WASHINGTON DC: The United State announced sanctions on Thursday against 19 Russian individuals and five groups over malicious cyber activity including meddling in the 2016 US election and cyber attacks, the Treasury Department said on Thursday. “The administration is confronting and countering malign Russian cyber activity, including their attempted interference …
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Hearing date set for Trump showdown with porn star
LOS ANGELES: Porn star Stormy Daniels will go to court on July 12 in a bid to dissolve an agreement stopping her discussing an affair she says she had with President Donald Trump, according to court papers published Wednesday. Lawyer Michael Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of Daniels last …
Read More »Paul Manafort seeks dismissal of charges, claims Mueller overstepped authority
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s former campaign chairman asked a federal judge Wednesday to dismiss some of the criminal charges he faces related to his foreign lobbying work on behalf of Ukrainian interests. In a series of motions, attorneys for Paul Manafort attacked the case brought against him in Washington, arguing …
Read More »Democrats can win back Trump voters and 4 other takeaways from the Pennsylvania special election
WASHINGTON — The final results in Tuesday’s special election in Pennsylvania may still be in doubt, but the political takeaways are pretty clear. Although the race was too close to call Wednesday morning, Democrat Conor Lamb clung to a small lead and claimed victory over his Republican opponent, Rick Saccone, …
Read More »Gina Haspel: Trump’s pick for CIA director oversaw waterboarding
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s choice to be the first female director of the Central Intelligence Agency is a career spymaster who once ran an agency prison in Thailand where terror suspects were subjected to a harsh interrogation technique that the president has supported. Gina Haspel, currently CIA’s deputy director, …
Read More »Malala’s We Are Displaced out on Sept 4
NEW YORK: Nobel Prize laureate and activist Malala Yousafzai is working on her next book about refugees and their plights. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers told Associated Press on Monday that Yousafzai’s ‘We Are Displaced’ will come out Sept 4. The book will combine her own experiences with accounts …
Read More »Trump fires Tillerson, names Pompeo successor
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday after a series of public rifts over issues including North Korea and Russia, replacing his chief diplomat with loyalist CIA Director Mike Pompeo. The biggest shakeup of Trump’s Cabinet since he took office more than a year …
Read More »US gives Philippine drones
The United States gave the Philippine air force its first surveillance drone system on Tuesday, as the two nations step up cooperation in the battle against jihadist militants. Washington has been boosting its backing for Philippine counter-terror efforts since supporters of the Islamic State group seized parts of the southern …
Read More »Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, says Robert Mueller is ‘not an unguided missile’
WASHINGTON — Despite unrelenting criticism from the White House on the course of the investigation into Russia’s election interference, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Monday offered unqualified support for special counsel Robert Mueller. “The special counsel is not an unguided missile,” Rosenstein said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY. …
Read More »Elements of the Taliban open to talks with Afghan government, says Mattis
WASHINGTON: Elements of the Taliban are open to talks with the Afghan government, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday as he arrived in Kabul on an unannounced visit. Mattis’ remarks came as he flew into the war-torn city, weeks after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani unveiled a plan to open …
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