TRUMP THREATENS TO RETALIATE WITH '1,000 TIMES GREATER' FORCE AGAINST ANY

IRAN ATTACK

Donald Trump has warned that the US will retaliate with "1,000 times

greater" force against any Iranian attack on its interests.

Posting on Twitter late on Monday, Trump referred to media reports that Iran

was planning retaliation for the assassination by US drone in January of the

Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. At the time, analysts predicted Iran would

seek to retaliate in the long term.

Suleimani was killed in a drone strike on 3 January, after Trump was

impeached but before his Senate trial. Critics said the strike was meant as

a distraction. Suspicions about Trump's motives were fueled by the White

House's changing account of the underlying intelligence.

On Sunday, a Politico story citing unnamed intelligence officials said Iran

was plotting to kill the US ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks, a

handbag designer and longtime Trump friend. She was placed under extra

security protection.

"According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other

attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of

terrorist leader Soleimani," Trump tweeted on Monday night.

"Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with

an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!"

The next morning, Trump repeated his threat in an interview with Fox &

Friends, saying: "We're all set and if they do anything to anybody they'll

be hit 1,000 times harder than they hit us."

TRUMP HAILS 'DAWN OF NEW MIDDLE EAST' WITH UAE-BAHRAIN-ISRAEL DEALS

US President Donald Trump has hailed the "dawn of a new Middle East", amid

Israel's landmark deals with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain.

Mr Trump spoke as the two Gulf states signed agreements fully normalising

their relations with Israel.

The three countries hailed the deals as historic, as did Mr Trump, whose

administration helped broker them.

The Gulf states are just the third and fourth Arab countries to recognise

Israel since its founding in 1948.

Mr Trump hopes other countries will follow suit, but the Palestinians have

urged them not to while their conflict remains unresolved.

"After decades of division and conflict we mark the dawn of a new Middle

East," Mr Trump told a crowd of hundreds gathered at the White House on

Tuesday.

"We're here this afternoon to change the course of history," he added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the deals, saying, "This

day is a pivot of history; it heralds a new dawn of peace."

But Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said only an Israeli withdrawal from

occupied territories could bring peace to the Middle East.

US WILL PREVENT IRAN FROM GETTING CHINESE, RUSSIAN ARMS: MIKE POMPEO

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo vowed on Tuesday that Washington would

prevent Iran from purchasing "Chinese tanks and Russian air defence systems"

as the end to a UN arms embargo against Tehran approaches.

While the European Union and United Nations disagreed with the US decision

to withdraw from an international nuclear deal in 2018 and reimpose

unilateral sanctions on Iran, Washington was acting to "keep the world

safe," he told France Inter radio.

"We are going to act in a way -- and we have acted in a way -- that will

prevent Iran from being able to purchase Chinese tanks and Russian air

defence systems and resell weapons to Hezbollah to undermine the very

efforts that (French) President Macron is ably trying to lead in Lebanon,"

Pompeo said.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shiite militant group, has long been targeted by

US sanctions and is blacklisted as a "terrorist" organisation.

But it is also a powerful political player with seats in parliament in

Lebanon, where the French president is seeking to foster political reform.

"It's irreconcilable that you would permit Iran to have more money, more

wealth, and more arms, and still be working to try and help disconnect

Hezbollah from the disaster that they have created inside of Lebanon,"

Pompeo said.

The United States faces widespread opposition in a new bid to reimpose

international sanctions on Iran.

The United States, he insisted, would "continue to defend the international

order to prevent the Islamic Republic of Iran from returning to its malign

activity" in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.

ALEXEI NAVALNY: POISONED PUTIN CRITIC 'WILL RETURN TO RUSSIA'

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Tuesday he was able to breathe

unaided in his first public comments after his suspected poisoning, while

his aide said he planned to return from Germany once recovered.

"Hello, this is Navalny," he wrote in a post on Instagram that has racked up

more than 1 million "likes" in a few hours. Supporters saluted what they

said was the 44-year-old's return from the dead.

Taking to social media for the first time after he fell seriously ill in

Siberia on August 20, Navalny posted a picture, appearing with his wife and

two children in the Berlin hospital where he was flown for treatment.

