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.
The Kremlin has strongly denied claims Russia’s intelligence agencies have compromising material about Donald Trump.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the allegations were “pulp fiction” and a “clear attempt to damage relations”.
The unsubstantiated claims say Donald Trump’s presidential campaign secretly communicated with Moscow. They also say Russia has information about Donald Trump involving prostitutes.
The president-elect has condemned the reports.
He responded on Twitter: “FAKE NEWS – A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!”
Later on January 11, Donald Trump went on to write: “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me. I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NO NOTHING!”
Image NBC News
Donald Trump is due to hold a news conference on January 11, nine days before he takes office.
It was meant to be about his attempts to separate himself from his business commitments, to address concerns about conflicts of interest.
However, it now comes at an awkward time for Donald Trump.
Last week, US intelligence agencies released an unclassified report saying Russia ran a hacking campaign to influence the US presidential elections.
Separate reports circulating in media now say Russia has damaging information about Donald Trump’s business interests and salacious video evidence of his private life.
Among the claims included in a 35-page dossier are that Donald Trump’s aides were involved with the alleged Russian hack of the Democratic Party of his rival Hillary Clinton.
Michael Cohen, a lawyer to Donald Trump named in the memos, has denied a specific claim that he went to Prague in August or September 2016 to meet Kremlin representatives to talk about the hacking.
“I’ve never been to Prague in my life. #fakenews,” he tweeted.
Media suggest the videos were prepared as “kompromat” – compromising material collected about a politician or public figure in order to create a threat of negative publicity, if needed.
In his farewell speech in Chicago, President Barack Obama has called on Americans to defend their democracy.
He told thousands of supporters: “By almost every measure, America is a better, stronger place than it was eight years ago.”
However, Barack Obama warned “democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted”.
The incumbent president implored Americans of all backgrounds to consider things from each other’s point of view, saying “we have to pay attention and listen”.
Barack Obama, who is America’s first black president, was first elected in 2008 on a message of hope and change.
His successor, Donald Trump, has vowed to undo some of Barack Obama’s signature policies.
Photo White House
Donald Trump will be sworn into office on Friday, January 20.
Raucous chants of “four more years” from the crowd were brushed aside by the president.
“I can’t do that,” Barack Obama said with a smile. US presidents are limited to two terms by the constitution.
“No, no, no, no no,” he said, when the crowd booed the prospect of Donald Trump replacing him.
Striking an upbeat tone, Barack Obama said that the peaceful transfer of power between presidents was a “hallmark” of American democracy.
However, Barack Obama outlined three threats to American democracy – economic inequality, racial divisions and the retreat of different segments of society into “bubbles”, where opinions are not based on “some common baseline of facts”.
“If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the internet, try to talk with one in real life,” he said to laughter and applause.
In his closing remarks, Barack Obama said he had one final request for Americans as president: “I am asking you to believe. Not in my ability to bring about change – but in yours.”
Returning to Chicago, where he first declared victory in 2008, Barack Obama delivered a mostly positive message to Americans after a divisive election campaign which saw Donald Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Barack Obama said that young Americans – including those who worked on his campaigns, and who believe “in a fair, just, inclusive America” – left him feeling “even more optimistic about this country than I was when we started”.
In choosing Chicago, Barack Obama had earlier said he wanted to return to “where it all started” for him and First Lady Michelle Obama, instead of delivering the speech from the White House.
Barack Obama said that it was in Chicago as a young man, “still trying to figure out who I was, still searching for purpose in my life”, that he “witnessed the power of faith and dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss”.
“This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved and they get engaged and they come together to demand it,” he said.
“After eight years as your president I still believe that.”
Some 18,000 people attended the farewell address at McCormick Place, the largest convention centre in North America and the venue for Barack Obama’s speech after he defeated Mitt Romney in the 2012 election.
The tickets were given out free, but were selling online for more than $1,000 each hours ahead of the speech.
As he leaves the Oval Office, President Barack Obama is viewed favorably by 57% of Americans, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, a similar level to Bill Clinton when he left office.
In a tough Senate confirmation hearing, Jeff Sessions – Donald Trump’s pick to be the new attorney general – has denied sympathizing with the Ku Klux Klan.
The 69-year-old Alabama senator also pledged to recuse himself from any investigation into former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
A Democratic senator expressed “deep concern” about Jeff Sessions’ nomination.
However, Democrats do not have the power in the chamber to block his confirmation.
The attorney general, America’s top prosecutor, leads the DoJ and acts as the main adviser to the president on legal issues.
Beginning two days of hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jeff Sessions testified that allegations he had once supported the KKK were “damnably false”.
Image source Flickr
“I abhor the Klan and what it represents and its hateful ideology,” he added.
Jeff Sessions also acknowledged “the horrendous impact that relentless and systemic discrimination and the denial of voting rights has had on our African-American brothers and sisters”.
Protesters repeatedly disrupted January 10 hearing, including a couple dressed in KKK white robes who chanted: “No Trump, No KKK, No Racist USA.”
“Stop this racist pig from getting into power,” shouted an African-American demonstrator as she was led out of the hearing by police.
Senator Dianne Feinstein voiced her concern over “fear in this country, particularly among the African-American community”.
She noted Jeff Sessions had voted against an amendment affirming that the United States would not bar people entering the US on the basis of their religion.
