Barack Obama dismissed from jury duty

Former President Barack Obama extends his hand as he attends Cook County jury duty at the Daley Center on November 8, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. Jurors receive $17.20 for each day of jury service. PHOTO: Joshua Lott /Getty Images

Former US president Barack Obama answered a jury summons Wednesday but was dismissed soon after arriving at a Chicago courthouse to perform the civic duty asked of all Americans.

As a prospective juror, Obama joined fellow citizens at Cook County’s Daley Center courthouse, all waiting to see if they would be chosen to serve on a trial.

The former leader of the free world was the only juror to arrive by motorcade, however, accompanied by tight security and met with a throng of news media and court staff trying to snap a picture.

“He gorgeous!” one court clerk exclaimed upon spotting the former president, the Chicago Tribune reported. Potential juror Kelly Bulik told the newspaper she felt like a “piece of melting butter” as she shook his hand.

Obama thanked everyone for showing up, and was surprised by some who presented him with copies of his books to sign.

“Thanks everybody for serving on the jury. Or, at least being willing to,” he said to laughter.

The former law professor left by midday, along with a number of others who were randomly selected for dismissal, according to the Tribune.

Before heading to court, the former president tweeted in the morning about Tuesday night’s high-profile state and mayoral election results seen as a sweeping repudiation of the politics of his White House successor Donald Trump.

“This is what happens when the people vote,” Obama wrote. “Every office in a democracy counts!”

Obama is not the first US president to show up for service that some Americans either dread or find excuses to avoid. Obama’s predecessor in the White House, George W Bush, responded to a jury summons in 2015.

Bush was not selected to serve as a juror, but images of the smiling former president posing with delighted citizens at the courthouse in Dallas, Texas quickly showed up on social media.

Chicago has some experience with high-profile jurors. In 2004, media titan Oprah Winfrey, who at the time produced her talk show out of the midwestern city, was a juror on a three-day murder trial ending in a conviction.

While the Obamas currently live in Washington, the ex-president and first lady Michelle Obama maintain a home in Chicago, the city where he got his political start.

The south side of Chicago is also where the future Obama presidential centre will be built, near the former leader’s home.

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Donald Trump’s speech violated Iran nuclear deal

US President Donald Trump’s speech outlining an aggressive new strategy against Iran violated Tehran’s nuclear agreement with world powers, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

Trump’s virulent speech contravened three articles of the 2015 deal, Zarif said in televised remarks broadcast late on Saturday.

The clauses he referred to mandate the signatories to implement the accord “in good faith” and the US administration and Congress to “refrain from re-introducing or re-imposing” sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme.

“I have already written nine letters (to EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini) listing the cases where the United States has failed to act on or delayed its commitments under the JCPOA,” Zarif added, calling the nuclear deal by its technical name.

Zarif said he was going to write a new letter regarding Trump’s speech on Friday.

He called on the United States to prolong sanctions relief, otherwise “the Islamic Republic of Iran will definitely take a similar and reciprocal measure.”

In his speech, Trump refused to “certify” Tehran’s compliance with its obligations under the nuclear deal.

He warned he could rip up the agreement “at any time,” saying it had failed to address Iran’s influence in its region and its illegal missile programme.

Trump said he supported efforts in Congress to work on new measures to address these threats.

The remarks triggered swift condemnation from Iranian President Hassan Rouhani of what he called “baseless accusations and swear words”.

Responding to US threats of new sanctions against Tehran’s missile programme, Zarif repeated that Iran would not tolerate interference in its defence policy.

“Our achievements in the field of ballistics are in no way negotiable,” he said.

“We live in a region into which hundreds of billions of dollars of lethal American weapons have poured, turning it into a gunpowder storehouse… so we have the right to have defensive means,” he said.

The nuclear agreement was signed in July 2015 between Iran and six world powers — Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

Mogherini helped to negotiate the nuclear deal.

It lifted some Western and UN sanctions and in return Tehran curtailed a large part of its atomic programme to assure the world that a nuclear bomb — which Iran denies seeking — would remain well out of its reach.

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Anti-IS ‘sheikh sniper’ killed in battle for Iraq’s Hawija

A veteran fighter known as “the sheikh of snipers” has been killed in Iraq’s battle to retake the town of Hawija from the Islamic State group, his paramilitary force announced Saturday.

Abu Tahsin al-Salhi, who took part in conflicts dating back to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and said he had gunned down at least 320 IS jihadists, died on Friday.

He was killed as he advanced on Hawija in northwest Iraq, said Ahmad al-Assadi, spokesman for the Hashed al-Shaabi alliance mostly of Shiite militias fighting alongside government forces against the last jihadist bastions.

At his funeral on Saturday near the southern port city of Basra, close friend Ahmad Ali Hussein said the marksman was widely known by comrades as “the sheikh of snipers” or “hawk eye”.

