Trump says Kim’s weapons are endangering North Korea

US President Donald Trump (C) addresses the National Assembly in Seoul on November 8, 2017. Trump's marathon Asia tour moves to South Korea, another key ally in the struggle with nuclear-armed North Korea, but one with deep reservations about the US president's strategy for dealing with the crisis. / AFP / Lee Jin-man
Updated 08 November 2017
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Trump says Kim’s weapons are endangering North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea: President Donald Trump is telling North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the weapons he’s acquiring are putting his nation in “great danger.”
Trump delivered that message during a speech Wednesday to South Korean lawmakers in Seoul.
Trump says to Kim that the nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles he’s acquiring “are not making you safer” but “are putting your regime in great danger.”
Kim has threatened the US and its regional allies, including Japan and South Korea, with multiple weapons tests this year.
Trump recently vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if its threats continue.

President Donald Trump is using a speech in front of the South Korean National Assembly to talk about one of his golf courses.
Trump is reminding lawmakers in the National Assembly hall on Wednesday that when the US Women’s Open was held at his Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, earlier this year, many South Korean players did well.
The winner, Park Sung-hyun, was South Korean — as were a number of other top finishers.
Trump has been criticized by ethics experts for failing to completely divest his assets and using the presidency to promote his hotels and golf clubs and enrich himself.

President Donald Trump is delivering a blunt warning to North Korea: “Do not underestimate us. And do not try us.”
Trump is sending the message during a speech Wednesday in Seoul to South Korea’s National Assembly.
The president says the US will not allow its cities to be threatened with destruction. He says it also won’t be intimidated by threats from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Trump says the world cannot tolerate the “menace” of a rogue regime that threatens it with nuclear devastation. He’s urging all “responsible nations” to unite to deny North Korea any form of support or acceptance.
A day earlier, Trump signaled a willingness to negotiate. He urged North Korea to “come to the table” and “make a deal” over its nuclear weapons program.

President Donald Trump is painting a bleak portrait of North Korea in a keynote speech to South Korean lawmakers.
Trump says life under the leadership of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is “so bleak” that North Koreans bribe government officials to leave the country so they can work as slaves.
Says Trump: “They would rather be slaves than live in North Korea.”
Trump is contrasting life in the two Koreas — the democratic South and the communist North. He notes that South Korea’s economy is booming while in North Korea families live in homes without plumbing and that fewer than half of the population has electricity.
South Korea is the second stop on Trump’s five-country tour of Asia.

President Donald Trump is telling South Korea’s National Assembly that he wants “peace through strength.”
The US president is addressing South Korean lawmakers on the second day of his visit. He is noting that the US is rebuilding its military and spending heavily on the newest and finest military equipment.
Trump is calling for an international response to North Korea’s nuclear threat.

South Korean police have separated pro- and anti-Trump protesters who scuffled outside Seoul’s National Assembly shortly before the visiting US president made a speech to the country’s lawmakers.
South Korean police couldn’t immediately confirm on Wednesday whether there were any injuries. Thousands of officers were deployed at the National Assembly in Seoul to provide security and monitor the protesters.
A small American flag was seen burning on the ground beside a sign that read “No Trump No War” near the scene.
Anti-Trump demonstrators have accused Trump of raising animosity with North Korea with his fiery rhetoric. Trump’s supporters have embraced his tough stance against Pyongyang.

The White House says President Donald Trump is disappointed that his surprise trip to the DMZ was thwarted by bad weather.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tells reporters, “I think he’s pretty frustrated” that he had to change his plans.
Marine One had flown most of the way from Seoul to the DMZ before turning due to poor weather conditions. Weather reports from near the DMZ showed misting conditions and visibility below one mile.
Trump had been scheduled to visit the border that for 64 years has separated the North and South with Korean President Moon Jae-in.
The White House says Trump’s trip to the DMZ had been planned well before he left for Asia, but it was kept secret due to security concerns.

President Donald Trump has scrapped a surprise visit to the Korean demilitarized zone due to poor weather.
Marine One flew most of the way from Seoul to the DMZ before turning back due to poor weather conditions.
Back at the US Army’s Yongsan Garrison, Trump prepared for his speech to South Korea’s National Assembly while awaiting a potential clearing in the weather.
Weather reports from near the DMZ showed misting conditions and visibility below one mile.
Every American president since Ronald Reagan has made a trip to the DMZ — except for George H.W. Bush, who made the trek when he served as vice president. Before Trump’s trip, a White House official had said the DMZ visits have become “a little bit of a cliché.”

