Standing alongside Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu at the White House, President Donald Trump has presented his
long-awaited Middle East peace plan, promising to keep Jerusalem as Israel’s
undivided capital.
President Trump proposed an independent Palestinian state and the
recognition of Israeli sovereignty over West Bank settlements.
He said his proposals “could be the last opportunity” for
Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the plans as a
“conspiracy”.
He said in a TV address from Ramallah in the West Bank: “I say to Trump and Netanyahu: Jerusalem is not for sale, all our
rights are not for sale and are not for bargain. And your deal, the conspiracy,
will not pass.”
The blueprint, which aims to solve one of the world’s longest-running
conflicts, was drafted under the stewardship of President Trump’s son-in-law
Jared Kushner.
Thousands of Palestinians protested in the Gaza Strip earlier on January 28,
while the Israeli military deployed reinforcements in the occupied West Bank.
The joint announcement came as both President Trump and PM Netanyahu faced political challenges at home. Donald Trump is the subject of an impeachment trial in the Senate while the Israeli PM on January 28 dropped his bid for immunity on corruption charges. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, said that the timing of the
announcement was not tied to any political development, adding it had been
“fully baked” for some time.
President Trump’s proposals are:
The US will recognize Israeli sovereignty over territory that Donald Trump’s plan envisages being part of Israel. The plan includes a conceptual map that President Trump says illustrates the territorial compromises that Israel is willing to make.
The map will “more than double the Palestinian territory and provide a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem”, where President Trump says the US would open an embassy. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said President Trump’s plan would give Palestinians control over 15% of what it called “historic Palestine”.
Jerusalem “will remain Israel’s undivided capital”. Both Israel and the Palestinians hold competing claims to the holy city. The Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, be the capital of their future state.
An opportunity for Palestinians to “achieve an independent state of their very own” – however, he gave few details.
“No Palestinians or Israelis will be uprooted from their homes” – suggesting that existing Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank will remain.
Israel will work with the king of Jordan to ensure that the status quo governing the key holy site in Jerusalem known to Jews as the Temple Mount and al-Haram al-Sharif to Muslims is preserved. Jordan runs the religious trust that administers the site.
Territory allocated to Palestinians in President Trump’s map “will remain open and undeveloped for a period of four years”. During that time, Palestinians can study the deal, negotiate with Israel, and “achieve the criteria for statehood”.
President Trump said: “Palestinians are in poverty and violence, exploited by those seeking to use them as pawns to advance terrorism and extremism. They deserve a far better life.”
President Donald Trump has
threatened Iraq with severe sanctions after its parliament called on US troops
to leave the country.
The president told reporters: “We have a very extraordinarily
expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build. We’re
not leaving unless they pay us back for it.”
Tensions are high after the US
assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad last week.
Meanwhile, Iran has vowed
“severe revenge”.
The 62-year-old general spearheaded
Iranian military operations in the Middle East and was regarded as a terrorist
by the US.
Qasem Soleimani’s remains have now
returned to Iran, where mourners packed the streets of Tehran on January 6.
Esmail Qaani, the new head of Iran’s
Quds force – which Qasem Soleimani led – has vowed to expel the US from the
Middle East.
Iran’s state radio quoted Esmail
Qaani as saying: “We promise to
continue martyr Soleimani’s path with the same force… and the only
compensation for us would be to remove America from the region.”
The air strike that killed Qasem Soleimani
also claimed the life of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a top Iraqi military figure who
commanded the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah group.
Speaking from the presidential
plane, President Trump said that if Iraq asked US forces to depart on an
unfriendly basis, “we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen
before, ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame”.
Some 5,000 US soldiers are in Iraq
as part of the international coalition against the ISIS group.
On January 5, the coalition paused
its operations against ISIS in Iraq, and Iraqi lawmakers passed a non-binding
resolution calling for foreign troops to leave.
The resolution was pushed through by
the parliament’s Shia Muslim bloc – which is close to Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran has announced it
will no longer abide by restrictions imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal, under
which it agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in
international inspectors in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.
President Trump abandoned the deal in 2018, saying he wanted
to force Iran to negotiate a new deal that would place indefinite curbs on its
nuclear program and also halt its development of ballistic missiles.
However, Iran refused and had since been gradually rolling back its
commitments under the deal.
In a statement, Iran said it would no longer observe limitations on its
capacity for enrichment, the level of enrichment, the stock of enriched
material, or research and development.
European leaders, from Germany, France and the UK – which were all signatories to the 2015 deal, alongside China and Russia – responded with a joint statement urging Iran to refrain from “further violent action or proliferation”.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has thanked
President Donald Trump for intelligence that helped foil “acts of
terrorism” on Russian soil, a Kremlin statement announces.
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke on the phone on December 29, the
statement said.
According to the Kremlin, the information came via intelligence services,
but it provided no further details.
Russian media is reporting the discovery of a plot to attack St Petersburg
over the New Year period.
According to Tass news agency, two Russian nationals have been arrested and
plans to attack a mass gathering were seized, according to a spokesperson from
the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency.
President Putin and President Trump have spoken on the phone and in person
various times since the latter took office.
Records from the conversations show
they have often talked about Syria, as well as nuclear agreements, North Korea
and trade.
In December 2017, Vladimir Putin
thanked President Trump for another warning from US intelligence agencies,
which again apparently prevented a terrorist plot in St Petersburg, according
to a White House account.
During that call, the Kremlin said
President Putin had promised to reciprocate with information about terrorist
threats to the US.
The US and Russian relations
plummeted after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from neighboring Ukraine
in 2014.
They were also strained when US
intelligence agencies concluded that Russia had interfered in the 2016
presidential election.
