Russia and China joined diplomatic forces on Tuesday and called on North Korea, South Korea and the United States to sign up to a Chinese de-escalation plan designed to defuse tensions around Pyongyang&#39;s missile programme.

The plan would see North Korea suspend its ballistic missile programme and the United States and South Korea simultaneously call a moratorium on large-scale missile exercises, both moves aimed at paving the way for multilateral talks.

The initiative was set out in a joint statement from the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries issued shortly after President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held wide-ranging talks in the Kremlin.

&quot;The situation in the region affects the national interests of both countries,&quot; the joint statement said. &quot;Russia and China will work in close coordination to advance a solution to the complex problem of the Korean Peninsula in every possible way.&quot;

North Korea said on Tuesday it had successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, which flew a trajectory that experts said could allow a weapon to hit the US&nbsp;state of Alaska.

Russia and China both share a land border with North Korea and have been involved in past efforts to try to calm tensions between Pyongyang and the West.

Moscow and Beijing used the same joint declaration to call on Washington to immediately halt deployment of its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, a move Washington says is necessitated by the North Korean missile threat.

The statement said Washington was using North Korea as a pretext to expand its military infrastructure in Asia and risked upsetting the strategic balance of power in the area.

&quot;The deployment ... of THAAD will cause serious harm to the strategic security interests of regional states, including Russia and China,&quot; the statement said.

&quot;Russia and China oppose the deployment of such systems and call on the relevant countries to immediately halt and cancel the process of deployment.&quot;

The plan would see North Korea suspend its ballistic missile programme and the US & South Korea simultaneously stop large-scale missile exercises

Russia and China joined diplomatic forces on Tuesday and called on North Korea, South Korea and the United States to sign up to a Chinese de-escalation plan designed to defuse tensions around Pyongyang's missile programme. The plan would see North Korea suspend its ballistic missile programme and the United States and South Korea simultaneously call a moratorium on large-scale missile exercises, both moves aimed at paving the way for multilateral talks. The initiative was set out in a joint statement from the Russian and Chinese foreign ministries issued shortly after President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held wide-ranging talks in the Kremlin. "The situation in the region affects the national interests of both countries," the joint statement said. "Russia and China will work in close coordination to advance a solution to the complex problem of the Korean Peninsula in every possible way." North Korea said on Tuesday it had successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, which flew a trajectory that experts said could allow a weapon to hit the US state of Alaska. Russia and China both share a land border with North Korea and have been involved in past efforts to try to calm tensions between Pyongyang and the West. Moscow and Beijing used the same joint declaration to call on Washington to immediately halt deployment of its THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea, a move Washington says is necessitated by the North Korean missile threat. The statement said Washington was using North Korea as a pretext to expand its military infrastructure in Asia and risked upsetting the strategic balance of power in the area. "The deployment ... of THAAD will cause serious harm to the strategic security interests of regional states, including Russia and China," the statement said. "Russia and China oppose the deployment of such systems and call on the relevant countries to immediately halt and cancel the process of deployment."

Russia and China tell N Korea, US and S Korea to embrace de-escalation plan

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused BBC of supporting Kremlin critic and jailed Opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Responding to a question by a BBC reporter about whether he saw Navalny as a political competitor, President Putin said , &quot;When I heard you were from the BBC, I didn&#39;t doubt for a moment you would ask precisely that question because it&#39;s in a certain sense propaganda of the people whom you support&quot;.

The Russian president, who was speaking during his annual televised phone-in, ignored more biting questions from viewers about Alexei Navalny and his plans to stand for a fourth term.

The remarks appeared on-screen in an apparent glitch, AFP reported.

Navalny&#39;s video accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of massive corruption has been viewed 23 million times on YouTube.

&quot;Any form of protest, including demonstrations, should remain in the framework of the law,&quot; Putin said. &quot;Those who violate the law must answer for these violations.&quot;

Navalny has been sentenced to 30 days behind bars after being detained Monday on his way to a protest in Moscow against government corruption. He has announced his intention to stand for president against Putin in 2018

&quot;Is true that Navalny is making a film about you now?&quot; a viewer&nbsp;asked. 
 
&quot;Putin, do you really think people believe this circus with staged questions?&quot; asked another. 
 
Several called for an end to Putin&#39;s rule, ahead of elections next year when he is widely expected to stand for a fourth term.

The Russian president also said&nbsp;the latest US sanctions over alleged election meddling were efforts to &quot;contain Russia&quot;.

On Wednesday, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve further sanctions against Russia.

Comparing James Comey with fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden,&nbsp;Putin jokingly suggested he could offer political asylum to the&nbsp;sacked FBI director.

&quot;If he is persecuted, we would be ready to offer him asylum in Russia. He should know this,&quot; Putin said.

Comey, who was overseeing the probe of Russia&#39;s involvement in the US elections, was recently sacked by US President Trump.

Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA, was given asylum by Russia for leaking classified information&nbsp;from the National Security Agency to journalists.

Vladimir Putin, who is usually closely-guarded about his personal life, told Russian media for the first time that he has grandchildren. He said he wants to keep them out of the spotlight so they can grow up &quot;normally&quot;. 
 
On the phone-in show, Putin said that one grandson was born recently, to applause in the studio, while another is &quot;already in preschool&quot;.

&quot;The thing is, I don&#39;t want them to grow up like hereditary princes, I want them to grow up to be normal people,&quot; Putin said in explaining the secrecy around his family.

&quot;If I mention ages and names, they would be identified and never left alone.&quot; 
&nbsp;

President Putin said the BBC deliberately asked questions as a 'propaganda of the people whom you support'

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused BBC of supporting Kremlin critic and jailed Opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Responding to a question by a BBC reporter about whether he saw Navalny as a political competitor, President Putin said , "When I heard you were from the BBC, I didn't doubt for a moment you would ask precisely that question because it's in a certain sense propaganda of the people whom you support". The Russian president, who was speaking during his annual televised phone-in, ignored more biting questions from viewers about Alexei Navalny and his plans to stand for a fourth term. The remarks appeared on-screen in an apparent glitch, AFP reported. Navalny's video accusing Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of massive corruption has been viewed 23 million times on YouTube. "Any form of protest, including demonstrations, should remain in the framework of the law," Putin said. "Those who violate the law must answer for these violations." Navalny has been sentenced to 30 days behind bars after being detained Monday on his way to a protest in Moscow against government corruption. He has announced his intention to stand for president against Putin in 2018 "Is true that Navalny is making a film about you now?" a viewer asked. "Putin, do you really think people believe this circus with staged questions?" asked another. Several called for an end to Putin's rule, ahead of elections next year when he is widely expected to stand for a fourth term. The Russian president also said the latest US sanctions over alleged election meddling were efforts to "contain Russia". On Wednesday, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve further sanctions against Russia. Comparing James Comey with fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden, Putin jokingly suggested he could offer political asylum to the sacked FBI director. "If he is persecuted, we would be ready to offer him asylum in Russia. He should know this," Putin said. Comey, who was overseeing the probe of Russia's involvement in the US elections, was recently sacked by US President Trump. Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA, was given asylum by Russia for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency to journalists. Vladimir Putin, who is usually closely-guarded about his personal life, told Russian media for the first time that he has grandchildren. He said he wants to keep them out of the spotlight so they can grow up "normally". On the phone-in show, Putin said that one grandson was born recently, to applause in the studio, while another is "already in preschool". "The thing is, I don't want them to grow up like hereditary princes, I want them to grow up to be normal people," Putin said in explaining the secrecy around his family. "If I mention ages and names, they would be identified and never left alone."

Russian President Putin accuses BBC of supporting jailed opposition leader Navalny

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days, and over 1,500 of his supporters were arrested after demonstrations across the nation on Monday against government corruption.

The protests were the second mass action since March called by Navalny, who has announced his intention to run for president next year and has drawn a new generation to the streets through a relentless online campaign.

A Moscow court, sitting late Monday, found the 41-year-old Navalny guilty of organising unauthorised protests and sentenced him to a month in administrative custody, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter.

The OVD-Info rights group told AFP that more than 1,500 of his supporters had been arrested during the protests across the country, including 823 in Moscow where riot police tried to push the crowds back, sometimes by beating them with batons.

As riot police grabbed people and led them to police vans others demonstrators shouted &quot;Shame!&quot;, &quot;Putin is a thief!&quot; and &quot;Freedom to Navalny!&quot;

Police held an estimated 600 protesters in Saint Petersburg, said the NGO, which tracks arrests and said more than 100 detentions had also been made in cities including Vladivostock, Kaliningrad, Norilsk and Sochi.&nbsp;

Thousands of Russians, many very young, chanted &quot;Russia without Putin!&quot; in the streets of dozens of cities during Monday&#39;s protests.

The United States condemned the arrests, a rare criticism of human rights violations and the Kremlin from Donald Trump&#39;s administration.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer called &quot;on the government of Russia to immediately release all peaceful protesters,&quot; detained in nationwide marches.

Navalny himself was picked up by police as he headed to the Moscow event.

Thousands took to the streets in other cities across Russia, with the authorities sanctioning some gatherings and banning others. Some reports said authorities threatened university students with expulsion if they attended.

Navalny&#39;s anti-corruption videos have needled the country&#39;s ruling elite and drawn crowds to the streets not seen since the protests against President Vladimir Putin&#39;s reelection for a third term in 2012.

&#39;Mired in corruption&#39;&nbsp;

Navalny, who plans to stand against Putin in presidential elections in March, appeared before a judge Monday evening. He faces up to 30 days in administrative custody for breaking rules on organising demonstrations, his lawyer said.

European Parliament President Antonio Tajani voiced his concern after Navalny&#39;s arrest and an EU spokesman deplored &quot;the detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters and the violence used by Russian authorities against them&quot;.

Rights group Amnesty International condemned &quot;alarming scenes&quot; of detentions and violence towards demonstrators, calling for their immediate release.

The recent rallies were galvanised by a film released by Navalny in early March, which accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of controlling vast personal wealth through a shadowy network of foundations. It has been viewed over 22 million times.

&quot;Putin has been in power for 17 years and is not planning to leave. He has usurped all power,&quot; said protester Alexander Tyurin, 41.&nbsp;

Another protester Yevgeny, 19, said he had been expelled from university after participating in a previous rally.&nbsp;

&quot;Our government shouts that enemies are everywhere and is becoming closed in on itself,&quot; he said.&nbsp;

&quot;We want turnover among those in power. Pressure on young people has increased.&quot;&nbsp;

Navalny has brought a new generation to the streets through his embrace of YouTube. His team was broadcasting from a studio set up in Moscow, though the electricity was periodically cut, forcing the presenter to speak in total darkness.

Moscow police said Navalny would be charged with administrative offences of resisting arrest and a second violation of demonstration organisation rules.

Russia Day

The wave of protests called by Navalny coincides with a public holiday, Russia Day, when Putin hands out awards and holds a reception in the Kremlin.&nbsp;

Turnout was difficult to calculate as ordinary people mingled with those protesting, but thousands filled the Tverskaya Street area in Moscow, many waving Russian flags and banners.

On the eve of the event -- which was authorised -- Navalny announced the protest was changing location to Tverskaya because the authorities had blocked his efforts to set up a stage and sound equipment.

They &quot;are forbidding any contractors from getting us a stage and sound,&quot; he wrote on his blog Sunday.&nbsp;

&quot;We are cancelling the rally on Sakharov Avenue and moving it to Tverskaya Street,&quot; a main thoroughfare to the Kremlin, he said.

The protest ended up coinciding with City Hall Russia Day events such as the reenactment of various eras in Russian history, from World War I trenches to a Renaissance fair and sword fighting.

In surreal scenes, dozens of buses filled by policemen were parked nearby ahead of the rally while ordinary people gawked at actors in period costumes.

Later, however, riot police and the national guard moved in, even on people sitting in nearby cafes, shouting &quot;Go away! There is an unauthorised protest here!&quot;

Thousands of Russians, many very young, chanted 'Russia without Putin!'?in the streets of dozens of cities during Monday's protests

Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days, and over 1,500 of his supporters were arrested after demonstrations across the nation on Monday against government corruption. The protests were the second mass action since March called by Navalny, who has announced his intention to run for president next year and has drawn a new generation to the streets through a relentless online campaign. A Moscow court, sitting late Monday, found the 41-year-old Navalny guilty of organising unauthorised protests and sentenced him to a month in administrative custody, his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said on Twitter. The OVD-Info rights group told AFP that more than 1,500 of his supporters had been arrested during the protests across the country, including 823 in Moscow where riot police tried to push the crowds back, sometimes by beating them with batons. As riot police grabbed people and led them to police vans others demonstrators shouted "Shame!", "Putin is a thief!" and "Freedom to Navalny!" Police held an estimated 600 protesters in Saint Petersburg, said the NGO, which tracks arrests and said more than 100 detentions had also been made in cities including Vladivostock, Kaliningrad, Norilsk and Sochi. Thousands of Russians, many very young, chanted "Russia without Putin!" in the streets of dozens of cities during Monday's protests. The United States condemned the arrests, a rare criticism of human rights violations and the Kremlin from Donald Trump's administration. White House spokesman Sean Spicer called "on the government of Russia to immediately release all peaceful protesters," detained in nationwide marches. Navalny himself was picked up by police as he headed to the Moscow event. Thousands took to the streets in other cities across Russia, with the authorities sanctioning some gatherings and banning others. Some reports said authorities threatened university students with expulsion if they attended. Navalny's anti-corruption videos have needled the country's ruling elite and drawn crowds to the streets not seen since the protests against President Vladimir Putin's reelection for a third term in 2012. 'Mired in corruption' Navalny, who plans to stand against Putin in presidential elections in March, appeared before a judge Monday evening. He faces up to 30 days in administrative custody for breaking rules on organising demonstrations, his lawyer said. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani voiced his concern after Navalny's arrest and an EU spokesman deplored "the detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters and the violence used by Russian authorities against them". Rights group Amnesty International condemned "alarming scenes" of detentions and violence towards demonstrators, calling for their immediate release. The recent rallies were galvanised by a film released by Navalny in early March, which accused Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of controlling vast personal wealth through a shadowy network of foundations. It has been viewed over 22 million times. "Putin has been in power for 17 years and is not planning to leave. He has usurped all power," said protester Alexander Tyurin, 41. Another protester Yevgeny, 19, said he had been expelled from university after participating in a previous rally. "Our government shouts that enemies are everywhere and is becoming closed in on itself," he said. "We want turnover among those in power. Pressure on young people has increased." Navalny has brought a new generation to the streets through his embrace of YouTube. His team was broadcasting from a studio set up in Moscow, though the electricity was periodically cut, forcing the presenter to speak in total darkness. Moscow police said Navalny would be charged with administrative offences of resisting arrest and a second violation of demonstration organisation rules. Russia Day The wave of protests called by Navalny coincides with a public holiday, Russia Day, when Putin hands out awards and holds a reception in the Kremlin. Turnout was difficult to calculate as ordinary people mingled with those protesting, but thousands filled the Tverskaya Street area in Moscow, many waving Russian flags and banners. On the eve of the event -- which was authorised -- Navalny announced the protest was changing location to Tverskaya because the authorities had blocked his efforts to set up a stage and sound equipment. They "are forbidding any contractors from getting us a stage and sound," he wrote on his blog Sunday. "We are cancelling the rally on Sakharov Avenue and moving it to Tverskaya Street," a main thoroughfare to the Kremlin, he said. The protest ended up coinciding with City Hall Russia Day events such as the reenactment of various eras in Russian history, from World War I trenches to a Renaissance fair and sword fighting. In surreal scenes, dozens of buses filled by policemen were parked nearby ahead of the rally while ordinary people gawked at actors in period costumes. Later, however, riot police and the national guard moved in, even on people sitting in nearby cafes, shouting "Go away! There is an unauthorised protest here!"

Russia: Opposition leader Navalny jailed, 1,500 arrested after wave of protests

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday categorically said that New Delhi remains committed to the Paris Climate Accord, adding it is relying heavily on traditional energy sources so that the future generations are able to breathe fresh and live a harmonious life.

&quot;We cannot exploit the nature. When I was in Germany I had said that Paris or no Paris. We have this conviction. We should leave earth for our future generation so that they can live a harmonious life and be able to breathe fresh air,&quot; Prime Minster Modi said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

When his comments were sought on the US decision to withdraw from the climate deal, where President Donald Trump alleged that the agreement gave better deal to the world&#39;s highly polluting countries like India, Prime Minister Modi said, &quot;Don`t think I will take sides on this subject, but would rather take side of our future generation.&quot;

Prime Minister Modi further said that India is a responsible nation and seriously considers climate change a threat. He said large investments are being made in traditional energy sources.

&quot;The exploitation of nature is a crime. Instead of relying on traditional energy sources, we are increasingly relying on renewable energy. We have set 175 GW target,&quot; he said.

Earlier, Trump accused India of extracting &quot;billions and billions and billions&quot; of dollars in foreign aid from the developed world to sign up for the climate accord and pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord.

&quot;India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions of dollars in foreign aid,&quot; he said.

Trump said, according to the Paris Climate deal terms, China will be allowed many coal plants, and India will be allowed to double its coal production by 2020, but not the US.

&quot;As of today, the US will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris accord, and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country,&quot; he said in an address in the White House Rose Garden.

He said the US will begin negotiations to re-enter the Paris Agreement on terms that are fair to the United States.

&quot;We will be environmentally friendly, but we`re not going to put our businesses out of work... We`re going to grow rapidly,&quot; Trump said.

(ANI)

Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Modi said that India is increasingly relying on the use of renewable energy sources

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday categorically said that New Delhi remains committed to the Paris Climate Accord, adding it is relying heavily on traditional energy sources so that the future generations are able to breathe fresh and live a harmonious life. "We cannot exploit the nature. When I was in Germany I had said that Paris or no Paris. We have this conviction. We should leave earth for our future generation so that they can live a harmonious life and be able to breathe fresh air," Prime Minster Modi said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. When his comments were sought on the US decision to withdraw from the climate deal, where President Donald Trump alleged that the agreement gave better deal to the world's highly polluting countries like India, Prime Minister Modi said, "Don`t think I will take sides on this subject, but would rather take side of our future generation." Prime Minister Modi further said that India is a responsible nation and seriously considers climate change a threat. He said large investments are being made in traditional energy sources. "The exploitation of nature is a crime. Instead of relying on traditional energy sources, we are increasingly relying on renewable energy. We have set 175 GW target," he said. Earlier, Trump accused India of extracting "billions and billions and billions" of dollars in foreign aid from the developed world to sign up for the climate accord and pulled out of the Paris Climate Accord. "India makes its participation contingent on receiving billions of dollars in foreign aid," he said. Trump said, according to the Paris Climate deal terms, China will be allowed many coal plants, and India will be allowed to double its coal production by 2020, but not the US. "As of today, the US will cease all implementation of the non-binding Paris accord, and the draconian financial and economic burdens the agreement imposes on our country," he said in an address in the White House Rose Garden. He said the US will begin negotiations to re-enter the Paris Agreement on terms that are fair to the United States. "We will be environmentally friendly, but we`re not going to put our businesses out of work... We`re going to grow rapidly," Trump said. (ANI)

Prime Minister Modi says India committed to Paris Climate Accord

James Comey, who was sacked as the FBI chief by US President Donald Trump last month, will testify before a powerful Congressional committee in an open session next week, it was announcement today.

Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Senator Mark Warner, who is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that Comey will testify before the Committee on June 8, 2017.

&quot;The hearing will begin at 10 AM in open session. The open session will be followed by a closed session at 1 PM,&quot; a media announcement said.

Comey was fired as FBI Director by Trump last month.

According to US media reports, Comey is likely to tell the lawmakers that he was asked by Trump not to go ahead of the FBI investigations against Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor to Trump.

Meanwhile, Senators Patrick Leahy and Al Franken released a letter that they had written to Comey requesting an FBI inquiry into Attorney General Sessions&#39; testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and his contacts with Russian officials.

&quot;Earlier this year, Attorney General Sessions provided false testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to our questions regarding his contacts with Russian officials,&quot; the two Senators said.

&quot;He made no attempt to correct his misleading testimony until the Washington Post revealed that, in fact, he had at least two meetings with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential campaign,&quot; they said.

Yet, the Attorney General never fully explained or even acknowledged the misrepresentations in his testimony, and &quot;we remained concerned that he had still not been forthcoming about the extent of his contacts with Russian officials,&quot; the two Senators said in the statement.

&quot;On March 20, we asked then-FBI Director Comey to investigate Attorney General Sessions&#39; false testimony and any additional contacts he may have had with Russian officials, including reports that he may have met with the Russian ambassador at a small, private Trump campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016,&quot; they wrote.

&quot;We anticipated that Director Comey would respond to our letter by May 12,&quot; the Senators said.

Director Comey was abruptly dismissed on May 9.

Since then, the two Senators said, they have been in communication with the FBI concerning a response to their letter, and expect to be briefed on the matter in the near future.

&quot;We served with the Attorney General in the Senate and on the Judiciary Committee for many years. We know he would not tolerate dishonesty if he were in our shoes. If it is determined that the Attorney General still has not been truthful with Congress and the American people about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign, he needs to resign,&quot; the two Senators said.

(PTI)

&nbsp;

Comey is likely to tell the lawmakers he was asked by Trump not to go ahead with the FBI investigations against Michael Flynn

James Comey, who was sacked as the FBI chief by US President Donald Trump last month, will testify before a powerful Congressional committee in an open session next week, it was announcement today. Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Senator Mark Warner, who is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that Comey will testify before the Committee on June 8, 2017. "The hearing will begin at 10 AM in open session. The open session will be followed by a closed session at 1 PM," a media announcement said. Comey was fired as FBI Director by Trump last month. According to US media reports, Comey is likely to tell the lawmakers that he was asked by Trump not to go ahead of the FBI investigations against Michael Flynn, the former national security advisor to Trump. Meanwhile, Senators Patrick Leahy and Al Franken released a letter that they had written to Comey requesting an FBI inquiry into Attorney General Sessions' testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee and his contacts with Russian officials. "Earlier this year, Attorney General Sessions provided false testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to our questions regarding his contacts with Russian officials," the two Senators said. "He made no attempt to correct his misleading testimony until the Washington Post revealed that, in fact, he had at least two meetings with the Russian ambassador during the 2016 presidential campaign," they said. Yet, the Attorney General never fully explained or even acknowledged the misrepresentations in his testimony, and "we remained concerned that he had still not been forthcoming about the extent of his contacts with Russian officials," the two Senators said in the statement. "On March 20, we asked then-FBI Director Comey to investigate Attorney General Sessions' false testimony and any additional contacts he may have had with Russian officials, including reports that he may have met with the Russian ambassador at a small, private Trump campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel in April 2016," they wrote. "We anticipated that Director Comey would respond to our letter by May 12," the Senators said. Director Comey was abruptly dismissed on May 9. Since then, the two Senators said, they have been in communication with the FBI concerning a response to their letter, and expect to be briefed on the matter in the near future. "We served with the Attorney General in the Senate and on the Judiciary Committee for many years. We know he would not tolerate dishonesty if he were in our shoes. If it is determined that the Attorney General still has not been truthful with Congress and the American people about his contacts with Russian officials during the campaign, he needs to resign," the two Senators said. (PTI)

Trump-Russia probe: Comey to testify before Senate intel panel next week

US&nbsp;President Donald Trump sought to insert himself into congressional probes on Russia on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to hear from one of his former advisers, Carter Page, to counter testimony by directors of the FBI and CIA.

