FILE PHOTO: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort departs from U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, U.S., February 28, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File PhotoALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Monday rested their case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after 10 days of testimony detailing how he avoided taxes on at least $16 million of income and lied to banks to maintain an extravagant lifestyle once his work for pro-Kremlin politicians in Ukraine dried up. More than two dozen witnesses painted a picture of Manafort, 69, as a lavish spender with little regard for the law. A political consultant in the Ukraine, Manafort stashed his money in 31 undisclosed offshore bank accounts, and skirted taxes on that income by wiring it directly to vendors to snap up real estate, bespoke suits, cars and antique rugs, the witnesses said. Reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Tim AhmannOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A Virgin Atlantic flight has made an emergency landing in Boston after a fire broke out on board.The plane was travelling from New York to London on Thursday night when the fire started, forcing the crew to divert the flight.No major injuries were reported and all 217 passengers were safely evacuated from the aircraft at Boston's Logan International Airport.Police believe a mobile phone power bank may have caused the fire. Bomb disposal officers inspected the aircraft after it landed and found a device between the cushions of the seat where the blaze started. "Preliminary investigation suggests it is a battery pack consistent in appearance with an external phone charger," a police spokesman told reporters. That was disputed by one passenger, Maria, who told the BBC she had been speaking to her friend when his seat caught fire. She rejected reports that a phone charger had been the cause."It took about two minutes to put it out," she said. Theatre evacuated as mobile phone on fire How dangerous are phone chargers? While no-one suffered major injuries, one passenger refused treatment for a "smoke related complaint".Virgin Atlantic confirmed in a statement that the flight had been diverted to Boston "due to reports of smoke in the cabin"."Our crew responded immediately and the plane has landed safely", it said, The airline added that it was investigating the incident to "fully understand the circumstances". An American Airlines flight also made an emergency landing at the airport earlier on Thursday after a cockpit light indicated an unspecified potential mechanical problem as it approached Boston.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Monday rested their case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after 10 days of testimony alleging how he evaded taxes and defrauded banks, with the defense set to decide on Tuesday if it will call any witnesses. As its final witness on Monday, the prosecution recalled a Treasury Department agent who testified that Manafort’s consulting companies did not disclose their foreign bank accounts, as is required by law, in addition to him failing to do so personally. “The government rests,” U.S. prosecutor Greg Andres said after the agent completed her testimony. Judge T.S. Ellis said he would talk to Manafort on Tuesday about whether he wanted to take the stand, something that legal experts say is highly unlikely. Manafort’s lawyers will also tell the court on Tuesday whether they plan to call any witnesses. If the defense rests, closing statements would be next, after which the 12-person jury will begin deliberations. Manafort is being tried on 18 counts, which include tax and bank fraud charges, as well the failure to disclose foreign bank accounts. If found guilty on all charges, he could face eight to 10 years in prison, according to sentencing expert Justin Paperny. The trial is the first courtroom test for U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who indicted Manafort in October 2017 as part of his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Manafort’s lawyers on Monday asked for the charges to be thrown out, claiming that the prosecution failed to show the necessary willfulness to break the law. Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who attended the proceedings, called the action by Manafort’s lawyers “pro-forma”, adding, “very rarely are they successful.” During the trial, more than two dozen witnesses took the stand and portrayed Manafort, 69, as a lavish spender with little regard for the law. As a political consultant for pro-Kremlin politicians in the Ukraine, Manafort earned some $60 million between 2010 and 2014. Stashing the money in 31 offshore bank accounts, he skirted taxes by wiring it directly to vendors to snap up real estate and luxury goods, the witnesses said. The trappings of Manafort’s lifestyle dominated media headlines throughout the trial: there was half a million dollars worth of antique rugs, $750,000 spent on landscaping for his $13 million Bridgehampton mansion, and more than $1 million for clothing, including a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich skin. Ellis closed the courtroom at the end of the day to hear arguments on a sealed motion that was filed earlier in the day. While the contents of the motion are unknown, the development comes after an unexplained delay in the trial and unusually detailed instructions by Ellis to the jurors on Friday, in which he pressed them not to talk to anyone about the case. The judge’s comments sparked speculation by legal experts and courtroom observers that the delay could be related to some form of juror misconduct. Ellis resumed testimony mid-afternoon on Friday with no changes to the jury. “The fact that the judge resumed proceedings but gave a strong admonishment to the jury tells me that a juror issue arose but that level of misconduct was not significant enough to warrant a mistrial,” said jury consultant Alexandra Rudolph. The prosecution also called James Brennan to the stand on Monday. Brenann is an executive at Federal Savings Bank, which extended $16 million in loans to Manafort on his Hamptons estate and a Brooklyn brownstone house in late 2016 and early 2017. Brennan said bank president Javier Ubarri made an initial decision to reject a $9.5 million loan on Manafort’s Hamptons estate, but bank chief executive Steve Calk overruled it. “It closed because Mr. Calk wanted it to close,” Brennan said about the loan. FILE PHOTO: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort arrives for arraignment on a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of witness tampering, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., June 15, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoOn Friday, another Federal employee testified that Calk personally approved loans to Manafort while seeking Manafort’s help getting a job in President Donald Trump’s campaign and his cabinet. Federal Savings Bank has not returned calls seeking comment, and has said it will make no comment during Manafort’s trial. Brennan, asked about whether the bank made money from lending to Manafort, said the bank has written off the loans and “took a hit” of $11.8 million. Reporting by Nathan Layne, Karen Freifeld and Amanda Becker in Alexandria, Virginia; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by James Dalgleish and Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

JACKSON, Miss. (Reuters) - A white Republican senator’s casual reference to a “public hanging” has inflamed a special election runoff in Mississippi, fueling Democratic hopes of an upset in a conservative state with an ugly history of racist violence. The U.S. Senate race between appointed Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy, a black former congressman and U.S. agriculture secretary, will test the power of the black vote and the viability of Democrats in a region where Republicans have dominated for decades. The Nov. 27 runoff, which caps a congressional election cycle drawn out by recounts and too-close-to-call races, will not affect the balance of power in Congress. Republicans will hold a Senate majority even if Hyde-Smith loses and Democrats will control the House of Representatives. Espy, 64, is a heavy underdog in the Deep South state, which has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982. But his campaign got a jolt of adrenaline when a video surfaced a week ago showing Hyde-Smith, 59, praising a supporter by saying: “If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” The comment set off a furor in Mississippi, a state scarred by a history of racism and violence against blacks, including lynching. According to the NAACP civil rights group, Mississippi had 581 lynchings between 1882 and 1968, more than any other state. Advocacy groups conducting a voter turnout drive aimed primarily at African-Americans, who make up 38 percent of the state’s residents, said their efforts had gained new urgency. “If people recognize the importance of this moment, there is an opportunity for Secretary Espy to win this race,” said Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the black Democratic mayor of Jackson, the state’s largest city. “If we can show progress in a state with such historic suffering, then what does it say about the future?” Hyde-Smith, a former state legislator appointed in April to replace retiring Senator Thad Cochran, released a statement calling the Nov. 2 comment “an exaggerated expression of regard” for a friend. She apologized for the remarks for the first time during a debate on Tuesday, but said Espy had twisted her words for political gain - a charge he denied. Retailer Walmart Inc, medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp and railroad Union Pacific Corp made public requests this week for Hyde-Smith to return their donations because of the remarks. Espy would be the first black senator from Mississippi since shortly after the Civil War. He told reporters that Hyde-Smith’s “disappointing, hurtful” remarks perpetuated stereotypes Mississippi was striving to overcome. “There was already a high level of engagement but her comments took everything up to a whole new level,” said Cassandra Welchlin, co-director of the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, one of at least two dozen advocacy groups involved in turnout efforts. Welchlin’s group is partnering with childcare centers, churches and sororities to target infrequent black women voters. Other groups are focusing on registered black voters who did not participate in the Nov. 6 election, using phone banks, texting parties and ride-shares to get them out. FILE PHOTOS: U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy and U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) are seen in combination file photos, in Jackson, Mississippi, U.S. on May 8, 2018 and in Southaven, Mississippi, U.S. on October 2, 2018 respectively. