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The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation on Wednesday that could lead to Chinese companies such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Baidu Inc being barred from listing on US stock exchanges amid increasingly tense relations between the world’s two largest economies. The bill, introduced by Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, was approved by unanimous consent and would require companies to certify that they are not under the control of a foreign government. US lawmakers have raised red flags over the billions of dollars flowing into some of China’s largest corporations, much of it from pension funds and college endowments in search of fat investment returns. Alarm has grown in particular that American money is bankrolling efforts by the country’s technology giants to develop leading positions in everything from artificial intelligence and autonomous driving to internet data collection. Shares in some of the biggest US-listed Chinese firms, including Baidu and Alibaba, slid yesterday in New York while the broader market gained. If a company can’t show that it is not under such control or the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, isn’t able to audit the company for three consecutive years to determine that it is not under the control of a foreign government, the company’s securities would be banned from the exchanges. “I do not want to get into a new Cold War,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor, adding that he wants “China to play by the rules.” “Publicly listed companies should all be held to the same standards, and this bill makes common sense changes to level the playing field and give investors the transparency they need to make informed decisions,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I’m proud that we were able to pass it today with overwhelming bipartisan support, and I urge our House colleagues to act quickly.” Stricter US oversight could potentially affect the future listing plans of major private Chinese corporations from Jack Ma’s Ant Financial to SoftBank-backed ByteDance Ltd. But since discussions on increased disclosure requirements began last year, many other Chinese companies have either listed in Hong Kong already or plan to do so, said James Hull, a Beijing-based analyst and portfolio manager with Hullx. “All Chinese US-listed entities are potentially impacted over the coming years,” he said. “Increased disclosure may hurt some smaller companies, but there’s been risk disclosures around PCAOB for a while now, so it shouldn’t be a shock to anyone.” In a sign of broad support for the measure, Representative Brad Sherman, a California Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, introduced a companion bill in that chamber. Sherman said in a statement that Nasdaq moved this week to delist China-based Luckin Coffee after executives at the companyadmitted fabricating $310mn in sales between April and December 2019. “I commend our Senate counterparts for moving to address this critical issue,” Sherman said. “Had this legislation already been signed into law, US investors in Luckin Coffee likely would have avoided billions of dollars in losses.” House leaders are discussing the legislation — and a separate Senate-passed bill to sanction Chinese officials over human rights abuses against Muslim minorities — with lawmakers and members of the relevant committees, a Democratic aide said. The Senate measure — S 945 — is an example of the rising bipartisan pushback against China in Congress that had been building over trade and other issues. It has been amplified especially by Republicans as President Donald Trump has sought to blame China as the main culprit in the coronavirus pandemic. GOP lawmakers have in recent weeks unleashed a torrent of legislation aimed at punishing China for not being more forthcoming with information or proactive in restricting travel as the coronavirus began to spread from the city of Wuhan, where it was first detected. Trump escalated his rhetoric against China on Wednesday night, suggesting that leader Xi Jinping is behind a “disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe.” “It all comes from the top,” Trump said in a series of tweets. He added that China was “desperate” to have former Vice President Joe Biden win the presidential race. Kennedy told Fox Business on Tuesday that the bill would apply to US exchanges such as Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. “I would not turn my back on the Chinese Communist Party if they were two days dead,” Kennedy said. “They cheat. And I’ve got a bill to stop them from cheating.” At issue is China’s longstanding refusal to allow the PCAOB to examine audits of firms whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and other US platforms. The inspections by the little-known agency, which Congress stood up in 2002 in response to the massive Enron Corp accounting scandal, are meant to prevent fraud and wrongdoing that could wipe out shareholders. Since then China and the US have been at odds on the issue even as companies including Alibaba and Baidu have raised billions of dollars selling shares in American markets. The long-simmering feud came to the forefront last year as Washington and Beijing clashed over broader trade and economic issues, and some in the White House have been urging Trump to take a harder line on the audit inspections. Last week, Trump said in an interview on Fox Business that he’s “looking at” Chinese companies that trade on the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges but do not follow US accounting rules. Still, he said that cracking down could backfire and simply result in the firms moving to exchanges in London or Hong Kong. While not technically part of the government, the PCAOB is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The ability to inspect audits of Chinese firms that list in the US is certain to come up at a roundtable that the SEC is holding July 9 on risks of investing in China and other emerging markets. Senators Kevin Cramer, Tom Cotton, Bob Menendez, Marco Rubio and Rick Scottare also sponsors of the bill. Rubio applauded the passage of the Kennedy-Van Hollen bill and said it incorporated aspects of a similar bill he introduced last year.

