Congressman Mike Pompeo who is Donald Trump’s pick to run the CIA, has listed out Russia, Syria, Iran and the Islamic State terror group as major threats to the United States.
Describing Iran as “the leading state sponsor of terror”, he alleged that Tehran has become an emboldened, disruptive player in the Middle East, fuelling tension “with our Sunni allies”. On the Iranian nuclear deal, Pompeo said the US must be rigorously fair and objective in assessing the Joint comprehensive Plan of Action. “As the President-elect has made clear, one of my top priorities, if confirmed, is to assist in defeating ISIS,” Pompeo told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing.
“Radical Islamic terrorism is both a symptom and a catalyst of the terrible conflicts raging in the Middle East that have created both a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe,” he added.
Pompeo said it is a policy decision as to what to do with Russia, adding “It will be essential that the Agency provide policymakers with accurate intelligence and clear-eyed analysis of Russian activities”.
“Russia has reasserted itself aggressively, invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nearly nothing to aid in the destruction of ISIS,” he said.
Testifying before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Pompeo said this is the most complicated threat environment the US has faced in recent time.
The Congressman described Syria “as a failed state” that has become one of the “worst humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century”.
“This conflict has led to the rise of extremism, sectarianism, instability in the region and Europe, and the worst refugee crisis the world has faced in recent memory,” he said.
“ISIS remains a resilient movement, has metastasised, and shockingly has controlled major urban centres in the Middle East for well over two years,” he said.
“Whereas a few years ago, we focused on stemming the flow of foreign fighters going to Syria and Iraq, today, the concern is making sure they, and those they inspire, are prevented from expanding their reach, returning home, or slaughtering more innocent people,” he added.
Attacking China for its activities in the South and East China Seas and in cyberspace, he said it is pushing new boundaries and creating tension.
He also targeted North Korea for dangerously accelerating its nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, with little regard for international pressure.
Pompeo said while the NSA and Cyber Command play leading roles, cyber activities have become critical to virtually every intelligence operation, adding that the CIA must continue to operate at the forefront on this issue.
In his first media conference as President-elect, Donald Trump, without naming any country in particular, laid bare his views on the US pharmaceutical sector, as well as on the loss of American jobs in manufacturing, both of which are issues with potential to hit Indian business interests.
Nine days before he is to be sworn as the 45th US President, Trump spoke of his plans to stem the flow of manufacturing from America and took aim at the pharmaceutical sector.
"We've got to get our drug industry back," he said.
"Our drug industry has been disastrous. They're leaving left and right. They supply our drugs, but they don't make them here, to a large extent," he said at the chaotic news conference on Wednesday in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan, attended by some 250 journalists from the world over.
The US is the largest market for Indian drug makers. In 2015, India exported $6 billion worth of drugs to the US and could feel the impact of the Trump announcement to change drug pricing policy.
Trump's strong remarks on "overcharging" by pharma companies indicates a future tougher operating environment for foreign companies, including Indian, in the US.
However, India could also gain from his plans to cut the cost of pharmaceuticals because of its leadership in generics.
Declaring pharma companies as "getting away with murder" in overcharging and sending capacity abroad, Trump said: "We are the largest buyer of drugs in the world, and yet, we don't bid properly."
He promised to start such "bidding" and save billions of dollars for the US over a period of time.
Just hours after the press conference, Indian pharma companies were trading in red. The S&P BSE healthcare index receded by 110.99 points.
Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical, Dr. Reddy's, Lupin, Cipla, Cadila and Glenmark were down on the BSE. The scrip price of Cadila went down by 1.89 per cent to close at Rs 350.45 per share.
Lupin was down 2.03 per cent at Rs 1,489.45 and Dr. Reddy's 1.19 per cent at Rs 3,011.20. Sun closed at Rs 643.90 down 0.59 per cent. Wockhardt lost 11.30 points and closed at Rs 687.45, down 1.62 per cent.
Glenmark closed at Rs 889.95 per share, down 1.57 per cent. IPCA Labs closed at Rs 548.85, losing down 7.50 points. NATCO at the closing traded at Rs 640.40 down 0.09 per cent.
He also threatened to impose a "border tax" on companies that move manufacturing outside.
Trump spoke about Fiat Chrysler and Ford setting up factories in the US Midwest where the core of his supporters scarred by de-industrialisation live, with more such plants to be announced in the coming weeks. They were all because of his efforts, he declared.
