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.
In a series of tweets, Donald Trump accused his predecessor directly, asking: “Is it legal for a sitting President to be <<wire tapping>> a race for president?”
Image source Wikipedia
Talking to Fox News in an interview that was broadcast in full on March 15, he made his first comments about the wiretap accusation he made two weeks ago.
Donald Trump said: “Wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.”
Despite repeated requests from reporters, the White House has not provided any evidence to support his claim.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said President Trump “used the word <<wiretap>> in quotes to mean broadly surveillance and other activities”.
Donald Trump asked Congress to examine the allegation as part of an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s election.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who is leading the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation of allegations of Trump-Russia ties, has pressed the FBI to come forward with more details of its own probe into the issue.
Lindsey Graham said on March 15 he would use a court order to force FBI Director James Comey to submit details on its Russian investigation and whether there was any evidence of Donald Trump’s phones being wiretapped.
Donald Trump has been dogged by claims that his advisers and staff had ties to Russian officials, but there has been no evidence of any collusion between his campaign and Moscow.
Geert Wilders declared after casting his vote: “Whatever the outcome of the elections today, the genie will not go back into the bottle and this patriotic revolution – whether today or tomorrow – will take place.”
Protracted coalition talks are the likely outcome.
After casting his vote, PM Mark Rutte asked his fellow citizens to imagine how the world would react if the Freedom Party came first.
“I think the rest of the world will then see that after Brexit, after the American elections, again the wrong sort of populism has won the day,” he said.
Earlier, in TV debates, Mark Rutte and Geert Wilders clashed over how to stem immigration.
Mark Rutte dismissed Geert Wilders’s plan to close borders and mosques and to ban the Koran as “fake solutions”.
Lodewijk Asscher of the Labor Party, the junior party in Mark Rutte’s coalition, called Geert Wilders a man of “10,000 angry tweets and no solutions”.
Several of the smaller party leaders are being seen as potential power-brokers.
Seven of the 28 parties running could win more than 10 seats in the 150-seat parliament, the polls suggest.
Christian Democrat Sybrand Buma and liberal Alexander Pechtold might go into coalition in the event of Mark Rutte’s victory.
However, other parties could end up as king-makers too, such as the Green-Left under Jesse Klaver and the Socialist party.
None are likely to take part in a coalition with Geert Wilders.
All of the parties forecast to win 10 seats or more are led by men yet women made up more than a third of MPs in the outgoing parliament (58 out of 150).
In the past, the Green-Left was regularly led by a woman, including Femke Halsema, who held the post for more than eight years (2002-2010).
Now only some of the very small parties have female leaders: Sylvana Simons from Article One (which campaigns against discrimination) and Marianne Thieme from Party for the Animals.
Correspondents say that, despite the lack of detail in the 2005 documents, the leak is still significant because so little is known about Donald Trump’s tax affairs and the new information could increase pressure on him to release more.
The two pages show that President Trump paid $5.3 million in federal income tax and an extra $31 million in what is called alternative minimum tax (AMT).
Image source Flickr
AMT was set up nearly 50 years ago to stop the wealthiest people from using deductions and loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Donald Trump has called for it to be abolished.
The $38 million bill was an effective tax rate of about 24%, higher than the average American citizen would pay but below the 27.4% averaged by higher-earning taxpayers.
Although leaking federal tax returns is a criminal offence, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow argued that the network was exercising its right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the US Constitution to publish information in the public interest.
Journalist David Cay Johnston, interviewed on MSNBC, said he had received the documents in the post from an anonymous source.
In a statement issued before the broadcast, the White House said: “You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago.”
The statement said President Trump had a responsibility to pay no more tax than was legally required.
Every presidential candidate since 1976 has released their tax returns although there is no legal requirement to do so.
During last year’s election campaign, Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump in a head-to-head debate of paying no federal income tax.
In October 2016, the New York Times revealed parts of Donald Trump’s 1995 tax returns that showed losses of $916 million. The newspaper said this could have affected his returns for up to 18 subsequent years, allowing him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes.
The forms disclosed on March 14 do not say whether the $103 million write-down was connected to the 1995 losses.
South Korean animal rights groups have accused impeached President Park Geun-hye of abandoning her dogs when she left the presidential palace.
The row comes as Park Geun-hye was called for questioning and named as a suspect in the wide-ranging corruption scandal that eventually led to her downfall.
South Korea will hold its presidential election on May 9.
Park Geun-hye is South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be ousted.
Over the weekend she left the presidential palace, known as the Cheong Wa Dae, and moved into her house in an affluent district of Seoul.
Park Geun-hye’s nine Jindo dogs were not among the entourage that accompanied her.