President Donald Trump is hinting at a surprise announcement as he prepares to depart South Korea.
Trump says during a toast at a state dinner being held in his honor in Seoul Tuesday that, “we’re going to have an exciting day tomorrow for many reasons” that “people will find out.”
Trump is also telling attendees that the partnership between the US and South Korea has never been stronger, as the threat of the North and its nuclear program looms.
Trump says: “we’ve been proud to stand by your side for many decades as an unwavering friend and a loyal ally.” And he says South Korea has “never had a time where this ally has been more loyal or stood by your side more than right now.”

South Korea’s presidential office says US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have agreed to open “working-level” discussions between the countries over South Korea’s potential acquisition of nuclear-propelled submarines.
Moon’s office says Trump and Moon also discussed South Korea’s possible acquisition of unspecified reconnaissance assets to better cope against North Korean threats.
Moon said after his meeting with Trump that the two leaders agreed to cooperate on strengthening South Korea’s defense capabilities through the acquisition or development of advanced weapons systems.
South Korean government officials have been endorsing the nation getting nuclear-powered submarines amid calls for more military strength. There’s a growing concern among the South Korean public that North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons arsenal, which may soon include an intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the US mainland, would undermine Seoul’s decadeslong alliance with Washington.

President Donald Trump says North Korea’s leader is “threatening millions and millions of lives so needlessly.”
Trump is speaking at a joint press conference in Seoul on Tuesday with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in.
Trump says North Korea’s missile launches “are a threat, not only to the people of South Korea, but to the people all across the globe.”
The US president is calling for “worldwide action” in response to North Korea. He says that “every responsible nation, including China and Russia” should push for an end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

South Korea’s president says he and President Donald Trump are “strongly urging” North Korea to return to a negotiating table on its nuclear and missile programs.
President Moon Jae-in says at a joint news conference with Trump on Tuesday that he and Trump agreed to apply maximized pressures and sanctions on North Korea until it returns to “sincere” talks on disarming its nuclear and missile programs.

South Korea’s president says he and President Donald Trump have finalized an earlier agreement to allow South Korea to possess more powerful missiles in the face of growing North Korean threats.
President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday the two have agreed on lifting the warhead payload limits on South Korean ballistic missiles. He says they’re also cooperating on strengthening South Korea’s defense capabilities through the acquisition or development of advanced weapons systems.
Moon says Trump also reaffirmed the “iron-clad” US security commitment for South Korea during a joint news conference with the American leader on Wednesday.
Trump is in South Korea as the second leg of his first visit to Asia.

South Korea’s leader says he and President Donald Trump have agreed to place maximized pressures and sanctions on North Korea to peacefully defuse a standoff caused by the North’s weapons programs.
But President Moon Jae-in says Tuesday that he and Trump also reaffirmed they are ready to provide North Korea with a “bright future” if the country gives ups its nuclear and missile programs.
Moon made the comments after summit talks with Trump at the South Korean presidential office of Blue House on Tuesday. Trump arrived in South Korea earlier Tuesday as the second leg of his first Asian tour.

President Donald Trump says “good progress” is happening on North Korea as he urges Pyongyang to “come to the table” and “make a deal.”
Trump is speaking at a joint news conference in Seoul with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in. Amid rising tensions with North Korea, he says: “it makes sense for North Korea to do the right thing.”
The president is not offering specifics on the type of progress being made. But Trump says it “really makes sense for North Korea to come to the table and make a deal.” He added that “I do see certain movement,” but did not offer specifics.

President Donald Trump is beginning his two-day Korean peninsula visit walking amid weapons of war but voicing optimism for peace.
His every move will be closely watched from both sides of Korea’s demilitarized zone.
Trump has repeatedly delivered combative warnings to Pyongyang as he urged it to abandon its nuclear program.
But as he began his two-day South Korean visit just three dozen miles from the heavily-fortified DMZ, he initially struck a different, more hopeful tone.
He declared that “it always works out. Has to work out.”
That echoed the sentiment of his tweet hours earlier, when he left Japan for South Korea, the second stop of his lengthy Asian trip. It is centered on pressuring North Korean dictator Kim Jong to abandon his weapons program.