A mega Indo-US defence venture could take a potential hit following Trump's announcement.
According to US media reports, both Lockheed-Martin and Boeing have been in talks with the Indian government to set up production facilities in India for building latest design fighter jets.
Lockheed-Martin is reportedly planning to move the entire F-16 assembly line to India, making it the sole producer of the iconic fighter airplane. The Lockheed production agreement alone is estimated to create 1,000 jobs in India.
The Pakistan Armed Forces conducted on Monday the first successful launch of the Babur-3 cruise missile from a submarine in the Indian Ocean, the press service of Pakistan's Armed Forces said in a statement.
It was added in the statement that Babur-3 was able to deliver a wide range of payloads and would provide Islamabad with the capability to respond to a potential nuclear attack against Pakistan.
"Pakistan conducted its first successful test fire of Submarine Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM) Babur-3 having a range of 450 kilometers (some 280 miles), from an undisclosed location in the Indian Ocean. The missile was fired from an underwater, mobile platform and hit its target with precise accuracy," the statement said.
According to the statement, the missile can evade radars and air defense systems and is equipped with several stealth technologies.
Israel’s renowned spy agency, the Mossad, has started its first recruitment campaign specifically designed to attract women.
An advertisement, published Tuesday in the Israeli press, shows a portrait of a young women with white lettering stating ''wanted - powerful women.''
“We don’t care what you did; we care about who you are!" the ad reads.
The agency is looking for women to join their mostly male group of case officers, who are in charge of recruiting, training and handling agents. Inside the agency, 40 percent of employees are women with 24 percent holding high-ranking positions.
The ad refers the potential candidates to their website.
Pakistan former army chief General (retd) Raheel Sharif has been appointed as head of a 39-nation Islamic military coalition formed to combat terrorism, confirmed Pakistan Federal Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Friday.
Khawaja Asif made the revelation during a TV talk show.
He said that a formal agreement in this regard was finalised a few days back, but he refused to divulge on details.
The federal minister further said that the government was also taken into confidence prior to the appointment as per the rules.
The defence minister said that any such assignment or posting requires proper clearance from the government and General Headquarters (GHQ) both and confirmed that the due process was followed before finalising the agreement. He was, however, unaware of the exact details.
“As you are aware that this thing was in the pipeline for quite some time and the prime minister was also part of the deliberations,” Asif said.
He was of the opinion that formation of such an alliance is a good step, as the “Muslim Ummah is in a spot of bother right now and needs unity among its ranks”.
The headquarters of the new Saudi-led coalition would be based in Riyadh.
After initial reluctance, Pakistani government confirmed its participation in the newly formed military alliance of Muslim countries.
The scope of Pakistan’s role in the alliance would be defined after Riyadh shared the details of the coalition, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi had told media persons.
Iran, Saudi Arabia’s archrival, is absent from the states named as participants.
Sky News' Nation Divided series aims to look at whether Britain is more divided following the vote to leave the European Union six months ago.
Senior Correspondent Michelle Clifford visited two areas either side of the Brexit divide - Glasgow, where two thirds voted to stay in the EU, and Burnley where two thirds voted to leave. She asked the people of both areas about the direction the country is taking as a result of the Brexit vote.
The Syrian government and the armed opposition yesterday agreed to a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight last night, in a breakthrough truce aimed at ending the bloody five-year conflict.
The deal follows talks between Turkey and Russia and could potentially pave the way for a lasting political agreement.
If the truce lasts, regime and opposition groups will sit down for peace talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan next month. Moscow and Ankara, which support opposing sides in the conflict, promised to act as guarantors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in Moscow that three documents had been signed: an agreement between the Syrian government and the rebels on a ceasefire, measures for overseeing the truce and an agreement to start peace talks.
"The agreements reached are, of course, fragile, need a special attention and involvement... But after all, this is a notable result of our joint work, efforts by the defence and foreign ministries, our partners in the regions," Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin also declared he would reduce Moscow's military contingent in Syria, which has been flying a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad since last year.
The decision was likely prompted by Mr Assad’s victory in Aleppo, where most of the Russian troops on the ground in Syria had been tied up.
The fall of Syria’s second city, dubbed a key strategic prize in the conflict, has handed Mr Putin a victory and the leverage to position Moscow as a Middle East power broker.
