Trump adviser Bannon ordered to report to prison by July 1

A man holds a sign that reads "Lock Them Up" as Attorney Matthew Evan Corcoran (L) and Steve Bannon, former advisor to President Donald Trump, depart federal court on June 6, 2024 in Washington, DC. (AFP)
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Updated 07 June 2024
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Trump adviser Bannon ordered to report to prison by July 1

WASHINGTON: Former top Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon was ordered by a federal judge on Thursday to report to prison by July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

Bannon, 70, was convicted of contempt in July 2022 for defying a subpoena to testify before the congressional panel that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

One of the masterminds behind Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, he was sentenced to four months in prison in October 2022, but has remained free while appealing his conviction.

A US federal appeals court upheld the conviction last month. US District Judge Carl Nichols revoked his bail at a court hearing on Thursday and ordered him to report to prison by July 1.

Another top Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, was also convicted of contempt of Congress and began serving a four-month sentence in a Florida prison in March.

Navarro, 74, is the highest-ranking former member of the Trump administration to spend time behind bars for actions stemming from the former Republican president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Bannon served in the White House as chief strategist for the first seven months of Trump’s term, leaving reportedly due to conflicts with other top staffers.

In 2020, he was charged with wire fraud and money laundering for taking for personal use millions of dollars contributed by donors toward the construction of a border wall with Mexico.

While others were found guilty in the scheme, Trump issued a blanket pardon to Bannon before leaving office in January 2021, leading to the dismissal of the charges against him.

Trump was scheduled to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the election won by Democrat Joe Biden, but his trial has been put on hold until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s claim that as a former president he is immune from prosecution.

Trump, 77, was impeached for a second time by the House of Representatives after the Capitol riot — he was charged with inciting an insurrection — but was acquitted by the Senate.


Russia ‘categorically’ against deploying European troops to Ukraine, Russian senior diplomat says

Updated 04 March 2025
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Russia ‘categorically’ against deploying European troops to Ukraine, Russian senior diplomat says

  • “Firstly, the European Union is not impartial, and peacekeepers must be impartial,” Ulyanov said on the Telegram messaging app

MOSCOW: Russia is categorically against the idea of potential deployment of European troops to Ukraine, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s envoy in Vienna to international organizations said on Tuesday.
“Firstly, the European Union is not impartial, and peacekeepers must be impartial,” Ulyanov said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Secondly, Russia is categorically against it.”
 

 


White House seeks plan for possible Russia sanctions relief, sources say

Updated 04 March 2025
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White House seeks plan for possible Russia sanctions relief, sources say

  • Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and if US sanctions on its energy system were eased, it could help prevent fuel prices from rising if Trump cracks down on oil exports from OPEC-member Iran

The United States is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, a US official and another person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The White House has asked the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for US officials to discuss with Russian representatives in the coming days as part of the administration’s broad talks with Moscow on improving diplomatic and economic relations, the sources said.
The sanctions offices are now drawing up a proposal for lifting sanctions on select entities and individuals, including some Russian oligarchs, according to the sources.
So-called options papers are often drafted by officials working on sanctions, but the White House’s specific request for one in recent days underscores Trump and his advisers’ willingness to ease Russian sanctions as part of a potential deal with Moscow.
It was not immediately clear what Washington could specifically seek in return for any sanctions relief.
Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil producers and if US sanctions on its energy system were eased, it could help prevent fuel prices from rising if Trump cracks down on oil exports from OPEC-member Iran.
The White House, the State Department, the Treasury Department and the Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Kremlin last year described relations as “below zero” under the administration of Joe Biden, a Democrat who backed Ukraine with aid and weapons and imposed tough sanctions on Russia to punish it for its invasion in 2022.
But Trump, who has promised a quick end to the war, has upended US policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow, beginning with a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 12 that was followed by meetings between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia and Turkiye.
US sanctions on Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine have included measures aimed at limiting revenues from the country’s huge oil and gas industry and weakening its ability to fund the war.
Western governments led by Washington imposed a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russia’s oil exports. Biden also hit Moscow with designations on Russian energy companies and vessels that shipped its oil, including Washington’s toughest-yet measures on Jan. 10 shortly before leaving office.
Trump in January threatened to ramp up sanctions on Russia if Putin was unwilling to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. But more recently, Trump administration officials have openly acknowledged the possibility of easing sanctions on Moscow.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during a Feb. 20 interview with Bloomberg Television that Russia could win economic relief, depending on how it approached negotiations in the coming weeks. Trump told reporters on Feb. 26 that Russian sanctions could be eased “at some point.”