Despite this, Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin have appeared to be on good terms personally – and they have
vowed to co-operate on terrorism.
President Trump has indicated he is considering attending the Victory Day celebrations in Moscow next May, after an invitation from President Putin.
A newly-released government email
has revealed that the White House sought to freeze aid to Ukraine just 91
minutes after President Donald Trump spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky by
phone in July.
The email, telling the Pentagon to
“hold off”, was sent by a senior White House official.
In the phone call, President Trump
asked the Ukrainian leader to investigate his political rival, Democrat Joe
Biden.
On December 18, President Trump has
been impeached for abuse of power over the issue.
Democrats say the phone call shows
Donald Trump used the office for personal political gain.
A US whistleblower who heard about
the conversation raised concerns, which ultimately triggered the impeachment
inquiry.
The president was formally impeached
by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but is unlikely to be
removed from office as the case will go to trial in the Senate, where his
Republican party has a majority.
The newly-released email was obtained
by the Center for Public Integrity following a court order in a freedom of
information case.
The email shows that Mike Duffey, a
senior White House official, contacted senior defense officials about
withholding Ukraine’s aid just over an hour-and-a-half after President Trump
ended a call with President Zelensky on July 25.
The transcript shows President Trump
asked Volodymyr Zelensky to “do us a favor” and investigate Joe
Biden, currently a frontrunner to be the Democratic candidate in the 2020 White
House race, and his son Hunter Biden, who had previously worked for a Ukrainian
energy company.
In the email Mike Duffey asks that
the Department of Defense “hold off” on providing aid following the
administration’s plan to review.
The email reads: “Given the sensitive nature of the
request, I appreciate your keeping that information closely held to those who
need to know to execute direction.”
In a statement released to media on December 22, Rachel Semmel, a spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget, dismissed the characterization of the email.
The House voted to impeach President Donald
Trump, setting up a trial in the Senate that will decide whether he remains in
office.
The House voted on two charges – that President Trump abused his power and
that he had obstructed Congress.
Nearly all Democrats voted for the charges and every Republican against.
Donald Trump has become the third US president
in history to be impeached.
However, Republicans control the Senate so it is highly unlikely he will be
removed from power.
As voting took place in the House, President Trump was addressing a campaign
rally in Battle Creek, Michigan.
The president told a cheering crowd: “While we’re creating jobs and fighting for Michigan, the radical
left in Congress is consumed with envy and hatred and rage, you see what’s
going on.”
Meanwhile, the White House released
a statement saying that the president was “confident that he will be fully
exonerated” in a Senate trial.
After 10 hours of partisan debate on
the merits of the two impeachment charges against President Trump, the House
called for votes at about 20:30 local time.
The first charge is abuse of power,
stemming from President Trump’s alleged attempt to pressure Ukraine to announce
investigations into his Democratic political rival, Joe Biden.
It passed by 230 votes to 197,
almost completely on party lines. Only two Democrats opposed – New Jersey’s
Jeff Van Drew, who is set to leave the party, and Minnesota’s Collin Peterson.
The second charge is obstruction of Congress, because President Trump allegedly
refused to co-operate with the impeachment inquiry, withholding documentary
evidence and barring his key aides from giving evidence.
It passed by 229-198. Democrat Jared Golden of Maine voted for the first
charge but opposed this.
No Republicans supported impeachment, although ex-party member Justin Amash,
from Michigan, did.
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard voted “present” on
both charges – effectively an abstention. Two members were absent for personal
reasons.
Being impeached places President Donald Trump alongside only two other presidents in the nation’s history – Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton.
House Judiciary Committee has approved two
impeachment articles against President Donald Trump, moving the process towards
a full House vote.
The articles are expected to be voted on by the Democrat-controlled House of
Representatives next week.
President Trump is the fourth US president in history to face impeachment.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Donald Trump again dismissed the
process as a “sham” and a “hoax”.
Today’s hearing lasted just over ten minutes before the two articles of
impeachment – abuse of power and obstructing Congress – were passed by 23 votes
to 17.
The vote was delayed after more than 14 hours of rancorous debate.
Republicans criticized that decision by Democratic Party Chairman Jerry Nadler,
accusing him of pushing back the vote to ensure more TV coverage.
In the abuse of power article, President Trump is accused of soliciting a
foreign country to help him politically by trying to force Ukraine to launch a
corruption investigation into his political rival Joe Biden, a leading
Democratic presidential contender.
The president is also accused of obstructing Congress by failing to
co-operate with the House investigation.
Leading Democrats agreed the articles of impeachment described over nine
pages. They say that President Trump “betrayed the nation” by acting
“corruptly”.
Jerry Nadler made a brief statement to reporters after the vote, calling it
a “solemn and sad day” and pledged that the House of Representatives
would “act expeditiously”.
However, Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz said: “For Democrats, impeachment is their drug.”
Speaking from the White House Oval Office alongside the president of
Paraguay, President Trump called the impeachment process “a witch
hunt”, “a sham” and “a hoax”.
Donald Trump said Democrats were “trivializing impeachment” adding that they are “making absolute fools out of themselves”.
Congress can remove a president from office
before the end of their term.
Impeachment is the first part – the charges – of a two-stage political
process by which Congress can remove a president from office.
While it’s commonly used to mean removing
someone from office, it actually refers to the filing of formal charges in
Congress.
These charges then form the basis of a
trial.
How
does the impeachment process begin?
It has to be started by the House of
Representatives, which is one of the two chambers of Congress. (The other is
the Senate).
A simple majority (51%) needs to vote in
favor of articles of impeachment for the process to move to the next stage.
If the House of Representatives votes to pass articles of impeachment, the
Senate is forced to hold a trial.