Trump has been dismissive of probes by the FBI and several congressional panels into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion by the Trump campaign.

In a series of morning tweets, the Republican president quoted a Monday letter from Page in which he asked to address the House Intelligence Committee promptly and referred to faulty testimony from US&nbsp;intelligence officials.

Trump accused Democrats of blocking Page&#39;s testimony, without citing any evidence but referring to an unidentified report.

&quot;So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don&#39;t want him to testify. He blows away their case against him &amp; now wants to clear his name by showing &#39;the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan...&#39; Witch Hunt!&quot; Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the former directors of the FBI and CIA.

Trump&#39;s early morning tweets came as his advisers are planning to establish a &quot;war room&quot; to combat mounting questions about communication between Russia and his presidential campaign before and after November&#39;s election.

However, the president&#39;s penchant for tweeting could complicate White House efforts to tamp down the scandal if the messages appear to address the investigations.

Page&#39;s letter was reported by the Washington Examiner. Reuters has not verified the contents of the letter. A House Intelligence Committee staffer said on Wednesday the panel does not make public its communications.

Page, who advised Trump during his presidential campaign, is one of several Trump associates of interest to congressional investigators in the Russia probes that have begun to dominate his four-month-old presidency.

Moscow has denied US&nbsp;intelligence agencies&#39; conclusion that Moscow interfered in the election campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump&#39;s favour. Trump has denied any collusion.

(Reuters)

Trump's criticism of the investigations into him and Russia was not supported by any cited evidence

US President Donald Trump sought to insert himself into congressional probes on Russia on Wednesday, urging lawmakers to hear from one of his former advisers, Carter Page, to counter testimony by directors of the FBI and CIA. Trump has been dismissive of probes by the FBI and several congressional panels into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and potential collusion by the Trump campaign. In a series of morning tweets, the Republican president quoted a Monday letter from Page in which he asked to address the House Intelligence Committee promptly and referred to faulty testimony from US intelligence officials. Trump accused Democrats of blocking Page's testimony, without citing any evidence but referring to an unidentified report. "So now it is reported that the Democrats, who have excoriated Carter Page about Russia, don't want him to testify. He blows away their case against him & now wants to clear his name by showing 'the false or misleading testimony by James Comey, John Brennan...' Witch Hunt!" Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the former directors of the FBI and CIA. Trump's early morning tweets came as his advisers are planning to establish a "war room" to combat mounting questions about communication between Russia and his presidential campaign before and after November's election. However, the president's penchant for tweeting could complicate White House efforts to tamp down the scandal if the messages appear to address the investigations. Page's letter was reported by the Washington Examiner. Reuters has not verified the contents of the letter. A House Intelligence Committee staffer said on Wednesday the panel does not make public its communications. Page, who advised Trump during his presidential campaign, is one of several Trump associates of interest to congressional investigators in the Russia probes that have begun to dominate his four-month-old presidency. Moscow has denied US intelligence agencies' conclusion that Moscow interfered in the election campaign to try to tilt the vote in Trump's favour. Trump has denied any collusion. (Reuters)

Trump blasts Russia probe, urges testimony from former adviser Page

France&#39;s President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin attempted to improve their countries&#39; strained ties on Monday during talks at Versailles palace described by Macron as &quot;extremely frank&quot;.

Their first meeting since Macron took office provided another test of the Frenchman&#39;s diplomatic skills after his memorable vice-grip handshake last week with US President Donald Trump.

This time the handshake was warmer but the tone guarded after an hour of talks on the 300th anniversary of a visit to Versailles by tsar Peter the Great.

Putin admitted to some differences of opinion in the talks which covered issues including the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, but insisted that Franco-Russian ties withstood &quot;all points of friction&quot;.

&quot;We disagree on a number of things but at least we discussed them,&quot; Macron said.

&quot;Our absolute priority is the fight against terrorism and the eradication of terrorist groups and Daesh in particular,&quot; he said, using an alternate name for the Islamic State group that has claimed several deadly attacks in France.

&#39;Organs of propaganda&#39;&nbsp;

The newly elected French leader said he wanted to work more closely with Russia to try resolve the six-year war in Syria,&nbsp;one of the sticking points in relations between the West and Moscow which backs the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Calling for &quot;a democratic transition that preserves the Syrian state&quot;, he warned that &quot;failed states&quot; in the Middle East emboldened terror groups and posed a threat to the West.

But in an apparent warning to Assad and Russia, he said the use of chemical weapons was a &quot;red line&quot; that would draw an &quot;immediate response&quot; from France.

The pair also discussed the Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its encroachment on neighbouring Ukraine as well as allegations of Russian meddling in France&#39;s presidential campaign.

The Russian strongman defended hosting Macron&#39;s far-right rival Marine Le Pen -- seen as the Kremlin&#39;s favourite -- for a visit during the race, saying he had no cause to deny her request for an audience.

He also shrugged off allegations that Russian hackers infiltrated Macron&#39;s campaign.

&quot;Maybe they were Russian hackers, maybe they were not,&quot; he said.

A more candid Macron let fly when questioned about two pro-Kremlin media outlets that were barred from his campaign headquarters after being accused of a smear campaign.

Russia Today broadcaster and Sputnik agency are &quot;organs of influence and untruthful propaganda, nothing more, nothing less&quot;, he declared.

Macron also took the bull by the horns on human rights, saying Putin had promised him &quot;the whole truth&quot; about an alleged crackdown on gay men in Russian-controlled Chechnya and warning he would be &quot;vigilant&quot; on the issue.

&#39;No concessions&#39;&nbsp;

France&#39;s youngest ever president made a successful debut on the world stage last week, holding his own against Trump at a NATO summit in Brussels and winning plaudits from his peers at a G7 summit in Italy.

Ahead of Putin&#39;s visit, the 39-year-old centrist told a French weekly that he was not &quot;bothered&quot; by leaders who &quot;think in terms of power dynamics&quot;.

He said he would make &quot;not a single concession&quot; to Russia on the three-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine, with he and his G7 counterparts saying they were prepared to strengthen sanctions against Moscow.

Macron said he, Putin and the leaders of Germany and Ukraine would meet soon for talks, &quot;which will allow us to make a complete evaluation of the situation&quot;.

Modernising tsar &nbsp;

Western powers charge Russia with failing to honour its commitments under the Minsk accords framework for ending the violence between government forces and Kremlin-backed rebels in Ukraine&#39;s east.

Putin said the sanctions imposed on Russia, which have seriously hurt trade with the EU, had &quot;in no way&quot; advanced the prospects of a lasting peace.

Directly after the French election he moved quickly to try reset relations with France, congratulating Macron and urging him to work to overcome their countries&#39; &quot;mutual distrust&quot;.

Monday&#39;s visit comes seven months after the Russian leader cancelled a trip to Paris amid a row over Syria with Macron&#39;s predecessor Francois Hollande, who had said Russia&#39;s bombing of Aleppo could amount to war crimes.

In Versailles, he and Macron inaugurated an exhibition marking the visit of Russia&#39;s modernising tsar Peter the Great to Versailles in 1717.

The fervently pro-Europe Macron said his invitation to Putin aimed to showcase &quot;a Russia which is open to Europe&quot;.

Putin later visited a new Orthodox cathedral complex in central Paris.

(AFP)

French President Macron and his Russian counterpart Putin admitted to having differences in opinion during the bilateral dialogue, but insisted that they would not undermine their centuries-long association

France's President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin attempted to improve their countries' strained ties on Monday during talks at Versailles palace described by Macron as "extremely frank". Their first meeting since Macron took office provided another test of the Frenchman's diplomatic skills after his memorable vice-grip handshake last week with US President Donald Trump. This time the handshake was warmer but the tone guarded after an hour of talks on the 300th anniversary of a visit to Versailles by tsar Peter the Great. Putin admitted to some differences of opinion in the talks which covered issues including the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, but insisted that Franco-Russian ties withstood "all points of friction". "We disagree on a number of things but at least we discussed them," Macron said. "Our absolute priority is the fight against terrorism and the eradication of terrorist groups and Daesh in particular," he said, using an alternate name for the Islamic State group that has claimed several deadly attacks in France. 'Organs of propaganda' The newly elected French leader said he wanted to work more closely with Russia to try resolve the six-year war in Syria, one of the sticking points in relations between the West and Moscow which backs the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Calling for "a democratic transition that preserves the Syrian state", he warned that "failed states" in the Middle East emboldened terror groups and posed a threat to the West. But in an apparent warning to Assad and Russia, he said the use of chemical weapons was a "red line" that would draw an "immediate response" from France. The pair also discussed the Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its encroachment on neighbouring Ukraine as well as allegations of Russian meddling in France's presidential campaign. The Russian strongman defended hosting Macron's far-right rival Marine Le Pen -- seen as the Kremlin's favourite -- for a visit during the race, saying he had no cause to deny her request for an audience. He also shrugged off allegations that Russian hackers infiltrated Macron's campaign. "Maybe they were Russian hackers, maybe they were not," he said. A more candid Macron let fly when questioned about two pro-Kremlin media outlets that were barred from his campaign headquarters after being accused of a smear campaign. Russia Today broadcaster and Sputnik agency are "organs of influence and untruthful propaganda, nothing more, nothing less", he declared. Macron also took the bull by the horns on human rights, saying Putin had promised him "the whole truth" about an alleged crackdown on gay men in Russian-controlled Chechnya and warning he would be "vigilant" on the issue. 'No concessions' France's youngest ever president made a successful debut on the world stage last week, holding his own against Trump at a NATO summit in Brussels and winning plaudits from his peers at a G7 summit in Italy. Ahead of Putin's visit, the 39-year-old centrist told a French weekly that he was not "bothered" by leaders who "think in terms of power dynamics". He said he would make "not a single concession" to Russia on the three-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine, with he and his G7 counterparts saying they were prepared to strengthen sanctions against Moscow. Macron said he, Putin and the leaders of Germany and Ukraine would meet soon for talks, "which will allow us to make a complete evaluation of the situation". Modernising tsar Western powers charge Russia with failing to honour its commitments under the Minsk accords framework for ending the violence between government forces and Kremlin-backed rebels in Ukraine's east. Putin said the sanctions imposed on Russia, which have seriously hurt trade with the EU, had "in no way" advanced the prospects of a lasting peace. Directly after the French election he moved quickly to try reset relations with France, congratulating Macron and urging him to work to overcome their countries' "mutual distrust". Monday's visit comes seven months after the Russian leader cancelled a trip to Paris amid a row over Syria with Macron's predecessor Francois Hollande, who had said Russia's bombing of Aleppo could amount to war crimes. In Versailles, he and Macron inaugurated an exhibition marking the visit of Russia's modernising tsar Peter the Great to Versailles in 1717. The fervently pro-Europe Macron said his invitation to Putin aimed to showcase "a Russia which is open to Europe". Putin later visited a new Orthodox cathedral complex in central Paris. (AFP)

France, Russia talk about ending war in Syria

French President Emmanuel Macron met Russia&#39;s Vladimir Putin near Paris on Monday, promising some frank talking with the Kremlin leader after an election campaign in which his team accused Russian media of trying to interfere.

Macron, in a press conference, standing right beside Putin, blasted Russia Today and Sputnik for carrying election&nbsp;&quot;propaganda&quot; during the recently held presidential elections, AFP Reported.

Here is the footage of the press conference, though the French president spoke in French.

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Macron calls RT and Sputnik purveyors of propaganda and lies while standing adjacent to Putin. <a href="https://t.co/7cKW09I1lv">https://t.co/7cKW09I1lv</a>
&mdash; Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) <a href="https://twitter.com/nktpnd/status/869228285812760576">May 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

Macron, who took office two weeks ago, has said dialogue with Russia is vital in tackling a number of international disputes. Nevertheless, relations have been beset by mistrust, with Paris and Moscow backing opposing sides in the Syrian civil war and at odds over the Ukraine conflict.

The French president also raised the issue of chemical weapons in Syria.

He said that the use of chemical weapons will be treated as a red line and any violation will attract strong response&nbsp;from them.

&quot;Any use of chemical weapons would results in reprisals and an immediate riposte, at least where France is concerned,&quot; Macron said at a joint news conference with Putin in which he added that his aim was the fight against terrorism in the country.

Fresh from talks with his Western counterparts at a NATO meeting in Brussels and a G7 summit in Sicily, Macron was hosting the Russian president at the sumptuous 17th Century palace of Versailles outside Paris.

The 39-year-old French leader and Putin exchanged a cordial, businesslike handshake and smiles when the latter stepped from his limousine for a red carpet welcome, with Macron appearing to say &quot;welcome&quot; to him in French.

The two men then entered the palace to start their talks.

&quot;It&#39;s indispensable to talk to Russia because there are a number of international subjects that will not be resolved without a tough dialogue with them,&quot; Macron told reporters at the end of the G7 summit on Saturday, where the Western leaders agreed to consider new measures against Moscow if the situation in Ukraine did not improve.

&quot;I will be demanding in my exchanges with Russia,&quot; he added.

Relations between Paris and Moscow were increasingly strained under former President Francois Hollande.

Putin, 64, cancelled his last planned visit in October after Hollande accused Russia of war crimes in Syria and refused to roll out the red carpet for him.

Then during the French election campaign the Macron camp alleged Russian hacking and disinformation efforts, at one point refusing accreditation to the Russian state-funded Sputnik and RT news outlets which it said were spreading Russian propaganda and fake news.

Two days before the May 7 election runoff, Macron&#39;s team said thousands of hacked campaign emails had been put online in a leak that one New York-based analyst said could have come from a group tied to Russian military intelligence.

Moscow and RT itself rejected allegations of meddling in the election.

Putin also offered Macron&#39;s far-right opponent Marine Le Pen a publicity coup when he granted her an audience a month before the election&#39;s first round.

Nonetheless, Russia&#39;s ambassador to Paris, Alexander Orlov said on Monday that he expected this first meeting between the two men to be full of &quot;smiles&quot; and marking the beginning of &quot;a very good and long relationship&quot;.

Orlov, speaking on Europe 1 radio, said he believed that Macron was &quot;much more flexible&quot; on the Syrian question, though he did not say why he thought this. Putin would certainly invite Macron to pay a visit to Moscow, he said.

Putin&#39;s schedule included a trip to a newly opened Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris - a call he had been due to make for its inauguration in October, but which was cancelled along with that trip.

Clever Move

Macron decisively beat Le Pen, an open Putin admirer in a fraught presidential election campaign, and afterwards the Russian president said in a congratulatory message that he wanted to put mistrust aside and work with him.

Hollande&#39;s former diplomatic adviser, Jacques Audibert, noted how Putin had been excluded from what used to be the Group of Eight nations as relations with the West soured. Meeting in a palace so soon after the G7 summit was a clever move by Macron.

&quot;Putin likes these big symbolic things. I think it&#39;s an excellent political opportunity, the choice of place is perfect,&quot; he told CNews TV. &quot;It adds a bit of grandeur to welcome Putin to Versailles.&quot;

The Versailles exhibition commemorates a visit to France 300 years ago by Peter the Great, known for his European tastes.

A Russian official told reporters in Moscow on Friday that the meeting was an opportunity &quot;to get a better feel for each other&quot; and that the Kremlin expected &quot;a frank conversation&quot; on Syria.

While Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad, France supports rebel groups trying to overthrow him. France has also taken a tough line on European Union sanctions on Russia, first imposed when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and cancelled a $1.3 billion warship supply contract in 2015.

During the campaign, Macron backed expanded sanctions if there were no progress with Moscow implementing a peace accord for eastern Ukraine, where Kiev&#39;s forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists.

Since being elected, Macron appears to have toned down the rhetoric, although he noted the two leaders still had &quot;diverging positions&quot; in their first phone call.

(WION with inputs from Reuters)

Macron was hosting Putin at the palace of Versailles to reset relations with Russia, already beset by mistrust

French President Emmanuel Macron met Russia's Vladimir Putin near Paris on Monday, promising some frank talking with the Kremlin leader after an election campaign in which his team accused Russian media of trying to interfere. Macron, in a press conference, standing right beside Putin, blasted Russia Today and Sputnik for carrying election "propaganda" during the recently held presidential elections, AFP Reported. Here is the footage of the press conference, though the French president spoke in French. Macron calls RT and Sputnik purveyors of propaganda and lies while standing adjacent to Putin. https://t.co/7cKW09I1lv — Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) May 29, 2017 × Macron, who took office two weeks ago, has said dialogue with Russia is vital in tackling a number of international disputes. Nevertheless, relations have been beset by mistrust, with Paris and Moscow backing opposing sides in the Syrian civil war and at odds over the Ukraine conflict. The French president also raised the issue of chemical weapons in Syria. He said that the use of chemical weapons will be treated as a red line and any violation will attract strong response from them. "Any use of chemical weapons would results in reprisals and an immediate riposte, at least where France is concerned," Macron said at a joint news conference with Putin in which he added that his aim was the fight against terrorism in the country. Fresh from talks with his Western counterparts at a NATO meeting in Brussels and a G7 summit in Sicily, Macron was hosting the Russian president at the sumptuous 17th Century palace of Versailles outside Paris. The 39-year-old French leader and Putin exchanged a cordial, businesslike handshake and smiles when the latter stepped from his limousine for a red carpet welcome, with Macron appearing to say "welcome" to him in French. The two men then entered the palace to start their talks. "It's indispensable to talk to Russia because there are a number of international subjects that will not be resolved without a tough dialogue with them," Macron told reporters at the end of the G7 summit on Saturday, where the Western leaders agreed to consider new measures against Moscow if the situation in Ukraine did not improve. "I will be demanding in my exchanges with Russia," he added. Relations between Paris and Moscow were increasingly strained under former President Francois Hollande. Putin, 64, cancelled his last planned visit in October after Hollande accused Russia of war crimes in Syria and refused to roll out the red carpet for him. Then during the French election campaign the Macron camp alleged Russian hacking and disinformation efforts, at one point refusing accreditation to the Russian state-funded Sputnik and RT news outlets which it said were spreading Russian propaganda and fake news. Two days before the May 7 election runoff, Macron's team said thousands of hacked campaign emails had been put online in a leak that one New York-based analyst said could have come from a group tied to Russian military intelligence. Moscow and RT itself rejected allegations of meddling in the election. Putin also offered Macron's far-right opponent Marine Le Pen a publicity coup when he granted her an audience a month before the election's first round. Nonetheless, Russia's ambassador to Paris, Alexander Orlov said on Monday that he expected this first meeting between the two men to be full of "smiles" and marking the beginning of "a very good and long relationship". Orlov, speaking on Europe 1 radio, said he believed that Macron was "much more flexible" on the Syrian question, though he did not say why he thought this. Putin would certainly invite Macron to pay a visit to Moscow, he said. Putin's schedule included a trip to a newly opened Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris - a call he had been due to make for its inauguration in October, but which was cancelled along with that trip. Clever Move Macron decisively beat Le Pen, an open Putin admirer in a fraught presidential election campaign, and afterwards the Russian president said in a congratulatory message that he wanted to put mistrust aside and work with him. Hollande's former diplomatic adviser, Jacques Audibert, noted how Putin had been excluded from what used to be the Group of Eight nations as relations with the West soured. Meeting in a palace so soon after the G7 summit was a clever move by Macron. "Putin likes these big symbolic things. I think it's an excellent political opportunity, the choice of place is perfect," he told CNews TV. "It adds a bit of grandeur to welcome Putin to Versailles." The Versailles exhibition commemorates a visit to France 300 years ago by Peter the Great, known for his European tastes. A Russian official told reporters in Moscow on Friday that the meeting was an opportunity "to get a better feel for each other" and that the Kremlin expected "a frank conversation" on Syria. While Moscow backs President Bashar al-Assad, France supports rebel groups trying to overthrow him. France has also taken a tough line on European Union sanctions on Russia, first imposed when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and cancelled a $1.3 billion warship supply contract in 2015. During the campaign, Macron backed expanded sanctions if there were no progress with Moscow implementing a peace accord for eastern Ukraine, where Kiev's forces have been battling pro-Russian separatists. Since being elected, Macron appears to have toned down the rhetoric, although he noted the two leaders still had "diverging positions" in their first phone call. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

France's Macron calls Russia Today, Sputnik 'propaganda' while standing beside Putin

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte flies to Russia on Monday to meet his hero, seek arms and steer his nation&#39;s foreign policy course further away from longtime ally the United States.

The five-day trip will cement a dramatic improvement in ties between the two nations since Duterte came to power last year and began unravelling the Philippines&#39; decades-long alliances with the United States, which he accuses of hypocrisy and bullying.

Duterte will on Thursday meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has described as his &quot;favourite hero&quot; and proclaimed a personal bond because of mutual passions such as guns and hunting.

Duterte said on Friday one of the top priorities of his trip was to secure Russian precision-guided bombs to use on Islamic militants in the southern Philippines.

&quot;If they can spare us with the precision guided (bombs),&quot; Duterte said when discussing the purpose of his trip.

&quot;We have so many smart bombs but not as accurate.&quot;

Duterte&#39;s seeking of weapons from Russia comes as he dials down cooperation with the United States, the Philippines&#39; former colonial ruler that has for decades been its most important military ally and protector.

He has scaled down the number and scope of annual military exercises with the US, barred Filipino forces from joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, and called for the withdrawal of American troops from the Philippines.

The shift occurred as China has become more assertive in challenging US might in the region by expanding its presence in the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety.

Despite China&#39;s expansionism extending into areas of the sea claimed by the Philippines, Duterte has been determined to pivot his nation&#39;s foreign policy away from the United States in favour of Beijing and Moscow.