President Donald Trump said yesterday he will release the “fully declassified” transcript of a controversial call with Ukraine’s president which is fuelling Democratic calls for his impeachment. “I am currently at the United Nations representing our Country, but have authorised the release tomorrow of the complete, fully declassified and unredacted transcript of my phone conversation with President Zelensky of Ukraine,” Trump tweeted yesterday. “You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call,” wrote Trump, who is accused of pressuring Zelensky to investigate his White House rival Joe Biden and his son. “No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo!” Earlier, Trump had confirmed he had withheld nearly $400mn in US aid to Ukraine but denied he did so as leverage to get its president to initiate an investigation that would damage Biden. In remarks to reporters at the United Nations over the intensifying political controversy, Trump sought to portray that there was nothing sinister about the withholding the aid, saying he wanted Europe and not just the United States step up and provide Ukraine assistance. The money was later released by the Trump administration. In Washington, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, is to meet Democratic lawmakers to consider impeaching the Republican president as more lawmakers voiced support for the action. In addition, a senior US senator demanded an investigation of the withholding of the aid. Trump is seeking re-election next year and Biden, the former US vice president, is the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Trump had on Sunday acknowledged that he discussed Biden and Biden’s son Hunter, who had worked for a company drilling for gas in Ukraine, with Zelenskiy. But Trump on Monday denied trying to coerce Zelenskiy in the July 25 phone call to launch a corruption investigation into Biden and his son in return for the US military aid. Arriving at the United Nations before his speech to the annual General Assembly, Trump confirmed that he had wanted the money for Ukraine frozen, saying European should countries provide assistance to Kyiv, but changed his mind after “people called me.” Trump told reporters that he still felt other nations should be paying to help Ukraine.  “The money was paid, but very importantly, Germany, France, other countries should put up money,” Trump said. Regarding aid to Ukraine, Trump said, “We’re putting up the bulk of the money, and I’m asking why is that?...What I want, and I insist on it, is that Europe has to put up money for Ukraine also.” The controversy came to light after a whistleblower from within the US intelligence community lodged a complaint with an internal watchdog about Trump’s conversation with Zelenskiy, leading to calls from some Democrats that Trump be impeached for trying to enlist a foreign power to smear a domestic opponent. US intelligence agencies and a special counsel previously concluded that Russia boosted Trump’s 2016 presidential election bid with a campaign of hacking and propaganda aimed at harming his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Congress had not been made aware of any substantive review of security assistance to Ukraine or any policy reason the funds should have been withheld. In a letter to Mike Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Menendez said “it is becoming clear that” Trump put pressure on Ukrainian officials. Menendez, in one of three letters sent to administration officials, also said “we must immediately understand whether, and to what extent, the President and his team converted duly-appropriated United States foreign assistance funds for his personal and political benefit, and what role federal agencies may have played in it.” Under the US Constitution, the House has the power to impeach a president for “high crimes and misdemeanours” and the Senate then holds a trial on whether to remove the president from office. No president has ever been removed from office through impeachment. A House committee has already launched a formal impeachment probe of Trump in light of his actions in the Russia matter but the impeachment drive never won the support of key party figures including Pelosi. Pelosi appeared to be moving closer to favouring impeachment as Democrats demand that the Trump administration release details of a whistleblower complaint and the transcript of his call. Democratic Representative John Lewis, speaking on the House floor, said he now believed it was time to begin impeachment proceedings.?  “I have been patient while we tried every other path and used every other tool,” Lewis said. Trump yesterday accused Democrats of considering impeachment for purely political reasons. “They have no idea how they stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment,” Trump said at the United Nations. In his letter, Menendez noted that the US State and Defense Departments recommended and prepared to distribute in late June $391.5mn in military and security assistance to boost Ukraine’s armed forces as the country dealt with Russian aggression and sought to improve maritime security in the Black Sea. However, weeks before Trump’s call with Zelenskiy, OMB blocked the aid, Menendez said in the letter to Mulvaney. “Ukrainian officials were reportedly ‘blindsided,’” Menendez wrote. “For months, despite repeated inquiries from my office and others, administration officials have been unable to offer any policy justification for why these funds were blocked.” OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Joseph Maguire, acting US director of national intelligence, is defying a federal law mandating that the whistleblower report be shared with Congress.  Maguire is due to testify tomorrow at a public House intelligence committee hearing.

*Qatar-US co-operation on political and military fronts praised His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani met with senior US officials and members of the US Congress and held wide-ranging talks with them on Wednesday. The Amir met with Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Gina Haspel and her accompanying delegation, at the Amir's residence in Washington. DC. The meeting reviewed the strategic bilateral co-operation in security fields and the scope for expanding them. Haspel expressed her thanks to the Amir for the role Qatar plays in the field of counter-terrorism, and for its co-operation with the US in that regard. Also, the meeting dealt with the latest regional and international developments, particularly the Afghan peace talks. She praised Qatar's patronage of the Intra-Afghan dialogue. The meeting was attended by a number of members of the official delegation accompanying the Amir.  His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani holding talks with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, at the US Congress headquarters in Washington, DC His Highness the Amir met with Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, at the US Congress headquarters in Washington, DC. The meeting reviewed the strategic bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them in different fields. The meeting also dealt with the latest regional and international developments. A number of members of the official delegation accompanying the Amir attended the meeting. His Highness the Amir met with Chairman of the Armed Services Committee of the US Senate Senator Jim Inhofe and members of the committee, Senators Jack Reed, Mike Rounds, Angus King, Rick Scott, David Perdue, Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, at the headquarters of the US Congress in Washington, DC. The meeting dealt with the strategic bilateral relations in the military, defence and security fields. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani with the members of the Armed Services Committee of the US Senate at the headquarters of the US Congress in Washington, DC Joint efforts in the fields of counter-terrorism and its financing were also discussed at the meeting. Members of the committee praised the role played by Qatar in that regard, expressing their thanks to the Amir for Qatar's expansion of Al Udeid air base, as well as the country's hosting of more American forces. The meeting also covered the latest regional and international developments. His Highness the Amir met with Chair of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Senator James Risch and Vice-Chair Senator Bob Menendez. Members of the committee Senators Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Rob Portman, Marco Rubio, Ben Cardin, Jeanne Shaheen, Tom Udall, John Isakson, Ron Johnson, Tim Kaine, John Barrasso, Jeff Merkley, Todd Young, Edward Markey attended the meeting at the headquarters of the US Congress in Washington, DC. The meeting dealt with strategic bilateral relations and ways of enhancing them in different fields. Members of the committee praised the strength of co-operation between the two countries, especially on the political and military fronts. They also praised Qatar's expansion of Al Udeid Air Base and hosting of more American forces. His Highness the Amir met with Chairman of the US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Adam Schiff and a numbers at the headquarters of the US Congress in Washington DC. The meeting reviewed the strategic bilateral ties, particularly in the security fields, in addition to the scope for enhancing them. His Highness the Amir met with Chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Eliot Engel, Vice-Chair of the Committee Joe Wilson, Chairman of the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism Subcommittee Ted Deutch, Vice-Chair of the subcommittee Michael McCaul, Steve Shabot and Brad Sherman at the headquarters of the US Congress in Washington, DC. The meeting dealt with the strategic bilateral relations and co-operation, and the scope for expanding them in different fields in light of the agreements signed by the two countries. The two sides also exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues. All the meetings were attended by a number of members of the official delegation accompanying the Amir.