The Busan Korea Alliance for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Busan KAPCA) noted the impeached president could have violated animal protection laws by leaving the dogs behind.
Image source BarkPost
The group, along with the Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), claimed Park Geun-hye had abandoned her pets, and both organizations offered to find new homes for the dogs.
A Cheong Wa Dae spokesman denied Park Geun-hye had abandoned her dogs, and told Reuters that they were left at the palace partly because it would not be good for them to be uprooted from their home.
“She told… staff to take good care of the dogs and to find good foster homes for the puppies if necessary,” said the spokesman.
Park Geun-hye was known to be fond of her pets, which had been dubbed the country’s “First Dogs,” the Korea Times reported.
When Park Geun-hye was inaugurated as president in 2013, she moved into Cheong Wa Dae with a pair of Jindo dogs which were given to her as a present.
The pair later produced several puppies, some of whom she kept while others were adopted. Jindo dogs are known for their loyalty and devotion.
The date for the next presidential election was set at a cabinet meeting on March 15.
At that meeting, Hwang Kyo-ahn said he would not run in the election, dealing a blow to conservatives looking for viable candidates, reported Yonhap news agency.
Until recently, he was the favorite to win the elections in April and May.
However, the former prime minister has now slipped behind far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Emmanuel Macron.
Image source Wikimedia
On March 14, Francois Fillon, 63, was personally placed under formal investigation over suspicions that he arranged for his wife Penelope to be paid public money for work as his parliamentary assistant which she did not actually carry out.
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.
A magistrate had already been investigating the case, but until now the inquiry did not mention directly Francois Fillon.
The embarrassment is acute because this is the same Francois Fillon who before the campaign said it would be inconceivable for someone to remain as a candidate if placed in this legal situation, our correspondent adds.
In a separate development on March 14, French media report that Marine Le Pen is now suspected by the country’s tax authorities of undervaluing her share of two properties jointly owned with her father Jean Marie Le Pen.
Marine Le Pen has made no public comment on the issue.
President Donald Trump’s claims that he was wiretapped by former President Barack Obama were not meant literally, White House press secretary Sean Spicer says.
He said President Trump had broadly meant “surveillance and other activities” when he made the allegation in a tweet earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the DoJ has asked for more time to provide information about the allegations.
A congressional committee had set a March 13 deadline for the department to provide any evidence of President Trump’s claims but a spokeswoman said it needed “additional time… to determine what if any responsive documents may exist”.
Image source Wikipedia
The House Intelligence Committee said it would give the department until March 20 to comply with its request.
In his tweet President Trump said: “Just found out that Obama had my <<wires tapped>> in Trump Tower just before the victory.”
He added: “Is it legal for a sitting President to be <<wire tapping>> a race for president?”
The White House has instead asked Congress to examine the allegation as part of an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s election.
Earlier, Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said she did not have any evidence to back up the wiretapping claim but said there were “many ways to survey each other now”.
“You can survey someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets – any number of ways… microwaves that turn into cameras. We know this is a fact of modern life,” Kellyanne Conway told New Jersey’s Bergen County Record.
Around 14 million more people would lose health insurance coverage in 2018 under the new Republican healthcare plan, according to a budget analysis.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan group of budget analysts and economists, released its assessment on the long-awaited Republican bill.
The CBO said the number of extra uninsured would jump to 24 million by 2026.
The bill would also reduce the federal deficits by $337 billion over the 10-year period, according to the CBO.
Those savings could help House Republicans sell the legislation to some conservatives who remain skeptical about costs.
Republicans have said the goal of the American Health Care Act is to lower costs and that coverage statistics are misleading due to the high out-of-pocket costs under President Barack Obama’s signature health law.
House Speaker Paul Ryan highlighted the CBO analysis’ conclusions on deficit reduction and decreased premiums.
He said: “I recognize and appreciate concerns about making sure people have access to coverage.
“[O]ur plan is not about forcing people to buy expensive, one-size-fits-all coverage. It is about giving people more choices and better access to a plan they want and can afford.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said the administration “strenuously disagreed” with the report’s findings on the number of people who would lose coverage.
He said after the assessment was released: “Right now, current law, we’ve got individuals who have health coverage but no healthcare.”
Tom Price contended the new plan would cover more individuals at a lower cost.
California Representative Adam Schiff tweeted that the numbers in it were “appalling” while Virginia Representative Don Beyer called it a “disaster”.
He tweeted: “Now we know why @Speaker Ryan rushed to pass his repeal bill; CBO says it kicks 24 million off their healthcare in next 10 years. Appalling.”
The CBO, along with the Joint Committee on Taxation, also found that five million fewer people would be covered under Medicaid, which covers low-income people, by 2018.
