The Arab world is reacting to an expected announcement by President Donald Trump that the United States will recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
According to recent reports, President Trump will make the statement this week but will further delay acting on a campaign pledge to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.
The head of the Arab League, Jordan and the Palestinian president have warned of the consequences of a declaration.
Jerusalem’s fate is one of the thorniest issues between Israel and the Arabs.
A deadline for President Trump to sign a waiver delaying the relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem expires on December 4.
Every president, including Donald Trump, has signed the waiver every six months since US Congress passed an act in 1995 calling for the embassy to be moved.
Donald Trump repeatedly pledged during his election campaign to move the embassy, and while he has said it was still his intention, he has not yet done so.
There are signs however the president will make a statement on December 6 announcing Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel while holding off moving the embassy.
The status of the city goes to the heart of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians, who are backed by the rest of the Arab and wider Islamic world.
Jerusalem is home to key religious sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity, especially in East Jerusalem.
Israel occupied the area in the 1967 Middle East war and regards the entire city as its indivisible capital. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, and according to 1993 Israel-Palestinian peace accords its final status is meant to discussed in the latter stages of peace talks.
Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem has never been recognized internationally, and all countries, including Israel’s closest ally the US, maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv, the country’s commercial capital.
Since 1967, Israel has built a dozen settlements, home to about 200,000 Jews, in East Jerusalem. These are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
If the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it will put it out-of-step with the rest of the international community and reinforce Israel’s position that settlements in the east are valid Israeli communities.
The move would also raise a question over how the US will treat resolutions dealing with East Jerusalem at the UN. The US has a power of veto and could use this to block future motions critical of Israeli policy in the east.
There is growing anger towards Washington among its allies in the Middle East.
Jordan, the custodian of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem, has warned of “grave consequences” if President Trump goes ahead, and has called for an emergency meeting of key regional and Islamic blocs the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference to discuss the issue.
Arab League chief Abul Gheit warned such a move would “nourish fanaticism and violence”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has contacted world leaders urging them to intervene, saying “such a US decision would destroy the peace process and drag the region into further instability”.
The US has brokered decades of on-off peace talks, and the Trump administration is formulating fresh peace proposals – but recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital would compromise Washington’s neutrality in the eyes of the Palestinians.
It remains unclear though whether President Trump will recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.
The White House has neither confirmed nor denied the president’s intention, and in a rare public speech on December 3 his son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner refused to be drawn on the issue.
The Senate has passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill, paving the way for President Donald Trump’s first big legislative victory.
The package would mark the biggest tax cuts since the 1980s. The bill was passed by 51 votes to 49, after a series of amendments in a marathon session.
Democrats complained the bill only benefited the wealthy and big business.
The plan sees a sharp cut in corporation tax, but a Senate committee finding has warned it would add $1trillion to the budget deficit.
Donald Trump wants the measures enacted by the end of the year and congratulated Republicans for taking the US “one step closer to delivering massive tax cuts for working families”.
The Senate will now have to merge its legislation with that passed last month by the House of Representatives, before it can be signed into law by the president.
Presiding over the Senate, VP Mike Pence declared the 51-49 victory to applause from Republicans in the early hours of December 2.
The new tax plan would see the corporate tax rate lowered from 35% to 20%, and include more modest tax cuts for individuals across income levels.
Following the vote, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his opponents would pay the price at the ballot box in mid-term elections next year.
He said the measures would endanger social security and medical provision.
Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said the legislation would prove to be “just what the country needs to get growing again”.
The final draft of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act bill went through several changes on December 1 in order to bring reluctant Republicans on board. Republicans have a 52-48 majority in the Senate.
Democrats were angry about the last-minute revisions, complaining that they had not been given enough time to digest the nearly 500-page document, with handwritten changes to the legislation.
President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI about meetings with the Russian ambassador weeks before Trump became president.
The charges were brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, as part of his inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.
Michael Flynn is the most senior member of the administration to be indicted.
He also revealed he was co-operating with Robert Mueller’s inquiry.
Significantly, a statement made by Michael Flynn to prosecutors appears to implicate a more senior, though unnamed, Trump team official – indicating the direction in which Robert Mueller’s investigation may be heading.
Media outlets, including NBC News, Bloomberg and the Washington Post, said the senior official is Jared Kushner – Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law.
Appearing in a federal court in Washington DC, Michael Flynn admitted to one count of knowingly making “false, fictitious and fraudulent statements”.
According to an AFP reporter in court, the judge accepted Michael Flynn’s guilty plea and said he would not face trial.
Michael Flynn then issued a statement in which he said: “I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right.”
He said his plea and co-operation deal “reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country”.
Michael Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant-general, is unlikely to serve more than six months in prison.
The White House issued a statement saying that “nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn”. A presidential appearance in front of reporters was then canceled.
As Michael Flynn was escorted from court by FBI agents, a handful of protesters shouted “criminal” and “lock him up”, echoing a chant he led against Hillary Clinton during the GOP convention in 2016.
Michael Flynn was forced to resign 23 days into his job in February, a month after he was questioned by the FBI for misleading the White House about meeting then Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the transition period, before Donald Trump took office.
Then, just over a week ago, media said his legal team had told the president’s lawyers they could no longer discuss the case, prompting suggestions that he had begun co-operating with prosecutors.