A grey-bearded hulk of a man who drove an offroad motorbike and wore a black-and-white chequered scarf and fingerless mittens, Abu Tahsin was inseparable from his Austrian-manufactured Steyr rifle.

In a Hashed video, the 63-year-old warrior gives a rundown of his career as a sniper, starting in 1973 when he was part of an Iraqi brigade fighting on Syria’s Golan Heights.

He also fought in late dictator Saddam Hussein’s 1980-1988 war against Iran, his 1990 invasion of Kuwait and against US troops who toppled Saddam in 2003, before turning his sights on IS.

“Today, I gunned down two of them (IS fighters). That’s ridiculous — the minimum for me is four,” he says in the video. In anti-IS battles in 2015 “I killed 173 of them, and now I’m at 320.”

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Iraq PM, Kurdish chief in war of words over independence vote

Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani arrives to cast his vote in the Kurdish independence referendum at a polling station near Arbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on September 25, 2017. Iraqi Kurds are voting in an independence referendum in defiance of Baghdad and regional neighbours, as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warns of “necessary measures” to protect the country’s unity.

Kurdish leader Massud Barzani and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi engaged in a war of words Tuesday a day after the Kurds staged an independence referendum in their autonomous region.

Abadi said in Baghdad, a staunch opponent of the Kurdish move, that he would not negotiate on the back of the referendum result — expected to be a resounding “yes”.

But in Kurdish regional capital Arbil, Barzani in a televised address urged the Iraqi premier “not to close the door to dialogue because it is dialogue that will solve problems”.

“We assure the international community of our willingness to engage in dialogue with Baghdad,” he said.

“The referendum is not to delimit the border (between Kurdistan and Iraq), nor to impose it de facto,” Barzani added.

The Kurdish referendum went ahead despite both Iraqi and international opposition.

The vote is non-binding and will not lead automatically to independence, but is seen by the Kurds as a major step towards a long-cherished dream of statehood.

In Baghdad, Abadi was not in a negotiating mood.

He said he would ban “international flights to and from Kurdistan” in three days unless its two airports at Arbil and Sulaimaniyah there were placed under his government’s control.

Abadi stressed that negotiations on the back of the referendum result were out of the question.

“We will not abandon the unity and sovereignty of Iraq because this is a national duty,” he said.

“The government will impose its authority in accordance with the constitution. We remain engaged in talks, but we will not negotiate on the basis of the referendum.”

In the Kurdish areas, the result is not in doubt, with people expecting a big “yes” to independence.

In Arbil, a night of fireworks, flag-waving and dancing followed Monday’s vote.

“We made a Kurdish state today,” Arbil resident Ahmad told AFP.

“We’re Kurdish people, we’re not Arab, we’re not Persian, we’re no one else… We’re Kurds and we’ll remain Kurds forever.”

Polling was peaceful, but it increased tensions between the Iraqi Kurds and their neighbours, raising fears of unrest.

Abadi had declared before the vote he would take “necessary measures” to protect Iraqi unity, and he was due to meet parliament members on Wednesday.

Lawmakers passed a resolution Monday to send troops to disputed areas where the referendum took place, but there have been no signs of a deployment so far.

Turkish warning 
Analysts say Baghdad was unlikely to seek a confrontation with the Kurds for now, especially as Iraqi forces continue battling the Islamic State group in its final bastions.

Turkey, concerned the vote could stoke the separatist ambitions of its own sizeable Kurdish population, repeatedly condemned the referendum.

On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Iraq’s Kurds risked sparking an “ethnic war”.

“If Barzani and the Kurdistan Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war,” he said in a televised speech.

Erdogan had warned on Monday that Turkey would shut its border with Iraqi Kurdistan and threatened to block key exports from the region through Turkey.

Erdogan even suggested the possibility of a cross-border incursion similar to the one Turkish forces have carried out against IS and Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Iraqi soldiers on Tuesday were seen taking part in a Turkish military drill launched last week in the southern province of Sirnak close to the Iraqi border.

Monday’s vote took place across the three northern provinces of autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan — Arbil, Sulaimaniyah and Dohuk — as well as in disputed border zones such as the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Kirkuk curfew lifted 
A curfew was lifted early Tuesday on parts of the city of Kirkuk, where it had been imposed on the city centre and non-Kurdish neighbourhoods over fears of unrest.

Officials reported that turnout for the referendum stood at 72 percent, with 3.3 million of the 4.58 million registered voters taking part.

Participation was at only 50 percent in Sulaimaniyah province, the home base of political forces opposed to Barzani.

His opponents have accused the long-time regional chief of seeking to empower himself through the vote, and said he should have accepted a UN-backed plan to put off the referendum in favour of negotiations with Baghdad.