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said the truce will include 62,000 opposition fighters from seven groups across Syria but will exclude Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isil) and the formerly al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS).
Those who do not observe the ceasefire “will be treated as terrorists,” Mr Shoigu said.
The agreement also excludes the YPG, the Kurdish militia that has carved out de-facto autonomous areas in the north of the country. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization.
Spokesmen for the Free Syrian Army, an alliance of rebel groups, said they would abide by the ceasefire.
Leaders from the opposition told the Telegraph all rebel-held areas of Syria would be covered.
However, uncertainty remains about the province of Idlib, which is now the opposition’s largest stronghold and home to thousands of fighters and civilians forcefully evacuated from Aleppo.
The area is largely under the control of JFS and more extreme Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham. Ahrar al-Sham is one of the seven groups the Russian ministry of defence said had signed the ceasefire deal, although Moscow has previously described it as a terrorist group.
The government has escalated its aerial campaign against Idlib since the fall of Aleppo and will likely use the pretext of combating terrorism to continue its strikes on the city in spite of a truce.
In a sweeping response to election hacking and other meddlesome behavior, President Barack Obama on Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence services and their top officials, kicked out 35 Russian officials and closed down two Russian-owned compounds in the U.S. It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack.
"All Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions," Obama said. He added: "Such activities have consequences."
In a bid to expose Moscow's cyber aggression, the U.S. also released a detailed report about Russia's hacking infrastructure that it said was designed to help computer specialists prevent more hacking. And Obama said more action was coming.
"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia's aggressive activities," Obama said in a statement released while he was vacationing in Hawaii. The U.S. has previously left open the possibility it could mount a retaliatory strike.
The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new sanctions were a sign of Obama's "unpredictable and, if I may say, aggressive foreign policy" and were aimed at undermining President-elect Donald Trump.
"We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect," Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
Ahead of the announcement, Russia's foreign ministry had threatened to retaliate against American diplomats if the U.S. took action against Russian officials.
The White House has promised to release a report before Obama leaves office detailing Russia's cyber interference in U.S. elections, a move that could address Russia's complaints that the U.S. hasn't shown proof of its involvement. But the U.S. moved forward with the response Thursday even as the report has yet to be released.
Still, Obama administration officials said the list of entities Obama was sanctioning made clear who exactly the U.S. believes was behind hacking of Democratic groups and the theft of emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.
Obama ordered sanctions against two Russian intelligence services, the GRU and the FSB, plus companies which the U.S. says support the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate theft of its emails determined earlier this year the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU.
The sanctions freeze any assets the entities or individuals have in the United States, and also block Americans from doing business with them. It wasn't immediately clear what impact they would have on the intelligence services' operations.
The FSB is Russia's main domestic and counter-terrorism intelligence agency. It was formed following the Soviet collapse when the KGB was split into the FSB and the foreign intelligence agency SVR. The GRU is the Russian military intelligence agency.
The president also sanctioned Lt. Gen. Korobov, the head of the GRU, and three of his deputies. Other individuals sanctioned include Alexei Belan and Yevgeny Bogachev, two Russian nationals who have been wanted by the FBI for cyber crimes for years.
Obama's move puts Trump in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office, and U.S. officials acknowledged that Trump could use his executive authorities to do so.
U.S. allegations of hacking during the campaign have ignited a heated debate over Trump's approach to Russia and his refusal to accept the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia's government was responsible and wanted to help him win. Though U.S. lawmakers have long called for Obama to be tougher on Russia, some Republicans have found that position less tenable now that Trump is floating the possibility of closer ties to Moscow.
"While today's action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Obama said the hacking "could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government," a contention the U.S. has used to suggest Putin was personally involved.
Although the White House announced at the same time it was kicking out Russian officials and closing facilities, it said those were responses to other troubling Russian behavior: harassment of U.S. diplomats by Russian personnel and police.
The 35 Russian diplomats being kicked out are intelligence operatives, Obama said. They were declared "persona non grata," and they were given 72 hours to leave the country. The State Department declined to identify them.
The two compounds being closed down are recreational facilities owned by Russia's government, one in Maryland and one in New York, the U.S. said. The White House said Russia had been notified that Russia would be denied access to the sites starting noon on Friday.
Russian officials have denied the Obama administration's accusation that the Russian government was involved at the highest levels in trying to influence the U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia's goal was to help Trump win - an assessment Trump has dismissed as ridiculous.
