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US House Democrats target Trump-Putin talks, obstruction

In this file photo taken on February 4, 2019, members of President Donald Trump's family look on during the State of the Union address in the chamber of the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC. The House Judiciary Committee launched a sprawling new probe on March 4, 2019 into Trump's inner circle and alleged abuses of power, demanding documents from dozens of individuals including the president's sons Donald Jr. and Eric and son-in-law Jared Kushner. (AFP / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / CHIP SOMODEVILLA)
Updated 05 March 2019
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US House Democrats target Trump-Putin talks, obstruction

  • Trump says he will cooperate with the House probe although he calls the accusations a "political hoax"
  • Last week, Trump's former campaign manager directly implicated him in various crimes including campaign finance violations
Updated 05 March 2019
REUTERS:

WASHINGTON: Democrats in the US Congress unleashed an unexpectedly sweeping series of demands in their investigations of President Donald Trump on Monday, seeking information about his communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin and documents from 81 sources in an obstruction probe.
The heads of the House of Representatives Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees wrote to the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seeking documents and interviews with personnel about Trump’s conversations with Putin.
The lawmakers expressed concern about media reports that Trump seized notes on at least one meeting with the Russian leader and tried to destroy records about those talks.
“These allegations, if true, raise profound national security, counterintelligence, and foreign policy concerns, especially in light of Russia’s ongoing active measures campaign to improperly influence American elections,” Chairmen Adam Schiff, Elliot Engel and Elijah Cummings wrote in their letter.
The White House pushed back against their demands, with a spokesman saying it was within the president’s constitutional authority to have “candid one-on-one conversations with foreign heads of state.”
“The president may choose to share, or not share the contents of those conversations publicly as such discussions – like all diplomatic discussions – are often sensitive in nature,” the spokesman said on condition of anonymity, urging the panels to respect Trump’s authority to conduct foreign policy.
The request for information about communications with Putin followed the powerful House Judiciary Committee’s demand for documents from a who’s who of Trump’s turbulent world, targeting 81 people, government agencies and other groups in a probe into possible obstruction of justice or abuse of power.
The Republican president faces investigations from several congressional committees, as well as the 22-month-long federal special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign worked with Moscow to sway the outcome.
When they took control of the House in January, Democrats promised investigations on multiple fronts involving Trump, saying their Republican counterparts had ignored red flags coming out of the White House.
The Judiciary Committee listed Trump family members, current and former business employees, Republican campaign staffers and former White House aides, as well as the FBI, White House and WikiLeaks were listed as recipients of documents requests.
The panel also named the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, White House aide and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, former US attorney general Jeff Sessions and former White House counsel Don McGahn.
“We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight,” said US Representative Jerrold Nadler, Judiciary Committee chairman. “Congress must provide a check on abuses of power.”

Trump: It’s a ‘hoax
At the White House, Trump was asked if he would cooperate with Nadler’s probe. “I cooperate all the time with everybody,” he said before adding: “You know the beautiful thing? No collusion. It’s all a hoax... It’s a political hoax.”
A committee lawyer told reporters the immediate aim is to amass a large trove of evidence to guide the investigation and help decide which witnesses to approach. The panel is prepared to use its subpoena power if needed, the lawyer said.
Among the committee’s aims is determining whether Trump obstructed justice by ousting perceived enemies at the Justice Department, such as former FBI Director James Comey, and abused his presidential power by possibly offering pardons or tampering with witnesses.
Comey was leading an investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion with Trump’s campaign when the president fired him in May 2017.
The investigation was subsequently taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is expected to end his investigation and report his findings in coming weeks.
The Judiciary Committee also is looking at whether Trump has used the White House for personal enrichment in violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause.
Representatives for the White House and Justice Department said the requests are being reviewed.
Republicans in Congress accuse Democrats of pursuing an impeachment agenda against Trump as part of a political strategy to reclaim the White House in the 2020 election.
Democrats say talk of impeachment is premature. They say the first step is to initiate proper investigations, which were missing in the first two years of Trump’s presidency, when his fellow Republicans controlled the House of Representatives.
Some of those the committee is seeking documents from are among the dozens charged by Mueller. They include former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump adviser Roger Stone and Cohen.
Also on the committee’s list are others who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign or in the White House, such as Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer; Rhona Graff, a long-time executive assistant at the Trump Organization; and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc, which publishes the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer.
Trump maintains that his campaign did not collude with Russia and has repeatedly attacked the investigation on Twitter.
Democrats say Cohen’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee last week directly implicated Trump in various crimes including campaign finance violations.