The United Nations and United States had urged Barzani to cancel or postpone the vote, with Washington especially concerned it could hamper the fight against IS in which Kurdish peshmerga forces have been vital.

‘Political chaos’ 
Issam al-Fayli, a political science professor at Baghdad University, said he did not expect any immediate confrontations.

“There will be some minor incidents but the crisis should in the end remain under control,” he said.

Iran, which like Turkey has a large and restless Kurdish population, also opposed the referendum.

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Trump tweets about ‘destroyed’ Puerto Rico after criticism

President Donald Trump acknowledged late Monday that Puerto Rico was “in deep trouble,” after facing blistering criticism for focusing much of his attention on a bitter feud with NFL players instead of the devastated US territory.

Hurricanes Maria and Irma killed 13 people on the island — with Maria almost completely destroying telecommunication networks last week.

“Texas & Florida are doing great but Puerto Rico, which was already suffering from broken infrastructure & massive debt, is in deep trouble,” Trump tweeted.

“It’s old electrical grid, which was in terrible shape, was devastated. Much of the Island was destroyed, with billions of dollars owed to Wall Street and the banks which, sadly, must be dealt with. Food, water and medical are top priorities – and doing well. #FEMA.”

The White House earlier denied it had been slower to act following Hurricane Maria in overwhelmingly Hispanic Puerto Rico than in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey on the US mainland.

But Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, condemned the Trump administration’s response to the crisis as “wholly inadequate.”

“A territory of 3.5 million American citizens is almost completely without power, water, food and telephone service, and we have a handful of helicopters involved in DOD’s response. It’s a disgrace,” he said.

Many Puerto Ricans have already started their own cleanup operations amid apocalyptic scenes of destruction, with some small shops and restaurants reopening with the help of generators.

But long lines remain at supermarkets and gas stations — with water, gas and ice all rationed.

Trump on Friday called for NFL players demonstrating against racial inequality during the national anthem to be fired, triggering a row in which leading players across the country knelt in protest over the weekend.

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Greece leaves EU’s deficit sin bin

EU PHOTO:AFP

The EU turned a page on the eurozone debt crisis Monday as it formally removed Greece from its excessive deficit procedure, the bloc’s penalty box for overspending by member states.

Three countries now remain in the procedure — Britain, Spain and France — which is down from 24 at the height of the eurozone debt crisis in 2011.

The decision, formally approved by the EU national governments on Monday, “is recognition of the tremendous efforts and sacrifices the Greek people have made to restore stability to their country’s public finances,” said the EU’s Commissioner for Economic Affairs, Pierre Moscovici.

“This turnaround has no parallels in Europe,” he added.

Greece’s deficit soared to above 15 percent of GDP in 2009, an amount that shocked the world and triggered the crisis that nearly saw the end of the euro single currency.

After three painful EU-IMF bailouts, Greece last year posted a surplus equivalent to 0.7 percent of GDP and is forecast to strike a deficit ratio — of a still low 1.2 percent — in 2017.

The latest rescue programme, runs to August 2018 and Athens then hopes to fully return to borrowing on the financial markets.

Under European Union rules, eurozone countries are not allowed to run up deficits in excess of 3.0 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and must aim to balance their public finances in the medium term.

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Dam fails in Puerto Rico, 70,000 told to evacuate

An aerial view shows the flooded neighbourhood of Juana Matos in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Catano, Puerto Rico, on September 22, 2017. Puerto Rico battled dangerous floods Friday after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, as rescuers raced against time to reach residents trapped in their homes and the death toll climbed to 33. Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello called Maria the most devastating storm in a century after it destroyed the US territory’s electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.

Some 70,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes Friday after a rain-swollen dam in Puerto Rico failed in the latest disaster caused by Hurricane Maria.

With the death toll from the storm at 33 across the Caribbean, the National Weather Service office in capital San Juan issued a flash flood warning for people living along the Guajataca River and said the 1920s earthen dam was in danger of collapsing altogether.

“All Areas surrounding the Guajataca River should evacuate NOW. Their lives are in DANGER!,” the service said in a tweet. Flooding has already begun downstream, it said.

Shortly thereafter, Governor Ricardo Rossello issued an order for some 70,000 people living in the area in the northwest of the island to get out.

According to the newspaper El Vocero, Public Safety Secretary Hector Pesquera said a drain that normally releases a stream of water from the dam in a controlled fashion had broken.

Instead the busted drain sent water gushing down a ramp-style conduit, eventually washing away huge chunks of soil from the grassy green slope of the dam, according to video on the WeatherNation website.

However the flash flood warning was only due to last until 0600 GMT, the weather service said, suggesting that the river waters were receding.

Puerto Rico was already battling dangerous floods after Hurricane Maria ravaged the island early Wednesday. Rescuers raced against time to reach trapped residents.

