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.
Ivanka Trump is officially joining the Trump administration as an unpaid employee with the title Assistant to the President, the White House has announced.
Donald Trump’s daughter bowed to pressure following an outcry from ethics experts at her initial plans to serve in a more informal capacity.
Ivanka Trump, 35, said she had “heard the concerns some have with my advising the president in my personal capacity”.
Her husband, Jared Kushner, is a senior adviser to President Donald Trump.
In a statement, the White House said it was “pleased that Ivanka Trump has chosen to take this step in her unprecedented role as first daughter”.
The first daughter said in her statement that she had been “working in good faith with the White House Counsel and my personal counsel to address the unprecedented nature of my role”.
Critics said Ivanka Trump’s role ought to be made official so she could be bound by federal employee transparency and ethical standards, including a law prohibiting conflicts of interest.
Her lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said her client will file the necessary financial disclosures and be subject to official ethics rules.
Former President Barack Obama’s ethics counselor, Norman Eisen, told the Associated Press that “for a change in what has largely been an ethics disaster, the White House came to their senses”.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out to be an isolated moment of sanity,” he added.
Norman Eisen was among several lawyers and government watchdog experts who wrote last week to White House counsel Don McGahn complaining about Ivanka Trump’s appointment.
She has passed management of her eponymous fashion label to the company president and established a trust for oversight.
Ivanka Trump has also stepped down from a leadership role in the Trump Organization, although she will continue to receive fixed payments from the real estate company.
Outside the White House, a few hundred protesters gathered to vent their displeasure at the executive order.
Inside, Donald Trump was flanked by coal miners as he signed the order, saying: “My administration is putting an end to the war on coal.
“With today’s executive action I am taking historic steps to lift the restrictions on American energy, to reverse government intrusion and to cancel job-killing regulations.”
Image source Getty Images
During the campaign, Donald Trump vowed to pull the US out of the Paris climate deal agreed in December 2015.
He takes a very different approach to the environment from President Obama. The former president argued that climate change was “real and cannot be ignored”.
Among the initiatives now rescinded is the Clean Power Plan, which required states to slash carbon emissions, to meet US commitments under the Paris accord.
The regulation has been unpopular in Republican-run states, where it has been subject to legal challenges – especially from businesses that rely on burning oil, coal and gas.
In 2016, the Supreme Court temporarily halted the plan, while the challenges are heard.
The Trump administration says that scrapping the plan will put people to work and reduce America’s reliance on imported fuel.
It says President Trump will be “moving forward on energy production in the US”.
“The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work.”
During Donald Trump’s maiden visit to the Environmental Protection Agency, he signed the Energy Independence Executive Order, which cuts EPA regulations in order to support his plan of cutting the agency’s budget by a third.
President Trump recently appointed climate change skeptic Scott Pruitt as its new head.
Penelope Fillon, the wife of French presidential candidate Francois Fillon, has been placed under formal investigation amid the continuing “fake jobs” inquiry.
She spent the day being questioned by magistrates.
The center-right candidate is accused of paying hundreds of thousands of euros to his family for work they did not do. Francois Fillon and his Welsh-born wife deny any wrongdoing.
However, the former prime minister has now slipped behind far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron in the race to become president.
Francois Fillon, 63, faces accusations that he arranged for his wife to be paid public money for work as his parliamentary assistant amid claims that: the work she did was trivial or non-existent; Penelope Fillon had no parliamentary pass; few were aware Penelope Fillon was a member of Francois Fillon’s staff; misleading information was included on timesheets.
Francois Fillon is also being investigated over payments to his two children, Marie and Charles, when he was a senator. He has said his children were paid as lawyers for specific tasks, but neither was a qualified lawyer at the time.
In all, Francois Fillon is suspected of diverting public funds, complicity in misappropriating funds, receiving the funds and not declaring assets fully.
There are also questions about a job Penelope Fillon had at a literary magazine owned by a billionaire friend of the couple, for which she allegedly did little or no actual work.
The committee is examining Russia’s alleged interference in November election.
The US intelligence community believes alleged Russian hacking during the presidential election was done to help Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
Russia has denied the allegations and President Trump has branded the story “fake news”.
There are two congressional investigations into the issue, plus an FBI one.
Image source Wikimedia
The Senate committee wants to question him about two meetings he allegedly arranged with senior Russians, officials told the New York Times say.
However, Jared Kushner’s staff have said that so far his offer to be questioned has not been answered.
Jared Kushner, 36, was a senior adviser to Donald Trump during the election campaign
His first meeting was with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at Trump Tower in New York in December. The second was with the head of Russia’s state-owned development bank.
White House staff told the New York Times nothing significant was discussed and members of the president-elect’s team routinely met Russians and other foreign delegations.
Meanwhile, Jared Kushner has been picked to lead a new White House team that aims to overhaul government bureaucracy.
