Russian president offers North Korean leader help to break nuclear deadlock after Kim’s failed summit with Donald Trump
Vladimir Putin has offered Russia’s help to break the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme in his first meeting with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
Putin and Kim greeted each other warmly on Thursday, shaking hands before beginning two days of highly anticipated talks at a university in Russia’s far-eastern city of Vladivostok.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un has arrived in Vladivostok by train before talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Kim is expected to seek Russian support over western sanctions and his negotiations with the US over North Korea's nuclear programme
Continue reading...North Korean leader’s entourage ensures dust-free welcome in Russia’s far east
As Kim Jong-un arrived at the Vladivostok railway station on Wednesday, white-gloved attendants ran alongside his armoured train, wiping the dust from any surfaces that the North Korean leader might touch exiting the carriage.
Before he could disembark, the train had to back up precisely so that the carriage doors lined up with the red carpet laid out for Kim’s arrival.
Continue reading...The North Korean leader arrived in Russia by train on Wednesday, a day before his much-anticipated summit with President Vladimir Putin. He visited with diplomacy over his nuclear programme deadlocked. Kim is travelling to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok for a meeting with Putin on Thursday
Continue reading...President’s son-in-law and senior adviser dismissed concerns about Russian spying operations at Time 100 summit
Jared Kushner has played down Russian interference in the 2016 US election, describing Moscow’s attack as “a bunch of Facebook ads” and calling Robert Mueller’s two-year special counsel investigation “a big distraction”.
Speaking at the Time 100 summit in New York City on Tuesday, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser dismissed concerns about Russian spying operations laid out in alarming detail over 199 pages of the Mueller report released last week.
Continue reading...Deputy defence minister says US using a ‘broad range of techniques’ in bid to oust president Nicolás Maduro
Russia has accused the United States of deliberately causing a succession of crippling power cuts in Venezuela as part of a plot to topple its president, Nicolás Maduro, dubbed “Operation Blackout”.
The crisis-stricken South American country has been rocked by a series of nationwide power outrages since 7 March, which Maduro’s government has blamed on US-backed saboteurs and snipers but most experts attribute to poor maintenance and a bush fire that destroyed a key section of Venezuela’s power grid.
Continue reading...As many challenges await as for leader he played on TV but with no certainty of a happy ending
After a campaign of stunts, japes and viral videos, things now get serious for Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Related: Zelenskiy’s victory in Ukraine was extraordinary. But now he faces a real test | Katya Gorchinskaya
Continue reading...Mueller report reveals how staff told to do illegal things did not but some say that doesn’t mean Trump is not guilty of a crime
The myth of Donald Trump presents him as a man of authority, a leader loved and feared, a boss who demands loyalty – and gets it.
Related: The 14 current Republican senators who voted to impeach or convict Bill Clinton
Continue reading...Analysis counts up attorney general William Barr’s redactions, as House issues subpoena for version of the report without anything removed
Another former federal prosecutor weighs in on CNN:
If this was any person other than the president of the United States, I can say as a former prosecutor, this would be a knock-down case for obstruction,” said CNN legal analyst Elie Honig. “I’ve charged and convicted on obstruction of justice based on a fraction of this evidence.
- Elie Honig
"If this was any person other than the President of the United States...this would be a knock down case for obstruction of justice," says former federal prosecutor @eliehonig as he lays out his biggest takeaways from the Mueller report. https://t.co/QtOw6uvA9r pic.twitter.com/ydPr42khbg
In an opinion column for Politico, a former federal prosecutor describes the Mueller report as “case meticulously laid out by a prosecutor who knew he was not allowed to bring it.”
The case is so detailed that it is hard to escape the conclusion that Mueller could have indicted and convicted Trump for obstruction of justice—if he were permitted to do so. And the reason he is not permitted to do so is very clear: Department of Justice policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president.”
"...if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment." -Mueller report pic.twitter.com/PvYaWVAjb3
Continue reading...Analysis: activity discovered by Mueller was not, as Trump and his allies falsely insist, standard stuff for a political campaign
For all his bluster about being a master builder, Donald Trump really made his millions through branding. From chewy steaks to failing casinos, Trump has spent decades putting lucrative lipstick on pigs.
So when faced with a sprawling criminal investigation into how Russia worked to get him elected – and how he then repeatedly tried to obstruct the inquiry – the president devised a brutally effective public relations campaign.
