First charges filed in US special counsel's Russia investigation
WASHINGTON, Oct 27 ( REUTERS) - A federal grand jury on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U. S. presidential election, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The indictment was sealed under orders from a federal judge so it was not clear what the charges were or who the target was, the source said, adding that it could be unsealed as early as Monday.
The filing of charges by the grand jury in Washington was first reported on Friday by CNN, which said the target could be taken into custody as soon as Monday.
U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Russia interfered in the election to try to help President Donald Trump defeat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton through a campaign of hacking and releasing embarrassing emails, and disseminating propaganda via social media to discredit her campaign.
Special counsel Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is investigating whether Trump campaign officials colluded with those Russian efforts.
“If the Special Counsel finds it necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a May 17 letter appointing Mueller.
Sources familiar with Muellers investigation said he has used that broad authority to investigate links between Trump aides and foreign governments as well as possible money laundering, tax evasion and other financial crimes.
Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, declined to comment on Friday.
Trump, a Republican who was elected president last November, has denied allegations that his campaign colluded with Russians and condemned investigations into the matter as “a witch hunt”.
The Kremlin has denied the allegations.
Mueller's investigation also includes an effort to determine whether Trump or any of his aides tried to obstruct justice.
The special counsel's team has conducted interviews with former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, former spokesman Sean Spicer and other current and former White House officials.
YANGON, Oct 28 ( AFP) - Two foreign journalists working for Turkish state media have been detained for more than 24 hours in Myanmar for flying a drone over a parliament building in the capital, the gover nment said Saturday.
The incident comes during high tension between Myanmar and Turkey, which has lambasted the Southeast Asian nation for its treatment of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. Last month Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Myanmar of incubating “Buddhist terror” and carrying out a genocide against the Muslim group.
The reporters, Lau Hon Meng from Singapore and Mok Choy Lin from Malaysia, were arrested on Friday in Mya n m a r ' s capital Naypyidaw while they were on assignment for Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
Indonesian factory owner named suspect over deadly fire
JAKARTA, (AFP) - Three suspects have been named in connection to a deadly blaze at an Indonesian fireworks factory that killed 48 workers and was caused by sparks from welding equipment, police said Saturday.
The factory outside Jakarta
OTTAWA, Oct28 ( AFP) - Canadian special forces have temporarily suspended military assistance to Iraqi troops due to tensions between the Middle Eastern country's military and Kurdish fighters, the defense ministry said Friday.
Cooperation will resume “once more clarity exists regarding the inter-relationships of Iraqi security forces, and the key priorities and tasks going forward,” said Dan Le Bouthillier, a spokesman for Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan.
Earlier Friday, Iraqi forces paused operations against the Kurds to allow for talks after the two sides -- both armed and trained by the US -exchanged heavy artillery fire in the latest flare-up of a crisis sparked by a Kurdish independence vote.
Canada, which is part of the international coalition fighting the Islamic State group, said that although its special forces were suspending their mission in training and assisting Iraqi forces in the country's north, its work in other areas continued.