An estimated 14 million fewer people would enroll in the Medicaid program by 2026.
The report found that by 2026, an estimated 52 million people would be uninsured, compared with the 28 million who would not be covered that year under the current law.
On March 13, the Dutch foreign ministry issued a new travel warning, urging its citizens in Turkey to take care and noting the new “diplomatic tensions”.
The warning to “avoid gatherings and crowded places” came as Turkey’s foreign ministry lodged a formal protest with the Dutch envoy.
Meanwhile, Dutch deputy PM Lodewijk Asscher said that “to be called Nazis by a regime which is walking backwards in regards to human rights is just disgusting”.
The row spilled over into the campaign for March 15 general election in the Netherlands, with PM Mark Rutte defending in a live TV debate his decision to stop Turkish ministers addressing Dutch Turks.
His opponent, Geert Wilders of the far-right, anti-Islam Freedom Party, said the real problem was that Turks waving Turkish flags on a Dutch street had shown where their loyalties lay.
European Union leaders called for calm.
The proposed rallies aimed to encourage a large number of Turks living in Europe to vote Yes in a referendum on April 16 on expanding the president’s powers. The plans were criticized by senior EU officials on March 13.
In Germany, for example, there are more than three million people of Turkish origin, of whom an estimated 1.4 million are eligible to vote in Turkish elections. In effect, the diaspora is Turkey’s fourth-largest electoral district.
Planned rallies in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands were blocked after officials cited security concerns or said the rallies could stoke tensions.
A gathering in France went ahead, however, after officials said it did not pose a threat.
Two Turkish ministers were barred from addressing rallies in Rotterdam, with one of them escorted to the German border.
Police used dogs and water cannon against protesters waving Turkish flags in Rotterdam.
“I have said that I had thought that Nazism was over, but I was wrong,” he said.
He later lashed out at the German chancellor.
“Mrs. Merkel, why are you hiding terrorists in your country? Why are you not doing anything?” he said, in comments quoted by AFP.
“Mrs. Merkel, you are supporting terrorists.”
Turkey has previously accused Germany of harboring Kurdish militants and suspects wanted over the failed coup attempt of July 15, 2016.
Turkey’s EU affairs minister, Omer Celik, said Ankara would retaliate against the Netherlands. He later suggested reconsidering part of a deal with the EU aimed at curbing an influx of migrants, namely Turkey’s efforts to prevent them crossing by land to Greece and Bulgaria.
On March 13, the Dutch charge d’affaires in Ankara was summoned for the third time in three days in protest against the treatment of the minister escorted to Germany and the treatment of protesters in Rotterdam.
Mark Rutte said President Erdogan’s comment that the Dutch were “Nazi remnants” was “unacceptable”, and demanded an apology.
Responding to Turkish calls for sanctions, he said the Netherlands would “never negotiate under threat”.
“This rejection is also valid for our allies. These comparisons are completely misguided… particularly in the Netherlands that endured so much agony through the National Socialists,” she said.
“That’s why the Netherlands can count on my complete support and solidarity in this.”
Danish PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen said he had postponed a meeting later this month with his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim because “with the current Turkish attacks on Holland the meeting cannot be seen separated from that”.
Congressman Steve King has sparked a backlash on social media after tweeting his support for the Dutch anti-Islam politician, Geert Wilders.
The senior Republican tweeted on March 12: “Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny.”
“We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies,” he added.
The Republican Representative of Iowa is a strong advocate of putting a stop to birthright citizenship.
All children born in the United States currently get citizenship under the constitution, including the children of families living in America illegally.
Image source Flickr
Steve King has pushed for radical reform of the interpretation of the 14th amendment of the US constitution so that it no longer gives the children of undocumented migrants the right to a US passport.
His comments led to accusations that he was “openly peddling white nationalism”.
Geert Wilders, whose populist Freedom Party is expected to do well in Dutch parliamentary elections on March 15, has been under 24-hour police protection for more than a decade due to death threats.
The anti-Islam politician was found guilty of hate speech over his promise to reduce the number of Moroccans in the Netherlands in 2016, but no penalty was imposed.
However, when Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya arrived, Dutch authorities refused to allow her entry to the consulate, sparking a stream of angry tweets.
Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was then taken to the German border by police, Dutch PM Mark Rutte confirmed on March 12.
In a Facebook post, Mark Rutte said attempts to find a “reasonable solution” to the countries’ differences had proved “impossible”, while dismissing Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya’s arrival in Rotterdam as “irresponsible”.
If successful, it would give sweeping new powers to the president, allowing them to appoint ministers, prepare the budget, choose the majority of senior judges and enact certain laws by decree.
What’s more, the president alone would be able to announce a state of emergency and dismiss parliament.