This has partly been due to China and Russia supporting or at least not criticising his controversial war on drugs, which has left thousands of people dead and led to warnings by rights groups that Duterte may be orchestrating a crime against humanity.

Duterte has railed against the United States, particularly when Barack Obama was president, for criticising the drug war.

&#39;Ideological flow&#39;

On a state visit to China last year, Duterte announced the Philippines&#39; &quot;separation&quot; from the United States.

&quot;I&#39;ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world -- China, Philippines and Russia. It&#39;s the only way,&quot; he said in Beijing.

Duterte, who describes himself as a socialist, and Putin first met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru last November.

&quot;Historically, I have been identified with the Western world. It was good until it lasted. And of late, I see a lot of these Western nations bullying small nations,&quot; Duterte told Putin then.

Since then, two Russian Navy flotillas have visited Manila.

&quot;The Russians are with me, I shall not be afraid,&quot; Duterte said while touring the Russian Navy&#39;s guided missile cruiser Varyag during a port visit to Manila last month.

The Philippines and Russia established diplomatic ties 41 years ago but, until Duterte took office, relations remained relatively low key.

This was partly due to the Philippines&#39; alliance with the United States.

Philippine-Russian trade last year totalled just $226 million, according to government data. Philippine-US trade was worth more than $18 billion last year.

Relations remain at the &quot;nascent stage&quot;, but this will change, assistant Philippine foreign secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad told reporters in a briefing on Duterte&#39;s trip to Russia.

&quot;We consider this visit as a landmark that will send a strong message of the Philippines&#39; commitment to seek new partnerships and strengthen relations with non-traditional partners,&quot; she said.&nbsp;

Duterte visiting Moscow will be a &quot;propaganda victory for Putin and a soft-power coup for Russia,&quot; Richard Javad Heydarian, a foreign policy analyst in Manila, told AFP.

&quot;It will be their way of poking the eye of America.&quot;

(AFP) 
&nbsp;

Duterte will on Thursday meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has described as his 'favourite hero'

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte flies to Russia on Monday to meet his hero, seek arms and steer his nation's foreign policy course further away from longtime ally the United States. The five-day trip will cement a dramatic improvement in ties between the two nations since Duterte came to power last year and began unravelling the Philippines' decades-long alliances with the United States, which he accuses of hypocrisy and bullying. Duterte will on Thursday meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has described as his "favourite hero" and proclaimed a personal bond because of mutual passions such as guns and hunting. Duterte said on Friday one of the top priorities of his trip was to secure Russian precision-guided bombs to use on Islamic militants in the southern Philippines. "If they can spare us with the precision guided (bombs)," Duterte said when discussing the purpose of his trip. "We have so many smart bombs but not as accurate." Duterte's seeking of weapons from Russia comes as he dials down cooperation with the United States, the Philippines' former colonial ruler that has for decades been its most important military ally and protector. He has scaled down the number and scope of annual military exercises with the US, barred Filipino forces from joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, and called for the withdrawal of American troops from the Philippines. The shift occurred as China has become more assertive in challenging US might in the region by expanding its presence in the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety. Despite China's expansionism extending into areas of the sea claimed by the Philippines, Duterte has been determined to pivot his nation's foreign policy away from the United States in favour of Beijing and Moscow. This has partly been due to China and Russia supporting or at least not criticising his controversial war on drugs, which has left thousands of people dead and led to warnings by rights groups that Duterte may be orchestrating a crime against humanity. Duterte has railed against the United States, particularly when Barack Obama was president, for criticising the drug war. 'Ideological flow' On a state visit to China last year, Duterte announced the Philippines' "separation" from the United States. "I've realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world -- China, Philippines and Russia. It's the only way," he said in Beijing. Duterte, who describes himself as a socialist, and Putin first met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru last November. "Historically, I have been identified with the Western world. It was good until it lasted. And of late, I see a lot of these Western nations bullying small nations," Duterte told Putin then. Since then, two Russian Navy flotillas have visited Manila. "The Russians are with me, I shall not be afraid," Duterte said while touring the Russian Navy's guided missile cruiser Varyag during a port visit to Manila last month. The Philippines and Russia established diplomatic ties 41 years ago but, until Duterte took office, relations remained relatively low key. This was partly due to the Philippines' alliance with the United States. Philippine-Russian trade last year totalled just $226 million, according to government data. Philippine-US trade was worth more than $18 billion last year. Relations remain at the "nascent stage", but this will change, assistant Philippine foreign secretary Maria Cleofe Natividad told reporters in a briefing on Duterte's trip to Russia. "We consider this visit as a landmark that will send a strong message of the Philippines' commitment to seek new partnerships and strengthen relations with non-traditional partners," she said. Duterte visiting Moscow will be a "propaganda victory for Putin and a soft-power coup for Russia," Richard Javad Heydarian, a foreign policy analyst in Manila, told AFP. "It will be their way of poking the eye of America." (AFP)

Philippines' Duterte heads to Russia in blow to US

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow could provide a recording of a controversial exchange between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US President Donald Trump that has plunged the White House into turmoil.

His comments were the first since Trump was hit with accusations that he shared secrets while meeting Lavrov in Washington, the latest crisis to hit the White house amid existing investigations into whether Trump&#39;s aides colluded with Moscow during the campaign.

Putin said he was pleased with Lavrov&#39;s visit to Washington last week but mocked the idea that Trump had shared secrets during the meeting, calling the allegations &quot;political schizophrenia&quot; and saying people spreading them are either &quot;dumb&quot; or &quot;corrupt.&quot;

&quot;We can see that political schizophrenia is developing in the United States,&quot; Putin told reporters after talks with Italian Prime Minister&nbsp;Paolo Gentiloni in the southern Russian city of Sochi.

&quot;I cannot otherwise explain the accusations of the president that he handed Lavrov some sort of secrets,&quot; Putin added.

&quot;If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation between Lavrov and Trump to the US Congress and Senate,&quot; Putin said.

Although Putin used the Russian word for audio recording at the press conference, his foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that &quot;audio is not made&quot; at such meetings.

&quot;There is a recording kept by a special person present at conversations,&quot; Ushakov clarified to Russian news agencies.&nbsp;

Citing unnamed sources, the Washington Post reported that Trump had shared intelligence with Lavrov regarding an Islamic State group terror threat related to the use of laptop computers on airplanes.

According to sources cited in the report, that intelligence came from a US ally who had not authorised Washington to pass it on to Moscow.

&#39;Simply dumb&#39;&nbsp;

The fresh US crisis sank the dollar early Wednesday as well as Hong Kong stocks amid worries that Trump&#39;s economy-boosting and tax-cutting agenda could be derailed, with some experts mentioning possible impeachment.

As news emerged that Israel was the initial source of the intel, it attempted to contain the fallout from the scandal, with Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman saying security ties would continue to be &quot;unprecedented&quot; in scope.

A US administration official confirmed to AFP on condition of anonymity that the original intelligence came from Israel, which was initially reported by the New York Times.

British PM Theresa May meanwhile said Trump is free to decide what to discuss with White House visitors, while stressing that London&#39;s relationship with Washington was &quot;the most important defence and security relationship&quot; around the world.

Putin mocked the idea that Trump went off-script to share secrets with the Russians, saying he could issue a &quot;reprimand&quot; to Lavrov since the minister hadn&#39;t passed on the information.

&quot;(Lavrov) didn&#39;t share these secrets with us -- neither with me nor with the representatives of the Russian security services. That is very bad of him,&quot; Putin said to sniggers from the audience including Lavrov himself.

&#39;Absolute right&#39;&nbsp;

The visit had already generated its share of scandal after Moscow released pictures of the closed-door Oval Office meeting showing Trump and Lavrov grinning after White House officials presumed they would not be made public.

Trump&#39;s National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster denied the president caused any security lapses while Trump himself insisted he had the &quot;absolute right&quot; to share &quot;facts pertaining... to terrorism and airline flight safety&quot; with Russia.&nbsp;

Adding to the confusion, Russian senator Alexei Pushkov on Wednesday tweeted that &quot;US media were hysterical with Trump because he told us about IS plans to detonate our passenger plane.&quot;

Putin on Wednesday also slammed critics who spread allegations about Trump&#39;s ties with Russia.

&quot;What else will the people generating such drivel and nonsense think of next?&quot; he said. &quot;They are shaking up their internal politics while using anti-Russian slogans.&quot;

&quot;They either don&#39;t understand that they are hurting their own country, and then they are simply dumb, or they understand everything and then they are dangerous and corrupt people,&quot; Putin added.

(AFP)

Putin mocked the idea that Trump had shared secrets during the meeting, calling the allegations 'political schizophrenia'

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow could provide a recording of a controversial exchange between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US President Donald Trump that has plunged the White House into turmoil. His comments were the first since Trump was hit with accusations that he shared secrets while meeting Lavrov in Washington, the latest crisis to hit the White house amid existing investigations into whether Trump's aides colluded with Moscow during the campaign. Putin said he was pleased with Lavrov's visit to Washington last week but mocked the idea that Trump had shared secrets during the meeting, calling the allegations "political schizophrenia" and saying people spreading them are either "dumb" or "corrupt." "We can see that political schizophrenia is developing in the United States," Putin told reporters after talks with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in the southern Russian city of Sochi. "I cannot otherwise explain the accusations of the president that he handed Lavrov some sort of secrets," Putin added. "If the US administration finds it possible, we are ready to provide a recording of the conversation between Lavrov and Trump to the US Congress and Senate," Putin said. Although Putin used the Russian word for audio recording at the press conference, his foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said that "audio is not made" at such meetings. "There is a recording kept by a special person present at conversations," Ushakov clarified to Russian news agencies. Citing unnamed sources, the Washington Post reported that Trump had shared intelligence with Lavrov regarding an Islamic State group terror threat related to the use of laptop computers on airplanes. According to sources cited in the report, that intelligence came from a US ally who had not authorised Washington to pass it on to Moscow. 'Simply dumb' The fresh US crisis sank the dollar early Wednesday as well as Hong Kong stocks amid worries that Trump's economy-boosting and tax-cutting agenda could be derailed, with some experts mentioning possible impeachment. As news emerged that Israel was the initial source of the intel, it attempted to contain the fallout from the scandal, with Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman saying security ties would continue to be "unprecedented" in scope. A US administration official confirmed to AFP on condition of anonymity that the original intelligence came from Israel, which was initially reported by the New York Times. British PM Theresa May meanwhile said Trump is free to decide what to discuss with White House visitors, while stressing that London's relationship with Washington was "the most important defence and security relationship" around the world. Putin mocked the idea that Trump went off-script to share secrets with the Russians, saying he could issue a "reprimand" to Lavrov since the minister hadn't passed on the information. "(Lavrov) didn't share these secrets with us -- neither with me nor with the representatives of the Russian security services. That is very bad of him," Putin said to sniggers from the audience including Lavrov himself. 'Absolute right' The visit had already generated its share of scandal after Moscow released pictures of the closed-door Oval Office meeting showing Trump and Lavrov grinning after White House officials presumed they would not be made public. Trump's National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster denied the president caused any security lapses while Trump himself insisted he had the "absolute right" to share "facts pertaining... to terrorism and airline flight safety" with Russia. Adding to the confusion, Russian senator Alexei Pushkov on Wednesday tweeted that "US media were hysterical with Trump because he told us about IS plans to detonate our passenger plane." Putin on Wednesday also slammed critics who spread allegations about Trump's ties with Russia. "What else will the people generating such drivel and nonsense think of next?" he said. "They are shaking up their internal politics while using anti-Russian slogans." "They either don't understand that they are hurting their own country, and then they are simply dumb, or they understand everything and then they are dangerous and corrupt people," Putin added. (AFP)

Putin open to revealing Trump-Lavrov 'intel exchange'

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping expressed concern about rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after a North Korean missile test on Sunday, Putin&#39;s spokesman said.

Meeting on the sidelines of an international forum in Beijing, Putin and Xi &quot;discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula in detail&quot; and &quot;both parties expressed their concern over the escalation of tensions,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

According to China&#39;s official Xinhua news agency, Xi said during the meeting that Moscow and Beijing have played the role of a &quot;ballast stone&quot; in safeguarding regional and global peace and stability.

Xinhua did not publish other remarks.

Putin and Xi met after the opening ceremony of a summit on the Chinese president&#39;s One Belt, One Road initative -- a massive global trade infrastructure project to connect China to Asian neighbours, Europe and Africa.&nbsp;

(AFP)

Putin and Xi met on the sidelines of OBOR

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping expressed concern about rising tensions on the Korean peninsula after a North Korean missile test on Sunday, Putin's spokesman said. Meeting on the sidelines of an international forum in Beijing, Putin and Xi "discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula in detail" and "both parties expressed their concern over the escalation of tensions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. According to China's official Xinhua news agency, Xi said during the meeting that Moscow and Beijing have played the role of a "ballast stone" in safeguarding regional and global peace and stability. Xinhua did not publish other remarks. Putin and Xi met after the opening ceremony of a summit on the Chinese president's One Belt, One Road initative -- a massive global trade infrastructure project to connect China to Asian neighbours, Europe and Africa. (AFP)

Russia, China worried about rising tensions over North Korea

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his firing of FBI director James Comey in a series of Tweets, even as the turmoil in Washington continued over the sacking.

He vowed to replace Comey with someone &quot;far better.&quot;

&quot;Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me,&quot; Trump wrote in a Tweet.

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James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI.
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/862265729718128641">May 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/862267781336752128">May 10, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign&#39;s possible collusion with Russia to influence the election outcome.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the sacking will not impact relations between the two nations.

&quot;There will be no effect,&quot; Putin told CBS.&quot;Your question looks very funny for me. Don&#39;t be angry with me. We have nothing to do with that.&quot;

(WION with inputs from Reuters)

 
 
&nbsp;

Sacked FBI director James Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign's possible collusion with Russia to influence the election outcome.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his firing of FBI director James Comey in a series of Tweets, even as the turmoil in Washington continued over the sacking. He vowed to replace Comey with someone "far better." "Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me," Trump wrote in a Tweet. James Comey will be replaced by someone who will do a far better job, bringing back the spirit and prestige of the FBI. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017 × Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 10, 2017 × Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump 2016 presidential campaign's possible collusion with Russia to influence the election outcome. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the sacking will not impact relations between the two nations. "There will be no effect," Putin told CBS."Your question looks very funny for me. Don't be angry with me. We have nothing to do with that." (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Trump defends FBI director sacking

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday backed an official check into reported brutal attacks on gay men in Chechnya in his first public comment after German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted him on the issue.

Putin said he would personally &quot;talk to the prosecutor-general and the interior minister&quot; to ask them to help Kremlin rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova check the reports which have caused an international scandal.

&quot;I hope the colleagues respond and support you,&quot; Putin told Moskalkova, whose role is to investigate rights abuses but is widely seen as a loyalist establishment figure.

At a joint press conference with Putin on Tuesday in Moscow, Merkel raised the &quot;very negative reports&quot; and said she had asked Putin to &quot;use his influence to guarantee the rights of minorities.&quot;&nbsp;

While speaking to the Kremlin ombudswoman in televised comments, Putin referred to the reports as &quot;rumours, you could say, about what is happening in our North Caucasus with people of non-traditional orientation,&quot; using a euphemism meaning gay.

In March, the Novaya Gazeta opposition daily reported that Chechen authorities were imprisoning and torturing gay men in the conservative region where homosexuality is taboo.

It said the authorities had detained more than 100 gay men and urged their families to kill them to &quot;wash clean their honour.&quot; At least two had been killed by relatives and a third died after being tortured, it reported.

A group of Chechen men in a safe house near Moscow later confirmed to AFP that they had fled the region in fear of their lives after being beaten and imprisoned.

Chechnya&#39;s strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov has fiercely denied claims of a crackdown in the socially conservative region.

The muscle-bound former insurgent turned Kremlin-loyalist responded to Putin&#39;s comments on Friday by telling journalists his authorities were &quot;ready to closely cooperate&quot; with Moskalkova, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

But he claimed that majority-Muslim Chechnya does not have any gay people and suggested some gay people may be pretending to be Chechen to get asylum in the West.

&quot;Chechen society does not have the phenomenon called non-traditional sexual orientation: its people have lived for thousands of years according to different rules laid down by Allah,&quot; Kadyrov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially downplayed the reports, saying there had been &quot;no confirmation&quot; of violence and arrests.

After a delay, Russian investigators have said they are probing the allegations.&nbsp;

Moskalkova said last month there had been no official complaints from victims.&nbsp;

But on Friday she said that there needed to be a mechanism for victims to report abuse when they are outside Chechnya and asked Putin to help create a working group to receive such complaints. She stressed that victims&#39; anonymity will be protected.

This week, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden wrote to their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to press for an immediate end to any persecution of gay men in Chechnya.

(AFP)

In March, the Novaya Gazeta opposition daily reported that Chechen authorities were imprisoning and torturing gay men in the conservative region where homosexuality is taboo.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday backed an official check into reported brutal attacks on gay men in Chechnya in his first public comment after German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted him on the issue. Putin said he would personally "talk to the prosecutor-general and the interior minister" to ask them to help Kremlin rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova check the reports which have caused an international scandal. "I hope the colleagues respond and support you," Putin told Moskalkova, whose role is to investigate rights abuses but is widely seen as a loyalist establishment figure. At a joint press conference with Putin on Tuesday in Moscow, Merkel raised the "very negative reports" and said she had asked Putin to "use his influence to guarantee the rights of minorities." While speaking to the Kremlin ombudswoman in televised comments, Putin referred to the reports as "rumours, you could say, about what is happening in our North Caucasus with people of non-traditional orientation," using a euphemism meaning gay. In March, the Novaya Gazeta opposition daily reported that Chechen authorities were imprisoning and torturing gay men in the conservative region where homosexuality is taboo. It said the authorities had detained more than 100 gay men and urged their families to kill them to "wash clean their honour." At least two had been killed by relatives and a third died after being tortured, it reported. A group of Chechen men in a safe house near Moscow later confirmed to AFP that they had fled the region in fear of their lives after being beaten and imprisoned. Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov has fiercely denied claims of a crackdown in the socially conservative region. The muscle-bound former insurgent turned Kremlin-loyalist responded to Putin's comments on Friday by telling journalists his authorities were "ready to closely cooperate" with Moskalkova, RIA Novosti news agency reported. But he claimed that majority-Muslim Chechnya does not have any gay people and suggested some gay people may be pretending to be Chechen to get asylum in the West. "Chechen society does not have the phenomenon called non-traditional sexual orientation: its people have lived for thousands of years according to different rules laid down by Allah," Kadyrov said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially downplayed the reports, saying there had been "no confirmation" of violence and arrests. After a delay, Russian investigators have said they are probing the allegations. Moskalkova said last month there had been no official complaints from victims. But on Friday she said that there needed to be a mechanism for victims to report abuse when they are outside Chechnya and asked Putin to help create a working group to receive such complaints. She stressed that victims' anonymity will be protected. This week, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden wrote to their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to press for an immediate end to any persecution of gay men in Chechnya. (AFP)

After Merkel plea, Putin backs probe into Chechen gay attacks

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday laid the blame for her defeat in last year&#39;s White House race squarely at the feet of FBI director James Comey and Russia`s Vladimir Putin, saying they had &quot;scared off&quot; voters.

The Democrat, speaking at a charity luncheon in New York, said she took &quot;absolute personal responsibility&quot; for a series of campaign blunders that contributed to her loss to Donald Trump.

But she pointed a finger at Russian hacking and interference and at the Federal Bureau of Investigation director, who revealed just before the November 8 election he was re-opening a probe into Clinton`s use of a personal email server while serving as secretary of state.

&quot;I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey&#39;s letter on October 28th and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared off,&quot; Clinton said.

&quot;If the election had been on October 27, I`d be your president.&quot;

Trump responded hours later with a pair of snarky tweets, attacking Clinton and saying the Russia affair was a Democratic ploy to justify her loss to him.

In January the US intelligence community announced it had concluded Russia interfered in the election -- and that Putin himself ordered a campaign to undermine the US democratic process and harm Clinton`s electability in order to help Trump win.

Clinton described the Russian president as someone who was &quot;not a member of my fan club&quot;.

&quot;He certainly interfered in our election and it was clear he hurt me and helped my opponent,&quot; she said. 
Clinton pointed to the release of an old video tape on October 7 on which Trump is heard crudely discussing groping women, and how &quot;within an hour or two&quot; of the tapes` release, the Russian theft of Clinton staffers` emails was made public on WikiLeaks.

&quot;What a coincidence. You just can&#39;t make this stuff up,&quot; she said.

Clinton`s remarks -- which echoed CIA comments branding WikiLeaks a &quot;hostile intelligence service&quot; abetted by the likes of Russia -- were the most extensive and direct about her loss since the shock result last year.

&quot;The reason why I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last 10 days,&quot; she said.Political analysts widely consider that Clinton fell short in part because she failed to mobilize the coalition of non-whites, young voters, single women and college-educated whites who propelled Barack Obama to victory in 2008 and 2012.

She was also faulted for not spending enough campaign time in traditionally Democratic strongholds Michigan and Wisconsin, states which fell to Trump on election day.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Democrats have focused on Russian hacking -- and alleged cooperation between Moscow and Trump associates -- to mask their bitter defeat.

&quot;Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election,&quot; he tweeted Tuesday night after Clinton spoke. &quot;Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?&quot;

Trump also said Clinton had gotten off easy because the FBI chose not to charge her over the email case.

&quot;FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony...&quot; Trump wrote in another tweet.

In her interview Clinton blamed &quot;everybody but herself,&quot; Republican congressman Jeff Duncan said on Twitter.

The 69-year-old former first lady, US senator and secretary of state has spent decades in the public spotlight.

&quot;I&#39;m now back to being an active citizen and part of the resistance,&quot; she said, referring to the informal movement opposed to the Republican president.

Clinton is writing a book about her experiences, to be released later this year, and said it has been a &quot;painful process&quot; to relive the campaign and the mistakes she made.

&quot;You`ll read my confession and my request for absolution,&quot; she said.

