Diane is a perfectionist. She enjoys searching the internet for the hottest events from around the world and writing an article about it. The details matter to her, so she makes sure the information is easy to read and understand. She likes traveling and history, especially ancient history. Being a very sociable person she has a blast having barbeque with family and friends.
Manuel Marrero Cruz has been appointed by Cuban
President Miguel Díaz-Canel as the country’s first prime minister in more than 40
years.
The post of prime minister was scrapped in 1976 by the then revolutionary
leader Fidel Castro.
It was reinstated under the rules of a new constitution for the
communist-run island passed earlier this year.
Manuel Marrero Cruz, 56, a former tourism minister, will take on some of the
responsibilities that currently fall to the president.
“The head of government will be
the administrative right hand of the president of the republic,” state-run
online news outlet Cubadebate said.
However, critics say any such changes are purely cosmetic as the Cuban
Communist Party and the military remain the only two real decision-making
institutions on the country.
Manuel Marrero Cruz’s appointment was ratified unanimously by deputies in the
National Assembly on December 21.
The state newspaper Granma
described Manuel Marrero Cruz as a politician who had emerged “from the
base” of the tourism industry, one of Cuba’s main sources of foreign
exchange.
In 2000, Manuel Marrero Cruz was made president of the military-run Gaviota
tourism group, whose hotels are subject to US sanctions under the Trump
administration.
He was named tourism minister in 2004 by Fidel Castro and has since overseen
a major boost in tourism to the island.
It is unclear if he Manuel Marrero Cruz will now remain head of the tourism ministry.
Russia and Germany have reacted angrily
to sanctions approved by President Donald Trump on the Nord Stream 2 gas
pipeline between the two countries.
The sanctions target companies
building the undersea pipeline that will allow Russia to increase gas exports
to Germany.
The US considers it a security risk.
However, Germany accused Washington
of interfering in its internal affairs, while Russia and EU officials also criticized
the sanctions.
Congress voted through the measures
as part of a defense bill last week and the legislation, which described the
pipeline as a “tool of coercion”, was signed off by President Trump
on December 20.
The almost $11 billion Nord Stream 2
project has infuriated the US, with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers
opposing it.
The Trump administration fears the
pipeline will tighten Russia’s grip over Europe’s energy supply and reduce its
own share of the lucrative European market for American liquefied natural gas.
President Trump has said the 1,225km
(760-mile) pipeline, owned by Russia’s state-owned gas company, Gazprom, could
turn Germany into a “hostage of Russia”.
Speaking on German TV, Finance
Minister Olaf Scholz said the sanctions were an infringement of sovereignty.
He said: “It is up to the companies involved in the construction of the
pipeline to take the next decisions.”
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said the sanctions amount to
“interference in autonomous decisions taken in Europe”.
The US sanctions have also angered Russia and the EU, which says it should
be able to decide its own energy policies.
An EU spokesman told AFP on December 21: “As
a matter of principle, the EU opposes the imposition of sanctions against EU
companies conducting legitimate business.”
Russia’s foreign ministry also strongly opposed the move, with ministry
spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accusing Washington of promoting an
“ideology” that hinders global competition.
The consortium behind Nord Stream 2 confirmed that it would build the
pipeline as soon as possible, despite the sanctions.
It said: “Completing the project
is essential for European supply security. We, together with the companies
supporting the project, will work on finishing the pipeline as soon as
possible.”
However, Allseas, a Swiss-Dutch company involved in the project, said it had
suspended its pipe-laying activities in anticipation of the sanctions.
Russia currently supplies about 40% of the EU’s gas supplies – just ahead of Norway, which is not in the EU but takes part in its single market. Nord Stream 2 will increase the amount of gas going under the Baltic to 55 billion cubic meters per year.
The House voted to impeach President Donald
Trump, setting up a trial in the Senate that will decide whether he remains in
office.
The House voted on two charges – that President Trump abused his power and
that he had obstructed Congress.
Nearly all Democrats voted for the charges and every Republican against.
Donald Trump has become the third US president
in history to be impeached.
However, Republicans control the Senate so it is highly unlikely he will be
removed from power.
As voting took place in the House, President Trump was addressing a campaign
rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
The president told a cheering crowd: “While we’re creating jobs and fighting for Michigan, the radical
left in Congress is consumed with envy and hatred and rage, you see what’s
going on.”
Meanwhile, the White House released
a statement saying that the president was “confident that he will be fully
exonerated” in a Senate trial.
After 10 hours of partisan debate on
the merits of the two impeachment charges against President Trump, the House
called for votes at about 20:30 local time.
The first charge is abuse of power,
stemming from President Trump’s alleged attempt to pressure Ukraine to announce
investigations into his Democratic political rival, Joe Biden.
It passed by 230 votes to 197,
almost completely on party lines. Only two Democrats opposed – New Jersey’s
Jeff Van Drew, who is set to leave the party, and Minnesota’s Collin Peterson.
The second charge is obstruction of Congress, because President Trump allegedly
refused to co-operate with the impeachment inquiry, withholding documentary
evidence and barring his key aides from giving evidence.
It passed by 229-198. Democrat Jared Golden of Maine voted for the first
charge but opposed this.
No Republicans supported impeachment, although ex-party member Justin Amash,
from Michigan, did.
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard voted “present” on
both charges – effectively an abstention. Two members were absent for personal
reasons.
Being impeached places President Donald Trump alongside only two other presidents in the nation’s history – Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
House Judiciary Committee has approved two
impeachment articles against President Donald Trump, moving the process towards
a full House vote.
The articles are expected to be voted on by the Democrat-controlled House of
Representatives next week.
President Trump is the fourth US president in history to face impeachment.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Donald Trump again dismissed the
process as a “sham” and a “hoax”.
Today’s hearing lasted just over ten minutes before the two articles of
impeachment – abuse of power and obstructing Congress – were passed by 23 votes
to 17.