What
happens next?
A Senate vote requires a two-thirds majority to convict and remove the
president – unlikely in this case, given that President Donald Trump’s party
controls the chamber.
A team of politicians from the House of
Representatives act as prosecutors. The president has their own defense lawyers
and senators act as the jury.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court
presides over proceedings and the president is tried.
Only two US presidents in history – Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson – have
been impeached, but neither was convicted.
President Richard Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.
House Judiciary Committee has unveiled charges
against President Donald Trump, a key move in impeaching him.
The first article revealed by committee chief Jerry Nadler accuses President
Trump of abuse of power and the second accuses him of obstructing Congress.
The Republican president is said to have withheld aid to Ukraine for
domestic political reasons.
Donald Trump has urged the Senate to try him “sooner than later”.
He insists he has done “nothing wrong” and has dismissed the
impeachment process as “madness”.
If the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
votes to approve the articles later this week, they will then be submitted to
the lower chamber for a full vote.
If, in turn, the articles are approved by the House, an impeachment trial in
the Republican-held Senate will take place, possibly early in January.
The impeachment process was launched after an anonymous
whistleblower complained to Congress in September about a July phone call by
Donald Trump to the president of Ukraine.
President Trump is alleged to have
committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” (a phrase from the US
Constitution) on two counts outlined by Jerry Nadler:
The first allegation is that he exercised the powers of his public office to “obtain an improper personal benefit while ignoring or injuring the national interest”, by allegedly putting pressure on Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election;
The second allegation is that “when he was caught, when the House investigated and opened an impeachment inquiry, President Trump engaged in unprecedented categorical and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry”, thereby obstructing Congress.
President Trump “sees himself
as above the law”, Jerry Nadler said.
“We must be clear, no-one, not even the president, is
above the law.”
In the July phone call to Ukraine’s
President Volodymyr Zelensky,
President Trump appeared to tie US military assistance for Ukraine to its
launching of investigations that could help him politically.
In return for those investigations, Democrats say President Trump offered
two bargaining chips – $400 million of military aid that had already been
allocated by Congress, and a White House meeting for President.
Democrats say this pressure on a vulnerable US ally constitutes an abuse of
power.
The first investigation President Trump wanted from Ukraine was into former
VP Joe Biden, his main Democratic challenger, and his son Hunter. Hunter Biden
joined the board of a Ukrainian energy company when his father was President
Barack Obama’s deputy.
The second Trump demand was that Ukraine should try to corroborate a
conspiracy theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the last US
presidential election. This theory has been widely debunked, and US
intelligence agencies are unanimous in saying Moscow was behind the hacking of
Democratic Party emails in 2016.
President Trump railed at the announcement of the charges, declaring again on Twitter that it was a “witch hunt”.
In a rare sign of co-operation between the US
and Iran, the two countries have conducted a prisoner swap.
The exchange involved Chinese-American researcher Xiyue Wang, who was convicted
of spying in Iran and Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani, who was held by the
US. Both men deny wrongdoing.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he was glad as he
announced the exchange.
Hours later, President Donald Trump tweeted: “Thank you to Iran on a very fair negotiation. See, we can make a
deal together!”
Xiyue Wang was arrested in Iran in 2016 for “collaborating with foreign
governments”.
Massoud Soleimani, a stem cell expert, was arrested at a Chicago airport in
2018. He was accused violating trade sanctions by trying to export biological
material to Iran.
The US and Iran have had an
increasingly strained relationship in recent years and share no diplomatic
links.
Both countries have thanked the
Swiss government for its assistance as an intermediary facilitator.
Xiyue Wang was flown in a Swiss
government plane from Tehran to Zurich, and then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany,
where he will undergo medical check-ups before heading home.
Massoud Soleimani was also flown to
Zurich and then on to Iran.
Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted photos
of himself with Massoud Soleimani after his release.
He was the first to announce the
news, via Twitter: “Glad that
Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families
shortly.”
In a formal statement, President Donald Trump said Xiyue Wang had been
“held under the pretence of espionage”.
The statement said: “Freeing
Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will
continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive
overseas.”
Hua Qu, Mr
Xiyue Wang’s wife, Hua Qu, wrote in statement: “Our family is complete once again. Our son Shaofan and I have
waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how
excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue.
“We are thankful to everyone who
helped make this happen.”
Princeton University, where Xiyue Wang was studying as a postgraduate, said
in a statement it was “overjoyed” with the news of his release and
was looking forward to “welcoming him back to campus”.
Xiyue Wang was arrested in Iran in August 2016 as he was leaving the
country.
He had been doing research in Iran for a university dissertation and was
accused of seeking to gather “highly confidential articles” for US
and British academic institutions.
Xiyue Wang was sentenced to 10 years in jail for spying.
Massoud Soleimani was detained in October 2018 on accusations of attempting
to export biological materials to Iran in violation of trade sanctions on the
country over its nuclear program.
US-Iran tensions have risen significantly in the last two years.
After President Donald Trump took power, the US pulled out of a 2015 treaty
that aimed to limit Tehran’s nuclear program.
Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, but the US voiced
concerns about potential weapon building.
President Donald Trump also reinstated sanctions on Iran, which have led to its currency plummeting and inflation soaring.
President Donald Trump has decided to delay his
plans to legally designate Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups.
He had vowed to label the gangs as terrorists after the killing last month
of nine American citizens from a Mormon community in Mexico.
However, the president has put the plans on hold on the request of his
Mexican counterpart, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The Mexican president said: “I
celebrate that he has taken our opinion into account.”
“We thank President Trump for
respecting our decisions and for choosing to maintain a policy of good neighborliness,
a policy of cooperation with us,” Andrés Manuel López Obrador added.