President Donald Trump announced yesterday that some 1,500 additional US troops would deploy to the Middle East against a backdrop of soaring tensions with Iran. “We want to have protection in the Middle East,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to set off on a trip to Japan. “We’re going to be sending a relatively small number of troops, mostly protective,” Trump added.”It’ll be about 1,500 people.” The deployment includes reconnaissance aircraft, fighter jets, engineers, and the extension of the presence of a Patriot missile defense battalion that accounts for 600 of the personnel. “This is a prudent response to credible threats from Iran,” said Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan.Pentagon officials said the 1,500 additional troops were in response to recent incidents in the region that US intelligence had tied to Iran’s leadership. Those have included a rocket attack on the Green Zone in Baghdad, explosive devices that damaged four tankers in Fujairah at the entrance to the Gulf, and a Houthi drone attack against a Saudi oil installation. “We view this as a campaign,” said Rear Admiral Michael Gilday, director of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff. Gilday stressed that the expanded US military presence in the region, including an aircraft carrier task force, B-52 bombers, and an amphibious attack vessel deployed earlier this month, are defensive and meant to address an alleged ongoing threat from Iran. ARMS SALES  Meanwhile, Trump, saying there is a national emergency because of tensions with Iran, is clearing the sale of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia and other countries, US senators said yesterday, despite strong resistance to the plan from both Republicans and Democrats. The administration has informed congressional committees that it will go ahead with 22 arms deals worth some $8bn, congressional aides said, sweeping aside a long-standing precedent for congressional review of such sales.Some lawmakers and congressional aides had warned earlier this week that Trump, frustrated with Congress holding up weapons sales like a major deal to sell Raytheon Co precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, was considering using a loophole in arms control law to go ahead with the sale by declaring a national emergency. “I am disappointed, but not surprised, that the Trump Administration has failed once again to prioritise our long-term national security interests or stand up for human rights, and instead is granting favours to authoritarian countries like Saudi Arabia,” Senator Bob Menendez said in a statement. Menendez is one of the members of Congress who reviews such sales because he is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Another, the Republican Foreign Relations Committee chairman, Senator Jim Risch, said he had received formal notification of the administration’s intent to move forward with “a number of arms sales.” In a statement, Risch said, “I am reviewing and analysing the legal justification for this action and the associated implications.” OMAN’S PEACE EFFORTS  Oman said yesterday it was trying to reduce spiralling tensions between the Unites States and Iran, as the Pentagon confirmed it was considering deploying more troops to the region. The sultanate, which faces Iran across the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, has maintained good relations with Tehran throughout successive regional crises.That has at times allowed it to play an important mediating role, including with the United States. “We and other parties seek to calm tensions between Washington and Tehran,” Muscat’s state minister for foreign affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah said in a statement. “A war could harm the whole world, and both the American and Iranian sides are ‘aware of the dangers’.” Abdullah earlier this week visited Tehran, where he met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamed Javad Zarif, Tehran’s official state news agency IRNA said. Oman played a crucial role in bringing US and Iranian negotiators together for the preliminary talks that ultimately led to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and major powers, including the United States. The current crisis began when President Donald Trump abandoned the deal in May last year and gradually reimposed crippling sanctions that have left Iran’s economy reeling.

