Two more women have come forward to accuse the Democratic senator Al Franken of sexual impropriety, according to reports on Thursday.Stephanie Kemplin, an Ohio army veteran, told CNN that Franken groped her breast in 2003, while she was deployed in Kuwait and he was a comedian on a tour of the Middle East to entertain US troops. Separately, a former elected official in New England, who requested anonymity, told the website Jezebel that Franken attempted to kiss her onstage at an event in 2006. Later on Thursday, the Senate ethics committee said it had started an investigation into the allegations against Franken. “While the committee does not generally comment on pending matters or matters that may come before it, in this instance, the Committee is publicly confirming that it has opened a preliminary inquiry into Senator Franken’s alleged misconduct,” a statement from the committee members said.The Minnesota senator faces at least six accusations of sexual misconduct and a growing chorus of lawmakers have said he should resign. “When he put his arm around me, he groped my right breast. He kept his hand all the way over on my breast,” Kemplin told CNN. “I’ve never had a man put their arm around me and then cup my breast. So he was holding my breast on the side.”Kemplin, who was 27 at the time, said she had been a longtime fan of Saturday Night Live and was excited to meet Franken, a former cast member. When she first felt him touch her breast Kemplin thought it was an accident, but then “he never moved his hand”, she said, adding that the incident left her feeling “embarrassed”. Kemplin is the second person to allege that the inappropriate behavior took place while Franken was in Kuwait to entertain the troops stationed there. Meanwhile, a woman told Jezebel that she was working as the chair of her town’s select board when she agreed to appear as a guest in a live taping of Air America, a progressive radio show Franken hosted at the time. After the interview, the woman told Jezebel that when she reached out to shake his hand, “he took it and leaned toward me with his mouth open”. “I turned my head away from him and he landed a wet, open-mouthed kiss awkwardly on my cheek,” she said, adding that she was “stunned and incredulous”. The woman said she asked for anonymity because she wanted her name “associated with my own accomplishments and not publicly linked to a man’s bad behavior”. A spokesman for Franken’s office said in a statement: “As Sen Franken made clear this week, he takes thousands of photos and has met tens of thousands of people and he has never intentionally engaged in this kind of conduct. He remains fully committed to cooperating with the ethics investigation.”The Guardian has contacted Franken’s office for comment.Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles-based news anchor, came forward with the original allegations in an op-ed published by KABC radio on Thursday that detailed an encounter with Franken during a tour of the Middle East to entertain US troops in 2006.Tweeden alleges that Franken, then a comedian and formerly of Saturday Night Live, forcibly kissed her while rehearsing for a skit and later groped her while she was asleep. She also shared a photo that appears to show Franken placing his hands over her breasts while posing for the camera.Earlier this week Franken said he was “tremendously sorry” for his behavior and vowed to never repeat the actions that led multiple women to accuse him of sexual misconduct. “I know there are no magic words I can say to regain your trust and I know that is going to take time,” Franken told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday. “I know I’m going to have to be much more conscious in these circumstances, much more careful, much more sensitive, and that this will not happen again going forward,” he added.Franken, who was elected to the Senate in 2008, has said that he recalled some of the events differently. Franken also disputed Tweeden’s account that he kissed Tweeden without consent, but apologized on Monday, saying: “I feel you have to respect the women’s experience.”Franken has said he could not rule out the possibility that more women might come forward, insisting that he has posed for thousands of photos over his career. Asked during the press conference what the bar for resignation should be for a sitting member of Congress, Franken declined to say.“I am not going to get into that or speculate,” he said. “I am trying to take responsibility by apologizing.” Topics Al Franken Rape and sexual assault US Senate news

Two more women have alleged inappropriate behavior by the Minnesota Democrat Al Franken, saying he touched their buttocks during campaign events in his first run for the US Senate.The women spoke to Huffington Post on condition of anonymity, saying the events occurred in Minneapolis in 2007 and 2008. In a statement, Franken said: “It’s difficult to respond to anonymous accusers, and I don’t remember those campaign events.” Last week, Franken was accused of forcibly kissing Los Angeles radio anchor Leeann Tweeden while rehearsing for a 2006 USO tour. He was also photographed with his hands above her breasts as she slept. Franken, 66, apologized.A second woman, Lindsay Menz, alleged on Monday that Franken grabbed her buttocks during a photo op at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010. Franken, who was by then a senator, said he didn’t remember the picture but expressed remorse that Menz felt “disrespected”.Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has called for an ethics investigation, which Franken says he supports. Before entering politics, Franken was a comedian, Saturday Night Live cast member, writer and liberal talk radio host. After spending much of his nearly nine years as senator trying to shed his image as a comic, quietly digging into issues like internet access and consumer protection, he emerged under the Trump presidency as a leading and popular national Democratic voice, often using comedy as a weapon. Franken’s rise has now been interrupted by the allegations of inappropriate behavior and he has not been seen publicly since the first claims arose. “It’s always a great disappointment when leaders you like and admire do bad stuff,” said Mike Lux, a liberal Democratic consultant. Lux said it was premature to say how the allegations would affect Franken’s career. Speaking before the Huffington Post report was published, Lux added: “If more incidents come to light, he’s got a real problem.”Franken canceled a sold-out appearance in Atlanta to promote his book, Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, and aides said he was “spending time with his family and doing a lot of reflecting”.Franken came to the Senate in 2009, after a months-long recount gave him a 312-vote victory. He immediately distanced himself from his decades in comedy, which included off-color jokes about rape and disparaging women, and avoided national reporters. Instead, he focused on building a reputation as a studious senator, pushing legislation to crack down on Wall Street rating agencies he considered complicit in the 2007 economic collapse. As a signature issue, he adopted the push to protect “net neutrality”, an Obama policy barring internet providers from blocking or hindering websites. This Tuesday, the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission said it will dismantle that rule. Franken also helped shape parts of Barack Obama’s healthcare law and tackled farm and mental health issues. He easily secured a second six-year term in 2014, defeating a Republican businessman. He appeared on his first Sunday network talk show late in his first term, amidst signs he was bolstering his national profile. But it was Trump’s emergence that teased out a new Franken, a pivot from staid senator to liberal attack dog. In withering interrogations in the Senate, Franken has clashed with a parade of Trump cabinet appointees. “He made those guys sweat,” former Senate Democratic aide Jim Manley said. “He’s got the ability to channel some of the populist rage against the administration.” Franken clashed last month with Jeff Sessions over the attorney general’s descriptions of his contacts with Russians during the presidential campaign. At a January confirmation hearing, Franken bore into education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos when she seemed unable to answer a policy question.He opposed Trump supreme court pick Neil Gorsuch and battled with Rick Perry over the energy secretary’s skepticism that increased carbon dioxide emissions cause global warming. He told Tom Price, who has since resigned as health secretary, that it was “very hard to believe” he didn’t realize he had owned tobacco stocks. Trump has himself been accused of sexual misconduct by 16 women, accusations which he denies. He responded to allegations against Franken on Twitter, saying the picture with the sleeping Tweeden was “really bad, speaks a thousand words”.White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders subsequently said the difference between allegations against Franken and Trump was that “Franken has admitted wrongdoing and the president hasn’t”.The president was captured on tape in 2005, in a conversation with the Access Hollywood host Billy Bush, boasting about sexual assault. Trump said he would see women and “grab them by the pussy”, adding: “When you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.” Topics Al Franken US Senate US politics US Congress Democrats Sexual harassment Minnesota news