However, Jeff Sessions said he did not support the “idea that Muslims as a religious group should be denied admission to the United States. We have great Muslim citizens”.
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley described Jeff Sessions as a “man of honor and integrity”.
The nominee also promised to remove himself from any investigation into Hillary Clinton, as well as her family’s charitable foundation.
Jeff Sessions said his past criticism of her private emails and the Clinton Foundation “could place my objectivity in question”.
“We can never have a political dispute turn into a criminal dispute,” he told the committee.
When asked whether he ever chanted the anti-Clinton slogan “lock her up”, Jeff Sessions said: “No I did not… I don’t think.”
Donald Trump had pledged on the campaign trail to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton, but he has since retracted that threat.
A number of Democrats have called for Donald Trump’s naming of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as a top adviser to be reviewed over concerns of nepotism and conflict of interest.
The group wants the Justice Department and Office of Government Ethics to scrutinize “legal issues” related to the appointment of Jared Kushner.
His lawyer says the post does not breach anti-nepotism laws.
Jared Kushner, 36, is married to Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
The millionaire will step down as boss of his family’s real estate business and publisher of the New York Observer newspaper in order to comply with ethics laws, his lawyer Jamie Gorelick said.
Jared Kushner will also divest “substantial assets”, she said.
Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the 45th US president on January 20.
Several of his cabinet picks have business interests that will be scrutinized at confirmation hearings taking place this week.
Donald Trump’s selection for attorney general, Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, is the first to face Senate confirmation hearings on January 10. He was turned down for a federal judgeship in 1986 because of alleged racist remarks.
Unlike cabinet positions, advisers are considered part of White House staff and do not require approval from Congress.
Jared Kushner is a vastly wealthy property developer and publisher who played an influential role in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and has been included in key meetings with foreign leaders during the transition period.
Image source Wikimedia
An Orthodox Jew whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors, Jared Kushner was raised in Livingston, New Jersey, and went on to study sociology at Harvard.
His father, also a property mogul, was jailed for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering in 2005 by Chris Christie – then the US attorney for New Jersey.
Jared Kushner is said to have played a key role in the ousting of Chris Christie, by then New Jersey governor, from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team last year.
In his new role, Jared Kushner will initially focus on trade policy and the Middle East, according to officials from the transition team.
On January 8, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon met UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
The nepotism rule, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967, prevents public officials from promoting a relative “to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control”.
It is thought to have been prompted by JFK’s appointment of brother Robert to the post of attorney general in 1960.
The law would stop a president from giving a cabinet job to a relative – but it is unclear whether it applies to positions in the White House team.
Those that say it does not point to President Bill Clinton’s appointment of First Lady Hillary Clinton as chair of his health care reforms package in 1993.
In their letter, the Democratic lawmakers, all members of the House Judiciary Committee, argue that a “strong case” can be made that the 1967 federal anti-nepotism statute applies to staff working in the White House, a position rejected by Donald Trump’s team.
They also raise questions about how, even with significant divestment, Jared Kushner could completely avoid conflicts of interest in his White House role.
Concerns have been raised about his relationships with foreign investors.
The New York Times reported on January 7 that Jared Kushner met the head of an insurance group with links to the Chinese government over development plans for his skyscraper, 666 Fifth Avenue, just days after Donald Trump won the presidential election. His spokeswoman, quoted by the paper, said the timing of the meeting was a coincidence and he had already decided to sell his stake in the building.
As his appointment as special adviser was announced, Jared Kushner’s lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, said he was committed to complying with federal ethics laws and had consulted with the Office of Government Ethics about what steps to take.
She added that he would not be paid for the advisory role.
Jared Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, will step down from executive roles at the Trump Organization as well as her own fashion brands.
However, she will not be taking an official role in her father’s government – for now at least – and instead will focus on raising her children.
Reports said last week that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and their children would be moving into a $5.5 million home in Washington DC’s wealthy Kalorama neighborhood – at least for some time.
The Obama family is due to be moving to the same area after leaving the White House.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump announced in November that his wife, Melania, would be staying in New York – at least initially – after his inauguration to allow their youngest son, Barron, to finish the school year.
Five prominent Russians have been blacklisted by the Obama administration, just 11 days before the president leaves office.
Chief federal investigator Alexander Bastrykin and two men wanted in the UK for the murder of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko are among them.
The US sanctions come amid worsening ties, including claims Russia ran a cyber campaign to influence the November 8 election.
President-elect Donald Trump is seeking to restore closer relations with Russia.
According to officials, the sanctions are not related to the hacking but come under a 2012 law designed to punish human rights violators.
Under the act named after Russian tax fraud whistleblower Sergey Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison in 2009, people on the list have their US assets blocked and are banned from travelling to the United States.
It originally targeted officials implicated in Sergey Magnitsky’s death, but has since been broadened to cover other human rights cases.
Image source Moscow Times
The five persons to be blacklisted are: Alexander Bastrykin, a close aide to President Vladimir Putin and head of the federal investigative agency, who has led campaigns against domestic dissidents and foreign NGOs working in Russia. US officials say he was complicit in the Magnitsky case; Gennady Plaksin, former head of the Universal Savings Bank, and Stanislav Gordiyevsky, former investigative agency official. Both are said to be involved in covering up Magnitsky’s death; Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the main suspects in the poisoning of former KGB agent and London exile Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.