The vote was delayed after more than 14 hours of rancorous debate.
Republicans criticized that decision by Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Nadler,
accusing him of pushing back the vote to ensure more TV coverage.
In the abuse of power article, President Trump is accused of soliciting a
foreign country to help him politically by trying to force Ukraine to launch a
corruption investigation into his political rival Joe Biden, a leading
Democratic presidential contender.
The president is also accused of obstructing Congress by failing to
co-operate with the House investigation.
Leading Democrats agreed the articles of impeachment described over nine
pages. They say that President Trump “betrayed the nation” by acting
“corruptly”.
Jerry Nadler made a brief statement to reporters after the vote, calling it
a “solemn and sad day” and pledged that the House of Representatives
would “act expeditiously”.
However, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz said: “For Democrats, impeachment is their drug.”
Speaking from the White House Oval Office alongside the president of
Paraguay, President Trump called the impeachment process “a witch
hunt”, “a sham” and “a hoax”.
Donald Trump said Democrats were “trivializing impeachment” adding that they are “making absolute fools out of themselves”.
UK voters are going to the polls for the third
general election in less than five years.
Polling stations in 650 constituencies across England, Scotland, Wales, and
Northern Ireland opened at 07:00 GMT.
After the polls close at 22:00 GMT, counting will begin straight away. Most
results are due to be announced in the early hours of December 13.
A total of 650 lawmakers will be chosen under the first-past-the-post system
used for general elections, in which the candidate who secures the most votes
in each individual constituency is elected.
In 2017, Newcastle Central was the first constituency to declare, announcing
its result about an hour after polls closed.
Elections in the UK traditionally take place every four or five years.
However, in October, lawmakers voted for the second snap poll in as many years.
It is the first winter election since 1974 and the first to take place in
December since 1923.
Anyone aged 18 or over is eligible to vote, as long as they
are a British citizen or qualifying citizen of the Commonwealth or Republic of
Ireland and have registered to vote. Registration closed on November 26.
People do not need a polling card to be able to vote but will need to give
their name and address at their local polling station. People can only vote for
one candidate or their ballot paper will not be counted.
PM Boris Johnson has cast his vote – he visited a polling station in central
London, taking his dog, Dilyn, along with him, and Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn voted
in north London.
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has used a postal vote.
Many people have already put a cross next to the name of their favored candidate by voting by post – more than seven million people used a postal vote two years ago.
House Judiciary Committee has unveiled charges
against President Donald Trump, a key move in impeaching him.
The first article revealed by committee chief Jerry Nadler accuses President
Trump of abuse of power and the second accuses him of obstructing Congress.
The Republican president is said to have withheld aid to Ukraine for
domestic political reasons.
Donald Trump has urged the Senate to try him “sooner than later”.
He insists he has done “nothing wrong” and has dismissed the
impeachment process as “madness”.
If the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
votes to approve the articles later this week, they will then be submitted to
the lower chamber for a full vote.
If, in turn, the articles are approved by the House, an impeachment trial in
the Republican-held Senate will take place, possibly early in January.
The impeachment process was launched after an anonymous
whistleblower complained to Congress in September about a July phone call by
Donald Trump to the president of Ukraine.
President Trump is alleged to have
committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” (a phrase from the US
Constitution) on two counts outlined by Jerry Nadler:
The first allegation is that he exercised the powers of his public office to “obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest”, by allegedly putting pressure on Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election;
The second allegation is that “when he was caught, when the House investigated and opened an impeachment inquiry, President Trump engaged in unprecedented categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry”, thereby obstructing Congress.
President Trump “sees himself
as above the law”, Jerry Nadler said.
“We must be clear, no-one, not even the president, is
above the law.”
In the July phone call to Ukraine’s
President Volodymyr Zelensky,
President Trump appeared to tie US military assistance for Ukraine to its
launching of investigations that could help him politically.
In return for those investigations, Democrats say President Trump offered
two bargaining chips – $400 million of military aid that had already been
allocated by Congress, and a White House meeting for President.
Democrats say this pressure on a vulnerable US ally constitutes an abuse of
power.
The first investigation President Trump wanted from Ukraine was into former
VP Joe Biden, his main Democratic challenger, and his son Hunter. Hunter Biden
joined the board of a Ukrainian energy company when his father was President
Barack Obama’s deputy.
The second Trump demand was that Ukraine should try to corroborate a
conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the last US
presidential election. This theory has been widely debunked, and US
intelligence agencies are unanimous in saying Moscow was behind the hacking of
Democratic Party emails in 2016.
President Trump railed at the announcement of the charges, declaring again on Twitter that it was a “witch hunt”.
President Donald Trump has decided to delay his
plans to legally designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups.
He had vowed to label the gangs as terrorists after the killing last month
of nine American citizens from a Mormon community in Mexico.
However, the president has put the plans on hold on the request of his
Mexican counterpart, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The Mexican president said: “I
celebrate that he has taken our opinion into account.”
“We thank President Trump for
respecting our decisions and for choosing to maintain a policy of good neighborliness,
a policy of cooperation with us,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador added.
President Trump’s original announcement came after three women and six
children of dual US-Mexican nationality were killed in an ambush in a remote
area of northern Mexico.
Following the attack the victims’ community, the LeBarons, petitioned the
White House to list the cartels as terror groups, saying: “They are terrorists and it’s time to acknowledge it.”
The move would have widened the scope for US legal and financial action
against cartels but Mexico saw it as a violation of its sovereignty.
President Trump has now put the plans on hold.
He tweeted: “All necessary work
has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations.
“Statutorily we are ready to do
so.”
However, he said his Mexican counterpart is “a man who I like and
respect, and has worked so well with us,” adding that he was temporarily
holding off on the designation and stepping up “joint efforts to deal
decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!”