President Trump’s original announcement came after three women and six
children of dual US-Mexican nationality were killed in an ambush in a remote
area of northern Mexico.
Following the attack the victims’ community, the LeBarons, petitioned the
White House to list the cartels as terror groups, saying: “They are terrorists and it’s time to acknowledge it.”
The move would have widened the scope for US legal and financial action
against cartels but Mexico saw it as a violation of its sovereignty.
President Trump has now put the plans on hold.
He tweeted: “All necessary work
has been completed to declare Mexican Cartels terrorist organizations.
“Statutorily we are ready to do
so.”
However, he said his Mexican counterpart is “a man who I like and
respect, and has worked so well with us,” adding that he was temporarily
holding off on the designation and stepping up “joint efforts to deal
decisively with these vicious and ever-growing organizations!”
President Trump did not comment on how long the delay would last.
Mexico’s brutal drug war claims tens of thousands of lives every year, as
powerful trafficking groups battle for territory and influence.
In 2017 more than 30,000 people were killed in Mexico, with the murder rate
having more than tripled since 2006.
President Donald Trump and his French
counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, have set out opposing views ahead of a NATO
summit in London.
In an occasionally tense press conference, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron
sparred over NATO’s role, Turkey, and ISIS.
President Trump had described Emmanuel Macron’s comments about NATO as
“nasty”, but the French president said he stood by his words.
World leaders gathered in London to mark the Western military alliance’s
70th anniversary.
The NATO summit has already been marked by strained relations between Turkey
and other member states.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will oppose NATO’s plan
for the defense of the Baltic region if it does not back Turkey over its fight
against Kurdish groups it considers terrorists.
On December 3, Emmanuel Macron and Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Downing
Street in a four-way meeting that also included German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and the host, UK PM Boris Johnson.
Ties between President Trump and Emmanuel Macron were already strained amid
a trade dispute, and after the French president described NATO as “brain
dead” last month because, he said, the US commitment to the alliance was
fading.
On December 3, President Trump hit back by saying Emmanuel Macron had been
“very disrespectful”, adding that France had “a very high
unemployment rate” and “nobody needs NATO more than France”.
At a joint press conference with Emmanuel Macron later, President Trump was
less combative, stressing that the two countries had “done a lot of good
things together”. Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, said he stood by his
comments.
The two sides then clashed over foreign ISIS fighters who were captured in
Syria.
President Trump jokingly offered them to France, saying: “Would you like some nice [ISIS] fighters? You can take everyone
you want.”
Sounding stern, Emmanuel Macron said “Let’s be serious” and that
ISIS fighters from Europe were “a tiny minority”, and that the
“number one priority” was to get rid of the terrorist group.
President Trump then retorted: “This
is why he is a great politician because that was one of the greater non-answers
I have ever heard, and that’s OK.”
He also criticized NATO countries who were paying less than the NATO
guidelines of at least 2% of GDP towards the alliance.
President Trump said he did not want countries to be “delinquent” and pay less than their share, adding: “Maybe I’ll deal with them from a trade standpoint.”
Emmanuel Macron said France – which currently spends 1.84% of its GDP on
defense – would reach the minimum, and acknowledged that the US had
“overinvested” in NATO for several decades.
However, he added that there were other pressing issues to discuss.
The two leaders also discussed Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian S-400
missile system.
President Trump said they were “looking at” whether to impose
sanctions, while Emmanuel Macron asked: “How
is it possible to be a member of the alliance… and buy things from
Russia?”
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been key allies of the
US-led coalition against ISIS in Syria. However, Turkey views a section of the
group – the YPG – as terrorists.
Ahead of his departure for London, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not approve a plan to defend Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the event of a Russian attack unless NATO recognized the Kurdish YPG militia as terrorists.
President Donald Trump has signed The Human
Rights and Democracy Act into law as a support for pro-democracy protesters in
Hong Kong.
The bill mandates an annual review, to check if Hong Kong has enough
autonomy to justify its special status with the US.
President Trump said he signed the law “out of respect for President Xi
[Jinping], China, and the people of Hong Kong”.
He is currently seeking a deal with China, in order to end a trade war
between the two countries.
Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry threatened “counter measures”
if the US continued “going down the wrong path”.
The Chinese foreign ministry statement said: “The US has been disregarding facts and distorting truth.
“It openly backed violent
criminals who rampantly smashed facilities, set fire, assaulted innocent
civilians, trampled on the rule of law, and jeopardized social order.”
The foreign ministry summoned the US ambassador to demand that Washington
stops interfering in Chinese internal affairs.
Hong Kong’s government also reacted, saying the American bill would send the
wrong signal and would not help to ease the situation.
However, a key activist in the Hong Kong protest movement, Joshua Wong, said
the US law was a “remarkable achievement” for “all
Hongkongers”.
President Trump had previously been non-committal about
whether he would sign the bill, saying he was “with” Hong Kong but
also that President Xi was “an incredible guy”.
However, the bill had widespread congressional support, which meant that
even if he vetoed it, lawmakers could potentially have voted to overturn his
decision.
President Trump also signed a second bill, which bans the export of
crowd-control munitions to the police in Hong Kong – including tear gas, rubber
bullets and stun guns.
He said: “[The bills] are being
enacted in the hope that leaders and representatives of China and Hong Kong
will be able to amicably settle their differences, leading to long-term peace
and prosperity for all.”
The bill was introduced in June in the early stages of the protests in Hong
Kong, and was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives last
month.
It says: “Hong Kong is part of
China but has a largely separate legal and economic system.
“The [annual review] shall assess
whether China has eroded Hong Kong’s civil liberties and rule of law as
protected by Hong Kong’s Basic Law.”