It is not clear why he did not tell the truth to investigators. However, it is illegal for a private US citizen, as Michael Flynn was during the transition, to conduct foreign affairs without the permission or involvement of the US government.
The US has urged the world to cut diplomatic and trade ties with North Korea following its latest ballistic missile test.
Speaking at the UN Security Council, US envoy Nikki Haley said President Donald Trump had asked his Chinese counterpart to cut off oil supplies to Pyongyang.
Nikki Haley said the US did not seek conflict but that North Korea’s regime would be “utterly destroyed” if war broke out.
The warning came after North Korea tested its first missile in two months.
North Korea said the missile fired on November 29, which it said reached an altitude of about 2,780 miles – more than 10 times the height of the International Space Station – carried a warhead capable of re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.
The claim was not proven and experts have cast doubt on North Korea’s ability to master such technology.
However, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the launch “impeccable” and a “breakthrough”.
The test – one of several this year – has been condemned by the international community and the UN Security Council called an emergency meeting.
Nikki Haley warned that “continued acts of aggression” were only serving to further destabilize the region.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said sanctions were exhausted.
He told reporters: “The Americans should explain to all of us what they are trying to do – if they want to find a pretext for destroying North Korea they should come clean about it, and the American leadership should confirm it.”
Earlier the Russian UN ambassador said North Korea should stop its missile and nuclear tests but also called on Washington to cancel military exercises with South Korea planned for December as it would “inflame an already explosive situation”.
China also suggested North Korea should stop the tests in return for a halt to US military exercises – a proposal Washington has rejected in the past.
Nikki Haley said on November 29: “We need China to do more.
“President Trump called President Xi this morning and told him that we’ve come to the point where China must cut off the oil for North Korea.
“We know the main driver of its nuclear production is oil,” she said. “The major supplier of that oil is China.”
China is a historic ally and North Korea’s most important trading partner and Pyongyang is thought to be dependent on China for much of its oil supplies.
Also in the day, the White House said that President Trump spoke to his counterpart, Xi Jinping, by phone, urging him to “use all available levers to convince North Korea to end its provocations and return to the path of denuclearization”.
Donald Trump tweeted: “Just spoke to President XI JINPING of China concerning the provocative actions of North Korea. Additional major sanctions will be imposed on North Korea today. This situation will be handled!”
Speaking in Missouri, President Trump derided Kim Jong-un, describing him as a “sick puppy” and “little rocket man”.
Xi Jinping responded by telling Donald Trump it was Beijing’s “unswerving goal to maintain peace and stability in north-east Asia and denuclearize the Korean peninsula”, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
Experts say the height reached by the inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) indicates the US could be within range, although North Korea is yet to prove it has reached its aim of miniaturizing a nuclear warhead.
President Donald Trump has re-tweeted three controversial videos from British far-right group Britain First.
The first tweet from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, claims to show a Muslim migrant attacking a man on crutches.
It was followed by two more videos of people Jayda Fransen claims to be Muslim.
Responding to President Trump’s posts, UK PM Theresa May’s official spokesman said it was “wrong for the president to have done this”.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said PM Theresa May and other world leaders knew that “these are real threats that we have to talk about”.
“Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real,” Sarah Sanders said.
“I think it’s important to talk about national security and national security threats. The president sees different things to be national security threats, and he sees having strong borders as being one of the things that helps protect people in this country from some real threats that we face.”
Britain First was founded in 2011 by former members of the far-right British National Party (BNP).
The far-right group has grabbed attention on social media with controversial posts about what they deem “the Islamification of the UK”.
The group has put up members to run in European elections and by-elections on anti-immigration and anti-abortion policies, but has not secured any seats.
Britain First also contested the most recent London mayoral election, receiving 1.2% of the vote.
The original video was shared by commentator Ann Coulter who Donald Trump follows.
Jayda Fransen has more than 52,000 followers on Twitter.
She responded enthusiastically to President Trump sharing her tweets.
Jayda Fransen posted on her account: “Donald Trump himself has retweeted these videos and has around 44 million followers!”
“God bless you Trump! God bless America!” she added.
The message was also shared on Britain First’s Twitter account.
Time Magazine is contradicting President Donald Trump’s account of how he rejected a request for an interview and photo shoot ahead of its Person of the Year issue.
On November 24, President Trump tweeted that Time had called to say he was “probably” going to be named Person of the Year.
However, Time later said the president was incorrect about how it makes its choice.
Donald Trump was awarded the title in 2016.
The president has previously falsely claimed that he holds the record for cover appearances on Time Magazine.
He tweeted: “Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named “Man (Person) of the Year,” like last year, but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!”
Time‘s tradition – begun in 1927 as “Man of the Year” – recognizes the person who “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year”.
The publication said it did not comment on its choice until publication, and that its decision would be revealed on December 6.
Time responded to the president with a tweet: “The President is incorrect about how we choose Person of the Year. TIME does not comment on our choice until publication, which is December 6.”
The magazine invites readers to vote on who they think has earned the title, but the final decision is made by editors.
Donald Trump as POTUS. That is what we have experienced for the last year or so, and in that time we have SEEN some things. Some things that beggar belief, yet he remains arguably the most important single individual in the Western World. How did this happen, what has become the norm, and what can we expect for the future from President Trump? Read on to find out.
Of course, why any single person gets elected as the leader of the free world is a complicated matter. However, there are two issues that stand out above all others.