President Donald Trump is beginning his two-day Korean peninsula visit walking amid weapons of war but voicing optimism for peace.
His every move will be closely watched from both sides of Korea’s demilitarized zone.
Trump has repeatedly delivered combative warnings to Pyongyang as he urged it to abandon its nuclear program.
But as he began his two-day South Korean visit just three dozen miles from the heavily-fortified DMZ, he initially struck a different, more hopeful tone.
He declared that “it always works out. Has to work out.”
That echoed the sentiment of his tweet hours earlier, when he left Japan for South Korea, the second stop of his lengthy Asian trip. It is centered on pressuring North Korean dictator Kim Jong to abandon his weapons program.


Wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests in US meets forceful response

Updated 59 min 46 sec ago
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Wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests in US meets forceful response

  • Fresh clashes between police and students opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza broke out on Thursday
  • Questions abound over forceful methods being used to shut down intensifying protests

NEW YORK: Fresh clashes between police and students opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza broke out on Thursday, raising questions about forceful methods being used to shut down protests that have intensified since mass arrests at Columbia University last week.

Over the past two days, law enforcement at the behest of college administrators have deployed Tasers and tear gas against students protesters at Atlanta’s Emory University, activists say, while officers clad in riot gear and mounted on horseback have swept away demonstrations at the University of Texas in Austin.
At Columbia, the epicenter of the US protest movement, university officials are locked in a stalemate with students over the removal of a tent encampment set up two weeks ago as a protest against the Israeli offensive.
The administration, which has already allowed an initial deadline for an agreement with students to lapse, has given protesters until Friday to strike a deal.
Other universities appear determined to prevent similar, long-running demonstrations to take root, opting to work with police to shut them down quickly and in some cases, with force.
Overall, more than 530 arrests have been made in the last week across major US universities in relation to protests over Gaza, according to a Reuters tally. University authorities have said the demonstrations are often unauthorized and called on police to clear them.

Police officers arrest a demonstrator during a pro-Palestinian protest against the war in Gaza at Emory University on April 25, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. (AFP)

At Emory, police detained at least 15 people on its Atlanta campus, according to local media, after protesters began erecting a tent encampment in an attempt to emulate a symbol of vigilance employed by protesters at Columbia and elsewhere.
The local chapter of the activist group Jewish Voice for Peace said officers used tear gas and Tasers to dispense the demonstration and take some protesters into custody.
Video footage aired on FOX 5 Atlanta showed a melee breaking out between officers and some protesters, with officers using what appeared to be a stun gun to subdue a person and others wrestling other protesters to the ground and leading them away.
“Several dozen protesters trespassed into Emory University’s campus early Thursday morning and set up tents,” the school wrote in response to an emailed request for comment. It described the protesters as “activists attempting to disrupt our university,” but did not comment directly on the reports of violence.
Atlanta police did not immediately respond to inquiries about the number of protesters who were detained or about reports over the use of tear gas and stun guns.
Similar scenarios unfolded on the New Jersey campus of Princeton University where officers swarmed a newly-formed encampment, video footage on social media showed.
Boston police earlier forcibly removed a pro-Palestinian encampment set up by Emerson College, arresting more than 100 people, media accounts and police said. The latest clashes came a day after police in riot gear and on horseback descended on hundreds of student protesters at the University of Texas at Austin and arrested dozens of them.

Police arrest a protester at the University of Texas on April 24, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Austin American-Statesman via AP)

But prosecutors on Thursday dropped charges against most of the 60 people taken into custody, mostly on misdemeanor charges of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct, and said they would proceed with only 14 of those cases.
In dropping the charges, the Travis County district attorney cited “deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits.”

‘Alarming reports’
Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union have condemned the arrest of protesters and urged authorities to respect their free speech rights.
But some Republicans in Congress have accused university administrators of allowing Jewish students to be harassed, putting increasing pressure on schools to tightly control any demonstrations and to block any semi-permanent encampment.
US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Thursday said his department was closely monitoring the protests, including what he called “very alarming reports of antisemitism.”
In response, activist groups have strongly denied that the protests are antisemitic. Their aim is to pressure universities from divesting from companies that contribute to the Israeli military actions in Gaza, they say.
Even so, protest leaders have acknowledged that hateful rhetoric has been directed at Jewish students, but insist that people who tried to infiltrate and malign their movement are responsible for any harassment.

