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.
Republicans have announced parallel Congress investigations into a uranium deal under President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
One committee will investigate how the Obama administration approved a 2010 acquisition that gave Russia control of 20% of the US uranium supply.
Two other panels will scrutinize the FBI decision not to charge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her private email server.
Democrats pilloried the investigations as “a massive diversion”.
Both issues to be placed under the spotlight by the committees are longstanding political grievances of President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s campaign aides are currently the subject of congressional investigations into whether they colluded with alleged Russia attempts to sway last year’s presidential election.
On October 24, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy announced investigations into the previous administration.
They said there were “outstanding questions” about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy said they wished to know why former FBI director James Comey chose to divulge the inquiry into Hillary Clinton, but not the one about Trump aides and Russia.
Meanwhile, Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced his panel’s investigation into the sale of a Canadian mining company that had mines in the American West.
Uranium One – which owned a fifth of US uranium supplies – was acquired seven years ago by Russian state-owned company Rosatom.
President Donad Trump tweeted on October 19: “Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn’t want to follow!”
The State Department, under Hillary Clinton, helped approve the deal.
Last week, The Hill reported that at the time of the sale the FBI was investigating alleged attempts by Russia to gain influence in the US nuclear industry through bribery and extortion.
The New York Times and The Hill have reported that Russian nuclear officials and Uranium One’s chairman donated millions of dollars to the Clinton charitable foundation.
Devin Nunes told reporters at Capitol Hill on October 24: “One of the things we are concerned about is whether or not there was an FBI investigation, was there a DOJ investigation and if so, why was Congress not informed of this matter.”
However, Democratic congressmen accused Republicans of creating a distraction.
Elijah Cummings and John Conyers in a statement on October 24: “This new investigation is a massive diversion to distract from the lack of Republican oversight of the Trump administration and the national security threat that Russia poses.”
In an interview with C-SPAN on October 23, Hillary Clinton said that the Uranium One allegations are “baloney”.
Henrique Capriles, one of Venezuela’s opposition leading members, has announced he was leaving the coalition.
The former presidential candidate said the move was in protest at the decision by four newly elected opposition governors to pledge allegiance to the constituent assembly.
The Roundtable for Democracy (MUD) regards the constituent assembly as illegitimate.
The MUD governors were elected in regional polls this month in which the government won 18 out of 23 states.
The outcome of the October 15 elections, which the MUD said were fraudulent – and President Nicolas Maduro’s insistence that all new governors bow to the constituent assembly – has caused a rift among members of the opposition coalition.
On October 24, Henrique Capriles said that he “would not be part” of the opposition MUD “because it is not unity as a concept or a vision”.
“It is just some people that grab the bones that are thrown to them,” he said.
Five MUD governors who won seats opted to boycott a previous event in which 18 newly elected socialist governors were sworn in to the constituent assembly.
However, four of them – the governors for Táchira, Mérida, Nuevo Esparta and Anzoátegui – later changed their stance and pledged allegiance, defying their coalition’s official position.
President Maduro, who has described the election result as a victory, said governors who refused to be sworn in by the constituent assembly would not be allowed to take up office.
The MUD have published what they say is evidence of fraud in the state of Bolívar, where the government candidate was declared the winner after a two-day delay.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, the two women charged with killing Kim Jong-nam, are revisiting the crime scene in Malaysia.
They were at Kuala Lumpur airport on October 24.
Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong are accused of rubbing the highly toxic VX nerve agent on the face of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader as he waited for a flight.
The two women have pleaded not guilty to murder, saying it was a TV prank and they were tricked by North Korean agents.
North Korea has denied any involvement in the February 13 killing, but four men – believed to be four North Koreans who fled Malaysia on the day of murder – have also been charged in the case.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport was packed with journalists on October 24 as the women arrived, escorted by dozens of security officers.
Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong wore bullet proof vests, and were seen in wheelchairs at one point.
According to local media, they were accompanied by their lawyers and the judge presiding over the trial.
Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong are expected to visit the check in hall where Kim Jong-nam appeared to have been attacked, and the medical center where he sought assistance.
If found guilty, Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong face the death penalty. Their defense lawyers are likely to argue that the real culprits are the North Korean agents, who left Malaysia.
Kim Jong-nam, who was in his mid-40s, was the estranged older half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
At the time of his death, Kim Jong-nam was believed to have been living in self-imposed exile in Macau and was thought to have had some links to China.
Japan voters head to the polls after PM Shinzo Abe called a snap election in the face of the rising threat from North Korea.
Shinzo Abe called the election amid rebounding approval ratings after a record low over the summer and with the opposition largely in disarray.