President Trump did not comment on how long the delay would last.
Mexico’s brutal drug war claims tens of thousands of lives every year, as
powerful trafficking groups battle for territory and influence.
In 2017 more than 30,000 people were killed in Mexico, with the murder rate
having more than tripled since 2006.
President Donald Trump and his French
counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, have set out opposing views ahead of a NATO
summit in London.
In an occasionally tense press conference, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron
sparred over NATO’s role, Turkey, and ISIS.
President Trump had described Emmanuel Macron’s comments about NATO as
“nasty”, but the French president said he stood by his words.
World leaders gathered in London to mark the Western military alliance’s
70th anniversary.
The NATO summit has already been marked by strained relations between Turkey
and other member states.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will oppose NATO’s plan
for the defense of the Baltic region if it does not back Turkey over its fight
against Kurdish groups it considers terrorists.
On December 3, Emmanuel Macron and Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Downing
Street in a four-way meeting that also included German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and the host, UK PM Boris Johnson.
Ties between President Trump and Emmanuel Macron were already strained amid
a trade dispute, and after the French president described NATO as “brain
dead” last month because, he said, the US commitment to the alliance was
fading.
On December 3, President Trump hit back by saying Emmanuel Macron had been
“very disrespectful”, adding that France had “a very high
unemployment rate” and “nobody needs NATO more than France”.
At a joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron later, President Trump was
less combative, stressing that the two countries had “done a lot of good
things together”. Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said he stood by his
comments.
The two sides then clashed over foreign ISIS fighters who were captured in
Syria.
President Trump jokingly offered them to France, saying: “Would you like some nice [ISIS] fighters? You can take everyone
you want.”
Sounding stern, Emmanuel Macron said “Let’s be serious” and that
ISIS fighters from Europe were “a tiny minority”, and that the
“number one priority” was to get rid of the terrorist group.
President Trump then retorted: “This
is why he is a great politician because that was one of the greater non-answers
I have ever heard, and that’s OK.”
He also criticized NATO countries who were paying less than the NATO
guidelines of at least 2% of GDP towards the alliance.
President Trump said he did not want countries to be “delinquent” and pay less than their share, adding: “Maybe I’ll deal with them from a trade standpoint.”
Emmanuel Macron said France – which currently spends 1.84% of its GDP on
defense – would reach the minimum, and acknowledged that the US had
“overinvested” in NATO for several decades.
However, he added that there were other pressing issues to discuss.
The two leaders also discussed Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian S-400
missile system.
President Trump said they were “looking at” whether to impose
sanctions, while Emmanuel Macron asked: “How
is it possible to be a member of the alliance… and buy things from
Russia?”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been key allies of the
US-led coalition against ISIS in Syria. However, Turkey views a section of the
group – the YPG – as terrorists.
Ahead of his departure for London, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not approve a plan to defend Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the event of a Russian attack unless NATO recognized the Kurdish YPG militia as terrorists.
Independent journalists and bloggers in Russia
could be labeled as “foreign agents” after a controversial law has
been amended on December 2.
The “foreign agent” label already applies to certain media organizations
and NGOs which engage in politics and receive funding from abroad.
The EU, Amnesty International and the OSCE international security body condemned
the amended law.
“Foreign agent” was a Soviet-era term of abuse for political
dissidents.
President Vladimir Putin signed the amended “foreign agent” media
law.
Russia says the original media bill, introduced in 2017, was its response to
a US requirement for Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT to register as a foreign
agent in the US.
The first “foreign agent” law, introduced in 2012, targeted non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including charities and civil society groups, which get foreign funding and engage in political activity in Russia.
In 2015 Russia’s justice ministry listed Memorial
– a distinguished chronicler of human rights abuses – as a “foreign
agent”.
The anti-corruption organization of anti-Putin campaigner Alexei Navalny has
also been declared a “foreign agent”.
Groups, and now individuals, labeled as “foreign agents” have to
put that label on their publications and submit detailed paperwork to the
authorities, or face fines for not doing so.
The media law was steered through parliament’s lower house – the Duma – by
lawmakers Leonid Levin and Pyotr Tolstoy.
Leonid Levin explained that for an individual to be labeled a “foreign
agent” two criteria must be valid: they must be producing or spreading
material from a “foreign agent” media source, and they must be
getting foreign funding.
He said that re-tweeting “foreign agent” news would only make an
individual a “foreign agent” too if he or she was also receiving
foreign funding.
There has been a chorus of disapproval from human rights groups for the new
law.
OSCE media freedom representative Harlem Désir said the law “represents
a disproportionate interference in the freedom of expression and media
freedom”.
Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for the EU’s External Action Service (EEAS),
said the legislation “imposes an additional administrative and financial
burden, as well as stigmatizes the media or NGO concerned, thus restricting the
exercise of fundamental freedoms”.
She said: “Taking into account
the already limited space for free media in the country, a further extension of
the scope of the legislation is yet another worrying step against free and
independent media and access to information, as well as a further attempt to
silence independent voices in Russia.”
According to Amnesty International the new law “will have a detrimental impact on the already restrictive environment for independent journalism in Russia, and must be dropped”.
Maltese prosecutors have charged
businessman Yorgen Fenech with complicity in the murder of investigative
journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.
Yorgen Fenech, one of Malta’s
wealthiest men, pleaded not guilty to that charge and four others including
membership of a criminal gang.
Relatives of Daphne Caruana Galizia
were present in the court in Valletta.
The investigation into the blogger’s
death has rocked the Maltese government. PM Joseph Muscat is under pressure to
resign.
The prime minister’s chief aide,
Keith Schembri, resigned this week amid reports he was being questioned by
police, while Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi also quit and Economy Minister
Chris Cardona took the decision to suspend himself.
Three people are awaiting trial for
the journalist’s murder in a car bombing but the police investigation is now
focusing on who ordered the killing and why.
