Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye has been arrested and jailed in connection with the corruption investigation that led to her ouster earlier this month.

Park was taken into custody at her home and taken to a detention centre — a scene that was covered on live South Korean television.

Officials said the disgraced former leader accepted bribes and abused her power during her administration.

Park’s arrest followed a lengthy court hearing in Seoul, the country’s capital, at which the judge decided there was enough evidence to warrant the arrest.

“Major allegations were explained and proved and there were concerns over evidence destruction,” Seoul’s Central District Court said in a text message.

Amid the corruption investigation, Park was impeached and removed from office on March 10.

She will now remain in jail while prosecutors seek a formal indictment, which they said should come within the next three weeks.

“I feel apologetic toward the nation’s citizens,” Park said last week. “I’ll cooperate in the questioning sincerely.”

South Korea will elect a new president in May, and experts say it’s likely that Park’s conservative ruling party will be defeated in the vote after nearly a decade in power.

Prime Minister Theresa May has signed the letter that will formally begin the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

Giving official notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, it will be delivered to European Council president, Donald Tusk later.

In a statement in the Commons, the prime minister will then tell MPs this marks “the moment for the country to come together.”

It follows June’s referendum which resulted in a vote to leave the EU.

The BBC reports that Mrs. May’s letter will be delivered at 12:20 BST on Wednesday by the British ambassador to the EU, Sir Tim Barrow.

The prime minister, who chaired an hour long cabinet meeting earlier, is set to make a statement to MPs confirming the countdown to the UK’s departure from the EU is under way.

She will promise to “represent every person in the whole United Kingdom” during the negotiations – including EU nationals, whose status after Brexit has yet to be settled.

“It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country,” she will say.

“For, as we face the opportunities ahead of us on this momentous journey, our shared values, interests and ambitions can – and must – bring us together.”

Source: www.rte.ie

The US Secret Service detained a male suspect carrying a package and making “suspicious comments” near the White House Tuesday, according to an official who said he was taken into custody and explosives experts were deployed.

A Secret Service official said the man had approached uniformed officers near 15th and Pennsylvania at around 10:15 am, a block from the White House.

The man was separated from the package and detained in a police vehicle, a security perimeter was established and “the package is now in Secret Service custody,” the official said, asking not to be named.

Contrary to reports that US President Donald Trump refused to shake hands with German Chancellor, Angela Merkel when she visited White House last Friday, White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer has denied so.

Spicer says President Trump didn’t shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand during their meeting on Friday because he didn’t hear requests from photographers.
In a video that went viral over the weekend, Trump appears to snub Merkel’s request to shake his hand.

Spicer insisted that the President’s failure to respond to her gesture wasn’t deliberate.

He told Germany’s Der Spiegel that Friday’s incident was a misunderstanding, and insisted it was not meant as an insult.

President Donald Trump proposed drastic cuts in spending on the arts, science, foreign aid and environmental protection Thursday, in a security-focused budget blueprint that could struggle to pass Congress.

Translating hardline campaign promises into dollar-and-cent commitments, the Republican leader proposed scrapping dozens of programs like public broadcasting and climate funding, while boosting Pentagon spending by $52 billion.

Trump, in the preface to the spending proposal, described it as “a budget that puts America first,” and that makes safety and security the “number one priority — because without safety, there can be no prosperity.”

The State Department and the Environmental Protection Agency would be the biggest losers, seeing their funding reduced by around a third.

That could be a harbinger of steep reductions in foreign aid and funding to UN agencies, with knock-on effects around the world.

The national endowments for the arts and humanities would be scraped and funding for the National Institutes of Health — a biomedical research facility — would be cut by almost $6 billion.

“This is a hard-power budget, it is not a soft-power budget” said White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney.

The former congressman said he trawled through Trump’s campaign speeches for inspiration.

The Pentagon would be the major winner if Trump’s proposed spending priorities go through, with a nearly 10 percent boost — which would create a defense budget already bigger than that of the next seven nations combined.

Separately, around $4 billion will be earmarked this year and next to start building a wall along America’s border with Mexico.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Mexico will pay for the wall — which will cost at least $15 billion, according to estimates by Bernstein Research, a consulting firm.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking in Tokyo, said he would “willingly” accept Trump’s challenge to tighten the budget.

“Clearly the level of spending that the State Department has been undertaking is unsustainable,” Tillerson said.

“We are going to be able to do a lot with fewer dollars,” he said.

Trump’s broad-brush proposal covers only a small fraction of the $3.8 trillion federal budget — which is dominated by healthcare, pension and other baked-in costs.

The text will be heavily revised and fleshed out by Congress, before a full budget is released around May.

In that sense, the plan is as much a political statement as a fiscal outline, a fact not lost on the White House.

– Playing to the base –
The budget is a signal to Trump’s supporters that he is a “man of action” and not a “typical politician.”

Trump is looking to rally his base amid multiple controversies including his Twitter outbursts, Russian meddling in the election that brought him to power and a simmering rift with Congressional Republicans over healthcare reform.

According to Gallup, Trump has approval ratings of 40 percent, a low for any modern president weeks into his tenure.

But security has been a major vote winner. An Economist/YouGov poll found that 51 percent of Republicans believe the United States will be safer from terrorism at the end of his term.

The budget may also be seen as a signal to the world that Trump’s United States will be less engaged internationally and will put “America first.”

Diplomats and some former defense officials have already warned that less spending on areas like democracy promotion and humanitarian aid will spell more trouble, and military spending, down the road.

More than 120 retired generals and admirals recently signed a letter warning “that many of the crises our nation faces do not have military solutions alone.”

They cited Jim Mattis, now defense secretary, as once saying that “if you don’t fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition.”

– ‘Drastic cuts’ –
The Environmental Protection Agency, which helps monitor air, water and other standards, would also see significant cuts.

That is in keeping with Trump’s promise to gut regulation.

“We believe that the core functions (of the EPA) can be satisfied with this budget,” Mulvaney said.

On Wednesday, Trump traveled to Detroit, the home of the American auto industry, and announced that he would freeze targets to limit future vehicle emissions.

Trump’s top advisor Steve Bannon has promised a broader “deconstruction of the administrative state.”

But Trump’s plan is already coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers.

“It will prescribe drastic cuts in many of the programs and agencies that keep America safe, whether it’s environmental programs, whether it is food safety, drug safety,” said Kentucky representative John Yarmuth.

The ranking member on the House budget committee said the proposal could be a negotiating position, an opening salvo in Trump’s “art of the deal.”

“If they want to negotiate with the health and safety and future of the American people, then that’s pretty cynical,” he said.

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel was already on her way to the airport when Donald Trump phoned her to abort the trip because of unexpected snow storms.

Some of Merkel’s party were already on board the plane.

Snowstorm Stella has prompted airlines to cancel thousands of flights and some mayors to order schools to close on Tuesday.

The White House later said the visit would be rescheduled for Friday.

“The trip is cancelled. That is not a joke,” Merkel told the dozen or more surprised reporters already seated on board the government’s Airbus A340 plane.

Merkel had been due to meet Trump for more than two hours on Tuesday, followed by a working lunch.

U.S. President Donald Trump has asked Congress to investigate his allegations that former president Barack Obama ordered the tapping of his phones during the election campaign, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced in a statement on Sunday.

The White House request came a day after Trump accused his predecessor of ordering a wiretap of the phones at Trump Tower – his New York residence and campaign headquarters – during the presidential campaigns for the Nov. 8 polls. “Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling.

“President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.”

On Saturday, Trump tweeted: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. “Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” The President added: “Is it legal for a sitting president to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier.

A NEW LOW!” “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to election!” Trump also accused Democrats on Sunday: “Is it true the DNC would not allow the FBI access to check server or other equipment after learning it was hacked? Can that be possible? “Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, ‘Tell Vladimir that after the election I’ll have more flexibility?’ @foxandfriends” However, Obama, in a statement on Saturday through his spokesman Kevin Lewis, denied the allegations.

“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.

“As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false,” Lewis said. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s former deputy national security adviser, also denied Trump’s claims. “No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you,” Rhodes wrote on Twitter in a response to Trump.

They are often seen together at public functions – like an unlikely duo. Former president George Bush and former first lady Michelle Obama are from two different administrations, different political parties, different generations and different upbringings.

But in a recent interview with PEOPLE, the 70-year-old former President said that he feels a real fondness for Michelle Obama.

“She kind of likes my sense of humour. Anybody who likes my sense of humour, I immediately like,” says Bush.

Bush, notes that he was regularly seated beside Obama, 53, at official events like Nancy Reagan’s memorial service, an interfaith memorial service for Texas police officers last year, and the September 2016 dedication ceremony in Washington, D.C., to mark the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. There, photos of the two of them cuddling on stage went viral.

US President Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

He was nominated by an unnamed American, who wants him recognized for “his peace through strength ideology”.

The Nobel Institute announced on Thursday that 318 people and organisations are in the running for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Apart from Trump, notable figures believed to be part of the nominees include Syria’s White Helmets and Pope Francis.

Others on the list are jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, Edward Snowden, Russian President Vladimir Putin and former French president Jacques Chirac.