It will have sweeping powers to reform procedures, with technology and data a key area and the help of Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft founder Bill Gates reportedly enlisted.
Jared Kushner told the newspaper the “government should be run like a great American company”.
Jared Kushner already advises the president on foreign relations, and is said to have been influential in helping President Trump choose staff for his campaign and in government.
Alexei Navalny, 40, tweeted from the building: “Hello everyone from Tversky Court. The time will come when we will have them on trial (but honestly).”
He also said that PM Dmitry Medvedev should be summoned by the court as the chief organizer of the protests.
Alexei Navalny has yet to go before a judge but is likely to face charges relating to organizing banned protests and could be held for 15 days.
March 26 protests drew thousands of protesters nationwide, including in Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and several other cities, as well as Moscow.
At least 500 protesters were detained. Most of the marches were organized without official permission.
TV footages showed demonstrators chanting “Down with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin!”, “Russia without Putin!” and “Putin is a thief!”.
Correspondents say the marches appear to be the biggest since anti-government demonstrations in 2011 and 2012.
An EU spokesman said the Russian police action had “prevented the exercise of basic freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, which are fundamental rights enshrined in the Russian constitution”.
The statement added: “We call on the Russian authorities to abide fully by the international commitments it has made… and to release without delay the peaceful demonstrators that have been detained.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement: “The Russian people, like people everywhere, deserve a government that supports an open marketplace of ideas, transparent and accountable governance, equal treatment under the law, and the ability to exercise their rights without fear of retribution.”
Alexei Navalny called for the nationwide protests after he published reports claiming that PM Dmitry Medvedev controlled mansions, yachts and vineyards – a fortune that suggests income that far outstrips his official salary.
His report, posted on YouTube, has been viewed more than 11 million times.
It includes the accusation that Dmitry Medvedev had a special house for a duck on one of his properties – and on March 26, some demonstrators held up images of yellow rubber ducks.
Others showed up with their faces painted green, a reference to a recent attack in which Alexei Navalny was hit with green liquid.
She is accused of allowing her close friend Choi Soon-sil to allegedly extort money from big companies.
Park Geun-hye, 65, has denied the allegations.
She apologized to the public last week, before being questioned by authorities for 14 hours.
On March 27, South Korean prosecutors said in statement: “The case is very grave as the suspect has demonstrated acts of abuse of power by making companies give money and infringing on the freedom of corporate management by using powerful position and authority as president.”
They argue that evidence like computer hard drives might be destroyed if Park Geun-hye is not arrested.
Image source Wikimedia
Choi Soon-sil has been charged with bribery and corruption and is already on trial.
She is accused of using her presidential connections to pressure companies to give millions of dollars in donations to non-profit foundations she controlled.
Lee Jae-yong, the acting head of electronics conglomerate Samsung, was arrested for his role in the scandal.
Parliament voted to impeach Park Geun-hye in December 2016.
On March 10, the constitutional court ruled that Park Geun-hye’s actions “seriously impaired the spirit of… democracy and the rule of law”.
Judges said the president had broken the law by allowing Choi Soon-sil to meddle in state affairs, and had breached guidelines on official secrets by leaking numerous documents.
Park Geun-hye had “concealed completely Choi’s meddling in state affairs and denied it whenever suspicions over the act emerged and even criticized those who raised the suspicions,” the ruling said.
The Seoul Central District Court will now determine whether there are grounds to issue the arrest warrant for Park Geun-hye.
If it is issued, prosecutors will have up to 20 days to continue investigations and file charges against her, Reuters reports.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been arrested at an anti-corruption protest he organized in Moscow.
Thousands of people joined rallies nationwide, calling for the resignation of PM Dmitry Medvedev over corruption allegations.
At least 500 other protesters were detained in Moscow and across Russia.
Most of the marches were illegal, organized without official permission.
TV footages showed demonstrators chanting “Down with [Vladimir] Putin!”, “Russia without Putin!” and “Putin is a thief!”.
Correspondents say the marches appear to be the biggest since anti-government demonstrations in 2011 and 2012.
Alexei Navalny was detained as he arrived to join the rally in central Moscow. Protesters then tried to prevent a police van from taking him away.
Image source Wikimedia
In a tweet after his detention, Alexei Navalny urged fellow protesters to continue with the demonstration.
He said: “Guys, I’m fine. No need to fight to get me out. Walk along Tverskaya [Moscow main street]. Our topic of the day is the fight against corruption.”
Alexei Navalny later said police stormed the office of his foundation and detained its staff, who were broadcasting the protests live.
Demonstrations were also held in Saint Petersburg, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Tomsk and several other cities, where arrests had also been reported.
In Moscow, protesters filled Pushkin square and some climbed the monument to poet Alexander Pushkin shouting “impeachment”. Turnout was estimated to be between 7,000 and 8,000, according to police.
The police said 500 protesters had been arrested in the capital alone, but a rights group, OVD Info, put that number at least 700.