Rossello has called Maria the most devastating storm in a century after it destroyed the US territory’s electricity and telecommunications infrastructure.

Rossello told CNN the island is lacking communications and the preliminary assessment at this point is 13 fatalities.

“Right now our efforts are to make sure we have everybody safe, that we can rescue people. Our efforts have already produced almost 700 rescues so we’re clearly focused on that.”

The National Hurricane Center said some areas in Puerto Rico could see 40 inches (more than a meter) of rain from Maria, and Rossello warned of dangerous mudslides brought on by the deluge.

“We have a lot of flooding, we have reports of complete devastation of vulnerable housing. Of course it’s still raining over here.”

SOS text

Maria has been blamed for at least 33 deaths, including 15 in Dominica, three in Haiti and two in Guadeloupe.

After lamenting that Puerto Rico had been “absolutely obliterated” by Maria, US President Donald Trump spoke with Governor Rossello Thursday night and promised to speed up relief efforts.

Although the southeast coast suffered the worst damage, no part of the island escaped the storm’s wrath, including the capital San Juan where there was widespread flooding.

The city’s mayor, Carmen Yulin Cruz, said the biggest need was getting emergency medication and supplies to vulnerable people who are stranded in their homes.

“I got an SOS from (an elderly home) and it was a text like from a horror movie. It said if anybody can hear us, please, we are stuck here and we can’t get out and we have no power and we have very little water left. We got there just in time.”

Network crippled

The torrential rain had turned some roads into muddy brown rivers, impassable to all but the largest of vehicles.

Toppled trees, street signs and power cables were strewn across roads that were also littered with debris.

Puerto Rico’s electricity network has been crippled by the storm and engineers say it could take months for power to be fully restored.

The local electricity board has promised that their priority will be to restore power to hospitals, water treatment plants and pumping stations.

Brock Long, who heads the US federal government’s emergency management agency FEMA, said that ships carrying millions of meals and bottled water were trying to dock as the island’s ports are slowly reopened.

After devastating Puerto Rico, the storm headed west toward the Dominican Republic where it damaged nearly 5,000 homes and caused more than 18,000 people to evacuate, according to a statement by the office of president Danilo Medina.

As of Friday night, Maria was a Category Three hurricane with winds of 125 miles per hour (205 kilometers per hour), churning in the sea some 365 miles east of the central Bahamas.

Heavy rains and high winds began hitting the archipelago on Thursday afternoon.

The government opened new shelters after several buildings which had been used during Hurricane Irma earlier this month were damaged and authorities feared they might not hold up under another fierce storm.

Maria previously tore through several Caribbean islands, claiming the highest toll on Dominica, which has a population of around 72,000 and has been largely cut off from the outside world.

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War of words ratchets up between Kim and Trump

US President Donald Trump salutes on his way to board Air Force 

An escalating war of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un ratcheted up a notch on Friday as the US president dubbed North Korea’s leader a “madman,” a day after the reclusive regime hinted it may explode a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

Hours earlier, in a rare personal attack, Kim took aim at Trump, branding him “mentally deranged” and a “dotard”, and warning he would “pay dearly” for his threat to destroy North Korea if challenged, uttered before the United Nations General Assembly.

The verbal clash came a day after Washington announced tougher sanctions aimed at curbing North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, on the heels of a Trump speech in which he which he nicknamed Kim “Rocket Man” and declared him to be on a “suicide mission.”

“Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn’t mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!” Trump posted early Friday in the first of a barrage of unrelated tweets.

Kim had delivered a tongue-lashing of his own — vowing to “surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire,” in an address read out on state television by a star news anchor before a still image of Kim at his desk.

Trump “insulted me and my country in front of the eyes of the world and made the most ferocious declaration of a war in history”, Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“I will make the man holding the prerogative of the supreme command in the US pay dearly for his speech.”

Sanctions

Russia and China have both appealed for an end to the escalating rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang, and Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained that that scrap resembled a “kindergarten fight between children.”

“We have to calm down the hot heads and understand that we do need pauses, that we do need some contacts,” Lavrov told a news conference after his address to the General Assembly.

On the fringes of the world meeting, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho told reporters Pyongyang might now consider detonating a hydrogen bomb outside its territory.

“I think that it could be an H-bomb test at an unprecedented level perhaps over the Pacific,” he said — while adding: “It is up to our leader so I do not know well.”

Washington on Thursday authorized a tough new raft of sanctions in the latest effort to tighten the screws on Pyongyang over its banned weapons programs, following its sixth nuclear test — the largest yet — and the firing of two missiles over Japan in recent weeks.

Trump’s executive order, which prohibits firms from operating in the United States if they deal with North Korea, came after the UN Security Council agreed its own further set of sanctions aimed at reducing Pyongyang’s ability to trade with the outside world.

But analysts say the sanctions show no signs of working, and cautioned that the increasingly ill-tempered and personal exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang did not augur well.