Yorgen Fenech has been repeatedly questioned over the killing since trying
to leave the island on his yacht on November 20, and sought a pardon in return
for providing information but his request was rejected.
According to Maltese media, Yorgen Fenech was familiar with Melvin Theuma, a
taxi driver with links to criminal enterprises who has been described in local
media as a potential “middleman” in the murder.
The businessman is a well-known figure in Malta who has served as head of
the Tumas business group and a director of energy company Electrogas but recently
resigned from both positions.
Yorgen Fenech was identified last year as being the owner of a mysterious
Dubai-registered company, 17 Black.
17 Black was listed in the Panama Papers – confidential documents leaked
from a Panamanian law firm in 2016 which revealed how the wealthy and powerful
use tax havens to get around the law.
Daphne Caruana Galizia had written about 17 Black eight months before her death, alleging it had links to both Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi.
US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland has
been accused by three women of sexual misconduct.
The accusations, co-published by Portland Monthly magazine and ProPublica, date back to before he became an ambassador.
At the time of the alleged incidents Gordon Sondland was developing hotels
in Portland and Seattle in the Pacific Northwest.
Gordon Sondland denies all of the allegations, and accuses the women of
targeting him for his role in President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings.
He said in a statement: “These
untrue claims of unwanted touching and kissing are concocted and, I believe,
co-ordinated for political purposes.
“They have no basis in fact, and
I categorically deny them.”
All three women said Gordon Sondland retaliated against them professionally
after they rejected his advances – by verbally abusing them at their workplace,
reneging on a promised investment, and withdrawing offers of professional
introductions.
One of the women, Nicole Vogel, said she met Gordon Sondland for dinner in
2003 in order to secure investment for her new magazine.
Nicole Vogel is the owner of Portland
Monthly. The magazine said she was not involved editorially in the story,
and it had teamed up with ProPublica,
a respected non-profit news group, to report the claims independently.
She said that after dinner Gordon Sondland took her to one of his hotels and
invited her to see a room. He then requested a hug, she added, but instead
“grabs my face and goes to kiss me”.
Nicole Vogel said she deflected him and left the hotel, and later received
an email from Gordon Sondland changing the terms of his investment.
A second acuser, Jana Solis, said she met Gordon Sondland in 2008 when she
was seeking work as a hotel safety expert.
When Sondland offered her the job, she said, he called her “my new
hotel chick” and slapped her rear. She then said that on another occasion
he invited her to his home in Portland to evaluate his art collection, before
exposing himself.
On a third occasion, Sondland asked her to inspect his penthouse apartment
and then forcibly kissed her, she said.
The third woman, Natalie Sept, was working in local politics in Portland for
a candidate Gordon Sondland had donated money to.
After they were introduced through her boss, she claims Gordon Sondland
invited her to dinner to discuss work opportunities. She said he asked for a
hug at the end of the night, but then pushed himself towards her and tried to
forcibly kiss her.
In response, Gordon Sondland described the article as “underhanded
journalism” that was “fundamentally false”.
He said he intended to take legal action against the two publications.
Gordon Sondland provided key testimony at President Trump’s impeachment hearing last week, where he said he followed the president’s orders to pressure Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
President Donald Trump has signed The Human
Rights and Democracy Act into law as a support for pro-democracy protesters in
Hong Kong.
The bill mandates an annual review, to check if Hong Kong has enough
autonomy to justify its special status with the US.
President Trump said he signed the law “out of respect for President Xi
[Jinping], China, and the people of Hong Kong”.
He is currently seeking a deal with China, in order to end a trade war
between the two countries.
Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry threatened “counter measures”
if the US continued “going down the wrong path”.
The Chinese foreign ministry statement said: “The US has been disregarding facts and distorting truth.
“It openly backed violent
criminals who rampantly smashed facilities, set fire, assaulted innocent
civilians, trampled on the rule of law, and jeopardized social order.”
The foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador to demand that Washington
stops interfering in Chinese internal affairs.
Hong Kong’s government also reacted, saying the American bill would send the
wrong signal and would not help to ease the situation.
However, a key activist in the Hong Kong protest movement, Joshua Wong, said
the US law was a “remarkable achievement” for “all
Hongkongers”.
President Trump had previously been non-committal about
whether he would sign the bill, saying he was “with” Hong Kong but
also that President Xi was “an incredible guy”.
However, the bill had widespread congressional support, which meant that
even if he vetoed it, lawmakers could potentially have voted to overturn his
decision.
President Trump also signed a second bill, which bans the export of
crowd-control munitions to the police in Hong Kong – including tear gas, rubber
bullets and stun guns.
He said: “[The bills] are being
enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong
will be able to amicably settle their differences, leading to long-term peace
and prosperity for all.”
The bill was introduced in June in the early stages of the protests in Hong
Kong, and was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives last
month.
It says: “Hong Kong is part of
China but has a largely separate legal and economic system.
“The [annual review] shall assess
whether China has eroded Hong Kong’s civil liberties and rule of law as
protected by Hong Kong’s Basic Law.”
Among other things, Hong Kong’s special trading status means it is not
affected by US sanctions or tariffs placed on the mainland.
The bill also says the US should allow Hong Kong residents to obtain US
visas, even if they have been arrested for being part of non-violent protests.
Hong Kong’s protests started in June against a proposed law to allow
extradition to mainland China but it has since transformed into a larger
pro-democracy movement.
The protests have also seen increasingly violent clashes, with police being
attacked, and officers firing live bullets.
The last week elections saw a landslide victory for the pro-democracy movement, with 17 of the 18 councils now controlled by pro-democracy councilors.
President Donald Trump has been invited to the Congress’ first impeachment hearing on December 4.
Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler said President
Trump could either attend or “stop complaining about the process”.
If the president does attend, he would be able to question witnesses.