The Kremlin has not commented on the demonstrations. It had said on Friday that plans for an unauthorized protest in central Moscow were an illegal provocation.
State TV channels did not cover the demonstrations.
Local media reports suggested the authorities pressured students not to attend. In some cities, exams were scheduled on March 26.
Alexei Navalny announced his intention to run for president in 2018 against Vladimir Putin.
In her acceptance speech, Carrie Lam said her first priority during her five-year term would be to reduce social tensions.
She welcomed and encouraged a spectrum of voices and vowed to “tap the forces of our young people”: “They are often at the forefront of society, pulling and pushing us as a whole to make progress.”
Carrie Lam also promised to uphold Hong Kong’s “core values” such as “inclusiveness, freedoms of the press and of speech, respect for human rights” and the rule of law.
Image source Wikipedia
Her main rival, former finance chief John Tsang, was the public’s favorite, according to opinion polls.
The third candidate, and the most liberal, was retired judge Woo Kwok-hing.
Carrie Lam garnered 777 votes to John Tsang’s 365. Woo Kwok-hing received 21.
Calls for fully free elections have failed, despite intense demonstrations, known as the “umbrella protests”, in 2014.
Hong Kong’s Election Committee picked Carrie Lam to succeed current leader CY Leung, who will step down in July. She was formerly his deputy.
Carrie Lam, a long-time civil servant, is nicknamed the nanny because of her background running numerous government projects.
During the 2014 protests, which were spearheaded by young people, Carrie Lam took the unpopular stance of defending Beijing’s concessions for political reform.
This allowed Hong Kong people to choose their leader but only from pre-approved candidates.
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who was among those protesting and was a lead figure in the umbrella movement, has called the electoral process “a selection rather than an election”.
When the result was announced, he tweeted that Carrie Lam had been elected with “only 777 votes”.
On Facebook, an online protest was launched called No Election in Hong Kong Now, which showed a video montage of regular citizens going about their business as the election took place to highlight how they were not entitled to participate.
CY Leung has proved unpopular with large swathes of Hong Kong residents who consider him too tightly aligned to Beijing.
At the end of the 2016, CY Leung made the unexpected announcement that he would not run again, citing family reasons.
Hong Kong is governed under the principle of “one country, two systems”, under which China has agreed to give the region semi-autonomous status since its 1997 handover from Britain.
The Election Committee includes 70 members of the territory’s legislature, the Legislative Council – half of whom are directly elected.
However, most of the Election Committee is chosen by business, professional or special interest groups.
Critics say entities that lean towards Beijing are given disproportionately large representation.
In 2016, pro-democracy activists secured 325 seats on the committee – the highest number ever, but not enough seats to determine the next chief executive.
Donald Trump will turn to tax reform, following his failure to get his healthcare bill through Congress on March 24.
The draft bill would have scrapped the Affordable Care Act of former President Barack Obama, which was opposed by President Trump’s Republican party for years.
ObamaCare requires all Americans to have health insurance but offers subsidies to people on low incomes.
They control both houses of Congress, and the withdrawal is a major setback for the new president.
Donald Trump campaigned on his skills as a dealmaker.
Image source Flickr
He told reporters at the White House: “I would say that we will probably start going very, very strong for the big tax cuts and tax reform. That will be next.”
However, the tax cuts were supposed to be paid for by savings from the withdrawn healthcare bill.
Without the spending cuts in the failed bill, any tax cuts will add to the federal budget deficit.
President Trump lashed out at Democrats in Congress after the bill was withdrawn, blaming them for not backing his legislation.
However, it was House Republicans who ensured it was shelved, after Speaker Paul Ryan decided he could not get enough backing from his own party.
Paul Ryan said: “Doing big things is hard.”
Donald Trump refrained from criticizing Mr Ryan, whose job as speaker of the House involves rallying support for controversial bills.
“We learned about loyalty; we learned a lot about the vote-getting process,” the president said.
On March 25, Donald Trump repeated his claim that ObamaCare would “explode”, tweeting: “We will all get together and piece together a great healthcare plan for THE PEOPLE. Do not worry!”
ObamaCare has been troubled by increases in insurance premiums. It also imposes tax penalties on uninsured Americans – many of them low- to moderate-income earners.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on March 24 that tax reform was “a lot simpler” in many ways than healthcare reform.
Steve Mnuchin said that his goal remained to get tax measures through Congress by August this year.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer admitted that this goal was “an ambitious one”, but one that the administration was “going to try to stick to”.
A ban on large electronic devices in cabin baggage on flights from Turkey and some countries in the Middle East and North Africa to the US and UK has come into effect.
At least one airline is allowing devices to be used up until boarding.
The US ban covers eight countries, while the UK restrictions apply to six.
Nine airlines from eight countries – Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait – are affected by the US ban. They operate about 50 flights a day to the US.