Wearing a hospital gown and sitting up in bed, he looked gaunt and barely

smiled, while his wife Yulia beamed next to him.

"Yesterday I was able to breathe on my own all day," Navalny wrote.

"It's an amazing process and underestimated by many. I recommend it,"

quipped Navalny, who has 1.8 million followers on Instagram.

"I miss you," he told his supporters.

"Navalny has come back from the dead. He deserves to be Russia's president,"

one post said on Twitter.

Navalny's spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said separately that the opposition

leader planned to return to Russia.

"No other option has ever been considered," she told AFP.

JOHN BOLTON: CRIMINAL INQUIRY OPENED INTO EXPLOSIVE MEMOIR

President Donald Trump's former National Security Adviser John Bolton is

being investigated for possibly disclosing classified information when he

published his memoir in June.

The US Department of Justice launched a criminal case after failing to stop

the publication of The Room Where It Happened book.

Mr Bolton denies all the accusations.

His work shows a president ignorant of geopolitical facts and whose

decisions are driven by a desire for re-election.

At the time of publication, President Trump made it clear that he wanted his

former aide prosecuted, describing him "grossly incompetent" and "a liar".

Mr Bolton served as President Trump's national security adviser in 2018-19.

The case would focus on Mr Bolton's claim that his manuscript had passed

through a pre-publication national security review, and claims by critics

that it did not complete that review.

A grand jury convened by the Department of Justice has now formally issued

subpoenas to the Simon & Schuster publishing company and the Javelin Agency,

which represents Mr Bolton.

CHINA SAYS EU OBSERVERS FREE TO VISIT XINJIANG

EU observers are free to visit Xinjiang to "truly understand" the situation

in the northwestern region where Beijing is accused of widespread rights

abuses against the Uighur population, China said Tuesday.

Rights groups say over a million Uighurs languish in political reeducation

camps, while a campaign of forced assimilation has targeted academics,

religious leaders and activists from mostly Muslim minority groups.

International pressure is building on China's ruling Communist Party over

its actions in the resource-rich region, and on Monday the European Union

pressed China to let its independent observers into Xinjiang, binding human

rights to future trade and investment deals with Beijing.

In response a foreign ministry spokesman said the bloc was "welcome" to

visit the area "to truly understand the real situation and not rely on

hearsay."

"The EU has raised their desire to visit Xinjiang, China has already agreed

and is willing to make arrangements," Wang Wenbin told reporters.

China has rebuffed past calls to grant independent access to Xinjiang, and

the spokesman didn't confirm that EU observers would be allowed to travel

freely in the region.

Beijing describes its Xinjiang camps as vocational training centres where

education is given to lift the population out of poverty and to chisel away

at Islamic radicalism.

China says criticism of its handling of Xinjiang is politically motivated,

and based on lies about what happens in the vast facilities it has built.

US ISSUES SWEEPING NEW TRAVEL WARNING FOR CHINA, HONG KONG

The US on Tuesday issued a sweeping new advisory warning against travel to

mainland China and Hong Kong, citing the risk of "arbitrary detention" and

"arbitrary enforcement of local laws."

The advisory is likely to heighten tensions between the sides that have

spiked since Beijing's imposition on Hong Kong of a strict new national

security law in June that has already been met with a series of US punitive

actions.

The new advisory warned US citizens that China imposes "arbitrary detention

and exit bans" to compel cooperation with investigations, pressure family

members to return to China from abroad, influence civil disputes and "gain

bargaining leverage over foreign governments." "US citizens travelling or

residing in China or Hong Kong, may be detained without access to US

consular services or information about their alleged crime. US citizens may

be subjected to prolonged interrogations and extended detention without due

process of law," the advisory said.

In Hong Kong, China "unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises police and

security power," the advisory said, adding that new legislation also covers

offenses committed by non-Hong Kong residents or organizations outside of

Hong Kong, possibly subjecting US citizens who have publicly criticized

China to a "heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion, or

prosecution." When in Hong Kong, US citizens are "strongly cautioned to be

aware of their surroundings and avoid demonstrations," the advisory said.