Although the names are usually kept secret, lawmakers, former laureates and some university professors who are entitled to nominate, are free to reveal the name of the person or group they have nominated.

Iran’s former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter Sunday to President Donald Trump, striking a somewhat conciliatory tone while applauding immigration to America and saying it shows “the contemporary U.S. belongs to all nations.”

It isn’t the first dispatch sent by Ahmadinejad, who has counted U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama among his pen pals.

But this letter, weighing in at over 3,500 words, comes as criticism of Trump over his travel ban affecting seven Muslim-majority countries including Iran mounts in Tehran.

It also may serve to burnish Ahmadinejad’s image domestically after the nation’s Supreme Leader warned him not to run in Iran’s upcoming May presidential election.

In the letter, published by Iranian media outlets, Ahmadinejad noted Trump won the election while he “truthfully described the U.S. political system and electoral structure as corrupt.”

Ahmadinejad decried U.S. “dominance” over the United Nations, as well as American meddling in the world that has brought “insecurity, war, division, killing and (the) displacement of nations.”

He also acknowledged the 1 million people of Iranian descent living in America, saying that U.S. policies should “value respect toward the diversity of nations and races.”

“In other words, the contemporary U.S. belongs to all nations, including the natives of the land,” he wrote. “No one may consider themselves the owner and view others as guests or immigrants.”

Philip Bilden, President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of the Navy withdrew from consideration on Sunday, the second time a Trump nominee to lead one of the armed services bowed out because of government conflict-of-interest rules.

Trump last month nominated  Bilden, a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer, to lead the Navy, which the president has pledged he will expand.

In a statement on Sunday, Bilden said that “after an extensive review process, I have determined that I will not be able to satisfy the Office of Government Ethics requirements without undue disruption and materially adverse divestment of my family’s private financial interests.”

The development leaves Trump and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis without nominees to head both the Navy and Army.

Vincent Viola, whom the president had picked to be secretary of the Army, withdrew earlier this month.

In a statement, Mattis said he was disappointed but understood Bilden’s decision.

“In the coming days I will make a recommendation to President Trump for a leader who can guide our Navy and Marine Corps team as we execute the president’s vision to rebuild our military,” he said.

The orders sent shivers through US immigrant communities, where millions of people who have spent years building families and livelihoods in the country, most of them from Mexico and Central America, were seriously threatened with deportation for the first time in decades.

Rights groups labeled the move a “witch hunt,” warning that mass deportations would damage families with deep roots in the United States and hurt the economy.

But John Kelly, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) who issued the new orders in two memos, said they were necessary to address a problem that has “overwhelmed” government resources.

“The surge of illegal immigration at the southern border has overwhelmed federal agencies and resources and has created a significant national security vulnerability to the United States,” he said in one of the memos.

Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned the new guidelines will “harm national security and public safety.”

New York Mayor Bill De Blasio said they would result in “needlessly tearing apart families and spreading fear in immigrant communities.”

“What we will not do is turn our NYPD officers into immigration agents – or our jails into holding pens for deportation policy that will only undermine the inclusiveness that has helped make New York City the safest big city in the nation,” he added.

Read More:

https://www.today.ng/news/world/263040/targets-millions-sweeping-deportation-plan

Washington watchers have expressed concerns that the marriage of President Donald Trump to Melania may not be as strong as they may want the world to believe, and that it might actually be troubled.

In one instance, Melania was thought to have shuddered when her husband touched her, analysts say.

When rated against Trump’s immediate predecessor, Barack Obama and wife, Michele, observers feel that Trump and Melania duet appears increasingly awkward and distant from each other.

Body language specialist, Judi James, notes, “We’ve seen no signs of any easy-going public displays of affection from the Trumps so far; and even the more deliberate rituals like hand-holding and touching that we saw in the early days appear to be getting rarer as Donald storms into Alpha mode, using the kind of stand-alone poses and signals of a business tycoon keen to prove who is boss.”

Judi says part of the “disconnect” between the Trumps’ body language signals seems to be down to the lack of what are called “tie-signs.”

“These are small touches, glances and nods that an established couple will use as a silent but powerful form of communication when they are out in public or at social events,” she explains.

Equally worrying is the issue of trust: he seems unable to trust Melania’s judgment.

This was more manifest at the presidential election when Trump infamously peered into his wife’s voting booth as if to ensure that she voted for the right candidate — him.

And contrary to tradition, Melania was conspicuously absent on stage at his acceptance speech after he was declared winner. Their 10-year-old son, Barron, seemed to have represented his mother.

In the interim, Melania currently resides in New York City, ostensibly to take care of Barron while the school year lasts.

Her step daughter, Ivanka, sometimes sits in for her, even when it isn’t categorically stated as such.

Source:

http://punchng.com/analysts-fear-trumps-marriage-may-be-troubled/

An unexploded bomb dating back to World War II has been found near Frankfurt airport, the police said.

It said that it was set for a controlled detonation later on Monday, according to German police officials in the city of Darmstadt.

The bomb weighs around 250 kg and was discovered at 1:30 p.m. in a field in the vicinity of the town of Kelsterbach.

Officials are planning to defuse the bomb at around 11 pm, and have blocked a highway and a train line for that purpose.

People traveling by car have been told to circumvent the area, as traffic is likely to be heavily disrupted.

Certain buildings belonging to the airport will be affected as well, but Frankfurt airport’s management company Fraport said that it was unlikely that air traffic would be affected. It is a standard practice for air traffic to stop at Frankfurt airport at 11 p.m.

An area of around 700 metres around where the bomb was found has been cordoned off for safety reasons by the police.

An industrial complex, a hotel as well as building housing refugees are within the vicinity of the bomb, according to police.

US President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon spoke with President Muhammadu Buhari in a telephone conversation.

Trump invited Buhari, who is currently in London on vacation, to come to Washington DC at a “mutually convenient” date, presidency sources informed newsmen.

Buhari congratulated Trump on his election as US president and the two leaders highlighted areas to improve cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

The Nigerian president specifically requested support for arms – an area that has frustrated the country because of negative human rights reports on the activities of Nigerian soldiers in the north-east.

“Trump also commended the president for the rescue 25 of the Chibok girls,” the presidency source said.

Source: www.thecable.ng

President of the United States of America, Donald Trump is scheduled to speak with President Muhammadu Buhari on phone on Monday, February 13, according to reports.

Trump will have a telephone conversation with Buhari at 3:45 pm, according to the Africa correspondent for Globe and Mail, Geoffrey York.

“Today is “Africa day” for Donald Trump. He speaks by phone to Nigerian president Buhari at 3:45 pm (Lagos time); then speaks to Jacob Zuma,” York wrote on Twitter.

“Trump scheduled to speak by phone to Zuma today at 5:10 pm, after speaking to Buhari first.

“Buhari’s phone call with Trump today will be fascinating; many Nigerians frustrated that Buhari has been gone from Nigeria for over 3 weeks.

“Nigerians, having heard almost nothing from Buhari for 24 days, are wondering how Donald Trump will even locate him for the phone call today,” he said.

President Buhari is presently on medical vacation in the United Kingdom and the presidency is yet to confirm this all important call with Donald Trump.

US Senator, Bernie Sanders has called President Trump “delusional” and a “pathological liar” Sunday, who is using his outrageous statements to distract from economic issues.

“We have a president who is delusional in many respects, a pathological liar,” Sanders, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” adding that will make it very difficult for Congress to work with him.

“I know it sounds — it is very harsh. But I think that’s the truth.”

Also, in a series of tweets via his personal handle (@SenSanders), Sanders say: ”I disagreed with President Bush all the time. I never called him a pathological liar. He was just conservative. But, Trump lies all the time.”

A federal appeals court has refused to reinstate US President Donald Trump’s ban on travellers from seven predominantly Muslim nations, dealing another blow to his young administration.

In a unanimous decision, the panel of three judges from the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Thursday to block a lower-court ruling that suspended the ban and allowed previously barred travellers to enter the US.

Shortly after the ruling, Trump responded furiously on Twitter, writing his response in capital letters.

He told reporters his administration ultimately would win the case and dismissed the ruling as “political.”

Trump’s January 27 order barred travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering for 90 days and all refugees for 120 days, except those from Syria, whom he would ban indefinitely. He said his directive was “done for the security of our nation, the security of our citizens.”

District Judge James Robart in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order on the ban on February 4  after Washington and Minnesota states sued, prompting Trump to label him a “so-called judge”.

The 9th Circuit judges noted that the states had raised serious allegations about religious discrimination.

Asked about Trump’s tweet, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said: “We have seen him in court twice, and we’re two for two.”

An appeal to the Supreme Court is possible.

Donald Trump has said he was surprised at how big a job the presidency is.

The leader of the free world told Fox News interviewer Bill O’Reilly he works “long hours” and often gets only about four or five hours’ sleep a night.

Mr Trump said that at the start of his presidency he has been surprised by “the size, the magnitude of everything” and being president can be a “surreal experience in a certain way”.