Retired Army General John Abizaid, US President Donald Trump's nominee to be ambassador to Saudi Arabia, defended the US-Saudi relationship Wednesday as lawmakers accused the kingdom of a litany of misdeeds and criticised its crown prince as going "full gangster." Senators at Abizaid's confirmation hearing, Trump's fellow Republicans as well as Democrats, condemned the kingdom's conduct in the civil war in Yemen, heavy-handed diplomacy and rights abuses including torturing women's rights activists and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Riyadh government, was killed at a Saudi consulate in Turkey in October. His death fuelled simmering discontent in Washington over Saudi Arabia's human rights record and heavy civilian casualties in Yemen's civil war, where a Saudi-led coalition is fighting Houthi rebels. The House of Representatives has passed a war powers resolution that would end all US support for the Saudi-led coalition, but Abizaid said the Trump administration believes strongly that US support should continue. "Doing so bolsters the self-defence capabilities of our partners and reduces the risk of harm to civilians," Abizaid said. The measure passed the Senate last year, but must go through the chamber again this year to be sent to the White House, where Trump is expected to issue a veto. However, its support in Congress is considered a strong rebuke of Riyadh. Lawmakers have been strongly critical of Mohamed bin Salman, (MbS) the powerful Saudi crown prince. Some blame him for Khashoggi's killing and other human rights abuses. Eleven suspects have been indicted in Saudi Arabia for Khashoggi's murder, and last month a top Saudi official rejected accusations that the crown prince ordered the killing. Republican Senator Jim Risch, the committee's chairman, said Washington needed to send a strong message to Saudi Arabia about actions that he said are complicating the relationship. "It's going to have to be addressed by the Saudis and by the Crown Prince," Risch said. "The Crown Prince has launched Saudi Arabia into a devastating war in Yemen, isolated Qatar, threatening Gulf co-operation and co-ordination against threats from Iran and regional terrorist groups, detained and tortured members of his own family and effectively hoodwinked and intimidated the Lebanese prime minister," said Senator Bob Menendez, the committee's top Democrat. As Abizaid's hearing continued, at least two Republicans said bin Salman had gone "full gangster." One, Republican Marco Rubio, cited a long list of actions including the imprisonment of women's rights activists and the 2017 detention of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. Abizaid called for accountability for the murder of Khashoggi, a US resident, and support for human rights, but repeatedly stressed the importance of Washington-Riyadh ties. Despite increasing tension between the two countries, the United States has not had an ambassador there since Trump became president in January 2017. "In the long run, we need a strong and mature partnership with Saudi Arabia," Abizaid told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It is in our interests to make sure that the relationship is sound." Abizaid, a retired four-star Army general, led US Central Command during the Iraq war. Expected to easily win Senate confirmation, he was praised by senators from both parties at the hearing. Abizaid said in prepared remarks that the Islamic State militant group has been "nearly vanquished on the ground," but remains a "potent threat" to the United States and its allies. While contradicted by some US military and intelligence officials, Trump has declared that Islamic State has been driven out of all its territory since announcing in December that he would withdraw US forces from Syria. He claimed that US-led forces had succeeded in their mission to defeat the militant group. Since then, Trump has decided to leave hundreds of US troops in the country over the longer run.

The QNB Stars League is back today after a two-month break, which saw Qatar win the Asian Cup in the UAE in style, for the first time in their history. Umm Salal and Al Gharafa will open the week’s action, which will be followed by the big clash between Al Rayyan and Al Arabi. Despite the long break in the QNB Stars League, the matches are sure to be cracking as teams are fresh from the preparations and will be going all out in their bid to gain good positions in the table. The Rayyan and Arabi match at the Al Sadd Stadium is arguably a contest between the most loyal and traditional fan base in Qatar. Rayyan are currently fourth in the standings with 27 points, while Al Arabi are sixth with 21 points. Rayyan and Arabi respectively have eight and seven Qatar League titles to their credit. Rayyan are technically still in the title race. They would like to gear up for next week’s Qatar Clasico against Al Sadd with a victory. The Lions also have AFC Champions League engagement coming up. Rayyan, under Turkish coach Bulent Uygun, have not made drastic changes to the squad during the winter transfer window. Lucca Borges, Gonzalo Viera and Koh Myong-Jin stayed as their overseas professionals, while Jonathan Menendez was replaced by Gelmin Javier Rivas. Uygun declared his team was ready for the match.  “It’s a derby and our team is ready. (Rodrigo) Tabata is suspended for this match. Sebastian (Soria) is suffering from an injury and we’re trying to provide a level worthy of Al Rayyan and Qatar football,” he said. “We’ve brought in Rivas. He’s a good player and he’ll be a good addition to the team in the league and Asian competition that awaits our team. We know how to face Al Arabi and we know about the changes that have taken place in their ranks. We’ll miss some players, but we know Al Rayyan and his ability to provide strong matches. We’ve a good group of players and we’ll perform well,” Bulent added. Al Arabi, who have a new coach in Heimir Hallgrimsson from Iceland, aspire to storm into the top-four bracket. They made their intentions clear by making a host of signings. The Dream Team offloaded Franco Hurtado and Mailson Farias even as Diego Jardel stayed.  