In order to get it passed, Recep Tayyip Erdogan needs to get the votes of both those citizens living in, and out, of Turkey.
There are 5.5 million Turks living outside the country, with 1.4 million eligible voters in Germany alone – and the Yes campaign are keen to get them on side.
So a number of rallies have been planned for countries where large numbers of voters currently live, including Germany, Austria and the Netherlands.
Many of the countries have cited security concerns as the official reason the rallies have been banned or moved.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said President Erdogan was not welcome to hold rallies as this could increase friction and hinder integration.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte said the Netherlands asked Turkey to desist as they feared “compromised public order and security”.
However, many European nations have also expressed deep disquiet about Turkey’s response to the July coup attempt and the country’s perceived slide towards authoritarianism under Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Germany in particular has been critical of the mass arrests and purges that followed – with nearly 100,000 civil servants removed from their posts.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has lashed out at Germany and the Netherlands, denouncing the Dutch government as “Nazi remnants and fascists”, while accusing Germany of “Nazi practices”.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned the Nazi jibe as “unacceptable”, while Mark Rutte dismissed it as a “crazy remark”.
However, Recep Tayyip Erdogan escalated the rhetoric after the Netherlands banned his foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from entering the country by plane by threatening to block Dutch flights.
The Turkish president said: “Ban our foreign minister from flying however much you like, but from now on, let’s see how your flights will land in Turkey.”
Mevlut Cavusoglu also warned Turkey would impose heavy sanctions if his visit was blocked.
Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya ‘s arrival, by road, was seen as a further provocation by Turkey on the part of the Dutch – although Mark Rutte says his government remains “in favor” of speaking with President Erdogan and his colleagues to find a resolution.
New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, who refused to resign when he and 45 other prosecutors were asked to by the Trump administration, has been sacked.
Preet Bharara tweeted: “I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired.”
He was first asked to remain in his post by President Donald Trump, when they met after the election.
However, on March 10 Preet Bharara was included in a list of prosecutors appointed by former President Barack Obama who were asked by the DoJ to step down.
Preet Bharara continued on Twitter: “Being the US Attorney in SDNY [South District New York] will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life.”
Presidents often order appointees of the previous administration to resign but the decision to replace so many in one swoop raised eyebrows.
Preet Bharara’s inclusion in the list came as a particular surprise. He told reporters in November that he had been asked by Donald Trump to stay on, and had agreed.
He rose to prominence after pursuing high-profile corruption cases and cases against Wall Street bankers.
Image source Twitter
The prosecutor won a $1.8 billion insider-trading case against hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, the largest in history. SAC was forced to close down.
Preet Bharara has also prosecuted both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Among his current cases was an investigation into fundraising by New York mayor Bill de Blasio, as well as a harassment case against Fox News by its employees.
After it was reported on March 11 that he had refused to resign, top New York Republican Brian Kolb tweeted: “Good for Preet, he is doing the job he was appointed to do!”
On March 11, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement: “President Trump’s abrupt and unexplained decision to summarily remove over 40 US attorneys has once again caused chaos in the federal government.
“Preet Bharara, like many of the US attorneys dismissed this week, served with honor and distinction.”
However, ex-Republican strategist Brian Walsh argued that the firing was “nothing new” as “US attorneys serve at the pleasure of the [president] – even Preet”.
Preet Bharara’s office and the DoJ refused to comment further, according to the Associated Press.
Despite the ruling, Park Geun-hye remains inside the presidential compound.
Thousands turned out for rallies in Seoul on March 11, a day after three people involved in protests died there.
Many were calling for the impeached president’s arrest, although a smaller number of her supporters also gathered in nearby streets.
There are fears the two sides may clash and there is a heavy police presence.
A spokeswoman for the protesters supporting the court’s decision, Choi In-sook, told Reuters they were demanding the arrest of Park Geun-hye.
She has lost her presidential immunity and could face criminal charges.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s election commission announced a “free and fair” vote would be held by May 9 at the latest.
Currently, Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party is leading in the polls, with one survey putting him almost 22% ahead of his nearest rival, acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, who is loyal to Park Geun-hye.
Hwang Kyo-ahn has called for calm, saying the government should remain stable to prevent internal conflict from spreading.
However, police are bracing themselves for more violence following the deaths of two of Park Geun-hye’s supporters on March 10.
A third person, aged 74, is understood to have had a heart attack during March 10 protests, and died on the next day, according to Reuters.
Park Geun-hye’s office said she would not be leaving the Blue House, South Korea’s presidential palace, on March 10 nor making any statement.
It is understood Park Geun-hye will not leave until her own home in Seoul is repaired and cleaned.
Judge James Robart said lawyers needed to file more extensive documentation.