(AFP)

The Democrat, speaking at a charity luncheon in New York, said she took "absolute personal responsibility" for a series of campaign blunders that contributed to her loss to Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday laid the blame for her defeat in last year's White House race squarely at the feet of FBI director James Comey and Russia`s Vladimir Putin, saying they had "scared off" voters. The Democrat, speaking at a charity luncheon in New York, said she took "absolute personal responsibility" for a series of campaign blunders that contributed to her loss to Donald Trump. But she pointed a finger at Russian hacking and interference and at the Federal Bureau of Investigation director, who revealed just before the November 8 election he was re-opening a probe into Clinton`s use of a personal email server while serving as secretary of state. "I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey's letter on October 28th and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me, but got scared off," Clinton said. "If the election had been on October 27, I`d be your president." Trump responded hours later with a pair of snarky tweets, attacking Clinton and saying the Russia affair was a Democratic ploy to justify her loss to him. In January the US intelligence community announced it had concluded Russia interfered in the election -- and that Putin himself ordered a campaign to undermine the US democratic process and harm Clinton`s electability in order to help Trump win. Clinton described the Russian president as someone who was "not a member of my fan club". "He certainly interfered in our election and it was clear he hurt me and helped my opponent," she said. Clinton pointed to the release of an old video tape on October 7 on which Trump is heard crudely discussing groping women, and how "within an hour or two" of the tapes` release, the Russian theft of Clinton staffers` emails was made public on WikiLeaks. "What a coincidence. You just can't make this stuff up," she said. Clinton`s remarks -- which echoed CIA comments branding WikiLeaks a "hostile intelligence service" abetted by the likes of Russia -- were the most extensive and direct about her loss since the shock result last year. "The reason why I believe we lost were the intervening events in the last 10 days," she said.Political analysts widely consider that Clinton fell short in part because she failed to mobilize the coalition of non-whites, young voters, single women and college-educated whites who propelled Barack Obama to victory in 2008 and 2012. She was also faulted for not spending enough campaign time in traditionally Democratic strongholds Michigan and Wisconsin, states which fell to Trump on election day. Trump has repeatedly claimed that Democrats have focused on Russian hacking -- and alleged cooperation between Moscow and Trump associates -- to mask their bitter defeat. "Trump/Russia story was an excuse used by the Democrats as justification for losing the election," he tweeted Tuesday night after Clinton spoke. "Perhaps Trump just ran a great campaign?" Trump also said Clinton had gotten off easy because the FBI chose not to charge her over the email case. "FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds! The phony..." Trump wrote in another tweet. In her interview Clinton blamed "everybody but herself," Republican congressman Jeff Duncan said on Twitter. The 69-year-old former first lady, US senator and secretary of state has spent decades in the public spotlight. "I'm now back to being an active citizen and part of the resistance," she said, referring to the informal movement opposed to the Republican president. Clinton is writing a book about her experiences, to be released later this year, and said it has been a "painful process" to relive the campaign and the mistakes she made. "You`ll read my confession and my request for absolution," she said. (AFP)

Hillary Clinton blames FBI and Putin for defeat in presidential election

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed steps to ease Syria&#39;s civil war and a possible first face-to-face meeting, during what the White House described as a &quot;very good call&quot; Tuesday.

The US and Russian leaders spoke by telephone, focusing on the six-year-old Syrian conflict, which has pitched Moscow and Washington into rival camps.

&quot;President Trump and President Putin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence,&quot; the White House said.

Trump aides also said &quot;the conversation was a very good one&quot; that included &quot;discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones&quot; in Syria &quot;to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons.&quot;

The White House said the two leaders also spoke about &quot;how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea.&quot;

And the Kremlin added that both men were &quot;in favour&quot; of meeting at a G-20 summit in Germany this July.

That meeting is sure to be closely watched in the United States, where Trump has come under sustained criticism over his campaign&#39;s ties to Russia and his praise of Putin.

US intelligence agencies believe that Putin approved of a wide-ranging campaign to tilt the 2016 election in Trump&#39;s favour, prompting US sanctions imposed by former president Barack Obama.

The FBI is still investigating possible collusion between the campaign and Moscow.

Trump has been muted in his criticism, but tensions between the White House and the Kremlin have resurfaced after the suspected use of the chemical agent sarin against civilians prompted Trump to strike a Syrian regime airbase also used by Russia.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the call -- which he sat in on -- was &quot;very productive&quot; with &quot;a lot of detailed exchanges.&quot;

&nbsp;&quot;We&#39;ll see where we go from here.&quot;

No details were given about the possible safe zones, which have long been discussed, but faltered as Bashar al-Assad&#39;s regime and assorted groups of rebels, Kurds, Iranian-backed militias, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State fighters have kept-up a bloody war that has killed an estimated half million people.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, said &quot;the emphasis was put on the potential for coordination of actions by the United States and Russia in the fight against terrorism.&quot;

The State Department earlier announced that it would send a junior minister to Russian-backed peace talks in Astana later this week. 
 
(AFP)

The two presidents agreed that all parties must do all they can to end the violence in Syria

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin discussed steps to ease Syria's civil war and a possible first face-to-face meeting, during what the White House described as a "very good call" Tuesday. The US and Russian leaders spoke by telephone, focusing on the six-year-old Syrian conflict, which has pitched Moscow and Washington into rival camps. "President Trump and President Putin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence," the White House said. Trump aides also said "the conversation was a very good one" that included "discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones" in Syria "to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons." The White House said the two leaders also spoke about "how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea." And the Kremlin added that both men were "in favour" of meeting at a G-20 summit in Germany this July. That meeting is sure to be closely watched in the United States, where Trump has come under sustained criticism over his campaign's ties to Russia and his praise of Putin. US intelligence agencies believe that Putin approved of a wide-ranging campaign to tilt the 2016 election in Trump's favour, prompting US sanctions imposed by former president Barack Obama. The FBI is still investigating possible collusion between the campaign and Moscow. Trump has been muted in his criticism, but tensions between the White House and the Kremlin have resurfaced after the suspected use of the chemical agent sarin against civilians prompted Trump to strike a Syrian regime airbase also used by Russia. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the call -- which he sat in on -- was "very productive" with "a lot of detailed exchanges." "We'll see where we go from here." No details were given about the possible safe zones, which have long been discussed, but faltered as Bashar al-Assad's regime and assorted groups of rebels, Kurds, Iranian-backed militias, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State fighters have kept-up a bloody war that has killed an estimated half million people. The Kremlin, meanwhile, said "the emphasis was put on the potential for coordination of actions by the United States and Russia in the fight against terrorism." The State Department earlier announced that it would send a junior minister to Russian-backed peace talks in Astana later this week. (AFP)

Trump, Putin discuss face-to-face meeting, Syria peace zones in 'very good call'

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir Putin insisted Tuesday that there was no alternative to a stalled Ukraine peace plan as they struggled to mask deep rifts during a first meeting in Russia since 2015.

Merkel pushed Putin at a frosty encounter to ensure a ceasefire in war-torn east Ukraine, but the Russian leader laid the blame on Kiev for a European-brokered peace deal hitting a dead end.&nbsp;

The rare visit also saw the German chancellor confront Putin over rights issues in Russia, including the alleged persecution of gay men in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya.&nbsp;

&quot;I think we have differences but international politics means to always keep looking for dialogue,&quot; Merkel said at a press conference in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.&nbsp;

The meeting was meant to focus on preparations for the G20 summit in Hamburg in July, and no major breakthroughs were expected on mending the deep divisions caused by the conflict in Ukraine.&nbsp;

The German leader has strongly backed EU sanctions on Russia for seizing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and for supporting a pro-Kremlin separatist insurgency in the east of the country.

Merkel said she hoped some of the sanctions could be lifted if a flatlining peace plan brokered by her and French President Francois Hollande in 2015 was fulfilled.

And both leaders admitted there was no choice but to stick to the process despite its running into a brick wall amid recriminations from all sides.&nbsp;

&quot;We cannot think about any alternative and we should not have to think of it,&quot; Putin said at a press conference.&nbsp;

&quot;It is impossible to create new plans without achieving elementary results for what we outlined in previous years.&quot;

Gay rights

Merkel last visited Russia in May 2015 when she met Putin in Moscow, and the two leaders have scaled back contacts as the Ukraine crisis has driven ties to a post-Cold War low.&nbsp;

Putin talked up economic ties between the two countries, insisting that &quot;our cooperation makes a significant contribution to stabilising the world economy.&quot;

But it was clear that despite pledges to talk there remain deep gulfs between the German leader -- seen as a major bulwark of the Western liberal order -- and the Kremlin strongman, who many accuse of trying to undermine it.&nbsp;

At the press conference Merkel said she raised recent high-profile accusations of rights abuses in Russia, including allegations the authorities in Chechnya were rounding up gay men.&nbsp;

&quot;We received very negative reports about how homosexuals are treated in Chechnya,&quot; Merkel said. &quot;I asked President Putin to use his influence to guarantee the rights of minorities.&quot;

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Putin-loyalist and strongman leader of Chechnya, has fiercely denied claims of a crackdown in the socially conservative region, and after a delay Russian investigators said they are probing the allegations.&nbsp;

Putin was also forced to deny that Russia was planning to meddle in German elections that Merkel is competing in later in the year after claims that Moscow interfered with the US presidential vote.&nbsp;

&quot;We never interfered in the political life or the political processes of any other country,&quot; Putin said.&nbsp;

Trump talk, Erdogan meeting

The meeting with Merkel comes ahead of a busy diplomatic push for Putin.

After meeting Merkel, he was expected later Tuesday to hold his third phone call with US President Donald Trump.

The two leaders are looking to make headway on ties in the face of deep rifts over the conflict in Syria and after claims of Russian hacking during the US elections.&nbsp;

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also due to meet Putin in Sochi on Wednesday.

Putin and Erdogan have inched closer together on Syria as Erdogan&#39;s ties with Europe have deteriorated in recent months.

(AFP)

The rare visit saw the German chancellor confront Putin over the alleged persecution of gay men in Chechnya

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Vladimir Putin insisted Tuesday that there was no alternative to a stalled Ukraine peace plan as they struggled to mask deep rifts during a first meeting in Russia since 2015. Merkel pushed Putin at a frosty encounter to ensure a ceasefire in war-torn east Ukraine, but the Russian leader laid the blame on Kiev for a European-brokered peace deal hitting a dead end. The rare visit also saw the German chancellor confront Putin over rights issues in Russia, including the alleged persecution of gay men in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya. "I think we have differences but international politics means to always keep looking for dialogue," Merkel said at a press conference in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. The meeting was meant to focus on preparations for the G20 summit in Hamburg in July, and no major breakthroughs were expected on mending the deep divisions caused by the conflict in Ukraine. The German leader has strongly backed EU sanctions on Russia for seizing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and for supporting a pro-Kremlin separatist insurgency in the east of the country. Merkel said she hoped some of the sanctions could be lifted if a flatlining peace plan brokered by her and French President Francois Hollande in 2015 was fulfilled. And both leaders admitted there was no choice but to stick to the process despite its running into a brick wall amid recriminations from all sides. "We cannot think about any alternative and we should not have to think of it," Putin said at a press conference. "It is impossible to create new plans without achieving elementary results for what we outlined in previous years." Gay rights Merkel last visited Russia in May 2015 when she met Putin in Moscow, and the two leaders have scaled back contacts as the Ukraine crisis has driven ties to a post-Cold War low. Putin talked up economic ties between the two countries, insisting that "our cooperation makes a significant contribution to stabilising the world economy." But it was clear that despite pledges to talk there remain deep gulfs between the German leader -- seen as a major bulwark of the Western liberal order -- and the Kremlin strongman, who many accuse of trying to undermine it. At the press conference Merkel said she raised recent high-profile accusations of rights abuses in Russia, including allegations the authorities in Chechnya were rounding up gay men. "We received very negative reports about how homosexuals are treated in Chechnya," Merkel said. "I asked President Putin to use his influence to guarantee the rights of minorities." Ramzan Kadyrov, the Putin-loyalist and strongman leader of Chechnya, has fiercely denied claims of a crackdown in the socially conservative region, and after a delay Russian investigators said they are probing the allegations. Putin was also forced to deny that Russia was planning to meddle in German elections that Merkel is competing in later in the year after claims that Moscow interfered with the US presidential vote. "We never interfered in the political life or the political processes of any other country," Putin said. Trump talk, Erdogan meeting The meeting with Merkel comes ahead of a busy diplomatic push for Putin. After meeting Merkel, he was expected later Tuesday to hold his third phone call with US President Donald Trump. The two leaders are looking to make headway on ties in the face of deep rifts over the conflict in Syria and after claims of Russian hacking during the US elections. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also due to meet Putin in Sochi on Wednesday. Putin and Erdogan have inched closer together on Syria as Erdogan's ties with Europe have deteriorated in recent months. (AFP)

Merkel pushes Putin on Ukraine, gay rights

US President Donald Trump&#39;s pick for national security adviser, who was fired for lying to the Vice President about his contact with the Russian ambassador to the US, did not disclose payments from Russia and does not appear to have complied with the law, said the House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz and the ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings, according to <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/michael-flynn-house-oversight-committee/" target="_blank">media </a>reports.&nbsp;

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y&#39;all, listen to this. <a href="https://t.co/RsphC3EEeW">pic.twitter.com/RsphC3EEeW</a>
&mdash; deray mckesson (@deray) <a href="https://twitter.com/deray/status/856909551173484544">April 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
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This comes after reviewing Michael Flynn&#39;s application for a security clearance.

Chaffetz and Cumming told&nbsp;reporters following a classified committee meeting in which they characterised the documents under review as&nbsp;&quot;extremely troubling&quot;.

Chaffetz said, &quot;I see no data to support the notion that General Flynn complied with the law&quot;, in regards to whether or not Flynn received permission from the State Department or from the Pentagon, or that he disclosed the more than&nbsp;$45,000 he received for making a speech to RT-TV in Russia, the state-funded news network.

This comes after the White House failed&nbsp;to provide documents about Flynn that the panel investigating him had sought, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/25/politics/michael-flynn-house-oversight-committee/" target="_blank">CNN </a>reports.

Last month it was also revealed that Flynn&#39;s lobbying work which benefitted Turkey netted him $530,000. Flynn&nbsp;was awarded this contract right before Trump selected him to be national security adviser.&nbsp;

Today, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/25/michael-flynn-turkey-russia-237550" target="_blank">Politico </a>reported, citing court records,&nbsp;that the Turkish man who gave him this&nbsp;contract has business ties to Russia, including a 2009 aviation financing deal he negotiated with Vladimir Putin.&nbsp;

(WION)

'Extremely troubling' is how Jason Chaffetz characterised the documents seen by the classified gathering of the committee

US President Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser, who was fired for lying to the Vice President about his contact with the Russian ambassador to the US, did not disclose payments from Russia and does not appear to have complied with the law, said the House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz and the ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings, according to media reports. y'all, listen to this. pic.twitter.com/RsphC3EEeW — deray mckesson (@deray) April 25, 2017 × This comes after reviewing Michael Flynn's application for a security clearance. Chaffetz and Cumming told reporters following a classified committee meeting in which they characterised the documents under review as "extremely troubling". Chaffetz said, "I see no data to support the notion that General Flynn complied with the law", in regards to whether or not Flynn received permission from the State Department or from the Pentagon, or that he disclosed the more than $45,000 he received for making a speech to RT-TV in Russia, the state-funded news network. This comes after the White House failed to provide documents about Flynn that the panel investigating him had sought, CNN reports. Last month it was also revealed that Flynn's lobbying work which benefitted Turkey netted him $530,000. Flynn was awarded this contract right before Trump selected him to be national security adviser. Today, Politico reported, citing court records, that the Turkish man who gave him this contract has business ties to Russia, including a 2009 aviation financing deal he negotiated with Vladimir Putin. (WION)

'No sign Gen Flynn complied with the law', says House Oversight Panel

Russia wants an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss U.S. missile strikes on Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, describing the action as &quot;thoughtless&quot;.

The ministry said in a statement that Russia was also suspending a Syrian air safety agreement with the United States, saying:

&quot;This is not the first time the United States has resorted to such a thoughtless step, which merely exacerbates existing problems and threatens global security.&quot;

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<h5>This is not the first time the United States has resorted to such a thoughtless step, which merely exacerbates existing problems and threatens global security</h5>
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Russia has dismissed Western accusations against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who Washington says was responsible for a chemical gas attack that left scores dead in the Syrian province of Idlib.

The foreign ministry said it was clear that the U.S. missile strikes were prepared before the Idlib incident.&nbsp;

(Reuters)

The Russian foreign ministry described the strikes as 'thoughtless'

Russia wants an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss U.S. missile strikes on Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, describing the action as "thoughtless". The ministry said in a statement that Russia was also suspending a Syrian air safety agreement with the United States, saying: "This is not the first time the United States has resorted to such a thoughtless step, which merely exacerbates existing problems and threatens global security." This is not the first time the United States has resorted to such a thoughtless step, which merely exacerbates existing problems and threatens global security × Russia has dismissed Western accusations against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who Washington says was responsible for a chemical gas attack that left scores dead in the Syrian province of Idlib. The foreign ministry said it was clear that the U.S. missile strikes were prepared before the Idlib incident. (Reuters)

Russia calls for emergency UN meeting after US strikes on Syria

After a period of enigmatic statements, US President Donald Trump&rsquo;s approach to the complicated West Asia region&nbsp;has now become totally clear: Deliver more bombs, send more men, fight more wars. This is perfectly in line with&nbsp;President Trump&#39;s need to present himself as capable of resolving all the problems that, according to him, the previous administration left behind.&nbsp;

In the first US military&nbsp;action clearly directed against Syria&rsquo;s President Bashar al-Assad&#39;s forces, the US army attacked the al-Shayrat air base on Thursday night with more than 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles. According to Russian sources, six Syrian fighter jets&nbsp;have been destroyed.&nbsp;

US President Donald Trump said that his decision to clear the attack came because, according to his staff, the recent chemical attack which occurred in&nbsp;Khan Sheikhun was conducted by air forces which took off&nbsp;from al-Shayrat.

The details&nbsp;of this&nbsp;chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, are&nbsp;still unclear, and while&nbsp;it seems likely to have been carried out by&nbsp;the Syrian Air Force, an investigation is still ongoing. The US-led coalition forces, the UN and several NGOs believe that Assad&rsquo;s Air Force delivered bombs containing chemical agents. Russia has an alternative version, which states&nbsp;that Syrian forces bombed a warehouse where anti-Assad fighters were storing chemical weapons. &nbsp; &nbsp;

The al-Shayrat bombing is just the last action of a US strategy which has been in place since at least a month.

The US military had already scaled up the presence of its elite forces in northern Syria, where the Arab/Kurds Syrian Democratic Forces are now very close to Raqqa, the Islamic State&#39;s capital city.&nbsp;

In Mosul, despite the hundreds of thousands of civilians still living in the western part of the city, the US-led coalition increased the intensity and frequency of its airstrikes. This choice has already had&nbsp;deadly consequences. On March 17,&nbsp;more than one hundred people&nbsp;who were hiding inside some houses were killed.&nbsp;

Many countries supported Trump&rsquo;s increased military action. Right after the missile strike against&nbsp;al-Sharyat, the UK, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel openly backed the US decision. Later on, so did Canada and Jordan. Full support also came from Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, who said in a statement that,&nbsp;&ldquo;He understands efforts to deter further attacks. There is a clear distinction between airstrikes on military targets and the use of chemical weapons against civilians&rdquo;.

The General Command of the Syrian Army characterised the attack as&nbsp;&ldquo;blatant aggression&rdquo;, and said that this action makes the United States a &ldquo;partner&rdquo; of the Islamic State and other terrorist organisations. The Syrian news agency SANA reported that the army command said that the strike &ldquo;sends wrong messages to the terrorist organisations that would embolden them further to use chemical weapons in the future every time they suffer heavy losses in the battlefield&rdquo;.

After an initial silence, the Syrian presidency issued a statement defining the US strike as &ldquo;an unjust and arrogant aggression&rdquo;.

The American attack is a prominent obstacle on the path of a possible positive development of US-Russia relations. Moscow did not appreciate the fact that they were not informed, and has already declared&nbsp;willingness to take the issue to the UN Security Council. (A Pentagon spokesman said Russian troops in the air base were informed, but US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Russian government itself was not informed prior to the attack.

Russia is the main and major ally of President Assad in the Syrian conflict, and finds itself now forced to find a way to respond to the&nbsp;US decision.&nbsp;

Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of his security council and, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, all the participants expressed &ldquo;deep concern at the inevitable negative consequences of these aggressive actions for the joint effort to fight terrorism&rdquo;.&nbsp;

Russian defence ministry spokesman Gen&nbsp;Igor Konashenkow said&nbsp;that his country will continue to support President Assad, and will shortly strengthen Syrian air defences in order to better protect their ally&rsquo;s military infrastructure.&nbsp;

The Russian foreign ministry also declared&nbsp;that from now on&nbsp;they consider the agreement made with the US in order to respectively&nbsp;ensure flight&nbsp;safety during operations in Syria null and void.

It is not only about Russia, but also about US-Iran relations, which are currently very bad. Tehran is sending thousands of militiamen and weapons into Syria to support Assad, and US Secretary of Defence James Mattis has long thought that Iran is the major threat to any peace process in West Asia. During his confirmation hearing, Mattis clearly said that it was time for the US to re-establish the effectiveness of their deterrent power.

The US, and their regional allies - including Turkey - see Iranian involvement in both Iraq and Syria as an expansionist game that the country is playing in order to establish their hegemony in West Asia. On the other hand, this is exactly what Tehran thinks about the US intervention in the region.&nbsp;

This attack also opens a new front for the US which was, at least according to their UN ambassador&nbsp;Nikki Haley, focused only on fighting the Islamic State. Bombing Syrian air forces&nbsp;openly contradicts&nbsp;this line, and also is an open act of war against President Assad, and therefore against Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and Moscow.

The US has&nbsp;never been neutral in their wars in West Asia, used as a way to secure their presence in a strategic area very close to the world&#39;s major oil resources. They have done it in Iraq, where they have been present since 2003,&nbsp;and it seems they are ready to do it also in Syria.

The US missile&nbsp;strike against the al-Sharyat airbase is neither resolutive nor truly effective in destroying the overall military capability of the Syrian army. It is more of a show of strength, a way to continue to push the specious narrative of the US as the guarantor of international law, a sort of neutral actor fighting against terrorism and for democracy. The now irritated Russia has been playing the same game since&nbsp;deciding&nbsp;to enter the battlefield alongside&nbsp;Assad.

The willingness to again push&nbsp;this old and creaky narrative is creating a further diplomatic impasse, which hinders an already faraway solution to&nbsp;the Syrian conflict.