FILE PHOTO - Former British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks in Parliament in London, Britain, March 12, 2019, in this screen grab taken from video. Reuters TV via REUTERSLONDON (Reuters) - Boris Johnson, former British foreign minister and prominent eurosceptic, will now back Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal after she promised to quit if it passes, the deputy political editor of The Times said on Wednesday. “Boris Johnson to switch sides and back the deal, source says. Promise of new leader to succeed May got him over the line,” Sam Coates said in a tweet. Reporting by Costas Pitas and Alistair Smout; editing by Guy FaulconbridgeOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Enlarge this image The inmate population at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, once stood at nearly 700 but has since dwindled to 40. Sylvie Lanteaume/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Sylvie Lanteaume/AFP/Getty Images The inmate population at the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, once stood at nearly 700 but has since dwindled to 40. Sylvie Lanteaume/AFP/Getty Images The U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is nearly empty these days, but President Trump is explicitly ruling out the possibility of sending thousands of captured Islamic State fighters there."The United States is not going to have thousands and thousands of people that we've captured stationed at Guantánamo Bay, held captive at Guantánamo Bay for the next 50 years and us spending billions and billions of dollars," Trump told reporters Friday during an appearance at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison."I want the countries to take back the captured ISIS fighters," Trump added, noting that many of these captives come from European nations, including Germany and France. "And if they don't take them back, we're going to probably put them at the border, and then they'll have to capture them again." Few of the foreign ISIS fighters captured on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq have been repatriated. Without embassies in those war-torn nations or extradition treaties, European allies of the U.S. have been reluctant to accept nationals being held as prisoners of war. "It is certainly not as easy as they think in America," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters earlier this year. "German citizens have the right to return, but we have little ability in Syria at present to check whether German citizens are actually affected."Approximately 2,000 fighters are being held by the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defense Forces in northeastern Syria with assistance from U.S. military forces. Trump demanded at a separate White House event Friday that their home countries "take those people back, put them on trial, and do what they have to do to them."There is growing concern among U.S. and SDF officials that the makeshift prisons where the fighters are being held are vulnerable to attacks by the captured insurgents' comrades-in-arms.While campaigning in 2016, Trump promised he would send more prisoners to Guantánamo Bay. "We're gonna load it up with some bad dudes, believe me," he told a rally in Sparks, Nev. "We're gonna load it up."But no new prisoners have been sent to the Guantánamo lockup since the final year of the George W. Bush administration. An inmate population there of nearly 700 at its peak dwindled to 41 by the time Trump took office. With the transfer last year of one of those captives, the number now stands at 40.Renovation and expansion of prison facilities in Guantánamo along with the construction of permanent housing for guards had fueled speculation that preparations were underway for an influx of ISIS fighters. Trump signed an executive order last year reaffirming the need to keep the Guantánamo stockade in operation.Trump said last month that European leaders, who have long criticized the Guantánamo prison, had asked him to use that facility to house the ISIS fighters captured in Syria and Iraq. "They say to us, 'Why don't you hold them in Guantánamo Bay for 50 years and you just hold them and spend billions and billions of dollars holding them?' " Trump said at a Kentucky veterans convention. "And I'm saying, 'No, you got to take them.' "Trump's emphasis on the cost of holding inmates in Guantánamo coincides with recent reports detailing how $6 billion has been spent keeping terrorism suspects locked up and how the annual cost per prisoner has risen to $13 million.Trump did not explain how the U.S. might go about carrying out his threat that unless European allies accept nationals who are Islamic State prisoners of war, "we're releasing them at the border." He did make clear, though, that he is not contemplating Guantánamo as an alternative destination for those captives.

Google is still having trouble protecting the personal information on its Google+ service, prodding the company to accelerate its plans to shut down a little-used social network created to compete against Facebook.A privacy flaw that inadvertently exposed the names, email addresses, ages and other personal information of 52.5 million Google+ users last month convinced Google to close the service in April instead of August, as previously announced. Google revealed the new closure date and its latest privacy lapse in a Monday blogpost.It is the second time in two months that Google has disclosed the existence of a problem that enabled unauthorized access to Google+ profiles. In October, the company acknowledged finding a privacy flaw affecting 500,000 users that it waited more than six months to disclose.Google moved more quickly to own up to the most recent privacy problem on Google+. This time around, the names, email addresses, ages and other personal information of the affected users were exposed for six days in November before it was fixed. No financial information or passwords were visible to intruders, according to Google. The company also said it has not seen evidence indicating that unauthorized users who accessed Google+ through the inadvertent peephole have misused any of the personal information.Even if the latest privacy gaffe didn’t cause any major damage, it nevertheless marks another embarrassing incident for Google. Like Facebook, Google makes most of its money by selling ads that draw upon what the company learns about the interests, habits and locations of people while they’re using its free services.Google’s privacy issues on Google+ are likely to be a topic that US lawmakers delve into Tuesday, when CEO Sundar Pichai is scheduled to appear before a House committee. Some members of Congress are now mulling whether tougher regulations to curb the power of Google, Facebook and other technology companies are needed in addition demanding tighter controls over digital privacy.Facebook has had even more trouble guarding the personal information that it scoops up on its social networking service, which now has more than 2.2 billion users. The most glaring breakdown emerged in March when Facebook acknowledged the personal information of as many as 87 million of its users had been shared with Cambridge Analytica, a data mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Topics Google Social media news

