Wednesday, Dec 10th
Last update09:17:38 AM GMT
European leaders on Tuesday lamented President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, but vowed to honor the accord moving forward.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a joint statement that they’re concerned about Trump’s decision, but encouraged other parties to the agreement to honor the terms of the deal.
The White House has released its justification for violating the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposing sanctions lifted under the deal.
“The re-imposed sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy, such as its energy, petrochemical, and financial sectors,” according to the White House brief. “Those doing business in Iran will be provided a period of time to allow them to wind down operations in or business involving Iran.
Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, condemned Trump’s decision to withdraw from the accord as “a grave mistake”.
“With this decision President Trump is risking US national security, recklessly upending foundational partnerships with key US allies in Europe and gambling with Israel’s security,” Menendez said in a statement.
Another desk is being vacated in the ever-churning White House communications department.
Cliff Sims, a special assistant to the president who oversees White House message strategy, is expected to take a position at the State Department as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the coming weeks.
“Cliff worked on communications for Pompeo’s confirmation and did an outstanding job, which led to Secretary Pompeo offering him that position,” said a person close to Pompeo.
Sims was officially offered the post on Monday and is expected to begin as soon as possible, the source said. The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment on the personnel change.
A video of lava deluging a car during Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano eruption and other staggering photos provide a grim look at how powerful the spewing molten rock is.
Since it first began spewing lava into residential areas on Thursday, the volcano has forced about 1,700 evacuations as it blanketed the island’s Puna district, destroyed at least 35 structures and forced roadway closures. Authorities have identified the emergence of 10 fissures, elongated fractures or cracks in the earth’s surface from which lava spews.
Officials said Sunday it was impossible to predict when the destructive volcanic activity would cease. Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted last week after days of earthquakes. The volcanic activity intensified on Friday after powerful, back-to-back temblors shook the island.
A booklet published by Melania Trump’s new campaign for children’s online safety bears an uncanny resemblance to a document released under Barack Obama’s administration.
Donald Trump’s wife gave an opening night address at the Republican National Convention in 2016 that was partly plagiarised from a speech by then first lady Michelle Obama.
Melania’s initiative, Be Best, which launched on Monday, has a page on the official White House website that said near the bottom: “Parents, click here to read Talking with Kids about Being Online, a booklet by First Lady Melania Trump and the Federal Trade Commission.”
North Korea's foreign ministry has warned Washington not to "mistake its peace-loving intentions for a sign of weakness," blasting claims that the U.S-led campaign of pressure and sanctions on the NOrth paved the way for the upcoming summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
In an interview with (North) Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, a foreign ministry spokesman said the United States has "misled public opinion by making it appear its sanctions and pressure had led to the recently adopted Panmunjom Declaration between the two Koreas revealing their intention to denuclearize the Peninsula.
According to real estate records cited by the newspaper, during the campaign Cohen nearly doubled how much he could use on a credit line linked to his apartment in Manhattan. The amount rose to $245,000 as Trump’s income grew during the presidential race in February 2016.
Cohen also gained possible access to an additional $529,000 through a mortgage he co-signed with his wife for a condominium owned by her parents at Trump World Tower in late 2015, the Journal reported.
Donald Trump’s legal team for the Russia investigation has had its share of setbacks. Most recently, lead attorney John Dowd resigned from his post, reportedly because Trump stopped listening to him. Losing Dowd didn’t just mean losing a “fierce legal mind,” it also meant losing the only lawyer on Trump’s team with security clearance.
Now, Bloomberg reports, none of Trump’s lawyers working on issues related to the Russia probe have clearance. Jay Sekulow, Trump’s personal attorney and the host of Jay Sekulow Live!, replaced Dowd, but he’s still waiting to be cleared. The newest members of the team — Rudy Giuliani, Marty Raskin and Jane Raskin — haven’t been on the job long enough to get cleared themselves and none of them told Bloomberg whether they’d even sought such clearance.
In the fourth and final Florida bellwether election since 2016, the Democratic candidate beat the Republican in a contested race, providing the best evidence yet that the GOP is in retreat heading into the midterm elections under an unpopular president.
On Tuesday, in Florida’s 114th state House District in Miami, Javier Fernandez beat Republican Andrew Vargas by about 4.1 percentage points, despite being outspent by at least 2-1 in a swing seat where voters split their tickets between both parties in the 2016 elections.
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