Among other things, Hong Kong’s special trading status means it is not
affected by US sanctions or tariffs placed on the mainland.
The bill also says the US should allow Hong Kong residents to obtain US
visas, even if they have been arrested for being part of non-violent protests.
Hong Kong’s protests started in June against a proposed law to allow
extradition to mainland China but it has since transformed into a larger
pro-democracy movement.
The protests have also seen increasingly violent clashes, with police being
attacked, and officers firing live bullets.
The last week elections saw a landslide victory for the pro-democracy movement, with 17 of the 18 councils now controlled by pro-democracy councilors.
The US has notified the UN of its intention to leave the Paris Climate Change Agreement, as other countries express regret and disappointment at the move.
The notification begins a one-year process of exiting the global climate
change accord, culminating the day after the 2020 US election.
According to the US government, the climate change deal puts an “unfair
economic burden” on Americans.
The Paris Agreement brought together 188 nations to combat climate change.
There has been widespread international condemnation of the US move.
The accord, agreed in 2015, committed the US and 187 other countries to
keeping rising global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels and
attempting to limit them even more, to a 1.5C rise.
The withdrawal decision – taken by President Donald Trump after he came to
office in 2017 – made the US the world’s sole non-signatory and prompted high-level
efforts by the EU to keep the agreement on track.
However, hundreds of local governments, businesses and organizations in the
US have joined the We Are Still In movement,
pledging to cut emissions and move to renewable energy.
The US issued its formal notification on the first day it was possible to do
so.
President Trump had made withdrawing from the agreement one of his election
campaign pledges but UN rules had meant it was not possible for the US to start
the withdrawal process until November 4, 2019.
The withdrawal is still subject to the outcome of next year’s presidential election – if Donald Trump loses, the winner may decide to change course.
A district judge in Oregon has
temporarily blocked a rule proposed by President Donald Trump that would
require immigrants to prove they will have health insurance within 30 days of
arrival in the US, or can pay for medical care.
Judge Michael Simon granted a
preliminary injunction against the proposal.
A lawsuit opposing the rule has been
filed by 7 American citizens and an NGO.
They argued it would block hundreds
of thousands of legal migrants.
According to the lawsuit, the number
of immigrants who enter the US with family-sponsored visas would drop
considerably, or be eliminated altogether.
Judge Michael Simon said the
potential damage to families justified a US-wide ban.
“Facing a likely risk of being separated from their
family members and a delay in obtaining a visa to which family members would
otherwise be entitled is irreparable harm,” his legal order read.
Would-be immigrants had been
struggling to establish how to get the required insurance coverage. The US
healthcare system is complex, and has not generally catered to people yet to
arrive there.
The healthcare immigration proclamation is part of President Trump’s effort to shift the US away from a family-focused immigration system.
Judge Michael Simon’s 28-day
temporary restraining order will prevent the rule from coming into effect on November
3, but the legal battle is likely to continue.
The Trump administration has argued
that legal immigrants are about three times more likely to lack health
insurance than US citizens, and that taxpayers should not bear their medical
costs.
However, US policy experts say
immigrants are less likely to use the healthcare system than American citizens.
According to a research from George Washington University, recent immigrants without insurance made up less than a tenth of 1% of US medical fees in 2017.
President Trump has never released
his tax returns and refuses to disclose personal tax information.
Donald Trump has owned the
Mar-a-Lago resort since 1985 and travels frequently between there and the White
House.
He is running for a second term in
next year’s election and made clear on October 31 that he hoped to be in the
White House for another five years.
The president said he would always cherish New York but added: “Unfortunately, despite the fact that I
pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been
treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state. Few
have been treated worse.”
The New York Times reported that
President Trump and his wife Melania filed for residency in Florida in
September, the New York Times reported.
According to documents obtained by the publication, President Trump’s
“other places of abode” are listed as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (the
White House) and his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
An apartment in Trump Tower, Manhattan, has been Donald Trump’s
primary residence since 1983. It is not clear if the prsident will retain it.
President Trump has spent 99 days at Mar-a-Lago compared with 20 days at Trump
Tower since taking office, according to NBC News.
The White House has not commented on the president’s reasons for changing his permanent address but the New York Times quoted a person close to the president as saying that the reasons were mainly for tax purposes.
Florida does not have a state income tax or inheritance tax.
Kevin McAleenan became acting head of the department after the resignation
in April of Kirstjen Nielsen.
President Trump had often accused her of not being tough enough on
controlling immigration.
During the administration of President Barack Obama, Kevin McAleenan served
as deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
In 2015, Kevin McAleenan received the highest civil service award from the
then-president.
In 2018, he faced criticism in the media for carrying out President Trump’s
zero-tolerance policy that led to the controversial separation of families at
the US southern border, but he has maintained his agency’s duty is to carry out
the law, not create it.
Earlier this month, the Washington Post described Kevin McAleenan as
increasingly isolated within the Trump administration and overshadowed by
others more vocal in their support for President Trump.
In an interview, Kevin McAleenan lamented not having control over “the tone, the message, the public face and approach of the department in an increasingly polarized time. That’s uncomfortable, as the accountable, senior figure”.
President Donald Trump has branded a
whistleblower allegation that he made a promise to a foreign leader – believed
to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – as a “ridiculous
story”.
Donald Trump said his talks with leaders were always “totally
appropriate”.
According to reports, President Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate Joe
Biden and his son, Hunter – who was on a Ukrainian gas company board – in
return for more US military support.
Joe Biden is frontrunner to be the Democrat’s 2020 presidential candidate.
He wrote in a statement: “If
these reports are true, then there is truly no bottom to President Trump’s
willingness to abuse his power and abase our country.”
