US State Department has informed lawmakers that it will announce actions taken in response to the killing of Jamal Khashoggi at 2:30pm. Reports circulating it could limit arms sales to Saudi Arabia to "defensive" weapons, among other measures @PressSec says "stay tuned" when asked whether MBS may himself be sanctioned over his involvement in Khashoggi's murder.

Wow: "I was asked to lie about Hunter Biden, admits Ukrainian businessman. Hares Youssef claims he was promised a US visa and legal immunity in return for information that would damage Joe Biden’s presidential campaign thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/i… Hares Youssef, a Syrian who had his US visa revoked, was an adviser to former Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko, He claims he was asked to invent links between Hunter Biden and a business deal with one of his former associates that had gone wrong 2/

This is the answer given by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2016 testimony when she was asked whether she was or had been in a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. "There were times when I would have liked to think of myself as his girlfriend" Ghislaine Maxwell, asked about what her salary was at the time she stopped working for Epstein, says: "It was under $500,000 and I did it out of thoughtfulness and consideration for somebody who was in trouble (after his mother died). I'd remember if was over one million"

Lindsey Graham has positioned himself as the tried-and-tested candidate, an old-school Southern conservative who can best represent South Carolina's values. But he has hitched his wagon to Trump, in many ways his antithesis. My dispatch from Charleston 1/ telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/2… “There's a lot of people who can’t stand what Graham has become, they feel a sense of betrayal,” said @BenPEdwards, one-time Republican who used to go door-to-door fundraising for him. “He was once a man of integrity, but his silence with each Trump outrage has been deafening" 2/

At a Mike Pence rally in The Villages, Florida. I’d say about a quarter of people here are wearing masks. People have pushed their socially distanced chairs together. The Villages is America’s largest retirement village, aka the most vulnerable to Covid-19 My guess is there’s about 1,500 packed into a pretty small square. Three elderly people not wearing masks have already fainted and been medically assisted out #pence #florida

A dispatch from The Villages, Florida, where the election could be won or lost. America’s largest retirement village has historically been staunchly Republic, but could the Dems peel off enough votes to make a difference in this bellwether state? 1/ telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/1… Trump is haemorrhaging senior voters, particularly after contracting Covid-19 - polls show him as much as 26 points behind Biden. That could be devastating for him in a swing state like Florida, where nearly 30pc of registered voters are over 60 2/

Alexanda Kotey is appearing before a judge at the Eastern District of Virginia for an arraignment hearing now. He sounds as if he's being respectful to the judge, can be heard replying "yes, your honour" a few times. District Judge Thomas Selby Ellis III keeps referring to Kotey and Elsheikh's "very good English", despite being told several times they are British (UK born with English as first language) 2/

“Ghislaine always talks about what a true friend (Prince Andrew) is. She doesn’t see any reason to speak about him to the authorities,” Laura Goldman, one of Maxwell's closest friends tells @CamillaTominey
telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/0… New photograph also shows Ghislaine Maxwell sitting in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace with Kevin Spacey 2/

Intercepted radio communications shared w/ @Telegraph show how Soleimani’s Iranian forces and Afghan mercenaries are directing military ops near frontlines in Idlib. “Ya Ali, Oh, Zainab,” the fighters are heard to say, “we will have victory over them” 1/ telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/01/2… @Telegraph On one recording, an Afghan fighter radios from a base in Tamanah, Maarat al-Numan district, in Persian to another: “Let’s go together toward their position tonight, to see whether it is a bird or fox,” using animals as code words for targets 2/

Boris Johnson just called on Trump to replace the Iranian nuclear deal with his own new agreement.
"If we're going to get rid of it, let's replace it and let's replace it with the Trump deal," he says. "That would be a great way forward." Boris trying to make EU partners and US happy over Iran JCPOA nuclear deal, but currently failing to do either

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1216997184543039489

Just spoken to a senior Iraqi official who says they arrested one of Baghdadi's wives, his nephew & Baghdad's courier's wife in September. In interviews the latter gave up information on the leader's whereabouts and the coordinates in Idlib. "He wasn't very mobile" official said These arrests were made in Iraq in September, which suggests Baghdadi has definitely be in Idlib for *at least* two months. Iraqi National Intelligence Services passed the information to the US around this time, according to the official 2/

I spoke to "ISIS matchmaker" Tooba Gondal from the safehouse she was being held in by SNA rebels 20 miles south of Tal Abyad. She detailed how she managed to escape Ain Issa camp over the weekend and how she's now trying to get to Turkey 1/ telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/1… She said she wasn't told who was keeping her and the other women at the safehouse, but pictures she sent my showed masked fighters holding an Ahrar al-Sharqiya flag (the militia accused of executing civilians on the highway out of Tal Abyad) 2/

Coalition official tells me after Turkish bombing near US base Mashtenour hill: “They know we are there, we told them our position. There’s no other target in the area. They’re trying to drive us out. If Turkey can get us to leave so they can seige Kobane, it’s all over.” This has huge implications: NATO ally deliberately bombing, or targeting near, NATO ally

Something very very murky is going on in the Strait of Hormuz. Has Iran seized MT Riah? If so, no one is claiming the Panama-flagged vessel. Now seems to be suggestion she was moving oil from ship-to-ship, never docking, to avoid sanctions. Possibly destined for Somalia or Yemen

https://twitter.com/GBeleris/status/1151825099311460352

Tanker Iran said it towed after technical problems made no port calls over the past one year, had 27 days of dark activities and met 55 times with another vessel, trading patterns characteristic of clandestine ship-to-ship transfers
…list.maritimeintelligence.informa.com/LL1128421/Dive…

According to sources I’ve spoken to Shamima Begum was not “just a housewife” during her time with ISIS as she made out, she was in fact working with Hisba, or the “morality police” repressing local Syrian women telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/1… “She shouted at a civilian woman wearing brightly coloured shoes and told her that was ‘haram’, as this would attract the attention of men. The woman said to her, ‘so why is it ok for you to wear coloured shoes?’ Shamima was herself wearing white and pink trainers”

UK’s allies in Syria have released European #ISIS suspects back to terror group through secret prisoner swap deals, the Telegraph can reveal, raising concerns that jihadists are returning to the battlefield and could re-enter Europe telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/06/1… According to one of the negotiators, a tribal official, there were three deals between the SDF and ISIS in Feb, April and June (2)