(WION)

American missiles may have struck Syria, but a message was sent to both Russia and Iran

After a period of enigmatic statements, US President Donald Trump’s approach to the complicated West Asia region has now become totally clear: Deliver more bombs, send more men, fight more wars. This is perfectly in line with President Trump's need to present himself as capable of resolving all the problems that, according to him, the previous administration left behind. In the first US military action clearly directed against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad's forces, the US army attacked the al-Shayrat air base on Thursday night with more than 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles. According to Russian sources, six Syrian fighter jets have been destroyed. US President Donald Trump said that his decision to clear the attack came because, according to his staff, the recent chemical attack which occurred in Khan Sheikhun was conducted by air forces which took off from al-Shayrat. The details of this chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, are still unclear, and while it seems likely to have been carried out by the Syrian Air Force, an investigation is still ongoing. The US-led coalition forces, the UN and several NGOs believe that Assad’s Air Force delivered bombs containing chemical agents. Russia has an alternative version, which states that Syrian forces bombed a warehouse where anti-Assad fighters were storing chemical weapons. The al-Shayrat bombing is just the last action of a US strategy which has been in place since at least a month. The US military had already scaled up the presence of its elite forces in northern Syria, where the Arab/Kurds Syrian Democratic Forces are now very close to Raqqa, the Islamic State's capital city. In Mosul, despite the hundreds of thousands of civilians still living in the western part of the city, the US-led coalition increased the intensity and frequency of its airstrikes. This choice has already had deadly consequences. On March 17, more than one hundred people who were hiding inside some houses were killed. Many countries supported Trump’s increased military action. Right after the missile strike against al-Sharyat, the UK, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel openly backed the US decision. Later on, so did Canada and Jordan. Full support also came from Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, who said in a statement that, “He understands efforts to deter further attacks. There is a clear distinction between airstrikes on military targets and the use of chemical weapons against civilians”. The General Command of the Syrian Army characterised the attack as “blatant aggression”, and said that this action makes the United States a “partner” of the Islamic State and other terrorist organisations. The Syrian news agency SANA reported that the army command said that the strike “sends wrong messages to the terrorist organisations that would embolden them further to use chemical weapons in the future every time they suffer heavy losses in the battlefield”. After an initial silence, the Syrian presidency issued a statement defining the US strike as “an unjust and arrogant aggression”. The American attack is a prominent obstacle on the path of a possible positive development of US-Russia relations. Moscow did not appreciate the fact that they were not informed, and has already declared willingness to take the issue to the UN Security Council. (A Pentagon spokesman said Russian troops in the air base were informed, but US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Russian government itself was not informed prior to the attack. Russia is the main and major ally of President Assad in the Syrian conflict, and finds itself now forced to find a way to respond to the US decision. Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of his security council and, according to spokesman Dmitry Peskov, all the participants expressed “deep concern at the inevitable negative consequences of these aggressive actions for the joint effort to fight terrorism”. Russian defence ministry spokesman Gen Igor Konashenkow said that his country will continue to support President Assad, and will shortly strengthen Syrian air defences in order to better protect their ally’s military infrastructure. The Russian foreign ministry also declared that from now on they consider the agreement made with the US in order to respectively ensure flight safety during operations in Syria null and void. It is not only about Russia, but also about US-Iran relations, which are currently very bad. Tehran is sending thousands of militiamen and weapons into Syria to support Assad, and US Secretary of Defence James Mattis has long thought that Iran is the major threat to any peace process in West Asia. During his confirmation hearing, Mattis clearly said that it was time for the US to re-establish the effectiveness of their deterrent power. The US, and their regional allies - including Turkey - see Iranian involvement in both Iraq and Syria as an expansionist game that the country is playing in order to establish their hegemony in West Asia. On the other hand, this is exactly what Tehran thinks about the US intervention in the region. This attack also opens a new front for the US which was, at least according to their UN ambassador Nikki Haley, focused only on fighting the Islamic State. Bombing Syrian air forces openly contradicts this line, and also is an open act of war against President Assad, and therefore against Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and Moscow. The US has never been neutral in their wars in West Asia, used as a way to secure their presence in a strategic area very close to the world's major oil resources. They have done it in Iraq, where they have been present since 2003, and it seems they are ready to do it also in Syria. The US missile strike against the al-Sharyat airbase is neither resolutive nor truly effective in destroying the overall military capability of the Syrian army. It is more of a show of strength, a way to continue to push the specious narrative of the US as the guarantor of international law, a sort of neutral actor fighting against terrorism and for democracy. The now irritated Russia has been playing the same game since deciding to enter the battlefield alongside Assad. The willingness to again push this old and creaky narrative is creating a further diplomatic impasse, which hinders an already faraway solution to the Syrian conflict. (WION)

ANALYSIS: Uncovering Trump's Syria policy

US President Donald Trump spoke Monday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and pledged Washington&#39;s &quot;full support&quot; for Moscow&#39;s response to the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro, the White House said.

Trump expressed his condolences and condemned the attack, which killed 11 people and left dozens wounded. Russian authorities said they were probing an &quot;act of terror.&quot;

&quot;President Trump offered the full support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice,&quot; the White House said in a statement about the phone call.

&quot;Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated.&quot;

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion in Saint Petersburg, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria fighting against the jihadists.

Earlier Monday at a White House event, Trump described the attack as &quot;a terrible thing.&quot;

Trump&#39;s phone call with Putin comes as the US Congress investigates Russian interference in last year&#39;s presidential election.

American intelligence alleges that Putin directed a campaign to tip the US election in Trump&#39;s favor.

(AFP)

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Trump expressed his condolences and condemned the attack, which killed 11 people and left dozens wounded

US President Donald Trump spoke Monday with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and pledged Washington's "full support" for Moscow's response to the deadly attack on the Saint Petersburg metro, the White House said. Trump expressed his condolences and condemned the attack, which killed 11 people and left dozens wounded. Russian authorities said they were probing an "act of terror." "President Trump offered the full support of the United States Government in responding to the attack and bringing those responsible to justice," the White House said in a statement about the phone call. "Both President Trump and President Putin agreed that terrorism must be decisively and quickly defeated." There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion in Saint Petersburg, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria fighting against the jihadists. Earlier Monday at a White House event, Trump described the attack as "a terrible thing." Trump's phone call with Putin comes as the US Congress investigates Russian interference in last year's presidential election. American intelligence alleges that Putin directed a campaign to tip the US election in Trump's favor. (AFP)

Trump pledges 'full support' to Putin over St Petersburg metro attack

WikiLeaks on Tuesday published what it said were thousands of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used over several years, renewing concerns about the security of consumer electronics and embarrassing the&nbsp;US&nbsp;intelligence agency.

The discussion transcripts showed that CIA hackers could get into Apple Inc&nbsp;iPhones, Google Inc&nbsp;Android devices and other gadgets in order to capture text and voice messages before they were encrypted with sophisticated software.

Cyber security experts disagreed about the extent of the fallout from the data dump, but said a lot would depend on whether WikiLeaks followed through on a threat to publish the actual hacking tools that could do damage.

Reuters could not immediately verify the contents of the published documents, but several contractors and private cyber security experts said the materials, dated between 2013 and 2016, appeared to be legitimate.

&nbsp;

Recent US-Russia context

This comes at a time when President Donald Trump is in a battle with the US spy agencies, who he has likened to &quot;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/15/john-brennan-trump-nazi-germany-russia" target="_blank">Nazi Germany</a>&quot;,&nbsp;who are investigating him for ties to Russia. Trump has claimed, without citing any evidence, that he was wiretapped in Trump Tower before the election.&nbsp;

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Like to remind that I&#39;ve been calling out Wikileaks as a Kremlin front since mid-2013. Took epic shit for speaking truth. Believe me now?
&mdash; John Schindler (@20committee) <a href="https://twitter.com/20committee/status/839143945871441920">March 7, 2017</a></blockquote>
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US&nbsp;intelligence agencies have said that WikiLeaks has ties to Russia&#39;s security services. During the 2016 US&nbsp;presidential campaign, WikiLeaks published internal emails of top Democratic Party officials, which the agencies said were hacked by Moscow as part of a coordinated influence campaign to help Republican Donald Trump win the presidency.

WikiLeaks has denied ties to Russian spy agencies.

Trump praised WikiLeaks during the campaign, often citing hacked emails it published to bolster his attacks on Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton.

WikiLeaks&#39; dump about the CIA was released&nbsp;the same day&nbsp;it came to light that <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/trump-personally-met-with-russian-ambassador-during-campaign-cc59ae305032#.l38j375zb" target="_blank">Donald Trump</a> himself met with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, on April 27, before a major foreign policy Speech. Trump has repeatedly&nbsp;claimed that neither he nor anyone on his campaign had contact with Russian officials.&nbsp;Four other members of his administration talked to Russian officials.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Back to the hack

A longtime intelligence contractor with expertise in US&nbsp;hacking tools told Reuters the documents included correct &quot;cover&quot; terms describing active cyber programs.

Among the most noteworthy WikiLeaks claims is that the Central Intelligence Agency, in partnership with other US&nbsp;and foreign agencies, has been able to bypass the encryption on popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal.

The files did not indicate the actual encryption of Signal or other secure messaging apps had been compromised.

The information in what WikiLeaks said were 7,818 web pages with 943 attachments appears to represent the latest breach in recent years of classified material from US&nbsp;intelligence agencies.

Security experts differed over how much the disclosures could damage US&nbsp;cyber espionage. Many said that, while harmful, they do not compare to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden&#39;s revelations in 2013 of mass NSA data collection.

&quot;This is a big dump about extremely sophisticated tools that can be used to target individual user devices...I haven&rsquo;t yet come across the mass exploiting of mobile devices,&quot; said Tarah Wheeler, senior director of engineering and principal security advocate for Symantec.

Stuart McClure, CEO of Cylance, an Irvine, California, cyber security firm, said that one of the most significant disclosures shows how CIA hackers cover their tracks by leaving electronic trails suggesting they are from Russia, China and Iran rather than the United States.

Other revelations show how the CIA took advantage of vulnerabilities that are known, if not widely publicised.

In one case, the documents say, US&nbsp;and British personnel, under a program known as Weeping Angel, developed ways to take over a Samsung smart television, making it appear it was off when in fact it was recording conversations in the room.

The CIA and White House declined comment. &quot;We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents,&quot; CIA spokesman Jonathan Liu said in a statement.

Google declined to comment on the purported hacking of its Android platform, but said it was investigating the matter.

Snowden on Twitter said the files amount to the first public evidence that the US&nbsp;government secretly buys software to exploit technology, referring to a table published by WikiLeaks that appeared to list various Apple iOS flaws purchased by the CIA and other intelligence agencies.

Apple Inc&nbsp;did not respond to a request for comment.

The documents refer to means for accessing phones directly in order to catch messages before they are protected by end-to-end encryption tools like Signal.

Signal inventor Moxie Marlinspike said he took that as &quot;confirmation that what we&rsquo;re doing is working&quot;. Signal and the like are &quot;pushing intelligence agencies from a world of undetectable mass surveillance to a world where they have to use expensive, high-risk, extremely targeted attacks&quot;.

&nbsp;

CIA cyber programs

The CIA in recent years underwent a restructuring to focus more on cyber warfare to keep pace with the increasing digital sophistication of foreign adversaries. The spy agency is prohibited by law from collecting intelligence that details domestic activities of Americans and is generally restricted in how it may gather any US&nbsp;data for counterintelligence purposes.

The documents published Tuesday appeared to supply specific details to what has been long-known in the abstract: US&nbsp;intelligence agencies, like their allies and adversaries, are constantly working to discover and exploit flaws in any manner of technology products.

Unlike the Snowden leaks, which revealed the NSA was secretly collecting details of telephone calls by ordinary Americans, the new WikiLeaks material did not appear to contain material that would fundamentally change what is publicly known about cyber espionage.

WikiLeaks, led by Julian Assange, said its publication of the documents on the hacking tools was the first in a series of releases drawing from a data set that includes several hundred million lines of code and includes the CIA&#39;s &quot;entire hacking capacity&quot;.

The documents only include snippets of computer code, not the full programs that would be needed to conduct cyber exploits.

WikiLeaks said it was refraining from disclosing usable code from CIA&#39;s cyber arsenal &quot;until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA&rsquo;s program and how such &lsquo;weapons&rsquo; should be analysed, disarmed and published&quot;.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

WikiLeaks said on Tuesday that the documents showed that the CIA hoarded serious security vulnerabilities rather than share them with the public, as called for under a process established by President Barack Obama.

Rob Knake, a former official who dealt with the issue under Obama, said he had not seen evidence in what was published to support that conclusion.

The process &quot;is not a policy of unilateral disarmament in cyberspace. The mere fact that the CIA may have exploited zero-day [previously undisclosed] vulnerabilities should not surprise anyone,&quot; said Knake, now at the Council on Foreign Relations.

US&nbsp;officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they did not know where WikiLeaks might have obtained the material.

In a press release, the group said, &quot;The archive appears to have been circulated among former US&nbsp;government hackers and contractors in an unauthorised manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive&quot;.

US&nbsp;intelligence agencies have suffered a series of security breaches, including Snowden&#39;s.

In 2010, US&nbsp;military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to Wikileaks.

Last month, former NSA contractor Harold Thomas Martin was indicted on charges of taking highly sensitive government materials over a course of 20 years, storing the secrets in his home.

(WION with inputs from Reuters)

This WikiLeaks dump embarrasses US intelligence at a time Trump is at war with them. Some US intel think WikiLeaks is a Russian front

WikiLeaks on Tuesday published what it said were thousands of pages of internal CIA discussions about hacking techniques used over several years, renewing concerns about the security of consumer electronics and embarrassing the US intelligence agency. The discussion transcripts showed that CIA hackers could get into Apple Inc iPhones, Google Inc Android devices and other gadgets in order to capture text and voice messages before they were encrypted with sophisticated software. Cyber security experts disagreed about the extent of the fallout from the data dump, but said a lot would depend on whether WikiLeaks followed through on a threat to publish the actual hacking tools that could do damage. Reuters could not immediately verify the contents of the published documents, but several contractors and private cyber security experts said the materials, dated between 2013 and 2016, appeared to be legitimate. Recent US-Russia context This comes at a time when President Donald Trump is in a battle with the US spy agencies, who he has likened to "Nazi Germany", who are investigating him for ties to Russia. Trump has claimed, without citing any evidence, that he was wiretapped in Trump Tower before the election. Like to remind that I've been calling out Wikileaks as a Kremlin front since mid-2013. Took epic shit for speaking truth. Believe me now? — John Schindler (@20committee) March 7, 2017 × US intelligence agencies have said that WikiLeaks has ties to Russia's security services. During the 2016 US presidential campaign, WikiLeaks published internal emails of top Democratic Party officials, which the agencies said were hacked by Moscow as part of a coordinated influence campaign to help Republican Donald Trump win the presidency. WikiLeaks has denied ties to Russian spy agencies. Trump praised WikiLeaks during the campaign, often citing hacked emails it published to bolster his attacks on Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton. WikiLeaks' dump about the CIA was released the same day it came to light that Donald Trump himself met with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, on April 27, before a major foreign policy Speech. Trump has repeatedly claimed that neither he nor anyone on his campaign had contact with Russian officials. Four other members of his administration talked to Russian officials. Back to the hack A longtime intelligence contractor with expertise in US hacking tools told Reuters the documents included correct "cover" terms describing active cyber programs. Among the most noteworthy WikiLeaks claims is that the Central Intelligence Agency, in partnership with other US and foreign agencies, has been able to bypass the encryption on popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal. The files did not indicate the actual encryption of Signal or other secure messaging apps had been compromised. The information in what WikiLeaks said were 7,818 web pages with 943 attachments appears to represent the latest breach in recent years of classified material from US intelligence agencies. Security experts differed over how much the disclosures could damage US cyber espionage. Many said that, while harmful, they do not compare to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden's revelations in 2013 of mass NSA data collection. "This is a big dump about extremely sophisticated tools that can be used to target individual user devices...I haven’t yet come across the mass exploiting of mobile devices," said Tarah Wheeler, senior director of engineering and principal security advocate for Symantec. Stuart McClure, CEO of Cylance, an Irvine, California, cyber security firm, said that one of the most significant disclosures shows how CIA hackers cover their tracks by leaving electronic trails suggesting they are from Russia, China and Iran rather than the United States. Other revelations show how the CIA took advantage of vulnerabilities that are known, if not widely publicised. In one case, the documents say, US and British personnel, under a program known as Weeping Angel, developed ways to take over a Samsung smart television, making it appear it was off when in fact it was recording conversations in the room. The CIA and White House declined comment. "We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents," CIA spokesman Jonathan Liu said in a statement. Google declined to comment on the purported hacking of its Android platform, but said it was investigating the matter. Snowden on Twitter said the files amount to the first public evidence that the US government secretly buys software to exploit technology, referring to a table published by WikiLeaks that appeared to list various Apple iOS flaws purchased by the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Apple Inc did not respond to a request for comment. The documents refer to means for accessing phones directly in order to catch messages before they are protected by end-to-end encryption tools like Signal. Signal inventor Moxie Marlinspike said he took that as "confirmation that what we’re doing is working". Signal and the like are "pushing intelligence agencies from a world of undetectable mass surveillance to a world where they have to use expensive, high-risk, extremely targeted attacks". CIA cyber programs The CIA in recent years underwent a restructuring to focus more on cyber warfare to keep pace with the increasing digital sophistication of foreign adversaries. The spy agency is prohibited by law from collecting intelligence that details domestic activities of Americans and is generally restricted in how it may gather any US data for counterintelligence purposes. The documents published Tuesday appeared to supply specific details to what has been long-known in the abstract: US intelligence agencies, like their allies and adversaries, are constantly working to discover and exploit flaws in any manner of technology products. Unlike the Snowden leaks, which revealed the NSA was secretly collecting details of telephone calls by ordinary Americans, the new WikiLeaks material did not appear to contain material that would fundamentally change what is publicly known about cyber espionage. WikiLeaks, led by Julian Assange, said its publication of the documents on the hacking tools was the first in a series of releases drawing from a data set that includes several hundred million lines of code and includes the CIA's "entire hacking capacity". The documents only include snippets of computer code, not the full programs that would be needed to conduct cyber exploits. WikiLeaks said it was refraining from disclosing usable code from CIA's cyber arsenal "until a consensus emerges on the technical and political nature of the CIA’s program and how such ‘weapons’ should be analysed, disarmed and published". WikiLeaks said on Tuesday that the documents showed that the CIA hoarded serious security vulnerabilities rather than share them with the public, as called for under a process established by President Barack Obama. Rob Knake, a former official who dealt with the issue under Obama, said he had not seen evidence in what was published to support that conclusion. The process "is not a policy of unilateral disarmament in cyberspace. The mere fact that the CIA may have exploited zero-day [previously undisclosed] vulnerabilities should not surprise anyone," said Knake, now at the Council on Foreign Relations. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they did not know where WikiLeaks might have obtained the material. In a press release, the group said, "The archive appears to have been circulated among former US government hackers and contractors in an unauthorised manner, one of whom has provided WikiLeaks with portions of the archive". US intelligence agencies have suffered a series of security breaches, including Snowden's. In 2010, US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning provided more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to Wikileaks. Last month, former NSA contractor Harold Thomas Martin was indicted on charges of taking highly sensitive government materials over a course of 20 years, storing the secrets in his home. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

WikiLeaks says it releases files proving CIA can spy on all iPhones, Androids

Trump was not the only one&nbsp;to have a Twitter meltdown this weekend.

Trump loyalist and former top adviser Roger Stone claimed on Twitter that he had a&nbsp;back channel to&nbsp;work with Julian Assange at Wikileaks&nbsp;to spread damaging leaked Clinton emails.

US intelligence has unanimously said that Russia interfered in the US election in what it called a &quot;multifaceted campaign&quot; of&nbsp;&quot;cyber espionage&quot;, and that&nbsp;Clinton&#39;s emails were obtained&nbsp;by Russian hackers.

Stone&#39;s claim that he worked with Assange&nbsp;to&nbsp;spread Clinton&#39;s emails comes&nbsp;amid growing reports of Trump staffers meeting&nbsp;with Russian officials, then&nbsp;lying about it.

Here is the screengrabbed Tweet that Stone deleted.

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Here&#39;s the screengrab of Roger Stone admitting the Trump campaign colluded with Asange and Wikileaks (I know, real stunner) <a href="https://t.co/TcBrMrSTig">pic.twitter.com/TcBrMrSTig</a>
&mdash; Kriston Capps (@kristoncapps) <a href="https://twitter.com/kristoncapps/status/838259900627156992">March 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
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But he responded to the claim that he did any wrongdoing.&nbsp;

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Attention MSM Losers!<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeftistSpasm?src=hash">#LeftistSpasm</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FakeNews?src=hash">#FakeNews</a> <a href="https://t.co/iKTT5buhlq">pic.twitter.com/iKTT5buhlq</a>
&mdash; Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerJStoneJr/status/838487222454272002">March 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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While the tone of Stone&#39;s&nbsp;Tweet is defiant, claiming he didn&#39;t hide anything, actually there is video footage of Stone from 2016&nbsp;saying, contrary to the claim in his deleted Tweet, that he did have direct communication&nbsp;with Assange.

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Listen to &quot;long time Trump advisor&quot; Roger Stone here... sure seems to know what Assange (Russia) had in store: <a href="https://t.co/EclA0jpXIU">pic.twitter.com/EclA0jpXIU</a>
&mdash; justin kanew (@justin_kanew) <a href="https://twitter.com/justin_kanew/status/838485426050641920">March 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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At issue in the investigation into Trump-Russia, conducted by six different US intelligence agencies,&nbsp;is whether anyone in Trump&#39;s campaign actively worked with the Russians against their Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Colluding with a foreign and hostile government to sabotage a national election is illegal.

<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campaign/index.html" target="_blank">CNN </a>reported that Trump staffers were in &quot;constant touch&quot; with Russian officials during the election campaign. The subject of these talks has not been disclosed publicly.

Officials emphasised that it is not unusual for campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments to communicate, but that these communications stood out for their frequency, and for the level of Trump advisers involved.