The first is that voter turnout was incredibly low. 58 % to be precise, and as voter turnout reduces you can expect those with more extreme views to be the ones left making an effort to put their mark in the box. With the indifferent voters more likely to stay at home, something that perhaps had a role in Trump’s success?
Perhaps, also, if we had taken a leaf out of Estonia’s book and used something like the Smartmatic system, an online system that allows votes to be cast and verified. Something that raised votes in their last parliamentary election by 5%, we would have a different bottom on the chair in the oval office?
The other major issue here is perhaps one that became expressed in terms of reaction. In fact, framing Trump’s success as a reaction by those disappointed with Obama and his democratic policies is possible when explaining his triumph. It is even possible to frame it as a reaction by conservative America to having Hillary as the first ever female presidential candidate. Although why a capable, qualified woman would be less desirable than an ageing wheeler-dealer is enough to baffle the mind.
Some of the stuff Trump has done since being POTUS
A post on the truth of Trump cannot be complete without documenting of some of the more unusual behavior that we have seen. His use of social media, in particular, is worth commenting on, especially his official Twitter account.
There he has called the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fat and short, although to be fair this was in response to the barb that Trump was old. He has also got into a Twitter battle with LaVar Ball, Michael Moore, and Sen. Bob Corker. While before he was elected, he was known to dole out the odd word of relationship advice to celebrities such as Katy Perry. I suppose it’s nice to know that he cares?!
What can we expect from Trump in the future
According to his aforementioned Twitter Trump, himself suggests that we can expect unemployment to fall below 4% under his leadership.
However, it seems we can also expect healthcare provision to be snatched from the hands of the neediest and free birth control provision to go out of the window. This is in addition to funds being channeled into fossil fuels as opposed to their more eco-friendly and suitable alternatives. Things that many of us find truly terrifying!
President Donald Trump has announced that the US is re-designating North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, nine years after it was removed from the list.
In a cabinet meeting, President Trump said the move would trigger “very large” additional sanctions to be announced on November 21.
However, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later admitted that “the practical effects may be limited”.
President Trump blamed North Korea’s nuclear program, and support for what he called international acts of terrorism.
While announcing the decision at the White House, President Trump said it “should have happened a long time ago”.
In September, the US proposed a range of UN sanctions against North Korea, including an oil ban and a freeze on leader Kim Jong-un’s assets.
It followed North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and repeated missile launches.
North Korea joins Iran, Sudan and Syria on a list of countries that are deemed to have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.
It has been on the list before but was removed in 2008 by the administration of George W. Bush as part of negotiations on its nuclear program.
The campaign to reinstate it intensified after the American student Otto Warmbier died shortly after he was released from North Korean custody.
Speaking to reporters at a White House press briefing, Rex Tillerson said the designation was meant to hold North Korea accountable for recent actions it has taken “including assassinations outside of their country” and “using banned chemical weapons”.
The secretary of state admitted that given existing sanctions it was “very symbolic” but also said new measures could “disrupt and dissuade some third parties from undertaking certain activities with North Korea”.
“The practical effects may be limited but hopefully we’re closing off a few loopholes with this,” he said.
Kim Jong-un continues to pursue nuclear weapons and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions.
The North Korean leader has made no secret of Pyongyang’s plans to develop a missile capable of reaching the US mainland and has claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb.
Last month, Defense Secretary James Mattis said that the threat of nuclear attack from North Korea was increasing.
Last month, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Bob Corker, accused President Trump of setting the US “on a path to World War Three”.
Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, Gen. John Hyten said: “We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?”
As for the legality of a strike, Gen. Hyten said that he had studied US laws of armed conflict for many years which stipulates key criteria the president must consider:
Necessity
Distinction
Proportionality
Unnecessary suffering
While Senators and expert witnesses agree the US president has full authority to defend the nation, commentators have pointed out that because there is no all-encompassing definition of “imminent attack”, the president is not given an entirely free hand.
Gen. John Hyten also said: “I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do.
“And if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I’m going to say: <<Mr. President, that’s illegal>>. And guess what he’s going to do? He’s going to say, <<What would be legal?>> And we’ll come up with options, of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that’s the way it works.”
He added: “If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life.”
President Trump has not publicly commented on Gen. John Hyten’s remarks.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) had argued that hunting fees could aid conservation of the endangered animals.
According to experts, populations of African elephants are plummeting.
Their numbers dropped by about 30% from 2007 to 2014, according to the 2016 Great Elephant Census.
The non-profit group’s report found a population drop of 6% in Zimbabwe alone.
Despite their listing under the Endangered Species Act, there is a provision in US law that allows permits to import animal parts if there is sufficient evidence that the fees generated will actually benefit species conservation.
In 2015, an American dentist from Minnesota killed the famous Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park.
Cecil’s death triggered an outrage in the US and Zimbabwe, and briefly forced the hunter into hiding.
President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., has released private Twitter correspondence with WikiLeaks after a publication revealed they had communicated shortly before his father’s election.
The Atlantic magazine revealed WikiLeaks had asked Donald Trump Jr. for co-operation and information.
WikiLeaks published leaks of Hillary Clinton campaign emails during the election.
Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyers handed the Twitter direct messages to congressional investigators.
The congressional investigation is one of several looking into allegations of Russian collusion and meddling in the US election.
The largely one-sided transcripts show the president’s son replied only a few times to a series of requests from Wikileaks.