The hearing would mark the next stage in the impeachment inquiry, which
centers on a July phone call between PresidentTrump and Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky.
In that call, President Trump asked Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe
Biden, currently the front-runner to be the Democratic candidate in next year’s
presidential election, and his son Hunter Biden, who had previously worked for
Ukrainian energy company Burisma.
The probe is looking into whether President Trump used the threat of
withholding US military aid to pressure Ukraine into investigating the Bidens.
Donald Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has called the inquiry a “witch
hunt”.
Last week, the House Intelligence
Committee wrapped up two weeks of public hearings, which followed several weeks
of closed-door witness interviews.
Democratic chairman of the
Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff said the committees leading the probe –
Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs – are now working on their report,
which will be issued on December 3.
On November 26, the latest
transcript of inquiry evidence was released, detailing testimony by senior
budget official Mark Sandy.
Mark Sandy told the House
investigators that two White House budget officials had resigned following the
withholding of military aid to Ukraine. He said that one, a lawyer, had
expressed concern that the action could be a violation of a 1974 budget law.
Jerrold Nadler said in a statement
that he had written to President Trump inviting him to the hearing next month.
He said: “At base, the president has a choice to make.
“He can take this opportunity to be represented in the
impeachment hearings, or he can stop complaining about the process.
“I hope that he chooses to participate in the inquiry,
directly or through counsel, as other presidents have done before him.”
In his letter to the president, Jerrold Nadler said the hearing would be an
opportunity to discuss the historical and constitutional basis for impeachment.
He has given President Trump until 18:00 EST on December 1 to confirm
whether or not he will be at the hearing, and if so, to let the committee know
who his counsel will be.
The Judiciary Committee is expected to begin drafting articles of
impeachment – which are the charges of wrongdoing against the president – in
early December.
After a vote in the Democratic-controlled House, a trial would be held in
the Republican-run Senate.
If Donald Trump was convicted by a two-thirds majority – an outcome deemed highly unlikely – he would become the first US president to be removed from office through impeachment.
At least 13 people have died in Albania after a
6.4 magnitude earthquake has struck the country on November 26, bringing down
buildings and leaving people trapped under rubble.
According to a defense ministry spokeswoman, one man was killed after jumping
from a window in panic.
The quake hit 21 miles north-west of the capital, Tirana, in the early hours
of Tuesday.
Hours later, a separate earthquake struck the city of Mostar in Bosnia.
There were no reports of casualties.
Albanian PM Edi Rama tweeted: “We
have victims. We are working to do everything possible in the affected
areas.”
According to Albanian state media, more than 600 people have been treated in
hospital, including more than 300 in Tirana and in the coastal city of Durres.
Emergency workers told Albanian media that one of the dead was an elderly
woman who had managed to save her grandson by cradling him with her body.
The defense ministry spokeswoman confirmed firefighters and army staff were
helping residents caught under the rubble in Durres, where four people were
killed.
Three of those who died were in the town of Thumane, 25 miles to the
north-west of Tirana and close to the epicenter. There are fears more people
are trapped under rubble.
The man who jumped from the balcony was killed further north, in Kurbin.
Another person died in Lezha.
Rescuers in the city were seen trying to free a young boy trapped in the
rubble.
Albania was ill-equipped to deal with the situation, he said, and had
appealed for outside help.
There have been a number of aftershocks, including one of 5.3-magnitude, the
European-Mediterranean Seismological Center said.
The Balkans is in an area prone to seismic activity.
The November 26 earthquake has been described by authorities as the
strongest to hit Albania in decades.
In 1979, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit Albania leaving 136 dead and more than 1,000 injured.
Pro-democracy campaigners hope they
will be able to increase their representation on the council, which
traditionally has some influence in choosing the city’s chief executive.
Pro-Beijing candidates are urging
voters to support them in order to express frustration at the upheaval caused
by continuous clashes between protesters and police.
Polls opened at 07:30 local time on
November 24.
According to government figures, by
16.30 more than 2.1 million people had voted (52.14% of all registered voters) compared
to 754,705 (24.18%) within the same timescale in the last such elections in
2015.
In total, 1.467 million people voted
in the last poll. Only 3.1 million people were registered to vote in that
election.
More than 1,000 candidates are running for 452 district council seats which,
for the first time, are all being contested. A further 27 seats are allocated
to representatives of rural districts.
Currently, pro-Beijing parties hold the majority of these seats.
Police were seen outside some polling stations and on the streets but
correspondents said they kept a low profile.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said after voting: “Facing the extremely challenging situation, I am pleased to
say… we have a relatively calm and peaceful environment for (the) election
today.”
Counting will start immediately after polls close at 22:30. Results are expected to start coming in before midnight.
Former White House aide Fiona Hill has
told the impeachment inquiry that President Donald Trump disregarded the advice
of senior advisers to push a false theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016
election.
She said the president had instead
listened to the views of his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Fiona Hill called the claims about
Ukraine a “fictional narrative”.
The inquiry is assessing if
President Trump withheld aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate a political
rival.
President Trump denies any
wrongdoing.
According to a discredited theory,
it was Ukrainians or individuals with Ukrainian connections who interfered in
the 2016 vote, rather than Russia.
In a phone call with the Ukrainian
president, President Trump urged him to look into the claims as well as open an
investigation into Joe Biden, one of the main Democratic presidential
candidates.
November 21 is fifth and last
scheduled day of public hearings by the House Intelligence Committee.
In her opening statement, Fiona Hill – the former top Russia experts to the
White House – accused other Republicans of sowing doubt about Russian
interference in the 2016 elections.
She said: “Based on questions and
statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that
Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country
– and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did.”
Fiona Hill urged lawmakers not to promote “politically driven
falsehoods” that cast doubt on Russia’s interference in US elections.
“This is a fictional narrative
that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services
themselves,” she said.