The revised 90-day ban on citizens of six mostly Muslim nations is due to come into effect on March 9 but has sparked legal action in a number of states.
In succeeding with the first ban, they argued the move was unconstitutional and damaging to businesses in Washington State.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on March 9 that the administration believed the new order would withstand legal scrutiny.
Several states have launched legal challenges:
Oregon – said the order hurts residents, employers, universities health care system and economy.
Minnesota – questioned the legality of the move, suggesting the Trump administration can’t override the initial ban with a fresh executive order.
Massachusetts – new ban “remains a discriminatory and unconstitutional attempt to make good on his campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban”.
Hawaii – argued it would harm its Muslim population, tourism and foreign students.
Washington – it has “same illegal motivations as the original” and harms residents, although fewer than the first ban.
New York – “a Muslim ban by another name”, said the attorney general.
The first order, which President Trump signed in January, sparked mass protests as well as confusion at airports.
Critics maintain the revised travel ban still discriminates against Muslims. Donald Trump supporters say the president is fulfilling his campaign promises to protect Americans.
President Park Geun-hye has become South Korea’s first democratically elected leader to be forced from office.
Judges unanimously upheld parliament’s decision to impeach Park Geun-hye over her role in a corruption scandal involving her close friend, 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.
Park Geun-hye had “concealed completely Choi Soon-sil’s meddling in state affairs and denied it whenever suspicions over the act emerged and even criticized those who raised the suspicions,” it said.
However, the judges dismissed some charges, including accusations Park Geun-hye had infringed on freedom of the press by creating a media blacklist of cultural figures, and criticism of her response during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.
According to the US report, Chinese civil society groups suffered “repression and coercion” and accused Beijing of curtailing freedoms in Hong Kong and Macau.
As well as sharp criticisms of American democracy, the Chinese report – which drew heavily on US media coverage – also highlighted cases of police violence and racism.
The report accused the US of “wielding <<the baton of human rights>>” while “paying no attention to its own terrible human rights problems”.
It added: “With the gunshots lingering in people’s ears behind the Statue of Liberty, worsening racial discrimination and the election farce dominated by money politics, the self-proclaimed human rights defender has exposed its human rights ‘myth’ with its own deeds.”
China strictly curtails freedom of speech and is frequently criticized for arbitrary detentions, official brutality, widespread corruption, a lack of transparency, a pliant judiciary and little in the way of democracy.
The country is also extremely sensitive to criticism and has cracked down on domestic critics.
These carried claims that the CIA had developed ways to listen in on smartphone and smart TV microphones.
The CIA, FBI and White House have declined to comment on the authenticity of the files leaked on March 7.
On March 8, CIA officials – who spoke on the condition of anonymity – told media that the criminal investigation was looking into how the files came into WikiLeaks’ possession.
The CIA has not confirmed whether the documents – said to date between 2013 to 2016 – are real.
Several of the tech companies whose products have been allegedly compromised by the CIA gave their first reactions on March 8.
Apple said it had already addressed some of the vulnerabilities.
“The technology built into today’s iPhone represents the best data security available to consumers, and we’re constantly working to keep it that way,” it said.
Samsung – whose F8000 series of TVs was reportedly compromised – said that “protecting consumers’ privacy and the security of our devices is a top priority at Samsung”.
“We are aware of the report and are looking into it,” a spokesman from Microsoft said.
Google has also reacted to claims that the CIA was able to “penetrate, infest and control” Android phones due to its discovery and acquisition of “zero day” bugs – previously unknown flaws in the operating system’s code.
“As we’ve reviewed the documents, we’re confident that security updates and protections in both Chrome and Android already shield users from many of these alleged vulnerabilities,” the company told the news site Recode.
“Our analysis is ongoing and we will implement any further necessary protections. We’ve always made security a top priority and we continue to invest in our defenses.”
The World Wide Web Foundation – which campaigns for internet privacy – said the US government needed to issue a detailed response.
A mystery video of Kim Jong-nam’s son has emerged amid investigation of the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s murder.
In the short and censored clip, the young man says: “My name is Kim Han-sol, from North Korea, part of the Kim family.”
Kim Jan-sol says he is with his mother and sister, but there are no details on the date or location. It’s the Kim family’s first public comment since Kim Jong-nam’s assassination in Malaysia.
Kim Jong-nam was killed in a Kuala Lumpur airport on February13 by attackers who smeared his face with VX nerve agent.
Officials at South Korea’s Unification Ministry and National Intelligence Service have confirmed that the man in the video is Kim Han-sol.
The 40-second clip features the man identified as Kim Han-sol sitting against a grey wall. In perfect, slightly accented English, he introduces himself and says: “My father has been killed a few days ago. I’m currently with my mother and my sister.”