UAE airline Emirates is offering complimentary packing and shipping services at gates to enable passengers to use their electronic devices after check-in and until boarding.
That also means passengers flying on two-leg trips from other countries to the US through Dubai can use their laptops on the first leg of their flights.
Image source Public Domain Pictures
The UK ban meanwhile affects all flights out of Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Lebanon.
This ban applies to any device, including smartphones, larger than 6.3in long, 3.7in wide or 0.6in deep. However, most phones will be smaller than the limit.
The US Department for Homeland Security has cited attacks on planes and airports over the past two years as the reason for the ban,
Bombs, it said, had been hidden in such items as a soft drink can, used in the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt in October 2015 with the loss of 224 lives, and the laptop used in the unsuccessful Somali attack in 2016.
According to the Guardian, European security experts are to meet next week to discuss the US and UK bans.
Royal Jordanian Airlines has tweeted suggestions of things to do during a long flight instead of using an electronic device.
It followed up with another tweet suggesting that passengers “do what we Jordanians do best – stare at each other!”
Aviation experts say the ban could hit airline profits as risks include a fall in passenger numbers, decreasing customer satisfaction and higher costs linked to screening baggage.
Both houses of Congress are controlled by the GOP, but Donald Trump’s healthcare bill was withdrawn on March 24 because it could not get the votes required.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he and President Trump agreed to withdraw the vote, after it became apparent it would not get the minimum of 215 Republican votes needed.
Republicans have a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
However, multiple reports suggested that between 28 and 35 Republicans were opposed to President Trump’s draft American Health Care Act (AHCA).
Some were said to be unhappy that the bill cut health coverage too severely, while others felt the changes did not go far enough.
The new healthcare bill also appeared unpopular with the public – in one recent poll, just 17% approved of it.
Image source Getty Images
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the AHCA would reduce the deficit by $336 billion between 2017 and 2026.
However, the number of Americans without health insurance would stand at 52 million by the same time – an extra 24 million compared with ObamaCare.
Speaking after the withdrawal, President Trump repeatedly said ObamaCare would “explode”.
However, he refrained from criticizing Paul Ryan, whose job as speaker of the House involves rallying support for controversial bills.
President Trump said: “I like Speaker Ryan. I think Paul really worked hard.”
Paul Ryan also told reporters the president had been “really been fantastic”.
Donald Trump said the Republicans would probably focus on tax reform for now.
“We have to let ObamaCare go its own way for a little while,” he told reporters at the Oval Office, adding that if the Democrats were “civilized and came together”, the two parties could work out a “great healthcare bill”.
“We learned about loyalty; we learned a lot about the vote-getting process,” he said.
Earlier Paul Ryan told reporters: “We are going to be living with ObamaCare for the foreseeable future.
“I will not sugar-coat this. This is a disappointing day for us. Doing big things is hard.
“We were a 10-year opposition party where being against things was easy to do.”
Leader of the House minority Democrats Nancy Pelosi described the retraction as “a victory for the American people”.
Correspondents say Nicolas Maduro’s acknowledgement that Venezuela needs outside help is indicative of the dire situation the country is in, despite having some of the largest oil reserves in the world.
However, March 23 vote was delayed because of opposition from some Republicans – despite President Trump’s repeated attempts to persuade them to back the legislature.
The president now says he wants to move on and vote – whatever the result on March 24.
White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said this was exactly the message delivered to Republican lawmakers at a meeting behind closed doors on March 23.
Image source Wikipedia
House Speaker Paul Ryan said: “For seven-and-a-half years we have been promising the American people that we will repeal and replace this broken law because it’s collapsing and it’s failing families, and tomorrow we’re proceeding.”
Meanwhile, New York’s Republican representative Chris Collins said: “The president has said he wants a vote tomorrow, up or down.
“If for any reason it is down, we are just going to move forward with additional parts of his agenda.”
Repealing and replacing ObamaCare was a major plank of Donald Trump’s election campaign.
March 23 vote postponement is a setback for the president who had insisted he would win the numbers to pass it through the lower chamber of Congress on that day.
Earlier on March 23, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said President Trump had made a “rookie’s error for bringing this up on a day when clearly you’re not ready”.
The healthcare bill needs 215 votes to pass but ran into opposition mainly from conservative Republicans who believed it did not roll back enough of Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
ObamaCare helped 20 million previously uninsured Americans get health insurance but has been plagued by increases in insurance premiums, which were also a problem before the health law.
Donald Trump promised a new law that would cover more people and at a lower cost.
Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, has apologized for not informing Democratic colleagues before going public with allegations about surveillance of President Donald Trump’s team.
He apologized privately and vowed to work with them on the issue, a committee aide said.
Democrats were furious that Devin Nunes went straight to the White House.
They questioned whether the committee’s inquiry into Russia’s alleged role in the election can proceed objectively.