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman (L) and REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotosMississippi Democrats hope to recreate the coalition that propelled Democrat Doug Jones to a Senate victory in neighboring Alabama last year by energizing black voters, particularly women, and appealing to white swing voters. Espy has used the Jones race as a template, focusing on issues like rural healthcare, equal pay and education. A political moderate, he portrays himself as a bridge-builder in a state where Republican President Donald Trump is popular. At a weekend breakfast in Jackson, Espy told black women leaders that Jones was elected because women turned out to support him. “What that did for Doug Jones in Alabama, you have to do for me in Mississippi,” he said. The runoff to serve the last two years of Cochran’s term was needed because no candidate gained more than 50 percent of the vote in a Nov. 6 special election. Hyde-Smith and Espy, who nearly deadlocked at about 41 percent, met in their only debate on Tuesday night. Both the Republican and Democratic national parties have sent help to Mississippi for the runoff. Trump will hold two get-out-the-vote rallies in the state next week, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee said it was spending at least $800,000 on ads. That will be augmented by $1 million from the Senate Leadership Fund, an outside group aligned with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. National Democratic committees are sending staff to help get out the vote, and the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC has started a $500,000 ad buy. Senators Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, who are both African-American and potential 2020 presidential contenders, campaigned with Espy. “This is a race that has national importance,” Harris said at the Jackson breakfast, saying the outcome would “make a point about who we are as a country, symbolized by the state of Mississippi.” Hyde-Smith has hammered Espy as too liberal for Mississippi. She touts her endorsement from Trump, who won Mississippi by 18 percentage points in 2016, and campaigns in a bus with a blown-up photo of her and Trump stretched across the side. “This race is a conservative versus a liberal and Mississippi is a conservative state,” said Melissa Scallan, a spokeswoman for Hyde-Smith. She declined to comment on the hanging remarks. Hyde-Smith became embroiled in another controversy last week when a video surfaced in which she seemed to endorse the voter suppression of liberal students as “a great idea.” In a statement, Hyde-Smith’s campaign said she was joking. The wild card in the runoff will be how many supporters of Republican Chris McDaniel, a hardline conservative who captured 16.5 percent of the vote on Nov. 6, stay home or back Espy instead of Hyde-Smith. McDaniel had criticized Hyde-Smith, a former Democrat who switched parties in 2010, as insufficiently conservative but endorsed her. Slideshow (2 Images)Hal Marx, a McDaniel supporter and mayor of the small town of Petal, said he was not enthusiastic about Hyde-Smith but would vote for her. “She isn’t the best choice possible but of the two that are left we need a Republican in the seat,” Marx said. Reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Monday rested their case against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort after 10 days of testimony alleging how he evaded taxes and defrauded banks, with the defense set to decide on Tuesday if it will call any witnesses. As its final witness on Monday, the prosecution recalled a Treasury Department agent who testified that Manafort’s consulting companies did not disclose their foreign bank accounts, as is required by law, in addition to him failing to do so personally. “The government rests,” U.S. prosecutor Greg Andres said after the agent completed her testimony. Judge T.S. Ellis said he would talk to Manafort on Tuesday about whether he wanted to take the stand, something that legal experts say is highly unlikely. Manafort’s lawyers will also tell the court on Tuesday whether they plan to call any witnesses. If the defense rests, closing statements would be next, after which the 12-person jury will begin deliberations. Manafort is being tried on 18 counts, which include tax and bank fraud charges, as well the failure to disclose foreign bank accounts. If found guilty on all charges, he could face eight to 10 years in prison, according to sentencing expert Justin Paperny. The trial is the first courtroom test for U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who indicted Manafort in October 2017 as part of his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Manafort’s lawyers on Monday asked for the charges to be thrown out, claiming that the prosecution failed to show the necessary willfulness to break the law. Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who attended the proceedings, called the action by Manafort’s lawyers “pro-forma”, adding, “very rarely are they successful.” During the trial, more than two dozen witnesses took the stand and portrayed Manafort, 69, as a lavish spender with little regard for the law. As a political consultant for pro-Kremlin politicians in the Ukraine, Manafort earned some $60 million between 2010 and 2014. Stashing the money in 31 offshore bank accounts, he skirted taxes by wiring it directly to vendors to snap up real estate and luxury goods, the witnesses said. The trappings of Manafort’s lifestyle dominated media headlines throughout the trial: there was half a million dollars worth of antique rugs, $750,000 spent on landscaping for his $13 million Bridgehampton mansion, and more than $1 million for clothing, including a $15,000 jacket made of ostrich skin. Ellis closed the courtroom at the end of the day to hear arguments on a sealed motion that was filed earlier in the day. While the contents of the motion are unknown, the development comes after an unexplained delay in the trial and unusually detailed instructions by Ellis to the jurors on Friday, in which he pressed them not to talk to anyone about the case. The judge’s comments sparked speculation by legal experts and courtroom observers that the delay could be related to some form of juror misconduct. Ellis resumed testimony mid-afternoon on Friday with no changes to the jury. “The fact that the judge resumed proceedings but gave a strong admonishment to the jury tells me that a juror issue arose but that level of misconduct was not significant enough to warrant a mistrial,” said jury consultant Alexandra Rudolph. The prosecution also called James Brennan to the stand on Monday. Brenann is an executive at Federal Savings Bank, which extended $16 million in loans to Manafort on his Hamptons estate and a Brooklyn brownstone house in late 2016 and early 2017. Brennan said bank president Javier Ubarri made an initial decision to reject a $9.5 million loan on Manafort’s Hamptons estate, but bank chief executive Steve Calk overruled it. “It closed because Mr. Calk wanted it to close,” Brennan said about the loan. FILE PHOTO: Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort arrives for arraignment on a third superseding indictment against him by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on charges of witness tampering, at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., June 15, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File PhotoOn Friday, another Federal employee testified that Calk personally approved loans to Manafort while seeking Manafort’s help getting a job in President Donald Trump’s campaign and his cabinet. Federal Savings Bank has not returned calls seeking comment, and has said it will make no comment during Manafort’s trial. Brennan, asked about whether the bank made money from lending to Manafort, said the bank has written off the loans and “took a hit” of $11.8 million. Reporting by Nathan Layne, Karen Freifeld and Amanda Becker in Alexandria, Virginia; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by James Dalgleish and Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Google has been hit by outages in a host of countries around the world, with users reporting issues with Gmail, Google Drive, Hangouts and Google Maps for several hours.Various websites that track Gmail problems and outages, showed a spike in users reporting problems with the email service from about 1pm AEDT (2am GMT).In a statement on their service website, Google said: “We’re investigating reports of an issue with Gmail. We will provide more information shortly. The