedly continued to incite a military uprising following a failed coup attempt late April.

Zambrano blasted the court’s decision accusing it of an attempt to “illegally” breach his and fellow lawmakers’ right to immunity.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated the false claim that US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido is the ‘duly elected leader’ of Venezuela. Apparently he reads CNN.

Speaking in London after his meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Pompeo told reporters that Venezuelans had chosen Guaido to lead them.

“The Venezuelan people have spoken through through constitutional mechanism, they have put Juan Guaido as their interim president, and he is the duly elected leader there,” Pompeo said, adding that “Maduro is on borrowed time.”

Not only did Guiado not win the presidential election in May 2018, he didn’t even run; the opposition boycotted the race. On the basis of a legal technicality, Guaido declared himself “interim president” in January, and was recognized by a number of countries, including the US and many of its allies.

In a recently corrected story, CNN also said Guaido had won an election, but claimed it was in January. There was no election in January, at least not in Venezuela.

Pompeo at the same presser also lectured leaders, including Jeremy Corbyn, who refused to take up the hostile US State Department line on Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

“It is disgusting to see leaders in not only the United Kingdom, but in the United states as well, who continue to support the murderous dictator Maduro,” Pompeo replied, adding that “no leader in a country with Western democratic values ought to stand behind” Maduro.

The Guaido-led opposition attempted a military coup in late April, but failed to inspire mass defections from the security forces. The uprising fizzled out within 36 hours.

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Russia is celebrating Victory Day with the traditional military parade on Red Square. The event is used to demonstrate troop discipline and the most advanced military hardware in the country’s arsenal.

May 9 is one of the biggest state holidays in Russia, marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. It is both about commemorating the sacrifices made to achieve that victory, and showing Russia’s military strength. 

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The military usually presents its newest hardware to the public during the parades, but one of this year’s picks is as civilian as can be. The defense minister and the commander of the Army rode in a pair of brand-new Aurus cabriolets. The luxury car brand was developed as the domestic ride for senior Russian officials, from the president down.

Another newcomer was the AK-12, the new Kalashnikov assault rifle, which underwent extensive testing and overhaul in 2016 and was signed for mass production last year.

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US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his threat to crank up the tariffs on China, saying that Beijing trampled on the draft deal negotiated with the US. China vowed to retaliate with a tit-for-tat response.

Speaking at a rally in Florida on Wednesday, Trump went into yet another fiery tirade on China, accusing it of not heeding the provisional trade agreement it had reportedly struck with the US.

“They broke the deal. They can’t do that. So they’ll be paying. If we don’t make the deal, nothing wrong with taking in more than $100 billion a year,” Trump said, referring to a new tariff hike on Chinese goods that is set to come into effect on Friday at midnight. The tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods will increase from 10 percent to 25 percent, the US Trade Representative’s Office announced. 

The measure will impact the import of technical appliances, such as vacuum cleaners, computer modems and routers, as well as furniture, lighting, and construction materials.
Click Here: Sports Water BottlesThe timing of the hike, which is bound to fuel the smoldering trade war between Beijing and Washington, is curious since it coincides with a high-ranking Chinese delegation visit to Washington aimed at soothing the differences over a 150-page draft deal. The Chinese delegation, led by Vice Premier Liu He, is set to touch down in the US on Thursday for two-day talks.

As he broke the news to a pumped-up crowd of supporters, Trump mentioned the upcoming visit by Liu.

“So they’re flying in, the vice premier tomorrow is flying, good man, but they broke the deal. They can’t do that. So, they’ll be paying,” Trump reiterated.

China indicated that it would roll out punitive measures of its own in response to the hike.

“The Chinese side deeply regrets that if the U.S. tariff measures are implemented, China will have to take necessary countermeasures,” China’s Commerce Ministry said. In the run-up to the new round of negotiations between US and Chinese trade officials, Trump has ramped up his criticism of Beijing.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trump threw Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden into the mix, tweeting that China’s reluctance to seal a deal and its attempt to renegotiate the terms is due to “sincere HOPE” that Beijing will soon be dealing with Biden “or one of the very weak Democrats” and “thereby continue to ripoff the United States (($500 Billion a year)) for years to come….”

Biden’s campaign fired back. The former Obama VP’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, accused Trump of so far only punishing “US farmers, small business owners& consumers” with his hardline approach to China.