“There are some very dangerous things that could come that move this from theater to reality. This is the time to be heading them off, not making them feel inevitable,” said John Delury of Yonsei University in Seoul.

‘Still hope for peace’

Washington has refused to offer incentives to bring Pyongyang to the negotiating table, despite appeals to do so from China and Russia, who are both uneasy over Trump’s bellicose tone.

However in a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Trump suggested the door to dialogue remained open.

“Why not?” he said, when asked whether there could be talks with Pyongyang.

China wields the most influence on North Korea, providing an economic lifeline. But it also fears the consequences if the regime collapses, such as an exodus of refugees or a US-allied, reunited Korea on its border.

“Negotiation is the only way out and deserves every effort,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the General Assembly.

The sentiments were echoed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said “military hysteria is not just an impasse, it’s disaster.”

North Korean envoy Ri is expected to meet on Saturday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will send out feelers on possible diplomatic talks.

But Chung Sung-Yoon, analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP that the North itself may have shelved the idea of negotiations until it reaches its nuclear goal.

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Tremors trigger fears of volcanic eruption in Bali

Authorities have raised alert levels for a volcano on the Indonesian resort island of Bali after hundreds of small tremors stoked fears it could erupt for the first time in more than 50 years.

Mount Agung, about 75 kilometres from the tourist hub of Kuta, has been rumbling since August and officials have banned people from venturing within 7.5 kilometres (4.7 miles) of its summit.

No volcanic ash has been seen spewing from the crater. But hundreds of small tremors have rattled the mountain in the past two days, causing about 350 people to evacuate their homes Monday, although they returned the next day.

“Even though seismicity is not as sharp as two days ago, as much as 480 seconds of tremors have occurred. The community must remain vigilant,” Willem Rampangilei, the head of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said in a statement Wednesday.

The airport on the resort island, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year, has not been affected but airport management are watching the situation closely.

“All flight activities are still normal, there is no cancellation or volcanic ash,” Yanus Suprayogi, a spokesman for Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport, told AFP.

Mount Agung last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people.

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Trump issues stark threats to North Korea and Iran at UN

President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that the United States is ready to "totally destroy" North Korea and vowed to confront Iran's "murderous regime" over its weapons program.

In his first address to leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly, Trump warned North Korea not to pursue its nuclear missile program in his starkest language yet, deriding its young leader Kim Jong-Un with the nickname "Rocket Man" and threatening to end his country.

"The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.

"Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime," he said. "The United States is ready, willing and able, but hopefully this will not be necessary."

As to Iran, Trump appeared to pave the way towards tearing up the nuclear deal signed in 2015 between six world powers and Iran.

Trump said the accord had failed to rein in the regime's subversive role in Middle East conflicts, and sent a clear signal that he intends to declare Tehran in breach of the deal when he reports to Congress next month.

"We cannot let a murderous regime continue these destabilizing activities while building dangerous missiles and we cannot abide by an agreement if it provides cover for the eventual construction of a nuclear program," Trump told the assembly.

"Frankly, that deal is an embarrassment to the United States, and I don't think you've heard the last of it," he said.

"Believe me. It is time for the entire world to join us in demanding that Iran's government end its pursuit of death and destruction."

Many of the assembly's members, including US allies and Iran deal signatories France and Britain, favor retaining the accord -- under which Iran surrendered much of its enriched nuclear fuel and exposed its nuclear sites to international monitors.

But some of Trump's closest advisors fear the agreement leaves Iran too close to the threshold of being able to quickly develop a nuclear weapon when restrictive clauses in the deal begin to expire in 2025.

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Ex-Trump aide Flynn raises money for legal costs

The family of former White House national security advisor Michael Flynn has launched a defense fund to raise money for mounting legal costs in the sprawling Russia election interference probe.

Flynn, who advised President Donald Trump’s election campaign but was fired 22 days into the new adminstration, is under investigation for misreporting his contacts with Russian officials and his alleged lobbying activities for Turkey while involved in the campaign.

A new website for the Michael T. Flynn Legal Defense Fund called his lawyer bills “tremendous.”

“The costs of legal representation associated with responding to the multiple investigations that have arisen in the wake of the 2016 election place a great burden on Mike and his family,” the site said.

“Any support provided is greatly appreciated.”

Flynn faces probes in Congress, from Robert Mueller, the Justice Department’s independent prosecutor into Russian interference, and in the Defense Department, where Flynn formerly served as head of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

He has not been charged with anything.

But the investigations focus on several areas: his repeated discussions of US policy with Russian officials before and after Trump’s shock election victory in November 2016; accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby for Turkey while advising Trump; being paid $33,750 by Russian TV RT to appear at a Moscow event; and his efforts to bring together Russia, the United States and Saudi Arabia in a deal for nuclear plants in the Middle East.