affected users are able to access Gmail, but are seeing error messages, high latency, and/or other unexpected behaviour.”Google reported that the issues had been resolved at 5.30pm AEDT (6.30am GMT).Gmail has more than one billion users. Those affected by the outages were unable to send emails, receiving an error message that said “Message could not be sent. Check your network and try again”. Others experienced problems opening attachments.During the outages Google said that “customers will have issues accessing or attaching files in various products”, including “attaching or accessing attachments” to emails, “as well as accessing and saving draft emails and sending emails.” Google also confirmed there were issues with uploading and downloading files from Google Drive and uploading photos or attachments to Hangouts.Google Maps also appeared to be experiencing issues, with users who tried to activate Street View mode seeing a black screen, instead of images of the location. This issue was not confirmed by Google on its G Suite dashboard.Google did not confirm the cause of the problem.The issues affected users around the globe, with people in the US, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America reporting problems.In Australia the hashtag #gmaildown was trending.Some people in Australia reported that the outages were a good excuse for not working through the afternoon.Others suggested the problems could force people to revive their embarrassing once-used hotmail addresses. Topics Google Alphabet news

(Reuters) - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed charges on Friday against a political operative with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, bringing his probe into possible collusion by the Trump presidential campaign a step closer to the Kremlin’s door. The indictment, filed by Mueller in District of Columbia federal court, included new counts against Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and the operative, Manafort aide Konstantin Kilimnik, for tampering with witnesses about their lobbying for Ukraine. It was the third time Mueller had added to charges against Manafort since he was indicted in October. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges, from money-laundering, to failing to register as a foreign agent, to bank and tax fraud. The additional charges could add to pressure on Manafort to cut a deal and cooperate with Mueller’s probe, legal experts said. Manafort has longstanding ties to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin. But more significantly Friday’s indictment marked the first time that Kilimnik, who in previous court filings was referred to only as “Person A”, was named. Mueller has said Kilimnik has links to Russian spy agencies, an allegation Kilimnik denies. Kilimnik did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Manafort and his lawyers have disputed the charges against him. The disclosure could alter the way the public perceives Mueller’s investigation, said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Trump has repeatedly denounced the probe as a “witch hunt” and denied any collusion took place. “This indictment could be very important from a political perspective,” said Mariotti, a Democrat who is running for Illinois attorney general. “You now have the former chairman of the Trump campaign charged with conspiring with a suspected Russian intelligence operative. That’s quite astounding.” In a court filing earlier this week, Mueller asked the judge overseeing the case in the District of Columbia to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of trial due to the allegations of witness tampering. Mueller has accused Manafort of attempting to call, text and send encrypted messages in February to two people from “The Hapsburg Group,” a political discussion group he allegedly worked with to promote the interests of Ukraine, in an effort to influence their testimony or conceal evidence in the case. Manafort’s lawyers, in a court filing on Friday, asked the judge to reject Mueller’s request, saying “the text messages cited by the special counsel do not establish any witness tampering.” They said Manafort’s “limited communications cannot be fairly read, either factually or legally, to reflect an intent to corruptly influence a trial witness.” Mueller’s office said the government had “developed substantial evidence showing that the Hapsburg group performed a variety of lobbying tasks in the United States,” which included disseminating ghostwritten articles in the American media and arranging meetings with U.S. officials and politicians. Sources familiar with the group’s activities said that among its major figures were Alfred Gusenbauer, a former Austrian chancellor, and Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister. In Friday’s indictment, Mueller accused Kilimnik of taking part in the covert lobbying scheme and of trying to influence potential witnesses. Two U.S. intelligence officials on Friday said that Kilimnik, who was educated in part as a linguist and served in the Russian army as a translator, is believed to have at least informal ties to Russian intelligence. FILE PHOTO Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for U.S. President Donald Trump, departs after a hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, U.S., April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoThey said Kilimnik may have reported to Russian intelligence officers in Moscow or Kiev or both on his work at the International Republican Institute office in Moscow where he was employed for a decade to 2005 and later on his work for Manafort in Ukraine. In addition, one of the officials said, Kilimnik’s reported trips to the U.S. in May and August 2016 during Trump’s campaign have “attracted attention” as to whether Manafort and Kilimnik tried to capitalize on Manafort’s campaign role by offering Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska private briefings. Deripaska has denied accepting the offer or receiving any such briefings. Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Clive McKeefOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

(Reuters) - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed charges on Friday against a political operative with alleged ties to Russian intelligence, bringing his probe into possible collusion by the Trump presidential campaign a step closer to the Kremlin’s door. The indictment, filed by Mueller in District of Columbia federal court, included new counts against Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and the operative, Manafort aide Konstantin Kilimnik, for tampering with witnesses about their lobbying for Ukraine. It was the third time Mueller had added to charges against Manafort since he was indicted in October. Manafort has pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges, from money-laundering, to failing to register as a foreign agent, to bank and tax fraud. The additional charges could add to pressure on Manafort to cut a deal and cooperate with Mueller’s probe, legal experts said. Manafort has longstanding ties to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin. But more significantly Friday’s indictment marked the first time that Kilimnik, who in previous court filings was referred to only as “Person A”, was named. Mueller has said Kilimnik has links to Russian spy agencies, an allegation Kilimnik denies. Kilimnik did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Manafort and his lawyers have disputed the charges against him. The disclosure could alter the way the public perceives Mueller’s investigation, said former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti. Trump has repeatedly denounced the probe as a “witch hunt” and denied any collusion took place. “This indictment could be very important from a political perspective,” said Mariotti, a Democrat who is running for Illinois attorney general. “You now have the former chairman of the Trump campaign charged with conspiring with a suspected Russian intelligence operative. That’s quite astounding.” In a court filing earlier this week, Mueller asked the judge overseeing the case in the District of Columbia to revoke or revise an order releasing Manafort ahead of trial due to the allegations of witness tampering. Mueller has accused Manafort of attempting to call, text and send encrypted messages in February to two people from “The Hapsburg Group,” a political discussion group he allegedly worked with to promote the interests of Ukraine, in an effort to influence their testimony or conceal evidence in the case. Manafort’s lawyers, in a court filing on Friday, asked the judge to reject Mueller’s request, saying “the text messages cited by the special counsel do not establish any witness tampering.” They said Manafort’s “limited communications cannot be fairly read, either factually or legally, to reflect an intent to corruptly influence a trial witness.” Mueller’s office said the government had “developed substantial evidence showing that the Hapsburg group performed a variety of lobbying tasks in the United States,” which included disseminating ghostwritten articles in the American media and arranging meetings with U.S. officials and politicians. Sources familiar with the group’s activities said that among its major figures were Alfred Gusenbauer, a former Austrian chancellor, and Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister. In Friday’s indictment, Mueller accused Kilimnik of taking part in the covert lobbying scheme and of trying to influence potential witnesses. Two U.S. intelligence officials on Friday said that Kilimnik, who was educated in part as a linguist and served in the Russian army as a translator, is believed to have at least informal ties to Russian intelligence. FILE PHOTO Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for U.S. President Donald Trump, departs after a hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, U.S., April 19, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File PhotoThey said Kilimnik may have reported to Russian intelligence officers in Moscow or Kiev or both on his work at the International Republican Institute office in Moscow where he was employed for a decade to 2005 and later on his work for Manafort in Ukraine. In addition, one of the officials said, Kilimnik’s reported trips to the U.S. in May and August 2016 during Trump’s campaign have “attracted attention” as to whether Manafort and Kilimnik tried to capitalize on Manafort’s campaign role by offering Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska private briefings. Deripaska has denied accepting the offer or receiving any such briefings. Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Clive McKeefOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A splinter group of protesters smashed their way into Hong Kong's legislative council on Monday, breaking glass walls, defacing paintings and spraying graffiti. It was denounced by the city's leader as an extreme use of violence, but how do residents feel about what happened?On the roads that surround Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo) small groups of passers-by take photos of what is now being described as a crime scene. Some peel hand-written post-it notes from walls as memorabilia.Twenty-four hours earlier, the bustling six-lane carriageway that surrounds the government offices was held ransom by thousands of young protesters demanding the withdrawal of a controversial extradition law. Armed with makeshift barricades, they stormed Hong Kong's parliament - spraying graffiti on walls, and working in teams to deface symbols of Hong Kong's law-making body. "I can understand the frustration and can also understand the opposition to what happened," said one Hong Kong resident, leaning on the fencing of a bridge overlooking the government offices. "They avoided hurting anyone, they put up posters, they defaced the symbols of Hong Kong. I see it as organised riots. It was targeted at symbolism.""I don't support them. They did the wrong thing," said a man who didn't want to be identified. "I am glad that no one died," another man said.In recent weeks millions of Hong Kong residents have marched on the streets, united in opposition to a now-suspended extradition law which critics fear could spell an end to Hong Kong's judicial independence. The peaceful protests have transformed into a youth-led civil disobedience campaign, aimed at disrupting government departments.On Tuesday Beijing condemned the ransacking of the LegCo building. But the storming of the law-making body has garnered a mixed response from those who oppose the extradition law."Most of my friends support the young people because they think only this kind of action can achieve the goal. As a mum I only support protesting in a peaceful way," said a housewife identified only as Sarah, who has attended many of the peaceful marches against the extradition law."Their actions have deepened the gap between the young people and the senior citizens."Most of Hong Kong people support the action to fight for the democracy of Hong Kong, but they don't want to see any overwhelming violent action. I don't support the violence," she said. What graffiti says about Hong Kong's evolving anger The background you need on the Hong Kong protests Young, radical and ready for tear gas The 22nd anniversary of the former British colony's return to China was marked on 1 July. Organisers claim that more than 500,000 took part in an annual pro-democracy march, ten times the number of protesters who attended last year's demonstration. "We are fighting with a government that isn't elected by the public and a communist system. Protests like in your country don't work here," says Chris Yu, a secondary school teacher who has also joined many of the peaceful marches. On 1 July, he saw his own students on the streets surrounding government buildings. "Somehow, I agree", says Mr Yu. "I didn't agree in the past but now I do. I somehow realise we may need some new ways to protest."Pro-democratic lawmakers argue that protesters acted out of despair. But many fear that the violence could play into the hands of the pro-Beijing camp."I do not support violence. I think that we should use vote to continue the struggle. This is the second battlefield. But I will still fully support them," said a shop owner who took part in the peaceful march. "This class of young people are fighting for something the adults have not dared to fight for so many years. How can I not be touched by them?"

An attempt in May by the Hong Kong government to push through a controversial bill that would have allowed suspects from the city to be extradited to China sparked weeks of protests.Hong Kong's business community condemned the bill. They feared that if it passed, Beijing could reach into Hong Kong and pluck alleged offenders — including foreign executives — out of the city to face charges under China's opaque and politicized legal system.Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam backed down last month andshelved the legislation, but protestors want it withdrawn completely and are calling on Lam to resign.Hong Kong government building a 'big crime scene' after night of violent protests Some Hong Kong businesses supported last month's protests. More than 100 firms shut their doors before demonstrations on June 12 to allow employees to join a rally outside the legislature. But Monday's escalation by some of the protesters could cost them support among the business community. One of the city's most influential business groups spoke out against Monday's violence, noting that it had been caused by a small number of extreme protesters. "People have the right to express their views, but violence should not under any circumstances be condoned. We have to respect and uphold the rule of law," Aron Harilela, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement Tuesday.The American Chamber of Commerce urged more communication between the government and public "in order to bring out the best of what Hong Kong has to offer as a premier business and financial hub." Hong Kong's democracy movement was about hope. These protests are driven by desperationThe city, which is run by a China-backed government as a special administrative region, is still hugely important to China and global business. Hong Kong has played a pivotal role in the opening up of China's markets by establishing connections with stock markets in Shanghai in 2014 and Shenzhen in 2016. Those links allow international investors to trade shares in both markets through brokers licensed by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. They also give Chinese investors a way to trade Hong Kong stocks.Chinese tech giantAlibaba (BABA), which went public in the world's biggest ever IPO in New York in 2014, is now mulling a $20 billion secondary listing in Hong Kong, and beverage giantAB InBev (BUD)is looking to list its Asia Pacific business on the city's stock exchange later this month.

Alex van der Zwaan, who worked with Mr. Gates and Mr. Kilimnik on a report used to defend Mr. Yanukovych against accusations of prosecuting a rival for political purposes, cooperated with Mr. Mueller’s team before he pleaded guilty in February to lying to investigators. A former lawyer with the international firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, he was sentenced to 30 days and a hefty fine.Other former associates who have cooperated with Mr. Mueller’s team include employees from the lobbying firms Mercury Public Affairs and the Podesta Group, both of which worked for a nonprofit based in Brussels called the European Center for a Modern Ukraine, which was overseen by Mr. Manafort.The effort complemented the one with which Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager were involved from 2011 until 2014 to enlist prominent European politicians to vouch for Mr. Yanukovych. From overseas bank accounts, Mr. Manafort funneled $2.4 million to fund the activities of the coalition overseen by Mr. Friedman and Mr. Sager, which helped place op-eds in the Western news media and arrange speaking engagements.Mr. Sager, for example, worked with Mr. Manafort and others to arrange a March 2013 visit to Washington by Romano Prodi, the former prime minister of Italy and the former president of the European Commission. Mr. Prodi met with key members of Congress, including Representative Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the committee’s ranking Democrat.Mr. Friedman helped prepare an Op-Ed by Mr. Prodi that was published by The New York Times in February 2014, according to prosecutors. The piece argued that Mr. Yanukovych could bring Ukraine back from the brink of collapse and that European leaders should not threaten sanctions against him or the nation.The day after the commentary was published, Mr. Yanukovych fled Ukraine amid protests of his government’s corruption and pivot toward Moscow, eventually arriving in Russia and effectively ending his presidency.In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Prodi said that he wrote the Op-Ed, although he acknowledged that he and Mr. Friedman, whom he said he knew only as an author and columnist and not as a lobbyist, had “exchanged views” and maybe “some language.” He added, “When I write an article and sign this document, it’s my responsibility.” He said that he had no knowledge of Mr. Manafort’s involvement, but, after checking his records, he confirmed that Mr. Sager “arranged my appointments in Washington.”