ECONOMIC COOPERATION
The White House asked State and Treasury officials to devise a possible sanctions relief plan before Trump last week extended a state of emergency over the situation in Ukraine, the US sources said.
The state of emergency sanctions certain assets and people involved in Russia’s war. Those measures, imposed by then-President Barack Obama’s administration, have been in place since March 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea.
It is unclear which Russian sanctions the Trump administration would consider lifting first.
Trump could issue an executive order that would allow the administration to begin the process of easing some Russian sanctions, but he would also need to seek congressional approval to lift measures on certain entities, said John Smith, a partner at Morrison Foerster law firm and the former head of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Since 2022, Russia has been able to build a wartime economy with increased military spending and industrial production. But experts say the country’s economy is vulnerable and in desperate need of Western sanctions relief.
Russia says it is open for economic cooperation. The Kremlin said last week that Russia had lots of rare earth metal deposits and was open to doing deals to develop them after Putin held out the possibility of such collaboration with the US
Any formal economic deal with Moscow would likely require the US to ease sanctions.
Trump has been seeking a minerals deal with Ukraine — home to a trove of lithium deposits and rare earth minerals — as pay back for billions of dollars in US aid. However, no deal was signed after an explosive Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.


Trump slams Zelensky for saying the end of the Russia war ‘is still very, very far away’

Updated 04 March 2025
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Trump slams Zelensky for saying the end of the Russia war ‘is still very, very far away’

  • “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform about the comments Zelensky made late Sunday

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump slammed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday for suggesting that the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine likely “is still very, very far away.”
The comments come as prominent Trump allies escalate pressure on Zelensky to dramatically change his approach to the US president, who has made quickly ending the war a top priority, or step aside.
The long complicated relationship between the leaders has reached a nadir following a disastrous White House meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance excoriated Zelensky for not being sufficiently thankful for US support for Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the February 2022 invasion.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelensky, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform about the comments Zelensky made late Sunday while speaking to reporters in London.
Trump at an event at the White House later on Monday referred to Zelensky’s reported comments, and asserted the Ukrainian leader “better not be right about that.”
“If somebody doesn’t want to make a deal, I think that person won’t be around very long,” Trump added. “That person will not be listened to very long.”
Trump took issue with Zelensky suggesting it would take time to come to an agreement to end the war. The Ukrainian leader also tried to offer a positive take on the US-Ukraine relationship in the aftermath of last week’s White House meeting.
Asked by a reporter about the outlines of a new European initiative to end Russia’s war, Zelensky said: “We are talking about the first steps today, and, therefore, until they are on paper, I would not like to talk about them in great detail.”
“An agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet,” he added.
But Trump was only further irritated by Zelensky’s suggesting it will take time for the conflict to come to a close.
“It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelensky, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the US — Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia,” Trump added in his post. “What are they thinking?”
Zelensky took to social media soon after Trump’s latest criticism. He did not directly refer to Trump’s comments, but underscored that it “is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible.”
“We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns,” Zelensky added. “We lose our people. We need to stop the war and to guarantee security.”
Trump’s national security adviser said Zelensky’s posture during Friday’s Oval Office talks “put up in the air” whether he’s someone the US administration will be able to deal with going forward.
“Is he ready, personally, politically, to move his country toward an end to the fighting?” Mike Waltz said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” earlier Monday. “And can he and will he make the compromises necessary?”
Waltz added another layer of doubt about US support as other high-profile Trump allies have suggested that the relationship between Trump and Zelensky is becoming untenable.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that Zelensky “needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude or someone else needs to lead the country” for Ukraine to continue pursuing a peace deal negotiated by the United States.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has been a vociferous supporter of Ukraine, said soon after the Oval Office meeting that Zelensky “either needs to resign and send somebody over that we can do business with, or he needs to change.”
Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, said Putin is likely in no rush to end the war amid the fissures between Trump and Zelensky and Europe and the US about the way ahead.
“He is not interested in ending the war,” said Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “He thinks Russia is winning. ... And he thinks that as time goes on, the West will be more fractured.”
Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Zelensky’s visit last week that would have given the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in part to pay back more than $180 billion in aid the US has sent Kyiv since the start of the war. The White House has also billed such a pact as a way to tighten US-Ukrainian relations in the long term.
The signing was scrapped after the leaders’ Oval Office talks went off the rails and White House officials asked Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation to leave.
Trump on Monday, however, suggested he hasn’t given up on the economic pact, calling it “a great deal.” He added that he expected to speak to the deal during his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress.