The prime minister is predicted to win a majority, after the opposition fell apart.
A challenge from Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike appears to be fizzling out.
Shinzo Abe is hoping his party will win a two-thirds majority, allowing him to make constitutional changes. In particular, he wants to change Japan’s self-defense force into a national army for the first time since World War II.
What impact, if any, Typhoon Lan will have on turnout remains to be seen. The category 4 storm brought strong winds and heavy rain to the south of the country, causing flights to be canceled and rail services to be disrupted.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Typhoon Lan is expected to blow into the Tokyo area early on October 23.
PM Shinzo Abe announced the election on September 25, saying he needed a fresh mandate in order to deal with the “national crises” facing Japan.
The crises include North Korea, which has threatened to “sink” Japan into the sea. North Korea has also fired two missiles over Hokkaido, an island to the north.
Other areas up for debate in the election are the post-Fukushima nuclear policy and the issue of tax.
Czech Republic’s second-richest man, Andrej Babis, and his party have won the country’s general election.
The 63-year-old populist billionaire campaigned on an anti-establishment and Eurosceptic platform.
With all votes counted, Andrej Babis’ centrist movement ANO (Yes) collected a share of almost 30% – nearly three times that of its closest rival.
The center-right Civic Democrats and the Pirates Party came second and third with more than 10% each.
According to the AFP, the Pirates will make their debut in parliament with 22 seats.
Turnout was almost 61%.
Andrej Babis is now set to become prime minister after coalition negotiations. However, he told Reuters that while he had “invited everyone for talks”, he was not prepared to “cooperate” with either the far-right, anti-EU Freedom and Direct Democracy party or the Communist Party.
He made his estimated $4 billion fortune in chemicals, food and media – but he has also faced numerous scandals including a fraud indictment and accusations he was a communist-era police agent.
Andrej Babis says he would not bring the Czech Republic in to the eurozone but he wants the country to stay in the EU, telling Reuters he would propose changes to the European Council on issues like food quality and a “solution to migration”.
The ANO’s current coalition partner, the ruling center-left Social Democrats (CSSD), saw its share of the vote tumble to become the sixth-largest party, and has talked down the possibility of another coalition.
The Civic Democrats have also ruled themselves out of governing alongside Andrej Babis.
The Czech Republic’s outgoing leader, Social Democrat Bohuslav Sobotka, headed a coalition formed with Andrej Babis’s party after a 2013 snap election.
However, in May, Bohuslav Sobotka submitted his government’s resignation because of a disagreement with Andrej Babis, who was serving as finance minister at the time.
He was unhappy about alleged unexplained business dealings involving Andrej Babis.
On seeing the rise of the SPD Bohuslav Sobotka was shocked, saying: “How is it possible that in the Czech Republic, in a situation when the country is doing very well, when we are a stable, safe country, we have achieved many things in the social sphere in the past four years, people are increasingly in favor of extreme views?”
The Social Democrats’ tally of 7.3% was their worst result since the Czech Republic split from Slovakia in 1993.
After the vote, Andrej Babis thanked his voters and said he had not expected the result after “lies” in a “massive, massive disinformation campaign against us”.
President Donald Trump has announced his plans to allow the opening of a trove of long-classified files on the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.
In a Twitter post, he said he would allow the release “subject to receipt of further information”.
The files are scheduled to be opened by the US National Archives on October 26, but the president is entitled to extend their classified status.
JFK was shot dead by a sniper on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
The National Archives has already released most documents related to the assassination but a final batch remains under lock and key.
President Trump tweeted: “Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”
Congress ruled in 1992 that all JFK documents should be released within 25 years, unless the president decided the release would harm national security.
The archive contains more than 3,000 previously unreleased documents, and more than 30,000 that have been released before but with redactions.
It is unclear whether President Trump intends to allow the release in full or with redactions.
According to a Washington Post report, JFK assassination experts do not think the last batch of papers contains any bombshells.
However, the files may shed more light on Lee Harvey Oswald’s activities in Mexico City just months before the assassination.
Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in Dallas on the day of the shooting and charged with the president’s murder. He denied the charges, claiming he was a “just a patsy”.
He was gunned down by nightclub owner Jack Ruby while in police custody two days later, and the plot to kill JFK became the most powerful conspiracy theory in American history.
Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy has unveiled plans to remove Catalonia’s leaders and take control of the separatist region.
Speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting on October 21, PM Mariano Rajoy stopped short of dissolving Catalonia’s parliament but put forward plans for elections in the region.
The measures must now be approved by Spain’s Senate in the next few days.
The plans come almost three weeks after Catalonia held a disputed independence referendum on October 1.