A middle school teacher in Florida who has admitted hosting a white nationalist podcast has been removed from her classroom as officials investigate whether she is really a racist.Officials at the Citrus County School District, about 80 miles north of Tampa, Fla., said they were made aware of the podcast, called “Unapologetic,” last week after being contacted by HuffPost. The news website reported on Saturday that the teacher, Dayanna Volitich, was connected to the podcast.Although the podcast and a Twitter account — which Ms. Volitich operated under the pseudonym “Tiana Dalichov” — appear to have been taken off the internet, the HuffPost report included a recording of the podcast and screenshots of tweets she sent.On the podcast, she argues that “science” has proved that certain races are smarter than others and brags about preaching white nationalism in her classroom — and hiding it from administrators. In tweets, she makes reference to the “horrors of #Islam,” attacks the concept of white privilege, and says that it isn’t “hateful or supremacist to prefer your own people over others.”In a statement on Tuesday, Ms. Volitich, 25, admitted to using a pseudonym on social media and on the podcast, but insisted she was not a white nationalist. She said she had not allowed her political beliefs to seep into the way she teaches social studies.“I employed political satire and exaggeration, mainly to the end of attracting listeners and followers, and generating conversation about the content discussed between myself and my guests,” Ms. Volitich said in a statement provided by her lawyer, Charles E. Moore Jr. “The views ‘Tiana Dalichov’ espouses do not pervade my professional career.”“As an adult, my decisions are my own, and my family has nothing whatsoever to do with my social media accounts or my podcast,” she continued. “From them, I humbly ask for forgiveness, as it was never my intention to cause them grief while engaging in a hobby on my personal time.”ImageDayanna VolitichCreditvia Fox4NowSchool officials called the podcast “concerning” and said an investigation was initiated immediately after they were contacted by HuffPost; the teacher involved was also “removed from the classroom,” they said.Michael P. Mullen, an assistant superintendent, confirmed in an email on Tuesday that the teacher involved was Ms. Volitich, who is listed online as a social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School.School district officials said they could not provide additional comment until their investigation was completed. It was not clear when that would be.The most recent data available from the Florida Department of Education shows that during the 2015-16 school year, about 88 percent of Crystal River Middle School’s students were white.

9 U.S. ‘Can The President Be Impeached?’ We Answer Your Questions

Rights groups and democracy activists have accused police in Hong Kong of using excessive force after teargas was fired into an enclosed subway station and officers posed as protesters before making arrests during an intense weekend of clashes.“Clashes between protesters and police over the weekend escalated to another level especially on the police side,” said Man-Kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong.Tam cited video footage of police firing teargas into a subway station on Sunday night in Kwai Fong. It was not clear how many protesters were inside the station at the time, but it has been rare for officers to fire tear gas indoors. He also shared footage of police firing non-lethal projectiles at close range as protesters attempted to flee down a separate subway station escalator.Tam questioned the need for such force in both cases as protesters appeared to be showing “no aggression” towards officers. “These are all very ugly things,” he said.Pro-democracy street protests in Hong Kong stretched into their 10th week on Monday with no sign of either side backing down. The police have also reported injuries among their ranks, including eye irritation from laser pointers and burns from a petrol bomb.Civil Rights Observer, a local rights group that sends observers to protests, said it had “very serious concerns” about police violence and had seen “very clear evidence to show the police are violating their guidelines”, according to its spokesman Icarus Wong.He said the group was particularly concerned by the use of undercover officers for the first time, who later turned on protesters on Sunday night. He said it was unclear if they may have acted as agitators before making mass arrests.During the weekend protests, the website Hong Kong Free Press showed footage of one arrest that appeared to include officers dressing as protesters who injured a demonstrator pressed to the ground. The young man, who said his name was Chow Ka-lok and asked for a lawyer, was left with bleeding head wounds and a broken tooth.Outrage against police violence quickly spread online, where a sit-in at Hong Kong International airport was quickly organised over social media for Monday afternoon.Many residents also shared videos and photos of police violence on Twitter, in some cases under hashtags such as #AbolishHKPF and #HKPoliceState, as well as in Telegram protest groups. One commonly shared photo included an image of a female protester hit by a police projectile and bleeding profusely from her eye.“Let us [admit] HK is a police state. Riot police push down peaceful protestor on the escalator of railway station,” the democracy activist Joshua Wong tweeted.“Hong Kong police repeatedly shooting rubber bullets from 1m distance at protesters who are leaving and entering Taikoo MTR station. How is this acceptable behavior?????” Denise Ho, a cantonese pop star turned activist tweeted.Over the weekend journalists were also attacked by mobs of residents believed to be pro-China supporters in one district on Hong Kong island.“Violence against journalists, whether it comes from the police or pro-Beijing mobs, has become systematic and clearly aims to discourage the media from covering the protests in Hong Kong,” said Cédric Alviani, the head of the Reporters Without Borders East Asia bureau, who called for an independent investigation into protest brutality.On Monday legislators and journalists were also invited to witness a display of police water cannons, which Amnesty warned last week could lead to serious injuries if misused within Hong Kong’s confined spaces.Protests in Hong Kong began in early June against a legislative bill that would have allowed for residents to stand trial in mainland China on criminal charges.While Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, it was promised semi-autonomy for 50 years including a separate legal system. Many protesters feared the bill, now suspended, would have led to the decline of civil and political rights in the Asian financial hub. Topics Hong Kong Asia Pacific China Press freedom Protest news

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s airport halted flights on Monday, blaming demonstrators for the disruption, while China said the anti-government protests that have swept the city over the past two months had begun to show “sprouts of terrorism”. The airport authority said it was working with airlines to resume flights from 6 a.m. on Tuesday, but the developments raised the stakes sharply after a weekend of skirmishes during which both activists and police toughened their stances. The precise trigger for the airport’s closure was not clear, since protesters occupying the arrivals hall for four days have been peaceful. Most of them had left shortly after midnight, but around 50 remained, discussing their next move. “This is about our freedom,” a 24-year-old protester wearing a mask, who gave his name only as Yu, told Reuters during the evening. “Why should we leave?” Some Hong Kong legal experts say official descriptions of some protesters’ actions as terrorism could lead to the use of extensive anti-terror laws and powers against them. China’s People’s Armed Police also assembled in the neighboring city of Shenzhen for exercises, the state-backed Global Times newspaper said. The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper said on the Twitter-like Weibo that the force can handle incidents including riots or terrorist attacks. Hong Kongers responded by taking to the streets again. Crowds picketed a police station, singing hymns. Hundreds of people returned to a subway station, where police had hit activists with batons, to protest against heavy-handed tactics. The increasingly violent demonstrations have plunged the Chinese-ruled territory into its most serious crisis in decades, presenting Chinese leader Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012. Related CoverageU.S. urges all sides to refrain from violence in Hong Kong: officialCanada's Trudeau extremely concerned about Hong Kong, urges China to be careful“Hong Kong has come to a critical juncture,” said Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office spokesman Yang Guang in Beijing. “Protesters have been frequently using extremely dangerous tools to attack the police in recent days, constituting serious crimes with sprouts of terrorism emerging.” The protests began in opposition to a bill allowing extraditions to the mainland for trial in Communist-controlled courts, but have widened to highlight other grievances, winning broad support. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement enshrining some autonomy for Hong Kong when China took it back from Britain in 1997. Hong Kong is the world’s busiest air cargo port and the 8th busiest by passenger traffic, handling 73 million passengers a year. The airport has been filled with anti-government protesters for four days. The mostly young black-clad protesters have chanted slogans such as “No rioters, only tyranny!” and “Liberate Hong Kong!” while approaching travelers with flyers describing their demands and explaining the unrest. U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said they were “bravely standing up to the Chinese Communist Party,” and that a violent crackdown would be completely unacceptable. The activists at the airport have been polite and passengers mostly unperturbed. “I was expecting something, given all the news,” one arrival, Gurinda Singh, told Reuters. “I’m just pleased my plane arrived and the protests here seem peaceful.” Anti-extradition bill protesters rally at the departure hall of Hong Kong airport in Hong Kong, China August 12, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterSome activists moved to the departure area and caused disruptions, police told a news conference as the cancellations were announced. Earlier in the day, police declined to say if they would move to clear the demonstrators. There was no visible police presence in either the departure or arrivals area. “Airport operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today,” the city’s airport authority said in a statement, without elaborating. About 190 flights were affected, Chinese aviation data firm VariFlight said, though planes already en route to Hong Kong were allowed to land. Malaysia Airlines said it would be cancelling its flights between Malaysia and Hong Kong until Tuesday afternoon. Demonstrators threw up barricades across Hong Kong at the weekend, as police fired tear gas into crowded underground train stations as well as rubber bullets and pepper pellets at close range. In response, protesters have sought to channel a Bruce Lee maxim: “Be water,” employing a flash-mob strategy to frustrate authorities and stretch their resources. Still, scores of protesters were arrested, sometimes after being beaten with batons and bloodied by police. One young female medic was hospitalized after being hit by a pellet round in the right eye. Demonstrators were also angered by the use of undercover police, dressed as protesters. Slideshow (24 Images)Hundreds of people returned on Monday to the scene of some of the clashes to protest against the use of force. China has used the threat of terrorism to justify tough measures in its regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, which have been criticized by rights groups and Western governments. It warned them off on Monday as well. “Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong and Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. China has also put pressure on big companies, such as Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK), whose shares tumbled to a 10-year low on Monday after it was told to suspend staff engaged in illegal protests. Reporting by Greg Torode, Clare Jim, Vimvam Tong, Felix Tam, Noah Sin, Brenda Goh, Twinnie Siu, James Pomfret, Farah Master, Anne Marie Roantree and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong. Additional reporting by Tony Munroe in Beijing; Writing by Tom Westbrook; Editing by James Pomfret and Mark HeinrichOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s airport halted flights on Monday, blaming demonstrators for the disruption, while China said the anti-government protests that have swept the city over the past two months had begun to show “sprouts of terrorism”. The airport authority said it was working with airlines to resume flights from 6 a.m. on Tuesday, but the developments raised the stakes sharply after a weekend of skirmishes during which both activists and police toughened their stances. The precise trigger for the airport’s closure was not clear, since protesters occupying the arrivals hall for four days have been peaceful. Most of them had left shortly after midnight, but around 50 remained, discussing their next move. “This is about our freedom,” a 24-year-old protester wearing a mask, who gave his name only as Yu, told Reuters during the evening. “Why should we leave?” Some Hong Kong legal experts say official descriptions of some protesters’ actions as terrorism could lead to the use of extensive anti-terror laws and powers against them. China’s People’s Armed Police also assembled in the neighboring city of Shenzhen for exercises, the state-backed Global Times newspaper said. The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper said on the Twitter-like Weibo that the force can handle incidents including riots or terrorist attacks. Hong Kongers responded by taking to the streets again. Crowds picketed a police station, singing hymns. Hundreds of people returned to a subway station, where police had hit activists with batons, to protest against heavy-handed tactics. The increasingly violent demonstrations have plunged the Chinese-ruled territory into its most serious crisis in decades, presenting Chinese leader Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012. Related CoverageU.S. urges all sides to refrain from violence in Hong Kong: officialCanada's Trudeau extremely concerned about Hong Kong, urges China to be careful“Hong Kong has come to a critical juncture,” said Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office spokesman Yang Guang in Beijing. “Protesters have been frequently using extremely dangerous tools to attack the police in recent days, constituting serious crimes with sprouts of terrorism emerging.” The protests began in opposition to a bill allowing extraditions to the mainland for trial in Communist-controlled courts, but have widened to highlight other grievances, winning broad support. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement enshrining some autonomy for Hong Kong when China took it back from Britain in 1997. Hong Kong is the world’s busiest air cargo port and the 8th busiest by passenger traffic, handling 73 million passengers a year. The airport has been filled with anti-government protesters for four days. The mostly young black-clad protesters have chanted slogans such as “No rioters, only tyranny!” and “Liberate Hong Kong!” while approaching travelers with flyers describing their demands and explaining the unrest. U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said they were “bravely standing up to the Chinese Communist Party,” and that a violent crackdown would be completely unacceptable. The activists at the airport have been polite and passengers mostly unperturbed. “I was expecting something, given all the news,” one arrival, Gurinda Singh, told Reuters. “I’m just pleased my plane arrived and the protests here seem peaceful.” Anti-extradition bill protesters rally at the departure hall of Hong Kong airport in Hong Kong, China August 12, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterSome activists moved to the departure area and caused disruptions, police told a news conference as the cancellations were announced. Earlier in the day, police declined to say if they would move to clear the demonstrators. There was no visible police presence in either the departure or arrivals area. “Airport operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today,” the city’s airport authority said in a statement, without elaborating. About 190 flights were affected, Chinese aviation data firm VariFlight said, though planes already en route to Hong Kong were allowed to land. Malaysia Airlines said it would be cancelling its flights between Malaysia and Hong Kong until Tuesday afternoon. Demonstrators threw up barricades across Hong Kong at the weekend, as police fired tear gas into crowded underground train stations as well as rubber bullets and pepper pellets at close range. In response, protesters have sought to channel a Bruce Lee maxim: “Be water,” employing a flash-mob strategy to frustrate authorities and stretch their resources. Still, scores of protesters were arrested, sometimes after being beaten with batons and bloodied by police. One young female medic was hospitalized after being hit by a pellet round in the right eye. Demonstrators were also angered by the use of undercover police, dressed as protesters. Slideshow (24 Images)Hundreds of people returned on Monday to the scene of some of the clashes to protest against the use of force. China has used the threat of terrorism to justify tough measures in its regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, which have been criticized by rights groups and Western governments. It warned them off on Monday as well. “Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong and Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. China has also put pressure on big companies, such as Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK), whose shares tumbled to a 10-year low on Monday after it was told to suspend staff engaged in illegal protests. Reporting by Greg Torode, Clare Jim, Vimvam Tong, Felix Tam, Noah Sin, Brenda Goh, Twinnie Siu, James Pomfret, Farah Master, Anne Marie Roantree and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong. Additional reporting by Tony Munroe in Beijing; Writing by Tom Westbrook; Editing by James Pomfret and Mark HeinrichOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Enlarge this image A federal judge on Thursday set a July 10 date for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's trial in Virginia. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Alex Wong/Getty Images A federal judge on Thursday set a July 10 date for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's trial in Virginia. Alex Wong/Getty Images Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, tax and bank fraud charges in an Alexandria, Va., federal courtroom Thursday afternoon.Judge T.S. Ellis set a trial date for July 10.Manafort faces a separate federal trial on Sept. 17 on other charges also brought by special counsel Robert Mueller's office in a Washington, D.C., case.For the Virginia case, Manafort will be fitted with a second electronic monitoring bracelet (he is already wearing one related to the D.C. case) and will be allowed to meet with lawyers, attend church services and make emergency medical trips as needed.Ellis, who has been on the bench for 31 years, alternately cracked jokes and pressed lawyers for Manafort's and Mueller's office on their legal positions.The judge urged prosecutors to add a lawyer to their team experienced in practicing in the Eastern District of Virginia federal court where the Alexandria, Va., courthouse is located. "Only a fool would try a case in a jurisdiction he's unfamiliar with, without local counsel," the judge said, citing wisdom of his mentor Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell. National Security Rick Gates Pleads Guilty And Begins Cooperating With Mueller's Russia Investigation The judge also pressed the special counsel's team about why it had brought so many charges against Manafort — 18 — and whether the government case could be streamlined.Prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said his case would likely take eight to 10 trial days and involve 20 to 25 witnesses.But Ellis also pushed Manafort's defense team, which resisted a quick trial date. When Kevin Downing, the lead lawyer for Manafort, said that in a perfect world "with rosy glasses on," the Virginia trial would start in November, the judge retorted: "You need to go back to the optometrist — that isn't going to happen."The judge asked whether Manafort's team expected to challenge the authority and scope of Mueller's mandate — an argument Manafort is making in a separate civil suit in Washington, D.C., federal court — and Downing said yes.Downing said he would add two Virginia lawyers to his team, likely on Monday.If Manafort is convicted in either the Virginia or D.C. case, it could amount to a life sentence since he is 68 years old.

The former Donald Trump campaign aides Paul Manafort and Rick Gates were partners in crime who filed false tax returns and hid millions of dollars overseas, Gates told a court on Monday.Once Manafort’s deputy in a lucrative political consulting business, Gates is expected to be the government’s star witness at his former boss’s high -profile trial for bank fraud and tax evasion.It is the first criminal case stemming from charges brought by the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s assault on the 2016 presidential election. Gates pleaded guilty in February to conspiring against the US and lying to investigators; he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors under a deal that could lead to a reduced sentence.Coming face to face with Manafort but reportedly avoiding eye contact on the fifth day of the trial in Alexandria, Virginia, Gates testified that he had lied on the political consultant’s behalf while also stealing from him.According to a Washington Post report, the prosecutor Greg Andres asked: “Did you commit crimes with Mr Manafort?”Gates, 46, replied: “Yes.”He admitted helping Manafort doctor financial statements, hide sources of foreign income, mislead banks to get loans and cheat on his US taxes, and he claimed that he did so on Manafort’s instructions.“At Mr Manafort’s request, we did not disclose foreign bank accounts,” Gates told the court.Gates read out the names of more than a dozen shell companies that he and Manafort had set up in Cyprus, St Vincent and the Grenadines and the United Kingdom to conceal the proceeds of Manafort’s Ukrainian political consulting work.Asked whether the money in the accounts was income to Manafort, he replied: “It was.”He also told the court that an associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, had control over overseas accounts. In court filings, Mueller has accused Kilimnik of having current ties to Russian intelligence services, an allegation that he has denied.In addition, Gates told the jury he had failed to report his own income routed through bank accounts in the UK and embezzled several hundred thousand dollars from Manafort by fiddling his expenses related to their work in Ukraine.The evidence from Gates, who appeared in court in a blue suit, blue shirt and gold tie, and who worked on the campaign as a liaison to the Republican National Committee, could be the turning point in the trial.It opened last week with a display of Manafort’s lavish lifestyle, including a $15,000 jacket made from ostrich, and the court heard testimony about what prosecutors say was a web of financial deceit spun over years.Prosecutors allege Manafort failed to report a “significant percentage” of the more than $60m they say he received from Ukrainian oligarchs. He allegedly opened 30 bank accounts in three foreign countries to “receive and hide” his income, they claim.The defence is arguing Manafort was preoccupied by his consulting business and delegated the particulars of his finances to professionals and, in particular, to Gates. They have accused him of embezzling millions of dollars from Manafort.“Rick Gates had his hand in the cookie jar and he couldn’t take the risk his boss would find out,” they suggested in opening arguments. The witness is therefore expected to face a tough cross-examination from defence lawyers as they seek to destroy his credibility.Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. The charges largely predate his five months as Trump’s campaign chairman in 2016 and do not relate directly to Russian collusion, but the case has drawn the president’s attention all the same.He tweeted last week: “Looking back on history, who was treated worse, Alfonse Capone, legendary mob boss, killer and “Public Enemy Number One,” or Paul Manafort, political operative & Reagan/Dole darling, now serving solitary confinement – although convicted of nothing? Where is the Russian Collusion?” Topics Paul Manafort Trump-Russia investigation Virginia Donald Trump Trump administration Russia news

Ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has been found guilty on eight charges of tax fraud, bank fraud and failing to disclose foreign banks accounts. But the jury at his trial in Virginia failed to reach a verdict on 10 other charges and the judge declared a mistrial on those. It was the first criminal trial arising from the justice department probe into alleged Russian election meddling.But none of the charges relate to collusion with Russia in the election.Responding to the charges, President Donald Trump said that Manafort's conviction was part of a "witch hunt" following the 2016 presidential election. Will Trump remain bulletproof? Manafort: Trump's former campaign chair What did we learn from Manafort trial? Manafort: The man who helped Trump win "It's a very sad thing that happened," Mr Trump told reporters as he arrived at a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday evening, adding that it had "nothing to do with Russian collusion". The verdict came in the same hour that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen admitted violating campaign finance laws in relation to hush money paid to Mr Trump's alleged mistresses.Trump 'directed' hush money, says CohenManafort, 69, was a key figure in Mr Trump's inner circle, but the president has since sought to distance himself from his former adviser. The jury came back on the fourth day of deliberations. The judge has given prosecutors until 29 August to decide whether to ask for a fresh trial on the charges the jury was deadlocked on.A lawyer for Manafort, Kevin Downing, said his client was "disappointed" with the verdict and was "evaluating all of his options at this point".A date for sentencing has yet to be set. Analysis by BBC's North America Editor Jon SopelIt was as though the verdicts had been synchronised by a Hollywood producer. Within two minutes of each other a federal courtroom in New York heard Michael Cohen plead guilty to eight charges concerning fraud and violating campaign finance laws, and in Alexandria in Virginia a federal court found Donald Trump's onetime campaign manager, Paul