6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 28, 2017
WORLD IN BRIEF
in response it has ordered the U.S. Embassy in Russia to reduce the
number of its diplomats by Sept. 1. Russia will also close down the
embassy’s recreational retreat on the outskirts of Moscow as well
as warehouse facilities.
Associated Press
‘Obamacare’ repeal reeling after
Senate defeat
‘Big hunt’ for Russian hackers,
but no obvious election link
WASHINGTON — Dealing a serious blow to President Don-
ald Trump’s agenda, the Senate early Friday rejected a measure to
repeal parts of former President Barack Obama’s health care law
after a night of high suspense in the U.S. Capitol.
Unable to pass even a so-called “skinny repeal,” it was unclear
if Senate Republicans could advance any health bill despite seven
years of promises to repeal “Obamacare.”
“This is clearly a disappointing moment,” said Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “I regret that our efforts were not
enough, this time.”
“It’s time to move on,” he said. The vote was 49-51 with three
Republicans joining all Democrats in voting ‘no.’
McConnell put the health bill on hold and announced that the
Senate would move onto other legislation next week.
AP Photo/Cliff Owen
U.S. Sen. John McCain, front left, is pursued by report-
ers after the Arizona Republican cast a ‘no’ vote Friday
on a measure to repeal parts of former President Barack
Obama’s health care law.
White House tensions catch fi re
with Scaramucci interviews
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s new commu-
nications director exploded the smoldering tensions at the White
House into a full-fl edged confl agration Thursday, angrily daring
Trump’s chief of staff to deny he’s a “leaker” and exposing West
Wing backstabbing in language more suitable to a mobster movie
than a seat of presidential stability.
In a pull-no-punches, impromptu CNN interview that he said
was authorized by the president, Anthony Scaramucci went after
chief of staff Reince Priebus in graphic terms. “The fi sh stinks from
the head down,” he said. “I can tell you two fi sh that don’t stink,
and that’s me and the president.”
Not even a week into his new job, Scaramucci accused uniden-
tifi ed senior offi cials of trying to sabotage him and committing a
felony by leaking information. But the personal fi nancial informa-
tion that he said someone had “leaked” about him had simply been
obtained through a public records request.
Then in an interview published by The New Yorker late Thurs-
day, an angry Scaramucci used an expletive to accuse Priebus of
being a “f------ paranoid schizophrenic” and White House chief
strategist Steve Bannon of trying to burnish his own reputation.
He also threatened to fi re White House staffers who leaked
about a dinner he had with the president.
North Korea fi res missile which
lands in sea off Japan
TOKYO — North Korea fi red a ballistic missile Friday night
which landed in the ocean off Japan, Japanese offi cials said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called a meeting of Japan’s National
Security Council.
“I have received information that North Korea once again con-
ducted a missile fi ring,” he said. “We will immediately analyze
information and do our utmost to protect the safety of the Japa-
nese people.”
There was no immediate announcement of the type of missile.
On July 4, North Korea test-launched its fi rst intercontinental bal-
listic missile.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the mis-
sile launched Friday fl ew for about 45 minutes and landed off the
Japanese coast in waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the coast guard issued
safety warnings to aircraft and ships.
South Korea and the United States also confi rmed the launch.
Pakistani court disqualifi es
PM on allegation of corruption
ISLAMABAD — A fi ve-judge panel of Pakistan’s Supreme
Court on Friday disqualifi ed thrice-elected Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif from holding offi ce over allegations of corruption against
him and his family.
The court in a unanimous decision said Sharif was disquali-
fi ed for not remaining “truthful and honest” after considering evi-
dence against him. It also ruled Sharif could no longer serve as a
member of the National Assembly, a powerful lower house of the
parliament.
General elections are to be held in Pakistan next year and the
Supreme Court ruling ensures he won’t be in the running.
The court asked the Election Commission of Pakistan to issue
notifi cation of Sharif’s removal. But Sharif quickly stepped down,
saying he did it to show his respect for the country’s judiciary.
The court also directed the country’s anti-corruption body to fi le
corruption charges against Sharif, his two sons and daughter in the
next six weeks for concealing their assets.
Russia orders cut in US diplomats
in reaction to sanctions
MOSCOW — Russia’s Foreign Ministry has ordered a reduc-
tion in the number of U.S. diplomats in Russia and said it was clos-
ing down a U.S. recreation retreat in response to fresh sanctions
against Russia.
The Senate on Friday approved a new package of stiff fi nan-
cial sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea and sent it
to President Donald Trump to sign. The legislation bars Trump
from easing or waiving the penalties on Russia unless Congress
agrees.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday that
MOSCOW — Pyotr Levashov appeared to be just another com-
fortable member of Russia’s rising middle-class — an IT entrepre-
neur with a taste for upmarket restaurants, Thai massages and for-
eign travel.
Then police raided his vacation rental in Barcelona, marching
him out in handcuffs to face charges of being one of the world’s
most notorious spam lords.
Levashov’s April 7 arrest was one in a series of American-ini-
tiated operations over the past year to seize alleged Russian cyber-
criminals outside their homeland, which has no extradition agree-
ment with the United States.
They come at a fraught moment in relations between Moscow
and Washington, where politicians are grappling with the allega-
tion that Kremlin hackers intervened in the U.S. election to help
President Donald Trump. Through their lawyers, several defen-
dants have suggested their arrests are linked to the election turmoil.
Experts say that’s possible, though an Associated Press review of
the cases found no fi rm evidence to back the claim.
“There is a big hunt underway,” said Andrei Soldatov, an expert
on the Russian security services and co-author of “Red Web,” a
book about Russian attempts to control the internet. He said the
recent burst of arrests made it look like the United States was “try-
ing to understand what’s going on with a very complicated world
of Russian hacking and a very complicated relationship between
Russian hackers and Russian secret services.”
Thousands of North Korean
laborers in US-allied Gulf nations
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — As pressure on North
Korea grows over its nuclear weapons program, America’s
most valued Arab allies host thousands of its laborers whose wages
help Pyongyang evade sanctions and build the missiles now threat-
ening the U.S. and its Asian partners, offi cials and analysts say.
From state-run restaurants to construction sites, North Korean
workers in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emir-
ates face conditions akin to forced labor while being spied on by
planted intelligence offi cers, eating little food and suffering phys-
ical abuse, authorities say. Hundreds more North Korean workers
may be coming to the UAE, home to a crucial military base, while
laborers remain in the other countries.
North Korean laborers even have worked on an expansion of a
military base in the UAE home to U.S. forces fi ghting the Islamic
State group, two offi cials familiar with Pyongyang’s tactics told
The Associated Press. A UAE company also was accused by the
U.S. of trying to buy nearly $100 million of North Korean arms,
while the nation previously purchased ballistic missiles from the
North.
Emirati offi cials, who are now relying on South Korean exper-
tise to build the fi rst nuclear power plant on the Arabian Peninsula,
did not respond to requests for comment.
“To put it fairly simply — an isolated country like North Korea
is always seeking hard currency,” said Giorgio Cafi ero, the CEO of
the Washington-based political risk consultancy Gulf State Analyt-
ics. “The Gulf is a place that the North Koreans see as a very reli-
able place to make the money.”
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