Russian officials on Tuesday accused the United States of stoking tensions with the testing of a ground-launched cruise missile, a weapon previously banned under a nuclear arms treaty that was abandoned this month after 31 years. The U.S. military conducted the test Monday from San Nicolas Island, Calif., using a ground mobile launcher to hit a target more than 310 miles away. The missile had a conventional warhead. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov called the testing "regrettable." He said, "The United States has evidently set the course for fomenting military tensions." Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Monday that Russia has a moratorium on deploying land-based intermediate-range systems -- unless the United States deploys such a system. The Kremlin leader said three days after the U.S. withdrawal, "all our actions will be of a reactive, tit-for-tat nature." The treaty, which was agreed to in late 1987 and took effect in mid-1988, banned all land-based cruise missiles with a range of between 310 miles and 3,417 miles.

 

 

 

Italy’s prime minister announced his resignation on Tuesday as he made a blistering attack on his own interior minister, Matteo Salvini, accusing him of sinking the ruling coalition and endangering the economy for personal and political gain. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, addressing parliament after it was recalled from its summer recess to decide the future of the 14-month-old government, accused League party chief Salvini of seeking to cash in on his rising popularity. With a stone-faced Salvini sitting by his side, Conte told a packed Senate,“His decisions pose serious risks for this country.” He described the actions of Salvini, who declared the coalition unworkable 12 days ago and called for snap elections, as recklessness “liable to tip the country into a spiral of political uncertainty and financial instability." Financial markets rallied on Conte’s resignation, seemingly hopeful that snap polls could be avoided amid reports the ruling 5-Star Movement might seek an alliance with the center-left opposition Democratic Party.

 

 

 

Twitter and Facebook said that China had used their social media platforms to spread disinformation against Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters. Twitter suspended 936 accounts suspected of links to the effort to "sow political discord in Hong Kong, including undermining the legitimacy and political protest movement on the ground." Twitter said in a blog post that it had evidence pointing to a "coordinated state-backed effort," and it announced it would no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news outlets. Facebook said later it was acting on a tip from Twitter. The moves came following the latest mass protest last weekend in which more than a million people protested against the Chinese government, which regained control of the former British colony in 1997. Sunday's peaceful march was the eleventh week of what have been often violent demonstrations.

 

 

 

Meanwhile Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she hoped the peaceful weekend anti-government protest was the start of efforts to restore calm and that talks with non-violent protesters would provide “a way out” for the Chinese-ruled city. Anger erupted in June over a now-suspended bill that would allow criminal suspects in the former British colony to be extradited to mainland China for trial. The protests have prompted sharp reactions from Beijing, which has accused foreign countries, including the United States, of fomenting unrest in the territory. China has also sent clear warning that forceful intervention is possible, with paramilitary forces holding drills in neighboring Shenzhen. The protests are exacting a toll on the city’s economy and tourism, with the Asian financial hub on the verge of its first recession in a decade.

 

 

 

China could overwhelm the U.S. military in Asia within "hours," according to a new study by the United States Study Center, a think tank at the University of Sydney in Australia. According to the report, "China has deployed a formidable array of precision missiles and other counter-intervention systems to undercut America's military primacy." It went on to say China's ability to overwhelm U.S. bases in the region quickly could leave America struggling to defend allies, leaving its defense strategy in the region "in the throes of an unprecedented crisis." China's Foreign Ministry said it had not seen the think tank's report but emphasized that its "national defense policy is defensive in nature."

 

 

 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States has not returned to the negotiation table with North Korea as quickly as it had hoped, but he added that Washington knew there would be ‘bumps on the road’ in the denuclearization talks. Speaking in an interview with CBS Tuesday, Pompeo said Washington was concerned about North Korea’s firing of short-range missiles. The latest of the missile tests by North Korea was carried out on Friday as Pyongyang fired two more short-range projectiles into the sea off its east coast. The launches have complicated attempts to restart talks between U.S. and North Korean negotiators over the future of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. Those denuclearization talks have been stalled despite a commitment to revive them that was made at a June 30 meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He added that Stephen Biegun, U.S. special envoy for North Korea, was in the region on Tuesday and Wednesday, but did not elaborate on the details of his trip. The State Department said last week that Biegun would travel to Japan and Seoul this week.

 

 

 

Attorney General William Barr said he was replacing the acting head of the Bureau of Prisons, Hugh Hurwitz, in the wake of the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein at a federal jail in Manhattan earlier this month. Barr had promised accountability for what he called "serious irregularities" at the facility. He said he was angry and "appalled" when he learned about the suicide, and the failure of guards to check on Epstein, who had recently been taken off suicide watch in the hours before he was found dead. Guards are supposed to check on detainees every 30 minutes in the special housing unit Epstein was in. Hurwitz will return to his former assistant director position, and Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, a former leader of the bureau, will take charge.

 

 

 

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