Manafort, guilty on eight counts of tax and banking fraud. And this all happened as Mr Trump flew to a rally in West Virginia. When he landed the president said he felt "very sad" for Mr Manafort. About Michael Cohen he said nothing. And that is instructive. Mr Manafort's crimes predate his association with Mr Trump, and is easy to deal with. But the guilty plea of Mr Cohen is altogether more toxic. In saying he broke campaign law in co-ordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office, he is stating in no uncertain terms that Mr Trump was a co-conspirator. That leaves a stain, but does it leave a scar? This president has shown an unerring ability to shake off scandals that would have sunk many others. Will his audience in West Virginia be appalled at Tuesday's courtroom drama, or enthused by a buoyant economy and a president who they believe is fighting for them? Probably the latter. But independents and traditional Republicans might be less impressed - and that could cause Mr Trump a whole heap of problems come the US midterm elections in November.Prosecutors presented evidence of Manafort's luxurious lifestyle - including photos of a $15,000 (£11,000) ostrich coat.Judge TS Ellis scolded the prosecution for spending too much time on Mr Manafort's wealth, saying it "isn't a crime to have a lot of money".But prosecutors had emphasised Manafort's extravagant spending was only possible because of his bank and tax fraud.He was accused of using 31 foreign bank accounts in three different countries to evade taxes on millions of dollars.The prosecution's star witness was Manafort's former associate and fellow Trump campaign staffer Rick Gates.Gates has admitted embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mr Manafort while allegedly helping his boss commit tax crimes.The defence sought to undercut Gates' credibility by citing his "secret life", and noting that he had told so many lies he could not keep track of them all.The judge also said he had received death threats related to the Manafort case and was under US Marshal Service protection. He added that he would not release jurors' names due to safety concerns.Mr Manafort worked for Mr Trump's presidential campaign for five months in 2016, and he was in charge when Mr Trump clinched the Republican party nomination.Last October, Mr Manafort was charged by special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed by the Department of Justice to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.Russia-Trump: Who's who in the drama to end all dramas?The Virginia trial was not connected to the US president, but instead dealt with Mr Manafort's political consulting with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, largely predating his role with the Trump campaign.The Ukrainian government found ledgers pledging more than $12m (£9.2m) in cash to Manafort for his advisory work with former President Viktor Yanukovych while he was in office, the New York Times reported.It was also alleged that Mr Manafort secretly worked for a Russian billionaire to aid Russian President Vladimir Putin's political goals in other parts of the former USSR. Mr Manafort denied that allegation.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong’s airport halted flights on Monday, blaming demonstrators for the disruption, while China said the anti-government protests that have swept the city over the past two months had begun to show “sprouts of terrorism”. The airport authority said it was working with airlines to resume flights from 6 a.m. on Tuesday, but the developments raised the stakes sharply after a weekend of skirmishes during which both activists and police toughened their stances. The precise trigger for the airport’s closure was not clear, since protesters occupying the arrivals hall for four days have been peaceful. Most of them had left shortly after midnight, but around 50 remained, discussing their next move. “This is about our freedom,” a 24-year-old protester wearing a mask, who gave his name only as Yu, told Reuters during the evening. “Why should we leave?” Some Hong Kong legal experts say official descriptions of some protesters’ actions as terrorism could lead to the use of extensive anti-terror laws and powers against them. China’s People’s Armed Police also assembled in the neighboring city of Shenzhen for exercises, the state-backed Global Times newspaper said. The Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper said on the Twitter-like Weibo that the force can handle incidents including riots or terrorist attacks. Hong Kongers responded by taking to the streets again. Crowds picketed a police station, singing hymns. Hundreds of people returned to a subway station, where police had hit activists with batons, to protest against heavy-handed tactics. The increasingly violent demonstrations have plunged the Chinese-ruled territory into its most serious crisis in decades, presenting Chinese leader Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012. Related CoverageU.S. urges all sides to refrain from violence in Hong Kong: officialCanada's Trudeau extremely concerned about Hong Kong, urges China to be careful“Hong Kong has come to a critical juncture,” said Hong Kong and Macau Affairs office spokesman Yang Guang in Beijing. “Protesters have been frequently using extremely dangerous tools to attack the police in recent days, constituting serious crimes with sprouts of terrorism emerging.” The protests began in opposition to a bill allowing extraditions to the mainland for trial in Communist-controlled courts, but have widened to highlight other grievances, winning broad support. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the “one country, two systems” arrangement enshrining some autonomy for Hong Kong when China took it back from Britain in 1997. Hong Kong is the world’s busiest air cargo port and the 8th busiest by passenger traffic, handling 73 million passengers a year. The airport has been filled with anti-government protesters for four days. The mostly young black-clad protesters have chanted slogans such as “No rioters, only tyranny!” and “Liberate Hong Kong!” while approaching travelers with flyers describing their demands and explaining the unrest. U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said they were “bravely standing up to the Chinese Communist Party,” and that a violent crackdown would be completely unacceptable. The activists at the airport have been polite and passengers mostly unperturbed. “I was expecting something, given all the news,” one arrival, Gurinda Singh, told Reuters. “I’m just pleased my plane arrived and the protests here seem peaceful.” Anti-extradition bill protesters rally at the departure hall of Hong Kong airport in Hong Kong, China August 12, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterSome activists moved to the departure area and caused disruptions, police told a news conference as the cancellations were announced. Earlier in the day, police declined to say if they would move to clear the demonstrators. There was no visible police presence in either the departure or arrivals area. “Airport operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today,” the city’s airport authority said in a statement, without elaborating. About 190 flights were affected, Chinese aviation data firm VariFlight said, though planes already en route to Hong Kong were allowed to land. Malaysia Airlines said it would be cancelling its flights between Malaysia and Hong Kong until Tuesday afternoon. Demonstrators threw up barricades across Hong Kong at the weekend, as police fired tear gas into crowded underground train stations as well as rubber bullets and pepper pellets at close range. In response, protesters have sought to channel a Bruce Lee maxim: “Be water,” employing a flash-mob strategy to frustrate authorities and stretch their resources. Still, scores of protesters were arrested, sometimes after being beaten with batons and bloodied by police. One young female medic was hospitalized after being hit by a pellet round in the right eye. Demonstrators were also angered by the use of undercover police, dressed as protesters. Slideshow (24 Images)Hundreds of people returned on Monday to the scene of some of the clashes to protest against the use of force. China has used the threat of terrorism to justify tough measures in its regions of Xinjiang and Tibet, which have been criticized by rights groups and Western governments. It warned them off on Monday as well. “Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong and Hong Kong affairs are purely China’s internal affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. China has also put pressure on big companies, such as Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK), whose shares tumbled to a 10-year low on Monday after it was told to suspend staff engaged in illegal protests. Reporting by Greg Torode, Clare Jim, Vimvam Tong, Felix Tam, Noah Sin, Brenda Goh, Twinnie Siu, James Pomfret, Farah Master, Anne Marie Roantree and Donny Kwok in Hong Kong. Additional reporting by Tony Munroe in Beijing; Writing by Tom Westbrook; Editing by James Pomfret and Mark HeinrichOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.