An armed man who attacked an immigration detention centre in the US city of Tacoma died after police officers opened fire, authorities say.Police said they received reports that a man, armed with a rifle, was throwing "incendiary devices" at the Northwest Detention Center early on Saturday. He was later identified as Willem Van Spronsen, who was reportedly involved in an earlier protest at the centre.The shooting came a day before a major deportation operation was due to begin.The raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials will target hundreds of illegal immigrant families across 10 cities who have recently been ordered deported but have not yet left the country. It marks the latest move in US President Donald Trump's crackdown on migration.Sunday's raids are not expected to affect Tacoma. What's the state of illegal immigration in US? Six surprising statistics about immigrants in the US Trump's border wall - in seven charts A police spokesperson told Reuters the incident on Saturday took place several hours after a peaceful rally outside the Washington state facility protesting against immigrant detentions. In a statement, the Tacoma Police Department said the four police officers involved in the shooting had been placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases, and an investigation into the incident was underway.Police arrived at the privately run Northwest Detention Center at about 04:00 local time (11:00 GMT) after receiving reports that a man was throwing "incendiary devices" at the facility and at vehicles in the car park, the statement said. The man allegedly set a vehicle on fire and attempted to ignite a propane tank and set buildings on fire. Officers said he was wearing a satchel and carrying flares.Tacoma Police Department confirmed that all four officers opened fire on the suspect, while it remains unclear if he fired at the officers.He was found shot dead at the scene. A police official said it could not yet be confirmed who was responsible for his death.Pierce County Medical Examiner's Office identified Van Spronsen, a man in his late 60s, on Saturday night, according to local media reports. He was reportedly accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest at the same centre last year. Court documents cited by local media outlets said he wrapped his arms around the officer's neck and shoulders, as the officer was trying to detain another protester. After handcuffing him, police found that he had a collapsible baton and folding knife in his pocket.A friend of Van Spronsen described him to the Seattle Times newspaper as an anarchist and anti-fascist. She said she believes he planned to provoke a fatal conflict with his actions on Saturday."I think this was a suicide. But then he was able to kind of do it in a way that spoke to his political beliefs," she said. Northwest Detention Centre holds migrants pending deportation proceedings and has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children, the Associated Press reports. Migrant children crisis: The big picture explained Trump says the US is 'full', but is it? Who decided to separate immigrant families in the US? GEO Group, which runs the facility, told the Associated Press that "baseless accusations" about how detainees are treated there "have led to misplaced aggression and a dangerous environment for our employees, whose safety is our top priority".President Donald Trump has always taken a hard line on immigration and during his election campaign made the building of a wall along the Mexican border a key pledge.Earlier this year he declared a national emergency on the US southern border, claiming he needed special powers to build the wall to halt all illegal migration.Controversial policies implemented by his administration in recent years include prosecuting adults who crossed the border illegally, resulting in children being separated from their parents.There have been reports of "dangerous overcrowding" and inhumane conditions at migrant detention centres.Where do these people come from?Traditionally large numbers of Mexican economic migrants have declined, replaced in part by a surge in families with children from Central American countries - particularly Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.Why are they fleeing?Many of these families are fleeing extreme poverty or the risk of gang violence. Why are there still separated children?Although the separation of migrant families was officially halted in June 2018, the New York Times reported that 700 families had been separated in the year since via "loopholes" in the court order - when parents have a criminal conviction or a disease, or when it is an aunt, uncle, or sibling accompanying the child. Some parents may be children themselves.How many people cross the border?It is impossible to say how many people have crossed the border. As of last month, the US Border Patrol said it had made 593,507 "southwest border apprehensions" since October 2018.

A former Obama White House counsel has been charged by a grand jury with lying to officials and concealing information about his lobbying efforts in Ukraine.The case against Gregory Craig, 74, arose from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.His lobbying was allegedly linked to ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort's political efforts in Ukraine.Lawyers for Mr Craig denied the charges before they were filed. The charges against Mr Craig claim he lied to federal prosecutors in the Department of Justice about his foreign lobbying efforts and concealed information about his private work in Ukraine for the Russian-backed government.If convicted, he could face a maximum of five years in jail for each count along with over $250,000 (£191,000) in fines.Under US law, all lobbyists for foreign governments must register with the department. Mr Craig's work in the Ukraine happened after his year-long tenure with the Obama administration, while he was a senior partner at the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm. His 2012 project in Ukraine was allegedly a part of Manafort's illegal lobbying efforts. The New York Times reported the project was directed to the firm by Manafort, who was a political consultant in the region at the time.Manafort was the first former Trump aide to be arrested in the special counsel's investigation, though his charges related only to his consulting in Ukraine. In March, he was jailed on counts of fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy against the US and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Ex-Trump campaign chief sentenced for fraud Mueller report to be public 'by mid-April' Russia-Trump: Who's who in the drama to end all dramas? The US attorney's office in Washington DC has charged Mr Craig. The case was referred to Department of Justice officials by the special counsel.Mr Craig has not been charged with violating foreign lobbying laws, only for making false and misleading statements, according to the indictment.The indictment alleges that despite knowing federal requirements, Mr Craig did not want to register as a lobbyist for Ukraine "because he believed doing so could prevent him or others at the Law Firm from taking positions in the federal government in the future".According to the indictment, Mr Craig withheld information regarding his media contacts and made false statements in documents given to the attorney general with regards to US foreign lobbying law. In January, the Skadden firm paid the Department of Justice $4.6m as a part of a settlement after admitting to misleading federal officials about work in Ukraine. Mr Craig was not named in the settlement.Ahead of the charges being announced, Mr Craig's lawyers insisted he was not guilty."The government's stubborn insistence on prosecuting Mr Craig is a misguided abuse of prosecutorial discretion," the attorneys said in a statement to US media.Mr Craig's team has also noted that his work had been investigated before by the Southern District of New York, but no charges came out of the inquiry.