Joe Biden called on President Trump to “immediately release” a
transcript of the phone call “so that the American people can judge for
themselves”.
In its report on the complaint by the whistleblower, the Washington Post said the intelligence
official had found President Trump’s comment to the foreign leader “so troubling”
that they went to the department’s inspector general.
The Wall Street Journal,
meanwhile, quoted sources as saying President Trump had urged President
Zelensky about eight times to work with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani on an
investigation into Joe Biden’s son, but had not offered anything in return.
On September 20, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi said that reports of the complaint raised “grave, urgent
concerns” for US national security.
Presidents Trump and Zelensky spoke
by phone on July 25. The whistleblower’s complaint is dated August 21.
Donald Trump described the complaint
as “just another political hack job”.
Speaking alongside Australia’s
leader Scott Morrison in the White House, the president said: “It’s a ridiculous story. It’s a
partisan whistleblower. He shouldn’t even have information. I’ve had
conversations with many leaders. They’re always appropriate.”
President Trump also called for Joe Biden’s
finances to be scrutinized.
He told reporters: “It doesn’t matter what I discussed,
someone ought to look into Joe Biden’s billions of dollars and you wouldn’t
look into that because he’s a Democrat.”
On September 19, President Trump
wrote on Twitter that he knew all his phone calls to foreign leaders were
listened to by US agencies.
Ukraine says President Trump and President Zelensky will meet next week in
New York during the UN General Assembly.
Democrats are trying to get the complaint turned over to Congress, with many
details still unknown.
Earlier this month, before the whistleblower’s complaint came to light,
House Democrats launched an investigation into President Trump and Rudy
Giuliani’s interactions with Ukraine.
Three Democratic panel heads – Eliot Engel (foreign affairs), Adam Schiff
(intelligence) and Elijah Cummings (oversight) – said Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani
had attempted “to manipulate the Ukrainian justice system to benefit the
president’s re-election campaign and target a possible political
opponent”.
They allege that President Trump and Rudy Giuliani tried to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating Joe and Hunter Biden.
Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made
a surprise visit to the G7 summit in France on August 25.
He attended side-line talks in the seaside town of Biarritz where world
leaders, including President Donald Trump, have gathered.
Reports suggest the US delegation was surprised by Mohammad Javad Zarif’s
visit, which comes at a time of high tension with Iran.
The Iranian official said on Twitter that he held “constructive”
talks with his French counterpart and President Emmanuel Macron, adding he gave
a joint briefing to German and British officials.
Mohammad Javad Zarif also met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on August
23 on the eve of the summit.
Relations between Iran and the US have deteriorated since Washington
withdrew from a 2015 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in 2018.
Five other nations – including France – remain committed to the deal, but
Iran has started to ratchet up its nuclear activity in response to the US
reinstating and tightening economic sanctions against them.
President Macron has taken an active role in trying to
diffuse tensions and save the accord – but Iran’s relations with the West have
strained further in recent months over a series of confrontations and oil
tanker seizures in and around the Gulf.
Mohammad Javad Zarif was himself singled out for US sanctions last month,
with US officials accusing him of implementing “the reckless agenda”
of Iran’s leader.
Reports about the circumstances of his visit on Sunday are conflicting.
French officials told reporters the foreign minister was invited in agreement
with the US delegation, but White House officials have suggested they were
taken by surprise.
They were also conflicting comments by President Macron and President Trump
during the weekend as to whether G7 leaders had agreed a joint approach to
easing tensions with Tehran.
On August 25, President Trump appeared to dismiss French mediation efforts.
He said: “We’ll do our own
outreach, but, you know, I can’t stop people from talking. If they want to
talk, they can talk.”
Leaders from the G7 – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the
US – have been attending the group’s 45th summit all weekend.
A range of topics, including the nuclear deal and Brexit, have been on the talks agenda.
President Donald Trump has accused Jewish
Americans who vote for the Democratic Party of “either a total lack of
knowledge or great disloyalty”.
The remark drew sharp criticism that President Trump had used an anti-Semitic
trope accusing Jews of dual loyalty.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America said the president was trying to
“weaponize and politicize anti-Semitism” for political gain.
The remark followed attacks by President Trump on two Muslim Democratic
congresswomen.
He has repeatedly accused Democratic representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida
Tlaib of anti-Semitism.
Under pressure from President Trump, Israel last week blocked Ilhan Omar and
Rashida Tlaib from entering the country. The two women, who are vocal critics
of the Israeli government, had been due to visit the occupied West Bank and
East Jerusalem.
Israel later agreed to let Rashida Tlaib make a “humanitarian”
visit to her grandmother in the occupied West Bank, but she declined, saying
she could not comply with the “oppressive conditions” being imposed.
Speaking to reporters on August 20,
President Trump said: “I think any
Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of
knowledge or great disloyalty.”
On August 21, the president denied
his comments were racist and told reporters: “If you vote for a Democrat, you’re being disloyal to Jewish
people and you’re being very disloyal to Israel.”
Earlier in the day, President Trump
quoted a conservative commentator’s praise on Twitter who said “the Jewish
people in Israel love him like he’s the King of Israel”.
“They love him like he is the second coming of
God,” President Trump’s tweet continued.
The remark was denounced by a number
of Jewish American groups, which said it played on an anti-Semitic canard that
accuses Jews of being more devoted to Israel or their faith than to their own
countries.
The same notion of dual loyalty has
landed Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota congresswoman, in hot water.
Ilhan Omar has apologized after claiming
that Israel had “hypnotized” the world. She was also rebuked by the
Democratic-controlled House of Representatives comments targeting lobbying
firms that support Israel.
