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.
On November 29, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to meet Mitt Romney for a second time despite one of his top aides launching a public campaign against the former Massachusetts governor’s nomination.
Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway spoke out against Mitt Romney on November 27, saying Donald Trump’s supporters felt “betrayed” he would consider the 2012 Republican nominee for the prominent role.
Mitt Romney was one of Donald Trump’s harshest critics during the campaign.
Donald Trump will also sit down with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.
The two men are leading contenders for the all-important diplomatic post.
Earlier, Donald Trump met retired General David Petraeus. He said he was “very impressed” with the former CIA director in a tweet after their meeting on November 28.
David Petraeus pleaded guilty in 2015 to mishandling classified information over documents he had shared with his biographer Paula Broadwell, with whom he was also having an affair.
President-elect Donald Trump reportedly plans to pick ex-Labor Secretary Elaine Chao as his transportation secretary.
Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, served in President George W. Bush’s cabinet.
Donald Trump is still weighing his options in filling the posts of state, defense and treasury.
Image source Wikimedia
Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan, became the first Asian-American woman to hold a position in a presidential cabinet when she led the Labor Department under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2009.
The 63-year-old also served as deputy secretary of transportation and director of the Peace Corps in former President George H.W. Bush’s administration.
If confirmed by the Senate, Elaine Chao would become the second person to hold the positions of labor secretary, transportation secretary and the spouse of a Senate majority leader.
Elizabeth Dole previously held that title.
Elaine Chao will play a crucial role under Donald Trump, who has vowed to make infrastructure spending on the country’s roads, bridges and other public transit an integral part of his agenda.
She came to the US with her family at the age of 8 and settled in New York, where her father became a shipping magnate.
Donald Trump has named Tom Price as his future health secretary.
The 62-year-old Georgia congressman and orthopedic surgeon is a strong critic of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms.
He currently chairs the House of Representatives budget committee.
Tom Price will play a key role in Republican plans to replace the Affordable Healthcare Act (ObamaCare).a
Image source Flickr
In his campaign, Donald Trump vowed to repeal and replace the act, considered Barack Obama’s flagship measure.
However, he has since said he favors keeping certain provisions.
Donald Trump said Tom Price was a “tireless problem solver” and “the go-to expert on healthcare policy”.
“He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace ObamaCare and bring affordable and accessible healthcare to every American,” the president-elect said in a statement.
Tom Price said he was looking forward to the opportunity of serving as health secretary on behalf of the American people.
He said his aim was to create a new system that worked for patients, families and doctors, adding that it should “protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit”.
Tom Price will be working closely with Seema Verma, who will lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees government health programs and insurance standards.
“Together, Chairman Price and Seema Verma are the dream team that will transform our healthcare system,” Donald Trump said.
Earlier this month Donald Trump, who has pledged to repeal the healthcare bill, said he would keep some parts of the law such as allowing young adults to be insured on their parents’ policies and banning insurers from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.
Thailand’s parliament has invited Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn to take the country’s throne.
It approved the sending of a formal invitation, which Prince Vajiralongkorn has to accept before becoming the country’s new king.
The deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej died on October 13, plunging the Asian country into mourning.
Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn was widely expected to succeed his father, but officials had earlier said he wanted to postpone it by at least a year.
Image source Wikimedia
The official reason given was that the prince wanted to give the Thai people time to mourn his father before he became king.
According to correspondents, Thailand was left in an odd constitutional limbo as Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, the undisputed heir, should have succeeded his father immediately.
In the past doubts have been expressed by senior officials over how the crown prince can perform the role played by King Bhumibol for 70 years.
The monarchy occupies a pivotal place in Thailand’s political order.
King Bhumibol had been seen as a unifying figure amid periods of political unrest, including during the most recent military coup in 2014.
The leader of Thailand’s parliament, the National Legislative Assembly, is expected to meet Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn in the next few days to formally invite him. Once he accepts, his succession would then be announced to the public.
However, it is still not clear when that will happen.
Former PM Prem Tinsulanonda is currently standing in as regent.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has announced she has asked parliament to help her find a way to step down.
Park Geun-hye faced growing calls to resign amid an investigation into whether she allowed close friend Choi Soon-sil to influence political decisions for personal gain.
The president said she would “leave to parliament everything about my future including shortening of my term”, but did not want to leave a power vacuum.
Parliament was due to discuss on December 2 whether President Park Geun-hye should face impeachment.
Opposition parties have said Park Geun-hye should step down “honorably” before it reached that point.
Image source Wikimedia
Park Geun-hye has apologized twice on national TV before, and has said she is “heartbroken” by the political crisis around her, but has refused to resign.
In November 29 TV address, her third since reports of the scandal began, Park Geun-hye said she would resign “once lawmakers come up with measures to transfer power in a way that minimizes any power vacuum and chaos in governance”.
A spokesman for the opposition Democratic Party, Youn Kwan-suk, said the speech was a “trick” which “lacked reflection”.