'UNBELIEVABLE': ANOTHER FIRE IN BEIRUT UNNERVES SHATTERED RESIDENTS

A fire erupted in a landmark building in Beirut's commercial district on

Tuesday, the second blaze this month to send shudders through a capital

still in shock after a massive port blast in August ripped through the

Mediterranean city.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and the blaze was quickly

extinguished, but it left residents exasperated in a nation that has been

hammered by a deep economic crisis and which is waiting for its politicians

to form a new government.

"It's terrible. It's unbelievable," said Joe Sayegh, 48, who had been on a

jog through the city before coming to the scene."Every day we have a

problem." Fire trucks quickly doused the flames that charred a corner of the

futuristic building designed by the practice set up by the late Zaha Hadid,

the renowned British-Iraqi architect.

The building near the seafront and its curved lines have become a prominent

feature of the central commercial area rebuilt after the 1975-1990 civil

war.

Solidere, the company set up to reconstruct Beirut, said initial findings

indicated the fire in the building, which has been under construction for

years, was caused by an accident.

During rebuilding of Lebanon's capital, skyscrapers designed by

international architects have gone up and historical Ottoman-era buildings

have been renovated.

But protests during an economic crisis that was caused by a mountain of debt

had already driven many businesses out of the city centre and left many

buildings scarred even before the Aug 4 port blast ruined another swathe of

the capital.

WHY TENS OF THOUSANDS ARE PROTESTING AGAINST CHINA IN MONGOLIA

Tens of thousands took part in demonstrations and school boycotts in Inner

Mongolia -- a vast expanse of northern China where herders marshall

livestock across grasslands -- to protest against an edict mandating

Mandarin-language teaching, over fears it will wipe out their language.

Hastily imposed for the start of term on September 1, the new rules say

Mandarin must be taught from first grade -- one year earlier than before --

across the region's bilingual boarding schools.

History, politics and literature will also be taught in Mandarin now instead

of Mongolian.

Similar education policies have been introduced in Xinjiang and Tibet, other

border regions that have faced government repression and extensive campaigns

to rein in their minority education, religions and cultures.

The rare mass rallies held by ethnic Mongolians is the largest China has

seen in decades, where authorities under Chinese President Xi Jinping brook

no dissent.

But then the crackdown came.

Armoured vehicles moved in to surround schools in Tongliao, a stronghold of

resistance where ethnic Mongolians make up almost half of the population.

The clampdown echoes Beijing's moves in Xinjiang and Tibet, where similar

policies to assimilate local minorities into the dominant Han population

were implemented in line with Xi's vision of national and ideological unity

through cultural identity.

Police offered cash bounties for leads on ringleaders and publicised the

arrests of dozens of suspects accused of gathering signatures and sharing

dissenting messages on WeChat.

Parents who refused to send their children back to school were threatened

with layoffs, fines and students' expulsion. In one district, officials

offered cash to students who convinced their peers to return, according to

official notices.

The dragnet has cowed the most outspoken.

Petitions that circulated in early September and other outward signs of

dissent have evaporated, as fear silences many Inner Mongolians.

SENIOR PAK JOURNALIST BOOKED FOR DEFAMING COUNTRY, ARMY ON SOCIAL MEDIA

A senior Pakistani journalist was on Tuesday booked by the police for

allegedly defaming the country and its powerful Army on social media.

The First Information Report (FIR) against Asad Toor, a senior journalist

with the Express Tribune, was registered in Rawalpindi after the complainant

Hafiz Ehtesham Ahmed alleged that the scribe used social media to defame

Pakistan and the Pakistan Army.

"The complainant claimed that he was a regular user of social media and

found that Toor for some days had been defaming the army by using the

derogatory language for high-level government institutions, including the

Pakistan Army which is a grave crime as per the law," according to the FIR

shared by the journalist on his Twitter account.

Toor, who is based in Islamabad, called the accusation a sad moment for him.

"This is a sad development for me being a journalist because I never wished

to be news myself," he said.

Toor is not alone in Pakistan where a journalist has been booked or arrested

for allegedly defaming the country and its powerful Army.

On September 11, Bilal Farooqi, who works with The Express Tribune, was

taken into custody from his home for allegedly defaming the country's army

and fanning sectarian hate.