However, when Donald Trump was asked if he now felt vindicated for his accusations against his predecessor, he answered: “I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found.”
Image source Wikimedia
The US intelligence agencies regularly, and legally, monitor foreigners, and the communication of Americans is often incidentally collected. They are not usually named but can be if the context of the intelligence requires it.
Devin Nunes said the material he had seen “bothered” him and that the unmasking of individuals, and the content of some of the material gathered, was “inappropriate”.
Of his decision to go public and brief President Trump, Devin Nunes said: “It was a judgment call on my part.
“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the wrong decision.”
A Republican intelligence committee aide told Reuters: “He apologized to the minority on the committee for going public and to the [White House] with his announcement before sharing the information with the minority. He pledged to work with them on this issue.”
Devin Nunes had also stressed that the information in the intercepts he had seen was not linked to an FBI investigation into alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials during the election campaign.
However, Democrats said Devin Nunes’ actions could scupper the House panel’s investigation.
Democrat Jackie Speier, who serves on the committee, said: “I think over the next few days we are going to assess whether or not we feel confident that [Devin Nunes] can continue in that role.”
Democrat Adam Schiff said: “A credible investigation cannot be conducted this way.”
Devin Nunes has refused to reveal who passed him the information.
When asked whether it was the White House itself, he said he was “not going to ever reveal sources”.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said: “I don’t know why he would come up to the president to brief him on something we had briefed him on.”
Devin Nunes’ disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey confirmed the organization was investigating alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials.
Adam Schiff on Wednesday told MSNBC he believed there was evidence “that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation” about the links.
Former economy minister Axel Kiciloff and the former head of the central bank have also been charged.
Cristina Fernandez, who governed from 2007 to 2015, said the case was politically motivated.
She already faces unrelated investigations into alleged corruption.
Judge Claudio Bonadio said a total of 15 people would go in trial in connection with the case.
Cristina Fernandez is accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollars on the futures market at artificially low prices ahead of a widely expected devaluation of the Argentine peso.
This, the allegation goes, caused Argentina to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
Cristina Fernandez is also being investigated over alleged corruption but the dollar futures case would be the first to reach the trial phase.
She won the presidential election in 2007, succeeding her husband, Nestor Kirchner, in the top office.
In 2011, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was re-elected by a landslide.
House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes said that post-election communications of Donald Trump’s team were swept up in an “incidental collection” by intelligence agencies.
The Republican lawmaker said individuals were named in “widely disseminated” reports, which he said was “totally inappropriate”.
He also insisted the collected information was not linked to an FBI investigation into alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials during the election campaign.
A political row followed Devin Nunes’ announcement, with the top Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, criticizing him for not consulting the committee before going public.
Adam Schiff said: “This is not how you conduct an investigation. You don’t take information that the committee hasn’t seen and present it orally to the press and to the White House before the committee has a chance to vet whether it’s even significant.”
Image source Wikimedia
Devin Nunes said the incidental collection was legal but his main concern was that people involved had been unmasked in the reports.
However, Adam Schiff said it was “fully appropriate” to give the names of US citizens “when it is necessary to understand the context of collected foreign intelligence information”.
What Devin Nunes had revealed did not indicate that there was any flaw in the procedures followed by the intelligence agencies, Adam Schiff added.
The intelligence collection, which took place mainly in November, December and January, was brought to the attention of Devin Nunes by an unnamed source or sources.
When Donald Trump was asked if he felt vindicated for his explosive accusations against his predecessor, he answered: “I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found.”
Trump campaign advisers are currently the subject of an FBI investigation and two congressional inquiries.
Investigators are reviewing whether the Trump campaign and its associates co-ordinated with Moscow to interfere in the 2016 presidential election campaign to damage Donald Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Nikolay Gorokhov, a lawyer for the family of Sergei Magnitsky, the Russian lawyer whose death in 2009 sparked a crisis between Russia and the West, has been badly injured.
According to Russian media, Nikolay Gorokhov fell from the fourth floor when a rope snapped as he and others tried to lift a bathtub into his house near Moscow.
The lawyer was flown to hospital by helicopter, a medical source was quoted as saying.
However, British businessman Bill Browder, for whom Sergei Magnitsky worked, said Nikolai Gorokhov had been “thrown”.
Bill Browder did not give a source for his allegation.
Image source Vimeo
According to a press release on a website linked to Bill Browder, Law and Order in Russia, Nikolay Gorokhov was due to appear in an appeals court in Moscow on March 22 to contest its refusal to investigate allegations of organized crime.
Sergei Magnitsky died in prison after revealing alleged fraud by state officials.
The incident involving Nikolay Gorokhov occurred in the town of Troitsk, south-west of Moscow. Russian media said several workmen were helping the lawyer at the time.
Footage on Russian media showed pictures of the tub and the debris of a wooden structure beside it.