“What people want is her immediate resignation, not dragging out and dodging the responsibility to the parliament,” he told the Yonhap news agency.
The scandal stems from Park Geun-hye’s relationship with Choi Soon-sil.
Choi Soon-sil is accused of trying to extort huge sums of money from South Korean companies.
She is also suspected of using her friendship with Park Geun-hye to solicit business donations for a non-profit fund she controlled.
Choi Soon-sil is in police detention, facing a string of charges.
The allegations have reached across South Korean politics and industry. Two of Park Geun-hye’s aides have also been charged along with a pop music producer.
The offices of the national pension fund have been raided as have several major Korean companies including Lotte and Samsung.
Investigators believe Park Geun-hye had a “considerable” role in the alleged corruption, but the president’s representatives have said the accusations are a “fantasy”.
In recent weeks, hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have joined huge street protests across the country demanding that Park Geun-hye leave office.
The White House has reacted to Donald Trump’s claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election, saying that there is no evidence to support the allegations.
Press Secretary Josh Earnest dismissed Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations that millions of people had cast illegal votes.
The president-elect also alleged voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California, states which Hillary Clinton won.
Josh Earnest deferred to Donald Trump’s team for further comment.
Image source Flickr
“What I can say, as an objective fact, is that there has been no evidence produced to substantiate a claim like that,” the press secretary told reporters at a White House briefing.
Donald Trump, who won the all-important Electoral College count, aired his grievances with the election result in a tweet on November 27.
“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” he wrote.
Donald Trump’s Twitter outburst comes after Hillary Clinton’s camp said it would support a vote recount in Wisconsin initiated by Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
Jill Stein also notified the elections board in Michigan, where Donald Trump’s 16 electoral votes were certified on November 28, that it would seek a statewide recount of the presidential election results.
Her campaign moved to do the same in Pennsylvania.
Donald Trump won by two-tenths of a percentage point out of nearly 4.8 million votes, making it the closest presidential race in Michigan in more than 75 years.
He is the first Republican presidential nominee to win Michigan since 1988.
Jill Stein’s recount effort was driven by the #recount2016 social media campaign, which has raised over $6.3 million.
During her entire presidential run, Jill Stein’s campaign only raised $3.5 million.
Results would need to be overturned in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to alter the outcome of the November 8 election – something analysts say is highly unlikely.
Donald Trump has asserted he won the popular vote on 8 November “if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally”.
The president-elect, who won the all-important Electoral College count, offered no evidence to back his claim.
It comes after Hillary Clinton’s campaign said it would support a vote recount in Wisconsin initiated by Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein.
Hillary Clinton won about two million votes more than Mr Trump in the popular vote.
However, Donald Trump surpassed the required 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. This was based on the state-by-state contests.
In a tweet, the president-elect wrote: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
In his follow-up tweets, Donald Trump wrote: “It would have been much easier for me to win the so-called popular vote than in the Electoral College in that I would only campaign in 3 or 4 states instead of the 15 states that I visited.
“I would have won even more easily and convincingly (but smaller states are forgotten)!”
Donald Trump also alleged “serious voter fraud” in Virginia, New Hampshire and California – states won by Hillary Clinton – accusing media of not reporting on that issue.
On November 27, Donald Trump reminded Hillary Clinton that she had already admitted defeat, and published remarks from the presidential debates in which she had urged an acceptance of the poll results.
At the time, Hillary Clinton was reacting to Donald Trump’s refusal to respect the outcome.
The Republican narrowly beat the Democratic candidate in Wisconsin, where a recount of the votes was initiated last week by Jill Stein.
Jill Stein also wants recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing “statistical anomalies”.
The Green Party nominee reportedly wants to be sure computer hackers did not skew the poll in favor of Donald Trump.
Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.
The US government has said Russian state actors were behind hacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a claim denied by Moscow.
Results would need to be overturned in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to alter the outcome of the November 8 election – something analysts say is highly unlikely.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has said it will participate in Wisconsin’s recount.
Francois Fillon has won the conservative candidacy in the 2017 French presidential election after his rival Alain Juppe admitted defeat.
With virtually all the results counted, Francois Fillon had won November 27 run-off with nearly 67% of the vote.
He said action was now needed to build a fairer society.
Francois Fillon is likely to face a Socialist candidate and the far-right’s Marine Le Pen in next April’s election.
Image source Wikimedia
“My approach has been understood,” he told his supporters after the result of the Republican party primary became clear.
“France can’t bear its decline. It was truth and it wants action.”
Alain Juppe, the more moderate candidate, congratulated Francois Fillon on his “large victory” and pledged to support him in his bid to become president.
With votes from 9,334 of the 10,229 polling stations counted, Francois Fillon won 66.9% while Alain Juppe had 33.1%.
Francois Fillon, 62, had been widely expected to win the race, after securing 44% of the vote in the first round a week ago that saw former President Nicolas Sarkozy knocked out.
A former prime minister under Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Fillon is a Catholic who is seen as a traditionalist on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
Francois Fillon is proposing dramatic economic reforms that include slashing 500,000 public jobs, ending the 35-hour week, raising the retirement age and scrapping the wealth tax.