Alexander Litvinenko died after drinking tea laced with a rare radioactive substance at a hotel in London.
Both Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun deny any involvement in the killing, and efforts to extradite the men to the UK have failed.
Last month, Washington expelled 35 Russian diplomats following allegations by US intelligence services that Russia had ordered the hacking of Democratic Party emails to damage Donald Trump’s Democrat rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton.
Russia denies the allegations and on January 9 described them as a witch-hunt, but has so far not responded to the expulsions.
After the 35 were thrown out, Russia declined to respond in kind, with President Vladimir Putin saying his country would not stoop to “irresponsible diplomacy”.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, is said to have accepted the findings of the report but has declined to single out Russia as the source of the hacking.
Andrey Malanin, the head of the consular department at Russia’s embassy in Greece, has been found dead in his flat in Athens, Greek police say.
According to police, initial signs suggested 55-year-old Andrey Malanin died of natural causes, but they were investigating the death.
Andrey Malanin had failed to report for work on January 9 and did not answer his phone, Greek media said. He lived alone on a heavily guarded street.
Russian officials confirmed the consul’s death.
Image source Reuters
According to the Proto Tema website, Andrey Malanin’s colleagues accompanied by police went round to the apartment to check on the consul, but found the door locked from the inside.
Andrey Malanin was found lying on his bedroom floor. Police said the body had no visible injuries and there had been no obvious break-in.
Last month, Moscow’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was assassinated, apparently in protest at Russian involvement in the bombardment of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
President-elect Donald Trump has reacted to Meryl Streep’s criticism during her acceptance speech at this year’s Golden Globes.
Meryl Streep received a lifetime achievement award at the 74th Golden Globes ceremony.
Donald Trump has responded on Twitter: “Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes.
“She is a Hillary flunky who lost big.”
Meryl Streep had referred to Donald Trump during her Globes acceptance speech without naming him.
The three-time Oscar-winning actress told the Golden Globes audience in Beverly Hills on January 8: “It kind of broke my heart.
“This instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life. Because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing.”
Image source Getty Images
Meryl Streep said she had been stunned by the president-elect mocking a disabled reporter during a campaign appearance.
Donald Trump tweeted: “For the 100th time, I never <<mocked>> a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him <<groveling>> when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!”
The president-elect, who is due to be inaugurated on January 20, performed an impression of Serge Kovaleski, who has a congenital joint condition, at a rally in South Carolina during the presidential campaign trail in November 2016.
Meryl Streep also referred to immigration, saying: “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners and if you kick them all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.”
Donald Trump is considered by many to have a hard-line stance on immigration policy.
Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has died aged 82, local media say.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a dominant figure in Iran’s politics since the 1980s, was the country’s president from 1989 to 1997.
He suffered a heart attack.
Rafsanjani played a pivotal role in the 1979 revolution but later in life became a counterpoint to hard-line conservatives.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei hailed a “companion of struggle” despite their differences, saying that the loss was “difficult and overwhelming”.
“The different opinions and interpretations at time in this long period could never entirely break up the friendship between us,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The government declared three days of national mourning.
Image source Wikimedia
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was admitted to the Shohadaa Hospital in Tehran on January 8, where doctors tried unsuccessfully for an hour to save him, media said.
A TV broadcaster broke into programs to bring the news, saying the former president “after a life full of restless efforts in the path of Islam and revolution, had departed for lofty heaven”.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had warm relations with President Hassan Rouhani, who was seen at the hospital shortly before the death was announced. A crowd reportedly gathered at the hospital later to mourn.
He was born in 1934 in south-eastern Iran to a family of farmers.
He studied theology in the holy city of Qom with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – who went on to lead the Islamic revolution of 1979 – and was imprisoned several times under the Shah.
In the last year of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Ayatollah Khomeini appointed Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani acting commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
He was seen as the main mover behind Iran’s acceptance of the UN Security Council resolution that ended the war.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was also a key player in the development of Iran’s nuclear program.
He was a man known for a sharp wit but who could also be ruthless.
He advocated progressive economic policies, encouraging private businesses and improving infrastructure. His own business holdings were reported to be widespread.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ran for a third time for president in 2005 but lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He became openly critical of the victorious president and in 2009, he sided with reformers who disputed that year’s elections. Nevertheless, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won a second term.
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani continued to champion moderate causes, such as the release of political prisoners and greater political freedoms for parties prepared to work within the constitution.
Barack Obama has revealed he advised his successor Donald Trump not to attempt to run the White House “the way you would manage a family business”.
In an interview with ABC News, the outgoing president said that Donald Trump must “respect” US institutions.
Barack Obama said: “After you have been sworn in, you are now in charge of the largest organization on Earth.”
The president warned that there was a difference between governing and campaigning.
“There are world capitals and financial markets and people all around the world who take really seriously what he [Donald Trump] says,” he said.
Image source AP
Barack Obama also talked about the US intelligence agency’s report into alleged cyber-attacks by Russia and the attempt to influence the 2016 US presidential campaign.
He said that he had “underestimated” the impact of such attacks.
Barack Obama said: “I think that I underestimated the degree to which, in this new information age, it is possible for misinformation… and so forth to have an impact on our open societies.”