Mueller is coming.The investigation into Trump campaign coordination with Russia appears to be closing in on the president. The three indictments earlier this month of Trump campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; his deputy, Rick Gates; and foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos show that Robert Mueller is inside Trump’s campaign. The indictment and plea agreement of former national security adviser Michael Flynn now puts the investigation into the White House. In most circumstances, arresting the president’s campaign chairman and his national security adviser, one of the most important positions in the entire government, would be seen as the culmination of a successful investigation. But what’s clear is that neither Flynn, nor Manafort, is the target of Mueller’s work. As anyone who watches Law and Order knows, prosecutors offer a plea deal in order to get information and build a case against someone higher up in the food chain. If Flynn does strike a plea agreement, there is logically only one person that Mueller would be interested in striking a deal over: the president. The walls are therefore closing in on Trump. But the closer Mueller gets to Trump, the likelier it is that Trump will act to try to end his investigation. Ask yourself this: if you committed a crime and had one of the nation’s top cops coming for you, wouldn’t you try anything, no matter how risky, to get out of it? The same circumstances led Richard Nixon to commit the Saturday night massacre.There are already warning signs that Trump is laying ground work to act against Mueller’s investigation. Following Flynn’s indictment, Trump lashed out against the FBI and Mueller. His allies are now trying to attack the investigation’s credibility, claiming political bias and calling for it to be defunded. The far-right media echo chamber, including many Republican congressmen, have launched a campaign against Mueller’s credibility. A Republican member of Congress is even seeking to strip the investigation of its funding.This comes on the heels of a week of rapid fire distractions and jaw dropping comments from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave: using “Pocahontas” as a slur; retweeting racist websites and tweets; and picking fights with the UK prime minister. Additionally, there are reports that Trump’s lawyer Ty Cobb has told him the investigation will be wrapped up by the end of the year – and if it isn’t, he’ll go ballistic. We are headed for a collision. Congress needs to act now to protect the Mueller investigation, head off a crisis, and make clear that the president is not above the law. Fortunately, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are currently crafting legislation designed to deter Mueller from being fired. While this legislation is far from a panacea, it will help to tie Trump’s hands. But most importantly, it would send a signal to the country that the that the rule of law reigns supreme. Whether or not this legislation makes it to the floor for a vote depends on Republican congressional leaders. Some in Congress say the legislation is unnecessary; if Mueller is fired, there will be bipartisan support on the Hill for action. But the point is to stop the crisis before it starts. It’s not enough to let Trump act as a petty dictator and then try to pick up the pieces only after he destroys our democratic norms. Congress needs to be clear now that firing Mueller is unacceptable and un-American – we’re a nation of laws, laws that no one is above.Failing to protect Mueller is not just moral cowardice, it’s also leaving America’s national security exposed. His investigation is uncovering details about how a foreign adversary intervened in our democratic process and whether it holds sway over high-ranking government officials. This was an attack on our sovereignty and an effort to undermine a key pillar of America’s global strength: America as a symbol of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. If we fail to get to the bottom of what happened, and to hold those responsible to account, then the Kremlin will not just have succeeded in undermining our democratic process but in undermining American justice. American weakness in the face of aggression will only ensure that we are attacked again, and may embolden other foreign adversaries like China, Iran and North Korea to do the same. Americans will be left wondering whose interests our government is really serving: ours, or those of foreign adversaries.This is why we, one conservative and one liberal, we have come together to urge Congress to pass legislation to protect the Mueller investigation: one of us worked for John McCain and Mitt Romney, and one for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. We have been on the opposite sides of countless foreign policy and political debates. But we have put aside political differences, because ensuring American self-governance is too important.We hope that those in Congress can follow suit. Max Bergmann is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, he served in the state department from 2011-2017. Max Boot is a senior fellow at the council on foreign relations and a former foreign policy adviser to John McCain, Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio. Topics US news Opinion Republicans Trump administration Robert Mueller Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Russia comment