Potential charges include not reporting his business meetings, travels and payments as he was obligated to do as a former senior US military official.

Flynn’s defense fund could potentially benefit from a change in the law to allow anonymous lobbyist and business donations to White House officials needing help with their legal defense, according to a Politico report last week.

Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner, and several other current and former advisors have all retained lawyers to deal with the investigations, with lawyers fees for some topping $1,000 and hou

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Tough-talking Trump looks to soothe Republican base

US President Donald Trump speaks about the bombing in London as he attends a photo opportunity in the Rose Garden of the White House, September 15, 2017, in Washington, 

President Donald Trump sought to reassure his camp of his conservative bona fides Friday after embracing a deal with opposition Democrats that would allow hundreds of thousands of young immigrants illegally brought to the United States as children to stay.

After being pilloried by Republicans furious at his seeming retreat from a pledge to curb illegal immigration, the president weighed in on a host of red-meat issues — political correctness, terrorism and racial tensions — aimed at assuring his base that he was not going soft.

No final deal has been reached, but Trump’s agreement to work with Democrats to find a way for the 700,000 immigrants known as “Dreamers” to remain in the country legally has roiled his political base.

Last month he earned praise from conservatives for rescinding an amnesty decreed by his predecessor Barack Obama, which shielded the young immigrants from deportation.

But in setting a six-month deadline for the full repeal of the scheme known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, he also urged Congress to use the time to craft a permanent solution for the Dreamers.

Two days after huddling with top Democrats at the White House, Trump reminded Americans Friday of his intention to tighten the country’s borders, warning lawmakers not to give a US foothold to future immigrants intent on entering based on family connections, rather than skills.

“CHAIN MIGRATION cannot be allowed to be part of any legislation on Immigration!” Trump boomed in a tweet.

Analysts have reportedly told Congress that granting citizenship to the Dreamers may open the door to as many as 1.5 million other immigrants, such as their relatives abroad or the parents who illegally brought them to the United States.

Congressman Mark Meadows, who chairs the far-right House Freedom Caucus, told USA Today that “we’re coming up with legislative proposals that we believe would get a lot of conservative support.”

Democrats are seeking legislation that would enshrine the DACA protections, and lead to citizenship. Perhaps aware of conservative opposition, Trump pushed back. “We’re not looking at citizenship, we’re not looking at amnesty,” he said.

Trump also seized upon Friday’s train attack in London to renew calls for his controversial travel ban on travelers from several predominantly Muslim countries, which is the subject of fierce legal battles and is currently before the Supreme Court.

“The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific — but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!” he tweeted.

‘Proactive & nasty!’ 
Returning to the fiery national security rhetoric that helped fuel his campaign, Trump blasted “loser terrorists” for the London attack, and signalled he wanted harsher penalties.

“Perhaps we’re not nearly tough enough” on terrorists, he told reporters.

He also sought to portray his administration as more successful in tackling Islamic State extremists than his predecessor. “We have made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than the Obama Administration has made in 8 years,” he tweeted. “Must be proactive & nasty!”

Friday’s tweet storm also saw the president return to a favorite punching bag: the US media, namely the sports network ESPN, whose anchor Jemele Hill labeled Trump a “white supremacist” over his equivocal reaction to racially-charged violence in Charlottesville last month.

The White House has slammed her comments as a “fireable offense.”

“ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming),” Trump tweeted. “Apologize for untruth!”

Most Americans disapprove of Trump’s failure to clearly hold white supremacist groups accountable for the violence in Virginia that ended with the death of a counter-protester.

But while Gallup’s latest poll putting his disapproval rating at 56 percent, the president has maintained relatively solid support among white males — a key part of his political base.

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Britain records 379 terrorism arrests in 12 months

British Police made 379 arrests for terrorism offences in 12 months, particularly the ones that were linked to the London Bridge, Westminster and Manchester Arena terrorist attacks.

About one-third of those arrested were charged, including 105 people who were accused of terrorism, while 50 per cent of suspects were released without charge, the Home Office reported on Thursday.

The Crown Prosecution Service completed 71 terrorism trials, out of 62 in the previous 12 months, it said.

Following the explosion in May that killed 22 people and injured dozens at the end of a concert in Manchester Arena by U.S. singer Ariana Grande, Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain’s terrorist threat level would remain at the second-highest “severe’’ level.

The government has kept the “severe’’ level, meaning an attack that is “highly likely,’’ for more than two years.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, recently said police nationwide handled an average of about 500 active counter-terrorism investigations involving 3,000 subjects of interest.

Rowley, who is also Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer, told the BBC that the police were investigating an “extraordinary diversity’’ of terrorism cases.