During Fiona Hill’s testimony, Democratic lawyer Daniel Goldman asked her: “So is it your understanding then that
President Trump disregarded the advice of his senior officials about this
theory and instead listened to Rudy Giuliani’s views?”
“That appears to be the case,
yes,” she replied.
In her later testimony, Fiona Hill warned that Rudy Giuliani had been making
“explosive” and “incendiary” claims about Ukraine.
She said: “He was clearly pushing
forward issues and ideas that would, you know, probably come back to haunt us.
“I think that’s where we are
today.”
Fiona Hill testified that she had a couple of “testy encounters”
with Gordon Sondland – the US ambassador to the EU who testified on November 20
– over Ukraine, because the ambassador did not keep her informed of “all
the meetings he was having”.
US ambassador to Ukraine David Holmes also testified at November 21 hearing.
In his opening statement, David Holmes said that his work at the embassy in
Kiev became overshadowed in 2019 by the actions of Rudy Giuliani.
He said: “I became aware that Mr.
Giuliani, a private lawyer, was taking a direct role in Ukrainian diplomacy.”
David Holmes added that he was “shocked” on July 18 when an official from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that military aid to Ukraine was being withheld.
State department official David Holmes has said
at the impeachment inquiry that a US diplomat told Donald Trump Ukraine would
carry out investigations the president had asked for.
David Holmes said he had overheard this during a call in July between
President Trump and the US envoy to the EU, Gordon Sondland.
He said the call came a day after President Trump asked Ukraine to probe
ex-VP Joe Biden.
President Trump has dismissed the impeachment inquiry as “presidential
harassment”.
The inquiry is investigating whether Donald Trump withheld US military aid
to Ukraine in order to pressure the country’s new President Volodymyr Zelensky
to announce a corruption inquiry into Joe Biden, now his rival for the presidency.
On November 15, President Trump launched a Twitter attack on another witness
– former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
He tweeted in the middle of her testimony: “Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad.
“She started off in Somalia, how
did that go?”
Asked for her response, Marie Yovanovitch called it “very
intimidating”.
President Trump later hit back, arguing his tweets were not intimidating
“at all”. He told reporters he had watched part of the impeachment
hearing and considered it “a disgrace”.
David Holmes testified behind closed doors before us lawmakers in Washington
DC.
The diplomatic aid said he had overheard the phone call between President
Trump and Ambassador Sondland in which “investigations” are said to
have been discussed.
He said Gordon Sondland called President Trump from a restaurant in
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on July 26, 2019.
According to a copy of his opening statement obtained by CBS News, David
Holmes said: “Sondland told Trump
that [Ukrainian President] Zelensky ‘loves your ass.'”
“I then heard President Trump
ask, ‘So, he’s gonna do the investigation?’
“Ambassador Sondland replied that
‘he’s gonna do it’, adding that President Zelensky will do ‘anything you ask him
to’.”
Observers have drawn attention to the security implications of making the
call from a restaurant, potentially exposing the conversation to eavesdropping
by Russian intelligence.
David Holmes’ deposition appears to corroborate the testimony given to the
impeachment inquiry by US ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor on November 13.
Bill Taylor said one of his aides heard the same chat.
The aide said President Trump had asked about “investigations” and
Gordon Sondland had replied that Ukraine was ready to move forward.
According to Bill Taylor, Gordon Sondland then told the aide that the
president cared more about the investigation of the Bidens than anything else
involving Ukraine.
The call – which Donald Trump has denied any knowledge of – allegedly
happened the day after the now-famous Trump-Zelensky phone call.
While giving her evidence, Marie
Yovanovitch was alerted to the president’s criticism by the hearing’s chairman
Adam Schiff.
Responding directly to Donald
Trump’s tweet, in which he appeared to blame her for upheaval in Somalia, Marie
Yovanovitch replied: “I don’t think
I have such powers, not in Mogadishu and Somalia and not in other places.
“I actually think that where I’ve served over the years
I and others have demonstrably made things better, you know, for the US as well
as for the countries that I’ve served in.”
Marie Yovanovitch’s response was
broadcast live during the televised hearing.
Adam Schiff, the Democratic Chairman
of the Intelligence Committee overseeing the impeachment inquiry, suggested the
president’s tweets could be classed as witness intimidation.
Marie Yovanovitch was removed as ambassador to Kyiv in May, two months before a controversial phone call between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, which is now key to the inquiry.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed
Republican senators an anti-Kurdish video during his visit at the White House.
On November 13, President Erdogan played the video on an iPad during a White
House meeting with President Donald Trump and the lawmakers who vocally back
the Kurds.
President Trump mostly observed the interaction, sources told media.
He has been widely criticized in the US for his decision to withdraw troops
from Syria’s border region.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – which are supported by the
US – played a leading role in the fight against ISIS militants.
The senators involved in the White House meeting were Ted Cruz, Rick Scott, Lindsey
Graham, Jim Risch, and Joni Ernst.
All five have sharply criticized President Erdogan’s October move against
Kurdish forces in Syria following President Trump’s announcement to pull US
troops.
Turkey regards the Kurdish fighters as terrorists and is seeking to turn the
area into a “safe zone” for resettling the Syrian refugees currently
in Turkey.
President Erdogan reportedly believed he might change the senators’ views on
the Kurds by showing them the short film, but instead received pushback from
the entire group.
After viewing the film, Lindsey Graham asked Presidnet Erdogan if he wanted
him “to go get the Kurds to make one about what you’ve done”,
prompting a heated discussion, a source present during the meeting told the Axios news website, which first reported
the incident.
President Trump only occasionally
intervened in the conversation as the senators took turns debating President
Erdogan.
Donald Trump said during a news
conference on November 13 he was a “big fan” of President Erdogan. He
has previously said that the Kurds are “not angels”.
President Trump had invited the
lawmakers to speak to President Erdogan to try to persuade him to avoid buying
Russian military equipment, administration sources told media.