In a series of tweets on November 13, Donald Trump Jr. played down his contact with WikiLeaks, referring to his “whopping 3 responses” which he said one of the congressional committees “has chosen to selectively leak. How ironic!”.
Messages show WikiLeaks appeared to have first contacted Donald Trump Jr. on September 20, asking if he knew the origin of an anti-Trump website.
Donald Trump son replied the next day saying: “Off the record I don’t know who that is, but I’ll ask around. Thanks.”
The Atlantic alleges Donald Trump Jr. then emailed senior officials, including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to tell them WikiLeaks had made contact.
The correspondence between September 2016 and July 2017 shows WikiLeaks urging Donald Trump to share their Clinton files; asking him to supply his tax returns to WikiLeaks and advising him to challenge the result if he lost the election.
The Atlantic piece points out that while Donald Trump Jr. didn’t reply to later messages, timestamps from tweets show instances where he and his father appear to have “acted on its requests” by mentioning or sharing WikiLeaks stories shortly afterwards.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has criticized The Atlantic‘s story.
Julian Assange accuses it of selecting messages that were “edited” and failing to show the full context of the conversations.
He also said the messages were part of the group’s promotional efforts.
He wrote on Twitter: “WikiLeaks can be very effective at convincing even high-profile people that it is their interest to promote links to its publications.”
Donald Trump Jr.’s lawyer Alan Futerfas told The Atlantic: “Over the last several months, we have worked co-operatively with each of the committees and have voluntarily turned over thousands of documents in response to their requests.
“Putting aside the question as to why or by whom such documents, provided to Congress under promises of confidentiality, have been selectively leaked, we can say with confidence that we have no concerns about these documents and any questions raised about them have been easily answered in the appropriate forum.”
President Donald Trump has revealed he has a “great relationship” with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, after a highly anticipated meeting in the country’s capital Manila.
It was unclear whether President Trump raised human rights violations in the Philippines, despite calls for him to do so.
Barack Obama’s administration had spoken out against Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which has killed almost 4,000 people.
President Trump is almost at the end of an extensive Asia tour.
The first meeting between Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, which took place at the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, was closely watched as both are known for striking a controversially outspoken and direct tone.
After the private meeting, President Trump did not respond to questions about whether he had raised the subject of human rights while a spokesman for President Duterte said the topic had not been discussed.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders later said the topic was mentioned briefly in their private meeting, in the context of the war on drugs, but did not give further details.
On November 10, President Duterte said he stabbed a person to death when he was a teenager. His spokesman later said the remark had been “in jest”.
Since coming into office in 2016, Rodrigo Duterte has presided over a massive crackdown on crime in the Philippines, which critics allege undermines fundamental human rights.
The Filipino president has encouraged extrajudicial killings of those involved in the drug trade, and said he would “be happy to slaughter” three million drug addicts in the country.
Police say they have killed almost 4,000 people in anti-drug operations since 2016. More than 2,000 others have been killed in connection with drug-related crimes.
President Trump has previously praised Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, reportedly telling him: “I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing.”
A Philippine government transcript of the April 29 phone call was later leaked to US media.
President Trump and other leaders attending the ASEAN event had already met on Sunday evening at a gala in Manila ahead of the summit.
During the evening, Rodrigo Duterte took to the stage to sing a Filipino hit love song, afterwards saying it had been “on the orders of the commander-in-chief of the United States”.
Demonstrators took to the streets in Manila on November 12 and 13, protesting against Donald Trump’s visit and carrying banners like “Trump Go Home” and “Ban Trump #1 terrorist”.
Riot police used water cannon and sonic alarms to repel the protesters.
Donald Trump’s visit to the Philippines wraps up the president’s five-country trip to Asia which also had him visit Japan, South Korea, China and Vietnam.
While being in Vietnam for his Asia tour, President Donald Trump have fired off a series of angry tweets about his war of words with Kim Jong-un and his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He wrote: “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?” Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”
On November 11, North Korea denounced President Trump’s Asia trip, calling it a “warmonger’s visit” and again described the president as a “dotard” – a centuries-old insult for an elderly person.
President Trump responded by suggesting in a tweet that Kim Jong-un was “short and fat”, and complaining: “Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!”
The president also tweeted out a short tirade over criticism of his handling of Vladimir Putin.
On November 11, he told reporters that he trusted Vladimir Putin’s word that Russia had not attempted to interfere with the US election, despite a consensus among US intelligence agencies to the contrary.
“When will all the haters and fools out there realize that having a good relationship with Russia is a good thing, not a bad thing,” Donald Trump wrote.
“There [sic] always playing politics – bad for our country. I want to solve North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, terrorism, and Russia can greatly help!” he added.
He later clarified, after intense criticism, that he supported US intelligence agencies in their conclusion.
“As to whether or not I believe it or not, I’m with our agencies. I believe in our… intelligence agencies,” the president said.
“What he believes, he believes,” he added, of Vladimir Putin’s belief that Russia did not meddle.
He went on and tweeted: “Does the Fake News Media remember when Crooked Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, was begging Russia to be our friend with the misspelled reset button? Obama tried also, but he had zero chemistry with Putin.”
Asked at a news conference in Vietnam if he could see himself being friends with Kim Jong-un, President Trump said: “That might be a strange thing to happen but it’s a possibility.
“If it did happen it could be a good thing I can tell you for North Korea, but it could also be good for a lot of other places and be good for the rest the world.