Alain Juppe, also a former prime minister, had initially been seen as the favorite to win the race, but struggled against Francois Fillon’s strong performances in the primary debates.
Cuba’s dissident group The Ladies in White has called off its traditional protest for the first time in 13 years following Fidel Castro’s death.
The group says the decision is to avoid tensions.
The Ladies in White, formed by wives of jailed dissidents, has long defied a protest ban in Cuba with a weekly march.
Fidel Castro died on November 25 at the age of 90. Flags are flying at half mast as Cuba observes nine days of mourning.
From November 28, people will be able to pay their respects at memorials and rallies before Fidel Castro’s ashes are taken to Santiago de Cuba where he launched his bid for power.
A mass public ceremony is planned at Havana’s Revolutionary Square on November 29.
There have been further celebrations in Miami where many anti-Castro Cuban exiles and their families have settled.
Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 and ushered in a Communist revolution.
Supporters say Fidel Castro returned Cuba to the people, and praise him for some of his social programs, such as public health and education.
Critics call him a dictator, who led a government that did not tolerate opposition and dissent, accused of numerous alleged human rights abuses.
The regular Sunday march of the Ladies in White is a rare expression of dissent largely tolerated by the government.
The women march in silence through the streets of Havana following Mass at a Roman Catholic Church, asking for the release of political prisoners and for human rights to be respected.
“We’re not going to march today [Sunday] so that the government does not take it as a provocation and so that they can pay their tributes,” the group’s leader, Berta Soler, said.
“We respect the mourning of others and will not celebrate the death of any human being.”
In a tweet reacting to Fidel Castro’s death, the Ladies in White said: “Fidel Castro has died, may God forgive him, I WON’T.”
Cuban authorities say the Ladies in White are in the pay of the United States and form part of Washington’s “decades-old effort to undermine Cuba’s socialist revolution”.
The government says there are no political prisoners in Cuba.
Donald Trump has attacked Hillary Clinton over her campaign’s support for a recount of votes in Wisconsin.
The president-elect reminded his Democratic rival that she had already conceded, and published remarks from the presidential debates in which she had urged an acceptance of the poll results.
Hillary Clinton was then reacting to Donald Trump’s refusal to respect the outcome.
The recount in Wisconsin was initiated by Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein.
Wisconsin was narrowly won by Donald Trump.
Photo CBS News
Jill Stein also wants recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing “statistical anomalies”.
She reportedly wants to be sure computer hackers did not skew the poll in favor of Donald Trump.
Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.
The US government has said Russian state actors were behind hacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a claim denied by Moscow.
Results would need to be overturned in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania to alter the outcome of the November 8 election – something analysts say is highly unlikely.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has said it will participate in Wisconsin’s recount.
Posting on Twitter, Donald Trump said the recount decision was “sad”.
“So much time and money will be spent – same result!” he said.
The president-elect had earlier accused Jill Stein of trying to “fill her coffers with money” on the pretext of asking for donations towards a recount.
Jill Stein’s website says more than $6 million has already been raised toward a $7 million target. It says this is enough to fund the recounts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The deadline for the petition for the recount in Wisconsin was November 25, while Pennsylvania’s deadline is November 28, and Michigan’s is November 30.
Donald Trump has described the Wisconsin vote recount as a “scam”.
The president-elect, who narrowly won Wisconsin, said the results “should be respected instead of being challenged or abused”.
Green Party’s Dr. Jill Stein had initiated the recount. She also wants recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing “statistical anomalies”.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has said it would participate in Wisconsin’s recount.
Results would need to be overturned in all three states to alter the outcome of the November 8 presidential election.
In a statement released by his transition team on November 26, Donald Trump accused Jill Stein of trying to “fill her coffers with money” on the pretext of asking for donations towards a recount.
Photo AP
“The people have spoken and the election is over,” the statement said.
Jill Stein defended her recount initiative, telling CNN that “the point to drive home here is that having a secure elections process benefits us all”.
The Green Party’s candidate also suggested that she was open to looking at recounts in other states – not just Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton campaign’s general counsel, Marc Elias, said the camp and outside experts had been “conducting an extensive review of election results, searching for any signs that the voting process had been tampered with”.
Marc Elias said there was no evidence to conclude the election had been sabotaged, but “we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported”.
He noted that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of the three states – Michigan – “well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount”.
However, Marc Elias said the campaign would join in “on principle” in the Midwestern states if Dr Stein followed through on her promise.
Jill Stein reportedly wants to be sure computer hackers did not skew the poll in favor of Donald Trump.
Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.
The US government has said Russian state actors were behind hacks on the Democratic National Committee, a claim denied by Moscow.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission said it had received recount petitions, and the process would begin after Jill Stein’s campaign had paid the fee, which the commission was still calculating.
Jill Stein’s campaign needs to raise millions of dollars to cover the fees for the vote recount in all three states.