He said: “The other day I walked into the main entrance of the White House and I said to myself, ‘This is sort of amazing.’ Or you walk into Air Force One, it’s like a surreal experience in a certain way, but you have to get over it because there’s so much work to be done.

He typically works until midnight or 1am, then wakes up at 5am to eat, read newspapers and check the television, he said.

The President is reported to routinely go through new clips about himself with his Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, outlining in marker pen the stories he doesn’t like.

And amid signs he began his presidency with the same chaotic operation that marked his campaign, a report has claimed he was not even aware he was elevating Steve Bannon to a senior security post when he signed one of several executive orders.

Since Mr Trump’s inauguration on 20 January, reports have emerged of a West Wing marked by confusion and unpreparedness—alongside intense turf battles being fought by his top officials.

A report in the New York Times painted a picture of chief-of-staff Reince Priebus trying to assert greater control, says he has set in place a set of checks and processes before new policies and executive orders are issued.

This was reportedly done following the backlash over the haphazard and chaotic rollout of the order halting the refugee programme and suspending travel for people from seven Middle Eastern and North African countries.

It said Mr Trump would be looped in on the drafting of orders much earlier in the process. Remarkably, the report says, Mr Trump was not fully briefed on details of the order he signed giving his chief strategist, Mr Bannon, a seat on the National Security Council.

Source: www.independent.co.uk

97 Companies including Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Uber have filed a court motion Sunday night declaring that Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration “violates the immigration laws and the Constitution.”

CNN reports that the motion was filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Sunday morning denied the U.S. government’s emergency request to resume Trump’s travel ban.

It’s not the first legal move by tech firms over Trump’s ban. Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) and Expedia (EXPE) filed motions last week in the Washington attorney general’s lawsuit.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com

Donald Trump said Sunday he is creating a commission headed by Vice President Mike Pence to investigate what the US leader alleges was massive voter fraud in the 2016 election.

No public evidence has emerged of large-scale illegal voting in the November election, and Trump and the White House have failed to substantiate the president’s claim.

However Trump listed the ways he believed voter fraud had occurred during an interview with Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly which aired before the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The fraud was apparent, Trump said, “when you look at the registration and you see dead people that have voted, when you see people that are registered in two states that voted in two states, when you see other things, when you see illegals — people that are not citizens — and they are on the registration rolls.”

“It’s really a bad situation. It’s really bad” Trump said.

Trump’s own lawyers have stated in legal filings that there was no evidence of fraud in the November 8 election.

But on Sunday the president promised “to set up a commission to headed by Vice President Mike Pence and we’re going to look at it very, very carefully.”

Trump has previously argued that were it not for illegal immigrants voting, he would have won not just the electoral college but also the popular vote, which was taken by Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

Although there has been no substantiated evidence of massive voter fraud, US officials have said they believe that Russia attempted to meddle in the presidential vote by hacking Democratic Party emails as part of a pro-Trump campaign.

Senators have launched a bipartisan investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling.

The United States government has stated that the recent executive order by President Donald Trump will not affect Nigerians.

US Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington and US embassy Consular Chief Meghan Moore on Friday said the order will not affect the validity of visas held by Nigeria. US will continue to grant two-year multiple entry visa for Nigerians, they said.

Trump’s order was based on reciprocation, and Nigeria will not be discriminated against. It won’t affect the validity of visas held by Nigerians and US’ visa policy for Nigeria remains unchanged they added.

“No place has opened doors to people more than the US. We haven’t said we have closed the doors and locked it, what we said is we are going to take a pause and conduct checks and ensure safety of the people in the United States…the door would be opened again,” Symington said.

“I want to reassure by our actions starting from our consulate reception in Abuja and in Lagos that we would not discriminate on the basis of religion. If anyone didn’t get a US visa because they said their name was Paul or something, then they would be wrong.”

Source: www.nigerianeye.com

President Donald Trump will now honour a refugee deal struck with Australia by his predecessor, President Barack Obama.

The back-pedalling announced by White House spokesman, Sean Spicer,  followed embarrassing revelations that  Trump had slammed the phone on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in a conversation at the weekend.

Trump reportedly dubbed the deal ‘dumb’.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald,  in a further insult to Mr Turnbull, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer repeatedly mispronounced the Australian Prime Minister’s name as “Trunbull”.

Mr Trump later echoed the promise that the deal would proceed, saying that if the “previous administration does something you have to respect that”.

Asked whether the deal was indeed going ahead at a White House briefing on Thursday afternoon, Mr Spicer said the widely reported conversation between the world leaders had been “cordial”, and said the refugee deal would go ahead on the condition of  “extreme vetting”.

“The president is unbelievably disappointed in the previous administration’s deal that was made and how poorly it was crafted and the threat to national security that it put the United States on,” he said.

“He has tremendous respect for the prime minister and the Australian people, and has agreed to continue to review that deal and to ensure that as part of the deal, which was always part of it, we would go through a very, very extreme vetting process to ensure that every single person that is being offered is coming here with peaceful intentions and poses no threat to the United States.”

Mr Spicer appeared to twice mispronounce Mr Turnbull’s name during the press conference, calling him “Mr Trunbull” or “Mr Trumbull”.

Shortly after, Mr Trump defended the phone call again in off-the-cuff remarks during an event in Washington, but said if the previous administration did something “you have to respect that” – seeming to concede he would honour the deal.

He said the deal involved “probably well over a thousand illegal immigrants who were in prisons and they were going to take them into this country and I said why? Just wanted to ask the question.”

“1250 [people], could be be 2000, could be more than that. I said why, why are we doing this? What’s the purpose? So we’ll see what happens.”

Source:

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/02/trump-agrees-honour-obama-refugee-deal/

Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos confirmed on Friday he will not run in this year’s presidential election, calling an end to 38 years as head of state, but he will retain control of the powerful ruling party.

Dos Santos, aged 74, said in March 2016 he would not run in elections due in August but opponents remained suspicious given he had reneged on similar pledges during nearly four decades running Angola.

In June 1975, dos Santos became coordinator of the MPLA’s Department of Foreign Affairs; he also coordinated the MPLA’s Department of Health at this time. Upon Angolan independence in November 1975, the MPLA held power in Luanda, but the new MPLA government faced a civil war with the other political formations, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA). The same year, Dos Santos was appointed as Angola’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs upon independence, and in this capacity he played a key role in obtaining diplomatic recognition for the MPLA government in 1975–76. At the MPLA’s First Congress in December 1977, Eduardo dos Santos was re-elected to the Central Committee and Politburo. In December 1978, he was moved from the post of First Deputy Prime Minister in the government to that of Minister of Planning

After the death of Angola’s first president, Agostinho Neto, on 10 September 1979, José Eduardo dos Santos was elected as President of the MPLA on 20 September 1979, and he took office as President of Angola, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on 21 September. He was also elected as President of the People’s Assembly on 9 November 1980
Defence Minister Joao Lourenco will be the presidential candidate for the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), dos Santos said ahead of a party meeting where candidates for the vote will be confirmed.

Dos Santos, will remain president of the MPLA, retaining sweeping powers that include choosing parliamentary candidates and appointing top posts in the army and police.

His inscrutable public demeanour belies his tight control of Angola, a former Portuguese colony where he has overseen an oil-backed economic boom and the reconstruction of infrastructure devastated by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. The MPLA won parliamentary majorities in the three elections since the end of the war.

Lourenco, deputy president of the MPLA, is viewed as a dos Santos ally. Angola, an OPEC member and Africa’s second biggest oil exporter, has been hit hard by the slump in global crude prices in the last two years.

Oil export revenues account for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange revenues. Inspite pf its oil wealth, most people live in poverty and critics accuse dos Santos of enriching himself and his associates, including his billionaire daughter, Isabel, named by Forbes as Africa’s richest woman.

Isabel dos Santos was appointed by her father as head of the state oil company Sonangol last year and his son Jose Filomeno is chairman of Angola’s sovereign wealth fund.

Source: 

Angola’s long-time President Dos Santos confirms will step down

President Donald Trump, who was strongly backed by Evangelical Christian voters, has promised to “totally destroy” a 1954 US law barring churches from politics.

Trump promised to equally put an end to the ban on other religious institutions from political activity, if they wanted to keep tax-exempt status.

He made his comments about a measure called the Johnson Amendment during remarks at the annual National Prayer Breakfast.

“I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution, Trump told an audience including politicians, religious leaders and guests such as Jordan’s King Abdullah.

“I will do that, remember.”

The Johnson Amendment prohibits tax-exempt organisations such as churches, charities and educational institutions from directly or indirectly participating in any political campaign in favour or against a political candidate.

It is named after Democratic former President Lyndon Johnson and is an important statutory barrier between politics and religion.

Trump previously spoke out against the amendment during the campaign and won the support of evangelical Christian leaders including Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.

A change in the law would require action in the Republican-led US Congress.

After Trump’s remarks, Paul Ryan, speaker of the house of representatives, told reporters he had “always supported’’ eliminating the Johnson Amendment.

Critics including the group, Americans United for Separation of Church and State expressed, are unhappy with the move.