“It could be something that could happen. I don’t know if it will but it would be very, very nice.”
President Trump will travel to Manila on November 12 for the final stop on his Asia tour, before flying back to the US.
President Donald Trump said President Vladimir Putin feels insulted by allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
The two leaders briefly met at the APEC summit in Vietnam.
“He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election,” Donald Trump said.
President Trump, who defeated Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, said the allegations were a “Democratic hit job”.
The US intelligence community concluded earlier that Russia had indeed tried to sway the poll in favor of Donald Trump.
The DoJ has appointed special investigator Robert Mueller to examine any possible collusion involving Donald Trump’s team, and legal action has already been taken against several former aides.
President Trump has refused to acknowledge a reported assessment by the CIA and other intelligence agencies that Russia was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
The contents of the emails, passed to WikiLeaks and posted online, were embarrassing to the Democrats and shook up the presidential campaign, which ended in defeat for Hillary Clinton.
In addition to Robert Mueller’s inquiry, congressional committees have been set up to carry out their own investigations.
Relations between the US and Russia have been strained for years, with the Kremlin long accusing Washington of seeking to sway elections in Russia and other ex-Soviet states including Ukraine and Georgia.
While Russian hackers are widely suspected of involvement, there has been no conclusive link to the Kremlin.
Denying that Russia had tried to interfere last year by fostering contacts with Donald Trump’s campaign, Vladimir Putin told reporters in Vietnam: “Everything about the so-called Russian dossier in the US is a manifestation of a continuing domestic political struggle.”
President Trump said he believed President Putin had been “very insulted by” the allegations and that was “not a good thing” for America.
“He [Vladimir Putin] said he didn’t meddle,” the president added.
“I asked him again.”
Asked if he believed President Putin, Donald Trump replied: “He is very, very strong in the fact that he didn’t do it. You have President Putin very strongly, vehemently says he has nothing to do with that. Now, you are not going to get into an argument, you are going to start talking about Syria and the Ukraine.”
Donald Trump’s election campaign adviser George Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
He admitted the talks happened while he worked for Donald Trump, not before, court papers show.
George Papadopoulos said he had been told the Russians possessed “dirt” on Hillary Clinton.
The charges are the first to be brought by Robert Mueller, the former FBI director now special counsel investigating alleged links between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Both sides deny any collusion.
Earlier it emerged that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had been charged with tax fraud in an unrelated case stemming from the Mueller investigation.
The 12 charges brought against Paul Manafort and one of his business associates, Rick Gates, include conspiracy to launder money.
They do not relate to Donald Trump’s campaign but to the pair’s Ukrainian business dealings up to 2015.
According to analysts, the case has the potential to damage President Trump because it relates directly to his campaign.
George Papadopoulos – a Chicago-based international energy lawyer – was close enough to then-candidate Trump to be part of a photograph of his national security team which Donald Trump tweeted on April 1, 2016.
According to the court documents, George Papadopoulos admitted on October 5, 2017, to having impeded the FBI’s investigation into alleged collusion with Russia.
When he was interviewed by the FBI this January, George Papadopoulos falsely claimed that he had met two figures with Russian connections before joining the Trump campaign in March 2016. In fact, the former foreign policy adviser met them after joining the campaign.
One was an unnamed Russian woman who, George Papadopoulos believed, had connections to Russian government officials.
He admitted seeking to use her connections in an effort to arrange a meeting “between the Campaign and Russian government officials”.
The other person was an unnamed, London-based professor who was said to have “substantial connections to Russian government officials”.
The professor only took an interest in George Papadopoulos because of his status within the Trump campaign, the statement says.
Russian “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, in the form of “thousands of emails”, was allegedly mentioned by the professor at a breakfast meeting in a London hotel on or around April 26, 2016.
The professor said he had been informed about the compromising emails when he met senior Russian government officials on a recent trip to Moscow.
President Trump aides have said George Papadopoulos played a limited role in the campaign and had no access to Donald Trump, the Associated Press reports.
President Donald Trump went on a tweet storm about the “guilt” of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.
His Twitter outburst on October 29 came amid reports that the first arrest in the Russian collusion inquiry would be made this week, possibly as early as October 30.
The president insisted allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia were “phony” and a “witch hunt”.
He said Republicans were united behind him, before urging: “DO SOMETHING!”
According to media reports, the first charges have been filed in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election to assist Donald Trump.
It is not clear what the charges are and whom they are targeting, CNN and Reuters report, quoting unnamed sources.
On October 29, the president issued four tweets on the subject.
The first tweet said: “Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?),….”
Then he added: “…the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more. Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia,….”
Ending with: “…’collusion,’ which doesn’t exist. The Dems are using this terrible (and bad for our country) Witch Hunt for evil politics, but the R’s…”
“…are now fighting back like never before. There is so much GUILT by Democrats/Clinton, and now the facts are pouring out. DO SOMETHING!”
About an hour later President Trump tweeted: “All of this ‘Russia’ talk right when the Republicans are making their big push for historic Tax Cuts & Reform. Is this coincidental? NOT!”
The president’s critics on Twitter were quick to accuse him of attempting to divert attention from the Russian investigation by complaining about the lack of focus on an opponent he defeated in the presidential election nearly a year ago.
US intelligence agencies have already concluded that the Russian government sought to help Donald Trump win the election.