Her website says nearly $6 million has already been raised toward a $7 million target. It says this is enough to fund the recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The deadline for the petition for the recount in Wisconsin was November 25, while Pennsylvania’s deadline is November 28, and Michigan’s is November 30.
Michigan is yet to declare its final results.
Wisconsin provides only 10 electoral votes in the crucial Electoral College that gave Donald Trump victory in the November 8 election.
Wins there for Hillary Clinton, as well as in Michigan (16 electoral votes) and Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), would have clinched the presidency for the Democrat.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign will participate in a recount of election votes in Wisconsin, a lawyer said.
The recount was initiated by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who is also seeking recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania, citing “statistical anomalies”.
Election results would need to be overturned in all three states to alter the outcome of the election.
Donald Trump, who narrowly won Wisconsin, called the move a “scam”.
He said it was a way for Dr. Jill Stein – who is funding the recount through public donations – to “fill her coffers with money”.
“The results of this election should be respected instead of being challenged and abused,” the president-elect said.
Photo Getty Images
Hillary Clinton campaign’s general counsel, Marc Elias, said the Clinton team and outside experts had been “conducting an extensive review of election results, searching for any signs that the voting process had been tampered with”.
Marc Elias said there was no evidence to conclude the election was sabotaged, but “we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported”.
He noted that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of the three states - Michigan - ”well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount”.
However, Marc Elias said the campaign would join in “on principle” in the Midwestern states if Dr. Jill Stein follows through on her promise.
Jill Stein reportedly wants to be sure computer hackers did not skew the poll in favor of Donald Trump.
Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.
The US government has said Russian state actors were behind hacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
In a statement on November 25, the Wisconsin Elections Commission said it had received two recount petitions from the Jill Stein campaign and from Rocky Roque De La Fuente, a businessman who ran unsuccessfully to be the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.
Administrator Michael Haas said the count would begin in the week after Jill Stein’s campaign paid the fee, which the commission was still calculating.
Jill Stein’s campaign needs to raise millions of dollars to cover the fees for the vote recount in all three states.
According to her website, over $5.8 million has already been raised toward a $7 million target. It says this is enough to fund the recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Voting rights lawyers John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, who urged candidates to request recounts, have said the “physical evidence” that could signal a cyber-attack needs to be closely analyzed.
However, J. Alex Halderman said the fact that the results in the three states were different from what polls predicted was “probably not” down to hacking.
The deadline for the petition for the recount in Wisconsin was November 25, while Pennsylvania’s deadline is November 28, and Michigan’s is November 30.
Michigan is yet to declare its final results.
Wisconsin provides only 10 electors in the crucial electoral college that gave Donald Trump victory in November 8 election.
Wins there for Hillary Clinton, as well as in Michigan (16 electoral votes) and Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), would have clinched the presidency for the Democrat.
President-elect Donald Trump has said Fidel Castro was a “brutal dictator”, hours after the former Cuban leader’s death was announced.
Donald Trump, who takes office in January 20, said he hoped Cubans could move towards a freer future.
Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 and ushered in a Communist revolution. He defied the US for decades, surviving many assassination plots.
His supporters said he returned Cuba to the people. Critics called him a dictator.
Raul Castro, who succeeded him as president, announced his death on state television on November 25.
In a statement, Donald Trump said that while Cuba remained “a totalitarian island, it is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve”.
Image source Flickr
The US cut ties with Cuba in 1961 amid rising Cold War tensions and imposed a strict economic embargo which remains in place more than half a century on.
Under President Barack Obama, the relationship warmed and diplomatic ties were restored in 2015.
Donald Trump roundly criticized Barack Obama’s policy on the campaign trail but made no mention of his pledge to reverse it in his statement, saying his administration would do all it could to ensure Cubans could “begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty”.
Barack Obama, meanwhile, said history would “record and judge the enormous impact” of Fidel Castro. America was extending “a hand of friendship to the Cuban people” at this time, he added.
Fidel Castro was the longest serving non-royal leader of the 20th Century. He had been retired from political life for several years, after handing power to his brother in 2006 because of illness.
He will be cremated on November 26 at a private ceremony in Havana and a period of official mourning has been declared in Cuba until December 4, when his ashes will be laid to rest in the south-eastern city of Santiago.
In Miami, where there is a large Cuban community, there have been celebrations in some parts of the city, with people banging pots and cheering.
Cuba has declared nine days of national mourning following the death of former President and leader of communist revolution Fidel Castro on November 25.
Cubans will be given a chance to bid farewell to Fidel Castro in a mass gathering to be held in Revolution Square in Havana on November 29, Cuba’s Council of State has announced.
Fidel Castro’s ashes will then be taken along the “Caravan of Freedom”, the path he and his guerrilla fighters took during the Cuban Revolution.
His ashes will be laid to rest on December 4. A period of official mourning has been declared until that day.
Photo Wikipedia
During the official mourning period, radio and television will broadcast “informative, patriotic and historic” programs, Cuba’s Council of State announced.
