US ENDS SENSITIVE DEFENCE EXPORTS TO HONG KONG; CHINA WARNS OF VISA BANS

The United States said Monday it was ending the export of sensitive military

items to Hong Kong, no longer treating the financial hub separately from

China.

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the United States was taking the measure

due to China's push forward with a security law that Hong Kong activists say

will curb the city's freedoms.

"We can no longer distinguish between the export of controlled items to Hong

Kong or to mainland China," Pompeo said in a statement.

"We cannot risk these items falling into the hands of the People's

Liberation Army, whose primary purpose is to uphold the dictatorship of the

CCP by any means necessary," he said, referring to the Chinese Communist

Party.

The State Department will end all exports to Hong Kong on its controlled

list - items ranging from advanced ammunition to military hardware that

already need the green light from the administration and Congress.

The Commerce Department in turn will stop making a distinction between Hong

Kong and China on so-called dual-use US products, which have both military

and civilian applications - and are highly restricted when sought by

Beijing.

Pompeo announced the decision hours after China in turn restricted visas to

some Americans for Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, China said on Monday it would retaliate against the US moves to

punish officials tied to political crackdowns in Hong Kong by imposing visa

restrictions on Americans it considers to have "performed badly" on matters

regarding the semi-autonomous Chinese territory.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian gave no details in making the

announcement at a daily briefing. It wasn't clear if the measure targeted

only the US government officials or those in the private sector as well.

KARACHI STOCK EXCHANGE ATTACK: 11 KILLED, HOSTAGE SITUATION FOILED

Pakistan's Karachi Stock Exchange was attacked by four gunmen on Monday

morning killing at least 10 people.

The militants, who arrived in a car, opened indiscriminate fire and lobbed

hand grenades at the main gate of the multi-storey building situated in a

high-security zone as they tried to storm it, Geo News reported.

Armed with automatic machine guns, grenades and explosives, they tried to

enter into the compound leading to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX)

building through a parking lot but security forces foiled their attack

within the compound itself, Deputy Superintendent of Police (South) Jamil

Ahmed said.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) linked Majeed Brigade claimed

responsibility for the attack. The group is banned in Pakistan, the UK and

the US.

The BLA has carried out several terrorist attacks in the past, including a

suicide attack in August 2018 that targeted Chinese engineers in

Balochistan, a November 2018 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, and

a May 2019 attack against Pearl Continental hotel in Gwadar, Balochistan.

A senior official of the Counter-Terrorism Department said that one of the

militants was identified as Salman, who hails from Balochistan. PSX Managing

Director Farrukh Khan said that the "number of people in the compound was

lower than normal today as many people are still staying home due to the

COVID-19". He said trading continued without interruption.

CORONAVIRUS: EU TO ALLOW IN VISITORS FROM 14 COVID-19 'SAFE' COUNTRIES

INCLUDING NEW ZEALAND

According to a report, the European Union has named 14 countries whose

citizens it feels are "safe" to travel to the continent amid the coronavirus

pandemic but the United States, China, Brazil and Russia have been excluded

from the list.

Along with New Zealand on the current COVID-19 'safe list' are Algeria,

Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, Rwanda, Serbia,

South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

The EU is ready to add China if the Chinese government offers a reciprocal

travel deal for EU citizens.

EU border controls have been lifted for EU citizens travelling inside the

bloc.

Rules for UK travellers are covered separately in the Brexit negotiations.

UK nationals are still to be treated in the same way as EU citizens until

the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, so during that time

they will be exempt from the temporary travel restriction.

FACING CRITICISM, WHITE HOUSE TO BRIEF DEMOCRATS ON REPORTS RUSSIA PAID

TALIBAN TO KILL U.S. TROOPS

The White House sought to play down reports it knew Russia had paid the

Taliban bounties to kill U.S. troops, promising to brief Democrats on

Tuesday after being accused of only sharing information with President

Donald Trump's fellow Republicans.

Trump administration officials said there was no consensus on the underlying

intelligence among U.S. agencies and Mr. Trump had not been made aware of

it.

The New York Times and Washington Post broke the story, with the Post

reporting on Sunday that several American soldiers were believed to have

died as a result of the program, which the Kremlin has denied.

Several Democrats in the House of Representatives will hear details from the

White House at 8 a.m. ET (1200 GMT) on Tuesday, an aide said, one day after

the Trump administration briefed seven Republican lawmakers.

"The questions that arise are: Was the President briefed, and if not, why

not, and why was Congress not briefed?" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote to

Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe and CIA Director Gina

Haspel.