“President Donald Trump and his allies in the religious right seek to turn America’s houses of worship into miniature political action committees,” said the group’s executive director, Barry Lynn.

“It would also lead some houses of worship to focus on supporting candidates in exchange for financial and other aid. That would be a disaster for both churches and politics in America.”

Scrapping the Johnson Amendment has been a goal of Christian conservatives, who contend it violates free speech and religious freedom rights.

The US constitution’s First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and bars the government from establishing an official religion.

A Trump executive order a week ago put a 120-day halt on the US refugee programme, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and imposed a 90-day suspension on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Trump defended his directive as crucial to ensuring religious freedom and tolerance in America, and said he wanted to prevent a “beachhead of intolerance’’ from spreading in the US.

He also called terrorism a fundamental threat to religious freedom.

“The world is in trouble, but we’re going to straighten it out. OK? That’s what I do, I fix things,” he said.

Source: www.washingtontimes.com

Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, President Trump’s long-time physician has said in a series of recent interviews that the President takes medication for three ailments, including a prostate-related drug to promote hair growth.

The other drugs are antibiotics to control rosacea, a common skin problem, and a statin for elevated blood cholesterol and lipids.

Dr. Bornstein, who spoke by telephone in four interviews over the past month, also said that Mr. Trump takes a daily baby aspirin to reduce the risk of a heart attack.

Over all, he pronounced Mr. Trump healthy and his medical care “as exactly up to date.”

Dr. Bornstein granted the interviews after The New York Times asked him to discuss his role in Mr. Trump’s care and to clarify and expand on earlier statements he made about his patient’s health during the presidential campaign.

At 70, Mr. Trump is the oldest person to become president.

The disclosure that Mr. Trump uses a prostate-related drug to maintain growth of his scalp hair, which has not been publicly known, appears to solve a riddle of why Mr. Trump has a very low level of prostate specific antigen, or PSA, a marker for prostate cancer. Mr. Trump takes a small dose of the drug, finasteride, which lowers PSA levels. Finasteride is marketed as Propecia to treat male-pattern baldness.

Dr. Bornstein said he also took finasteride and credited it for helping maintain his own shoulder-length hair and Mr. Trump’s hair. “He has all his hair,” Dr. Bornstein said. “I have all my hair.”

Source:

US President Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations is not anti-Islam, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, whose country like neighbouring Saudi Arabia is a close ally of Washington, said it was “wrong to say” that the decision by the new US administration was “directed against a particular religion”.

“The United States has made… a sovereign decision,” he said at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, pointing out that it was “provisional” and did not apply to “the large majority” of the world’s Muslims.

In his defence of the ban which has stirred widespread protests across the globe, Sheikh Abdullah also said that some of the countries on the blacklist had “structural challenges” on the security front that they still had to overcome.

Trump’s controversial executive order on Friday singled out citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to prevent “radical Islamic terrorists” from entering the United States.

But the 90-day ban, which could still extend to other states, has exempted Muslim-majority nations associated with major attacks in the West.

Out of the 19 hijackers of planes used in the September 11, 2011 attacks on the Unites States, 15 came from Saudi Arabia, also the birthplace of Al-Qaeda founder and attack mastermind Osama bin Laden.

The other four included the Egyptian plot leader, two Emiratis and a Lebanese.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani dismissed his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump as a political novice on Wednesday, stepping up criticism of the Republican’s immigration policies including a temporary travel ban on Iranians.

Tehran has already said it will take legal, political and reciprocal measures in response to Trump’s order suspending the entry of people from Iran and six other Muslim-majority countries.

Rouhani turned the focus on Trump himself in a live address on state television, saying: “He (Trump) is new to politics. He has been in a different world. It’s a totally new environment to him.”

“It will take him a long time and will cost the United States a lot, until he learns what is happening in the world,” added Rouhani, who led a rapprochement with Washington under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.

Trump’s has said his travel order, signed on Friday, is needed to protect national security.

He has also promised a sharp shift in policy on Iran, calling the nuclear pact that Tehran signed with Washington and other world powers “the worst deal ever negotiated”.

The renewed impasse with may further weaken Rouhani’s efforts to attract foreign investors to Iran, particularly if it slows the implementation of the deals for 80 Boeing jets and 100 Airbus struck last year.

“Today is not a time for separating nations by walls,” Rouhani said, in an apparent reference to Trump’s promise to build a barrier along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration moves spread inside the United States on Tuesday, with Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Washington state joining others suing the administration over the travel ban.

France vowed on Monday to defend Iran’s nuclear deal, strengthen trade ties with Tehran, and double the number of visas available to Iranians.

Source: www.reuters.com

Donald Trump‘s extreme antics have negatively affected many different types of Americans – including the ones who voted for him.

One Syrian family is truly regretting their decision to elect the businessman as the new POTUS after his immigration ban. NBC reports that the Assali family was ordered to return to Damascus, Syria after they landed at Philadelphia International Airport. Dr. Ghassan Assali’s family, who has been living in the U.S. for over 20 years, were sent on an 18-hour flight back overseas.

Assali’s relatives, who are all Orthodox Christians, had visas and proof of green cards, but the family was told they had to go back on the next flight and return to the Middle East. Dr. Assali told reporters, “America is not America. Like ISIS now, they ask, ‘Are you Christian? What do you believe?’ And if they are not saying what they believe, they kick you out and they cut your head off. So America, same thing. They ask you are you Muslim? You’ve got to change your religion. Thank you.”

During an interview with NBC Nightly News, Dr. Ghassan Assali and his wife Sarmad Assali admitted that they both voted for Trump, saying, “I understand he wants to make America safe. We’re all on with this. I definitely want to be in a safe place. But people need us and we need to be there for them.”

The family has also been denied resolution to return back to Philadelphia. Their lawyers are set to file a lawsuit in Federal Court.

British MPs on Tuesday took a key step towards leaving the European Union, launching a debate on a bill that would empower Prime Minister Theresa May to trigger Brexit.

Brexit minister David Davis presented the bill to parliament, giving MPs their first discussion on giving the government the power to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which opens two years of negotiations on leaving the bloc.

While the bill is expected to pass the lower House of Commons, it could be delayed in the upper House of Lords as May’s Conservative Party does not have a majority there.

The government had originally sought to bypass parliament, insisting it had the power to trigger Article 50 on its own, but the Supreme Court last week ruled it must consult lawmakers.

A majority of both houses of parliament opposed Brexit, but May has urged them to respect the result of the June referendum, when 52 percent of Britons voted to end the country’s four-decade membership of the EU.

“I hope that when people come to look at the Article 50 bill, they will recognise it is a very simple decision: do they support the will of the British people or not?” she told reporters on Monday.

May is under intense pressure to push the bill through quickly, having promised EU leaders that she will trigger Article 50 by the end of March.

– ‘Decision already made’ –

At just 143 words, the “European Union Notification of Withdrawal Bill” has been tightly drafted, making it difficult to amend either to delay the government’s plans or to tie its hands in the talks.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised not to block the bill, but his party — like the wider country — is deeply divided over Brexit and a large minority of his MPs are expected to rebel.

Dozens of May’s Conservative MPs are also opposed to her plan to pull Britain out of the single market when it leaves the EU, fearing the damage to one of the bloc’s biggest economies.

But most have promised to back the government, as long as ministers keep parliament informed on their strategy and the course of the negotiations.

“It is not a bill about whether or not the UK should leave the EU, or how it should do so,” Davis said while presenting the bill.

“It is simply about implementing a decision already made, a point of no return already passed.”

Several opposition MPs have submitted amendments to kill the legislation in its preliminary phase, but they are unlikely to succeed.

A vote on Wednesday allowing the bill to move to its next stage is viewed as largely procedural.

Over three days next week, however, the Commons will consider more substantive amendments on issues such as access to Europe’s single market.

There are also demands for greater involvement from the devolved parliaments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the latter two voting in June for Britain to remain in the EU.

The bill will then move to the Lords for debate from February 20, with the government hoping for their approval by March 7.

The Times newspaper said this could mean that Britain — the first country to vote to leave the EU — would trigger Article 50 at an EU summit on March 9-10.

The Article 50 process gives Britain just two years to negotiate its departure and, it hopes, a new trade deal with the EU before it leaves.

But the European Commission’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said the talks must be wrapped up by October 2018 to give the EU and national parliaments time to ratify the final agreement.

May has promised that parliament will be able to vote on the final divorce deal agreed with Brussels.

Former United States President Barack Obama yesterday gave his backing to the global protests against the travel ban by President Donald Trump.

Citizens of seven mainly-Muslim countries have been banned from entering the United States for 90 days while refugees have been prevented in an executive order signed by Trump.

The countries affected are Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan – they have all denounced the order with some of them vowing retaliation.

In his tweets yesterday, Trump blamed “big problems at airports” on the demonstrators themselves, an airline’s technical problems and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who teared up while discussing the ban. (Delta suffered technical issues Sunday evening — 48 hours after Trump signed the immigration order — that canceled about 150 flights.)

“Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning,” Trump tweeted. “Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage…..protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer.”

Business giants are uncomfortable with the ban.