Flags will fly at half mast and there will be no public events apart from those related to Fidel Castro’s death.
His ashes will be laid to rest in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in the south-eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.
A grandiose cemetery, Santa Ifigenia was built in 1868 for the victims of the War of Independence.
It is the resting place of Cuban independence hero Jose Marti.
Fidel Castro died on November 25 at the age of 90.His death was announced last night by his brother, President Raul Castro.
Pope Francis said the death of Fidel Castro was “sad news”, and that he was grieving and praying for his repose.
In a message in Spanish to Cuban President Raul Castro, Pope Francis said: “I express to you my sentiments of grief.”
Pope Francis met Fidel Castro during a visit to Cuba in September 2015.
Fidel Castro was a self-professed atheist but as a child he attended Catholic schools in Santiago before going on to the Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belen in Havana.
The former Cuban president and leader of communist revolution died on November 25 at the age of 90.
Fidel Castro’s death was announced last night by his brother, Raul.
South Korea is seeing what is thought to be the largest protests so far demanding President Park Geun-hye steps down.
Park Geun-hye is accused of allowing her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to manipulate power from behind the scenes.
She has apologized twice on national TV, but has so far resisted calls to resign.
Image source Wikimedia
According to protest organizers, 1.3 million people had gathered Seoul on November 26, despite cold weather and snow.
They expect another half a million protesters to turn out in other regions.
However, police put the turnout at about 260,000. About 25,000 officers were being deployed in the capital, local media said.
The protests, which began five weeks ago, are the largest in South Korea since pro-democracy demonstrations of the 1980s.
Those attending on November 26 came from a cross-section of South Korean society, with farmers, Buddhist monks and university students all involved.
Park Geun-hye, whose approval rating has dropped to 5%, apologized earlier this month for putting “too much faith in a personal relationship”, and has pledged to co-operate in an official investigation into the scandal.
South Korea’s constitution does not allow a sitting president to be prosecuted, and Park Geun-hye has 15 months left in her term.
Now that prosecutors have directly linked Park Geun-hye to the scandal, it is possible she could be impeached for breaking the law.
Prosecutors are expected to bring charges against Choi Soon-sil, along with two former presidential aides. She was arrested earlier this month.
Choi Soon-sil is accused of trying to extort huge sums of money from South Korean companies, and suspected of using her friendship with President Park Geun-hye to solicit business donations for a non-profit fund she controlled.
Fidel Castro has died at the age of 90, his brother, Cuban President Raul Castro, has announced in an unexpected late night broadcast on state TV.
Raul Castro said: “The commander in chief of the Cuban revolution died at 22:29 hours this evening.”
Fidel Castro was Cuba’s former president and leader of the Communist revolution.
He ruled the country as one-party state for almost 50 years before Raul Castro took over in 2008.
Rau Castro’s supporters said he had given Cuba back to the people. But he was also accused of suppressing opposition.
Ashen and grave, the president told the nation that Fidel Castro had died and would be cremated on November 26.
There would now be several days of national mourning in Cuba.
Throughout the Cold War, Fidel Castro was Washington’s bête noire.
An accomplished tactician on the battlefield, Fidel Castro and his small army of guerrillas overthrew the military leader Fulgencio Batista in 1959 to widespread popular support.
Within two years of taking power, Fidel Castro declared the revolution to be Marxist-Leninist in nature and allied Cuba firmly to the Soviet Union.
Yet, despite the constant threat of a US invasion as well as the long-standing economic embargo on Cuba, Fidel Castro managed to maintain a communist revolution in a nation just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
Despised by his critics as much as he was revered by his followers, Fidel Castro outlasted ten US presidents and defied scores of attempts on his life by the CIA.
In April 2016, Fidel Castro gave a rare speech on the final day of Cuba’s Communist Party congress.
He acknowledged his advanced age but said Cuban communist concepts were still valid and the Cuban people “will be victorious”.
“I’ll soon be 90,” he said, adding that this was “something I’d never imagined”.
“Soon I’ll be like all the others, to all our turn must come,” Fidel Castro said.
Fidel Castro temporarily handed over the power to his brother in 2006 as he was recovering from an acute intestinal ailment.
Raul Castro officially became Cuba’s president in 2008.
Wisconsin Elections Commission has received a request for a recount of the votes in the state narrowly won by Donald Trump on November 8.
The request was filed by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.
Dr. Jill Stein has also pledged to file vote recounts in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
However, a win by Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin alone would not overturn Donald Trump’s lead – it provides only 10 votes in the crucial electoral college that gave Trump victory.
If Hillary Clinton wins in Wisconsin, Michigan (16 electoral votes) and Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) would have clinched the presidency for the Democrat.
“The Commission has received the Stein and Del La Fuente recount petitions,” Wisconsin Elections Commission tweeted.
Image source Flickr
It added that details would be released shortly.
Meanwhile, Jill Stein tweeted that Wisconsin recount would begin next week. November 25 was the deadline for the request.