Hallgrimsson said: “We worked very hard over the past period and there’ve been some changes to the team through contracts and deals, and the preparation wasn’t just for Al Rayyan but for the rest of the season in general.” “It’s an important match against Rayyan. It’s true that we’ve reinforced the side, but we’ve a good group of young players that we should care about, and with new players we need patience and time,” added Hallgrimsson. Meanwhile, Umm Salal and Al Gharafa match, to be played at the Al Gharafa Stadium, is battle between the two mid-table teams. Gharafa are seventh with 18 points, whereas Umm Salal are breathing down their neck with one point less. The Orange Fortress are eighth and both sides are keen on finishing among the top four. Salal have a new coach in Spaniard Raul Caneda, while Al Gharafa retained the services of Frenchman Christian Gourcuff. What makes the game more gripping is the fact that both teams are eager to break into the top four in QNB Stars League standings.  It may be recalled that Al had edged Umm Salal in the battle for the fourth position in the final round last season. Gharafa, who recently retained the QSL Cup by beating Al Duhail in the final, may miss the services of players such as injured Wesley Sneijder. Fixtures  Today: Umm Salal vs Al Gharafa (17:50) at Al Gharafa Stadium; Al Rayyan vs Al Arabi (20:10) at Al Sadd Stadium  Tomorrow: Al Kharaitiyat vs Al Ahli (16:45) at Al Khor Stadium; Qatar SC vs Al Shahania (19:10) at Qatar SC Stadium  On Saturday: Al Duhail vs Al Sailiya (16:45) at Al Duhail Stadium and Al Sadd vs Al Khor (19:10) at Al Sadd Stadium

President Donald Trump’s nominee for US attorney general (AG), William Barr, told lawmakers yesterday he would protect a federal probe into Russian election meddling from political pressure, stressing he would bring independence to the job and not shy away from breaking ranks with the administration. “I will not be bullied into doing anything that I think is wrong – by anybody, whether it be editorial boards or Congress or the president. I’m going to do what I think is right,” Barr said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Barr is expected to win confirmation in the Republican-controlled Senate to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer, which would put him in charge of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and any possible collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign. “On my watch, Bob will be allowed to complete his work,” Barr said. Democrats worry that Trump’s administration may try to undercut the investigation, which has been a frequent target of the president and his allies. Barr, who was attorney general under President George H W Bush in the 1990s, said his primary loyalty would be to the rule of law, not Trump. He said he did not seek out the job and was reluctant to accept when Trump offered it to him. Trump frequently criticises the Mueller probe as a “witch hunt” and has denied any collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. Russia has denied US intelligence agencies’ findings that it interfered in the 2016 election. Barr said he agreed with Mueller’s charge that Russian entities interfered in the election, or at least tried to do so. He said he described Mueller, a longtime friend, as a “straight shooter” when Trump asked about him. “I don’t believe Mueller would be involved in a witch hunt,” Barr said. Mueller is due to submit a final report to the attorney general, prompting concern from some Democrats that the Trump administration will try to quash his findings. Barr said he would not let Trump modify the report and would make public as many of Mueller’s findings as possible. But Barr faced tough questions from Democrats about an unsolicited, 19-page memo he wrote Last year that called Mueller’s probe “fatally misconceived” for examining whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey in 2017. “It does raise questions about your willingness to reach conclusions before knowing the facts, and whether you prejudge the Mueller investigation,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Judiciary Committee’s top  Democrat. Barr said his memo did not question the legitimacy of the probe as a whole, but only expressed concerns that the special counsel might be improperly  interpreting one aspect of the law. “I think it was entirely proper,” he said of the memo, saying it was not unusual for former Justice Department officials to share their views of legal matters. He said he had written a similar memo criticising the department’s corruption case against Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, which ended in a mistrial in 2017. Barr’s views of presidential power could be important as prosecutors and Democrats in the House of Representatives, where they hold the majority, intensify investigations of Trump’s personal business  practices and his presidency. Barr could benefit from the fact that some Democrats view him as a better option than the man who took over the job after Trump forced out Jeff Sessions Last year, acting Attorney  General Matt Whitaker. During his tenure as attorney general, Sessions faced repeated attacks from Trump for recusing himself from oversight of the Russia probe after it emerged that he had met with Russian officials while working with the Trump election campaign. Barr said Sessions “did the right thing” by recusing himself. Mueller has secured indictments against or guilty pleas from 33 people and three Russian companies, including former Trump campaign  chairman Paul Manafort.

If you were anywhere near a television in 1998, chances are you heard a joke — or a hundred — about Monica Lewinsky. Whether it was David Letterman rattling off the “Top Ten Possible First Lines for Lewinsky’s Book” on The Late Show or Molly Shannon as a junk-food-loving Lewinsky on Saturday Night Live, the ridicule was ubiquitous — especially after 11pm. Then just 25 and legally bound from speaking up in defence of herself, the former White House intern had been reduced to a beret-wearing caricature by the country’s (overwhelmingly male) political journalists, cable news pundits and late-night personalities. While the news cycle eventually moved on, Lewinsky languished in what she has called “infamous person prison” for nearly two decades. But she has staged an unlikely comeback that culminated when the Emmy-nominated anti-bullying advocate and Vanity Fair contributor sat recently for a rare interview in The Clinton Affair, an A&E docuseries about the impeachment scandal. While the sordid details of the relationship