National Security

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A former CIA case agent was sentenced Friday to 19 years in prison for an espionage conspiracy with China.

Fiona Hill said at the House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearing that if the U.S. stops fracking, it would help Vladimir Putin and Russia.

Police in Hong Kong fined a Russian man $3,000 (about $383 USD) for trying to smuggle used tear gas shells and rubber bullet casings back to his country as a souvenir, local media reports. 

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper floated on Friday the possibility of “sanctions on individuals and entities” supporting Congress’s bill protecting human rights in Hong Kong, despite China’s years-long insistence that it opposes unilateral sanctions.

“I tell you, look, we have to stand with Hong Kong, but I’m also standing with President Xi. He’s a friend of mine. He’s an incredible guy,” Trump said.

The same logic Democrats applied to investigating Trump’s (imaginary) Russia ties justifies the investigation into Biden’s (real) Ukraine links.

Venezuela’s socialist propaganda network celebrated the triumph of a “sardine caravan” Thursday in Aragua state, where impoverished local residents allegedly received 15 tons of sardines.

(UPI) — Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday requested State Department documents related to former Vice President Joe Biden’s communications with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was urged to stand his ground Thursday against an “outrageous” slew of corrution allegations, with political commentator Mark Levin backing him to fight what he called a “corrupt investigation.”

A former lawyer for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is under criminal investigation for allegedly altering a document that was used in the application for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court warrant to spy on Carter Page, an adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in the 2016 elections.

Police in Zimbabwe arrested a ten-month-old girl and her mother for “disorderly conduct” on Wednesday amid a brutal crackdown on opposition party members in the capital of Harare.

Father Neville Fernando, TOR, froze. He was standing in the middle of St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on Easter Sunday, in the immediate aftermath of a jihadist attack that would kill over 250 people and injure 500 others in three churches and three hotels in the Colombo area.

The police siege of Hong Kong’s Polytechnic University continued on Thursday, with about a hundred pro-democracy demonstrators trapped inside along with a substantial number of student bystanders.

The Pentagon said on Thursday that there is “absolutely no truth” to a report in a South Korean newspaper suggesting it is considering withdrawing troops there.

Ali Saeedi, a hardline Iranian cleric close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, admitted on Wednesday that top officials were surprised by the intensity of protests against the recent gasoline tax hike.

An Army veteran is now able to speed through life thanks to the gift of a motorized chair which he received through a donor on Tuesday.

Holmes shared the president’s purported conversation with his “buddies” and anyone who found it interesting, then refused to say he would be more careful.

The South Pacific nation of Tuvalu on Thursday rejected a $400 million plan to build artificial islands in the area proposed by companies linked to the Chinese government.

The Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), party of former President Evo Morales in Bolivia, finally accepted his resignation letter on Wednesday, affirming the legitimacy of conservative President Jeanine Áñez.

Former National Security Council official Dr. Fiona Hill testified on Thursday that President Barack Obama had ignored the “interagency consensus” on sending weapons to Ukraine for “political” reasons.

David Holmes testified that he had not taken notes of what he heard Trump tell Sondland about Ukraine — even though it was his habit to take notes.

A police siege of the Catholic Cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua, ended on Wednesday after a mob loyal to Communist dictator Daniel Ortega broke into the building and attacked opposition hunger strikers.

Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council (NSC) official who is testifying in Thursday’s impeachment inquiry, admitted in her closed-door deposition to having worked with Russia “dossier” author Christopher Steele.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said in his opening statement at the House Intelligence Committee impeachment hearing on Thursday that it is not President Donald Trump who got “caught” taking part in nefarious behavior and listed the seven times this was the case.

Fiona Hill wrote in 2015 that she “strongly disagree[d]” with sending lethal weapons to help Ukraine. She said she changed her mind after joining the Trump administration.

Politico, among others, once reported in depth on what it called Ukraine’s efforts to “sabotage” then-candidate Donald Trump.

An unnamed 11-year-old Venezuelan boy in the state of Anzoátegui accused police of extreme torture, including a severe beating and electrocution, for playing with the statues in a public Christmas manger in a video shared widely online this week.

Democrats will hold the seventh public hearing of their impeachment inquiry Thursday with Fiona Hill and David Holmes.

The House Intelligence Committee will hold their seventh public hearing on Thursday as part of their impeachment inquiry against President Trump with testimonies from Fiona Hill, a former National Security Council senior director for Europe and Russia, and David Holmes, counselor for political affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Fiona Hill was opposed to the president’s style of diplomacy toward Ukraine. She originally opposed sending weapons to help.