&nbsp;

Vulgar abuse

Yesterday, Roger Stone also abused&nbsp;the same&nbsp;female&nbsp;citizen journalist, calling her a &quot;stupid, ignorant, ugly bitch&quot; in a now-deleted Tweet.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling denounced the attack in a screen grab:

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This man is an advisor to the leader of the free world. This guy, right here. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/rogerstone?src=hash">#rogerstone</a> <a href="https://t.co/brxqZAfw09">pic.twitter.com/brxqZAfw09</a>
&mdash; J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/838294536170389504">March 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Stone also abused Republican strategist Ana Navarro, calling her&nbsp;&quot;fat and stupid&quot;.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Deflection&nbsp;

Stone&#39;s Twitter meltdown&nbsp;comes as Trump&#39;s campaign is trying hard to deflect attention from their various connections to Russia.

US Attorney General and Trump loyalist Jeff Sessions just recused himself from the investigation into Trump-Russia after it became known that he met with the Russian ambassador twice, and lied about it under oath.

Before that, Trump&#39;s pick to head national security Michael Flynn resigned after it became known that he too met the Russian ambassador and lied about it.&nbsp;

Trump&#39;s son-in-law <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/jared-kushner-donald-trump-russia-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-meeting-michael-flynn-white-house-jeff-a7609166.html" target="_blank">Jared Kushner</a>, who is a White House adviser,&nbsp;met&nbsp;the Russian ambassador in Trump Tower. No cameras&nbsp;captured Kislyak entering the building, suggesting he was ushered in a <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/2017/03/03/trump-white-house-downplay-failure-reveal-russian-ambassadors-smuggled-visit-trump-tower.html" target="_blank">back door.</a>&nbsp;A White House spokesman denied this was a secret meeting.

Paul Manafort and Trump&#39;s long-time&nbsp;lawyer Michael Cohen also met with Russian officials and failed to disclose it.

&nbsp;

This weekend former Republican adviser <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-russia-republican-pro-putin-ukraine-stance-rnc-ambassador-kislyak-meeting-a7610621.html" target="_blank">JD Gordon</a>&nbsp;claimed that&nbsp;a pro-Russia change in language to the GOP platform came after&nbsp;the Republican convention in Cleveland of July 2016, and was especially ordered to align with Trump&#39;s own personal views. Gordon claimed he and Carter Page, then a Trump adviser who resigned amid his connections to Russia, also <a href="http://www.vox.com/world/2017/3/3/14789354/russian-ambassador-trump-sergey-kislyak" target="_blank">met </a>Kislyak.

The July convention in Cleveland&nbsp;took place shortly after Sessions met the Russian ambassador. In 2015, Sessions was staunchly anti-Russia. Sessions&nbsp;pro-Russia views seem to have set in&nbsp;after meeting Kislyak.

US intelligence also says that the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak&nbsp;is also Russia&#39;s top spy and spy-recruiter in Washington. The Kremlin has officially <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/russia-kislyak-spy-claim-sessions/" target="_blank">denied </a>this claim.

(WION)

Roger Stone's meltdown came as US intelligence investigates Russia's interference in the US election and Trump's connections to Russia

Trump was not the only one to have a Twitter meltdown this weekend. Trump loyalist and former top adviser Roger Stone claimed on Twitter that he had a back channel to work with Julian Assange at Wikileaks to spread damaging leaked Clinton emails. US intelligence has unanimously said that Russia interfered in the US election in what it called a "multifaceted campaign" of "cyber espionage", and that Clinton's emails were obtained by Russian hackers. Stone's claim that he worked with Assange to spread Clinton's emails comes amid growing reports of Trump staffers meeting with Russian officials, then lying about it. Here is the screengrabbed Tweet that Stone deleted. Here's the screengrab of Roger Stone admitting the Trump campaign colluded with Asange and Wikileaks (I know, real stunner) pic.twitter.com/TcBrMrSTig — Kriston Capps (@kristoncapps) March 5, 2017 × But he responded to the claim that he did any wrongdoing. Attention MSM Losers!#LeftistSpasm#FakeNews pic.twitter.com/iKTT5buhlq — Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) March 5, 2017 × While the tone of Stone's Tweet is defiant, claiming he didn't hide anything, actually there is video footage of Stone from 2016 saying, contrary to the claim in his deleted Tweet, that he did have direct communication with Assange. Listen to "long time Trump advisor" Roger Stone here... sure seems to know what Assange (Russia) had in store: pic.twitter.com/EclA0jpXIU — justin kanew (@justin_kanew) March 5, 2017 × At issue in the investigation into Trump-Russia, conducted by six different US intelligence agencies, is whether anyone in Trump's campaign actively worked with the Russians against their Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. Colluding with a foreign and hostile government to sabotage a national election is illegal. CNN reported that Trump staffers were in "constant touch" with Russian officials during the election campaign. The subject of these talks has not been disclosed publicly. Officials emphasised that it is not unusual for campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments to communicate, but that these communications stood out for their frequency, and for the level of Trump advisers involved. Vulgar abuse Yesterday, Roger Stone also abused the same female citizen journalist, calling her a "stupid, ignorant, ugly bitch" in a now-deleted Tweet. Harry Potter author JK Rowling denounced the attack in a screen grab: This man is an advisor to the leader of the free world. This guy, right here. #rogerstone pic.twitter.com/brxqZAfw09 — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 5, 2017 × Stone also abused Republican strategist Ana Navarro, calling her "fat and stupid". Deflection Stone's Twitter meltdown comes as Trump's campaign is trying hard to deflect attention from their various connections to Russia. US Attorney General and Trump loyalist Jeff Sessions just recused himself from the investigation into Trump-Russia after it became known that he met with the Russian ambassador twice, and lied about it under oath. Before that, Trump's pick to head national security Michael Flynn resigned after it became known that he too met the Russian ambassador and lied about it. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is a White House adviser, met the Russian ambassador in Trump Tower. No cameras captured Kislyak entering the building, suggesting he was ushered in a back door. A White House spokesman denied this was a secret meeting. Paul Manafort and Trump's long-time lawyer Michael Cohen also met with Russian officials and failed to disclose it. This weekend former Republican adviser JD Gordon claimed that a pro-Russia change in language to the GOP platform came after the Republican convention in Cleveland of July 2016, and was especially ordered to align with Trump's own personal views. Gordon claimed he and Carter Page, then a Trump adviser who resigned amid his connections to Russia, also met Kislyak. The July convention in Cleveland took place shortly after Sessions met the Russian ambassador. In 2015, Sessions was staunchly anti-Russia. Sessions pro-Russia views seem to have set in after meeting Kislyak. US intelligence also says that the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak is also Russia's top spy and spy-recruiter in Washington. The Kremlin has officially denied this claim. (WION)

Trump ally says he worked with Assange pre-election to spread Clinton emails in abusive Twitter tirade

&nbsp;

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A day after Washington Post revealed that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had spoken to russian ambassador on two separate occasions. Sessions says he would recuse himself from the federal (WION)
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Richard Painter, President George W Bush&#39;s top ethics lawyer, told&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bush-ethics-lawyer-painter-jeff-sessions-perjury-resign-2017-3" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>&nbsp;that he believes US Attorney General Jeff Sessions must resign.

While Painter said it was &quot;debateable&quot; whether or not Sessions perjured himself during his senate confirmation hearing, there is a real possibility that Russia has enough material over him for blackmail, and while &quot;we have no way of knowing if we&#39;re in that situation,&nbsp;he said the possibility was&nbsp;&quot;just way too high a risk&quot;.

Painter said: &quot;The thing with Sessions is that the Russians almost certainly have a recording of these conversations or detailed notes about the conversations...And so, they&#39;ve got something over Sessions. Sessions will be asked what was said in these conversations. And if that doesn&#39;t match what the Russians have in their records...then they&#39;ve got him, and they have this over him for the rest of his term. We have no way of knowing if we&#39;re in that situation, but it&#39;s just way to high a risk.&quot;

&nbsp;

During his confirmation hearing, Sessions told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no contact with Russian officials during the campaign. He was asked by Al Franken, the Democratic Senator, what he would do if he learned that someone from the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the campaign.

Sessions responded, &quot;Senator Franken, I&#39;m not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I&#39;m unable to comment on it.&quot;

After the&nbsp;Washington Post responded that actually Sessions&nbsp;had two conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in September 2016--while the then-senator was&nbsp;advising&nbsp;Donald Trump&#39;s presidential campaign and at the height of what&nbsp;US intelligence agencies are <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/02/sessions-s-contact-the-russian-ambassador-a-spy-or-not-a-spy.html" target="_blank">united </a>in saying was a concerted Russian cyber espionage campaign&nbsp;to influence the outcome of the US election--pressure mounted for Sessions to recuse himself from any&nbsp;investigation into Trump&#39;s connection with Russia, and even to resign.

Sessions has since announced that he will <a href="http://US Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday recused himself from any investigations into the alleged Russian interference in 2016 US presidential elections." target="_blank">recuse </a>himself from any such investigation.&nbsp;The investigation into Russia&#39;s connection seeks to determine just how Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election, and Donald Trump&#39;s ties to Russia in general.&nbsp;

Democrats and even some Republicans had called for an indepedent investigator, rather than Sessions.

Trump dismissed the increasing pressure against Sessions, calling it a &quot;witch hunt&quot;.

&nbsp;

So far <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-connection-to-russia-doesnt-end-with-flynn-12478" target="_blank">three&nbsp;people</a> from Trump&#39;s camp have resigned or have been fired once their connection to Russia came to light,&nbsp;including&nbsp;former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former adviser Carter Page, and Trump&#39;s choice to lead national security Michael Flynn.

Donald Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/758071952498159616" target="_blank">tweeted </a>in July 26, 2016: &quot;For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia.&quot;

President Trump&#39;s son, Donald Jr,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/donald-trump-administration/2017/01/eric-trump-organization-deals-russia-233360" target="_blank">told </a>a real estate conference in 2008:&nbsp;&quot;Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets...We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.&quot;

Here is then-Trump adviser Paul&nbsp;Manafort in July of 2016, denying that Trump has any financial connections to Russia:

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MUST WATCH: Paul Manafort doesn&#39;t sound very convincing here. 
 
Interview was July 27, 2016 <a href="https://t.co/N46Y2DOAJX">pic.twitter.com/N46Y2DOAJX</a>
&mdash; Yashar (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/837184121600356352">March 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/02/politics/russia-kislyak-spy-claim-sessions/" target="_blank">CNN </a>reported that US intelligence believes that the Russian ambassador Sergey Kisylak--who met several people associated with&nbsp;Trump&#39;s camp including:&nbsp;Michael&nbsp;Flynn and&nbsp;Jeff Sessions, and also&nbsp;former&nbsp;adviser <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/carter-page-russian-ambassador-meeting-235626" target="_blank">Carter Page </a>and <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-jared-kushner-met-with-russian-1488499538-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">Trump&#39;s son-in-law Jarred Kushner</a>-- is considered to be one of Russia&#39;s top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington. Russia has denied this is true.

Meanwhile, The Indepedent reports that&nbsp;Christopher Steele, the former British MI6 spy who compiled the infamous dossier alleging&nbsp;Russia has blackmail material over Donald Trump, has been approached about testifying in front of the US Senate Intelligence Commitee&#39;s investigation into Trump&#39;s alleged links with Russia.

Trump has dismissed Steele&#39;s allegations, and called him a &quot;failed spy&quot;.

In the past Donald Trump has&nbsp;denied having any connection to&nbsp;Vladimir Putin repeatedly, but&nbsp;has also bragged about his personal relationship with the Russian President.

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Does Donald Trump have a relationship with Vladimir Putin? Allow him to tell you. 
 
Watch this, via <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC">@MSNBC</a>. <a href="https://t.co/FN9ZIHRbi3">pic.twitter.com/FN9ZIHRbi3</a>
&mdash; Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) <a href="https://twitter.com/BraddJaffy/status/837141504451837952">March 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
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(WION)

President Bush's ethics officer said Sessions must step down. While unsure if he's been blackmailed, he said it's 'way too big a risk'

A day after Washington Post revealed that US Attorney General Jeff Sessions had spoken to russian ambassador on two separate occasions. Sessions says he would recuse himself from the federal (WION) × Richard Painter, President George W Bush's top ethics lawyer, told Business Insider that he believes US Attorney General Jeff Sessions must resign. While Painter said it was "debateable" whether or not Sessions perjured himself during his senate confirmation hearing, there is a real possibility that Russia has enough material over him for blackmail, and while "we have no way of knowing if we're in that situation, he said the possibility was "just way too high a risk". Painter said: "The thing with Sessions is that the Russians almost certainly have a recording of these conversations or detailed notes about the conversations...And so, they've got something over Sessions. Sessions will be asked what was said in these conversations. And if that doesn't match what the Russians have in their records...then they've got him, and they have this over him for the rest of his term. We have no way of knowing if we're in that situation, but it's just way to high a risk." During his confirmation hearing, Sessions told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he had no contact with Russian officials during the campaign. He was asked by Al Franken, the Democratic Senator, what he would do if he learned that someone from the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the campaign. Sessions responded, "Senator Franken, I'm not aware of any of those activities. I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians, and I'm unable to comment on it." After the Washington Post responded that actually Sessions had two conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in September 2016--while the then-senator was advising Donald Trump's presidential campaign and at the height of what US intelligence agencies are united in saying was a concerted Russian cyber espionage campaign to influence the outcome of the US election--pressure mounted for Sessions to recuse himself from any investigation into Trump's connection with Russia, and even to resign. Sessions has since announced that he will recuse himself from any such investigation. The investigation into Russia's connection seeks to determine just how Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election, and Donald Trump's ties to Russia in general. Democrats and even some Republicans had called for an indepedent investigator, rather than Sessions. Trump dismissed the increasing pressure against Sessions, calling it a "witch hunt". So far three people from Trump's camp have resigned or have been fired once their connection to Russia came to light, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort, former adviser Carter Page, and Trump's choice to lead national security Michael Flynn. Donald Trump tweeted in July 26, 2016: "For the record, I have ZERO investments in Russia." President Trump's son, Donald Jr, told a real estate conference in 2008: "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets...We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia." Here is then-Trump adviser Paul Manafort in July of 2016, denying that Trump has any financial connections to Russia: MUST WATCH: Paul Manafort doesn't sound very convincing here. Interview was July 27, 2016 pic.twitter.com/N46Y2DOAJX — Yashar (@yashar) March 2, 2017 × CNN reported that US intelligence believes that the Russian ambassador Sergey Kisylak--who met several people associated with Trump's camp including: Michael Flynn and Jeff Sessions, and also former adviser Carter Page and Trump's son-in-law Jarred Kushner-- is considered to be one of Russia's top spies and spy-recruiters in Washington. Russia has denied this is true. Meanwhile, The Indepedent reports that Christopher Steele, the former British MI6 spy who compiled the infamous dossier alleging Russia has blackmail material over Donald Trump, has been approached about testifying in front of the US Senate Intelligence Commitee's investigation into Trump's alleged links with Russia. Trump has dismissed Steele's allegations, and called him a "failed spy". In the past Donald Trump has denied having any connection to Vladimir Putin repeatedly, but has also bragged about his personal relationship with the Russian President. Does Donald Trump have a relationship with Vladimir Putin? Allow him to tell you. Watch this, via @MSNBC. pic.twitter.com/FN9ZIHRbi3 — Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) March 2, 2017 (WION)

Trump-Russia: Sessions may be blackmailed by Kremlin, says former White House chief ethics officer

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions came under fire late Wednesday after the Washington Post reported he met twice last year with Russia&#39;s ambassador to Washington, seemingly contradicting statements he made in Senate confirmation hearings in January.

The revelation cast a fresh cloud over President Donald Trump&#39;s administration -- which has repeatedly denied any suspected ties between members of his election team and Russia -- which US intelligence says interfered in the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton.

The White House quickly labelled the report an attack by partisan Democrats, confirming the meetings but arguing Sessions did nothing wrong.

In a statement, Sessions said: &quot;I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.&quot;

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<h5>The White House admits the meetings happened but claims Sessions did nothing wrong</h5>
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But with US intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice, and four Congressional committees examining the Russia scandal, Democrats demanded that Sessions -- the Trump administration&#39;s top law enforcement official -- recuse himself from investigations, and for Congress to name an independent special investigator to oversee a broad probe.

&quot;Given AG Sessions&#39; false statements about contacts with Russian officials, we need a special counsel to investigate Trump associates&#39; ties to Russia,&quot; said Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that Sessions -- formerly a senator who advised Trump&#39;s campaign on foreign policy and other issues -- met Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July and September, just as accusations of Russian interference in the election were mounting.&nbsp;

Sessions, however, told his confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 10 that he did not know of contacts between Trump campaign members and Russia.&nbsp;

&quot;I did not have communications with the Russians,&quot; he said under oath.

&nbsp;

Calls to resign

Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the Senate, called for Sessions to step down. &quot;After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russian, the attorney general must resign,&quot; she said.

Democrat Elijah Cummings of the House of Representative&#39;s Oversight Committee echoed that call in a statement. &quot;When Senator Sessions testified under oath that &#39;I did not have communications with the Russians,&#39; his statement was demonstrably false, yet he let it stand for weeks,&quot; Cummings said. &quot;Attorney General Sessions should resign immediately, and there is no longer any question that we need a truly independent commission to investigate this issue.&quot;

A White House official dubbed the latest report an &quot;attack&quot;.

&quot;This is the latest attack against the Trump administration by partisan Democrats,&quot; the official said.

&quot;Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony.&quot;

Sessions was confirmed as attorney general on February 8, moving in place to oversee Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation probes into the alleged communications between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.

&nbsp;

Interference

The New York Times reported two weeks ago, citing US intelligence sources, that three campaign staff -- including campaign chief Paul Manafort -- had communicated with Russian intelligence officers.

The White House also labeled that report &quot;false&quot; and has accused Democrats, the media and the intelligence community of a political effort to undermine the Trump administration.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/trumps-connection-to-russia-doesnt-end-with-flynn-12478">Three people</a> have resigned from Trump&#39;s administration, also including&nbsp;his election campaign, amid revelations of their connections to&nbsp;Russia. The most recent was Michael&nbsp;Flynn, Trump&#39;s pick to head&nbsp;national security, who resigned after it became public knowledge that he spoke to the Russian ambassador about US sanctions against Russia, then lied about it. During the 2016 election, Manafort resigned, as mentioned above. And so did another Trump aide, <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/the-mystery-of-trumps-man-in-moscow-214283" target="_blank">Carter Page</a>, after his connections to Russia came to light.

The Washington Post report emerged as Democrats had begun warning the White House and Republican lawmakers against trying to shut down any investigations of alleged Russian interference.

The warnings came after Trump&#39;s staff sought to enlist the FBI, reportedly the CIA and two Republicans who head committees leading the Russia investigations, to knock down media reports on the alleged links.

US intelligence chiefs announced in December that they had concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind a hacking and misinformation campaign to hurt Clinton and boost Trump&#39;s chances to win the November 8 presidential election.

But they have not made their evidence public, and the Kremlin denies it.&nbsp;

(WION with inputs from AFP)

The Washington Post reported that the Attorney General met with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July & September

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions came under fire late Wednesday after the Washington Post reported he met twice last year with Russia's ambassador to Washington, seemingly contradicting statements he made in Senate confirmation hearings in January. The revelation cast a fresh cloud over President Donald Trump's administration -- which has repeatedly denied any suspected ties between members of his election team and Russia -- which US intelligence says interfered in the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton. The White House quickly labelled the report an attack by partisan Democrats, confirming the meetings but arguing Sessions did nothing wrong. In a statement, Sessions said: "I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign. I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false." The White House admits the meetings happened but claims Sessions did nothing wrong × But with US intelligence agencies, the Department of Justice, and four Congressional committees examining the Russia scandal, Democrats demanded that Sessions -- the Trump administration's top law enforcement official -- recuse himself from investigations, and for Congress to name an independent special investigator to oversee a broad probe. "Given AG Sessions' false statements about contacts with Russian officials, we need a special counsel to investigate Trump associates' ties to Russia," said Democrat Senator Ron Wyden, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The Washington Post reported late Wednesday that Sessions -- formerly a senator who advised Trump's campaign on foreign policy and other issues -- met Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in July and September, just as accusations of Russian interference in the election were mounting. Sessions, however, told his confirmation hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 10 that he did not know of contacts between Trump campaign members and Russia. "I did not have communications with the Russians," he said under oath. Calls to resign Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the Senate, called for Sessions to step down. "After lying under oath to Congress about his own communications with the Russian, the attorney general must resign," she said. Democrat Elijah Cummings of the House of Representative's Oversight Committee echoed that call in a statement. "When Senator Sessions testified under oath that 'I did not have communications with the Russians,' his statement was demonstrably false, yet he let it stand for weeks," Cummings said. "Attorney General Sessions should resign immediately, and there is no longer any question that we need a truly independent commission to investigate this issue." A White House official dubbed the latest report an "attack". "This is the latest attack against the Trump administration by partisan Democrats," the official said. "Sessions met with the ambassador in an official capacity as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is entirely consistent with his testimony." Sessions was confirmed as attorney general on February 8, moving in place to oversee Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation probes into the alleged communications between Trump campaign officials and Moscow. Interference The New York Times reported two weeks ago, citing US intelligence sources, that three campaign staff -- including campaign chief Paul Manafort -- had communicated with Russian intelligence officers. The White House also labeled that report "false" and has accused Democrats, the media and the intelligence community of a political effort to undermine the Trump administration. Three people have resigned from Trump's administration, also including his election campaign, amid revelations of their connections to Russia. The most recent was Michael Flynn, Trump's pick to head national security, who resigned after it became public knowledge that he spoke to the Russian ambassador about US sanctions against Russia, then lied about it. During the 2016 election, Manafort resigned, as mentioned above. And so did another Trump aide, Carter Page, after his connections to Russia came to light. The Washington Post report emerged as Democrats had begun warning the White House and Republican lawmakers against trying to shut down any investigations of alleged Russian interference. The warnings came after Trump's staff sought to enlist the FBI, reportedly the CIA and two Republicans who head committees leading the Russia investigations, to knock down media reports on the alleged links. US intelligence chiefs announced in December that they had concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind a hacking and misinformation campaign to hurt Clinton and boost Trump's chances to win the November 8 presidential election. But they have not made their evidence public, and the Kremlin denies it. (WION with inputs from AFP)

US: Jeff Sessions under fire after report he too met with Russian ambassador

Jeff Sessions, while still a US&nbsp;senator, spoke twice last year with Russia&#39;s ambassador, encounters he did not disclose when asked during his confirmation hearing to become attorney general about possible contacts between Donald Trump&#39;s campaign and Russian officials, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing Justice Department officials.

One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak that took place in September in the senator&#39;s office, at the height of what US intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the US&nbsp;presidential race, the Post reported.