Robert Mueller’s investigation is looking into any links between Russia and the Trump campaign. Both deny there was any collusion.
His team is known to have conducted extensive interviews with several current and former White House officials.
Former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed by the department of justice as special counsel in May shortly after President Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
According to new reports, the first charges have been filed in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged Russia interference in the 2016 election.
However, it was not clear what the charges were and who they targeted, CNN and Reuters reported quoting unnamed sources.
According to CNN, anyone charged could be taken into custody as soon as Monday.
US intelligence agencies said earlier this year the Russian government sought to help Donald Trump win the election.
According to the document, Russia led a campaign to “denigrate” Hillary Clinton by hacking into email accounts and paying social media “trolls” to make nasty comments.
Robert Mueller’s investigation is looking into any links between Russia and the Trump campaign. Both deny there was any collusion.
The charges, approved by a federal grand jury in Washington, are sealed under orders from a federal judge, the reports added.
A spokesman for Robert Mueller has declined to comment on the reports. His team is known to have conducted extensive interviews with several current and former White House officials.
The former FBI director was appointed by the DoJ as special counsel in May shortly after President Trump fired FBI director James Comey.
On October 27, President Trump tweeted that it was now “commonly agreed” that there was no collusion between him and Russia, but said that there were links between Moscow and Hillary Clinton.
Republican lawmakers have said that a uranium deal with a Russian company in 2010, when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, was sealed in exchange for donations to Bill Clinton’s charity.
An investigation has been opened into the case. Democrats say it is an attempt to divert attention from the alleged ties between Russia and Donald Trump.
About 2,800 classified files on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 has been released following President Donald Trump’s approval.
The president said the public deserved to be “fully informed” about the event, which has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories.
However, some documents have been withheld at the request of government agencies.
One memo revealed that the FBI had warned police of a death threat against the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wrote: “We at once notified the chief of police and he assured us Oswald would be given sufficient protection.”
Lee Harvey Oswald, a former Marine and self-proclaimed Marxist, was shot dead in the basement of the Dallas Police department two days after JFK was killed.
As the documents are pored over and analyzed, other findings include a CIA memo that suggests Lee Harvey Oswald spoke with a KGB officer at the Russian embassy in Mexico City. The memo says the KGB officer Lee Harvey Oswald spoke with worked for a department “responsible for sabotage and assassination”.
Another memo showed that Soviet officials feared an “irresponsible general” would launch a missile at the USSR in the wake of JFK’s death.
One memo tells how a British regional newspaper, the Cambridge News, received an anonymous call about “some big news” in the US, hours before the assassination.
A copy of the memo was released by the National Archives in July, but had gone unreported.
JFK was shot dead on November 22, 1963 as he travelled through Dallas in an open-topped limousine.
The Warren Commission’s report into the shooting, published in September 1964, said that Lee Harvey Oswald had fired the fatal shots from the Texas School Book Depository building.
There was “no evidence that either Lee Harvey Oswald or Jack Ruby was part of any conspiracy, domestic or foreign”, the commission said.
A 1992 law passed by Congress required all records related to the assassination – around five million pages – to be publicly disclosed in full within 25 years.
The deadline was October 26.
More than 90% of the files were already in the public domain.
Allegations of a government cover-up are unlikely to be assuaged by reports that the CIA, FBI, Department of State and other agencies lobbied at the last minute to keep certain documents under wraps.
In a memo directing heads of executive departments to release the files, President Trump said the American public deserves to be “fully informed about all aspects of this pivotal event”.
“Therefore, I am ordering today that the veil finally be lifted,” he wrote.
Some redacted documents are undergoing a further six-month review, but it is possible those records could stay secret after the deadline on April 26, 2018.
According to White House officials, President Trump was reluctant to agree to agency requests to hold the remaining documents.
“I have no choice – today – but to accept those redactions rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to our Nation’s security,” the president added in his memo.
President Donald Trump has declared the nationwide opioid crisis a public health emergency.
Calling the epidemic “a national shame”, President Trump announced a plan to target the abuse of opioids, which kill more than 140 Americans each day.
Donald Trump has previously promised to declare a national emergency, which would have triggered federal funding to help states combat the drug scourge.
The move instead redirects grant money to be used in dealing with the crisis.
On October 26, President Trump said at the White House: “More people are dying from drug overdoses today than from gun homicides and motor vehicles combined.
“These overdoses are driven by a massive increase in addiction to prescription painkillers, heroin and other opioids.”
The president added: “The United States is by far the largest consumer of these drugs using more opioid pills per person than any other country by far in the world.”
According to senior White House officials, Donald Trump is signing a presidential memorandum directing his acting health secretary to declare a nationwide public health emergency and ordering all federal agencies to take measures to reduce the number of opioid deaths.
The order will also ease some regulations to allow states more latitude in how they use federal funds to tackle the problem.
However, the White House plans to fund the effort through the Public Health Emergency Fund, which reportedly only contains $57,000.
The Trump administration will then work with Congress to approve additional funding in a year-end spending package, senior officials said.
Proponents suggest President Trump’s announcement is a critical step in raising awareness about the nationwide epidemic, while some critics argue the move does not go far enough.
Republicans have announced parallel Congress investigations into a uranium deal under President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
One committee will investigate how the Obama administration approved a 2010 acquisition that gave Russia control of 20% of the US uranium supply.