Her campaign needs to raise millions of dollars to cover the fees for the vote recount in all three states.
Jill Stein’s website says nearly $5.3 million has already been raised toward a $7 million target. It says this is enough to fund the recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Voting rights lawyers who urged candidates to request recounts, John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, have said the results need to be closely analyzed.
The fact that the results in the three states were different from what polls predicted was “probably not” down to hacking, J. Alex Halderman said. Concerns over possible Russian interference had been expressed in the run-up to the vote.
“The only way to know whether a cyber-attack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence ,” he wrote.
Pennsylvania’s deadline is November 28, and Michigan’s is November 30.
According to officials, there was no evidence of election tampering in the three states where Donald Trump had razor-thin victories over Hillary Clinton.
The Republican’s camp has made no public comments on the recounts issue.
Donald Trump won 290 electoral votes in the November election, while Hillary Clinton had 232 votes.
Brazilian President Michel Temer has been accused of corruption after he allegedly pressured former Culture Minister Marcelo Calero to engage in corrupt practices.
Marcelo Calero, who stepped down last week, alleged that President Temer coerced him to help another minister in a personal business deal.
He said he was asked to allow construction of luxury apartments in a historic district of Salvador.
Marcelo Calero had previously blocked the plans. President Temer has denied the allegations.
Image source Wikimedia
However, he admitted talking to Marcelo Calero about the project.
Michel Temer has vowed to clean up corruption in Brazil, but has lost three ministers to corruption allegations.
The scandal involves government secretary Geddel Vieira Lima, who had bought a property in Salvador in Bahia state.
Marcelo Calero’s ministry vetoed the construction, on the grounds that the proposed building was on a heritage site.
He told the police both the president and the minister had pressured him to overturn the decision.
Earlier this week, an ethics panel decided to open an investigation into Geddel Vieira Lima over the allegations, before Michel Temer’s alleged involvement came to light.
Despite pressures to sack Geddel Vieira Lima, the president said the minister will keep his job.
Michel Temer came to power earlier this year, after former President Dilma Rousseff was impeached during a lengthy political crisis that gripped the country.
Dilma Rousseff was accused of manipulating the budget, but maintained her innocence and said that her political opponents have carried out a “parliamentary coup”.
Michel Temer has since tried to maintain a stable government, but has been plagued with corruption allegations against his own party.
Tens of thousands of people have been told to evacuate their homes as wildfires swept into Israel’s third largest city of Haifa.
The fires follow a two-month drought and are being fanned by strong winds in the north of the city.
Wildfires are also threatening homes near Jerusalem and in the West Bank.
According to Israel’s police chief, arson was suspected in some cases.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said any such attacks would amount to “terror”.
“Every fire that was the result of arson or incitement to arson is terror in every way and we’ll treat it as such,” the prime minister was quoted by Haaretz newspaper as saying.
“Anyone who tries to burn parts of the state of Israel will be severely punished.”
Image source Times of Israel
Police chief Roni Alsheich said that if fires had been started deliberately it was “safe to assume… it is politically-motivated”.
The education minister and leader of the right-wing religious Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, also appeared to suggest Arab or Palestinian involvement in the fires, writing on Twitter: “Only those to whom the country does not belong are capable of burning it.”
The comments brought an angry reaction from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, which said Israeli officials were “exploiting the fire” to accuse Palestinians.
“What is burning are our trees and our land of historical Palestine,” it said in a statement.
On social media, the Arabic-language hashtag #Israel_on_fire began trending, with most tweets expressing pleasure over the outbreak.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 10 TV news that eight people had been arrested.
Gilad Erdan said arson was suspected in about half of the fires and police had found “flammable materials and liquids poured in certain areas”.
“We need to be prepared for a new type of terror,” he added.
According to Israeli media, the Shin Bet internal security agency was involved in the investigation.
Meanwhile, hundreds of military reservists have been called up to help battle the three-day outbreak of fires.
Haifa city council said several neighborhoods will be without electricity overnight.
People loaded up supermarket trolleys with belongings, while schools, kindergartens, universities and an old people’s hospital were evacuated.
More than 130 people have been taken to hospital with minor injuries, mainly from smoke inhalation, but most were later discharged, Haaretz reported.
Two prisons near Haifa have also been evacuated.
Highway 443 – which links Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, crossing through the West Bank – was closed to morning traffic on November 24 as another blaze reached the city of Modi’in.
Homes and cars were damaged, and 300 students were evacuated from a school in Talmon, an Israel settlement in the occupied West Bank, police said.
Firefighters have been battling fires in several locations since November 22 and forecasters are warning that the dry conditions and strong winds are likely to continue until early next week.
Several countries – including Cyprus, Russia, Italy, Croatia and Greece – have sent help and equipment, including aircraft, to help tackle the blazes.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu said officials were also contacting the US company which operates a huge firefighting plane known as the “Supertanker”.
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein looks likely to spur a last-minute recount of part of the result of the election.
Donald Trump narrowly beat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin, but two voting rights experts say the result needs to be more closely analyzed.