Catalonia’s leader Carles Puigdemont has ignored pleas from the national government to withdraw the independence bid.
Mariano Rajoy said the government had no choice but to push to impose direct rule, arguing that the Catalan government’s actions were “contrary to the law and seeking confrontation”.
This will be via Article 155 of Spain’s constitution, which allows it to impose direct rule in a crisis on any of the country’s semi-autonomous regions.
Spain’s Senate will vote within the week, PM Mariano Rajoy said at a press conference. He said it was “not our wish, it was not our intention” to trigger the article.
Spanish law dictates that elections must be held within six months of Article 155 being triggered, but the prime minister said it was imperative that the vote be held much sooner.
Catalonia’s regional government held a referendum to ask residents of the region if they wanted to break away from Spain.
Of the 43% of Catalans said to have taken part, 90% voted in favor of independence. However, many anti-independence supporters boycotted the ballot, arguing it was not valid.
Carles Puigdemont and other regional leaders then signed a declaration of independence, but immediately suspended it in order to allow for talks.
He then defied two deadlines set by the national government to clarify Catalonia’s position, and the government announced it would pursue Article 155.
Article 155 of the Spanish constitution allows the national government to impose direct rule over Spain’s semi-autonomous regions in the event of a crisis. It has never before been invoked in democratic Spain.
The article says that if a region’s government “acts in a way that seriously threatens the general interest of Spain”, Madrid can “take necessary measures to oblige it forcibly to comply”.
Catalonia currently enjoys significant autonomy from Spain, including control over its own policing, education and healthcare.
Mariano Rajoy’s conservative Popular Party (PP) holds a majority in the Senate, meaning the proposals are likely to pass.
Catalonia accounts for about a fifth of Spain’s economic output, and supporters of independence say the region contributes too much to the national economy.
Opponents argue that Catalonia is stronger as a part of Spain, and that breaking away would lead to economic disaster for the country as a whole.
Nearly 1,200 companies based in Catalonia have re-registered in other parts of Spain since the referendum, hoping to minimize instability, according to the AFP.
This week, Spain cut its national growth forecast for 2018 from 2.6% to 2.3%, blaming uncertainty over the future of Catalan independence.
Ex- Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have expressed their concerns regarding the current political climate in the US, in comments seen as a veiled rebuke of President Donald Trump’s leadership.
Barack Obama urged Americans to reject the politics of “division” and “fear”, while George W. Bush criticized “bullying and prejudice” in public life.
They were speaking separately and neither mentioned President Trump by name.
Donald Trump, who has been critical of his two predecessors, is yet to comment.
Ex-presidents traditionally shy away from commenting publicly on their successors, and Barack Obama said on leaving office he would extend that courtesy for a time to Donald Trump, as George W. Bush had to him.
Barack Obama has broken his silence since to issue statements on President Trump’s efforts to dismantle ObamaCare, as well as his controversial “Muslim ban” and decision to abandon the Paris climate accord.
Speaking at a Democratic campaign event in Newark, New Jersey, Barack Obama said Americans should “send a message to the world that we are rejecting a politics of division, we are rejecting a politics of fear”.
The former president added: “What we can’t have is the same old politics of division that we have seen so many times before that dates back centuries.
“Some of the politics we see now, we thought we put that to bed. That’s folks looking 50 years back. It’s the 21st Century, not the 19th Century. Come on!”
Barack Obama touched on similar themes at another event later in Richmond, Virginia, saying: “We’ve got folks who are deliberately trying to make folks angry, to demonize people who have different ideas, to get the base all riled up because it provides a short-term tactical advantage.”
Speaking just hours earlier in New York, George W. Bush said: “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.
“There are some signs that the intensity of support for democracy itself has waned – especially among the young.”
Americans, the former president said, have “seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty”.
“At times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together.
“We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America.”
Both ex-presidents have until now largely avoided commenting publicly on President Trump’s policies.
Before his election last year, Donald Trump was highly critical of both Barack Obama and George W. Bush, describing each of them at one time or another as “perhaps the worst president in the history” of the US.
Since his inauguration in January, Donald Trump’s combative style and direct public comments on a number of key issues have caused controversy both among Democrats and Republicans.
The president has regularly blamed the media, which he says do not focus on his achievements and instead choose to concentrate on what he describes as “fake news”.
Spain is prepared to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy on October 21, as its leader, Carles Puigdemont, threatened to declare independence.
The government said ministers would meet to activate Article 155 of the constitution, allowing it to take over running of the region.
Carles Puigdemont said earlier the Catalan parliament would vote on independence, backed in a disputed referendum on October 1, if Spain “continues repression”.
Some fear the moves could spark unrest.