Topics: Democrats Trump-Putin meeting

Central European flooding widens as death toll rises

Updated 2 sec ago
Reuters
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Central European flooding widens as death toll rises

  • First Czech death report as toll in central Europe rises, Czech town Litovel submerged in water overnight
  • Polish government meets to decide state of disaster
Updated 2 sec ago
Reuters
JESENIK: More rivers in central Europe burst their banks on Monday and the number of deaths increased from the worst flooding in at least two decades, with some authorities starting to count the costs and others preparing for waters rising further.
Border areas between the Czech Republic and Poland were hit hard over the weekend as heavy rain seen since last week and surging water levels collapsed some bridges, forced evacuations and left a trail of destruction.
At least 15 people have died in flooding from Austria to Romania.
Poland’s government was due to meet on Monday to call a state of disaster.
Michal Piszko, mayor of the Polish town of Klodzko along the Czech border, said waters had receded there but help was needed.
“We need bottled water and dry provisions, because we have also set up a point for flood victims evacuated from flooded areas,” he told private broadcaster RMF FM.
“Children will not go to school until the end of the week. At the moment, half of the city has no electricity.”
Polish Education Minister Barbara Nowacka said that around 420 schools across four provinces had been closed. In the town of Nysa a hospital was evacuated.
In the Czech town of Jesenik, across the Polish border where floods ripped through the town on Sunday, clean-up was starting after waters receded to show damaged cars and debris left on streets.
In eastern Romania, where villages and towns were submerged over the weekend, Emil Dragomir, mayor of Slobozia Conachi, told television station Digi24 the flooding had devastating impact.
“If you were here you would cry instantly because people are desperate, their whole lives’ work is gone, there were people who were left with just the clothes they had on,” he said.
Preparation
While rivers in the Czech-Polish border area were starting to recede on Monday, flooding was widening and leaving bigger cities on alert.
Jacek Sutryk, mayor of Poland’s Wroclaw, said the city of some 600,000 was preparing water levels peaking on Wednesday.
“This high wave will pass through Wroclaw for several days,” he said.
In the Czech Republic, a rising Morava River overnight put Litovel, a city 230 km (140 miles) east of the capital Prague with a population of nearly 10,000, around 70 percent under water and shut down schools and health facilities, its mayor said in a video on Facebook.
Flooded parts of northeastern Czech regional capital Ostrava forced closures of a power plant supplying heat and hot water to the city as well as two chemical plants.
More than 12,000 people have been evacuated in the Czech Republic. A quarter of a million Czech households had been without power over the weekend although that figure had fallen to 118,000 on Monday, CTK news agency reported.
In Romania, the flooding killed six people over the weekend. An Austrian firefighter died on Sunday. In Lower Austria two men aged 70 and 80 were found drowned in their homes, a police spokesperson said on Monday.
State news agency PAP reported five deaths in Poland and in the Czech Republic one person died, a police official said.
Danube also rises
Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said the government in Budapest was fully prepared to act and efforts for the time being focused on keeping the Danube River and its tributaries within their banks.
Pinter said up to 12,000 soldiers were on standby to help if needed.
Slovakia’s capital Bratislava and Hungarian capital Budapest were both preparing as the River Danube rose.
In Austria, the levels of rivers and reservoirs fell overnight as rain eased but officials said they were bracing for a second wave as heavier rain was expected in the coming hours.

Ukraine asks UN, ICRC to join humanitarian effort in Russia’s Kursk region

Updated 33 min 43 sec ago
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Ukraine asks UN, ICRC to join humanitarian effort in Russia’s Kursk region

  • Last week, Russian shelling killed three Ukrainians working for the ICRC and wounded two others in a village in the frontline Donetsk region
Updated 33 min 43 sec ago
Reuters