“We’ve got young people who are being radicalised; we’ve got men and women; we’ve got some much older people who are hardened jihadists who’ve been in and out of prison and want to commit attacks again,’’ he told the broadcaster

“You’ve got simple attacks with knives and cars, through to the most sophisticated plots.’’

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EU’s Juncker to seek powers to screen foreign takeovers

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker delivers his State of the Union speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, eastern France, on September 13, 2017. 

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday said he would seek powers to screen foreign takeovers in Europe’s strategic sectors, amid concern about investment by China.

“We are not naive free traders. Europe will defend its strategic interests with an EU framework for investment screening,” Juncker said in his annual State of the Union speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

“If a foreign, state-owned company wants to buy a strategic port, or part of our energy infrastructure… this must be done transparently, with scrutiny and debate,” Juncker said.

“It is our responsibility to know what is happening inside our countries so that we are in a position to ensure our collective security,” he said.

The plan fulfils a request by French President Emmanuel Macron, backed by Germany and Italy, that Brussels draw up a strategy to counter a wave of takeovers by Chinese companies in Europe.

German concerns were sparked by recent acquisitions in the tech sector, most notably household goods maker Midea’s takeover of industrial robotics firm Kuka last year.

German leaders were alarmed to see valuable knowhow being transferred abroad, especially as robots become increasingly critical in the country’s crucial manufacturing centre.

Macron has blamed Europe for forgetting EU citizens who are worried about the effects of globalisation, so helping stoke the populist sentiment that brought on Brexit.

Reports said that Juncker’s plan would however be non-binding, amid concern in smaller EU nations about losing Beijing investments in their economies.

Juncker however insisted that Europe remained open for business and would seek to complete trade deals with Australia and New Zealand by the end of his mandate.

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North Korea vows to boost weapons programmes after sanctions

Members of the UN Security Council vote at a UN Security Council meeting over North Korea’s new sanctions on September 11, 2017 at the UN Headquarters in New York.

North Korea vowed Wednesday to accelerate its weapons programes in response to “evil” sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council following its latest and most powerful nuclear test.

The respected 38 North website in the US raised its estimate for the yield from the explosion, which Pyongyang says was a hydrogen bomb small enough to fit onto a missile, to around 250 kilotons — more than 16 times the size of the device that devastated Hiroshima in 1945.

The detonation, Pyongyang’s sixth nuclear blast, prompted global condemnation and came after it carried out two intercontinental ballistic missile launches in July that appeared to bring much of the US into range.

The UN Security Council unanimously imposed an eighth set of sanctions on the North Monday, banning it from trading in textiles and restricting its oil imports, which US President Donald Trump said was a prelude to stronger measures.

The resolution, passed after Washington toned down its original proposals to secure backing from China and Russia, came just one month after the council banned exports of coal, lead and seafood in response to the ICBM launch.

The North’s foreign ministry condemned the new measures “in the strongest terms”, calling them a “full-scale economic blockade” driven by the US and aimed at “suffocating” its state and people.

It was “another illegal and evil ‘resolution on sanctions’ piloted by the US”, it said in a statement carried by the official KCNA news agency.

“The DPRK will redouble the efforts to increase its strength to safeguard the country’s sovereignty and right to existence,” the ministry said, using the abbreviation for the North’s official name.

But the South’s unification ministry described the statement as “the most low-key form of response from North Korea to UN Security Council resolutions”.

Seoul conducted its first live-fire exercise of its new long-range Taurus missile in response to the nuclear test, its Air Force said.

The German air-to-surface weapon was capable of precision strikes on key North Korean facilities even if launched from the central part of the South, it added.

The US and its allies argue that tougher sanctions will pile pressure on North Korea to negotiate an end to its weapons programmes but experts are sceptical.

US President Donald Trump said the latest measures were a “very small step – not a big deal” that must lead to tougher measures.

“Those sanctions are nothing compared to ultimately what will happen,” Trump said, but added that it was “nice to get a 15 to nothing vote”.

– Radioactive gas –
The North says it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself from “hostile” US forces and analysts believe Pyongyang’s weapons programme has made rapid progress under leader Kim Jong-Un, with previous sanctions having done little to deter it.

Government estimates of the yield from its sixth nuclear test vary from South Korea’s 50 kilotons to Japan’s 160, but 38 North, which is linked to Johns Hopkins University in the US, raised its estimate to “roughly 250 kilotons”, in line with upward revisions for the magnitude of the resulting tremor.

South Korea’s Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said Wednesday it had collected a small amount of xenon-133 — a radioactive isotope of the inert gas that does not occur naturally — that was “linked to the latest nuclear test”.

But the commission said in a statement it was “unable to confirm what type of nuclear test was conducted”.

Washington had initially sought a full oil embargo and a freeze on the foreign assets of leader Kim Jong-Un in response to the blast, but dropped them following strong opposition from China and Russia.