He added that a conversation had taken place with Donald Trump in which he had discussed the importance of having faith in the intelligence community.
“There are going to be times where the only way you can make a good decision is if you have confidence that the process is working,” the president said.
Last week Donald Trump said he was a “big fan” of intelligence agencies, after months of casting doubt on the Russian link to the security breach. But he later raised questions over how the Democratic Party had responded to the cyber-attacks.
Donald Trump will be inaugurated on Friday, January 20.
President-elect Donald Trump says Democrats have shown “gross negligence” by allowing their servers to be hacked in the run-up to the November 8 presidential election.
Donald Trump made the comments after an intelligence report said Russian President Vladimir Putin had “sought to help Donald Trump win”.
He has stopped short of accusing Russia of interfering, saying only that the election outcome was not affected.
The Kremlin has not commented, but Russia has previously denied the claims.
Following the report’s findings, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that voting machines and other election databases would be classified as “critical infrastructure” and given more protection from cyber-attacks.
Emphasizing that the election outcome was not affected, Donald Trump added on January 7: “Only reason the hacking of the poorly defended DNC is discussed is that the loss by the Dems was so big that they are totally embarrassed!”
Image source Flickr
In an interview with ABC, President Barack Obama said that he was concerned that there had been “Republicans or pundits or cable commentators who seem to have more confidence in Vladimir Putin than fellow Americans because those fellow Americans are Democrats.
“That cannot be.”
Asked whether Donald Trump was among them, President Obama said: “We have to remind ourselves we’re on the same team. Vladimir Putin’s not on our team.”
The unclassified report says that Russia developed a “clear preference” for Donald Trump.
Russia’s goals, the document added, were to “undermine public faith” in the US democratic process and “denigrate” Hillary Clinton, harming her electability and potential presidency.
However, the report gives no detailed evidence of Vladimir Putin’s alleged role.
The report says the Russian president liked Donald Trump because he had vowed to work with Russia and the Russian leader had had “many positive experiences working with Western political leaders whose business interests made them more disposed to deal with Russia, such as former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder”.
In contrast, Vladimir Putin had blamed Hillary Clinton for inciting anti-government protests in 2011 and early 2012 “and because he holds a grudge for comments he almost certainly saw as disparaging him”.
According to an intelligence report, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to help Donald Trump win the presidential election.
The unclassified report says Vladimir Putin “ordered” a campaign aimed at influencing the election.
Moscow has not commented, but Russia has previously denied the claims.
After being briefed on the findings, Donald Trump stopped short of accusing Russia of interfering, saying only that the election outcome was not affected.
The president-elect later went on to blame “gross negligence” by the DNC for “allowing” the hacking to take place.
Following the report’s findings, the US Department of Homeland Security announced that voting machines and other election databases would be classified as “critical infrastructure” and given more protection from cyber-attack.
The 25-page report says that Russia developed a “clear preference” for Donald Trump.
Russia’s goals, the document added, were to “undermine public faith” in the US democratic process and “denigrate” Hillary Clinton, harming her electability and potential presidency.
Image NBC News
The report said: “We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election.”
The unclassified version contained no detailed evidence of Vladimir Putin’s alleged role, but it said Russia’s actions included: hacking into the email accounts of the DNC and top Democrats; using intermediaries such as WikiLeaks, DCLeaks.com and Guccifer 2.0 persona to release the information acquired from the hackings; using state-funded propaganda and paying social media users or “trolls” to make nasty comments.
The identities of the Russian agents allegedly directly responsible for the hack are known to US authorities but have not been released publicly, reports say, citing intelligence sources.
The report, a cut-down version of the classified document presented to President Barack Obama on January 5, was released shortly after intelligence chiefs briefed Donald Trump on their findings.
Since winning the election on November 8, Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned US intelligence claims of Russian hacking.
In a statement after the briefing, Donald Trump declined to single out Russia, but said he had “tremendous respect for the work and service done” by those in the US intelligence community.
He said: “While Russia, China, other countries, outside groups and people are consistently trying to break through the cyber infrastructure of our governmental institutions, businesses and organizations including the Democrat National Committee, there was absolutely no effect on the outcome of the election.
“Whether it is our government, organizations, associations or businesses we need to aggressively combat and stop cyber-attacks. I will appoint a team to give me a plan within 90 days of taking office.”
The meeting at Trump Tower involved National Intelligence Director Gen. James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan and FBI Director James Comey.
Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on January 20, described their talks as “constructive”.
Vice-President Joe Biden has told Donald Trump to “grow up” and criticized his attacks on the intelligence community.
On January 6, Donald Trump will be briefed on allegations that Russia meddled in the US presidential election – claims he has cast doubt on.
Joe Biden said it was “absolutely mindless” for Donald Trump not to have faith in intelligence agencies.
Russia denies hacking alleged to have helped Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
On January 5, the president-elect questioned how intelligence agencies were confident about the alleged Russian hacking “if they never even requested an examination of the computer servers” belonging to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
In an interview with the PBS, Donald Trump: “For a president not to have confidence in, not to be prepared to listen to, the myriad intelligence agencies, from defense intelligence to the CIA, is absolutely mindless.
“The idea that you may know more than the intelligence community knows – it’s like saying I know more about physics than my professor. I didn’t read the book, I just know I know more.”