The newspaper reports, suggesting Mr. Trump may have ignored a threat to

U.S. troops as he seeks to improve relations with Russia, could damage Mr.

Trump as he seeks re-election on Nov. 3. The United States is trying to

extricate itself from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war.

IRAN ISSUES ARREST WARRANT FOR US PRESIDENT TRUMP, ASKS INTERPOL TO HELP

Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining

U.S. President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the

U.S. drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, a local

prosecutor reportedly said on Monday.

Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said Mr. Trump and more than 30 others whom

Iran accuses of involvement in the Jan. 3 strike that killed Qassem

Soleimani in Baghdad face "murder and terrorism charges," the state-run IRNA

news agency reported.

Mr. Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Mr. Trump, but

stressed that Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his

presidency ends.

Interpol, based in Lyon, France, did not immediately respond to a request

for comment.

Mr. Alqasimehr also was quoted as saying that Iran requested a "red notice"

be put out for Mr. Trump and the others, which represents the highest-level

arrest request issued by Interpol. Local authorities generally make the

arrests on behalf of the country that requests it. The notices cannot force

countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but can put government leaders on

the spot and limit suspects' travel.

Brian Hook, U.S. special representative for Iran, dismissed the announcement

during a news conference in Saudi Arabia on Monday. "It's a propaganda stunt

that no one takes seriously and makes the Iranians look foolish," Mr. Hook

said.

FLU VIRUS WITH 'PANDEMIC POTENTIAL' FOUND IN CHINA

A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has been

identified in China by scientists.

It emerged recently and is carried by pigs, but can infect humans, they say.

The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can

spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak.

While it is not an immediate problem, they say, it has "all the hallmarks"

of being highly adapted to infect humans and needs close monitoring.

As it's new, people could have little or no immunity to the virus.

The scientists write in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of

Sciences that measures to control the virus in pigs, and the close

monitoring of swine industry workers, should be swiftly implemented.

A bad new strain of influenza is among the top disease threats that experts

are watching for, even as the world attempts to bring to an end the current

coronavirus pandemic.

ISRAEL'S ANNEXATION PLANS ARE ILLEGAL, SAYS UN HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF

Israel's aim to annex parts of the occupied West Bank was clearly "illegal",

the UN's human rights chief said on Monday, warning that the consequences

could be "disastrous". Just days before Israel intends to kick-start plans

to annex its West Bank settlements and the Jordan Valley, Michelle Bachelet

added her voice to the chorus urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to

drop the proposal.

'Dangerous path'

"Annexation is illegal. Period," the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights said in a statement. "Any annexation. Whether it is 30 percent

of the West Bank, or five percent," she said, urging Israel to "listen to

its own former senior officials and generals, as well as to the multitude of

voices around the world, warning it not to proceed along this dangerous

path."

International condemnation of the possible Israeli annexations has mounted

ahead of July 1, when the Jewish state could take its first steps toward

implementing part of a West Asia peace plan. U.S. President Donald Trump's

proposals pave the way for annexing key parts of the West Bank.

Ms. Bachelet urged Israel to shift course, warning that "the shockwaves of

annexation will last for decades, and will be extremely damaging to Israel,

as well as to the Palestinians." She warned that "any attempt to annex any

part of the occupied Palestinian territory will not only seriously damage

efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region, it is likely to entrench,

perpetuate and further heighten serious human rights violations that have

characterised the conflict for decades."

REDDIT BANS 'THE_DONALD' FORUM IN CRACKDOWN, TWITCH SUSPENDS TRUMP'S CHANNEL

Social media site Reddit said it had shut down r/The_Donald, a forum used by

supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Monday as it announced changes

to its content policies.

Chief Executive Steve Huffman said in a post that communities and users that

promoted hate based on identity or vulnerability would be banned. He said

Reddit was banning about 2,000 subreddits, the majority of which were

inactive.

"All communities on Reddit must abide by our content policy in good faith.

We banned r/The_Donald because it has not done so, despite every

opportunity," Mr. Huffman said.

Earlier this month, Mr. Huffman said in a post Reddit should have moved

sooner to restrict access to r/The_Donald. Reddit restricted access to the

forum last year, citing threats of violence against police and public

officials.

The new list of banned subreddits also included the left-wing forum

r/ChapoTrapHouse, which Mr. Huffman said had consistently hosted

rule-breaking content.

In another high-profile action, Amazon.com Inc's live-streaming platform

Twitch also said on Monday that it had temporarily banned Mr. Trump's

channel over its hateful conduct policy.

"Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies,

President Trump's channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch

for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed,"

said a Twitch spokeswoman.