Jill Stein says she has gathered enough money to fund a recount in Wisconsin.
There is no indication Donald Trump’s win was down to cyberhacking, one of the experts said on November 23.
One election official in Wisconsin said they are preparing for a possible recount.
On November 22, New York Magazine first reported that a group of experts, led by voting-rights lawyer John Bonifaz and J.Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, had contacted Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Image source Flickr
The experts urged Hillary Clinton’s campaign to request recounts in two states narrowly won by Donald Trump – Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – as well as Michigan, where he has a small lead.
In a Medium post on November 23, J. Alex Halderman repeated concerns he has voiced in the past over the vulnerabilities of paperless voting machines.
The fact that the results in the three states were different from what polls predicted was “probably not” down to hacking, Halderman said. Concerns over possible Russian interference were expressed in the run-up to the vote.
“The only way to know whether a cyberattack changed the result is to closely examine the available physical evidence ,” he wrote.
There is a deadline for any candidates to demand a recount, and they need to pay fees to file a request.
The deadline for Wisconsin is November 25. Pennsylvania’s is November 28, and Michigan’s is November 30.
This is where Jill Stein comes in – on her website, the Green Party candidate wrote that recounts were needed “to attempt to shine a light on just how untrustworthy the US election system is”.
By yesterday, Jill Stein had raised, through a crowdfunding campaign, more than $2.5 million, enough to fund a recount request in Wisconsin. The campaign estimates that up to $7 million may be needed to pay for recounts in all three states.
Unofficial results from Wisconsin showed Donald Trump won by only 27,000 votes, media in the state say.
Jill Stein won only 1% of the votes in Wisconsin.
Before then, Wisconsin had gone with the Democrats for seven elections running.
A Clinton victory in Wisconsin alone would not have been enough to overturn Donald Trump’s lead – it provides only 10 votes in the crucial electoral college that gave him victory. But wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania would have clinched the presidency for the Democrat.
The Wisconsin State Journal quoted the state’s election commission director Michael Haas as saying that the organization had not seen “any reason to suspect that any voting equipment has been tampered with”.
The commission was now preparing for a recount, Michael Haas told the Journal, adding that such a move would be “unprecedented”.
In his Thanksgiving address, Donald Trump has called for national unity.
In the wake of what the president-elect called a “long and bruising” election campaign he said emotions in the country were raw.
The time had come, Donald Trump said, “to begin to heal our divisions” but added that “tensions just don’t heal overnight”.
Earlier the president-elect announced the appointment of two women to his cabinet, both of whom had been fiercely critical of him during the presidential campaign.
In his Thanksgiving address, Donald Trump acknowledged the bitterness still remaining after the bruising election campaign: “It doesn’t go quickly, unfortunately, but we have before us the chance now to make history together to bring real change to Washington, real safety to our cities, and real prosperity to our communities, including our inner cities.”
On November 23, Donald Trump announced that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was his pick for US ambassador to the United Nations, while Betsy DeVos has been chosen to be secretary of education.
Image source U.S. Marine Corps
Both are former critics of Donald Trump, with Nikki Haley once saying she was “not a fan”, and Betsy DeVos branding him an “interloper”.
The appointments will need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Donald Trump called Nikki Haley “a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals”.
“She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage,” he added.
Nikki Haley said she was “moved” to accept the assignment and would stay on as South Carolina governor, pending her congressional confirmation.
During the Republican primaries, Nikki Haley supported Florida Senator Marco Rubio and then Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
She also strongly attacked Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants, describing it as “un-American”.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump in the popular count of the presidential election has increased to two million votes.
Donald Trump won the election by winning a majority of the Electoral College votes, but with ballots still being counted, two weeks after Election Day, the Cook Political Report has Trump’s tally at 62.2 million and Hillary Clinton’s at 64.2 million.
It is the fifth time the winner of the popular vote has lost the election.
In 2000, Democrat Al Gore’s final lead over George W. Bush, who won the election after a prolonged legal challenge, was nearly 544,000.
The Supreme Court ultimately decided that election by awarding George W. Bush a win in the contested state of Florida.
This year, Hillary Clinton scored large tallies in states like California but Donald Trump won most of the so-called swing states, which ultimately decide the outcome of elections.
The Electoral College system favors candidates who win by a small margin in lots of states over ones that win by a landslide in just a few.
Donald Trump has unveiled the names of the first women in his incoming administration.
Betsy DeVos has been nominated as education secretary and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as US envoy to the UN.
Both of them are former critics of Donald Trump, with Nikki Haley once saying she was “not a fan”, and Betsy DeVos branding the Manhattan tycoon an “interloper”.
Donald Trump’s presidential primary rival Ben Carson also hinted he would soon be named for a post.
Ben Carson wrote on Facebook: “An announcement is forthcoming about my role in helping to make America great again.”
Photo AP
Donald Trump tweeted on November 22 that he was “seriously considering” Ben Carson for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The appointments of Nikki Haley and Betsy DeVos will need to be approved by the Republican-controlled Senate.
