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WASHINGTON: The Justice Department asked a federal appeals court Friday to lift a judge’s order that temporarily barred it from reviewing a batch of classified documents seized during an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home last month. The department told the 11th Circuit US Court of Appeals in Atlanta that the judge’s hold was impeding the “government’s efforts to protect the nation’s security” and interfering with its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. It said the hold needed to be lifted immediately so work could resume. “The government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay,” department lawyers wrote in their brief to the appeals court. The judge’s appointment of a “special master” to review the documents, and the resulting legal tussle, appear certain to further slow the department’s criminal investigation. It remains unclear whether Trump, who has been laying the groundwork for another potential presidential run, or anyone else might be charged. US District Judge Aileen Cannon earlier this month directed the department to halt its use of the records until further court order, or until the completion of a report of an independent arbiter who is to do his own inspection of the documents and weed out any covered by claims of legal privilege. On Thursday night, she assigned Raymond Dearie, the former chief judge of the federal court based in Brooklyn, to serve as the arbiter — also known as a special master. She also declined to lift an order that prevented the department from using for its investigation about 100 seized documents marked as classified, citing ongoing disputes about the nature of the documents that she said merited a neutral review. “The Court does not find it appropriate to accept the Government’s conclusions on these important and disputed issues without further review by a neutral third party in an expedited and orderly fashion,” she wrote. The Justice Department last week asked Cannon to put her own order on hold by Thursday, and said that if she did not, it would ask the appeals court to step in. The FBI says it took about 11,000 documents, including roughly 100 with classification markings found in a storage room and an office, while serving a court-authorized search warrant at the home. Weeks after the search, Trump lawyers asked a judge to appoint a special master to do an independent review of the records. In her Sept. 5 order, Cannon agreed to name a special master to sift through the records and filter out any that may be potentially covered by claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. In appointing Dearie on Thursday, she granted him access to the entire tranche of documents, including classified records. She directed him to complete his review by Nov. 30 and to prioritize the review of classified documents, and directed the Justice Department to permit the Trump legal team to inspect classified records with “controlled access conditions.” The Justice Department disagreed with the judge that the special master should be empowered to inspect the classified records. It said the classified records that were seized do not contain communication between Trump and his lawyers that could be covered by attorney-client privilege, and said the former president could not credibly invoke executive privilege to shield government documents that do not belong to him from the investigation. Though the department had argued that its work was being unduly impeded by the judge’s order, Cannon disagreed, noting in her order Thursday that officials could proceed with other aspects of their investigation, such as interviewing witnesses.  

WASHINGTON: Russia’s setbacks and stretched resources in Ukraine show its forces are incapable of achieving President Vladimir Putin’s initial aims in invading the country as things stand now, the Pentagon’s intelligence chief said Friday. “We’re coming to a point right now where I think Putin is going to have to revise what his objectives are for this operation,” Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told an intelligence and national security conference outside Washington. “Because “it’s pretty clear right now that he’s ... not going to be able to do what he initially intended to do.” Putin sent troops into neighboring Ukraine in February with what US officials say was the objective of unseating Ukraine’s Western-friendly government. Ukrainian forces drove Russian fighters from their positions around Ukraine’s capital earlier in the war. And Russia suffered another major setback last week, when a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced its troops back from large swaths of Ukraine’s northeast. “The Russians planned for an occupation, not necessarily an invasion, and that has set them back,” Berrier said, citing Putin’s reluctance so far to fully mobilize Russian forces to get more manpower into the fight. President Joe Biden and other administration officials have taken care not to call Russia’s latest retreat a Ukrainian victory or turning point in the war, and analysts caution it’s impossible to assess what may lie ahead. “He’s coming to a decision” point,” Berrier said of Putin. “What that decision will be we don’t know. But that will largely drive how long this conflict lasts.” Berrier spoke at a panel with other senior officials at the intelligence community’s Intelligence and National Security Summit at National Harbor in Maryland just outside Washington. Asked about concerns that Putin could unleash weapons of mass destruction if he’s thwarted on the battlefield by US and NATO-backed Ukrainian forces, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said, “I don’t think we should underestimate Putin’s adherence to his original agenda, which was to control Ukraine. I don’t think we’ve seen any reason to believe he has moved off that.” Nor should the US underestimate Putin’s “risk appetite,” Cohen said. Putin and his officials early in the war made allusions to Russia’s nuclear arsenal and to massive retaliation in warning NATO not to get involved in the conflict. “That being said, we have not seen concrete evidence of planning for the use of WMD,” Cohen said. The more likely form of any Russian retaliation against the United States would be more attempts at interfering with the US political system, other security and intelligence officials said. Separately, in a major regional summit in Uzbekistan on Friday, Putin vowed to press the attack on Ukraine and warned that Moscow could ramp up its strikes on the country’s infrastructure if Ukrainian forces target facilities in Russia. The conference included the leaders of China, India, Turkey and several other countries. Putin said the “liberation” of Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region was Russia’s main military goal and that he saw no need to revise it. “We aren’t in a rush,” the Russian leader said.

UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly voted Friday to allow Ukraine’s president to deliver a pre-recorded address to next week’s gathering of world leaders because of his need to deal with Russia’s invasion, making an exception to its requirement that all leaders speak in person. The 193-member world body approved Volodymyr Zelenskky’s virtual address by a vote of 101-7 with 19 abstentions including China. The seven countries voting “no” were Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria. The assembly first voted on an amendment put forward by Belarus, a close ally of Russia, that would have allowed any leader facing exceptional difficulties and unable to attend to deliver a pre-recorded address. It was defeated by a vote of 23-67 with 27 abstentions. The document that was approved expresses concern that leaders of “peace-loving” UN sovereign nations can’t participate in person “for reasons beyond their control owing to ongoing foreign invasion, aggression, military hostilities that do not allow safe departure from and return to their countries, or the need to discharge their national defense and security duties and functions.” The document, which was proposed by Ukraine and had more than 50 co-sponsors, permits Zelensky to submit a pre-recorded statement to be played in the General Assembly hall. It stresses that this will not set a precedent for future high-level assembly meetings. Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya expressed satisfaction that the assembly will have a chance to hear directly from Zelensky “about how he sees the end of this war and how he evaluates the impact of this war on global affairs and on the United Nations in particular.” He expressed gratitude in an interview with The Associated Press that 101 UN member nations gave such strong support to hearing from Zelensky, saying it was “pathetic” that Russia mustered only six other countries to oppose his speech. Kyslytsya said Zelensky was scheduled to address the assembly Wednesday afternoon and there is no reason that would be changed. The document refers to the General Assembly resolution adopted at an emergency special session on March 2 — six days after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine — demanding an immediate halt to Moscow’s offensive and withdrawal of all Russian troops. The vote on the resolution, titled “Aggression against Ukraine,” was 141-5 with 35 abstentions. British Counsellor Philip Reed told the assembly before the votes that the reason it is necessary “is because Russia has invaded its neighbor and for that reason Ukraine’s president cannot travel to New York for the General Debate,” the official name of the high-level meeting. Nicaragua’s representative, whom its mission refused to identify, said the proposed decision “reflects a clear trend toward exceptionalisms” and violates the UN Charter’s principle “of sovereign equality of all members.” He urged members to oppose the proposal and avoid “double standards” and “selfish interests.” As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual meeting of world leaders at the General Assembly was all virtual in 2020 and hybrid in 2021. But this year the assembly decided that all speeches must be in person.

COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan court issued a summons on Friday ordering an ex-president to appear in a case alleging he failed to prevent suicide bomb attacks in 2019 that killed nearly 270 people. The court ordered ex-President Maithripala Sirisena to appear on Oct. 14 in a complaint filed by a Catholic priest and a worshipper saying his negligence led to the near-simultaneous bomb blasts in three churches and three tourist hotels on Easter Sunday 2019. The complaint was filed by the Rev. Cyril Gamini, spokesperson for the archdiocese of Colombo, and Jesuraj Ganeshan, who said he lost one leg in a blast at a church where he was attending Easter services. It says Sirisena, who was also defense minister, minister in charge of law and order, and head of the armed forces, failed to take action in response to many prior warnings that a radical Islamic group was preaching violence against non-believers. It also said Sirisena left on a personal trip to Singapore just days before the blasts without naming anyone to oversee his duties while he was away. The failure to prevent the blasts has been blamed on a communication breakdown and lack of coordination between Sirisena and current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was then prime minister in the coalition government. Authorities have filed charges against several people allegedly involved in the attacks, but the local Catholic church has said the real culprits could still be at large.

DHAKA: Bangladesh is seeking to tap into the Saudi market to increase its presence in the Middle East, the country’s export promotion body told Arab News ahead of a trade and investment fair in Riyadh.

Most of Bangladesh’s exports to Saudi Arabia have until now targeted its 2.5 million expatriate community living and working in the Kingdom. The Export Promotion Bureau under the Bangladeshi Ministry of Commerce is hopeful that with the upcoming Trade and Investment Fair 2022, which it will hold in Riyadh on Oct. 6-8, it will be able to help increase Dhaka’s currently insignificant stake in the Saudi market. Last year, Bangladeshi exports to Saudi Arabia were about $300 million. The EPB seeks to increase them by the end of this year to $350 million and expand trade activity to other countries in the region. “From Saudi Arabia, we can also do our marketing in Arab and Middle Eastern countries,” the bureau’s Vice Chairman A. H. M. Ahsan told Arab News.