When asked what he thought of Donald Trump’s regular attacks on Twitter, Joe Biden said: “Grow up Donald, grow up, time to be an adult, you’re president. Time to do something. Show us what you have.”
Photo AP
The VP went on to call Donald Trump “a good man”.
Joe Biden said he had read a US intelligence agencies report outlining Russian involvement, the details of which are starting to emerge in media.
According to the Washington Post and NBC News citing intelligence sources, agencies had intercepted communications in the aftermath of the election showing senior Russian government officials celebrating Donald Trump’s win over rival Hillary Clinton.
US authorities had also identified Russian actors who delivered stolen Democratic emails to the WikiLeaks website.
NBC News says the alleged Russian hacking targeted not just the DNC but also the White House, joint chiefs of staff, the department of state and large US corporations.
An unclassified version will be made public next week.
Joe Biden said the report clearly details “that the Russians did, as a matter of policy, attempt to affect and… discredit the US electoral process”.
He said the hacking was part of a systematic campaign to undermine Hillary Clinton.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta was among those hacked on the DNC server.
On January 5, the Director of National Intelligence, Gen James Clapper, told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the hack, and said the motive would be revealed next week.
President Barack Obama last week ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the US over the alleged hacking. Russia has said it will not reciprocate.
Donald Trump has repeatedly rejected allegations that the Russian government hacked into the computers of John Podesta or the servers of the DNC.
On January 4, the president-elect repeated a suggestion that “a 14-year-old” may have been responsible for the breach.
On January 5, he said he was a “big fan” of intelligence agencies, after months of casting doubt on the Russian link, but later went on to raise questions over how the Democratic Party responded to the security breach.
Last week, Donald Trump said he would announce information about hacking “on Tuesday or Wednesday”, but no announcement came.
Former Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray, who organized Donald Trump’s visit to Mexico, has been named as President Enrique Pena Nieto’s new foreign minister.
Luis Videgaray was sacked as finance minister in 2016 over the role he played in organizing the visit of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Donald Trump had angered Mexicans, calling Mexican immigrants to the US “rapists”.
Luis Videgaray will now lead talks with the Trump administration, including on the wall the president-elect has promised to build between the US and Mexico.
Announcing the appointment, President Enrique Pena Nieto said that “the instruction to minister Videgaray is to accelerate the dialogue and contacts so that, from the first day of the new [US] administration, we can establish the basis of a constructive working relationship”.
Image source Wikipedia
Luis Videgaray was seen as the main organizer of the meeting between Donald Trump and President Enrique Pena Nieto in August, which was criticized by Mexicans both in the national press and on social media.
Many Mexicans saw the invitation by Enrique Pena Nieto as a sign that the Mexican president was bowing to Donald Trump even though the latter had said during his campaign that he wanted to build a border wall between the US and Mexico which he insisted Mexico would pay for.
Enrique Pena Nieto said the meeting was to convey Mexico’s interests to Donald Trump.
When Donald Trump appeared at a campaign rally in the US just hours later again promising that Mexico would pay for his planned wall “100%”, President Pena Nieto said that “we could have done things in a better way”.
Luis Videgaray stepped down from his post as finance minister just days after the visit and a spokesperson for the ministry said at the time that Videgaray would not take on another public office.
However, on January 4, President Enrique Pena Nieto named him as his new foreign minister, saying that Luis Videgaray would “promote Mexico’s interests without diminishing our sovereignty and the dignity of Mexicans”.
Luis Videgaray is replacing Claudia Ruiz Massieu who reportedly was opposed to President Enrique Pena Nieto hosting Donald Trump.
Donald Trump has in the past praised Luis Videgaray as “brilliant”.
The trial of Choi Soon-sil has got under way in South Korea.
Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of President Park Geun-hye, is at the center of an influence-peddling scandal involving the South Korean president.
She is charged with abuse of power and attempted fraud.
Separately, the Constitutional Court began considering President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment over the scandal.
That trial, where the court must ratify or overturn a parliamentary impeachment vote, began despite Park Geun-hye’s absence.
Proceedings opened on January 3 but were curtailed because Park Geun-hye did not attend.
On January 5, the court went ahead anyway.
Image source Getty Images
Park Geun-hye’s lawyer has previously said she will not be in court “unless there are special circumstances”, Yonhap news agency reported.
Both cases center on allegations President Park Geun-hye gave Choi Soon-sil unauthorized access to government decisions and allowed her to exploit their close relationship to solicit money from corporations for foundations from which she benefitted.
Both women have apologized but deny committing criminal offences.
The scandal has rocked South Korea, sparking several huge demonstrations.
While the impeachment process continues, Park Geun-hye remains formally president but with most of her powers handed to the prime minister, a role that normally has little executive authority.
Separately, Yonhap news agency reports that South Korea has sent a formal extradition request to Denmark for Choi Soon-sil’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, several days after saying they were working on it.
Chung Yoo-ra, a former national equestrian rider, was arrested in Denmark on January 8 and later appeared in court accused of overstaying her visa.
Part of the investigation into Choi Soon-sil’s activities relates to a gift horse from South Korean conglomerate Samsung allegedly for Chung Yoo-ra’s training.
The prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul is also accused of giving Chung Yoo-ra a place – she has since left – because of her mother’s connections.
Donald Trump has backed Julian Assange in casting doubt on intelligence alleging Russian hacking the US election.
The WikiLeaks founder said Russia was not the source for the site’s mass leak of emails from the Democratic Party.
The president-elect has now backed that view in a tweet, writting: “Assange… said Russians did not give him the info!”
Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to accept the conclusions of the US intelligence community.
Several US agencies including the FBI and the CIA believe Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
The information, released through WikiLeaks and other outlets, was intended to help Donald Trump win the election, say the FBI and CIA.
Image source RT
On January 3, Donald Trump said an intelligence briefing he was due to receive on the issue had been delayed.
“Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!” he wrote.
However, intelligence officials insisted there had been no delay in the briefing schedule.
In an interview with Fox News, Julian Assange repeated his claim that Russia was not behind the leak.
He also said a 14-year-old boy could have carried out one of the hacks, on the email account of Hillary Clinton’s aide, John Podesta.
In 2010, several leading Republican figures were calling for Julian Assange to be imprisoned after his website published thousands of embarrassing diplomatic cables leaked by former Army Pte. Chelsea Manning.
Donald Trump tweeted twice on January 4 in support of what Julian Assange said on Fox News.
However, the president-elect has previously been critical of the WikiLeaks organization.
When asked by a Fox News reporter in 2010 to comment on leaks, Donald Trump responded: “I think it’s disgraceful, I think there should be like death penalty or something.”
Donald Trump has made a fresh assault on America’s intelligence community.
The president-elect tweeted that an intelligence briefing he was due to receive on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election – which is said to have benefited Donald Trump – had been delayed.
He wrote: “Perhaps more time needed to build a case. Very strange!”
However, intelligence officials insisted there had been no delay in the briefing schedule.
Image NBC News
Several intelligence agencies including the FBI and the CIA believe Russia directed hacks against the Democratic Party and the campaign of its presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, releasing embarrassing information through WikiLeaks and other outlets to help Donald Trump win the election.
The president-elect initially dismissed the claims as “ridiculous” but subsequently said he would meet US intelligence chiefs to be “updated on the facts of this situation”.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said once again on January 3 that Russia was not the source for the site’s mass leak of emails from the Democratic Party in the run-up to the US presidential election.
Meanwhile, Rex Tillerson has agreed he will cut all ties with Exxon Mobil and comply with conflict-of-interest requirements.
Hillary and Bill Clinton have confirmed they will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20.
Meanwhile, former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura have also announced plans to turn up, saying they want to “witness the peaceful transfer of power”.
Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th US president on Capitol Hill.
He defeated Hillary Clinton in November’s election and castigated George W. Bush over the Iraq war and 9/11.
Before January 3 announcement, Jimmy Carter was the only former president to have said he would attend the nation’s 58th inauguration.
Another former White House incumbent, 92-year-old George H.W. Bush has already said he will not attend the event, citing his age.
Despite Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote by nearly three million ballots, Donald Trump succeeded in getting the all-important Electoral College votes required to win.
During the election campaign, Donald Trump ridiculed George W. Bush’s claim to have kept Americans safe, pointing out the 9/11 attacks happened on his watch.
The New York billionaire had also accused the 43rd president of lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Donald Trump pummeled another member of the Bush clan, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, calling his primary season rival “low-energy”.
The now president-elect had also savaged his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, labeling her “Crooked Hillary”.
Republicans have dropped a plan to weaken Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) – an independent body that investigates political misconduct after a backlash.
The lawmakers’ surprise vote to strip the OCE of its independence prompted public uproar and a dressing down from Donald Trump.
President-elect Donald Trump said: “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance!”
The secretive move, which overshadowed the first day of the 115th Congress, was reversed in an emergency meeting.
The OCE was set up in 2008 following a slew of scandals that resulted in several House lawmakers being jailed.
Donald Trump made cleaning up corruption in Washington a key theme of his campaign, and he ended his tweet with “#DTS”, an acronym for “drain the swamp”.
Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan had argued unsuccessfully against the rule change, which was adopted on January 2 in a closed-door meeting, but he defended the proposal on January 3.
Paul Ryan said: “I want to make clear that this House will hold its members to the highest ethical standards and the Office will continue to operate independently to provide public accountability to Congress.”
According to Google Trends, as the news spread, internet searches for “who is my representative” rocketed.
House Republicans called an emergency meeting and abruptly voted to undo the change.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham took a shot at his party colleagues’ decision to neuter the OCE, telling Fox News radio it was “the dumbest fricking thing I’ve ever heard”.
Paul Ryan – who was re-elected by fellow congressional Republicans on January 3 as House Speaker – had urged his party to seek bipartisan support and to wait to push for the change later.
However, Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte submitted the proposal against the advice of his party leaders.
Republicans in the House have voted to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the body that investigates claims of misconduct against members of Congress.
Under the change, the independent OCE would come under the control of the House Ethics Committee.
Republican leaders in the House had opposed the change. The newly elected Congress meets later and the full House will vote on the proposed new rules.
However, Democrats reacted angrily to the vote.
The proposals, tabled in an amendment to House rules by Congressman Bob Goodlatte, would weaken the OCE’s oversight of matters such as conflicts of interests and financial impropriety.