Donald Trump called Nikki Haley “a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals”.
“She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage,” he added.
Nikki Haley, 44, said she was “moved” to accept the assignment and would stay on as South Carolina governor, pending her congressional confirmation.
During the Republican primaries, Nikki Haley supported Florida Senator Marco Rubio and then Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
She also strongly attacked Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants, describing it as “un-American”.
In response, Donald Trump had called her “very weak on illegal immigration” and said people in South Carolina were “embarrassed” by her.
Nikki Haley is the first minority and female governor of South Carolina.
Born Nimrata “Nikki” Randhawa to Indian parents, Nikki Haley was raised in a Sikh household and now identifies as a Christian.
She was praised by members of both parties in 2015 when she ordered the Confederate battle flag to be removed from the grounds of the state capitol.
Betsy DeVos said she was honored to accept her appointment.
The billionaire Republican donor from Michigan once described Donald Trump as an “interloper” who “does not represent the Republican Party”.
Betsy DeVos also contributed to Donald Trump’s rivals – Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush – during the election race.
She previously supported the Common Core education standards that Donald Trump and many conservatives have pilloried.
Donald Trump, however, said Betsy DeVos would be “a brilliant and passionate education advocate”.
Betsy DeVos’ husband is heir to the Amway fortune, with a wealth estimated by Forbes at $5.1 billion.
So far, Donald Trump has appointed Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Mike Pompeo for CIA director, Reince Priebus for Chief of Staff for his top team.
More announcements are expected after the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
President-elect Donald Trump has condemned the fringe “alt-right” group that celebrated his election victory with Nazi salutes.
In an interview with the New York Times, Donald Trump was quoted as saying: “I condemn them. I disavow, and I condemn.”
The president-elect said he did not want to “energize” the group, which includes neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.
Image source Flickr
Alt-right supporters were filmed on November 19 in Washington DC cheering as a speaker shouted: “Hail Trump.”
In the video, alt-right leader Richard Spencer told a conference that America belonged to white people, whom he described as “children of the sun”.
Richard Spencer denounced the movement’s critics as “the most despicable creatures who ever walked the planet”.
“Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” he shouted at one point as some members of the audience raised their arms in the Nazi salute.
Last week’s gathering drew protesters who blocked traffic around the Ronald Reagan Building, a federally owned conference centre in the nation’s capital.
On November 22, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concern that Donald Trump’s election victory could give succor to white supremacists.
A senior official close to Angela Merkel described the “Hail Trump” video as “repulsive and worrying”.
President-elect Donald Trump has decided to cancel a meeting with the New York Times, a day after berating media chiefs at his headquarters for “unfair” coverage.
Without elaborating, Donald Trump tweeted that the New York Times had changed the terms of the meeting.
The president-elect posted: “They continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!”
Donald Trump has had an antagonistic relationship with the press, railing against liberal bias, even while benefiting from blanket TV coverage.
On November 22, he tweeted that he had called off his meeting with what he always refers to as the “failing” New York Times.
Donald Trump – known to be an avid consumer of newspapers and news shows – said the New York Times had switched the terms at the last moment, adding: “Not nice.”
However, Jonathan Mahler, a political correspondent for the newspaper, tweeted that it was Donald Trump who had tried to change the rules of engagement.
Photo AP
Jonathan Mahler said Donald Trump had asked for the discussion to be private and off-the-record, but the daily had refused.
The New York Times said it had been unaware the meeting was canceled until Donald Trump tweeted.
Hours later, Hope Hicks, a Trump spokesperson, told reporters at Trump Tower that the meeting was back on.
The NY Times confirmed: “Mr. Trump’s staff has told us that the President Elect’s meeting with The Times is on again.
“He will meet with our publisher off-the-record and that session will be followed by an on-the-record meeting with our journalists and editorial columnists.”
On November 21, Donald Trump invited leading figures from the American TV networks for an off-the-record briefing at Trump Tower, where they were subjected to a tirade about election reporting.
The media executives and anchors – including NBC’s Lester Holt, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos – were apparently expecting to discuss coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency.
But instead he reportedly labeled them “liars” and called journalists the “lowest form of humanity”.
One attendee leaked the details to the New York Post, saying: “The meeting was a total disaster.
“The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down.”
The New York Times reports that during Donald Trump’s complaint about “dishonest” coverage he singled out CNN president Jeffrey Zucker.
The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump also referred to NBC’s Katy Tur and ABC’s Martha Raddatz, without naming them.
Throughout his campaign Donald Trump accused the media of dishonesty, sometimes targeting individual journalists at his rallies and even denying some outlets accreditation to his events.
The Republican feuded with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, who later alleged that he had offered her gifts, including hotel stays, in an attempt to influence coverage.
Megyn Kelly said she was not the only journalist who had been offered freebies by Donald Trump.
Two weeks after his shock election victory, Donald Trump has yet to hold a news conference, and media outlets have griped that no president-elect has delayed holding a press briefing for so long since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
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