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Sunday doubled down on its threat to shut down the southern border with Mexico, a day after it cut aid to Central American countries that President Donald Trump accused of deliberately sending migrants to the United States. Faced with a surge of asylum seekers from Central American countries who travel through Mexico, Trump said on Friday there was a "good likelihood" he would close the border this coming week if Mexico did not stop unauthorized immigrants from reaching the United States. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2V59n2R) Without providing evidence, he also accused the nations of having “set up” migrant caravans and sending them north. Closing the border could disrupt millions of legal crossings and billions of dollars in trade. Speaking to ABC’s “This Week” show, White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said the president had few other options in the absence of any support from Democrats for more border security or legislative action to change the immigration law. “Faced with those limitations, the president will do everything he can. If closing the ports of entry means that, that’s exactly what he intends to do,” Mulvaney said. “We need border security and we’re going to do the best we can with what we have.” White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told “Fox News Sunday” that the situation at the border was at “melting point” and said the president was serious in his threat. “It certainly is not a bluff. You can take the president seriously.” Neither Trump aide offered any specific details or timeline for the potential border shutdown. In a tweet on Sunday, Trump blamed Democrats for what he described as “a ridiculous asylum system and major loopholes to remain as a mainstay of our immigration system.” “Mexico is likewise doing NOTHING, a very bad combination for our Country. Homeland Security is being sooo very nice, but not for long!” he added, without explaining what he meant. In a letter to Congress on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said she would soon propose legislative language to allow her agency to return unaccompanied immigrant children home, to keep migrant families in custody together during the immigration process and to allow people seeking asylum to make their applications from Central America. Asked about migration in general and Trump’s threat to shut the border specifically, Pope Francis told reporters on Sunday as he returned from Morocco on Sunday that “builders of walls, be they made of razor wire or bricks, will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build.” He did not mention Trump in his response. At a Saturday rally on the border in El Paso, Texas, Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke denounced Trump’s immigration policies as the politics of “fear and division.” Trump has repeatedly said during his two years in office that he would close the U.S. border with Mexico. His latest threat had workers and students who frequently cross the border worried about the potential disruption to their lives. Mexico is the largest importer of U.S. exports of refined fuels like diesel and gasoline, some of which move by rail. It is unclear if rail terminals would be affected by closures. “It would have a widespread and dramatic impact on our markets almost immediately,” said an executive at a company that ships products by rail to Mexico, citing its dependence on U.S. natural gas, propane, gasoline and ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel. The U.S. government says it is struggling to deal with a surge of asylum seekers from countries in Central America who travel through Mexico. On Saturday, it cut aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - a move Democrats warned would only worsen the situation. “What we need to do is focus on what’s happening in Central America, where three countries are disassembling before our eyes and people are desperately coming to the United States. The president’s cutting off aid to these countries will not solve that problem,” the No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin, told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” He also cast doubt on the viability of shutting the border, describing the threat as “totally unrealistic.” FILE PHOTO: A person looks through the border wall towards the United States at Border Field State Park in San Diego, California, U.S. November 20, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoMarch is on track for 100,000 border apprehensions, Department of Homeland Security officials said, which would be the highest monthly number in more than a decade. Most of those people can remain in the United States while their asylum claims are processed, which can take years because of ballooning immigration court backlogs. Trump said on Friday he planned to hold a media event at the border in the next two weeks. According to his public schedule, the president will visit Calexico, California, on Friday. While some Trump critics say he is bluffing, closing the southern border is not unprecedented. Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan both shut the border over drug-related issues, while President Lyndon Johnson closed it briefly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Nathan Layne; Additional reporting by Howard Schneider and David Morgan in Washington and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Michelle Price, Dan Grebler and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

MUNICH/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism on Friday, maintaining his harsh rhetoric against Tehran just a day he attacked European powers for trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. After visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Pence said the Nazi death camp had made him more determined to confront Tehran, saying it was “breathing out murderous threats, with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe.” Iran’s ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel. Pence, who said he was deeply moved by his Auschwitz visit, cited Iran’s stated desire to destroy Israel as justification for singling out the country, rather than focusing on anti-Semitism across the Middle East. Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in January Iran’s strategy was to wipe “the Zionist regime” (Israel) off the political map, Iran’s state TV reported. “For me it simply strengthens my resolve ... to stand strong against Iran,” Pence told reporters on his Air Force Two plane before arriving in Munich. The United States is seeking to isolate Tehran and reimposed economic sanctions last year after pulling out of the landmark 2015 Iran accord with world powers that prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. However, the tougher stance comes as the European Union is trying to keep the nuclear deal alive and has developed a mechanism to open a channel to continue to trade with Iran, bringing sharp criticism of Brussels from Pence on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the EU’s top diplomat discussed global conflicts but largely avoided the issue of Iran on Friday. Pompeo’s meeting with Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, was scheduled before Pence’s rebuke of European powers, during a Middle East peace conference in Warsaw on Thursday. Mogherini missed the Warsaw conference, citing a scheduling conflict at NATO. Mogherini shook off a question seeking her reaction to Pence’s Thursday speech. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the vice president’s remarks were not raised during the hour-long meeting, which he said was friendly and constructive. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence with his wife Karen and Poland's President Andrzej Duda with first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda stand at the "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, February 15, 2019. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel They also did not talk about the Iran nuclear deal, although they did discuss Iran’s “destabilizing activities and the need to counter them,” he said. A spokeswoman for Mogherini said the talks with Pompeo had focused on Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, the Korean peninsula, Ukraine and the Western Balkans. Pence’s unusually tough words on Thursday for allies Germany, France and Britain reflect Washington’s strategy of isolating Iran, and are likely to further strain transatlantic relations. In a speech on Friday evening in Munich with European and U.S. officials, lawmakers and diplomats, Pence said: “I bring you greetings from the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump.” He paused for applause. The room was silent for a very long moment. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. On Thursday, speaking at NATO before Pence’s comments, Mogherini said upholding the deal was vital to European security because it prevented Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. European countries say they share U.S. concerns about Iran’s involvement in wars in Yemen and Syria but that withdrawing from the nuclear deal was a mistake. They have promised to try to salvage the deal as long as Iran continues to abide by it. In practice, European companies have accepted new U.S. sanctions on Iran and abandoned plans to invest there. France, Germany and Britain have agreed on a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions. That will likely take months to open, however, and is expected to be used only for smaller trade such as humanitarian products or food. Mogherini and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday defended the nuclear accord with Iran at the Munich Security Conference despite Washington’s repeated attacks against the bloc for keeping to the deal. France’s Foreign Minister questioned Washington’s policy in northeastern Syria saying it contradicted its tough stance on Tehran because a U.S. withdrawal would only reinforce Iran. Slideshow (6 Images)“We hate what Iran is doing in Syria. We hate what Hezbollah is doing in Lebanon. We hate what Iran is doing with the Houthis in Yemen and militias elsewhere. We hate what they have been doing in Europe and we’re extremely preoccupied with its ballistic missile program,” said a European official. “We’re very lucid and extremely vigilant on all that, but Iran has kept its side of the nuclear deal and isn’t building a nuclear weapon and that is vital to all our security interests.” Additional reporting by John Irish in Munich and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In contrast, G.M. said it would idle five car factories in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland and Canada while Chrysler is cutting jobs at an Illinois plant. According to the Reshoring Initiative, a group that encourages companies to move back to the United States, announcements to increase investment or move companies back to the United States peaked in 2016. What Mr. Trump Said“The special counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction. … Total exoneration, complete vindication.”While the investigation led by Robert S. Mueller III did not conclude that Mr. Trump or his campaign coordinated with Russia, according to a summary of Mr. Mueller’s report by Attorney General William P. Barr, the special counsel stopped short of absolving Mr. Trump on obstruction.Mr. Barr quoted the special counsel as stating that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” and wrote that Mr. Mueller did not draw conclusions about whether Mr. Trump’s conduct amounted to obstruction of justice.What Mr. Trump Said“I’m going to get, in honor of my friends, full funding of $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which you have been trying to get for over 30 years.”

