US slaps sanctions on pro-China leader of Hong Kong, others
WASHINGTON — The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on Hong Kong officials, including the proChina leader of the government, accusing them of cooperating with Beijing’s effort to undermine autonomy and crack down on freedom in the former British colony.
The sanctions are the latest in a string of actions the Trump administration has taken targeting China as tensions between the two nations rise over trade, COVID-19 and other issues. President Donald Trump’s offensive against China comes as he assigns full blame to Beijing for the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., deflecting criticism of his own handling of the pandemic that threatens his reelection.
The Treasury Department announced sanctions on Carrie Lam, the leader of the government in Hong Kong, and 10 other officials. The sanctions were authorized by an executive order that Trump signed recently to levy penalties against China for its efforts to curtail anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has long enjoyed civil liberties not seen in mainland China because it is governed under a “one country, two systems” principle in place since it reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.
However, Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong earlier this year, raising widespread concerns about the Chinese government cracking down on the antigovernment protests.
“The recent imposition of draconian national security legislation on Hong Kong has not only undermined
Hong Kong’s autonomy, it has also infringed on the rights of people in Hong Kong,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Treasury said the new law has allowed authorities in mainland China to operate with impunity in Hong Kong, has mandated “national security education” in Hong Kong schools, undermined the rule of law and laid the groundwork to censor individuals and outlets “deemed unfriendly” to China.
The U.S. said Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, is “directly responsible for implementing Beijing’s policies of suppression of freedom and democratic processes.” Last year, Lam pushed to allow citizens to be extradited to the mainland, setting off massive opposition demonstrations in Hong Kong, according to Treasury.
Friday’s action blocks all property or other assets that the individuals have within U.S. jurisdiction.
US warns Russia: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned Russia’s foreign minister against Moscow paying bounties to Talibanlinked militants and other Afghan fighters for killing American service members, U.S. officials said.
The warning is the first known rebuke from a senior American official to Russia over the bounties program, and it runs counter to President Donald Trump’s insistence that the intelligence from U.S. government agencies over the matter is a “hoax.”
Pompeo delivered the warning July 13 in a call with the minister, Sergey Lavrov, choosing to do so during a conversation that, officially, was about an unrelated topic — the possibility of a meeting of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. officials said in the past week.
Pompeo made it clear to Lavrov in language about payouts and red lines that the United States was strongly opposed to the program, the official said, adding that the secretary of state had been livid about what the intelligence had said about the bounties.
The American officials who spoke about Pompeo’s call did so on the condition of anonymity.
Appeals court revives suit: A federal appeals court in Washington on Friday revived a lawsuit by House Democrats to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before a congressional committee, but left other legal issues unresolved with time growing short in the current Congress.
The full U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7-2 in ruling that the House Judiciary Committee can make its claims in court, reversing the judgment of a three-judge panel that would have ended the court fight. The matter now returns to the panel.
The current House of Representatives session ends on Jan. 3. That time crunch means “the chances that the Committee hears McGahn’s testimony anytime soon are vanishingly slim,” dissenting Judge Thomas Griffith wrote.
The administration could appeal the outcome to the Supreme Court.
Falwell takes leave: Jerry Falwell Jr. agreed Friday to take an indefinite leave of absence as the leader of Liberty University, one of the nation’s top evangelical Christian colleges, days after apologizing for a social media post that caused an uproar even among fellow conservatives.
The private university in
Lynchburg, Virginia, gave no reason for Falwell’s departure in a one-sentence announcement late Friday afternoon. But it came after Falwell’s apology earlier this week for a since-deleted photo he posted online that showed him with his pants unzipped, stomach exposed and his arm around a young woman in a similar pose.
Sophisticated tunnel found: An incomplete tunnel from Arizona to Mexico appears to be “the most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history,” authorities said.
The tunnel intended for smuggling ran from San Luis, Arizona, to a Mexican neighborhood and had a ventilation system, water lines, electrical wiring, a rail system and extensive reinforcement, federal officials said Thursday.
Homeland Security Investigations found the tunnel in late July.
Photos show the tunnel measured 3 feet wide and 4 feet high, according to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement news release.
La. prisoner freed: Prosecutors in Louisiana have agreed to release a Black veteran serving life in prison without parole over a $30 marijuana sale, according to his defense attorneys.
The decision reached this week will allow Derek Harris to be freed after nine years in state prison, news outlets reported.
Harris was convicted under Louisiana’s habitual offender law after selling less than a gram of marijuana to an undercover agent in 2008, news outlets have reported. He had prior nonviolent convictions for theft and drug-related offenses, records showed.
At Harris’ initial sentencing in 2012, a judge suggested he receive a 15-year sentence instead of the 30year maximum. But Vermilion Parish prosecutors invoked the habitual offender law, and the judge said he had no choice but to sentence Harris to the maximum time.