If the new rules package is voted in – as is likely as the Republicans have a clear majority – the OCE would be renamed the Office of Congressional Complaint Review.
Under the proposals the new body would no longer be able to receive anonymous tip-offs, nor have a spokesperson, and would be under the supervision of the House Ethics Committee. Accusations against lawmakers would not be made public, as they are currently.
Any referral to law enforcement agencies would have to be approved by members of the committee.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, said the amendment to the rules would effectively destroy the OCE.
She said in a statement: “Republicans claim they want to <<drain the swamp>>, but the night before the new Congress gets sworn in, the House GOP [Republican Party] has eliminated the only independent ethics oversight of their actions.
“Evidently, ethics are the first casualty of the new Republican Congress.”
During his election campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly vowed to “drain the swamp” of Washington politics, claiming the federal government was corrupt and dysfunctional. He has not commented on the proposals for the ethics body.
While House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy were reportedly opposed to the amendment, Rep. Bob Goodlatte – chair of a House committee – introduced it anyway.
Rank and file members voted to support it in a closed session of the House Republican Conference.
There was no advance notice of the move, which came late on a federal public holiday.
The Office of Congressional Ethics was created in 2008 after a series of embarrassing scandals, including one involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff who was jailed for conspiracy and fraud.
Some felt that the House Ethics Committee had previously been held back from investigating wrongdoing by fellow members of the House of Representatives.
Nancy Pelosi – then leader of a Democrat-controlled House – spearheaded the efforts to reform oversight of Congress and shed light on the often murky world of Washington lobbying after the Abramoff scandal.
After their success in November’s elections, Republicans will control both houses in the new session of the US Congress.
Once Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20, the GOP will control both Congress and the presidency for the first time since 2007.
According to the US constitution, “each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings”, so at the start of each new Congress, the House of Representatives has to approve its own rules and regulations.
President-elect Donald Trump has dismissed North Korea’s claim to be developing missiles capable of striking America.
In a tweet, Donald Trump derided Kim Jong-un’s claims that preparations were in the final stage, saying: “It won’t happen.”
It was not clear if Donald Trump was expressing doubts about North Korea’s nuclear capabilities or was planning preventative action.
Donald Trump also berated China for failing to help rein in its ally North Korea.
Image source YouTube
He tweeted: “China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won’t help with North Korea. Nice!”
A spokesman for China’s foreign affairs ministry said Beijing’s efforts on Korean peninsula denuclearization were “perfectly obvious”.
China had “proactively participated” in UN discussions and jointly passed several resolutions, the spokesman pointed out.
In his New Year message on January 1, Kim Jong-un said North Korea was close to testing long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Kim Jong-un said North Korea was now a “military power of the East that cannot be touched by even the strongest enemy”.
North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests over 2016, raising fears that it has made significant nuclear advances.
However, it has never successfully test-fired long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Experts estimate it might take less than five years. UN resolutions call for an end to North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has failed to attend a constitutional court hearing on her impeachment.
The session was closed after nine minutes and postponed to January 5 because of her absence.
On December 9, the parliament voted to impeach Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal.
Park Geun-hye’s close friend Choi Soon-sil has been charged with abuse of power. The president is alleged to have been involved as well, which she denies.
Her impeachment case is being heard in a court by nine judges. They have 180 days to decide whether Park Geun-hye, who has been suspended from duties, should go or stay.
Though the court has requested her presence, Park Geun-hye’s lawyer has said she will not attend “unless there are special circumstances”, Yonhap news agency reported. If Park Geun-hye fails to appear for a second time on January 5, the hearing can proceed without her.
Image source Wikimedia
According to the Korea Times, the justices will be assessing whether she abused her power, took part in bribery and violated the rule of law, among other issues.
Park Geun-hye met reporters on January 1 to strongly deny allegations from prosecutors that she was involved in Choi Soon-sil’s dealings, calling them “distorted and false” suspicions.
Choi Soon-sil is said to have used her close relationship with Park Geun-hye to pressure companies into donating to two foundations which she controlled, and then siphoned off funds for her personal use.
The scandal has rocked South Korea, which has seen multiple mass protests calling for Park Geun-hye to step down and apologize.
The president has admitted giving Choi Soon-sil inappropriate access to government decisions and has publically apologized for this several times.
Separately, South Korean authorities said on January 3 they were proceeding with the extradition of Choi Soon-sil’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra.
Chung Yoo-ra, a former national equestrian, was arrested in Denmark on January 1 for staying in the country illegally.
Part of the investigation into Choi Soon-sil’s activities relates to a gift horse from Samsung to her, allegedly for Chung Yoo-ra’s training.
Academics from the prestigious Ewha Women’s University in Seoul are also being investigated for admitting Chung Yoo-ra and allegedly giving her preferential treatment.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been questioned as part of an investigation into corruption allegations.
Ahead of police arrival at his residence, Benjamin Netanyahu again denied any wrongdoing.
Benjamin Netanyahu told the media and political rivals to “hold off partying”, adding: “Nothing will happen, because there is nothing.”
Israeli media have reported allegations that the prime minister has received significant gifts or “favors” from businessmen.