Ford CEO Mark Fields and Chairman Bill Ford strongly rebuked Trump’s travel ban in a joint statement yesterday, breaking with other major automakers who have largely remained silent so far.

In the first statement released since leaving the White House, Obama’s new spokesman Kevin Lewis said: “President Obama is heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country.

“Citizens exercising their constitutional right to assemble, organise and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake.”

Lewis added that Obama “fundamentally disagrees with the notion of discriminating against individuals because of their faith or religion.”
He noted that in Obama’s farewell address to the nation earlier this month, he spoke about “the important role of citizen” not just on Election Day, but every day.

Also yesterday, dozens of U.S. diplomats around the world were set to formally criticise the immigration restrictions, according to U.S. media report.

A “dissent cable” has been drafted for senior State Department officials, ABC News and the Associated Press reported.
Draft text seen by the BBC says that the ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries will not make the US safer and is un-American.
President Trump issued the restrictions on Friday.

His executive order halted the entire U.S. refugee programme for 120 days, indefinitely banned Syrian refugees and suspended all nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The list does not include Saudi Arabia, where most of the hijackers in the 9/11 attacks came from.

News of the complaint from U.S. diplomats comes amid a global chorus of condemnation of the new policies. The White House has defended the restrictions as necessary safety measures.

The statement by Ford’s CEO and chairman, said: “Respect for all people is a core value of Ford Motor Company, and we are proud of the rich diversity of our company here at home and around the world,” Fields and Bill Ford said in the joint statement.

“That is why we do not support this policy or any other that goes against our values as a company.”

The travel ban has impacted people with green cards who were previously approved to travel freely.

The fourth American automaker, electric-vehicle maker Tesla Motors, denounced the Trump immigration policy on Saturday. CEO Elon Musk has pledged to pursue a consensus among fellow Strategic and Policy Forum members on needed changes to the plan to propose to the president.

Other major automakers have not spoken but a group of other majr form’s CEOs have lashed out at the order.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein became the first major Wall Street leader to speak out against the order.

.In a voicemail to employees on Sunday, Blankfein said diversity was a hallmark of Goldman’s success, and if the temporary freeze became permanent, it could create “disruption” for the bank and its staff.

“This is not a policy we support, and I would note that it has already been challenged in federal court, and some of the order has been enjoined at least temporarily,” Blankfein said, according to a transcript seen by Reuters.

Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, wrote to employees with “deep concern and a heavy heart” about the executive order from the U.S. president two days earlier.

Schultz said he would hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years at Starbucks businesses worldwide.
“We will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel,’’ he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to twitter to voice his concern.

“The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges.
“Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the U.S. They’ve done right, not wrong and don’t deserve to be rejected,’’ he added.

CEO Travis Kalanick said Uber would be supporting all of its drivers who are citizens of the countries named but who were currently stuck outside the U.S. because of the president’s “unjust immigration ban”.

And Jamie Dimon, the company chairman of America’s biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, also said that employees would be supported if they were affected.

Dimon, Kalanick and Musk are all members of Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of business people called together by the president to advise him on economic policy.

The CEOs of the top three advertising holding companies also issued statements vowing to protect their employees.

“We are a talent business and we’ve long been committed to making diversity and inclusion a core part of our company’s DNA,” said Interpublic Group Chairman and CEO Michael Roth, in a statement. “We therefore remain committed to protecting our colleagues, and will provide whatever assistance is necessary to keep our employees and their families safe and a valued part of our organisation, no matter their nationality or religious beliefs.”

While IPG is based in New York City, the holding company has agencies and employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. Though Roth made no specific mention of the ban in his statement, it was issued in response to requests to address the situation.

Likewise, John Wren, CEO of Omnicom Group, issued a brief statement emphasising the company’s concern for its workforce. “Our people are our greatest asset and right now, our top priority is to protect and support employees, their families and all those otherwise affected,” Wren said.
Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, issued a somewhat more extensive statement that cited his family history and a longstanding distaste for such measures.

Regarding the effect of the ban on WPP employees, Sorrell said there had been “no immediate impact we are aware of in the first few days of the ban.”

He added that WPP is “concerned about the impact it may have on our people and their families both inside and outside the USA and on innocent people generally.

“As the grandson of Eastern European grandparents, who were admitted to the UK in the very late 19th and early 20th centuries, I have an instinctive dislike of such measures,” said Sorrell.

Though prominent industry partners such as Nike, Google, Twitter and Apple made their opposition to the travel ban public over the weekend, the major holding companies and agency leaders had remained silent until Monday morning. Individual agency leaders have still refrained from commenting on the matter publicly.

On Saturday, a U.S. federal judge issued a stay that forced the administration to release certain travelers being detained in airports. The administration itself revised the ban on Sunday to allow freer travel for U.S. residents in possession of green cards.

At the DealBook conference hosted by New York Times columnist Andrew Russ Sorkin last week, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi said she fielded questions from her employees who were “all crying” after the election. She said: “The question that they’re asking, especially those who are not white: ‘Are we safe?’ Women are asking: ‘Are we safe?’ LGBT people are asking: ‘Are we safe?’ I never thought I’d have had to answer those questions.”

Source:

Trump defends travel ban as Obama backs protests

A group of U.S. companies, including Starbucks, Tesla and Uber, on Monday voiced concern over Donald Trump’s recent executive order suspending refugee admissions and banning citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the country.

Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, wrote to employees with “deep concern and a heavy heart” about the executive order from the U.S. president two days earlier.

Schultz said he would hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years at Starbucks businesses worldwide.

“We will start this effort here in the U.S. by making the initial focus of our hiring efforts on those individuals who have served with U.S. troops as interpreters and support personnel,’’ he said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to twitter to voice his concern about Trump’s new executive order.

“The blanket entry ban on citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries is not the best way to address the country’s challenges.

“Many people negatively affected by this policy are strong supporters of the U.S. They’ve done right, not wrong and don’t deserve to be rejected,’’ he added.

CEO Travis Kalanick said that Uber would be supporting all of its drivers who are citizens of the countries named but who were currently stuck outside the U.S. because of the president’s “unjust immigration ban.”

And Jamie Dimon, the company chairman of America’s biggest bank JPMorgan Chase, also said that employees would be supported if they were affected.

Dimon, Kalanick and Musk are all members of Donald Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum, a group of business people called together by the president to advise him on economic policy.

Source: money.cnn.com

Six people have been killed and another eight wounded in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada.

The incident occurred on Sunday night, after shots were fired at the Quebec Islamic Cultural Centre where more than 50 people had gathered for evening prayers.

Two people are in custody, and officers do not believe there are other suspects at large.

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, in a statement said: “It was with tremendous shock, sadness and anger that I heard of this evening’s tragic and fatal shooting at the Centre culturel islamique de Québec located in the Ste-Foy neighbourhood of the city of Québec.

“We condemn this terrorist attack on Muslims in a centre of worship and refuge”.

According to him, Diversity and religious tolerance, are values that Canadians hold dear, therefore, to see such “senseless violence, is heart-wrenching”.

He however stated that authorities are still investigating the attack, while details continue to be confirmed.

Source: www.nigerianeye.com

White House policy director, Stephen Miller said Trump administration officials are discussing the possibility of asking foreign visitors to disclose all websites and social media sites they visit, and to share the contacts in their cell phones.

If the foreign visitor declines to share such information, he or she could be denied entry.

Sources told CNN that the idea is just in the preliminary discussion level. The social media posts calling for jihad by San Bernardino terrorist Tashfeen Malik — made under a pseudonym and with strict privacy settings — are part of this discussion. How such a policy would be implemented remains under discussion.

Miller praised the State Department on Saturday, sources tell CNN, but argued that the government needs to do better job of making sure the people who come into the US embrace American values.

CNN

US President, Donald Trump’s executive order may affect Nigeria’s two-year visa validity entry into America if President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government failed to take proactive measures.

According to a recent analysis on the Trump’s executive order, Nigerians will no longer be issued with American entry visas which have two-year validity.

The online medium said Nigerians who hold dual nationality will be affected if their other passport is from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen – the seven Muslim-majority countries “of concern”.

Analysis shows that at least two clauses of the Executive order will affect Nigerians directly.

Section 9 of the Executive Order states: “The Secretary of State shall review all non-immigrant visa reciprocity agreements to ensure that they are, with respect to each visa classification, truly reciprocal insofar as practicable with respect to validity period and fees, as required by sections 221(c) and 281 of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1201(c) and 1351, and other treatment. If a country does not treat United States nationals seeking nonimmigrant visas in a reciprocal manner, the Secretary of State shall adjust the visa validity period, fee schedule, or other treatment to match the treatment of United States nationals by the foreign country, to the extent practicable…”

Source:

Trump order: Nigerians may no longer get 2-year American visa

Islamist Shabaab fighters attacked a Kenyan military base in southern Somalia on Friday in their latest assault on foreign and national army outposts.

The attack on the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) base at Kolbiyow, close to the Kenyan border in Somalia’s Lower Juba region, began with suicide truck bombers blasting their way into the camp, followed by militants attacking from different directions.