A German company has apologised after posting an image of a chocolate-covered marshmallow sweet in a bridal dress on the day of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.Super Dickmann's post of a Schokokuss (chocolate kiss) included the caption: "What are you looking at? Wouldn't you also want to be Meghan today?"Some social media users said the now-deleted image was "racist".A spokesperson for the company called the post "stupid and embarrassing". After users denounced the post on the company's Facebook page, Super Dickmann's wrote: "A big pardon! The world of Super Dickmann's is colourful and diverse and far from racist thoughts."The post has been deleted but images of it have circulated on social media.The image of the Schokokuss, a well-known German sweet, appeared inside a cathedral with the words "a foam in white", a reference to its creamy interior, a pun on the phrase "a vision in white".Spokesman Bernd Roessler said the firm had not put enough thought into the post.Links between the sweet and racism are not new as it used to have a far more offensive name in Germany and elsewhere, roughly translated as black person's kiss.German public broadcaster ZDF has also come in for criticism for its coverage of the royal wedding, with people on social media saying some of the comments during its programming were "racist". The controversial remarks included describing Ms Markle as "exotic" several times, saying that the Queen was "turning a blind eye to Meghan" and that the gospel singers of the Kingdom Choir "sang beautifully black".ZDF rejected the claims saying it was appropriate to address Ms Markle's origins, newspaper Der Spiegel reports. By Jenny Hill, BBC Berlin correspondentLast weekend Berlin's annual carnival of culture drummed and danced its way through crowded city streets. People dressed in the national costumes of countries like Colombia, Ghana, Albania, Japan and Senegal paraded together in the May sunshine. This is how Germany likes to present itself: multicultural and open to people of all ethnicities.But last year, after spending just a week here, a team of UN inspectors accused the country of "institutional racism", claiming that people of African descent experienced discrimination on a daily basis. Regular outbursts of xenophobia from the far-right AfD are well reported - usually to widespread disgust.But the party's openly racist election campaign saw them enter the Bundestag for the first time last year. And a recent investigation found that people with Arabic or Turkish surnames were likely to be rejected by landlords in favour of those with obviously German names. Perhaps Germany is no worse than many other former colonial powers in its racism - conscious or otherwise. But, given the country's past, it is surprising and, for many, a source of great shame. Parents sue 30-year-old son who refuses to move out WATCH: TV presenter tackles racehorse Are sweeteners healthier than sugar?

Paul Manafort, the longtime political consultant who once led Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, asked a federal judge for leniency on Monday as he faces the potential of spending the rest of his life in prison in criminal cases stemming from the Russia investigation.In a new court filing, Manafort’s attorneys painted the 69-year-old as a victim of circumstance, prosecuted by special counsel Robert Mueller only because the government could not make the case that he colluded with the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. They also dismissed the prosecutors’ characterization of Manafort as a hardened criminal, saying he was merely a wealthy consultant who committed “garden variety” crimes by illegally lobbying for Ukrainian interests and hiding millions from the IRS.Monday’s filing comes as the defense attorneys have sought to contain the fallout from the unraveling of Manafort’s plea deal this month.The US district judge Amy Berman Jackson, who will decide Manafort’s sentence, ruled that Manafort had violated his plea deal by lying to federal agents about several subjects, including about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, a business associate who the US says has ties to Russian intelligence.Manafort has not been accused of any crimes related to Russian election interference, but court papers have revealed that Manafort gave Kilimnik polling data related to the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.A Mueller prosecutor also said that an August 2016 meeting between the two men went to the “heart” of the Russia investigation. The meeting involved a discussion of a Ukrainian peace plan, but many other details about it have been redacted in court papers.Manafort faces up to five years in prison on each of two felony charges, but his attorneys asked Jackson to choose a sentence “significantly below the statutory maximum”.Manafort’s lawyers said he had been “publicly vilified” by a special counsel whose appointment escalated an obscure, and rarely punished, foreign lobbying law into a serious crime.“Mr Manafort has been punished substantially, including the forfeiture of most of his assets,” the lawyers said. “In light of his age and health concerns, a significant additional period of incarceration will likely amount to a life sentence for a first time offender.”In addition to the case in Washington, Manafort faces the possibility of more than 19 years in prison in a separate tax and bank fraud case in federal court in Virginia. A jury in that case convicted him of eight felony counts of tax and bank fraud. Topics Paul Manafort US politics Robert Mueller Trump-Russia investigation news

Media player Media playback is unsupported on your device Video There's a clown running for US Congress. Literally Steve Lough was a circus clown for 30 years, now he's fighting for a seat in a different arena: the US Congress.