The government statement said: “The Spanish government will continue with the procedures outlined in Article 155 of the Constitution to restore legality in Catalonia’s self-government.
“It denounces the attitude maintained by those in charge of the Generalitat [Catalan government] to seek, deliberately and systematically, institutional confrontation despite the serious damage that is being caused to the coexistence and the economic structure of Catalonia.
“No-one doubts that the Spanish government will do all it can to restore the constitutional order.”
Article 155 of Spain’s 1978 constitution, which cemented democratic rule after the death of General Franco three years earlier, allows Madrid to impose direct rule in a crisis but it has never been invoked.
Political leaders in Madrid and Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, have been engaged in a tense stand-off since the disputed referendum, which Catalan leaders say resulted in a “Yes” vote for independence but which Spain’s supreme court regards as illegal.
Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy set the deadline of 10:00 local time for Carles Puigdemont to offer a definitive answer on the independence question, and called on him to “act sensibly”.
The prime minister said in parliament on October 18: “It’s not that difficult to reply to the question: has Catalonia declared independence? Because if it has, the government is obliged to act in one way, and if it has not, we can talk here.”
This was the second and final deadline, as Madrid says Carles Puigdemont on October 16 failed to clarify whether he had declared independence.
PM Mariano Rajoy is due to attend an EU summit in Brussels on October 19.
On October 21, the government will be expected to draw up a list of specific measures under Article 155 of the constitution, launching the transfer of powers from Catalonia to Madrid.
Two key members of the Catalan independence movement, Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart, have been held without bail while they are under investigation for sedition.
They were leading figures in the October 1 independence vote, which the Madrid government regards as illegal.
Their detention led to protests overnight, with more expected across Catalonia on October 17.
Jordi Sánchez, who heads the Catalan National Assembly (ANC), a pro-independence organization, and Jordi Cuixart, leader of Omnium Cultural, appeared before the High Court in Madrid on October 16.
The two men are being investigated over a protest on September 20 in which a crowd blocked Civil Guard officers inside a building in Barcelona, Catalonia’s regional capital.
Following the October 1 referendum, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont signed a declaration of independence, but halted its implementation to allow negotiations.
Carles Puigdemont has called for talks to take place over the next two months.
However, the Spanish government has warned that Catalonia must revoke the declaration or face direct rule from Madrid.
Carles Puigdemont has also angered Madrid by refusing to clarify whether or not he declared independence last week.
The Catalan president, who has been given until October 19 to clarify his position, hit out at the government on Twitter following news of Jordi Sánchez and Jordi Cuixart’s detention.
“Spain jails Catalonia’s civil society leaders for organizing peaceful demonstrations. Sadly, we have political prisoners again,” he wrote.
In a video recorded before his court appearance and released on his Twitter account after his detention, Jordi Cuixart instructs separatists to “never lose hope because the people of Catalonia have earned their future”.
Daphne Caruana Galizia, a prominent Maltese blogger, who had accused the island’s government of corruption, has died in a car bomb attack, according to police.
The 53-year-old was reportedly killed when the car she was driving exploded shortly after she left her home in Bidnija, near Mosta.
According to local media, one of her sons heard the blast and rushed outside.
PM Joseph Muscat, whom Daphne Caruana Galizia accused of wrongdoing earlier this year, denounced the killing.
“I condemn without reservations this barbaric attack on a person and on the freedom of expression in our country,” the prime minister said in a TV statement.
“Everyone knows Ms Caruana Galizia was a harsh critic of mine, both politically and personally, as she was for others too.”
However, Joseph Muscat stressed there could be “no justification… in any way” for such action.
“I will not rest before justice is done.”
On October 16, thousands of people attended a candlelit vigil in the resort town of Sliema.
Malta Television reported that Daphne Caruana Galizia had filed a complaint to the police two weeks ago to say she had received threats but gave no further information.
Police have opened a murder inquiry.
Newspaper reports said the explosion had left debris from the rental car she was driving strewn across the road and in a nearby field.
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s death comes four months after Joseph Muscat’s Labor Party won an election he called early because of the blogger’s allegations linking him and his wife to the Panama Papers scandal.
The couple denied claims that they had used secret offshore bank accounts to hide payments from Azerbaijan’s ruling family.
Daphne Caruana Galizia’s popular blog had also targeted opposition politicians, calling the country’s political situation “desperate” in her final post.
Malta has asked for international help – including the FBI in the US – to find the perpetrator, the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family has requested that the magistrate in charge of the investigation be replaced, the Malta Independent reports.
It said the current magistrate had on a number of occasions been the subject of criticism by Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The results were announced by the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena. The CNE is dominated by government loyalists and has been accused of pro-government bias by the opposition.