KYIV: Ukraine said on Monday it had asked the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to join humanitarian efforts in Russia’s Kursk region following a cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine’s army remains in the Kursk region more than a month after launching the assault, in which President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv has taken control of about 100 settlements.
Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said he had instructed his ministry to formally invite the UN and ICRC to work in the Kursk region when he visited the northeast Ukrainian region of Sumy on Sunday. The ministry confirmed that it had issued the requests.
“Ukraine is ready to facilitate their work and prove its adherence to international humanitarian law,” Sybiha said on X after the visit to Sumy, from where Ukrainian forces launched the cross-borer attack.
He said the Ukrainian army was ensuring humanitarian assistance and safe passage to civilians in the Kursk region.
The Foreign Ministry said in a written statement that the invitations had been issued to the ICRC and UN, “taking into account the humanitarian situation and the need to properly ensure basic human rights in the territory of the Kursk region.”
The ministry said it had asked the ICRC to monitor Ukraine’s compliance with the principles of international humanitarian law in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, which cover the protection of victims of international armed conflicts.
Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, did not immediately comment on the invitations. It was not immediately clear how or whether the UN or ICRC had responded.
Russia’s state-run RIA news agency reported on Monday that ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric had arrived on a visit to Moscow and planned to meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Last week, Russian shelling killed three Ukrainians working for the ICRC and wounded two others in a village in the frontline Donetsk region, Ukrainian officials said. Spoljaric has condemned the attacks.

Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Breton steps down as France’s EU commissioner, criticizing von der Leyen

Updated 50 min 32 sec ago
Reuters
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Breton steps down as France’s EU commissioner, criticizing von der Leyen

  • Breton, one of the highest-profile members of the European Commission for the past five years
  • Each EU member state will have one seat at the Commission’s table
Updated 50 min 32 sec ago
Reuters

PARIS/BRUSSELS: Thierry Breton of France stepped down as a member of the European Commission on Monday and said he would no longer be his country’s candidate for the next EU executive body, in an unexpected twist in the highly political EU power transition.
Breton, one of the highest-profile members of the European Commission for the past five years, is best known for sparring publicly with tech billionaire Elon Musk and playing a key role in shaping the 27-nation EU’s Big Tech regulation, its COVID-vaccine response and efforts to boost defense industries.
A former French minister and industrialist, Breton announced his resignation on X as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen prepares to announce this week who will be part of her new five-year team.
In his resignation letter, Breton alleged that von der Leyen “a few days ago” had asked France to withdraw his name as its pick for the Commission “for personal reasons” in return for an “allegedly more influential portfolio.”
He said France would indeed suggest another name in a rare last-minute change.
“In light of these latest developments — further testimony to questionable governance — I have to conclude that I can no longer exercise my duties in the College,” Breton said in the letter.
Reuters was unable to immediately verify the allegation. Von der Leyen’s office declined to make any immediate comment.
Breton, a former business executive, was the EU’s industry and internal market commissioner during her first term.
His and von der Leyen’s relationship had taken a turn for the worse over recent months. The French commissioner, a liberal, had angered von der Leyen by publicly criticizing her nomination as the European conservative EPP’s party candidate to head the Commission for a second term, EU officials have said.
Breton’s public feuds with Musk had also been met with dismay among other Commission colleagues, officials added.
Key jobs
As the EU’s second-biggest member state, France is vying for a major post in the new Commission team, which follows on European Parliament elections in June — the starting point every five years for a shake-up of key jobs in EU institutions that have a major impact on policymaking across the bloc.
Each EU member state will have one seat at the Commission’s table, although their political weight and importance varies greatly depending on the portfolio.
Having to replace Breton is likely to add to French President Emmanuel Macron’s woes at a time when he is still trying to pull together a government at home with new Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
The French presidency did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

Topics: European Union (EU)

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Italy backs EU’s Chinese tariffs, foreign minister says

Updated 16 September 2024
Reuters
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Italy backs EU’s Chinese tariffs, foreign minister says

  • Minister Wang Wentao is visiting Europe for discussions on the European Union’s anti-subsidy case against China-made EVs as the vote on more tariffs looms
Updated 16 September 2024
Reuters