Continue reading...The special counsel found 11 instances in which Trump and his campaign’s actions may have amounted to obstruction of justice
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s highly-anticipated report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was made public on Thursday, examining potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Moscow and whether Donald Trump obstructed justice.
The special counsel found 11 “episodes” in which Trump’s actions may have amounted to obstruction of justice, detailing several instances in which the president’s demands to interfere with the investigation were blocked by his aides.
Continue reading...The US president said on Thursday he was having a 'good day' after the release of the special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the now-closed Russia investigation. The US attorney general, William Barr, told a news conference before the report’s release that the investigation did not find Donald Trump or members of his campaign worked with Russia during the 2016 presidential election
Continue reading...Barr has said the report has two parts: one on Russian tampering efforts and one on alleged obstruction of justice by Trump
On Thursday, the US justice department is expected to release a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s long-awaited report on Russian election tampering and the Donald Trump campaign to the public. The attorney general, William Barr, has announced a press conference at the justice department at 9.30am to discuss it.
Related: Mueller report: redacted Trump-Russia findings to be released today – live
Continue reading...Summit between North Korean leader and Russian president to take place in late April
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will visit Russia in late April for his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, Moscow has said.
“Following an invitation from Vladimir Putin ... Kim Jong-un will visit Russia in the second half of April,” said the Kremlin in a statement on its website on Thursday.
Continue reading...Residents of a village in Russia have been stunned by the sight of a polar bear 700km from its usual habitat. The people of the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula looked on as the bear searched for food. Russian media reported on Wednesday that the exhausted-looking animal apparently travelled from Chukotka to the village of Tilichiki, about 700km (434 miles) south. Environmentalists say the bear may have lost its sense of direction while drifting on an ice floe
Continue reading...Volodymyr Zelenskiy is hot favourite to triumph in Sunday’s presidential election
Latest polling in Ukraine suggests that the actor and comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who has eschewed traditional political campaigning and given little insight into his policy positions, is set to win a crushing victory in Sunday’s presidential election.
Zelenskiy is known for his television series Servant of the People in which he plays a history teacher who wins a shock victory in presidential elections. He is now odds-on to pull off the feat in real life, after capitalising on widespread disappointment with the incumbent, Petro Poroshenko, who won elections in 2014 after the Maidan revolution kicked out the previous government.
Continue reading...18 April 1934: “Trotsky had not kept his promise to remain neutral when he was granted the hospitality of France,” said the French minister of the Interior
Paris, April, 17.
The French Government, at its meeting to-day, decided to expel Trotsky from France. Commenting on this decision, M. Sarraut, the Minister of the Interior, said that “Trotsky had not kept his promise to remain neutral when he was granted the hospitality of France.” Trotsky, M. Sarraut said, would be asked to leave France (and, in the first place, the Paris district) within the shortest possible time.
Related: From the archive: The expulsion of Trotsky from the Soviet party
Continue reading...Environmental activists have blamed climate change for appearance of polar bear in the Kamchatka Peninsula
Residents of a village in Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula have been stunned by the sight of a polar bear prowling for food hundreds of miles from its usual habitat.
Russian media reported on Wednesday that the exhausted-looking animal apparently traveled from Chukotka to the village of Tilichiki on Kamchatka, some 700km (434 miles) south.
Continue reading...Democrats condemn Barr’s handling of report’s release following news it will not come until after press conference
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that House Democrats, looking into President Trump’s financial interests, have subpoenaed JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo & Co., Bank of America, Capital One Financial Corp., Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto Dominion Bank.
Investigators on the House Financial Services Committee and House Intelligence Committee have focused their early efforts on Deutsche Bank, which has said it in engaged “in a productive dialogue” with the committees.
Deutsche Bank’s relationship with Mr. Trump goes back decades. Since 1998, the bank has led or participated in loans of at least $2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Mr. Trump, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
Continue reading...Exclusive: in confidential internal report seen by the Guardian, bank says scandal has hurt global brand
Germany’s troubled Deutsche Bank faces fines, legal action and the possible prosecution of “senior management” because of its role in a $20bn Russian money-laundering scheme, a confidential internal report seen by the Guardian says.
The bank admits there is a high risk that regulators in the US and UK will take “significant disciplinary action” against it. Deutsche concedes that the scandal has hurt its “global brand” – and is likely to cause “client attrition”, loss of investor confidence and a decline in its market value.
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