Shabaab claimed in a statement to have overrun the base, captured military vehicles and equipment and to have killed scores of Kenyan soldiers.

“Fighters have taken control of the base and the overall Kolbiyow area after massacring the Kenyan infidels,” the statement said.

KDF spokesman Paul Njuguna denied the base had been overrun, but gave no casualty figures.

“We are engaging the enemy and we have actually repulsed them, but it is ongoing,” Njuguna said.

Shabaab frequently overstates the death toll from its attacks while Kenya commonly underplays its losses.

In January last year a Kenyan base at El-Adde was attacked and overrun by Shabaab fighters who claimed to have killed over 100 Kenyan soldiers. The government never gave its own toll.

The Shabaab, which once controlled much of Somalia, is fighting to overthrow the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu.

It launches regular attacks on government, military and civilian targets and has carried out a series of deadly assaults against foreign soldiers deployed in Somalia as part of an African Union force.

On Tuesday at least 28 people were killed when Shabaab bombers and fighters attacked a hotel in the capital.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto should cancel his upcoming visit to Washington if Mexico refuses to pay for a wall along the border.

“The U.S. has a $60-billion (U.S.) trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers… of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting,” Trump said on Twitter.

Israel on Thursday moved closer to decriminalizing marijuana use after its public security minister declared his support for a policy emphasizing education and fines over criminal penalties.

The new policy “does not entirely do away with the component of enforcing the criminal code,” said Gilad Erdan at a press conference, but instead puts “education, public information and treatment” first.

According to the new measure, which must still pass in the cabinet, charges would be considered only after the third offence.

The panel behind the policy recommended a fine of 1,000 shekels (265 dollars) for the first offense and one of double that amount for the second offense, the Haaretz newspaper reported.

Electricians who rushed work on President Trump’s newly opened hotel in Washington, D.C., say they are owed more than $2 million, and the contractor has filed a lawsuit to force payment. Freestate Electrical filed the suit in D.C. Superior Court alleging Trump’s company asked for a rush order on the hotel before its soft opening in September and the grand opening shortly before Election Day to complete fire alarm and electrical work. Trump’s company paid $15 million on the contract, but withheld payment on the final installment, the lawsuit says. “Acceleration of Freestate’s work required Freestate’s crews to work nonstop, seven days per week, 10 to 14 hours per day, for nearly 50 consecutive days,” the lawsuit says, adding the extra work was at the Trump company’s direction so that it could open before the election and get positive press coverage. The lawsuit alleges Trump’s company agreed to pay one-third of the remaining bill, which the electricians deem “unreasonable.” The electrical company formerly filed a lien on the hotel for unpaid work. “Trump’s actions in refusing to pay for work performed, after a project has opened, is a repeated practice of the Trump Organization on various projects; evidencing a typical business practice meant to force subcontractors to accept ‘pennies on the dollar,” the lawsuit alleges. Attorneys for the electricians also took time in the filing to point out the confusion over Trump’s continued lease with the General Services Administration. That 2014 lease, attached as an exhibit to the suit and signed by Trump, says “no elected official of the Government of the United States shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.” Attorneys for the Trump Organization did not immediately return a request for comment. Broadband Coverage National science teachers association Alarm Fire Avatar Cast Column Confusions Contract Corporate Logo Denver Attorney Discount hotel rooms Broadband Coverage National science teachers association

Source:

http://www.newsheadlines.com.ng/nan-nigeria-news-agency/2017/01/26/electricians-drag-trump-to-court/

US President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that his plan to limit the entry of people from several Muslim countries was necessary because the world is “a total mess”.

Interviewed on ABC News, Trump denied that it was a ban on Muslims.

“No it’s not the Muslim ban, but it’s countries that have tremendous terror,” Trump said.

“And it’s countries that people are going to come in and cause us tremendous problems. Our country has enough problems without allowing people to come in, who in many cases or in some cases, are looking to do tremendous destruction.”

Trump refused to be pinned down on which countries he was talking about, but did say that he believed that Europe “made a tremendous mistake by allowing these millions of people to go into Germany and various other countries, and all you have to do is take a look, it’s a disaster what’s happening over there.”

According to a draft executive order published in US media, refugees from war-torn Syria will be indefinitely banned, the broader US refugee admissions program will be suspended for 120 days, and all visa applications from countries deemed a terrorist threat — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — will be halted for 30 days.

Trump was asked if he was concerned that this would anger Muslims around the world.

“Anger? There’s plenty of anger right now. How can you have more?” he said.

“The world is a mess. The world is as angry as it gets. What, you think this is going to cause a little more anger? The world is an angry place. All of this has happened. We went into Iraq. We shouldn’t have gone into Iraq. We shouldn’t have gotten out the way we got out. The world is a total mess.”

According to the draft decree, Trump intends to halve the number of refugees entering the United States during the 2017 fiscal year, which ends on September 30.

While the administration of former president Barack Obama had set a target of accepting more than 100,000 refugees this year, the Trump administration aims to slash that to 50,000.

Trump: www.timesofisrael.com

US President Donald Trump took a first step toward fulfilling his pledge to “build a wall” on the
Mexican border Wednesday, signing two immigration­ related decrees.

Trump visited the Department of Homeland Security to sign an order to begin work to “build a large
physical barrier on the southern border,” according to the White House.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday she would publish her Brexit plan in parliament so that MPs can scrutinise it, but insisted the government’s timetable was on track.

The announcement is a concession to lawmakers angered at what they say is the lack of detail so far in May’s proposals for leaving the European Union.

It also came a day after Supreme Court judges ruled against May’s government and said the prime minister must win parliamentary approval before starting formal talks to exit the bloc.

The Conservative leader said MPs would be presented with a “white paper” policy document outlining her negotiating strategy, though she did not say when it would be published.

“I recognise that there is an appetite in this house to see that plan set out,” she told parliament’s lower House of Commons in her weekly questions session.

White papers outline proposals for future legislation and form a basis for consultation and discussion.

“I can confirm to the house that our plan will be set out in a white paper published in this house,” May said.

However, the white paper was a “separate issue” from a draft law that is expected this week and which will give MPs a vote on formally beginning the Brexit process.

It was reported Wednesday that she will introduce the bill on triggering Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty — serving notice of Britain’s intention to leave — on Thursday.

May’s Downing Street office later said that the white paper would “be based on the speech” she gave last week, in which she announced Britain’s intention to leave the EU’s single market.

The British Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday was a landmark judgement and a setback for May, just before she flies to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump.

In angry exchanges in parliament with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour main opposition party, May said she would protect workers’ rights in leaving the EU and was “not afraid to speak frankly” with Trump.

– ‘Overwhelmingly voted’ –

But the legal case on leaving the EU has revived divisions within Britain — after last June’s referendum saw 52 percent vote to exit, splitting the country and presenting a potential constitutional crisis.

May had wanted to start the two-year Brexit process — invoking Article 50 — without a vote in parliament, but she failed to overturn a High Court ruling that said lawmakers must be consulted.

As the appeal was being heard in December, May managed to win a parliamentary vote that MPs would stick to her March deadline for triggering Brexit in return for explaining her plans.

“The house has overwhelmingly voted that Article 50 should be triggered before the end of March 2017,” May told MPs.

“Following the Supreme Court judgement, a bill will be provided for this house and there will be the proper debates in this chamber,” and in the upper House of Lords revising chamber, she said.

“There is then the separate question of actually publishing the plan that I have set out: a bold vision for Britain for the future.

“I will do that in a white paper and one of our objectives is the best possible free trade arrangement with the European Union.”

A series of high-profile Conservative MPs who backed Britain staying in the EU, including former finance minister Ken Clarke, had called for May to produce a white paper.

There had been concerns that rebel Conservatives could team up with opposition parties to amend the Article 50 bill to force ministers into publishing a white paper if they did not do so voluntarily.

May’s Conservative government currently has a working majority of 16 in the 650-member parliament.

May flies to the United States on Thursday, before holding talks at the White House with Trump on Friday.

Source:

https://www.today.ng/news/world/250453/british-open-brexit-plan-mps

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton on Monday fainted during his State of the State address.

FOX NEWS reports that the 69-year-old Democrat struck his head on a lectern Monday night after stumbling over his words and collapsing roughly 40 minutes into the annual address. He appeared conscious as he was helped into a back room within several minutes, and later walked out of the Capitol on his own.

Video credit: The Up Take

Iranian state-run media is reporting the death of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who died Sunday January 8, 2017 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 82. Rafsanjani, who served two terms as Iran’s president from 1989 to 1997, continued to be an influential figure in Iranian politics.

At the time of his death he was the chairman of the Expediency Council, which aims to settle disputes between the country’s parliament and the Guardian Council. Rafsanjani was seen as a key figure in Iran’s moderate movement and was a vocal supporter of current Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama has declared that America’s military is the most powerful on the face of the earth.

Obama, who delivered emotional remarks at the Armed Forces Full Honour Review Farewell Ceremony, noted the negative effects of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on the military but said that had not diminished their capability.