are nothing new, it is a revelation to hear Lewinsky’s perspective on the “devastating humiliation” of her turn in the media spotlight — especially since, as she notes poignantly, the first time most Americans heard her voice was on the tapes secretly recorded by her supposed friend, Linda Tripp. The woman once vilified as a “young tramp” by Rep. Charles Rangel, a “little twerp” by Betty Friedan and a “homewrecker” by Bill Maher is now being treated sympathetically — even celebrated — by the culture that gleefully trashed her. And she’s not alone. Tonya Harding, Marcia Clark, Lorena Bobbitt, Anita Hill: other women reviled and ridiculed in the 1990s have been recast as unlikely pop culture heroines and seen their lives, once fodder for tawdry tabloid sagas, deemed worthy of prestige TV series and Oscar-baiting biopics. Donna Rice (now Donna Rice Hughes), who was scorned as a “bimbo” and “sleaze” when she was thrust into the media spotlight slightly earlier than the other women, during Gary Hart’s presidential campaign in 1987, has also seen a recent shift in public perception thanks in part to Jason Reitman’s new film The Front Runner, which as Times critic Kenneth Turan wrote, “treats Rice with respect.” Careless caricatures The reappraisals began in earnest with Sarah Paulson’s Emmy-winning depiction of Clark in American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson. The acclaimed 2016 miniseries from executive producer Ryan Murphy lionised the prosecutor as a tireless feminist crusader who faced brutally sexist criticism of her looks, personal life and parenting skills.  (Murphy seems to have a soft spot for misunderstood women: He developed a limited series about the Clinton scandal but has said he decided not to pursue it without Lewinsky’s participation. And this year, in the second instalment of his American Crime Story anthology, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Penelope Cruz brought some humanity to Donatella Versace, a woman often rendered as a campy cartoon character.) Onstage at the Emmys, Paulson apologised for being “superficial and careless” in her judgment of Clark who was, she said, “not the two-dimensional cardboard cutout I saw in the news” but a complicated woman dedicated to “righting an unconscionable wrong.” Similarly, last year’s Oscar-nominated dark comedy I, Tonya reimagined disgraced figure skater Harding as a once-in-a-generation talent from a hardscrabble background whose promising career was derailed by domestic abuse, classism, archaic ideas about female athletes and their bodies. (And, yes, her catastrophically bad judgment.) “It’s showing a female character who isn’t a victim or a villain or a hero but something else entirely,” Margot Robbie — who earned Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG nominations for her portrayal of Harding — told The Times last year. “I think that’s more truthful and reflects more women that I know.” At January’s Golden Globes, Harding walked the red carpet in a beaded evening gown, posing for pictures with the glamorous Robbie. It represented a stunning turnaround for someone who had been treated, quite literally, as a pop culture punching bag: In 2002, she faced off against Clinton accuser Paula Jones — a woman who endured a similar level of classist scorn in the ‘90s — in the infamously sleazy Fox reality show Celebrity Boxing. Like Monica Lewinsky, the name Lorena Bobbitt has for many years been synonymous with ridicule. But the docuseries Lorena may change this perception when it arrives on Amazon early next year. In the four-part investigation, executive produced by Oscar winner Jordan Peele, director Joshua Rofe revisits the notorious case of Bobbitt, who chopped off her husband’s reproductive organ as he slept in what she claimed was an “irresistible impulse” brought about by his repeated rapes and beatings. The lurid trials that followed were broadcast live on cable, inspiring countless double entendre headlines, juvenile late-night jokes and breathtakingly sexist commentary. Then at the height of his influence, Howard Stern raised money for John Wayne Bobbitt’s medical bills with a New Year’s Eve telethon and once suggested that Lorena couldn’t have been raped by her husband because “she’s not that great-looking. She’s got a lot of pimples.” “That was a moment where you’re like, my God,” Rofe says of the Stern clip, which he included in the documentary at the insistence of a female editor, Azin Samari. “It was beyond cruel.” In his telling, Lorena, who participated in the documentary, is not the “crazy knife-wielding lunatic” or fiery Latina stereotype of tabloid fantasy but a brave survivor who brought attention to the epidemic of domestic abuse — even if the public was less interested in this side of the story. As he re-examined the case, Rofe found that many people even misremembered the basics of Lorena’s biography, recalling her as a middle-aged white women rather than an Ecuadorean immigrant in her mid-20s. “She was on TV every night. The footage of her clearly having a panic attack was on CNN, was on Court TV,” he said. “Obviously, things are starting to change.” But why now? The collective mea culpa is driven in part by nostalgia. Many of the writers, directors, producers and editors responsible for these reappraisals came of age in the ‘90s, “an incredibly prosperous and peaceful time in the US,” said Jeffrey Toobin, who wrote The Run of His Life: The People v OJ Simpson, the basis of the FX miniseries, as well as a book about the Clinton impeachment. “Perhaps that gave us licence to dwell on scandals as opposed to war and peace and economic dislocation. The world looked pretty good.” Older millennials and young Gen-Xers are naturally interested in revisiting this era and contemplating how it illuminates the current cultural moment; it’s the same impulse that’s brought us shows about the Waco siege, the Unabomber and the Menendez brothers in the past two years. But what Clark, Bobbitt, Lewinsky and Harding have in common, other than their ‘90s infamy, is the gendered nature of the ridicule they faced — about their hair, their looks, their sex lives. And they were all involved, in some way, in stories of abuse. Harding and Bobbitt were allegedly beaten by their husbands; Clark was trying a case against a beloved athlete accused of horrific domestic violence. Lewinsky’s affair with Clinton was consensual, but the power differential between them was vast and her career suffered as a result of the relationship — circumstances widely considered abusive by current standards. If baby boomers have never gotten over the culture clashes of the 1960s, their children are still fighting a battle of the sexes that ignited in 1991 when law professor Anita Hill accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment.      