Investigators questioned Benjamin Netanyahu at his central Jerusalem residence for about three hours, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Benjamin Netanyahu told his Likud party legislators on January 2: “We hear all the media reports. We see and hear the festive spirit and atmosphere in television studios and in the corridors of the opposition.
“I want to tell them to wait for the celebrations. Do not rush. I told you and I repeat: There will be nothing because there is nothing. You will continue to inflate hot air balloons and we will continue to lead the state of Israel.”
Image source Wikimedia
However, Ynet quoted the leader of the Zionist Union, Isaac Herzog, as saying: “This isn’t a happy day. This is a hard day for the state of Israel. We are not gloating.”
Opponents of Benjamin Netanyahu have called for an investigation into his affairs following a series of scandals in recent months – none of which have resulted in charges.
Last month, an investigation was opened into the purchase of new submarines from Germany, after it was claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu’s lawyer represented the company during negotiations.
Earlier this year, convicted French fraudster Arnaud Mimran claimed he had donated hundreds of thousands of euros to Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2009 election campaign – something the prime minister denies.
Benjamin Netanyahu has also been accused of wasting public money, including $127,000 on a customized private bedroom on a single flight to the UK.
Similar allegations have followed the Israeli prime minister since his original term in office two decades ago.
In 2000, Israeli police recommended that criminal charges be brought against Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, after an eight-month investigation into whether he had kept official gifts that should have been handed over to the state after he left office.
At the same time, Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu were also accused of charging the government for the services of a contractor who did private work for them.
All those charges were dropped due to insufficient evidence.
At least 60 inmates have been killed during a riot in an overcrowded Brazilian prison, officials say.
The unrest in Manaus, in Amazonas state, started on January 1 after a fight between rival gangs, police said.
The violence ended 17 hours later, when the inmates surrendered their weapons and freed unharmed the last of 12 guards they had taken hostage.
Brazil has the world’s fourth largest prison population.
There are some 600,000 inmates in Brazil, and overcrowding is a serious problem. Reports said the capacity of the Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Centre, the biggest in Amazonas, was for 454 inmates, but it had 1,224 men.
Image source AP
When the riot began, six headless bodies were thrown over the perimeter fence of the prison. Pictures showed bloodied and burned bodies stacked in a concrete prison yard and piled in carts.
The state public security secretary, Sergio Fontes, said rival gangs operating inside and outside the prison had been fighting for control over drug trafficking.
According to Sergio Fontes, the violence appeared to be a message from Family of the North (FDN), a powerful local gang, to rivals from the First Capital Command (PCC), one of Brazil’s largest gangs, whose base is in Sao Paulo, in the south-east.
He called it “the biggest massacre” ever committed at a prison in Amazonas.
The inmates got weapons through a hole in a prison wall, he added. Several firearms were found in the post-riot search by police, as well as several tunnels.
Prisoners at a second jail unit nearby also rioted and many escaped, Sergio Fontes said. Some 40 inmates had been recaptured, he added. It was unclear how many remained at large.
Fights between rival gangs often result in dozens of inmates being killed and sometimes dismembered.
The gang members behind the deadly riots are often from violent inner-city areas of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo who have been transferred to prisons in remote states in order to break up their gangs.
However, the number of deadly riots in these states would seem to indicate that this strategy has not worked according to plan, correspondents say.
This was the deadliest prison riot in Brazil since 1992, when a rebellion at the Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo saw 111 inmates killed, nearly all of them by police as they retook the jail.
The daughter of Choi Soon-sil, who is at the center of a presidential scandal in South Korea has been arrested in Denmark, South Korean police say.
Chung Yoo-ra, 20, is accused of staying in Denmark illegally, police said.
Choi Soon-sil is accused of using her friendship with South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye for personal gain, including getting her daughter into a top Korean university.
After weeks of protest, parliament voted on December 9 to impeach President Park Geun-hye.
Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil have apologized while denying the accusations.
Image source Yonhap
South Korean authorities had asked for Interpol’s help in tracing Chung Yoo-ra after she failed to return to answer questions about her role in the scandal.
They are reportedly planning to extradite Chung Yoo-ra, a former national equestrian rider.
Choi Soon-sil is in detention having returned from abroad to face questioning.
She has been charged with various offences, including abuse of authority, coercion, attempted coercion and attempted fraud.
South Korea’s constitutional court has six months to uphold or overturn the impeachment vote against President Park Geun-hye.
Until then Park Geun-hye remains formally president but stripped of her powers, which have been handed to the prime minister, a presidential appointee.
Queen Elizabeth II has not attended a New Year’s Day church service at Sandringham because of a “lingering heavy cold”.
The Queen also missed the Christmas Day service at her Norfolk estate and has not been seen in public for 12 days.
Meanwhile, a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said the Queen was “still recuperating”.
Image source Wikimedia
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip left for their Christmas break a day late on December 22, travelling by helicopter instead of train, because of colds. The Duke of Edinburgh has made a full recovery.
When she arrived at the church, Princess Anne was asked how her mother was, to which she replied “better”.
Princess Anne attended the New Year’s Day service alongside her father, Prince Philip, and her brother, Prince Edward, as well as other members of the Royal Family.
Queen Elizabeth’s absence from church on Christmas Day was the first time she had missed the service in many years.
According to the Buckingham Palace, that was a “precautionary measure” in the cold and wet conditions and it had “no sense of undue concern”.
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