The council came under fire earlier this year when the company providing the voting systems for July’s elections for the constituent assembly said the turn-out figures for that poll had been manipulated.
The CNE dismissed those allegations and used a different company for October 15 vote.
President Nicolas Maduro praised the results as proof that Venezuela has “the best electoral system in the world” and opposition leaders have called for street protests to be held on October 16.
Sebastian Kurz, the 31-year-old leader of Austria’s conservative People’s Party, is set to win the country’s general election, projections suggest.
He is also on course to become the world’s youngest national leader.
The People’s Party was set to win more than 31%. It is so far unclear whether the Social Democrats or the far-right Freedom Party will finish second.
Short of a majority, the People’s Party could seek an alliance with the anti-immigration Freedom Party.
Addressing his supporters on October 15, Sebastian Kurz said: “It is time for change in this country. Today is a strong order for us, to change this country, and I say thank you to you all who made this possible.
“I’m overwhelmed, I am happy, and I look forward to working for Austria.”
Before the election, Sebastian Kurz served as Europe’s youngest-ever foreign minister, after he was appointed in 2013 aged just 27.
In May 2017, he became the leader of the People’s Party. He began his political career in the youth wing of the party, which he chaired before moving on to serve on Vienna’s city council.
Nicknamed “Wunderwuzzi” (very roughly translated as wonder hotshot), Sebastian Kurz has been compared to the young leaders of France and Canada, Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau.
Much like Emmanuel Macron, Sebastian Kurz has created a movement around himself, rebranding the People’s Party – which has been in power for more than 30 years – as “The New People’s Party”.
Immigration was the dominant issue in the run-up to the vote, and Sebastian Kurz moved his party to the right in the wake of Europe’s 2015 refugee crisis.
The young man appealed to conservative and right-wing voters with pledges to shut down migrant routes to Europe, cap benefit payments to refugees, and bar immigrants from receiving benefits until they have lived in Austria for five years.
The rightward shift was seen as a response to the success of the Freedom Party, which narrowly missed out on the presidency in December when Norbert Hofer was defeated by Alexander Van der Bellen, head of the Greens.
The stance proved popular with Austrian voters after a huge influx of undocumented refugees from the Middle East and North Africa.
The Freedom Party accused Sebastian Kurz of stealing their policies with their candidate, Heinz-Christian Strache, calling him an “imposter”.
Sebastian Kurz is on course to win the lion’s share of the vote but not a majority. If the forecasts are correct, he will need to form a coalition, most likely with the Freedom Party.
The last coalition between the Social Democrats and the conservatives fell apart this spring – and there may be reluctance to renew it. However, an alliance with the populist, far-right Freedom Party could prove controversial among Austria’s EU counterparts.
Sebastian Kurz refused to discuss his plans, saying only that he would talk to other parties. He says he wants to wait for final results.
The US withdrawal will become effective at the end of December 2018 – until then, the US will remain a full member. The US will establish an observer mission at the Paris-based organization to replace its representation, the state department said.
Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted he had instructed his foreign ministry to “prepare Israel’s withdrawal… in parallel with the United States”.
The decision follows a string of UNESCO decisions that have drawn criticism from the US and Israel.
In 2011, the US cut its funding to UNESCO in protest at its decision to grant full membership to the Palestinians.
Last year, Israel suspended co-operation with UNESCO after the agency adopted a controversial resolution which made no reference to Jewish ties to a key holy site in Jerusalem.
The resolution also criticized Israel’s activities at holy places in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
Then earlier this year, PM Benjamin Netanyahu condemned UNESCO for declaring the Old City of Hebron in the West Bank a Palestinian World Heritage site.
He accused UNESCO of ignoring Judaism’s ancient connection to the city, which includes the crypt where its matriarchs and patriarchs are buried.
President Donald Trump has threatened to challenge media licenses for NBC News and other news networks after unfavorable reports.
The president took aim at NBC, which made him a star on The Apprentice, after the broadcaster reported he wanted to boost America’s nuclear arsenal almost tenfold.
President Trump labeled NBC report “fake news” and “pure fiction”.
NBC also angered the White House last week when it said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called President Trump “a moron”.
Donald Trump tweeted on October 12: “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!”
Welcoming Canadian PM Justin Trudeau to Washington later in the day, the president denied the NBC story.
“It is frankly disgusting the way the press is able to write whatever they want to write, and people should look into it,” President Trump said at the White House.
When asked if he wanted to increase the country’s arsenal, the president said he only ever discussed keeping it in “perfect condition”.