Ahead of the vote, which condemned
“hateful expressions of intolerance”, Ilhan Omar pushed back by
questioning what she termed “the political influence in this country that
says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country”.
The comment sparked fresh complaints
of anti-Semitism.
Recent polls show that roughly 75% of Jewish Americans identify as Democrats.
Two short-range ballistic missiles
have been fired off North Korea’s east coast, according to South Korea’s
military, the second such launch in a week.
They were launched from the Wonsan
area on July 31.
Last week’s launch was the first
such action since President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
met in June.
North Korea called last week’s
launch a “solemn warning” to Seoul over its planned military
exercises with Washington.
Pyongyang has previously expressed
anger that the annual drills will go ahead next month- an event it sees as
preparation for war.
The missiles were launched at
05:06AM and 05:27 AM local time from the Kalma area near the port of Wonsan.
The missiles flew 155 miles and
reached a height of 20 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan, also known as
the East Sea, said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The South Korean defense minister
Jeong Kyeong-doo said the missiles were identified as a different type from
previous models.
Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe confirmed that
there was no impact on Japan’s security following the launch.
Six days ago, North Korea fired two
short range missiles, one of which travelled about 425 miles and the other 268
miles.
That launch was the first since President Trump and Kim Jong-un held an
impromptu meeting in June at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), an area that divides
the two Koreas, where they agreed to restarted denuclearization talks.
North Korea has recently again voiced anger over planned military exercises
between South Korea and the US, an annual event which the allies have refused
to cancel but have scaled back significantly.
One analyst said more missile tests could be expected.
North Korea called the drills a “violation of the spirit” of the
joint statement signed by President Trump and Kim Jong-un at their first
face-to-face talks in Singapore last year.
Pyongyang had warned the exercises could affect the resumption of
denuclearization talks.
On July 29, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that he hoped these talks
could start “very soon”, but that there were no further summits
planned.
Last year, Kim Jong-un said North Korea would stop nuclear testing and would no longer launch intercontinental ballistic missiles.
President Donald Trump threatened a Time magazine photographer with prison
for apparently taking a picture of a letter from North Korean leader Kim
Jong-un.
The president rebuked the photographer
in the Oval Office after he was warned by an aide not to take a photo,
according to Time‘s transcript.
The interview continued, but grew
heated after the special counsel’s investigation of President Trump came up.
“You can go to prison instead,” Donald Trump is quoted as saying.
The interview took place at the
White House on June 17, two days before President Trump traveled to Florida to
formally launch his 2020 re-election campaign.
At several points during the
interview, President Trump asked to speak off-the-record, including in the
moments after showing the Time reporters a letter he said was from Kim Jong-un.
“Here’s a letter, OK, now I’m going to show you this
letter,” said the president.
“So this was written by Kim Jong-un. It was delivered
to me yesterday. By hand.”
As the conversation turned to his
potential Democratic challengers in next year’s election, White House press
secretary Sarah Sanders told the journalists: “You can’t take a picture of that, sorry.”
“What was that?!” President Trump exclaims.
The interview continues as the
reporters ask about who President Trump sees as his toughest political opponent
for 2020.
“Uh, I don’t know. Look, I think I’ve done so much.
Could you bring the list of things, please, give me four of them,” President Trump tells an aide, who quickly presents one,
saying it was made “for today”.
According to the transcript, Donald
Trump becomes more prickly when Time
challenges an assertion by him.
The reporter reminds the president that some of his aides had
“testified under oath, under threat of prison time” that the
president had tried to influence the investigation by special counsel Robert
Mueller.
President Trump snaps back: “Excuse
me… Well, you can go to prison instead, because if you use, if you use the
photograph you took of the letter that I gave you confidentially.
“I didn’t give it to you to take
photographs of it – So don’t play that game with me.”
The journalist from Time responds:
“I’m sorry, Mr. President. Were you
threatening me with prison time?”
Donald Trump replies: “Well, I
told you the following. I told you, you can look at this off the record. That
doesn’t mean you take out your camera and start taking pictures of it. OK?
“So I hope you don’t have a
picture of it.
“I know you were very quick to
pull it out – even you were surprised to see that.
“You can’t do that stuff. So go
have fun with your story. Because I’m sure it will be the 28th horrible story I
have in Time magazine.”
Donald Trump has long had an interest in Time
magazine, and has previously had fake issues printed with himself on the cover
and framed at his golf resorts.
He was named person of the year in 2016.
In 2017, he claimed to have turned down an offer to be the magazine’s person
of the year again, which Time‘s
editorial staff said was untrue.
However, in 2018, Time‘s annual person of the year award was dedicated to persecuted journalists.
China stocks tumbled on May 6 after President
Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on Chinese goods, putting a trade deal in
doubt.
President Trump announced on Twitter that the US would more than double
tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods on May 3 and would introduce fresh
tariffs.
Recent comments had suggested both sides were nearing a trade deal.
A Chinese delegation was due to travel to Washington this week for talks
aimed at ending the trade war.
However, according to recent reports, China is now considering cancelling
those talks, led by Vice-Premier Liu He, that were scheduled to resume on May 8.
Some reports said the Chinese were due to send a 100-person delegation to
the negotiations.
The Chinese government has yet to officially comment on President Trump’s
tweets.
In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 3.7%, while the Shanghai
Composite plunged 5.3%.
US stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street.
On May 3, President Trump tweeted: “For 10 months, China has been paying Tariffs to the USA of 25% on 50
Billion Dollars of High Tech, and 10% on 200 Billion Dollars of other goods.
These payments are partially responsible for our great economic results. The
10% will go up to 25% on Friday. 325 Billions Dollars….”