The new resolution instead bans trade in textiles, cuts off natural gas shipments to North Korea, places a ceiling of 2 million barrels a year on deliveries of refined oil products and caps crude oil shipments at current levels.

Retail petrol prices in the North jumped earlier this year, with some analysts suggesting the authorities were stockpiling in the expectation of a ban.

According to the US mission to the United Nations, the North imports around 8.5 million barrels a year of oil and oil products, 4 million as crude and 4.5 million in refined form — which includes substances such as petrol and diesel.

It added that the North’s textile exports averaged $760 million a year.

The UN resolution also barred countries from issuing new authorisations to North Korean workers sent abroad. There are almost 100,000 of them, according to the US mission, earning more than $500 million a year for the regime.

Under the measure, joint ventures with North Korean entities are prohibited, while governments are authorised to inspect ships suspected of carrying banned cargo from the country, but must first seek the consent of the vessels’ flag state.

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Hope Hicks named White House communications director

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 6, 2017 shows White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks arriving at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.Hicks has been named White House communication’s director, formally taking on one of the most powerful roles in Washington. Hicks — who had been acting director since the spectacular departure of Anthony Scaramucci — confirmed her appointment via email on September 12, 2017. 

Twenty-eight-year-old Donald Trump aide Hope Hicks has been named White House communication’s director, formally taking on one of the most powerful roles in Washington.

Hicks — who had been acting director since the spectacular departure of Anthony Scaramucci — confirmed her appointment via email on Tuesday.

The former model and PR operative is known around the West Wing for her close relationship with the Trump family and as a keen defender of Trump’s image.

She previously advised Ivanka Trump and was spokesperson for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, her first job in politics.

Since the beginning of the administration she had a floating role, a trusted advisor to the president who was able to channel Trump’s thinking on issues related to the press.

Her appointment brings her more tightly into the formal White House communications structure.

Although less visible than press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House communications director is responsible for shaping the administration’s message.

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UN slams UK government over ‘plague’ of air pollution

 UN report has slammed the UK for failing to tackle the “plague” of air pollution, while also warning of Brexit risks, ahead of the body’s Human Rights Council opening Monday.

“Air pollution continues to plague the United Kingdom,” read the report by United Nations expert Baskut Tuncak, to be presented at the rights council in Geneva which runs until September 29.

More than 40,000 premature deaths a year are linked to air pollution, noted the report which argued that through inaction the government has “violated its obligations” to protect children.

“The Special Rapporteur is alarmed that despite repeated judicial instruction… the United Kingdom Government continues to flout its duty to ensure adequate air quality and protect the rights to life and health of its citizens,” it said.

The British government has faced a series of legal challenges over its proposals, with a 2015 air pollution plan struck down by the courts for being inadequate.

New proposals, including a scrappage scheme targeting diesel cars, were unveiled in May after the High Court ruled against the government’s intention to delay.

But the UN report said the latest plan “does not convey the necessary urgency” and urged the government to implement a “robust clean air plan without delay”.

Published against the backdrop of Britain’s divorce from the European Union, the Tuncak report praised the bloc for having some of the highest environmental standards in the world which have positively impacted the UK.

Despite government assurances that it will maintain EU environmental standards after Brexit, Tuncak said a lack of clarity on how this will happen has led to a “real danger” Britain will be left without the necessary legal framework.

“The United Kingdom market could risk becoming a haven for ‘dirty’ industries and a dumping ground for products failing to meet European Union regulations,” without matching EU legislation, the report said.

Wading into the subject of Brexit talks, the UN report advised the British government to continue to abide by evolving EU standards despite its exit from the bloc.

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Lavrov says too early to discuss final UN vote on North Korea

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday it was too early to talk about a vote at the UN Security Council on new North Korea sanctions, insisting any pressure should be balanced against restarting talks.

“Work is currently going on over a new resolution in the Security Council and it is still early to make predictions about its final form,” Lavrov said at a news conference with French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian.

“Along with pressure on the North Korean regime to induce it to abandon provocations in the implementation of its nuclear and missile programmes, it is necessary to emphasize and increase the priority of efforts to resume the political process,” Lavrov said.

The United States has presented a draft UN resolution calling for an oil embargo on North Korea, an assets freeze on leader Kim Jong-Un, a ban on textiles and an end to payments of North Korean guest workers.

Washington is determined to have a vote at the UN Security Council on Monday on imposing the tough new sanctions against Pyongyang, UN diplomats said.

The United States wants to maximise pressure on Pyongyang to come to the table and negotiate an end to its nuclear and missile tests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that new sanctions will not help persuade Kim to drop his nuclear programme.

Security Council permanent member Moscow has not said explicitly however that it will veto the US plans.

The proposed sanctions would be the toughest-ever imposed on North Korea and seek to punish Pyongyang for its sixth and largest nuclear test.

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