Turkey has been threatened with
sanctions if it continues to deploy Russian defense systems.
The senators have said they will not
allow Turkey to purchase US fighter jets if President Erdogan continues to
procure equipment from Russia.
Following the meeting, Senator Ted Cruz released a statement saying he has always viewed Turkey as “a deeply problematic ally, but an ally nonetheless”.
Bill Taylor, the acting US
ambassador to Ukraine, told impeachment hearings that President Trump directly
asked about a Ukrainian investigation into his Democratic rival Joe Biden.
In previously unheard testimony,
Bill Taylor said a member of his staff was told President Trump was preoccupied
with pushing for a probe into Joe Biden.
The top diplomat was speaking at the
first public hearings in the impeachment inquiry.
President Trump told reporters he
did not recall making such comments.
The president is accused of
withholding US military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country’s new
president to publicly announce a corruption inquiry into Joe Biden, among the
favorites to take him on in the 2020 presidential race.
President Trump denies any
wrongdoing and has called the inquiry a “witch-hunt”.
During a detailed opening statement,
Bill Taylor said a member of his staff had overheard a telephone call in which
the president inquired about “the investigations” into Joe Biden.
The call was with US ambassador to
the EU Gordon Sondland, who reportedly told the president over the phone that
“the Ukrainians were ready to move forward”.
After the call, the staff member
“asked ambassador Sondland what President Trump thought about
Ukraine”, Bill Taylor said.
Bill Taylor said: “Ambassador Sondland responded that
President Trump cares more about the investigations of Biden.”
When asked about Gordon Sondland earlier this month, the
president had said: “I hardly know the gentleman.”
Responding to queries from reporters
after the hearing, President Trump said: “I
know nothing about that, first time I’ve heard it.”
He said he recalled Gordon
Sondland’s testimony, in which the diplomat said he spoke to the president
“for a brief moment” and President Trump had “said no quid pro
quo under any circumstances”.
Gordon Sondland said he did not recall the phone call Bill Taylor described, “not even a little bit”, and “in any event it’s more second hand information”.
The impeachment inquiry has been
going on for more than a month – but all previous hearings were private, with
reports based on leaks and sources speaking to the media.
Today’s public hearings were the first time the public heard from witnesses directly and a chance for Democrats and Republicans to win over voters.
Venice mayor has said that the severe flooding affecting much of the Italian city is a direct result of climate change.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro tweeted that the highest water levels in the region in
more than 50 years will leave “a permanent mark”.
“Now the government must
listen,” he added.
“These are the effects of climate
change… the costs will be high.”
According to the tide monitoring centre, the waters in Venice
peaked at 6ft. Only once since official records began in 1923 has the tide been
higher, reaching 6.4ft in 1966.
The city’s St Mark’s Square – one of the lowest parts of the
city – was one of the worst hit areas.
St Mark’s Basilica was flooded for the sixth time in 1,200 years, according
to church records.
Mayor Brugnaro said the famous landmark had suffered “grave
damage”. The crypt was completely flooded and there are fears of
structural damage to the basilica’s columns.
Pierpaolo Campostrini, a member of St Mark’s council, said
four of those floods had now occurred within the past 20 years.
The city of Venice is made up of more than 100 islands inside a lagoon off
the north-east coast of Italy.
Two people died on the island of Pellestrina, a thin strip of land that
separates the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea. A man was electrocuted as he tried
to start a pump in his home and a second person was found dead elsewhere.
Mayor Brugnaro said the damage was “huge” and that he would declare a state of disaster, warning that a project to help prevent the Venetian lagoon suffering devastating floods “must be finished soon”.
Shah Kamal, Bangladesh’s disaster management secretary, told AFP that the
evacuated residents had been moved to more than 5,500 cyclone shelters.
Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister for the Indian state of West Bengal, tweeted
before the cyclone made landfall urging people to stay calm.
She wrote: “Please do not panic.
“Kindly remain calm and
co-operate with the administration in its rescue and relief efforts. Be alert,
take care and stay safe.”
Forecasters expect Cyclone Bulbul to move north and weaken gradually.
According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the cyclone is set to
reach wind speeds of up to 75mph, with gusts of 94mph, and create tidal surges
in the sea and rivers when it hits the coastal regions.
Along Bulbul’s predicted path is the Sundarbans, the world’s largest
mangrove forest and home to the endangered Bengal tigers.
Indian authorities said military ships and planes have been put on standby
to assist with emergencies.
Bangladesh’s low-lying coast is often hit by deadly cyclones, but it has successfully reduced the number of casualties in recent years.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called
for the whistleblower who triggered the impeachment inquiry to be unmasked,
ignoring a cease-and-desist warning.
On November 7, a lawyer for a whistleblower told the White House that
President Trump’s rhetoric was placing his client and family in physical
danger.
However, the president renewed his attacks on the whistleblower and lawyer
on November 8.
The whistleblower’s identity has so far been fiercely guarded by Democrats.
In August he filed a report that eventually triggered impeachment proceeding
against President Trump.
The report expressed concern over a phone call a month earlier in which President
Trump asked his Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe
Biden, a Democratic front-runner for the 2020 presidential election.
In the letter, sent to White House
counsel Pat Cipollone, the whistleblower’s lawyer Andrew Bakaj cites many
examples of Donald Trump’s “fixation” on the identity of his client
in his comments to the media, at rallies and on Twitter.
Andrew Bakaj wrote: “Such statements seek to intimidate my
client – and they have.”
The lawyer continued: “Should any harm befall any suspected
named whistleblower or their family, the blame will rest squarely with your
client.”
However, the next day, President
Trump launched a fresh attack at the White House.
“The whistleblower is a disgrace to our country… and
the whistleblower because of that should be revealed,” the president told reporters.