Columbia University students participate in an ongoing pro-Palestinian encampment on their campus in New York City on April 25, 2024, following last week's arrest of more than 100 protesters. (Getty Images/AFP)

Friday deadline at Columbia
At Columbia, officials have given protesters until 4 a.m. on Friday to reach an agreement with the university on dismantling dozens of tents set up on the New York City campus in a protest that started a week ago.
An initial deadline of midnight Tuesday came and went without an agreement, but administrators extended it for 48 hours, citing progress in the talks.
The university already tried to shut the protest down by force. On April 18, Columbia President Minouche Shafik took the unusual move of asking police to enter the campus, drawing the ire of many rights groups, students and faculty.
More than 100 people were arrested and the tents were removed from the main lawn. But within a few days, the encampment was back in place, and the university’s options appeared to narrow.
Protesters have vowed to keep the protests going until their universities agree to disclose and divest any financial holdings that might support the war in Gaza, and grant amnesty to students suspended from school during the demonstrations.
Student protesters have also demanded that the US government rein in Israeli strikes on civilians in Gaza, which have killed more than 34,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel is retaliating against an Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and led to 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.


India begins voting in second phase of election as Modi vs Gandhi campaign heats up

Updated 26 April 2024
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India begins voting in second phase of election as Modi vs Gandhi campaign heats up

  • Almost one billion people eligible to vote in seven-phase general elections that began on April 19 and concludes on June 1
  • Modi is seeking record third straight term on the back of economic record, welfare measures, Hindu nationalism 

BENGALURU/KOTTAYAM/MATHURA: India began voting on Friday in the second phase of the world’s biggest election, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his rivals raise the pitch of the campaign by focusing on hot-button issues such as religious discrimination, affirmative action and taxes.
Almost one billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general elections that began on April 19 and concludes on June 1, with votes set to be counted on June 4.
Modi is seeking a record-equalling third straight term on the back of his economic record, welfare measures, national pride, Hindu nationalism and personal popularity. Surveys suggest he will easily win a comfortable majority.
His challengers have formed an alliance of more than two dozen parties and are promising greater affirmative action, more handouts and an end to what they call Modi’s autocratic rule.
Friday’s polling will be held for 88 of the total 543 seats in the lower house of parliament with 160 million people eligible to vote. It will be spread across 13 states and federal territories in the world’s most populous country.
More than half of those 88 seats are in the southern states of Kerala and Karnataka and the northwestern state of Rajasthan.
The campaign has changed tack since the first phase and become heated as Modi and the main opposition Congress party have faced off on communal issues with Modi accusing Congress of favoring minority Muslims, aiming to dilute affirmative action and planning to impose inheritance tax.
“Congress, which used to make noise in the name of the Constitution, has now been badly exposed for its hidden agenda,” Modi posted on X late on Thursday.
Congress has denied the charges and said Modi is distracting voters from real issues such as unemployment, price rise and rural distress and fears losing.
RAHUL GANDHI IN THE FRAY
“We spoke to you, we heard what was on your mind and drafted a revolutionary manifesto,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a video message on the eve of the vote. “This has been drafted by the Congress party but it is your voice.”
Gandhi, former Congress president and the face of the party, is among the 1200 candidates in the fray on Friday.
He is seeking re-election from Wayanad in Kerala and faces Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and BJP’s K. Surendran, among others, in the Left Front-ruled state.
In 2019, Gandhi defeated the CPI candidate by more than 400,000 votes, the highest margin in Kerala, although he lost his second seat to BJP in the family bastion of Amethi in north India. India allows a candidate to contest from more than one seat but they can retain only one if they win from more.
Congress slumped to a historic low when it was swept out of power by BJP in 2014 and won its second-lowest number of 52 seats in 2019, with Kerala contributing the highest of 15.
The party is also expected to do better in Karnataka where it won just one of 28 seats in 2019 but gained strength and defeated BJP in state elections last year.
It is still seen to be struggling nationally as bickering within the opposition alliance it leads and graft cases against some leaders has hobbled its challenge to Modi.
The Election Commission and political parties have been worried about voter turnout due to the summer heat and wedding season in some parts of the country with turnout falling to around 65 percent in the first phase from nearly 70 percent in 2019.
The poll panel has increased appeals for voter participation since, asking them to “vote with responsibility and pride.”


Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump

Updated 26 April 2024
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Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump

  • David Pecker, publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer, has testified that his publication helped buy stories about Trump's extramarital affairs to keep them from getting out
  • His testimony was a critical building block for the prosecution’s theory that their partnership was a way to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election

NEW YORK: As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.