UN food program closes its southern Africa office in the wake of Trump administration aid cuts

Villagers fetch water from a makeshift borehole in Mudzi, Zimbabwe, July 2, 2024. (AP)
Updated 04 March 2025
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UN food program closes its southern Africa office in the wake of Trump administration aid cuts

  • The WFP didn’t say how much funding it had lost from USAID, but it received $4.4 billion in assistance from the United States last year, around half its total annual budget and more than four times the amount given by the second biggest donor, Germany

CAPE TOWN, South Africa: The United Nations’ World Food Program is closing its southern Africa office in the wake of the Trump administration’s aid cuts, a spokesperson said Monday.
Tomson Phiri said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press that the UN food agency had launched a multiyear plan to streamline its structure in 2023 but as “the donor funding outlook becomes more constrained, we have been compelled to accelerate these efforts.”
Phiri said the WFP would consolidate its southern and East Africa operations into one regional office in Nairobi, Kenya. The southern Africa office in Johannesburg will close.

Officials from USAID and WFP inspect a donation of $11 million worth of food aid at a ceremony in Harare, Zimbabwe, Jan 17. 2024. (AP)

Phiri said food programs would continue.
“Our commitment to serving vulnerable communities is as strong as ever, and WFP remains committed to ensuring our operations are as effective and efficient as possible in meeting the needs of those facing hunger,” he wrote.
The WFP didn’t say how much funding it had lost from USAID, but it received $4.4 billion in assistance from the United States last year, around half its total annual budget and more than four times the amount given by the second biggest donor, Germany.
The Trump administration announced last week it was terminating 90 percent of USAID’s foreign aid contracts because they didn’t advance America’s national interests, stopping $60 billion in spending on humanitarian projects across the world.
The move comes after southern Africa was hit by its worst drought in decades last year, destroying crops and putting 27 million people in danger of hunger, according to the WFP. The WFP made a call for $147 million in donations to help some of those in need even before President Donald Trump started cutting US foreign aid.
The WFP provides food assistance to more than 150 million people in 120 countries worldwide, it says. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020 and its last six leaders since 1992 have all been Americans, including current executive director Cindy McCain, the widow of former US Sen. John McCain.
Few UN agencies have been specific about the impact of the US aid cuts.
The UN’s International Organization for Migration reportedly has cut 3,000 jobs linked to resettlement in the United States, and family planning agency UNFPA has estimated that a number of its operations will be affected.
Many UN aid agencies have said they are still assessing the impact and remain unclear about whether some programs or projects will benefit from waivers that could allow US donations to continue to flow.
 

 


West African mission leaves Guinea-Bissau following threats

Updated 04 March 2025
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West African mission leaves Guinea-Bissau following threats

DAKAR: A mission by a West African regional bloc sent to Guinea-Bissau to resolve a dispute over elections there has left the country following threats by President Umaro Sissoco Embalo, according to a statement.

The dispute over the end date of Embalo’s term has escalated tensions and raised fears of unrest in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, which has endured multiple coups since gaining independence from Portugal over 50 years ago. The opposition argues that Embalo’s term, which began in 2020, should have ended last week, while the country’s Supreme Court ruled that it ends on Sept. 4. 

Last month, Embalo announced that the next presidential and parliamentary elections would be held on Nov. 30.

The bloc, ECOWAS, said its mission left early on Saturday. 

It was deployed from Feb. 21 to Feb. 28, together with the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel, to help broker a consensus on when to hold the presidential election.

ECOWAS is West Africa’s top political and economic authority, often collaborating with states to solve various domestic challenges. 

In recent years, however, it has struggled to reverse coups in the region and disputes with citizens complaining of not benefitting from their country’s natural resources.

Embalo says he has survived two attempts to overthrow him. 

After the most recent one in Dec. 2023, which involved a shootout between the national and presidential guard, he dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament, accusing it of passivity.

Last week, Embalo met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss potential economic and security ties. Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for many African governments, displacing traditional allies such as France and the US.