Two other panels will scrutinize the FBI decision not to charge former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her private email server.
Democrats pilloried the investigations as “a massive diversion”.
Both issues to be placed under the spotlight by the committees are longstanding political grievances of President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s campaign aides are currently the subject of congressional investigations into whether they colluded with alleged Russia attempts to sway last year’s presidential election.
On October 24, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy announced investigations into the previous administration.
They said there were “outstanding questions” about the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
Bob Goodlatte and Trey Gowdy said they wished to know why former FBI director James Comey chose to divulge the inquiry into Hillary Clinton, but not the one about Trump aides and Russia.
Meanwhile, Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, announced his panel’s investigation into the sale of a Canadian mining company that had mines in the American West.
Uranium One – which owned a fifth of US uranium supplies – was acquired seven years ago by Russian state-owned company Rosatom.
President Donad Trump tweeted on October 19: “Uranium deal to Russia, with Clinton help and Obama Administration knowledge, is the biggest story that Fake Media doesn’t want to follow!”
The State Department, under Hillary Clinton, helped approve the deal.
Last week, The Hill reported that at the time of the sale the FBI was investigating alleged attempts by Russia to gain influence in the US nuclear industry through bribery and extortion.
The New York Times and The Hill have reported that Russian nuclear officials and Uranium One’s chairman donated millions of dollars to the Clinton charitable foundation.
Devin Nunes told reporters at Capitol Hill on October 24: “One of the things we are concerned about is whether or not there was an FBI investigation, was there a DOJ investigation and if so, why was Congress not informed of this matter.”
However, Democratic congressmen accused Republicans of creating a distraction.
Elijah Cummings and John Conyers in a statement on October 24: “This new investigation is a massive diversion to distract from the lack of Republican oversight of the Trump administration and the national security threat that Russia poses.”
In an interview with C-SPAN on October 23, Hillary Clinton said that the Uranium One allegations are “baloney”.
President Donald Trump has announced his plans to allow the opening of a trove of long-classified files on the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy.
In a Twitter post, he said he would allow the release “subject to receipt of further information”.
The files are scheduled to be opened by the US National Archives on October 26, but the president is entitled to extend their classified status.
JFK was shot dead by a sniper on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas.
The National Archives has already released most documents related to the assassination but a final batch remains under lock and key.
President Trump tweeted: “Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.”
Congress ruled in 1992 that all JFK documents should be released within 25 years, unless the president decided the release would harm national security.
The archive contains more than 3,000 previously unreleased documents, and more than 30,000 that have been released before but with redactions.
It is unclear whether President Trump intends to allow the release in full or with redactions.
According to a Washington Post report, JFK assassination experts do not think the last batch of papers contains any bombshells.
However, the files may shed more light on Lee Harvey Oswald’s activities in Mexico City just months before the assassination.
Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested in Dallas on the day of the shooting and charged with the president’s murder. He denied the charges, claiming he was a “just a patsy”.
He was gunned down by nightclub owner Jack Ruby while in police custody two days later, and the plot to kill JFK became the most powerful conspiracy theory in American history.
Ex- Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush have expressed their concerns regarding the current political climate in the US, in comments seen as a veiled rebuke of President Donald Trump’s leadership.
Barack Obama urged Americans to reject the politics of “division” and “fear”, while George W. Bush criticized “bullying and prejudice” in public life.
They were speaking separately and neither mentioned President Trump by name.
Donald Trump, who has been critical of his two predecessors, is yet to comment.
Ex-presidents traditionally shy away from commenting publicly on their successors, and Barack Obama said on leaving office he would extend that courtesy for a time to Donald Trump, as George W. Bush had to him.
Barack Obama has broken his silence since to issue statements on President Trump’s efforts to dismantle ObamaCare, as well as his controversial “Muslim ban” and decision to abandon the Paris climate accord.
Speaking at a Democratic campaign event in Newark, New Jersey, Barack Obama said Americans should “send a message to the world that we are rejecting a politics of division, we are rejecting a politics of fear”.
The former president added: “What we can’t have is the same old politics of division that we have seen so many times before that dates back centuries.
“Some of the politics we see now, we thought we put that to bed. That’s folks looking 50 years back. It’s the 21st Century, not the 19th Century. Come on!”
Barack Obama touched on similar themes at another event later in Richmond, Virginia, saying: “We’ve got folks who are deliberately trying to make folks angry, to demonize people who have different ideas, to get the base all riled up because it provides a short-term tactical advantage.”
Speaking just hours earlier in New York, George W. Bush said: “Bigotry seems emboldened. Our politics seems more vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication.
“There are some signs that the intensity of support for democracy itself has waned – especially among the young.”
Americans, the former president said, have “seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty”.
“At times it can seem like the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together.
“We’ve seen nationalism distorted into nativism, forgotten the dynamism that immigration has always brought to America.”
Both ex-presidents have until now largely avoided commenting publicly on President Trump’s policies.
Before his election last year, Donald Trump was highly critical of both Barack Obama and George W. Bush, describing each of them at one time or another as “perhaps the worst president in the history” of the US.
Since his inauguration in January, Donald Trump’s combative style and direct public comments on a number of key issues have caused controversy both among Democrats and Republicans.
The president has regularly blamed the media, which he says do not focus on his achievements and instead choose to concentrate on what he describes as “fake news”.
President Donald Trump has lashed out at Puerto Rico officials over their criticism of US relief efforts on the island following Hurricane Maria.
