China is funding a satellite project in the US and US senators believe Saudi crown prince involved in Khashoggi murder.
Seized Dubai princess planned escape for seven years
The daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Dubai ruler and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), had planned her escape from the Gulf state for seven years, reported The Guardian.
The Emirati princess, Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, was allegedly grabbed by armed men about 30 miles off the Indian coast in early March. She has since vanished.
A BBC documentary, Escape from Dubai, chronicling Latifa’s escape bid is set for broadcast later this week. It features interviews with a former French ex-spy and Finnish teacher of capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, who claimed to have helped her plan it. Latifa’s older sister Shamsa had also tried to flee from the family in 2000, but she was also seized and brought back.
In a video earlier this year, Latifa also mentioned when she tried to run for the first time at the age of 16, she was captured at the border, imprisoned for three years, beaten and tortured.
US Senators believe Saudi Prince’s involvement in Jaman Khashoggi’s murder
US senators, who attended a classified briefing by CIA director Gina Haspel Tuesday, are reportedly convinced that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s was complicit in the murder of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi,reported BBC.
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was quotes as saying that the Crown Prince is “a wrecking ball”, “crazy” and “dangerous”.
New Jersey Democrat Senator Bob Menendez said that the US must send a clear message to Saudis that such activities are intolerable on the world stage.
Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, referring to the Crown Prince by his initials MBS, said, “I have zero question on my mind that the crown prince MBS ordered the killing.”
China financial firm is funding secretly production of a satellite in the US
A satellite being built by Boeing, which uses restricted US military technology, is actually being funded by Chinese state money, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The project was reportedly ordered by a local start-up to improve web access in Africa but corporate records, court documents and people close to the project say that about $200 million flowed from a state-owned Chinese financial firm. It is a complex deal where money is channelled using offshore companies.
The start-up’s owners, Emil Youssefzadeh and Umar Javed, claimed that before the onset of the project they had told Boeing about the Chinese financing, adding that they had also warned Boeing about increasing interference of the Chinese firm in the project.
As per the report, China wants to secure its status as a superpower alongside the US. Satellite development will boost China’s space programme and rise as an influential country in the developing world.
Bannon meets Chinese billionaire, who is a vocal critic of communist regime
US president Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon has reportedly met fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui at a hotel in Washington.
According to The New York Times, Guo is in the most wanted list in China, a critic of Beijing, and is seeking asylum in the US.
The duo has met a number of times since October 2017.
It was reported that Bannon and Guo share some common views, and Bannon’s wanted to talk about the Communist Party, corruption and American naval operations in the South China Sea.
Last week, Bannon and Guo also announced plans to create a $100 million fund in order to investigate corruption and provide financial help to people who were victims of Chinese government persecution.
Guo in an interview last week said, “We both (Bannon and Guo) naturally despise the Chinese Communist Party”, adding “that’s why we’ve become partners.”