The previously undisclosed discussions could fuel new congressional calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russia&#39;s alleged role in the 2016 presidential election, the Post said.

Trump&#39;s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired last month after he discussed US&nbsp;sanctions on Russia with Kislyak before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.

As attorney general, Sessions oversees the Justice Department, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump&#39;s associates. Sessions has so far resisted calls to recuse himself.

When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September, he was a senior member of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump&rsquo;s top foreign policy advisers, according to the Post.

Sessions played a prominent role supporting Trump after formally joining the campaign in February 2016.

At his January 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Democratic Senator Al Franken what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign, the Post reported.

&quot;I&rsquo;m not aware of any of those activities,&quot; Sessions responded, according to the Post. He added: &quot;I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians.&quot;

Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers&rsquo; questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak, according to the Post.

&quot;There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer,&quot; Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions&#39; spokeswoman, told the Post. 
The Department of Justice and the White House did not respond immediately to requests by Reuters for comment.

Justice officials said Sessions met with Kislyak on September 8 in his capacity as a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump campaign surrogate, the Post reported.

&quot;He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign - not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee,&quot; Flores told the Post.

(Reuters)

Justice officials said he met the?Russian Ambassador?as a member of the armed services panel rather than as ?a Trump campaign surrogate

Jeff Sessions, while still a US senator, spoke twice last year with Russia's ambassador, encounters he did not disclose when asked during his confirmation hearing to become attorney general about possible contacts between Donald Trump's campaign and Russian officials, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing Justice Department officials. One of the meetings was a private conversation between Sessions and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak that took place in September in the senator's office, at the height of what US intelligence officials say was a Russian cyber campaign to upend the US presidential race, the Post reported. The previously undisclosed discussions could fuel new congressional calls for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russia's alleged role in the 2016 presidential election, the Post said. Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired last month after he discussed US sanctions on Russia with Kislyak before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. As attorney general, Sessions oversees the Justice Department, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which have been leading investigations into Russian meddling and any links to Trump's associates. Sessions has so far resisted calls to recuse himself. When Sessions spoke with Kislyak in July and September, he was a senior member of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee as well as one of Trump’s top foreign policy advisers, according to the Post. Sessions played a prominent role supporting Trump after formally joining the campaign in February 2016. At his January 10 Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, Sessions was asked by Democratic Senator Al Franken what he would do if he learned of any evidence that anyone affiliated with the Trump campaign communicated with the Russian government in the course of the 2016 campaign, the Post reported. "I’m not aware of any of those activities," Sessions responded, according to the Post. He added: "I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign and I did not have communications with the Russians." Officials said Sessions did not consider the conversations relevant to the lawmakers’ questions and did not remember in detail what he discussed with Kislyak, according to the Post. "There was absolutely nothing misleading about his answer," Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions' spokeswoman, told the Post. The Department of Justice and the White House did not respond immediately to requests by Reuters for comment. Justice officials said Sessions met with Kislyak on September 8 in his capacity as a member of the armed services panel rather than in his role as a Trump campaign surrogate, the Post reported. "He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign - not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee," Flores told the Post. (Reuters)

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions did not disclose Russia contacts:  Washington Post

What exactly does it mean&nbsp;that Trump&#39;s pick to head&nbsp;national security, Michael Flynn, resigned only 24 days&nbsp;into his tenure amid the revelation that he discussed US sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador, then lied about it&nbsp;not just to the general public but to America&#39;s&nbsp;Vice President?&nbsp;

Russia interfered with the US election to benefit Trump,&nbsp;and the New York Times just reported that&nbsp;Trump&#39;s team was in contact with Russian officials for at least a year before the election. Did Trump himself collude with Russia directly?

This is not confirmed, but the optics are bad&nbsp;and Trump is desperately trying to switch focus.

Who knew what, and when, and what their legal obligation was is important. Trump knew &quot;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/14/democrats-russia-trump-investigation-michael-flynn" target="_blank">for weeks</a>&quot;&nbsp;that Flynn misled the White House about&nbsp;Russia, and only acted on it after&nbsp;this knowledge entered the public domain. Why not act sooner?

This story is far from over,&nbsp;and there are already&nbsp;signs of major fissures.

US intelligence

The Wall Street Journal reported that the US intelligence agencies are not disclosing all they know to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/spies-keep-intelligence-from-donald-trump-1487209351" target="_blank">president </a>because they don&#39;t trust him.&nbsp;The White House responded:&nbsp;&quot;There is nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening&quot;. But how could the White House possibly know what they aren&#39;t being told? Either US intelligence&nbsp;isn&#39;t telling the president all&nbsp;they know (likely), or they are lying and going public about concealing information from the president in a way&nbsp;that amounts to taunting the president (unlikely). Something is going on.

After all, Flynn is the third person from Trump&#39;s team&nbsp;to resign amid being connected to Russia. Earlier this summer, Paul Manafort was quietly pushed aside after it came to light that he lobbied for Putin-ally and&nbsp;pro-Ukraine lobbyist, Viktor Yanukovych. <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/09/the-mystery-of-trumps-man-in-moscow-214283" target="_blank">Carter Page</a> was sacked after his connections to Russia became known. Trump has&nbsp;surrounded himself with&nbsp;people linked to&nbsp;Russia (Tillerson, Secretary of State, awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin himself, is a standout).&nbsp;But Flynn was the&nbsp;national security adviser.

There is a reason the final and most important chapter of Sun Tzu&#39;s Art of War is about the special role of spies, the army&#39;s most important function. &quot;Upon them depends an army&#39;s ability to move.&quot; Every decision must be grounded in the best knowledge of all circumstances;&nbsp;That it&#39;s bad&nbsp;to have&nbsp;the head of America&#39;s national security controlled by the leader of Russia should be agreed upon by Democras and Republicans. &nbsp;

Yet Repulicans are keeping mostly quiet, preferring to remain in long-sought for power than expose their president for his&nbsp;Russia connection. US intelligence appears to be making the stand&nbsp;Republicans won&#39;t.

But putting faith in US&nbsp;intelligence services to tell the truth is highly&nbsp;dangerous&nbsp;for the simple reason that they&nbsp;lie frequently, as it&#39;s inevitable when a main part of your job is performing&nbsp;covert operations. The relationship&nbsp;between US&nbsp;intelligence agencies&nbsp;and Donald Trump is not easy to decipher. While it seems like a war on the surface, there is much unknown. The spy agencies by definition are privy to much deeper knowledge than the public.

Speculation is endlessly tempting, but caution here&nbsp;is prudent. Remember,&nbsp;FBI director James Comey&nbsp;days before the US election announced that he was reopening the investigation into Clinton&#39;s emails, despite being aware at the time of the Steele dossier. Many things determined the outcome of the election, but this huge last minute swung had an large and undeniable role.&nbsp;Why did the FBI announce one and not the other?&nbsp;

Trump put into perspective by ex-CIA

While it&#39;s wise to refrain from speculating about&nbsp;what is by definition secret,&nbsp;the tongue lashings coming from the US intelligence community are&nbsp;anything&nbsp;but subtle. Glenn Carle, a 23-year veteran of the CIA, expressed in no uncertain terms what a threat Trump poses&nbsp;in an&nbsp;<a href="http://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/2/15/14623636/donald-trump-michael-flynn-russia-putin-cia-white-house">interview </a>with Vox conducted amid&nbsp;the news&nbsp;that General Flynn had resigned:

&quot;We are facing the gravest threat to our institutions and our government since 1861, since the country broke in half. This is a graver crisis than Watergate, which was about corruption, not the usurpation of our laws and our checks and balances. It&#39;s graver than World War II, when Hitler never actually threatened our institutions or occupation of Washington...We&#39;re dealing with a man in Trump who doesn&#39;t accept a fact-based reality, who only acts for his own self-aggrandizement, and who views any action that does not serve him as a threat that must be destroyed. And, on top of that, his team&nbsp;appears&nbsp;to have been colluding with Russian intelligence services.&quot;

Notice his use of the word&nbsp;appears. Without a smoking gun linking Trump to Putin, that&#39;s all it is.&nbsp;

There is no smoking gun, but looking for one when there is so much around isn&#39;t unreasonable

Trump has repeatedly denied knowing Putin, but in video has claimed he does have a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn1ZK2kcfQ8" target="_blank">relationship </a>with Putin.

Judge Sally Yates warned Trump that Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail, and he fired her.&nbsp;Granted she also objected to the notoious Muslim ban, but perhaps he fired her for multiple reasons.

The notorious and unverified dossier compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele&nbsp;alleging that Russia possesses&nbsp;embarassing blackmail material over Trump remains unverified, but it is part of an ongoing investigation. More, CNN&nbsp;published a report&nbsp;claiming that some aspects&nbsp;from the dossier&nbsp;have&nbsp;been <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/10/politics/russia-dossier-update/" target="_blank">corroborated</a>. To be sure,&nbsp;some of what&#39;s in the dossier has been disproven, but if certain things in it are true, and are proven to be true, then the conversation becomes about treason and impeachment.

Trump has called the leaked documents &quot;illegal&quot;, as if Trump&nbsp;didn&#39;t spend months using his unprecedented publicity machine&nbsp;to tell the world about leaks&nbsp;from Hillary Clinton&#39;s emails. Trump once, apparently,&nbsp;thought leaks were&nbsp;so fair game that he encouraged Russia to hack Clinton&#39;s email&nbsp;in the middle of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNa2B5zHfbQ" target="_blank">presidential debate</a>.&nbsp;

Why oppose leaks now? Because&nbsp;Flynn didn&#39;t resign until leaks emerged. Given the&nbsp;sheer volume of connections between Russia and Trump, and an intelligence community who likely&nbsp;knows what is going on (about many things) and does not seem thrilled with the president, Trump&nbsp;going to fierce lengths to discredit leaks by emphasising their illegality&nbsp;makes sense. Leaks are working against him, now.

There are signs&nbsp;there may be more leaks yet. It&#39;s awfully hard to believe Trump&#39;s connection to Russia ends now that Flynn has been removed.&nbsp;

(WION)

&nbsp;

Trump's head of national security lied about discussing US sanctions with the Russian ambassador and resigned, but Putin still looms

What exactly does it mean that Trump's pick to head national security, Michael Flynn, resigned only 24 days into his tenure amid the revelation that he discussed US sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador, then lied about it not just to the general public but to America's Vice President? Russia interfered with the US election to benefit Trump, and the New York Times just reported that Trump's team was in contact with Russian officials for at least a year before the election. Did Trump himself collude with Russia directly? This is not confirmed, but the optics are bad and Trump is desperately trying to switch focus. Who knew what, and when, and what their legal obligation was is important. Trump knew "for weeks" that Flynn misled the White House about Russia, and only acted on it after this knowledge entered the public domain. Why not act sooner? This story is far from over, and there are already signs of major fissures. US intelligence The Wall Street Journal reported that the US intelligence agencies are not disclosing all they know to the president because they don't trust him. The White House responded: "There is nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening". But how could the White House possibly know what they aren't being told? Either US intelligence isn't telling the president all they know (likely), or they are lying and going public about concealing information from the president in a way that amounts to taunting the president (unlikely). Something is going on. After all, Flynn is the third person from Trump's team to resign amid being connected to Russia. Earlier this summer, Paul Manafort was quietly pushed aside after it came to light that he lobbied for Putin-ally and pro-Ukraine lobbyist, Viktor Yanukovych. Carter Page was sacked after his connections to Russia became known. Trump has surrounded himself with people linked to Russia (Tillerson, Secretary of State, awarded the Order of Friendship by Putin himself, is a standout). But Flynn was the national security adviser. There is a reason the final and most important chapter of Sun Tzu's Art of War is about the special role of spies, the army's most important function. "Upon them depends an army's ability to move." Every decision must be grounded in the best knowledge of all circumstances; That it's bad to have the head of America's national security controlled by the leader of Russia should be agreed upon by Democras and Republicans. Yet Repulicans are keeping mostly quiet, preferring to remain in long-sought for power than expose their president for his Russia connection. US intelligence appears to be making the stand Republicans won't. But putting faith in US intelligence services to tell the truth is highly dangerous for the simple reason that they lie frequently, as it's inevitable when a main part of your job is performing covert operations. The relationship between US intelligence agencies and Donald Trump is not easy to decipher. While it seems like a war on the surface, there is much unknown. The spy agencies by definition are privy to much deeper knowledge than the public. Speculation is endlessly tempting, but caution here is prudent. Remember, FBI director James Comey days before the US election announced that he was reopening the investigation into Clinton's emails, despite being aware at the time of the Steele dossier. Many things determined the outcome of the election, but this huge last minute swung had an large and undeniable role. Why did the FBI announce one and not the other? Trump put into perspective by ex-CIA While it's wise to refrain from speculating about what is by definition secret, the tongue lashings coming from the US intelligence community are anything but subtle. Glenn Carle, a 23-year veteran of the CIA, expressed in no uncertain terms what a threat Trump poses in an interview with Vox conducted amid the news that General Flynn had resigned: "We are facing the gravest threat to our institutions and our government since 1861, since the country broke in half. This is a graver crisis than Watergate, which was about corruption, not the usurpation of our laws and our checks and balances. It's graver than World War II, when Hitler never actually threatened our institutions or occupation of Washington...We're dealing with a man in Trump who doesn't accept a fact-based reality, who only acts for his own self-aggrandizement, and who views any action that does not serve him as a threat that must be destroyed. And, on top of that, his team appears to have been colluding with Russian intelligence services." Notice his use of the word appears. Without a smoking gun linking Trump to Putin, that's all it is. There is no smoking gun, but looking for one when there is so much around isn't unreasonable Trump has repeatedly denied knowing Putin, but in video has claimed he does have a relationship with Putin. Judge Sally Yates warned Trump that Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail, and he fired her. Granted she also objected to the notoious Muslim ban, but perhaps he fired her for multiple reasons. The notorious and unverified dossier compiled by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele alleging that Russia possesses embarassing blackmail material over Trump remains unverified, but it is part of an ongoing investigation. More, CNN published a report claiming that some aspects from the dossier have been corroborated. To be sure, some of what's in the dossier has been disproven, but if certain things in it are true, and are proven to be true, then the conversation becomes about treason and impeachment. Trump has called the leaked documents "illegal", as if Trump didn't spend months using his unprecedented publicity machine to tell the world about leaks from Hillary Clinton's emails. Trump once, apparently, thought leaks were so fair game that he encouraged Russia to hack Clinton's email in the middle of a presidential debate. Why oppose leaks now? Because Flynn didn't resign until leaks emerged. Given the sheer volume of connections between Russia and Trump, and an intelligence community who likely knows what is going on (about many things) and does not seem thrilled with the president, Trump going to fierce lengths to discredit leaks by emphasising their illegality makes sense. Leaks are working against him, now. There are signs there may be more leaks yet. It's awfully hard to believe Trump's connection to Russia ends now that Flynn has been removed. (WION)

Trump's connection to Russia doesn't end with Flynn

Three Turkish soldiers were &quot;accidentally&quot; killed and 11 wounded on Thursday when a Russian air strike targeting jihadists in Syria hit a building where the troops were deployed, the Turkish army said.

With Moscow and Ankara cooperating ever more closely on Syria, President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express condolences and promise better future coordination.

The Russian plane had been seeking to hit targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists but &quot;by accident three of our heroic soldiers were martyred when a building was bombed where our units were,&quot; the Turkish army said in a statement.

It said that of the 11 injured, one was badly wounded.

Putin contacted Erdogan to express his &quot;sadness and condolences,&quot; it added.

&quot;Russian officials have said that the incident was an accident,&quot; the army said, adding an investigation is being carried out by both sides.

In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin had offered Erdogan his condolences and that the leaders had &quot;agreed to enhance military coordination&quot; in the fight against IS in Syria.

It said the incident took place in the flashpoint IS-held town of Al-Bab where both countries have been conducting air strikes.&nbsp;

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian strike took place on Thursday morning due to a &quot;lack of agreement of coordinates during strikes by the Russian air force.&quot;

Fight for Al-Bab

Both sides appeared keen to move on from the incident, as was the case when an off-duty Turkish policeman shot dead&nbsp;Russia&#39;s ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov on December 19 in a crime that shocked both countries.

Then, Ankara allowed Russian investigators to work in Turkey and also gave the slain ambassador the honour of a ceremony on the tarmac of Ankara airport before his corpse was airlifted back to&nbsp;Russia.

The Russian defence ministry said Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar had in a call &quot;agreed on closer coordination of joint actions&quot;.

Turkey had on August 24 began an unprecedented campaign inside Syria against IS and Kurdish militia which initially made rapid progress but has become mired in a deadly fight for the IS held town of Al-Bab since December.

The incident came with new CIA chief Mike Pompeo in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials on issues including Syria, on his first foreign visit since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

The fight for Al-Bab has been by far the bloodiest yet of Turkey&#39;s incursion inside Syria but the authorities have vowed to press on until its capture despite a mounting casualty toll.

Before Thursday&#39;s casualties were reported, the Dogan news agency said 66 Turkish soldiers have now been killed in the Syria operation since it began in August, mostly in attacks by IS.

Revival in ties

Turkey and&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;have been on sharply opposing sides in the Syria conflict, with Moscow supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad but Ankara pushing for his ouster as the key to peace.

Relations reached a dangerous low in November 2015 when Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian fighter jet over the Syrian border.

But a normalisation deal was reached over the summer and the two sides have been working ever more closely over the Syrian conflict.

They secured a deal to evacuate Syrians from Aleppo after the city was retaken by Assad backed by his Russian allies.

The two sides have since backed a process in the Kazakh capital Astana to search for peace to end the almost six-year civil war in Syria.

And Russian jets have on occasion carried out air strikes in Al-Bab in support of the operation.

Separate operations by Turkey and Assad&#39;s forces, backed by Moscow, has trapped the jihadists inside Al-Bab which has been besieged since Monday when Syrian forces cut off a road leading into the town.

There has been concerns of the risk of accidental contact in the busy skies above Syria although these have usually surrounded Turkey and Syrian regime forces.

Erdogan&#39;s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Wednesday Turkey had been coordinating with&nbsp;Russia&nbsp;to avoid any risk of contact with the Syrian regime forces.

(AFP)

President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to promise better future coordination

Three Turkish soldiers were "accidentally" killed and 11 wounded on Thursday when a Russian air strike targeting jihadists in Syria hit a building where the troops were deployed, the Turkish army said. With Moscow and Ankara cooperating ever more closely on Syria, President Vladimir Putin quickly reached out to Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to express condolences and promise better future coordination. The Russian plane had been seeking to hit targets of Islamic State (IS) jihadists but "by accident three of our heroic soldiers were martyred when a building was bombed where our units were," the Turkish army said in a statement. It said that of the 11 injured, one was badly wounded. Putin contacted Erdogan to express his "sadness and condolences," it added. "Russian officials have said that the incident was an accident," the army said, adding an investigation is being carried out by both sides. In Moscow, the Kremlin said Putin had offered Erdogan his condolences and that the leaders had "agreed to enhance military coordination" in the fight against IS in Syria. It said the incident took place in the flashpoint IS-held town of Al-Bab where both countries have been conducting air strikes. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian strike took place on Thursday morning due to a "lack of agreement of coordinates during strikes by the Russian air force." Fight for Al-Bab Both sides appeared keen to move on from the incident, as was the case when an off-duty Turkish policeman shot dead Russia's ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov on December 19 in a crime that shocked both countries. Then, Ankara allowed Russian investigators to work in Turkey and also gave the slain ambassador the honour of a ceremony on the tarmac of Ankara airport before his corpse was airlifted back to Russia. The Russian defence ministry said Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar had in a call "agreed on closer coordination of joint actions". Turkey had on August 24 began an unprecedented campaign inside Syria against IS and Kurdish militia which initially made rapid progress but has become mired in a deadly fight for the IS held town of Al-Bab since December. The incident came with new CIA chief Mike Pompeo in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials on issues including Syria, on his first foreign visit since the inauguration of US President Donald Trump. The fight for Al-Bab has been by far the bloodiest yet of Turkey's incursion inside Syria but the authorities have vowed to press on until its capture despite a mounting casualty toll. Before Thursday's casualties were reported, the Dogan news agency said 66 Turkish soldiers have now been killed in the Syria operation since it began in August, mostly in attacks by IS. Revival in ties Turkey and Russia have been on sharply opposing sides in the Syria conflict, with Moscow supporting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad but Ankara pushing for his ouster as the key to peace. Relations reached a dangerous low in November 2015 when Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian fighter jet over the Syrian border. But a normalisation deal was reached over the summer and the two sides have been working ever more closely over the Syrian conflict. They secured a deal to evacuate Syrians from Aleppo after the city was retaken by Assad backed by his Russian allies. The two sides have since backed a process in the Kazakh capital Astana to search for peace to end the almost six-year civil war in Syria. And Russian jets have on occasion carried out air strikes in Al-Bab in support of the operation. Separate operations by Turkey and Assad's forces, backed by Moscow, has trapped the jihadists inside Al-Bab which has been besieged since Monday when Syrian forces cut off a road leading into the town. There has been concerns of the risk of accidental contact in the busy skies above Syria although these have usually surrounded Turkey and Syrian regime forces. Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Wednesday Turkey had been coordinating with Russia to avoid any risk of contact with the Syrian regime forces. (AFP)

Three Turkish soldiers 'accidentally' killed by Russian air strikes

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been invited to this year&#39;s Group of Seven summit of world leaders, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday, scotching rumours of a possible last-minute invite.

&quot;To be clear, the Italian G7 presidency has not sent any invitation to Putin to participate at the G7 in Taormina,&quot; Gentiloni said, referring to a summit scheduled for May in Sicily of the leaders of major Western industrialised leaders.

&quot;At this moment in time, (an invitation for Russia) doesn&#39;t seem to me to be at all realistic,&quot; Gentiloni said during a news conference with his British counterpart Theresa May. He added that it was important to continue dialogue with Moscow.