Some of the country's leading companies have suffered. Carmakers such as Volkswagen (VLKAF) have been hurt by weaker sales in China, and they've struggled to certify some new models under new EU emissions tests. Volkswagen delivered a record 10.8 million cars around the world in 2018, but slumping sales in China at the end of the year limited annual growth in the key market to just 0.5%.Recession fears are stalking GermanyGerman growth was weakest in the second half of 2018, and especially the third quarter, when the economy contracted 0.2%. Official data for the final three months of the year is not yet available, but German statistics officials said Tuesday that the economy likely returned to growth during the fourth quarter to dodge a recession. Yet Schmieding said the malaise is likely to continue in 2019.Berenberg expects the German economy to grow just 1.2% in 2019, matching the rest of the eurozone. Economists at Capital Economics forecast even weaker growth of just 1%. "For the next few months, we have to brace ourselves for a very grey winter," said Schmieding. Trouble in Europe's largest economy will deepen worries about slower global growth this year. Risks clouding the global outlook include the trade war and the impact of US interest rate hikes on emerging markets. China won't unleash 'runaway stimulus' to revive the economyAnalysts are also worried about China's economy, a major engine of growth in recent years that is now showing signs of a sharp slowdown.Beijing on Tuesday announced 1.3 trillion yuan ($193 billion) worth of new measures designed to stimulate the economy, including tax cuts for small businesses and reduced tariffs.It's the latest in a flurry of government efforts to prop up growth in recent months, such as boosting infrastructure spending and looser monetary policy.

An Oregon hotel said it had fired two employees for “mistreatment” of a black guest who was talking on his phone in the lobby when he was asked to leave.Jermaine Massey accused the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Portland of racially profiling him, after a security guard called police to remove him from the lobby on 22 December. He was staying at the hotel.The security guard told Massey that if he could not provide a room number, he would be asked to leave. The Washington state resident left with an officer, according to a police report.Massey posted a video on social media that shows part of the interaction with the guard.It was the latest high-profile incident in which black people have been removed from businesses. Last month, police in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland helped the owner of a frozen yogurt shop kick out a black man because employees said they felt uncomfortable.In Philadelphia in April, police arrested two black men at a Starbucks coffee shop after a manager called police to say they refused to make a purchase or leave.Police, other city officials and business owners in those incidents later apologized.On Friday, the hotel apologized to Massey on Twitter, saying the employees involved had been placed on leave and an investigation would be carried out. A day later, it said it had “terminated the employment of the two men involved”, whose actions “were inconsistent with our standards & values”. The hotel did not identify the employees.The hotel’s general manager, Paul Peralta, said in a statement earlier this week the hotel reached out to Massey to try to reach a resolution. Massey’s lawyers have said they intend to pursue legal action. The hotel should publicly answer, they said, why security approached and questioned Massey and explain how, as the guard claimed, Massey was a threat to security. Topics Oregon Race news

A desert doesn’t sound like the most promising place to plant a tree. Yet, since 1978, China has planted at least 66 billion of them across its arid northern territories, hoping to transform its sandy steppes and yellow dunes into a Great Green Wall.Ian Teh documented this epic undertaking while traveling through northern China last year. His expansive photographs show workers tending saplings, filling irrigation tanks, and blasting young trees with water. “Planting trees sounds great on paper, but you can feel skeptical,” Teh says. “But in person, it was impressive.”The tree-planting strategy is a massive attempt to help fight desertification. Roughly a million square miles of China—a quarter of the country—is covered in sand. Drought, deforestation, overgrazing and other problems threaten an additional 115,000 square miles, fueling brutal sandstorms that regularly blast cities like Beijing and Dunhuang. Many scientists are skeptical planting trees will make a difference in the long run. But China’s State Forestry Administration claims the measure has reduced sandstorms by 20 percent and desertification by nearly 5,000 miles in recent years.Teh lives in Malaysia but works throughout Asia, documenting humans’ impact on the landscape. Over six days in May 2016, he photographed tree-planting schemes in the Gobi Desert in northern China. They seemed successful in places like Duolun County, some 220 miles north of Beijing, where the government has planted 2.6 million trees over the past 17 years. The place felt pastoral, almost lush. Teh had to stop his car on the side of the highway and hike several minutes over dunes just to see where the wind-blown grass ended and the sand began. “To be honest, it was hard to imagine it was ever a desert at all,” he says.For contrast, he also flew some 800 miles southwest to the Tengger Desert, one of the places in China most affected by desertification. Outside the city of Wuwei, farmers struggled to work the dry soil. "It’s incredible to see them tilling land and everything around is dusty," he says.His images capture the two extremes, showing the immensity of China’s problem and the unlikely, grand solution it’s concocted to solve it. They’re as surreal and otherworldly as China's Great Green Wall itself.