At the time, Hill was smeared as a “little bit nutty and a little bit slutty” by journalist David Brock, but got the reverential biographical treatment in the 2016 HBO film Confirmation (even if the recent showdown between Christine Blasey Ford and Brett M. Kavanaugh felt to many like an unwelcome reboot of the Thomas-Hill controversy). We are now more likely to take allegations — and the women who make them — seriously. “The ‘90s was an era where men were automatically believed and women were automatically questioned,” says The Clinton Affair director Blair Foster. “I think we’re starting to re-examine the way that we think about these things. It’s a little shocking to go back. It seems so fresh and so far away at the same time.” Pivotal stand-up The reckoning that began in 1991 entered a revolutionary new chapter with, appropriately enough, a joke. In 2014, Hannibal Buress brought up the long-ignored rape charges against Bill Cosby in a stand-up set that was recorded and widely shared online. Four years later, the man once known as America’s Dad is legally classified as a sexually violent predator, and numerous other powerful men who immeasurably shaped the culture over the past three decades, like Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, Harvey Weinstein, Charlie Rose and Les Moonves, have also been toppled by allegations of misconduct. This shift has forced us to reassess the heroes and the villains of our stories, both real and fictional, and to reconsider touchstones from Sixteen Candles to Mad Men as potential #problematicfavorites. It has encouraged us to see the value in stories that were once dismissed as “soap operas” because they involved the private lives of women. It has demanded that we question who ends up the butt of the joke and why, that we recognise — and in some cases, reject — the power structures undergirding these narratives. And while formerly disgraced men seem to rebound with relative ease — George W Bush nearly made Americans forget the Iraq war, Katrina and the economic crisis by passing Michelle Obama a cough drop — women are more likely to be “discovered” because they’re so often left out of history. (See the box-office hit Hidden Figures or the New York Times’ series of obituaries on remarkable, overlooked women.) Redemption is harder to find if you’re a woman. As a newscaster notes matter-of-factly in The Clinton Affair, “men in sex scandals often get second chances, women rarely do.” “Clinton is always allowed to be portrayed in this dimensional, nuanced way and he can be this flawed character. I wanted to bring that to Monica,” says Foster. “She’s very open and honest about the mistakes she made, but what she suffered is very disproportionate to what the ‘crime’ was.” —Los Angeles Times/TNS

Al Rayyan eased past relegation-threatened Al Kharaitiyat 6-0, while Al Gharafa’s bid to finish in the top four suffered another blow after they were beaten 3-1 by Al Ahli in the QNB Stars League yesterday. Al Kharaitiyat were never going to pose any problems for the Lions – they have won only one of their 15 matches so far while losing 14 – and sure enough their struggles were plainly evident early on in the match when Ali Fayez scored an own goal in the very first minute. Al Rayyan captain Rodrigo  Tabata, who picked up a loose ball inside the Al Kharaitiyat box, crossed to Sebastian Soria, but Fayez deflected the ball into his own net with keeper Ahmed Sofyan in no position to stop the ball.  Soria (24th minute), Lucca Borges (69th and 84th), Tabata (71st) and Jonathan Menendez (84th) then produced classy goals to complete Al Rayyan’s commanding show. Al Rayyan doubled their lead through a combined effort from seasoned duo Tabata and Soria. The Al Rayyan skipper curled in a corner kick and Soria, stationed just a few metres away from Al Kharaitiyat goalmouth, back-headed the ball into the net with a short jump. Al Rayyan went 3-0 up when Lucca headed home from an acute angle off a loopy cross that came his way. The Lions jumped to a 4-0 cushion following a powerful drive by Tabata off a cross from Soria. Lucca then drilled in a low deflection from close range off a cross from Menendez, who also netted a goal just a minute later following a cross from Khalfan Ibrahim. Al Rayyan have 27 points from 15 matches and are in third position, behind leaders Al Duhail and second-placed Al Sadd. Al Ahli, meanwhile jumped to fourth after their commanding win over Al Gharafa, who were thrashed 8-1 by Al Sadd last week. Al Ahli have now gone eight matches without defeat, a sensational run for a team who were initially not favoured for a top-four finish. Mohamed Muntari (first minute), Abdelrehman Mustafa (58th) and Nigel de Jong (83rd) scored the goals for the visitors at the Al Gharafa Stadium, where Amro Seraj (37th) was on target for the home side. In just the first minute of their Round 15 clash, following a loopy Mohsine Moutaouali cross that landed at his feet, Muntari outpaced his marker and shot the ball into the net for Al Ahli’s first goal. The early strike brought a huge smile to coach Milan Macala. Al Gharafa equalised when Seraj made the most of a fumble by keeper Ivanildo Rodrigues. Stationed just a few feet away from Santos, who failed to pouch a low cross from the flank, Seraj quickly sent the ball into the net with a low right-foot drive. It was Seraj’s third goal of the season. A couple of minutes later, Al Gharafa’s Ahmed Alaaeldin failed to send the ball into an open net from close range off a cross from the flank. Just two minutes before the end of first half, Al Ahli’s Mohamed Reza was booked with a yellow for a reckless tackle in his own box. In the second half, Mustafa helped Al Ahli take the lead with a left-footed drive from inside the Al Gharafa box with only keeper Ali to beat. It was Mustafa’s third goal of the season. De Jong then fired a bullet from 25 yards out into the net in spectacular fashion to complete the scoring.