Kim Han-sol shows what appears to be a North Korean diplomatic passport to confirm his identity, though the details have been blocked out, and says he is “grateful to…” before the audio and image are censored.
The man ends by saying: “We hope this gets better soon.”
Image source YouTube
As Kim Jong-nam was killed last month, it is unclear when and where the video was filmed, and what Kim Han-sol’s current whereabouts are.
The video was put online by a group called the Cheollima Civil Defense (CCD) – they have not previously been heard of, and appear to have registered a website and YouTube account only recently.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the group presumably assists escaping North Koreans – there is a town south-west of Pyongyang named Cheollima. They sent the video link to the Malaysia correspondent for Channel News Asia.
A message in English on the CCD site said it had responded to a request for protection from “survivors of the family of Kim Jong-nam”.
“We have in the past addressed other urgent needs for protection. This will be the first and last statement on this particular matter, and the present whereabouts of this family will not be addressed.”
The group also thanked several countries for offering emergency humanitarian assistance, including the Netherlands, China and the US and “a fourth government to remain unnamed”, while giving particular thanks to the Netherlands ambassador in South Korea, AJA Embrechts.
Kim Han-sol is believed to be 21, and has lived a low-profile life since his father’s exile, growing up in Macau and China.
In 2012, Kim Han-sol appeared in a TV interview for Finnish TV from Bosnia, where he was studying, saying he had never met his powerful uncle or his grandfather, the late Kim Jong-il.
Kim Han-sol said he had “always dreamed that one day I would go back and make things better and make it easier for the people” of North Korea.
Former Panamanian leader Manuel Antonio Noriega has undergone a second operation after suffering a hemorrhage following brain surgery.
General Manuel Antonio Noriega, 83, was critically ill and had been taken back to the operating theatre at the Santo Tomas hospital in Panama City, his daughter Thays said.
He was released from prison in January to allow him to prepare for the operation.
Manuel Noriega was jailed in Panama for murder, corruption and embezzlement.
Image source Wikimedia
Doctors were successful in halting the hemorrhage during the second operation, but the former leader remains in intensive care.
Manuel Noriega suffered from vascular ailments and has been reliant on a wheelchair.
Although he was never the actual president of Panama, General Manuel Noriega was the key figure from 1983 to 1989 – and a key US ally in Central America for four decades.
The former military ruler was jailed following the US invasion of Panama in 1989.
After serving 20 years in the US he was sent to France, where he was sentenced to seven years for money laundering.
Manuel Noriega was convicted in absentia of crimes carried out during his rule and extradited from France to Panama to serve his sentence in 2011.
House Republicans have unveiled a plan to replace ObamaCare, the signature health care law of former President Barack Obama.
The ObamaCare replacement would repeal penalties for those who do not buy health insurance.
The legislation would also replace income-based subsidies to help with the cost of premiums with age-based tax credits.
Democrats immediately criticized the plan, saying it would drive up the costs of health care.
The Affordable Care Act helped 20 million previously uninsured Americans get health insurance.
However, increases in insurance premiums have irked many Americans.
The new plan would reduce the role of the federal government in helping Americans afford healthcare.
The White House said in a statement: “Today marks an important step toward restoring health care choices and affordability back to the American people.”
President Donald Trump looked forward to working with Congress to repeal and replace the law, it said.
He has described ObamaCare, which was passed in 2010 and is seen as Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement, as “a disaster”.
The Republican Party has majorities in both chambers of Congress but divisions remain on the details of what should replace ObamaCare, which is popular in many states, including some governed by Republicans.
The new legislation is expected to cover fewer people than those who gained insurance under Barack Obama.
A group of four Republican senators have already said that a draft of the legislation they reviewed did not adequately protect low-income people who received Medicaid coverage under ObamaCare.
The proposal unveiled on March 6 would preserve some popular elements of the existing law, including allowing young people to remain on their parents’ insurance plans until the age of 26.
Insurers would also remain banned from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
While penalties for those who don’t buy health insurance would be scrapped, those who let their coverage lapse could see their premiums raised by 30% by insurers.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said the bill would “drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance”.
He said no one would have “the rug pulled out from under them”.
However, some conservatives have already voiced concerns that the bill does not go far enough.
“It still looks like ObamaCare-lite to me,” said Senator Rand Paul.
A new executive order placing a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations has been signed by President Donald Trump on March 6.
Iraq, which was covered in the previous seven-nation order, has been removed from the new list after agreeing additional visa vetting measures.
The new order, which includes a 120-day ban on all refugees, takes effect on March 16 to limit travel disruption.
The previous order, which was blocked by a federal court, sparked confusion at airports and mass protests.
Citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the other six countries on the original list, will once more be subject to a 90-day travel ban.
Iraq was taken off the banned list in the original order – which was issued on January 27 – because its government has boosted visa screening and data sharing, White House officials said.
The new directive says refugees already approved by the State Department can enter the United States; it limits the number allowed in to 50,000 for the year.
Image source Flickr
The order also lifts an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees.
Green Card holders from the named countries will not be affected by the new order.
The new order also does not give priority to religious minorities, unlike the previous directive.
However, critics of the Trump administration had argued that was an unlawful policy showing preference to Christian refugees.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and Attorney General Jeff Sessions held a joint news conference on March 6 to discuss the new directive.
Rex Tillerson the order was meant to “eliminate vulnerabilities that radical Islamic terrorists can and will exploit for destructive ends”.
Former French PM Alain Juppe has no intention to replace under-fire presidential hopeful Francois Fillon, despite pressure to do so.
Francois Fillon has denied allegations that members of his family were paid taxpayers’ money for fictitious jobs.
He has lost support within the center-right party and in opinion polls ahead of the first round of voting in April.
Alain Juppe, seen as his most likely replacement, attacked his rival’s “obstinacy” but said he would not run.
According to opinion polls, Alain Juppe would have progressed into the second round of the election. Francois Fillon is not projected to make it past the first round.
They have been rumbling on for more than a month now – and the longer they have gone on, the more Francois Fillon has dug in (seemingly at the expense of his own chances of the presidency).
The former prime minister has fought allegations that his Welsh-born wife, Penelope, was paid for a number of years for work that she did not do as his parliamentary assistant.
Image source Wikimedia
However, Penelope Fillon, who insists she did work for her husband, told French magazine Journal du Dimanche last week that “everything was legal and declared”.
Also under scrutiny are claims that two of Francois Fillon’ children, Marie and Charles, were paid by their father’s office for legal work even though they had not yet qualified as lawyers.
However, key members of his campaign team have abandoned him and several leading Republicans have wavered in their support.
Alain Juppe, like Francois Fillon a former prime minister, did not hold back against any of the leading candidates on March 6.
However, he reserved his angriest comments for Francois Fillon, whose talk of a plot, and criticism of judges and the media, “has led him into a dead-end”.
“What a waste,” he said.
The pressure on Francois Fillon is likely to grow next week, when he is due to appear before a judge to be placed under formal investigation for embezzlement.
In the short-term, Francois Fillon’s party will hold a unity summit on March 6, a meeting he has been urged to attend.
His drop in favorability and Alain Juppe’s decision look like clearing the way for the young centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron to battle it out against Marine Le Pen in the second round. Polls give him a clear edge over the National Front candidate.
A big question mark now hangs over former President Nicolas Sarkozy. Defeated in the first Republican primary by Alain Juppe and Francois Fillon, he had called for an emergency meeting between the three of them.
The president, who faces intense scrutiny over alleged Russian interference in support of his presidential bid, made the claims in a series of tweets on March 4.
Image source Wikipedia
Donald Trump offered no evidence to support his allegation that phones at Trump Tower were tapped during his campaign.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer went on to say there had been “very troubling” reports “concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election”.
All the evidence indicates the answer is no. A spokesman for former President Barack Obama said Donald Trump’s allegation charge was “simply false”.
A warrant, if it existed, would most likely have been ordered by the DoJ independently of the White House.
The only way Barack Obama could have ordered surveillance without going through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court is if there was no US citizens involved.
In this case, considering the target is allegedly Trump Tower in New York – which would definitely have involved American citizens – this would have been hard to argue.
James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence under President Obama, has categorically denied a FISA court order existed.
Leading Democrats have called on the White House to produce evidence to support Donald Trump’s claim.
Meanwhile, the White House has called on Congress to investigate whether the Obama administration had abused its powers.
Both Congress and the FBI are currently investigating contacts between the Trump election campaign and Russian officials, after US intelligence agencies assessed that Russia had interfered with the election to help Donald Trump win against his Hillary Clinton.
James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence at the time of the US election, has denied there was any wire-tapping of Donald Trump or his campaign.
He told NBC that he knew of no court order to allow monitoring of Trump Tower in New York.
Donald Trump had accused President Barack Obama of ordering the wiretap but offered no evidence.
Meanwhile, the New York Times quoted senior officials as saying that FBI director James Comey had asked the justice department to publicly dismiss President Trump’s allegation this weekend.
The officials were quoted as saying that James Comey believed there was no evidence to support the allegation, which he thought insinuated the FBI had broken the law.
However, the DoJ has made no such statement, and the Times said neither it nor the FBI had officially commented.