“No, I want to have absolutely perfectly maintained – which we are in the process of doing – nuclear force.
“But when they said I want 10 times what we have right now, it’s totally unnecessary, believe me.”
Donald Trump added: “I want modernization and I want total rehabilitation. It’s got to be in tip-top shape.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis also disputed NBC’s story, saying in a statement: “Recent reports that the President called for an increase in the US nuclear arsenal are absolutely false.
“This kind of erroneous reporting is irresponsible.”
President Trump’s tweet about news networks provoked a free-speech uproar.
Walter Shaub, who led the US Office of Government Ethics under President Barack Obama, said it could lead to “the point when we cease to be a democracy”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said President Trump’s comment was a poor example for other world leaders.
NBC News reported that President Trump told a top-level meeting at the Pentagon in July that he wanted to dramatically boost the American stockpile of atomic missiles.
The president reportedly made the request after seeing a downward-sloping curve on a briefing slide charting the gradual decrease in US nuclear weapons since the 1960s.
Attributing its report to three officials in the room, NBC said President Trump’s request surprised those present, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
NBC reported that President Trump had also called for additional US troops and military equipment.
The US has 7,100 nuclear weapons and Russia has 7,300, according to the US non-partisan Arms Control Association.
Media commentators say Donald Trump would struggle to remove broadcasters’ licenses if he wished to do so.
The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates broadcasters, issues licenses not to networks as a whole, but to local stations.
The latest bout began on October 9, and weather officials have warned that the tropical depression may intensify into a more powerful storm in coming days.
The northern Yen Bai and Hoa Binh provinces have been particularly hard hit, with reports of widespread inundation and deadly landslides, and homes washed away.
On October 11, several people, including a Vietnam News Agency reporter, were swept away by a torrential river after a bridge they were crossing in Yen Bai collapsed, local media said.
According to state media, meanwhile 18 people were buried in an overnight landslide in Hoa Binh, with most of them still missing by October 12.
Hundreds of soldiers have been deployed for rescue efforts. A disaster agency official told AFP that they were “mobilizing all forces to search for the missing”.
President Donald Trump is challenging Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to an IQ test, in the latest sign of discord between the two.
The president made the remark during an interview with Forbes magazine when asked about reports that Rex Tillerson had called him a moron.
“I think it’s fake news,” Donald Trump told the magazine, “but if he did that, I guess we’ll have to compare IQ tests. And I can tell you who is going to win.”
On October 10, President Trump had lunch with Rex Tillerson.
Shortly beforehand, President Trump maintained he still had confidence in the secretary of state.
“I did not undercut anybody,” he also told reporters.
Asked about Donald Trump’s IQ test challenge, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the daily news briefing: “It was a joke. You should get a sense of humor.”
Reports have swirled of a schism in the Trump administration between the commander-in-chief and his top diplomat, as the US faces a host of vexatious foreign policy conundrums, from North Korea to Iran.
Last week, Rex Tillerson called a news conference to dismiss reports that he was considering quitting.
However, Rex Tillerson did not deny an NBC News report that he had called Donald Trump a moron after a July meeting at the Pentagon.
Earlier this month, President Trump publicly undercut the former ExxonMobile chief executive by tweeting that he was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with nuclear-armed North Korea.
Last week, the New York Times reported that the secretary of state was astonished at how little President Trump grasps the basics of foreign policy.
According to the newspaper, quoting sources close to the secretary of state, President Trump has been irritated by Rex Tillerson’s body language during meetings.
Rex Tillerson is said to roll his eyes or slouch when he disagrees with the president’s decisions.
Catalan leaders, including President Carles Puigdemont, have signed a declaration of independence from Spain, following the October 1 disputed referendum.
However, the Catalan leaders say the move will not be implemented immediately to allow talks with the Spanish central government.
It is unclear whether the document – calling for Catalonia to be recognized as an “independent and sovereign state” – has any legal status.
The move was immediately dismissed by the Spain’s government.
Catalonia independence referendum – which Catalan leaders say resulted in a Yes vote for independence – was declared invalid by Spain’s Constitutional Court.
Earlier in the day, Carles Puigdemont told the Catalan parliament in Barcelona that the region had won the right to be independent as a result of the referendum.
According to Catalan officials, the referendum resulted in almost 90% of voters backing independence. However, anti-independence voters largely boycotted the ballot – which had a reported turnout of 43% – and there were several reports of irregularities.
National police were involved in violent scenes as they manhandled voters while implementing the legal ruling banning the referendum.
The declaration reads: “We call on all states and international organizations to recognize the Catalan republic as an independent and sovereign state.”
Carles Puigdemont told the regional parliament that the “people’s will” was to break away from Madrid, but he also said he wanted to “de-escalate” the tension around the issue.