But when it came to the seamy claims by porn performer Stormy Daniels, David Pecker, the tabloid’s longtime publisher, said he put his foot down.
“I am not paying for this story,” he told jurors Thursday at Trump’s hush money trial, recounting his version of a conversation with Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen about the catch-and-kill scheme that prosecutors alleged amounted to interference in the race. Pecker was already $180,000 in the hole on other Trump-related stories by the time Daniels came along, at which point, he said, “I didn’t want to be involved in this.”
Pecker’s testimony was a critical building block for the prosecution’s theory that their partnership was a way to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. The Manhattan district attorney is seeking to elevate the gravity of the history-making first trial of a former American president and the first of four criminal cases against Trump to reach a jury.
Trump’s lawyers also began their cross-examination of Pecker, using the time to question his memory of years-old events and to suggest his account had evolved over time.
But the hush money trial was just one of the consequential legal matters facing the Republican presidential candidate on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on April 25, 2024. (Pool photo via REUTERS)

The US Supreme Court also heard arguments over whether Trump should be immune from criminal prosecution while he was the president, stemming from federal charges over his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. The high court justices appeared likely to reject his claims of absolute immunity, though it seemed very possible that trial could be delayed beyond November’s election.
Trump’s many legal problems collided this week. The hush money case includes a looming decision on whether he violated a gag order and should be held in contempt. His former lawyers and associates were indicted in a 2020 election-related scheme in Arizona. And a New York judge rejected a request for a new trial in a defamation case that found Trump liable for $83.3 million in damages.
But the former president has a long history of emerging unscathed from sticky situations — if not becoming even more popular.
The Supreme Court’s decision will have lasting implications for future presidents, because the justices were seeking to answer the never-before-asked question of whether and to what extent does a former president enjoy immunity from prosecution for conduct during his time in office. But it may not impact the New York City case, which hinges mostly on Trump’s conduct as a presidential candidate in 2016 — not as a president.
Trump had asked to skip his New York criminal proceedings for the day so he could sit in on the Supreme Court’s special session, but that request was denied by Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is overseeing Trump’s trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the hush money payments, which involved buying the rights to someone’s story but never publishing it.
“I think the Supreme Court has a very important argument before it today,” Trump said outside the courtroom. “I should be there.”
Instead, he sat at the defense table in a Manhattan courtroom with his lawyers, listening intently to Pecker testify how he and his publication parlayed rumor-mongering into splashy stories that smeared Trump’s opponents and, just as crucially, leveraged his connections to suppress unflattering coverage.
Trump has maintained he is not guilty of any of the charges, and says the stories that were bought and squelched were false.
“There is no case here. This is just a political witch hunt,” he said before court in brief comments to reporters.
As Pecker testified in a calm, cooperative tone about risque tales and secret dealings, the atmosphere in the utilitarian 1940s courtroom was one of quiet attentiveness. Two Secret Service agents were stationed in the first row of the courtroom gallery directly behind Trump. Ten court officers stood around the room. Jurors intently listened, and some took notes.
Pecker recalled that the publication bought a sordid tale from a New York City doorman and purchased accusations of an extramarital affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal to prevent the claims from getting out. There was some talk of reimbursement from Trump’s orbit, but Pecker was ultimately never paid.
The breaking point came with Daniels, who was eventually paid by Cohen to keep quiet over her claim of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump. The ex-president denies it happened.
Pecker recalled to the jury that he was dining with his wife the night after the public learned of the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump discussed grabbing women sexually without permission, when then-editor Dylan Howard called with an urgent matter.
Howard said he heard from Daniels’ representatives that she was trying to sell her story and that the tabloid could acquire it for $120,000, Pecker told jurors. Pecker was tapped out; he told Cohen as much.
At the same time, Pecker advised that someone — just not him — should do something to prevent the story from going public.
“I said to Michael, ‘My suggestion to you is that you should buy the story, and you should take it off the market because if you don’t and it gets out, I believe the boss will be very angry with you.’”
Cohen followed his advice.
Pecker testified that Trump later invited him to a White House dinner in July 2017 to thank him for helping the campaign. The ex-publisher said Trump encouraged him to bring anyone he wanted, recounting that the then-president told him, “It’s your dinner.”
Pecker said that he and Howard, as well as some of his other business associates, posed for photos with Trump in the Oval Office. Pecker said others at the dinner included Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and press adviser Sean Spicer.
At one point during the evening, Pecker said Trump asked him for an update on Karen McDougal.
“How’s Karen doing?” he recalled Trump saying as they walked past the Rose Garden from the Oval Office to the dining room.
“I said she’s doing well, she’s quiet, everything’s going good,” Pecker testified.
But months later, in March 2018, the president became furious when McDougal gave an interview to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Pecker testified.
“I thought you had and we had an agreement with Karen McDougal that she can’t give any interviews or be on any TV channels,” Trump told Pecker by phone, the former National Enquirer publisher said.
He said he explained to the then-president that the agreement had been changed to allow her to speak to the press after a November 2016 Wall Street Journal article about the tabloid’s $150,000 payout to McDougal.
“Mr. Trump got very aggravated when he heard that I amended it, and he couldn’t understand why,” Pecker told jurors.
Later, Trump defense attorney Emil Bove opened his cross-examination by grilling Pecker on his recollection of specific dates and meanings. He appeared to be laying further groundwork for the defense’s argument that any dealings Trump had with the National Enquirer publisher were intended to protect himself, his reputation and his family — not his campaign.
In other developments, prosecutors argued Trump again violated a gag order, all while waiting to hear whether he would be held in contempt on other suspected violations. Merchan has barred the GOP leader from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and others connected to the case. He set a hearing for next Thursday on the new claims.
Trump was dismissive about the looming decision. When asked by reporters if he would pay fines if ordered, he replied, “Oh, I have no idea.” He then said, “They’ve taken my constitutional right away with a gag order.”
A conviction by the jury would not preclude Trump from becoming president again, but because it is a state case, he would not be able to pardon himself if found guilty. The charge is punishable by up to four years in prison — though it’s not clear if the judge would seek to put him behind bars.
 