Leading US senators said yesterday that they were more certain than ever that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman was culpable in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after receiving a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefing on the matter. “The views that I had before have only solidified,” said Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who has called for a strong US reaction to Khashoggi’s death and backs legislation to end all US support for the Saudi coalition waging war in Yemen. Menendez spoke to reporters as he left a closed-door briefing for some Senate committee leaders and Senate leaders by CIA Director Gina Haspel. Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shook his head no, when asked if he thought the briefing had changed any minds. “I have zero question in my mind that the crown prince directed the murder and was kept appraised of the situation all the way through it,” Corker said. “You have to be wilfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organised by people under the command of MbS,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters, also after the briefing, referring to the crown prince by his initials. Khashoggi was a US resident who wrote for the Washington Post. Saudi Arabia has said that 21 people are in custody and vowed to keep probing the killing of Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered after visiting the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate in October to handle paperwork for his planned wedding. Haspel’s briefing had been criticised for only allowing a limited number of US senators to attend. The decision to limit the number of senators attending the closed-door hearing to only include the leaders of key national security committees came under fire even before the meeting got under way. Senator Rand Paul called the decision “ridiculous”. “Why shouldn’t every senator know what is going on?” he tweeted. If given the chance, he would ask Haspel about media reports that the CIA has concluded that Prince Mohamed “was involved and directed” the killing, he said in an interview on Fox News. Several senators complained last week when Haspel did not join the Senate along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defence James Mattis at a classified briefing held last week. Their testimony before the full Senate came ahead of a vote on a resolution that that seeks to end US military support to Saudi Arabia in its campaign in Yemen. The resolution later advanced in the Senate allowing for further debate and a possible vote.

US President Donald Trump has cancelled a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Argentina, registering his disapproval of Russia’s treatment of Ukraine and casting new uncertainty over US-Russian ties. Trump said he pulled out due to tensions over Russian forces opening fire on Ukrainian navy boats and then seizing them and their crew on Sunday near Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. His decision also comes as a federal investigation into his 2016 election campaign’s ties to Russia is intensifying. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty yesterday to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump real estate project in Russia (see report on the left). “Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin. I look forward to a meaningful Summit again as soon as this situation is resolved!” Trump tweeted. Trump’s tweet from aboard Air Force One shortly after take-off from Washington on the way to Buenos Aires for a Group of 20 summit, was a sudden turnaround. Roughly an hour earlier, he had told reporters that he would probably meet with Putin at the summit and said it was “a very good time to have the meeting”. Trump had also said he would get a final report during the flight to Argentina on the tension in the region after Russia seized Ukrainian vessels near Crimea on Sunday. Yesterday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accused Putin of wanting to annex his entire country and called for the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) to deploy warships to a sea shared by the two nations. While it was unclear why there was a sudden change in plans for a meeting, holding talks with Putin now could represent bad optics for the White House at a time when the president is under scrutiny over prior plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters on the presidential aircraft that Trump made the decision not to meet Putin after speaking with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, White House chief of staff John Kelly, and national security adviser John Bolton. The decision appeared to catch the Kremlin by surprise. The Kremlin’s spokesman said Moscow had no official information on Trump’s decision. If the meeting at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires is cancelled, Putin will “have a couple of additional hours on the programme for useful meetings on the sidelines of the summit”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in comments carried by state news agency Tass. Differences over Ukraine, as well as Moscow’s role in the civil war in Syria, have been an irritant in US-Russian relations for years. Democratic US Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey said that Trump was missing an “opportunity to redeem himself, stand up for American values, stand up for international law, stand up for our own national security interests, and he had that opportunity and instead he’s abdicating it”. “It is ironic that this President cannot find his spine to confront Vladimir Putin but can challenge the closest allies the United States has across the globe,” Menendez said. The administration of former president Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. That in part brought ties between Washington and Moscow to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. Since then, the United States has investigated Russia’s possible interference in the 2016 election that Trump won. Russia has denied meddling and Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion. Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships and their crews on Sunday near Crimea over what it said was their illegal entry into Russian waters, which Ukraine denies. Some of Ukraine’s Western allies have raised the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia over the episode, which could deliver a blow to the Russian economy. Kyiv is aiming to gain Western support for more economic sanctions against Moscow, secure tangible Western military help, and rally opposition to a Russian gas pipeline that threatens to deprive Ukraine of important transit revenue.

*US turning blind eye to killing of Khashoggi: Turkey US President Donald Trump's backing of Saudi Arabia following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has sparked a backlash from members of Congress who insist the US consider additional sanctions and further investigation into the killing. Both Republicans and opposition Democrats weighed in after Trump said he would stand by the US relationship with Saudi Arabia, citing the need for a strong ally in the Middle East, its partnership in the fight against terrorism and hundreds of billions of dollars of business deals. Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the position was akin to the White House acting as a public relations firm for Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MbS), and said Congress would consider everything at its disposal to respond, including requiring by law the determination of Mohamed's role in the dissident Saudi's killing. Corker joined with Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat, in calling on Trump to clarify by February whether the crown prince is responsible for the murder, which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul early last month. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham also advocated "serious sanctions" against members of the Saudi royal family. Representative Eliot Engel, a Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused Trump of "trying to sweep bad acts under the rug." Engel also said Trump's backing of Saudi Arabia cast doubt on the ability of US intelligence, which has not yet issued its report on the Khashoggi murder. Trump, who is in Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday on Wednesday thanked Saudi Arabia, pointing to a drop in the price of oil and saying on Twitter it was "Like a big Tax Cut for America and the World." Meanwhile, Turkey accused the United States on Wednesday of trying to turn a blind eye to the murder of Khashoggi , and dismissed comments from Trump on the issue as "comic". Of the possibility Prince Mohamed had a hand in the murder, Trump said: "Maybe he did, maybe he didn't". His comments contradicted the CIA, which believes Khashoggi's death was ordered directly by the crown prince, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler. Numan Kurtulmus, the deputy chairman of President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party, dismissed Trump's assessment. "Wednesday’s statement is a comic statement," he told state broadcaster TRT Haber.