MILAN: Italy backs tariffs proposed by the European Commission on Chinese exports of electric vehicles (EVs), Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday before a meeting in Rome with China’s commerce minister.
“We support the duties that the EU Commission proposes, to protect the competitiveness of our companies,” Tajani told daily Corriere della Sera in an interview.
Minister Wang Wentao is visiting Europe for discussions on the European Union’s anti-subsidy case against China-made EVs as the vote on more tariffs looms.
He was meeting Tajani on Monday morning and will hold talks with the European Commission’s Executive Vice President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Sept. 19.
“We want to work on a trade plan based on equality, we demand equal access for our products in their markets. Our companies must compete on equal terms,” Tajani added.
Italy is aiming for a “climate of positive cooperation, and real reciprocity to avoid dumping and obstacles from Beijing, that at times are incomprehensible,” he said.
Italy initially supported tariffs in a non-binding vote of EU members in July but Industry Minister Adolfo Urso told Reuters last week that he expected a negotiated solution.
Italy remains a major carmaker, home to brands including Fiat, part of the Stellantis group. It has also been seeking to woo Chinese carmakers including Dongfeng and Chery Auto to open factories in order to raise vehicle output.
Tajani added that his position did not compromise Italy’s “good relations” with China.
At the end of July Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited China, to boost co-operation with the world’s second-largest economy and reset trade ties after leaving the Belt and Road infrastructure investment scheme.
President Sergio Mattarella is scheduled to visit China later this year, with Tajani part of the delegation, the minister said.
The European Commission is on the brink of proposing final tariffs of up to 35.3 percent on EVs built in China, on top of the EU’s standard 10 percent car import duty.
The proposed duties will be subject to a vote by the EU’s 27 members. They will be implemented by the end of October unless a qualified majority of 15 EU members representing 65 percent of the EU population vote against them.

Topics: EU

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Germany expands border controls to curb migrant arrivals

Updated 16 September 2024
AFP
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Germany expands border controls to curb migrant arrivals

  • The border controls will be in place for an initial six months and are expected to include temporary structures at land crossings and spot checks by federal police
Updated 16 September 2024
AFP

FRANKFURT: Germany will from Monday expand border controls to the frontiers with all nine of its neighbors to stop irregular migrants in a move that has sparked protests from other EU members.
Berlin announced the sweeping measure following a string of deadly extremist attacks that have stoked public fears and boosted support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on Sunday said that the step aimed to limit irregular migration and “put a stop to criminals and identify and stop Islamists at an early stage.”
The border controls will be in place for an initial six months and are expected to include temporary structures at land crossings and spot checks by federal police.
Poland and Austria have voiced concern and the European Commission has warned that members of the 27-nation bloc must only impose such steps in exceptional circumstances.
Germany lies at the heart of Europe and borders nine countries that are part of the visa-free Schengen zone, designed to allow the free movement of people and goods.
Border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland were already in place before the crackdown was announced.
These will now be expanded to Germany’s borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.
Faeser said the government hoped to minimize the impact on people living and working in border regions, promising “coordination with our neighboring countries.”
The interior ministry however noted that travelers should carry identification when crossing the border.


In recent weeks, a string of extremist attacks have shocked Germany, fueling rising public anger.
Last month, a man on a knife rampage killed three people and wounded eight more at a festival in the western city of Solingen.
The Syrian suspect, who has alleged links to the Daesh group, had been intended for deportation but managed to evade authorities.
The enforcement failure set off a bitter debate which marked the run-up to two regional polls in the formerly communist east, where the anti-immigration AfD scored unprecedented results.
With national elections looming next year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has been under intense political pressure to toughen its stance on migrants and asylum seekers.
Scholz was in Uzbekistan on Sunday to sign a migration deal for workers to come to Germany, while simplifying deportation procedures in the opposite direction so that “those that must go back do go back,” the chancellor said.
Closer to home, the German government has presented plans to speed up deportations to European partners.
Under EU rules, asylum requests are meant to be handled by the country of arrival. The system has placed a huge strain on countries on the European periphery, where leaders have demanded more burden-sharing.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that Germany tightening its borders means that it would “essentially pass the buck to countries located on the outer borders of Europe.”
Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said his country “will not accept people who are rejected from Germany,” while Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk condemned Germany’s move as “unacceptable.”


Warsaw has also struggled with migration and accused Moscow of smuggling people from Africa and the Middle East into Europe by sending them through Belarus to the Polish border.
Berlin on Friday said that Tusk and Scholz had discussed the issue and agreed to strengthen EU external borders, “especially in view of the cynical instrumentalization of migrants by Belarus.”
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, meanwhile, mocked the German chancellor on social media site X, writing: “Bundeskanzler Scholz, welcome to the club! #StopMigration.”
Germany took in more than a million asylum seekers in 2015-16, many of them Syrians, and has hosted over a million Ukrainians since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022.
The extra burden on municipal authorities and integration services in Germany needed to be “taken into account” when talking about new border controls, Berlin’s interior ministry said.
In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Dick Schoof on Friday unveiled the country’s strictest migration policy yet, saying it will request an opt-out from EU common policy on asylum next week.
A four-party coalition dominated by far-right firebrand Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party wants to declare an “asylum crisis” to curb the influx of migrants through a tough set of rules including border controls.

Topics: Germany

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