Illegal loggers are ramping up a “brutal, fast” assault on the Brazilian Amazon with the blessing of the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, the sacked head of the government agency tasked with monitoring deforestation has warned.Speaking to the Guardian five days after his dismissal, Ricardo Galvão said he was “praying to the heavens” the far-right leader would change tack before the Amazon – and Brazil’s international reputation as an environmental leader – were ruined.“What is happening is that this government has sent a clear message that there will not be any more punishment [for environmental crimes] like before … This government is sending a very clear message that the control of deforestation will not be like it was in the past …. And when the loggers hear this message that they will no longer be supervised as they were in the past, they penetrate [the rainforest],” Galvão said, claiming “enormous” damage had already been done since Bolsonaro took power in January.“It is a question of brutal, fast economic exploitation.”Galvão, an internationally respected scientist, was director of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) until last week when a public clash with Bolsonaro cost him his job.Days earlier, during a meeting with foreign journalists, Bolsonaro had publicly questioned Inpe’s data suggesting an alarming spike in Amazon destruction and accused Galvão of peddling “lies”.That attack lead the MIT-trained physicist to hit back at his “pusillanimous” president.“I felt great indignation and great sadness,” the 71-year-old scientist recalled of what he called Bolsonaro’s “infantile” attack on Inpe and its staff.In an interview with the Guardian, Galvão accused Bolsonaro and two cabinet members – the environment minister, Ricardo Salles, and the institutional security chief, General Augusto Heleno – of waging a months-long battle to undermine his agency, which uses satellite and radar technology to observe and help prevent deforestation.Galvão claimed the campaign was designed to discredit Inpe’s findings and thus clear the way for greater exploitation of the Amazon.“There is no doubt about it. They have much closer relations with the loggers [than previous governments] … The president has said explicitly that he wants to make deals with American companies to exploit minerals in indigenous reserves,” Galvão said.“It is a negative plan with the intention of reducing control over the Amazon … because they believe that by exploiting the Amazon they will achieve much faster economic development of the region … This is completely mistaken,” the scientist added.Already, in the first seven months of his four-year term, Bolsonaro had helped cause “an enormous increase” in deforestation by signalling leniency towards those wrecking the rainforest, Galvão claimed.Environmentalists and scientists from around the world have condemned Galvão’s sacking which some suspect is designed to cover up inconvenient truths about the obliteration of vast tracts of jungle under Bolsonaro.Nasa scientist Douglas Morton, who has collaborated with Inpe for nearly two decades, said its highly-trained scientists deserved to be “lauded” for their “pioneering, rigorous and robust” research which had brought great benefits to Brazil and its environment. He called Bolsonaro’s move “concerning”.Romulo Batista, a Greenpeace campaigner in Brazil, said Galvão’s dismissal reflected Bolsonaro’s hostility to science and the environment. “This is not a government that is based on facts … this is a government whose modus operandi is the lie,” Batista said.But Batista said Bolsonaro would fail to suppress the truth about the accelerating assault on the Amazon.“If he thinks that by sacking an internationally renowned scientist … and bringing in someone who is going to hide or distort or introduce data that is not true he will manage to convey the false impression that Amazon deforestation is under control, he is very mistaken. There are numerous other [monitoring] systems that will show the truth.”After nearly five decades serving his country, Galvão said he felt sadness at the circumstances surrounding his sacking and the plight of Brazil’s environment. “The country is seeing a political scenario that is going to cause great damage in the future.”Galvão echoed fears over research suggesting deforestation was pushing the world’s biggest rainforest towards a catastrophic tipping point from which it would not recover. “This is a very great danger – not to mention that the Amazon is essential to control the rain cycles across South America.”Galvão also accused Bolsonaro of dismantling Brazil’s hard-earned reputation as a environmental leader – a reputation his agency helped cement by producing deforestation alerts that helped authorities slash Amazon destruction between 2004 and 2012.“Brazil was seen in a very positive light as a world leader on environmental preservation. This is being rapidly destroyed by the Bolsonaro government,” he said.Galvão said he hoped the international community would now support “those Brazilians who are struggling against this state of affairs, and force the government to understand that increasing deforestation in the Amazon will only cause harm to Brazil – and to the government itself”.“I hope, and I pray to the heavens, that the president changes his stance and returns to the correct policy Brazil adopted in the past,” he added.That seems unlikely. This week, as new Inpe data emerged suggesting an “explosion” of Amazon deforestation in July, Bolsonaro scoffed at his portrayal as Brazil’s “Captain Chainsaw” and mocked Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel for challenging him on the environment.To hoots of approval from his audience, Bolsonaro declared: “They still haven’t realized Brazil’s under new management.” Topics Brazil Deforestation Americas Conservation news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he never worked for Russia, his first direct denial after a media report that the FBI in 2017 investigated whether he acted against U.S. interests. Trump also disputed a Washington Post report that he had concealed details about his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and confiscated his interpreter’s notes. Congressional Democrats raised the possibility of subpoenaing the translator. The New York Times reported on Friday that the FBI opened the investigation after Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey raised concerns that the president posed a threat to national security. After the report emerged, Trump attacked the FBI and the Times, but he did not issue a specific denial about working with Russia until Monday. “Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Louisiana. Trump’s relations with Russia and Putin have clouded his presidency from the beginning and he has long dismissed the federal investigation into whether his 2016 campaign worked with Russia to sway the election as a hoax and a “witch hunt.” The Republican president renewed those charges on Monday, saying the officials who initiated the FBI investigation were “known scoundrels” and calling Comey a “bad cop.” Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over FBI investigations involving Trump and Russia in May 2017 after Trump fired Comey. Several former Trump top aides, including national security adviser Michael Flynn and campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and several Russians are among dozens caught up in Mueller’s probe. Comey confirmed the existence of an FBI counterterrorism probe related to the presidential election in testimony before Congress in 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the news media before boarding Marine One to depart for travel to New Orleans from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., January 14, 2019. REUTERS/Leah MillisOn Saturday, the Post reported Trump took notes that his interpreter made during a 2017 meeting in Hamburg with Putin that also was attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Trump also told the interpreter not to talk to other administration officials about what was said in the meetings, the Post said. “I just don’t know anything about it,” Trump said on Monday of the interpreter’s notes. He said he had a successful meeting with Putin, adding: “We have those meetings all the time, no big deal.” Democrats said, however, they thought it was a very big deal and expressed concern about the report on the interpreter. “It’s disturbing, of course. If it’s true it’s disturbing and we want to get to the bottom of it,” U.S. Representative Eliot Engel said in an interview with CNN on Monday. Engel said the House Foreign Affairs Committee he chairs is working with the Intelligence Committee to discuss a possible subpoena of the Trump-Putin interpreter. He said he would prefer not to do that, but added: “We may have no choice.” “She has to be heard from, under oath, before our committee,” Representative Gerry Connolly, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said on CNN. Asked whether the committees also are considering asking Tillerson to testify, Engel said they were casting a wide net but no decisions had been made. Republicans and White House officials have defended Trump’s actions, saying he had been the victim of a number of leaks. Slideshow (2 Images)U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Moscow led a propaganda and hacking campaign designed to tip the 2016 White House race to Trump. Russia has denied interfering. Trump repeatedly berated his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, from recusing himself from the Russia investigation because he had worked on Trump’s presidential campaign. The president’s nominee to fill Sessions’ job, William Barr, will pledge to protect Mueller’s investigation, according to prepared testimony released before his confirmation hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday. Reporting by Jeff Mason and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott and Peter CooneyOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch:"Providing a gateway for 'toxic apps' is hurting the feelings of the Chinese people, twisting the facts of Hong Kong affairs, and against the views and principles of the Chinese people," it goes on. "Apple and other corporations should be able to discern right from wrong. They also need to know that only the prosperity of China and China's Hong Kong will bring them a broader and more sustainable market."The article also claims Apple reinstated a song which advocates for independence for Hong Kong and hadpreviously been removed from its music store.