“The Trade Deal with China
continues, but too slowly, as they attempt to renegotiate. No!” he
continued.
After imposing duties on billions of dollars worth of one another’s goods
last year, the US and China have been negotiating and in recent weeks, appeared
to be close to striking a trade deal.
Last week US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin described talks held in
Beijing as “productive”.
So far, the US has imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods, having
accused China of unfair trade practices.
Beijing hit back with duties on $110 billion of American goods, blaming the
US for starting “the largest trade war in economic history”.
President Trump’s latest move will raise duties on more than 5,000 products
made by Chinese producers, ranging from chemicals to textiles and consumer
goods.
He originally imposed a 10% tariff on these goods in September that was due
to rise in January, but postponed this as negotiations advanced.
However, both US and international companies have said they are being harmed
by the trade war.
Fears about a further escalation caused a slump in world stock markets
towards the end of last year.
The IMF has warned a full-blown trade war would weaken the global economy.
According to recent reports, North Korea may be
preparing to launch a missile or a satellite.
Satellite images suggest an increased activity around a site known as
Sanumdong, where North Korea assembled most of its ballistic missiles and
rockets.
It comes after reports earlier this week that North Korea’s main rocket
launch site at Sohae had been rebuilt.
Last year, North Korea started to dismantle Sohae began but stopped as US
talks stalled.
On March 8, President Donald Trump said he would be disappointed if North
Korea was to resume weapons testing.
He said: “I would be surprised in
a negative way if he did anything that was not per our understanding. But we’ll
see what happens.
“I would be very disappointed if
I saw testing.”
According to analysts, it is more
likely at this stage that North Korea is preparing to launch a satellite rather
than test a missile.
However, the US said earlier this
week that this would still be inconsistent with the commitments Kim Jong-un has
made to President Trump.
Large vehicles have been seen moving
around Sanumdong, activity which has in the past indicated that Pyongyang was
at least preparing to move some kind of missile or rocket to a launch area.
The satellite images were published
by the public radio network NPR.
A much anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi last week ended without a deal over differences in how much North Korea was willing to limit its nuclear program before it was granted some sanction relief.
The Sohae launch facility at the Tongchang-ri site has been used for
satellite launches and engine testing but never for ballistic missile launches.
This week’s satellite images, coming from several US think tanks and
testimony from the South Korean intelligence service, appear to show rapid
progress has been made in rebuilding structures on the rocket launch pad.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton has said North Korea could yet face
more sanctions if there is no progress on denuclearization.
A historic first meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018 in Singapore produced a vaguely worded agreement on “denuclearization” but little progress.
Republicans and Democrats have
reached an agreement in principle over border security to fund the government
and avoid another partial shutdown.
The deal was struck in a closed-door meeting in Washington on February 11
after several hours of talks.
However, the agreement contains only
a fraction of the money President Donald Trump wants for his promised border
wall and does not mention a concrete barrier.
The deal still needs to be approved
by Congress and signed by the president.
Speaking on February 12, President
Trump said of the deal: “I can’t say
I’m happy, I can’t say I’m thrilled.”
The president told reporters he
would have a meeting about the agreement later today.
The Democrats – who now control the
House of Representatives – have refused to approve the $5.7 billion for
President Trump’s wall on the border with Mexico, one of his key campaign
pledges.
Lawmakers expressed optimism that a bill
would be approved by February 15 when funding runs out for some federal
agencies.
The longest shutdown in US history
lasted 35 days and cost the country’s economy an estimated $11 billion.
Details have yet to be released but
aides familiar with the negotiations say it includes $1.375 billion in funding
for 55 miles of new fencing at the border, a small part of the more than 2,000
miles promised by President Trump.
The wall would be built in the Rio
Grande Valley, in Texas, using existing designs, such as metal slats, instead
of the concrete wall that Donald Trump had demanded.
According to recent reports, there
was also an agreement to reduce the number of beds in detention centers to
40,250 from the current 49,057.
The talks had reached an impasse earlier with Republicans strongly rejecting
Democrats’ demands for a limit to the number of undocumented migrants already
in the US who could be detained by immigration authorities.
Republican Senator Richard Shelby said on February 11: “We got an agreement on all of it.
“Our staffs are going to be
working feverishly to put all the particulars together. We believe that if this
becomes law, it’ll keep open the government.”
However, by yesterday, some of President Trump’s conservative allies had
already denounced the deal, with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity calling it a
“garbage compromise”.
House Freedom Caucus leader Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina said the agreement failed “to address the critical priorities outlined by Border Patrol Chiefs”.
President Donald Trump has refused to respond
to a request from Congress to provide a report determining who killed the Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In October 2018, senators wrote a letter demanding the murder be
investigated and that the White House give more information.
A Trump administration official said the president was within his rights to
decline to act.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in
October last year.
The journalist was a strong critic of the Saudi government. His body was
reportedly dismembered and has still not been found.
US intelligence officials have reportedly said such an operation would have
needed the approval of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
However, Saudi officials insist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by a
“rogue” team of Saudi agents not acting on the prince’s orders.
An administration statement said President Trump “maintains his
discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when
appropriate”.
However, Democratic senators told the New
York Times President Trump was in breach of the so-called Magnitsky Act, which
requires a response within 120 days to requests from Senate committee leaders.
That deadline passed on February 8.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has written to Senate leaders describing actions
taken against individuals.
However, the documents do not indicate who was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s
death, as demanded by the senators.
The US has imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials, including Saud
al-Qahtani, a former adviser to the crown prince who, it alleged, was
“part of the planning and execution of the operation” that led to Jamal
Khashoggi’s murder.
However, President Trump has faced criticism from senators for failing to condemn the Saudi crown prince directly.
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