“But make no mistake, even with the challenges of recent years – and there have been challenges -, our allies and adversaries alike understand America’s military remains, by far, the most capable fighting force on the face of the Earth.
“Our Army, tested by years of combat, is the best-trained and best-equipped land force on the planet.

Our Navy is the largest and most lethal in the world — on track to surpass 300 ships. “Our Air Force, with its precision and reach, is unmatched.

Our Marine Corps is the world’s only truly expeditionary force. Our Coast Guard is the finest in the world. “And we’re also the best because this military has come to welcome the talents of more of our fellow Americans,” he said. The outgoing president also noted the impressive bravery and professional performance of the women combatants.

“Service members can now serve the country they love without hiding who they are or who they love. All combat positions in our military are now open to women. “And Joe Biden and I know that women are at least as strong as men.

We’re stronger for it. It’s one of the reasons that our military stands apart as the most respected institution in our nation by a mile.” He recalled his moments with the servicemen during his eight-year presidency, having to face many challenges together. ” I’m very grateful for that because you remind us that we are united as one team. At times of division, you’ve shown what it means to pull together.

“As my days as your Commander-in-Chief are coming to an end, and as I reflect on the challenges we have faced together and on those to come, I believe that one of the greatest task before our Armed Forces is to retain the high confidence that the American people rightly place in you.

“This is a responsibility not simply for those of you in uniform, but for those who lead you. It’s the responsibility of our entire nation,” he said.

Obama also threw a challenge to the American military and political leaders in taking military actions. The outgoing commander-in-chief said while the event was meant to appreciate and praise him, he was rather turning it on them.

“And so, although I recognise that the formalities require me listening to praise directed in large part to me, I want to turn the tables – I am still Commander-in-Chief, so I get to do what I want to do – and I want to thank you. “Of all the privileges of this office – and there are many – I will miss Air Force One, I will miss Marine One but I can stand before you today and say that there has been no greater privilege, and no greater honour, than serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the greatest military in the history of the world.”

The outgoing commander-in-chief, who said he would be eternally grateful to the servicemen, expressed the confidence that America would continue to maintain its leadership role across the globe.
“So we can’t say it enough and we can’t show it enough. Thank you for your patriotism. Thank you for your professionalism. Thank you for your character in representing the very best of the American spirit. Our nation endures — we live free under the red, white and blue – because of patriots like you.

“It has been a privilege of a lifetime to serve with you. I have learned much from you. I’m a better man having worked with you. I’m confident that the United States and our Armed Forces will remain the greatest force for freedom and security that the world has ever known.

“God bless you and your families. And God bless the United States of America,” the outgoing president concluded.

A soldier has been found alive two weeks after an Indonesian army helicopter he was travelling in crashed, killing three people, the military said on Friday.

The helicopter went down in a ravine in northern Indonesia on Nov. 24 while carrying supplies to military posts near the border with Malaysia.

Armed forces spokesman Brig.-Gen. Sabrar Fadhilah said Second Lt. Yohannes Saputra was found on Thursday in a nearby village with injuries to his arms, waist and legs.

“He was extremely weak because he had not eaten for days,’’ he said.

Local media reported that Saputra made his way to a farm where he stayed in a hut overnight and ate sugar before being found by villagers.

The helicopter’s pilot was found alive three days after the crash, while the other three soldiers were dead.

John Glenn, who made history twice as the first American to orbit the Earth and the first senior citizen to venture into space, has died at the age of 95, the Ohio college bearing his name said Thursday.

The US space agency NASA was among the first to pay tribute to the legendary astronaut who later served in the Senate for more than two decades, calling him a “hero.”

“We are saddened by the loss of Sen. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. A true American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra,” NASA tweeted.

Glenn died on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, the John Glenn College of Public Affairs announced on its website, paying tribute to “an American icon.”

Glenn had been in declining health, undergoing heart-valve replacement surgery in 2014, reportedly suffering a stroke, and was admitted more than a week ago to a cancer ward, according to the college.

The college at Ohio State University said Glenn’s “belief in civic duty and public service led him to serve his country as a Marine combat pilot, a pioneer in space travel and an United States senator from Ohio.”

“Though he soared deep into space and to the heights of Capitol Hill, his heart never strayed from his steadfast Ohio roots,” said Ohio Governor John Kasich.

“Godspeed, John Glenn!”

Glenn served in both World War II and the Korean War, and in 1957 he made the first nonstop supersonic flight from Los Angeles to New York.

In 1962, Glenn was the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth in a flight lasting just under five hours, and returned to space decades later at the age of 77 — becoming the oldest astronaut in space.

After his 23-year career in the US military and space program., Glenn entered the Senate as a Democrat.

In 2012, Barack Obama awarded Glenn the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.

“On the morning that John Glenn blasted off into space, America stood still,” Obama said during the medal ceremony.

“The first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn became a hero in every sense of the word.”

AFP

Six drug traffickers from the notorious Wa tribe died in a late night shoot-out with a Thai army patrol near the rugged Golden Triangle border region, officers said Thursday.

The fighting broke out after the men, who were travelling through the remote and mountainous region by foot, refused to stop for a search.

“Six drugs traffickers were killed,” said Jiradech Kamolpetch, the commander of the border task force, revising down an initial toll of seven dead that was released by authorities in error.

“There were 20 people in this group,” he told AFP, adding that soldiers and police were in “hot pursuit” of the remaining suspects in Thailand’s Chiang Mai province.

Thai officials seized 554,000 methamphetamine tablets, approximately 30 kilogrammes (66 pounds) of heroine and two firearms from the men after the gunfight, according to another military officer who requested anonymity.

He said authorities suspect the men were ethnic Wa — a minority based chiefly in northwestern Myanmar.

Backed by a powerful rebel militia, the Wa control a large swathe of territory in Myanmar where they are accused of running a narcotics empire.

Some Wa communities have also settled in northern Thailand, which forms part of the notorious Golden Triangle — a drug-producing zone where the two countries meet Laos.

Long a hub for illicit opium trade, the Golden Triangle has more recently become a hotbed of methamphetamine production as demand for the drug soars in Asia.

The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report said global amphetamine seizures reached a new peak of more than 170 tonnes in 2014, with Southeast Asia, East Asia and North America the three major markets.

Decades of harsh drug laws and an attempted “war” on narcotics has left Thai prisons overflowing with offenders, often caught in possession of small amounts of narcotics.

Senior Thai Junta figures have unexpectedly admitted that the country’s tough approach has failed to stem the scourge of drug addiction and have floated decriminalisation of meth as a solution.

On Monday, December 5, just 27 days after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, the Vice President, 74, told reporters after a senate session in the Capitol: “I’m gong to run in 2020.”

When asked what position he planned to make a bid for, he revealed: “For president. So uh, what the hell, man.”

Biden was asked by CNN if he was serious, and he said: “Yeah, I am. We’re going to run again.”

Biden ran for president, but dropped out early both times, in 1988 and again in 2008. He bowed out in October 2015 for a presidential bid and endorsed Hillary Clinton instead.

He will be 78 years old shortly after the 2020 election. Ronald Reagan was just shy of his 78th birthday when he left the office in 1989, making him the oldest person to serve as president.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has resigned.

BBC reports that Renzi’s resignation follows a heavy defeat in a referendum over his plan to reform the constitution. He said he would tell a Cabinet meeting on Monday afternoon that he was resigning, then tender his resignation to the Italian president.

Fidel Castro’s ashes were taken on Sunday to a cemetery in the cradle of his revolution as Cuba opens a new era without the communist leader who ruled the island for decades.

Capping a week of tributes and mass rallies, a jeep pulled the cedar turn into the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba as a crowd chanted “viva Fidel!”

Castro, who died on November 25 at age 90, will be laid to rest during a “simple” ceremony near the mausoleum of 19th century independence hero Jose Marti, said his brother and successor, President Raul Castro.

The funeral was closed to the public.

On Saturday night, Raul Castro led a massive, final rally in his brother’s honor at Santiago’s Revolution Plaza, leading the crowd into pledge to uphold the socialist ideals.

“In front of Fidel’s remains … we swear to defend the fatherland and socialism,” Raul Castro said.

“He demonstrated that, yes we could, yes we can, yes we will overcome any obstacle, threat, turbulence in our firm resolve to build socialism in Cuba,” he said.

While Castro was sidelined by emergency intestinal surgery a decade ago, he remained a towering figure in Cuba.

He was revered by supporters for the free health care and education he spread across the island, and vilified by dissidents who saw him as a brutal dictator.

Although he was an omnipresent figure in the lives of Cubans, Castro’s dying wish was that no statues be erected in his memory and no streets or building be named after him.

The national assembly, which meets later this month, will pass a law to follow Castro’s order, his brother said.

“The leader of the revolution rejected any manifestation of a cult of personality,” Raul Castro said.

– ‘I trust Raul’ –

His burial ends a nine-day period of mourning during which Cubans, often encouraged by the government, flooded the streets to pay tribute to Castro, chanting “I am Fidel!” as his ashes were taken across the Caribbean country this week.

“I am very sad because we have lost a father,” said Marta Loida, a 36-year-old university professor sitting on the ground and holding a picture of Fidel Castro after Raul’s speech.