“And his lawyer who said the worst things possible two
years ago, he should be sued, and maybe for treason.”
President Trump may have been
referring to the whistleblower’s other lawyer, Mark Zaid, who has been under
fire from the president’s allies over tweet posted in 2017 in which he vowed –
among other things – to “get rid of him [Donald Trump]”.
Meanwhile, first daughter Ivanka Trump said in an interview
with the Associated Press that she did not believe the whistleblower’s identity
was “particularly relevant”.
“The whistleblower shouldn’t be a
substantive part of the conversation,” Ivanka Trump said, adding that
the person “did not have firsthand information”.
Ivanka Trump echoed her father’s view that the impeachment investigation was
about “overturning the results of the 2016 election”.
Democrats have said the whistleblower’s identity is immaterial. They argue
that the complaint, which alleges abuse of power by President Trump, has been
substantiated by witness testimony to the impeachment committees.
The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives will next week hold
televised hearings for the first time in this inquiry.
If the House eventually votes to impeach President Trump, the Republican-controlled
Senate will hold a trial of the president.
If President Trump is convicted – which is widely viewed at present as
unlikely – he would be removed from office.
A district judge in Oregon has
temporarily blocked a rule proposed by President Donald Trump that would
require immigrants to prove they will have health insurance within 30 days of
arrival in the US, or can pay for medical care.
Judge Michael Simon granted a
preliminary injunction against the proposal.
A lawsuit opposing the rule has been
filed by 7 American citizens and an NGO.
They argued it would block hundreds
of thousands of legal migrants.
According to the lawsuit, the number
of immigrants who enter the US with family-sponsored visas would drop
considerably, or be eliminated altogether.
Judge Michael Simon said the
potential damage to families justified a US-wide ban.
“Facing a likely risk of being separated from their
family members and a delay in obtaining a visa to which family members would
otherwise be entitled is irreparable harm,” his legal order read.
Would-be immigrants had been
struggling to establish how to get the required insurance coverage. The US
healthcare system is complex, and has not generally catered to people yet to
arrive there.
The healthcare immigration proclamation is part of President Trump’s effort to shift the US away from a family-focused immigration system.
Judge Michael Simon’s 28-day
temporary restraining order will prevent the rule from coming into effect on November
3, but the legal battle is likely to continue.
The Trump administration has argued
that legal immigrants are about three times more likely to lack health
insurance than US citizens, and that taxpayers should not bear their medical
costs.
However, US policy experts say
immigrants are less likely to use the healthcare system than American citizens.
According to a research from George Washington University, recent immigrants without insurance made up less than a tenth of 1% of US medical fees in 2017.
President Trump has never released
his tax returns and refuses to disclose personal tax information.
Donald Trump has owned the
Mar-a-Lago resort since 1985 and travels frequently between there and the White
House.
He is running for a second term in
next year’s election and made clear on October 31 that he hoped to be in the
White House for another five years.
The president said he would always cherish New York but added: “Unfortunately, despite the fact that I
pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been
treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few
have been treated worse.”
The New York Times reported that
President Trump and his wife Melania filed for residency in Florida in
September, the New York Times reported.
According to documents obtained by the publication, President Trump’s
“other places of abode” are listed as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (the
White House) and his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
An apartment in Trump Tower, Manhattan, has been Donald Trump’s
primary residence since 1983. It is not clear if the prsident will retain it.
President Trump has spent 99 days at Mar-a-Lago compared with 20 days at Trump
Tower since taking office, according to NBC News.
The White House has not commented on the president’s reasons for changing his permanent address but the New York Times quoted a person close to the president as saying that the reasons were mainly for tax purposes.
Florida does not have a state income tax or inheritance tax.
A resolution setting out the next steps in President Donald Trump’s impeachment have been published by House Democrats.
The motion sets out a more public phase of the inquiry and hands the lead
role in hearings to the chairman of the intelligence committee, Adam Schiff.
The House, controlled by the Democrats, will vote on the measure on October
31.
A White House spokeswoman said the resolution was an “illegitimate
sham”.
So far, hearings have been held behind closed doors. This vote to make the
impeachment process public is about the procedure, and not a ballot on whether
or not to impeach the president.
Meanwhile, Republicans have criticized Democrats for the closed hearings up
to this point, in which Republican lawmakers have also taken part. However,
Democrats insist they were needed to gather evidence ahead of the public stage
of the inquiry, and deny allegations they have been secretive.
President Trump is accused of trying to pressure Ukraine into investigating
unsubstantiated corruption claims against his political rival, Joe Biden, and
his son, Hunter Biden, who worked with Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
The president denies wrongdoing and calls the impeachment inquiry a
“witch hunt”.
On October 29, the impeachment inquiry heard from Lt. Col. Alexander
Vindman, a White House official who had monitored a phone call on July 25
between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
That call sparked a whistleblower complaint and led to the impeachment
probe.
Col. Alexander Vindman said he was “concerned” by the call as he
“did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government
investigate a US citizen”.
The eight-page document sets out a two-stage process for the next phase of
the inquiry.
In the first, the House Intelligence Committee will continue its investigations
and hold public hearings. It will have the right to make public transcripts of
depositions taken in private.
In the second phase, a public report
on the findings will be sent to the House Judiciary Committee which will
conduct its own proceedings and report on “such resolutions, articles of
impeachment, or other recommendations as it deems proper”.
President Trump’s lawyers will be
allowed to take part in the Judiciary Committee stage.
Republicans on the committees will
be able to subpoena documents or witnesses – although they could still be
blocked as both committees are Democrat-controlled.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said
a House vote on the resolution would take place on October 31. She has
previously said such a vote is not required under the US Constitution.
House Republican leader Kevin
McCarthy, speaking before the resolution was unveiled, said the entire process
was a “sham.”
Referring to the closed-door meetings and depositions he said: “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Due process starts at the beginning.”
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