“We are all part of the same community and we need to go forward together. The only way forward is democracy and peace,” the Catalan president told deputies.
He also said Catalonia was being denied the right to self-determination, and paying too much in taxes to the central government in Madrid.
Spain’s Deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaria responded to the declaration by saying: “Neither Mr. Puigdemont nor anybody else can claim… to impose mediation.
“Any dialogue between democrats has to take place within the law.”
Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy has called an extraordinary cabinet meeting for October 11 to address the latest moves in the crisis.
Independence supporters had been sharing the Catalan hashtag #10ODeclaració (10 October Declaration) on Twitter, amid expectations that Carles Puigdemont would ask parliament to declare independence on the basis of the referendum law it passed last month.
However, influential figures including Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau and European Council President Donald Tusk had urged Carles Puigdemont to step back from declaring independence.
Catalonia, a region of Spain for centuries but with its own distinct language and culture, enjoys broad autonomy under the Spanish constitution.
However, a 2005 amendment redefining the region as a “nation”, boosting the status of the Catalan language and increasing local control over taxes and the judiciary, was reversed by the Constitutional Court in 2010.
The economic crisis further fuelled discontent and pro-independence parties took power in the region in the 2015 elections.
Catalonia is one of Spain’s wealthiest regions, accounting for a quarter of the country’s exports. However, a stream of companies have announced plans to move their head offices out of Catalonia in response to the crisis.
The EU has made clear that should Catalonia split from Spain, the region would cease to be part of the European Union.
Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has decided to withdraw from October’s election re-run.
Raila Odinga said his decision would give the electoral commission enough time to introduce reforms that will help deliver a more credible election.
The Supreme Court annulled the result of the original August 8 poll, which saw Uhuru Kenyatta declared winner, after finding irregularities.
However, Uhuru Kenyatta says he is ready to proceed with the new vote as planned.
Kenya’s electoral commission said Uhuru Kenyatta had won the August vote by a margin of 1.4 million votes – or 54% of the total, compared to Raila Odinga’s 44%.
VP William Ruto has now called on the commission to declare Uhuru Kenyatta president as a result of Raila Odinga’s announcement.
The election re-run was due to take place on October 26, but Raila Odinga said on October 10: “We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of the IEBC [electoral commission] to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel… All indications are that the election scheduled for 26 October will be worse than the previous one.”
As a result, Raila Odinga said, “considering the interests of the people of Kenya, the region and the world at large” it was best that he withdrew from the race.
His coalition party believes the election will have to be cancelled as a result of his withdrawal, allowing “adequate time to undertake the reforms necessary to conduct an election that is in strict conformity with the constitution, the relevant laws and the constitution”.
However, Uhuru Kenyatta, speaking at a rally in the southern town of Voi, said: “We have no problem going back to elections. We are sure we will get more votes than the last time.”
The US and Turkey have become embroiled in a consular row, mutually suspending most visa services.
The Turkish embassy in Washington said it needed to “reassess” the US government’s commitment to the security of the mission and personnel.
A very similar statement was earlier made by the US embassy in Ankara.
This comes after a US consulate worker in Istanbul was held last week on suspicion of links to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen blamed for the 2016 failed coup in Turkey.
The US condemned the move as baseless and damaging to bilateral relations.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, the arrested consulate employee was a male Turkish citizen.
In its statement on October 8, the Turkish embassy in Washington said: “Recent events have forced the Turkish government to reassess the commitment of the government of the US to the security of the Turkish mission facilities and personnel.
“In order to minimize the number of the visitors to our diplomatic and consular missions in the US while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all visa services regarding the US citizens at our diplomatic and consular missions in the US.
“This measure will apply to sticker visas as well as e-visas and border visas.”
The Turkish’s embassy statement is virtually the same as the earlier American one, with only country names being replaced.
The American mission said that “all non-immigrant visa services at all US diplomatic facilities in Turkey” had been suspended.
Non-immigrant visas are issued to those travelling to the US for tourism, medical treatment, business, temporary work or study.
Those seeking citizenship or permanent residency apply for US immigrant visas.
Turkey has for months been pressing the US to extradite Fethullah Gulen over his alleged role in the coup attempt in July 2016.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Fethullah Gulen of instigating the unrest – a charge the cleric denies.
In the aftermath of the coup attempt, which was led by military officers, 40,000 people were arrested and 120,000 sacked or suspended.
President Donald Trump has rolled back the access to birth control as his government issued a ruling that allows employers to opt out of providing free birth control to millions of Americans.
The rule allows employers and insurers to decline to provide birth control if doing so violates their “religious beliefs” or “moral convictions”.