One man described as a witness told Russia channel NTV that a delivery company had offered to carry the tub up to the fourth floor but that Nikolay Gorokhov had said he would winch it up the side of the building himself.
“He tried to use a homemade mechanism to lift it to the fourth floor. While he was doing that the winch got jammed. He went to fix it a bit and fell, with the jacuzzi and the makeshift scaffolding which landed on top of him,” the man said.
His comments appeared to indicate the workmen were on the ground at the time of the accident.
Sergei Magnitsky was jailed after being accused of committing fraud himself. Supporters say his death in November 2009 was the result of a severe beating, but official records say he died of acute heart failure and toxic shock, caused by untreated pancreatitis.
He had acted as a legal adviser for London-based Hermitage Capital Management, founded by Bill Browder (formerly a US citizen), who was himself tried in absentia.
The Magnitsky affair soured relations between Moscow and Washington, casting a spotlight on corruption in Russia.
A Ukrainian lawmaker made further allegations about secret funds said to have been paid to Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Serhiy Leshchenko said he had evidence that Paul Manafort had tried to hide a payment of $750,000 by a pro-Russian party in 2009. Paul Manafort’s spokesman denied the claim as “baseless”.
Paul Manafort was an adviser to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. But he denies receiving any cash payments.
Paul Manafort is one of a number of the presidential associates currently under scrutiny for possible contacts with Russia during the US presidential campaign.
Image source Getty
On March 20, FBI director James Comey confirmed for the first time that his agency was investigating alleged Russian interference in the election.
On March 21, Serhiy Leshchenko, a former investigative journalist, published an invoice purportedly signed by Paul Manafort that showed a $750,000 payment for a shipment of computers to a company called Davis Manafort.
The funds came from an offshore company in Belize via a bank in Kyrgyzstan.
Serhiy Leshchenko said the contract was a cover for payments to Paul Manafort for his consulting services to Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.
The lawmaker said the amount and date of the payment matched one of the entries on the so-called Black Ledgers (handwritten accounting books alleged to belong to the Party of Regions), where Paul Manafort’s name was mentioned.
Paul Manafort’s spokesman Jason Maloni described the latest allegations as “baseless”, saying they should be “summarily dismissed”.
President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted during mass street protests in Ukraine in 2014.
The ousted leader could be charged for allegedly allowing close friend Choi Soon-sil to extort money from large companies.
Choi Soon-sil has been charged with bribery and corruption.
On March 21, Park Geun-hye’s supporters gathered outside her home in an affluent suburb of Seoul, as she was escorted by police to the prosecutors’ office in a short journey covered live on TV.
People waved the South Korean flag, a symbol of the pro-Park movement.
Image source Wikimedia
“I am sorry to the people. I will faithfully cooperate with questioning,” Park Geun-hye told the media when she arrived.
Thousands of people celebrated in Seoul after Park Geun-hye’s removal from office on March 10. However, there were also angry protests by her supporters outside the Constitutional Court.
The court ruling was the culmination of months of political turmoil and public protest. An election now will be held by May 9.
PM Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is loyal to Park Geun-hye, is now the acting president.
At the heart of the drama lies the close friendship between Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil.
Choi Soon-sil is accused of using her presidential connections to pressure companies to give millions of dollars in donations to non-profit foundations she controlled.
Park Geun-hye is alleged to have been personally involved in this, and to have given Choi Soon-sil unacceptable levels of access to official documents.
On March 10, the Constitutional Court ruled that Park Geun-hye’s actions “seriously impaired the spirit of… democracy and the rule of law”.
Judges said she had broken the law by allowing Choi Soon-sil to meddle in state affairs, and had breached guidelines on official secrets by leaking numerous documents.
Park Geun-hye had “concealed completely Choi’s meddling in state affairs and denied it whenever suspicions over the act emerged and even criticized those who raised the suspicions,” the ruling said.
Prosecutors are now questioning Park Geun-hye in what could be a lengthy days-long process.
They had previously accused Park Geun-hye of colluding with Choi Soon-sil, which the former president has strenuously denied. She had also previously refused to take part in investigations.
After losing her presidential immunity, Park Geun-hye could be charged for abuse of power and coercion to bribery.
FBI director James Comey and NSA chief Admiral Mike Rogers are set to testify before Congress about possible links between Russia and President Donald Trump’s election campaign.
The two intelligence chiefs will also address Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that he was wiretapped by President Barack Obama.
James Comey and Mike Rogers will give evidence at a rare open hearing of the congressional intelligence committee.
President Trump has called the investigation a “total witch hunt”.
Russia denies attempting to influence the US presidential election.
Two months ago, US intelligence agencies said Kremlin-backed hackers had broken into the email accounts of senior Democrats and released embarrassing ones in order to help Donald Trump defeat rival Hillary Clinton.
Since then, Donald Trump has faced allegations that his campaign team had links to Russian officials.