Hurricane Maria a week ago killed 16 people in Puerto Rico and left millions in need of aid.
In a series of tweets, President Trump said that Puerto Rican officials showed “poor leadership ability” and “want everything to be done for them”.
His comments come after the Mayor of San Juan made a desperate plea for federal help.
In a news conference, Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz said: “We have no time for patience any more.
“I am asking the president of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives.
“I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell.”
The mayor then appeared in a T-shirt that said “Help us, we’re dying” for a CNN interview.
Carmen Yulin Cruz, who is living in a shelter after her home was destroyed, said Puerto Rico is set to be without power for six to eight months after the storm damaged 90% of homes on the island.
More bad weather is in the offing, with the National Weather Service in San Juan warning that a strong thunderstorm would imminently affect the east of the island, with torrential rain and strong winds expected.
Almost half Puerto Rico’s 3.4 million-population is without drinking water, the Defense Department said on September 28.
Efforts are being made on the island to clear road access and restore hospitals to working conditions.
In a series of tweets on September 30, President Trump suggested the mayor had been told “to be nasty to Trump” by his Democratic opposition.
The president also said he would visit Puerto Rico on October 3 with First Lady Melania.
The visit comes after widespread criticism of his administration’s response to the hurricane.
Responding to President Trump’s tweets in an interview, Carmen Yulin Cruz said: “I was asking for help. I wasn’t saying anything nasty about the president.
“I will continue to do what I have to do, say what I have to say, compliment the people that I have to compliment, and call out the people that I need to call out.
“This isn’t about me. This isn’t about anyone. This is about lives that are being lost.”
On September 28, President Trump announced shipping restrictions had been lifted to help provide aid to Puerto Rico.
The US military general in charge of the relief operation said on September 29 that about 4,500 troops were already involved.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said 95% of Puerto Rico remained without power and 55% of people did not yet have access to drinking water, but that most petrol stations had reopened.
Concerns were raised on September 28 that thousands of shipping containers of aid were sitting in a San Juan undistributed. Ground transportation has been hindered by a lack of fuel and blocked roads.
The US navy has deployed a hospital ship and has assigned engineers to repair the island’s damaged power grid, the Department of Defense said on September 29.
Puerto Rico is a US territory but does not have direct voting representation.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said that the US is in “direct contact” with North Korea.
He also said Washington was “probing” the possibility of talks with Pyongyang, “so stay tuned”.
During a trip to China, Rex Tillerson said: “We have lines of communications to Pyongyang.
“We’re not in a dark situation.”
In recent months, North Korea and the US have engaged in heated rhetoric, but it was not previously known they had lines of communication.
President Donald Trump has threatened to annihilate North Korea, saying Kim Jong-un, “is on a suicide mission”, which led the North Korean leader to release a statement vowing to “tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire”.
On September 30, North Korea continued the rhetoric, releasing a statement calling President Trump an “old psychopath” bent on the “suicidal act of inviting a nuclear disaster that will reduce America to a sea of flames”.
The war of words comes against a backdrop of repeated missile tests and North Korea’s claim that, on September 3, it successfully tested a miniaturized hydrogen bomb which could be loaded on to a long-range missile.
The tests were internationally condemned, with the UN bringing in sanctions against the secretive country in an attempt to force it to stop its weapons program.
Rex Tillerson is in China meeting with President Xi Jinping and other officials, hoping to encourage them to implement the sanctions.
China this week told North Korean businesses operating in its territory to close down. However, China remains keen to see negotiations with North Korea.
President Trump said last month that “talking is not the answer”.
However, there were reports of so-called back channels between the two administrations.
According to the Associated Press, the US and North Korea had been engaged in quiet discussions for months, with “diplomatic contact… occurring regularly” between the US envoy for North Korea policy and “a senior North Korean diplomat at the country’s UN mission”.
Rex Tillerson has also previously hinted there are channels available between the two countries, AP added.
More widely known is the role Sweden plays in negotiating with North Korea on Washington’s behalf.
In August, Ulv Hanssen from the Swedish Institute of International Affairs told Reuters Sweden could step in again because it was trusted by both US and North Korea.
“Sweden has done so on numerous occasions before, especially in relation to imprisoned Americans,” he said.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the speculation.
Health Secretary Tom Price has been forced to resign after using expensive private planes for official business.
Tom Price previously apologized after making 26 private flights since May at a cost of $400,000 to taxpayers.
Government officials, except those dealing with national security matters, are required to take commercial flights for work related travel.
Three other members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet are under scrutiny for using private planes while on the job. According to Politico and the Washington Post, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke flew from Las Vegas to Montana last June on a private jet that cost taxpayers more than $12,000. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is accused of flying with his wife to view last month’s solar eclipse. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt has spent more than $58,000 on non-commercial travel.
A White House statement said President Trump had accepted Tom Price’s resignation, adding that Don J. Wright had been designated as acting health secretary.
An investigation by the political news website Politico found that Tom Price’s travels had cost more than $1 million.
As well as the $400,000 for private flights, that figure includes the cost of military aircraft used for Tom Price’s trips abroad, Politico added.
President Trump had earlier said he was “not happy” with the expense.
Hours before Tom Price’s resignation, President Trump told White House reporters: “He’s a very fine man. We’re going to make a decision sometime tonight. He’s a very, very fine man.”
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