James Clapper, who left his post when Donald Trump took office on 20 January, told NBC’s Meet the Press: “There was no such wire-tap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, as a candidate, or against his campaign.”
He said that as intelligence director he would have known about any “court order on something like this. Absolutely, I can deny it”.
However, James Clapper added: “I can’t speak for other authorized entities in the government or a state or local entity.”
Some media reports had suggested a warrant was sought from the foreign intelligence surveillance court (FISA) in order to monitor members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials.
James Clapper’s comments appear to contradict the reports, which said that a warrant was at first turned down, but then approved in October 2016.
Under FISA, wire-tapping can only be approved if there is probable cause to believe that the target of the surveillance is an agent of a foreign power. President Obama could not lawfully have ordered such a warrant.
Donald Trump, who has faced intense scrutiny over alleged Russian interference in support of his presidential bid, made his wire-tapping allegation in tweets written from his weekend home in Florida early on Saturday.
Donald Trump’s claims sparked Republican and Democrat politicians alike to demand details to back them up. Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio was the latest, saying on March 5 that “the White House will have to answer as to exactly what he was referring to”.
However, in his series of tweets on March 5, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer did not provide any further evidence.
Sean Spicer said: “Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling.
“President Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.”
The press secretary added: “Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted.”
White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told ABC News that if President Trump’s allegations were true, “this is the greatest overreach and the greatest abuse of power that I think we’ve ever seen and a huge attack on democracy itself”.
President Donald Trump has been urged to provide evidence to back his allegation that former President Barack Obama ordered his phones to be tapped during the election campaign.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse said the president’s comments were “serious” and he should explain the alleged wiretapping and how he came to know about it.
Donald Trump has supplied no details to back his claim.
Donald Trump’s tweets follow allegations made by conservative radio host Mark Levin, including that the Obama administration “sought, and eventually obtained, authorization to eavesdrop” on the Trump campaign last year.
Other media reports had previously suggested the FBI had sought a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance court (FISA) in order to monitor members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials.
The warrant was first turned down but then reportedly approved in October 2016, though there has been no official confirmation.
Under FISA, wiretapping can only be approved if there is probable cause to believe that the target of the surveillance is an agent of a foreign power. President Barack Obama could not lawfully have ordered such a warrant.
Writing from his weekend home in Florida, Donald Trump called the alleged tapping “Nixon/Watergate”, referring to the most notorious political scandal of 1972, which led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon after a web of political spying, sabotage and bribery was exposed by the media.
Kevin Lewis said the accusation was “simply false”.
He said that a “cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice”.
The statement left open the possibility that a judicial investigation had been taking place.
Earlier Ben Rhodes, who was Barack Obama’s foreign policy adviser and speechwriter, also addressed Donald Trump’s claims in a tweet, saying: “No President can order a wire-tap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.”
Penelope Fillon, the wife of French presidential candidate Francois Fillon, has insisted that she did carry out parliamentary work for her husband, for which she was paid.
Penelope Fillon told French magazine Journal du Dimanche, rejecting allegations she was paid without actually working: “He needed someone that carried out his tasks.”
His Republican party has brought forward crisis talks to March 6.
The former prime minister has seen his popularity slip in opinion polls.
Penelope Fillon told the magazine: “If it hadn’t been me, he would have paid someone else to do it, so we decided that it would be me.
“Everything was legal and declared.”
Image source Wikimedia
Penelope Fillon said that she has repeatedly told her husband to “go all the way” but said that the final decision would be down to him.
She urged Francois Fillon’s supporters to get behind him in his presidential campaign and not to give up.
Speaking to supporters in Paris on March 4 as he marked his 63rd birthday, Francois Fillon said that those attacking him over his presidential bid were “trying to kill a desire for change”.
The latest opinion polls suggest that he would be eliminated in the first round of presidential election voting on April 23, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen and liberal Emmanuel Macron likely to progress to contest the election run-off on May 7.
A survey published in Journal du Dimanche suggests that 71% of those polled want Francois Fillon to step down.
In another blow to Francois Fillon’s campaign, his spokesman announced on March 3 that he was quitting.
Thierry Solere’s resignation is one of a slew of notable departures, including the campaign treasurer on March 2.
Francois Fillon’s woes have raised speculation that Alain Juppe, also a former prime minister, could return to the race if he were to pull out.
Alain Juppe was overwhelmingly defeated by Francois Fillon in the Republicans’ primary in November, securing only 33% of the vote to Fillon’s 66%.
Sources close to Alain Juppe said he would be prepared to step in, but only with the unanimous support of the party and only if Francois Fillon were to go voluntarily.
Francois Fillon has so far said he has no intention of stepping down despite the continuing hemorrhage of allies.
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