Republican Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee, and Adam Schiff, the panel’s top Democrat, are leading an investigation into the allegations.
Devin Nunes said on March 19 that based on “everything I have up to this morning” there is “no evidence” that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
However, Adam Schiff said the material he had seen offers circumstantial evidence that US citizens collaborated with Russians to influence the vote.
He said: “There was circumstantial evidence of collusion; there is direct evidence, I think, of deception.
“There’s certainly enough for us to conduct an investigation.”
Two senior officials in the Trump administration have been caught up in the allegations – former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and Attorney-General Jeff Sessions.
Michael Flynn was fired last month after he misled the White House about his conversations with the Russian ambassador before he was appointed national security adviser.
He allegedly discussed US sanctions with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak. It is illegal for private citizens to conduct US diplomacy.
Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions was accused by Democrats of lying under oath during his confirmation hearing in January.
Jeff Sessions said he had “no communications with the Russians”, but it later emerged that he had met Sergei Kislyak during the campaign.
He denied any wrongdoing, but removed himself from an FBI inquiry into Russia’s alleged interference in the election.
March 20 hearing is also expected to address Donald Trump’s claims that the Obama administration wiretapped his phone at Trump Tower in New York during the campaign.
President Trump has provided no evidence, and senior Republican and Democratic officials have dismissed the idea. Barack Obama’s spokesman dismissed the claims.
Devin Nunes told Fox News on March 19 that a review of justice department documents provided on March 17 indicated there was no such wiretap.
Several Republicans have said President Trump should apologize if he cannot substantiate his claims.
Observers say both allegations have diverted attention from the Trump administration’s other policies and progress with political appointments.
Critics say Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama wiretapped him has damaged the US credibility, and relations with its allies.
Last week, President Trump’s spokesman Sean Spicer repeated claims by a Fox News analyst that the UK’s GCHQ spy agency had helped Barack Obama wiretap Donald Trump.
The claims angered the UK government, and GCHQ rejected the allegations as “utterly ridiculous”.
Meanwhile, President Trump and some Republicans have called for an investigation into intelligence leaks, including the leak that revealed details of Michael Flynn’s phone calls to the Russian ambassador.
New Zealand has expelled a US diplomat after the embassy refused to waive his immunity during a police investigation.
The diplomat was allegedly involved in an incident on March 12, but police were unable to question him after the US embassy in Wellington declined their request.
New Zealand then asked the US to remove the man, who American officials confirmed had left on March 18.
Police have refused to give further details of the allegations.
Image spurce Flickr
However, according to New Zealand Radio, the man – who has not been named – had left the country with a broken nose and a black eye.
Police did say they were continuing to investigate the incident, which took place just outside Wellington.
New Zealand’s foreign ministry said it makes it “clear with all diplomatic missions in New Zealand that it expects foreign diplomats to abide by New Zealand law, and to waive immunity… if there are allegations of serious crimes”.
The US embassy in Wellington – which is without a permanent ambassador after President Barack Obama’s appointee was recalled by Donald Trump’s administration in January – said it did not comment on the specifics of matters under investigation.
The embassy added: “We take seriously any suggestion that our staff have fallen short of the high standards of conduct expected of US government personnel.”
In South Korea on March 17, Rex Tillerson said a US military response would be on the table if North Korea threatened South Korea or US forces.
And President Trump tweeted that North Korea was “behaving very badly”.
Donald Trump also said that China – North Korea’s main ally – had done “little to help”.
Wang Yi defended China’s position, saying all parties were duty-bound to implement UN sanctions against North Korea, but also to seek dialogue and diplomatic solutions.
He said: “We hope that all parties, including our friends from the United States, could size up the situation in a cool-headed and comprehensive fashion and arrive at a wise decision.”
Secretary Rex Tillerson did not repeat his threat in Beijing, but stressed that the US and China shared “a common view that tensions on the peninsula are quite high right now – and that things have reached a rather dangerous level”.
However, he added that they had both committed “to do whatever we can to prevent any kind of conflict breaking out”.
The US has deployed its Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) in South Korea in a move it says is designed to protect against threats from North Korea.
However, China has claimed the system goes “far beyond” the defense needs of the Korean peninsula.
Secretary Tillerson, a former oil executive with no prior diplomatic experience, will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 19.
President Xi Jinping is scheduled to visit the US in April for his first meeting with President Donald Trump.
Some commentators expect Rex Tillerson to downplay any tensions between the two countries ahead of that encounter.
President Donald Trump, who believes he was wiretapped under Barack Obama, told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “At least we have something in common, perhaps.”
Donald Trump made his wiretapping jibe in a joint press conference with Angela Merkel. She gave a quizzical look.
The president was also asked about a comment by White House press secretary Sean Spicer that the UK’s GCHQ spy agency had carried out wiretapping on candidate Donald Trump during the election campaign.