The Export Promotion Bureau under the Bangladeshi Ministry of Commerce is hopeful that with the upcoming Trade and Investment Fair 2022, which it will hold in Riyadh on Oct. 6-8, it will be able to help increase Dhaka’s currently insignificant stake in the Saudi market.

“We have also targeted Saudi Arabia as one of our export destinations, mainly because of the presence of a large number of expatriates and the strategic location of Saudi Arabia.” The EPB is planning to diversify the country’s trade portfolio, which currently is dominated by the garment sector — the No. 1 industry in Bangladesh, employing over 4 million people, contributing over 11 percent of the country’s GDP and accounting for 80 percent of its exports. “Instead of exporting readymade garments or food items, we are pushing for light engineering products,” Ahsan said. The garment sector is, however, also looking to increase its presence in the Kingdom. “Saudi Arabia and Middle Eastern countries collect our clothing products from different parts of the world,” Md. Nurul Islam, director of Impress-Newtex Composite Textiles, which produces apparel for international brands such as H&M and Zara, told Arab News. “We produce clothes for these major brands. But while visiting shops in the Kingdom, we see these clothes were made in Bangladesh. So, why should we remain idle? It’s better to create our own market in Saudi Arabia.” His company will be one of the exhibitors participating in October’s fair, which he expects to considerably expand the Bangladeshi garment industry’s prospects in the region. “There will be many other producers showcasing their goods. Through these stalls, we will try to meet the buyers over there,” he said. “In comparison with other competitors in the Saudi Arabian market, we are significantly lagging behind. But I believe in the next three to four years, we can increase our export volume up to $3-4 billion.” The fair will also focus on attracting Saudi investment to Bangladesh, following a boost in ties after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s visit to Dhaka in March this year, when the two countries held their first ever political consultation talks. During the visit, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen pledged Dhaka’s support for Saudi entities interested in investing in the country, which was preparing more than 100 special economic zones for potential investors.

ISLAMABAD: Floodwaters are receding in Pakistan’s worst-hit southern Sindh province, officials said on Friday, a potentially bright sign in an ongoing crisis that has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless in the impoverished South Asian country. The Indus River, which remained swollen until earlier this month, was now rushing at “normal” levels towards the Arabian Sea, according to Mohammad Irfan, an irrigation official in hard-hit Sindh. The water level in the past 48 hours receded as much as three feet in some of the inundated areas nearby, including the Khairpur and Johi towns, where waist-high water damaged crops and homes earlier this month.

The Indus River, which remained swollen until earlier this month, was now rushing at ‘normal’ levels towards the Arabian Sea, according to Mohammad Irfan, an irrigation official in hard-hit Sindh.

A day earlier, engineers had opened a key highway in the southwestern Balochistan province, allowing rescue workers to speed aid to those suffering in a race against the spread of waterborne diseases and dengue fever. Still, hundreds of thousands of people in Sindh are living in makeshift homes and tents. Authorities say it will take months to completely drain the water in Sindh. Nationwide, floods have damaged 1.8 million homes, washed away roads and destroyed nearly 400 bridges, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. The deluge has killed 1,508 people since mid-June, inundated millions of acres of land and affected 33 million people. More than half a million people have been left homeless. At one point, nearly a third of the impoverished country was underwater. Several economists say the cost of the disaster may reach $30 billion. Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has urged developed countries, especially those behind climate change, to scale up aid to his country. Sharif on Friday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on the sidelines of a summit of a security group and thanked him for sending aid, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said.

The previous day, scientists and experts in the latest study about ongoing floods in Pakistan said that the country’s overall vulnerability, including people living in harm’s way, was the chief factor in the disaster. But “climate change” also played a role in causing heavy rains, which triggered flooding in the country. August rainfall in the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces — together nearly the size of Spain — was at least seven times normal amounts, while the country as a whole had more than triple its normal rainfall.

That’s according to the report by World Weather Attribution, a collection of mostly volunteer scientists from around the world who do real-time studies of extreme weather to look for evidence of climate change. In Pakistan, the country’s minister for climate change, Sherry Rehman, was the first to publicly blame the developed world for causing climate-induced unusually heavy monsoon rains, which started in June and are expected to continue this month. “Pakistan, at least in the south, is totally inundated. Outside of Karachi, go a little further up in Sindh and you will see an ocean of water, with no break,” she tweeted recently. “Where to place the tents, where to find dry ground? How to feed 33 million people plus? How to get them healthcare? Help us.”