China warns Blinken over deteriorating ties in talks

Updated 26 April 2024
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China warns Blinken over deteriorating ties in talks

BEIJING: China on Friday urged US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to address rising disagreements or risk a “downward spiral” between the two powers as talks opened in Beijing.
Blinken, paying his second visit to the rival country in less than a year, voiced hope for progress but said he would directly raise areas of difference, which are expected to include Russia, Taiwan and trade.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, receiving Blinken at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse in the capital’s ancient gardens, said relations between the world’s two largest economies were “beginning to stabilize” after leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met at a November summit.
“But at the same time, the negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building,” Wang said.
“The relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges,” he said.
“Should China and the United States keep in the right direction of moving forward with stability, or return to a downward spiral?
“This is a major question before our two countries and tests our sincerity and ability.”
Blinken’s aides previously said he would address a range of concerns including China’s support for Russia, which has rapidly rebuilt its military base two years into its invasion of Ukraine.
As he opened the meeting with Wang, Blinken said he would be “very clear, very direct,” but added: “I hope we make some progress on the issues our presidents agreed” on.
The two countries should be as “clear as possible about the areas where we have differences — at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations,” Blinken said.
“That really is a shared responsibility that we have not only for our own people, but for people around the world.”


France threatens new sanctions against West Bank settlers

Updated 26 April 2024
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France threatens new sanctions against West Bank settlers

  • In February, 28 ‘extremist Israeli settlers’ were banned from entering French territory
  • At least 488 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to Palestinian officials

PARIS: France is considering extending sanctions on Israeli settlers behind violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, President Emmanuel Macron’s office said he spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

The two leaders “firmly condemned recent Israeli announcements about settlements” in the West Bank, “which are contrary to international law,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

Tensions have mounted in the occupied territories since the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel that set off the Gaza war. At least 488 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to Palestinian officials.

In February, 28 “extremist Israeli settlers” were banned from entering French territory. Last week the European Union imposed sanctions on four Israeli settlers and two settler organizations for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Since the start of the year, Israeli authorities have declared nearly 1,100 hectares (2,720 acres) of the West Bank to be “state land” — twice as much as in the previous record year in 1999, according to the settlement watchdog Peace Now.

The status gives the government full control over how the land is used, inevitably leading it to being declared off-limits to Palestinians.

Some 490,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank alongside three million Palestinians.

Macron and King Abdullah also spoke about the “catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza” and expressed “great concern about the perspective of an Israeli offensive on Rafah, where more than 1.5 million people are seeking refuge, and reiterated their opposition to such an operation,” the statement said.

“The two also insisted on the necessity of an immediate and durable ceasefire to allow massive deliveries of urgent aid and the protection of civilian populations,” it added.

Macron also “repeated that the liberation of hostages held by Hamas was an absolute priority for France.”