Donald Trump said Sean Spicer had been quoting a comment on Fox TV. The president said he had not offered an opinion on it, adding: “You shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.”
Image source NBC
Fox later read out a statement on air, saying: “Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now president of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop.”
GCHQ rejected the allegations against it as “nonsense” and Downing Street says it has been assured the US will not repeat the claims.
President Trump was also asked if he regretted any of his regular tweets. He said “very seldom”, adding that it was a way to “get round the media when it doesn’t tell the truth”.
The body language was at times awkward. In an earlier photo opportunity in the White House, Angela Merkel asked him quietly: “Do you want a handshake?”
Donald Trump looked forwards with his hands clasped and did not reply.
President Trump reiterated his strong support for the alliance, but also “the need for our NATO allies to pay their fair share for the cost of defense”.
Germany is among many NATO members that do not meet the benchmark 2% of GDP to be spent on defense.
Angela Merkel said Germany was committed to increasing its defense spending.
On trade, President Trump bristled at a suggestion that he believed in “isolationist” policies. He told the reporter asking the question: “I don’t know what newspaper you’re reading, but I guess that would be an example of fake news.”
Donald Trump added: “I believe a policy of trade should be a fair trade. And the United States has been treated very, very unfairly by many countries over the years and that’s going to stop.”
Angela Merkel, who was travelling with top executives from German companies Siemens, Schaeffler and BMW, said she hoped the US and the EU could resume talks on removing barriers to bilateral trade.
And when Time magazine chose the Germanchancellor as its person of the year in 2015 instead of him, Donald Trump said she was “ruining Germany”. However, he has also said in the past she is a leader he greatly respects.
Donald Trump also has German ancestry. His grandfather emigrated to the United States in 1885 at the age of 16 from the town of Kallstadt, about 30 miles south-west of Frankfurt.
For her part, Angela Merkel has criticized President Trump’s controversial travel ban that targets the citizens of several mainly Muslim countries.
In her first phone conversation with President Trump after he took office, she explained that the Geneva Convention obliges signatories, including the US, to take in refugees of war on humanitarian grounds.
Angela Merkel also had a strong relationship with President Barack Obama. His final call to a foreign leader as president was said to be to Angela Merkel, thanking her for her leadership.
This first meeting comes as Angela Merkel prepares for an election battle later in the year, seeking a fourth term as chancellor.
Angela Merkel is being accompanied by top executives from German companies Siemens, Schaeffler and BMW and will point out the large direct German investment in the US.
She said BMW’s plant in the US exported “more cars than GM and Ford together” from the United States, adding: “I’ll make that clear.”
On March 17, Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said Germany could file a suit against any hike in import duties at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
She told Deutschlandfunk radio: “There are procedures laid out there because in the WTO agreements it is clearly laid out that you’re not allowed to take more than 2.5% taxes on imports of cars.”
President Trump has suggested a 35% levy.
“It wouldn’t be the first time that Mr. Trump has lost in the courts,” Brigitte Zypries added.
NATO is also on the two leaders’ agenda.
President Trump has insisted members pay their fair share. Only four nations currently reach the benchmark of spending 2% of GDP on defense. Germany is not among them.
The meeting agenda is also expected to cover foreign policy issues involving Russia, Syria, Iran, North Korea and the Middle East peace process.
Judge Derrick Watson said the court had established a strong likelihood that, were the ban to go ahead, it would cause “irreparable injury” by violating First Amendment protections against religious discrimination.
Hawaii had argued that the ban would harm tourism and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers in the state.
The 43-page ruling argued that a “reasonable, objective observer” taking into account the context of the Executive Order would conclude it “was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion”.
Image source Flickr
It notes statements made by Donald Trump such as a 2015 press release calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”, and his adviser Rudolph Guiliani, who said in a TV interview in January: “When [President Trump] first announced it, he said, <<Muslim ban>>. He called me up. He said: <<Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally>>.”
It also says there is a “dearth of evidence indicating a national security purpose”.
Speaking at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee on March 15, Donald Trump said the ruling in Hawaii was “flawed” and a case of “unprecedented judicial overreach”.
The Trump administration argues that the constitution gives the president the power to suspend immigration when he deems it to be in the national interest of the country, and that neither the initial or revised orders discriminate on the basis of religion.
DoJ lawyers argue that the revised ban is an extension of President Barack Obama’s move towards stricter screening of travelers from the six countries.
Donald Trump said he will take the case “as far as it needs to go”, including to the Supreme Court.
An appeal against the Hawaii decision would be expected to go next to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – the same court which in February said it would not block a ruling by a Seattle court to half the original travel ban.
However, also on March 15, five judges at that court wrote a letter saying they believed that decision was an “error”, and the first Executive Order was “well within the powers of the presidency”.
California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington are all taking part in legal actions against the revised ban.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is attending a court hearing in Seattle in his efforts to block the travel ban, described the ruling as “fantastic news”.
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