About 55 million women benefited from the Obama-era rule, which made companies provide free birth control.
Before taking office, Donald Trump had pledged to eliminate that requirement.
The mandate requiring birth control coverage had been a key feature of ObamaCare – President Obama’s efforts to overhaul the healthcare system.
However, the requirement included a provision that permitted religious institutions to forgo birth control coverage for their employees.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on October 6 it was important to expand which organizations can opt out and deny free contraceptive coverage.
“We should have space for organizations to live out their religious ideas and not face discrimination because of their religious ideas,” said one HHS official, who did not wish to be named.
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, praised the decision as “a landmark day for religious liberty”.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Women’s Law Center have announced that they will sue the federal government over the decision.
In announcing the rule change, HHS officials cited a study claiming that access to contraception encourages “risky s**ual behavior”.
The HHS disputes reports that millions of women may lose their birth control coverage if they are unable to pay for it themselves.
Roger Severino, the director of the HHS Office of Civil Rights, argued that only a small percentage of employers will choose to opt out, and therefore only a limited number of women will be affected.
However, many health policy analysts say employers that do not wish to pay for their employees’ contraceptive coverage will now be able to.
Catalonia’s chief of police Josep Lluis Trapero is appearing before a judge in Madrid on suspicion of sedition against the state.
His Mossos d’Esquadra force is accused of failing to protect Spanish national police from protesters ahead of the October 1 independence referendum.
Another Catalan police officer and two leading independence activists are also being questioned as suspects.
Catalonia’s independence vote was declared illegal under Spanish law.
The hearing is taking place at the national criminal court in Madrid. The defendants are accused of failing to help Guardia Civil police tackle thousands of pro-independence protesters outside the Catalan Economy Department in Barcelona on September 20.
According to ElPais, the accusation against the Mossos is extraordinary in post-Franco democratic Spain.
The crime of sedition has been in every Spanish penal code since 1822 and carries a potential prison term of up to 15 years. It amounts to rebellion against state decisions or national security forces.
As recently as August the Mossos was being widely praised for quickly tackling the Islamist cell that carried out the Barcelona terror attack in that month.
Following October 1 vote the Catalan regional government says it might unilaterally declare independence within days.
Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy will chair a cabinet meeting to discuss the next moves in the confrontation with Catalonia.
Referendum organizers put the turnout at 42%, with 2.2 million people taking part. They say 90% voted for independence, but have not published final results. There have been several claims of irregularities.
There was violence at polling stations as police, trying to enforce a Spanish court ban on the vote, attempted to seize ballot boxes and disperse voters.
The court’s ruling on October 5 upheld a challenge by Catalonia’s Socialist Party, which opposes secession from Spain, and not from the government in Madrid.
Allowing the regional parliament to meet and declare independence, the court said, would violate the rights of the party’s lawmakers.
An earlier ruling by the court aimed at stopping October 1 vote was ignored by Catalonia’s leaders. That challenge to the court had come from Spain’s government, which condemned the referendum as illegal.
Organizers of October 1 vote put the turnout at 42%, with 2.2 million people taking part. They say 90% voted for independence, however they have not published final results. There have been several claims of irregularities.
There was violence at polling stations as police, trying to enforce a Spanish court decision to ban the vote, attempted to seize ballot boxes and disperse voters.
In a rare TV address, King Felipe VI of Spain said Catalonia referendum’s organizers put themselves “outside the law”.
The king said the situation in Spain was “extremely serious”, calling for unity.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Catalonia have been protesting over Spanish police violence during the vote, during which nearly 900 people were hurt.
According to local medical officials, during the vote, 33 police officers were also injured.
In his TV address to the nation, King Felipe said the Catalan leaders who organized the referendum showed their “disrespect to the powers of the state”.
“They have broken the democratic principles of the rule of law.”
“Today, the Catalan society is fractured,” the king said, warning that the poll could put at risk the economy of the wealthy north-eastern region and the whole of Spain.
However, King Felipe stressed that Spain “will overcome difficult times”.
Spain’s central government has described the Catalan referendum as illegal.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement on October 3: “The decision was made due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention. This order will ensure equity in our respective diplomatic operations.”
At least 21 people working at the US’s embassy in Havana have reported health problems, ranging from mild brain trauma and deafness to dizziness and nausea.
Earlier reports suggested sonic attacks were to blame, but nothing has been proven.
Havana denies targeting embassy staff, and the US has not blamed the Cuban government for the suspected attacks.
Rex Tillerson added in his latest statement: “We continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and will continue to co-operate with Cuba as we pursue the investigation into these attacks.”
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