The government nurtured the religious-like fervor, with state media calling Castro the “eternal comandante.”

In the past week, Cubans were urged to go to schools and other public buildings to sign an oath of loyalty to his revolution.

“I trust Raul because Raul is Fidel’s brother. Fidel taught him everything,” said Irina Hierro Rodriguez, a 23-year-old teacher at Saturday’s rally.

Fidel and Raul Castro launched a failed attack on Santiago’s Moncada military barracks in July 1953, but it was the seed of a revolution that triumphed in 1959.

After taking power, Fidel Castro became a Soviet ally and was a constant thorn in the side of successive US presidents until illness forced him to hand power to Raul in 2006.

Since succeeding his brother, Raul Castro has implemented modest economic reforms in recent years, restored diplomatic relations with the United States and vowed to step down in 2018.

“No longer under the shadow of his older brother, Raul may now feel freer to pursue the modest economic reforms he initiated in the last decade,” said Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.

– Fidel’s long shadow –

While US President Barack Obama has chipped away at the US embargo’s trade and travel restrictions, foreign companies still face obstacles to invest in Cuba.

Food supplies are tight and public services are being cut back while socialist ally Venezuela, which has been providing cheap oil to Cuba, is in the middle of a political and economic crisis, said Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution think tank.

Castro needs to pick up the pace of reforms to kickstart the economy and ensure a smooth transition to his successor in 2018, he said.

“The legitimacy of the post-Raul government will depend on a much better economic performance,” said Piccone, a senior foreign policy adviser during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

And while Castro has died, his legacy is not going to vanish overnight.

“Given his outsized impact on Cuba and the region, it’s not really goodbye,” Piccone said. “His memory will cast a shadow over Cuba for a long time.”

AFP

A growing number of academics and activists are calling for US authorities to fully audit or recount the 2016 presidential election vote in key battleground states, in case the results could have been skewed by foreign hackers.

The loose coalition, which is urging Hillary Clinton’s campaign to join its fight, is preparing to deliver a report detailing its concerns to congressional committee chairs and federal authorities early next week, according to two people involved.

“I’m interested in verifying the vote,” said Dr Barbara Simons, an adviser to the US election assistance commission and expert on electronic voting. “We need to have post-election ballot audits.” Simons is understood to have contributed analysis to the effort but declined to characterise the precise nature of her involvement.

A second group of analysts, led by the National Voting Rights Institute founder John Bonifaz and Professor Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan’s center for computer security and society, is also taking part in the push for a review, and has been in contact with Simons.

In a blogpost early on Wednesday, Halderman said paper ballots and voting equipment should be examined in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, warning that deadlines were rapidly approaching.

“Unfortunately, nobody is ever going to examine that evidence unless candidates in those states act now, in the next several days, to petition for recounts,” he said.

The developments follow Clinton’s surprise defeat to Donald Trump in the 8 November vote, and come after US intelligence authorities released public assessments that Russian hackers were behind intrusions into regional electoral computer systems and the theft of emails from Democratic officials before the election.

A former manager of the United States national team, Bob Bradley, has expressed fears that United States’ President-elect, Donald Trump’s “divisive and ugly” campaign comments would thwart America’s dreams of staging the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles and the 2026 World Cup.

The USA is bidding to stage the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles while the United States Soccer Federation, USSF, has expressed interest in bidding to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, either alone or with neighbouring Mexico.

But Trump’s comments during his campaign about banning Muslims from entering the country; building a wall along the Mexican border; and withdrawing from international organisations has raised fears that the country could miss out on staging the world’s two biggest sporting events.

And the newly appointed Swansea City boss Bradley, who led the USA into the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup, noted, “Everything that the President does in terms of domestic policy and international relations determines how you are received in all different areas, including sports.

“The next World Cup is in Russia and, when you take some of the things that are going on between Russia and Ukraine, there is going to be debate before the tournament.

“I can only hope moving forward that the responsibilities of the job of President will show a marked difference from what we saw throughout the campaign.”

Bradley who left the U.S national team in 2011 has not worked in his homeland since his five-year reign came to an end.

He became the first American to manage in the Premier League when he was appointed Swansea boss at the start of October.

The coach who kept a close eye on the battle to the White House believes the views of the President-elect do not represent traditional American values.

He said, “I didn’t like any part of the Trump campaign, I can’t stand this type of message.

“I can’t put up with the type of values that don’t include an understanding of people that come from different backgrounds.

“And I can’t put up with values that don’t take into account that people sometimes don’t have everything that you have.

“I think our country was built upon caring about people who came from different places.

“I guess if you want to be optimistic you just have to hope that the responsibilities of the job make a big difference in the way Trump handles himself.

“Because if you just go by the campaign, for me it was divisive and ugly.”

Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte has continued to hit the international headlines, hurling insults at Barack Obama, threatening to end the Philippines-US alliance, and waging a brutal war on drugs that is earning him condemnation from around the world.

Now, Rodrigo Duterte: The President’s Report Card offers a rare glimpse into one of the world’s most controversial leaders.  In this revealing documentary, 101 East senior presenter and reporter Steve Chao spends time with the President as he continues his ruthless crackdown on drugs, hunts down Abu Sayaaf militants, and launches an expletive-ridden attack on the Philippines’ long-time ally, the US.

With the type of access not granted to any other media, Chao follows Duterte on his busy Presidential schedule, travels with him on his private jet, visits the Presidential palace and even shares in Duterte’s rare moments of relaxation.  In a series of explosive interviews, Duterte shows he has no intention of backing down from his uncompromising crackdown on drugs. “During the campaign, I said I would stop corruption… I will suppress drugs, I will suppress crime… and I am doing it.”

The European Union, the US and the United Nations have condemned allegations of extrajudicial killings but Duterte is unrepentant.  “What is their f****** problem?” he asks Al Jazeera. “I am not here to serve the UN Rapporteur or the EU. I am here to serve my own countrymen. Who are they to me… they are nothing.”

He admits, “I never went to a school called the Academy for a Statesman.  I am not a statesman; I do not aspire to be one.  I just would like to be an ordinary President who can f*** you … if you f *** with me.”

“If you destroy my country, I will kill you,” he warns drug dealers.

He also says he wants the US out of the Philippines, signaling an end to their long-standing alliance.  “I believe they should be out, because of their bullying,” he says. “Somebody has to stand up against them.”

Chao gets a brutally close look at the human cost of Duterte’s war on drugs, arriving at a bloody crime scene just moments after yet another police shooting. He finds a young man shot dead on the street, still wearing handcuffs.

Chao also meets a hitman who claims he was a member of Duterte’s personal death squad for more than 20 years and carried out gruesome killings on his behalf.  “I couldn’t do anything without his orders. I received a salary from City Hall,” says Edgar Matobato, who now fears for his life after testifying before the Philippines’ Senate.  Matobato says he even witnessed Duterte pulling the trigger himself, a claim Duterte denies.

Chao travels to the island of Jolo in the southern Philippines, where Duterte is waging another war. Jolo is the heartland of Abu Sayaaf, a heavily armed group that has pledged allegiance to ISIL.  With Duterte sending 10,000 troops to wipe them out, 101 East looks at whether he is likely to succeed.

In a surprising move, Duterte also tells 101 East that he will take in all of the world’s refugees. “They can always come here, and I will even welcome them. Until we are filled to the brim … I say send them to us.”

In this extraordinary episode, 101 East goes behind the scenes for an intimate look at one of the most controversial leaders in the world today.

Police have broken up a terror ring  plotting an attack in France after arresting seven individuals in Strasbourg and Marseille, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on Monday.

The weekend arrests of seven suspects — of French, Moroccan and Afghan origin — “enabled us to prevent a long-planned terror attack on our soil,” Cazeneuve told a televised news conference.

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko asked Donald Trump for support against “Russian aggression” during a congratulatory telephone conversation with the US president-elect on Tuesday.

Trump’s shock election victory has been met with trepidation in Kiev because of the outspoken reality TV star’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his apparent indifference to the Western coalition against Moscow.

The billionaire businessman suggested earlier this year the US could accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea if it led to improved relations between the two nations, which are bitterly at odds over Syria.

Poroshenko congratulated Trump on his victory and said he wished “to work together with his administration to further strengthen the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States”, according to a statement by the Ukrainian presidency.

He also “underlined the necessity of strong support from Washington in the fight against Russian aggression and the implementation of crucial reforms” in Ukraine.

The two men agreed to organise “a bilateral meeting”, the statement said, without giving further details.

The US election outcome had sparked fears in the ex-Soviet republic after Trump was accused several times by his Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton of being Putin’s “puppet”.

Earlier this week, Poroshenko said he had “no doubt” that Trump would refuse to recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Putin and Trump spoke on the phone on Monday evening for the first time since the US vote, agreeing on the need to normalise ties between Washington and Moscow, the Kremlin said.

After Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March 2014, which saw US-Russia relations dip to their worst since the Cold War, Washington imposed heavy economic sanctions on Russia.

Russia also has been accused by Washington of supporting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine, which the Kremlin denies.