(Reuters)

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Thursday dismissed rumours of a possible last-minute invite

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been invited to this year's Group of Seven summit of world leaders, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday, scotching rumours of a possible last-minute invite. "To be clear, the Italian G7 presidency has not sent any invitation to Putin to participate at the G7 in Taormina," Gentiloni said, referring to a summit scheduled for May in Sicily of the leaders of major Western industrialised leaders. "At this moment in time, (an invitation for Russia) doesn't seem to me to be at all realistic," Gentiloni said during a news conference with his British counterpart Theresa May. He added that it was important to continue dialogue with Moscow. (Reuters)

Russian President Putin not invited to G7 summit: Italy

For a man who&nbsp;brags about his wealth&nbsp;Donald Trump has gone to great lengths to keep his financial&nbsp;status an absolute secret. Every presidential candidate for the last 40 years has published their tax returns. Trump has refused, over and over, and he and his team have repeatedly&nbsp;<a href="http://www.vox.com/2017/1/22/14351062/kellyanne-conway-trump-tax-returns">lied </a>about the reason for doing so (<a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/watch-eric-trump-flail-wildly-as-he-tries-to-explain-why-his-dad-wont-release-tax-returns/" target="_blank">his son Erik said, essentially, releasing his tax returns was inadvisable because it would&nbsp;subject them&nbsp;to public scrutiny</a>).

Donald Trump asked&nbsp;a foreign government to hack into an American politicians private emails&nbsp;on live TV&nbsp;before&nbsp;millions of people during the presidential debate, but publish one page of his&nbsp;tax return&nbsp;he threatens to sue.&nbsp;When nearly forced to prove his wealth, Trump has repeatedly declined.

While Trump did publish a&nbsp;financial disclosure form, required by law,<a href="http://thepoliticus.com/content/bombshell-trump-lied-his-financial-disclosures-has-massive-debt"> he made an immense lie</a>: The document reveals that companies he owns are $300&nbsp;million in debt, but actually a&nbsp;New York Times investigation&nbsp;determined that in reality this figure is more than twice as large, at $650 million. He is beholden&nbsp;to a wide range of financial backers, including ones he has criticised publicly.&nbsp;

Who funds Donald Trump, and what does this mean?

&nbsp;

A brief look at his Deutsche Bank history

To understand Trump, follow the money. This is inherently difficult, because Trump goes to enormous&nbsp;lengths to keep his money secret&nbsp;despite projecting&nbsp;the image of a&nbsp;self-made billionaire&nbsp;enriched&nbsp;by savvy&nbsp;deal-making.&nbsp;Really, his father was a New York real estate tycoon, handy when starting out, and for more than a&nbsp;decade Donald received money for&nbsp;putting his name on stuff <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/11/24/donald-trumps-real-secret-to-riches-create-a-brand-and-license-it/#3fef3d0e26e7">other people produce</a>.

But what we do know about&nbsp;his finance&nbsp;tells us important something, and puts into sharp relief the importance of what we do not know.

American banks stopped lending money to Donald Trump in the late 1980s and early &#39;90s, around the time he declared $900 million in losses as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html" target="_blank">Trump casino-related businesses kept&nbsp;going bankrupt.</a> American banks considered him a major liability.

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<h5>On December 23, a few weeks before Trump was to enter the White House,&nbsp;Deutsche Bank settled,&nbsp;managing&nbsp;to cut&nbsp;the threatened $14 billion penalty roughly in half to&nbsp;$7.2 billion. Just yesterday, Deutsche Bank was fined another $690 million for its role in a &ldquo;mirror trade&quot;&nbsp;scam that laundered&nbsp;$10 billion, illegally moving the money outside of Russia.</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=On December 23, a few weeks before Trump was to enter the White House,?Deutsche Bank settled,?managing?to cut?the threatened $14 billion penalty roughly in half to?$7.2 billion. 


Just yesterday, Deutsche Bank was fined another $690 million for its role in a ?mirror trade?scam that laundered?$10 billion, illegally moving the money outside of Russia." target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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He was funded by Russian oligarchs, billionaires nearly overnight after seising for their own private wealth&nbsp;the state assets of the newly-collapsed former Soviet Union.&nbsp;The German Deutsche Bank also stepped in.

Last March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-donald-trump-needs-a-loan-he-chooses-deutsche-bank-1458379806">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported that, just since 1998, Deutsche Bank has &ldquo;led or participated in loans of at least $2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Trump,&rdquo; not including one billion in loan commitments to Trump-related businesses.

Trump&nbsp;got into a large fight with Deutsche Bank when the US housing bubble burst in 2009.&nbsp;Trump tried to avoid paying back a&nbsp;$334&nbsp;million loan, saying the subprime mortgage crash constituted a &ldquo;force majeure&rdquo;, an unforeseeable catastrophe, like an act of god. He even attacked the bank,&nbsp;saying their lending practices played a role in the collapse--he sued them&nbsp;for $3 billion in damages. The bank sued him back, saying he issued&nbsp;a personal guarantee that he&#39;d pay $40 million in case his company couldn&#39;t pay them back. They were forced to negotiate.&nbsp;They settled, but the bank was soured on Donald Trump. &quot;He was a persona non grata after that,&quot; said a banker who worked on the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports.

This matters, because right now&nbsp;Donald Trump still owes the private arm of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-22/deutsche-bank-s-reworking-a-big-trump-loan-as-inauguration-nears" target="_blank">Deutsche Bank roughly $300 million.</a>&nbsp;And Deutsche Bank has had major problems lately.

From a November 9 Wall Street Journal post: &quot;Right now Deutsche Bank is facing a host of tricky issues in the US, including the threatened $14 billion penalty over mortgage-bond investigations that would seriously damage the bank&#39;s capital base. There is also a probe related to equity trades for wealthy clients in Russia, a country Mr Trump appears friendly towards. The bank [Deutsche Bank]&nbsp;declined to comment.&quot;

On December 23, a few weeks before Trump&nbsp;entered the White House,&nbsp;Deutsche Bank settled,&nbsp;managing&nbsp;to cut&nbsp;the threatened $14 billion penalty roughly in half to&nbsp;$7.2 billion.

Just <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/deutsche-bank-fined-about-630-million-over-alleged-10-billion-russia-money-laundering-scam-11930">yesterday</a>, Deutsche Bank was fined another $690 million for its role in a &ldquo;mirror trade&quot;&nbsp;scam that laundered&nbsp;$10 billion, illegally moving this&nbsp;money outside of Russia.

&nbsp;

Early, still releveant cause for&nbsp;fear

Regarding the settlement, perhaps the outgoing Obama administration wanted to get what they could while they could,&nbsp;fearing that a Trump administration would be more amenable to forgive Deutsche Bank, for something else in return.

Given that we know Trump was funded for years by<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/9/1618540/-Was-Donald-Trump-bailed-out-of-bankruptcy-by-Russia-crime-bosses">&nbsp;Putin-approved oligarchs</a>, that his bank of choice is also connected in a major way to Russian money laundering stands out.&nbsp;

It&#39;s speculation, but the lack of concrete facts here is&nbsp;Trump&#39;s fault: &nbsp;The onus is on him&nbsp;to clear this up, which he could overnight.&nbsp;But given both his&nbsp;scandalous refusal to publish finance&nbsp;records his predecessors&nbsp;considered par for the course,&nbsp;and&nbsp;his absolute refusal to divest from his private business empire while serving in public office, nobody should expect sudden&nbsp;transparency.

The former CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil&nbsp;Rex Tillerson, just confirmed as&nbsp;US Secretary of State, worried observers because he opposed sanctions against Russia after Russia annexed Crimea, sanctions that were stopping his company from making at least<a href="https://www.rt.com/business/363131-exxon-lost-billion-russia-sanctions/" target="_blank"> one billion dollars</a>.&nbsp;

Experts believed&nbsp;Trump remaining in charge of a <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/01/kim-albrecht-trump-data-viz/?mbid=social_twitter#slide-3" target="_blank">vast international business empire </a>put him in&nbsp;gross violation of the &quot;emoluments clause&quot; in the US constitution the very second he took office, and Russia&#39;s&nbsp;actions since have only validated fears.

&nbsp;

Recent reasons&nbsp;to worry: Trump and Igor Sechin CEO of&nbsp;Rosneft, Russia&#39;s state oil company

The notorious unverified dossier (adjudged serious enough that US intelligence briefed both then-President Obama and Trump&nbsp;on it)&nbsp;alleging&nbsp;Russia had recorded enough material on Trump to &quot;compromise&quot;, or blackmail, him also contained perhaps <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carter-page-trump-russia-igor-sechin-dossier-2017-1">an even more important allegation</a>:&nbsp;Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft, Russia&#39;s state oil company, offered Trump-ally Carter Page a 19 per cent stake in the $130-billion&nbsp;company in exchange for lifting US sanctions against Russia.

Page was an early Trump adviser, who &quot;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carter-page-trump-russia-igor-sechin-dossier-2017-1">took a leave of absence</a>&quot; after his trip to Russia came to light. The Trump campaign denied it ever worked with him, Business Insider reports.

Regarding Russian sanctions, Trump said: If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody&#39;s doing some really great things?&quot;

Just l<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-rosneft-privatisation-insight-idUSKBN1582OH">ast week, in &quot;one of its largest privatisations since the 1990s&quot;,&nbsp;Russia sold a 19.5&nbsp;per cent&nbsp;stake in Rosneft, and&nbsp;because of the&nbsp;highly&nbsp;opaque structure of the deal&nbsp;nobody knows who bought it</a>. Some commentators have&nbsp;noticed that the&nbsp;19.5 per cent&nbsp;sale looks like the 19 per cent alluded to in the unverified dossier, plus a brokerage fee.&nbsp;

A&nbsp;few days ago, the Kremlin escalated its attack on Ukraine with apparent confidence&nbsp;that the US president would not object.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Independence?

When Trump-appointed regulators deal&nbsp;with Deutsche Bank, will they&nbsp;advance&nbsp;the interests of the United States or the Trump Organization? Ditto for Trump and Russia.&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Must-read <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost">@washingtonpost</a>: &quot;Trump is sworn in, rockets fall on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash">#Ukraine</a>&quot; <a href="https://t.co/GT8UeDoey0">https://t.co/GT8UeDoey0</a>
&mdash; John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnMcCain/status/826787097407344640">February 1, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Donald Trump&nbsp;campaigned on being an indepedently wealthy candidate unbeholden to&nbsp;interests. But he is keeping very large and important secrets. Just as he once was considered by&nbsp;Deutsche Bank, if he were to disclose what is really going on, many current&nbsp;supporters would likely change their mind&nbsp;and also consider Trump&nbsp;a&nbsp;&quot;persona non grata&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;

(WION)

Trump has received funding from Russia, which is now amping up war in Ukraine, and Deutsche Bank, guilty lately of major financial crimes

For a man who brags about his wealth Donald Trump has gone to great lengths to keep his financial status an absolute secret. Every presidential candidate for the last 40 years has published their tax returns. Trump has refused, over and over, and he and his team have repeatedly lied about the reason for doing so (his son Erik said, essentially, releasing his tax returns was inadvisable because it would subject them to public scrutiny). Donald Trump asked a foreign government to hack into an American politicians private emails on live TV before millions of people during the presidential debate, but publish one page of his tax return he threatens to sue. When nearly forced to prove his wealth, Trump has repeatedly declined. While Trump did publish a financial disclosure form, required by law, he made an immense lie: The document reveals that companies he owns are $300 million in debt, but actually a New York Times investigation determined that in reality this figure is more than twice as large, at $650 million. He is beholden to a wide range of financial backers, including ones he has criticised publicly. Who funds Donald Trump, and what does this mean? A brief look at his Deutsche Bank history To understand Trump, follow the money. This is inherently difficult, because Trump goes to enormous lengths to keep his money secret despite projecting the image of a self-made billionaire enriched by savvy deal-making. Really, his father was a New York real estate tycoon, handy when starting out, and for more than a decade Donald received money for putting his name on stuff other people produce. But what we do know about his finance tells us important something, and puts into sharp relief the importance of what we do not know. American banks stopped lending money to Donald Trump in the late 1980s and early '90s, around the time he declared $900 million in losses as Trump casino-related businesses kept going bankrupt. American banks considered him a major liability. On December 23, a few weeks before Trump was to enter the White House, Deutsche Bank settled, managing to cut the threatened $14 billion penalty roughly in half to $7.2 billion. Just yesterday, Deutsche Bank was fined another $690 million for its role in a “mirror trade" scam that laundered $10 billion, illegally moving the money outside of Russia. × He was funded by Russian oligarchs, billionaires nearly overnight after seising for their own private wealth the state assets of the newly-collapsed former Soviet Union. The German Deutsche Bank also stepped in. Last March, The Wall Street Journal reported that, just since 1998, Deutsche Bank has “led or participated in loans of at least $2.5 billion to companies affiliated with Trump,” not including one billion in loan commitments to Trump-related businesses. Trump got into a large fight with Deutsche Bank when the US housing bubble burst in 2009. Trump tried to avoid paying back a $334 million loan, saying the subprime mortgage crash constituted a “force majeure”, an unforeseeable catastrophe, like an act of god. He even attacked the bank, saying their lending practices played a role in the collapse--he sued them for $3 billion in damages. The bank sued him back, saying he issued a personal guarantee that he'd pay $40 million in case his company couldn't pay them back. They were forced to negotiate. They settled, but the bank was soured on Donald Trump. "He was a persona non grata after that," said a banker who worked on the deal, the Wall Street Journal reports. This matters, because right now Donald Trump still owes the private arm of Deutsche Bank roughly $300 million. And Deutsche Bank has had major problems lately. From a November 9 Wall Street Journal post: "Right now Deutsche Bank is facing a host of tricky issues in the US, including the threatened $14 billion penalty over mortgage-bond investigations that would seriously damage the bank's capital base. There is also a probe related to equity trades for wealthy clients in Russia, a country Mr Trump appears friendly towards. The bank [Deutsche Bank] declined to comment." On December 23, a few weeks before Trump entered the White House, Deutsche Bank settled, managing to cut the threatened $14 billion penalty roughly in half to $7.2 billion. Just yesterday, Deutsche Bank was fined another $690 million for its role in a “mirror trade" scam that laundered $10 billion, illegally moving this money outside of Russia. Early, still releveant cause for fear Regarding the settlement, perhaps the outgoing Obama administration wanted to get what they could while they could, fearing that a Trump administration would be more amenable to forgive Deutsche Bank, for something else in return. Given that we know Trump was funded for years by Putin-approved oligarchs, that his bank of choice is also connected in a major way to Russian money laundering stands out. It's speculation, but the lack of concrete facts here is Trump's fault: The onus is on him to clear this up, which he could overnight. But given both his scandalous refusal to publish finance records his predecessors considered par for the course, and his absolute refusal to divest from his private business empire while serving in public office, nobody should expect sudden transparency. The former CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson, just confirmed as US Secretary of State, worried observers because he opposed sanctions against Russia after Russia annexed Crimea, sanctions that were stopping his company from making at least one billion dollars. Experts believed Trump remaining in charge of a vast international business empire put him in gross violation of the "emoluments clause" in the US constitution the very second he took office, and Russia's actions since have only validated fears. Recent reasons to worry: Trump and Igor Sechin CEO of Rosneft, Russia's state oil company The notorious unverified dossier (adjudged serious enough that US intelligence briefed both then-President Obama and Trump on it) alleging Russia had recorded enough material on Trump to "compromise", or blackmail, him also contained perhaps an even more important allegation: Igor Sechin, CEO of Rosneft, Russia's state oil company, offered Trump-ally Carter Page a 19 per cent stake in the $130-billion company in exchange for lifting US sanctions against Russia. Page was an early Trump adviser, who "took a leave of absence" after his trip to Russia came to light. The Trump campaign denied it ever worked with him, Business Insider reports. Regarding Russian sanctions, Trump said: If you get along and if Russia is really helping us, why would anybody have sanctions if somebody's doing some really great things?" Just last week, in "one of its largest privatisations since the 1990s", Russia sold a 19.5 per cent stake in Rosneft, and because of the highly opaque structure of the deal nobody knows who bought it. Some commentators have noticed that the 19.5 per cent sale looks like the 19 per cent alluded to in the unverified dossier, plus a brokerage fee. A few days ago, the Kremlin escalated its attack on Ukraine with apparent confidence that the US president would not object. Independence? When Trump-appointed regulators deal with Deutsche Bank, will they advance the interests of the United States or the Trump Organization? Ditto for Trump and Russia. Must-read @washingtonpost: "Trump is sworn in, rockets fall on #Ukraine" https://t.co/GT8UeDoey0 — John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) February 1, 2017 × Donald Trump campaigned on being an indepedently wealthy candidate unbeholden to interests. But he is keeping very large and important secrets. Just as he once was considered by Deutsche Bank, if he were to disclose what is really going on, many current supporters would likely change their mind and also consider Trump a "persona non grata". (WION)

Analysis: Trump, Russia and Deutsche Bank?Links that raise many, many questions

US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will on Saturday hold their first phone conversation since the American leader&#39;s inauguration, the Kremlin said. &nbsp;

&quot;I can confirm that a telephone conversation is planned. It will be Saturday evening Moscow time,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday.&nbsp;

Peskov said Putin would congratulate Trump on officially becoming president and the two would likely discuss the &quot;state of bilateral ties&quot;.

But Putin&#39;s spokesman refused to comment on rumours that Trump might already be gearing up to roll back sanctions against Moscow that have helped drive ties to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. &nbsp;

&quot;This is the first contact by phone since President Trump assumed office so it is hardly likely there will be substantive contact on all issues. Let&#39;s be patient,&quot; he said.&nbsp;

The two leaders already spoke by phone in November following Trump&#39;s election&nbsp;and agreed to &quot;normalise&quot; US-Russia relations, which have suffered notably since the crisis in Ukraine.

Throughout the election campaign, Trump praised Putin and was accused by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of being Putin&#39;s &quot;puppet&quot;.

Less than one month before leaving the White House, former president Barack Obama took action against Moscow over what he said was Russian meddling in the US presidential election.

The measures by Obama, who accused Moscow of &quot;efforts to harm US interests&quot;, included the expulsion of 35 alleged intelligence agents and financial sanctions on Russia&#39;s top intelligence agencies.

Trump has pledged to mend ties with Putin&#39;s government&nbsp;and is angered by suggestions that his victory was aided by illegal Russian interference.

(AFP)

'I can confirm that a telephone conversation is planned. It will be Saturday evening Moscow time,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said

US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will on Saturday hold their first phone conversation since the American leader's inauguration, the Kremlin said. "I can confirm that a telephone conversation is planned. It will be Saturday evening Moscow time," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday. Peskov said Putin would congratulate Trump on officially becoming president and the two would likely discuss the "state of bilateral ties". But Putin's spokesman refused to comment on rumours that Trump might already be gearing up to roll back sanctions against Moscow that have helped drive ties to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. "This is the first contact by phone since President Trump assumed office so it is hardly likely there will be substantive contact on all issues. Let's be patient," he said. The two leaders already spoke by phone in November following Trump's election and agreed to "normalise" US-Russia relations, which have suffered notably since the crisis in Ukraine. Throughout the election campaign, Trump praised Putin and was accused by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of being Putin's "puppet". Less than one month before leaving the White House, former president Barack Obama took action against Moscow over what he said was Russian meddling in the US presidential election. The measures by Obama, who accused Moscow of "efforts to harm US interests", included the expulsion of 35 alleged intelligence agents and financial sanctions on Russia's top intelligence agencies. Trump has pledged to mend ties with Putin's government and is angered by suggestions that his victory was aided by illegal Russian interference. (AFP)

Putin and Trump to speak by phone on Saturday: Kremlin

By: Anchal Vohra

Jerusalem is the heart of Israel and Palestine and it beats at the Temple Mount, as Jews call it, or Haram esh-sharif, as Muslims refer to it. A confluence of the three biggest monotheistic religions, this is&nbsp;where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son Issac before God&#39;s&nbsp;last second intervention. Crusaders turned&nbsp;it into a church. The third-most revered site in Islam, it is here that Allah asked the prophet to look at Kaaba. Hence, jurisdiction over this edifice is a highly sensitive matter. 
&nbsp; 
East Jerusalem is the home of the Dome of the Rock. In possession of the Western part, Israel annexed the East from Jordan in and since then, to keep the peace, Jordan manages Al Aqsa mosque&#39;s affairs through a waqf board. 
&nbsp; 
But now, Donald Trump says he will move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which in effect is America&rsquo;s strongest acknowledgment of Jerusalem being Israel&rsquo;s capital.

To find out what the Palestinians are thinking, I travelled to Ramallah, barely a fifteen&nbsp;minute&nbsp;drive from Jerusalem, but an hour-long wait at the check point.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
A city within a city, the thick cement wall divides Israel from Palestine, and boards warn Israelis from entering the enemy territory. 
Inside, the wall is decorated with&nbsp;grafitti about&nbsp;the Palestinian movement and sketches of the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat.&nbsp;

Jerusalem doesn&#39;t belong to Israel, says Abel Taqz, a member of the Palestinian People&#39;s Party, which played a big role in the first Palestinian intifada. Taqz is furious at Donald Trump for wanting to shift the embassy. He says this would end the peace process and the two-nation solution would lose all meaning. 
&nbsp; 
His room is decorated with revolutionary posters. One of them depicts a tree with long roots. Taqz explains, &quot;This shows our roots are deep.&quot; Taqz&#39;s intention is to let Trump know that Palestinians haven&#39;t forgotten their roots. The threat is a veiled concern. He fears the new American president may bring chaos upon the region. 
&nbsp; 
&quot;If Palestinian people lose hope of a two-state solution...And Israel is not willing to solve the problem and keep building settlements in Palestinian lands, it means there will be no hope for the people. And when people lose hope, anything can happen. Palestinian problem is the core issue of conflict in the Middle East and there is a danger of religious wars in the region. If Donald Trump supports Netanyahu&#39;s plans for a Jewish state, other islamic nations will support an Islamic state in Palestine. This will redirect the whole issue from political to a religious one and this can only result in a violent war, which will affect countries well beyond these two nations&quot;, he said.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Of the two parties, Fatah and Hamas, both agree that there will be violence if the US takes this step. But the ruling party, Fatah has a different plan to take on the might of the US. 
&nbsp; 
A party member Amin Shooman says, &quot;In Syria after Russia entered, it ended the war in Aleppo and everything is good now. We hope what happened in Syria, happens in West Bank and Putin stands with the Palestinians and demands from Trump that he doesn&#39;t move the embassy to Jerusalem.&quot;&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Russia has already been trying to bring the two Palestinian factions,&nbsp;Fatah in Ramallah and Hamas in Gaza Strip,&nbsp;together. 
&nbsp;&nbsp; 
Fayez Warda, a Hamas leader who has been arrested several times both by the Israelis and Fatah, says, &ldquo;Our view of Russia is different from America. We look at Russia as a friend and they are holding reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.&rdquo; 
&nbsp; 
It is evident Russia is being seen as a formidable power in the region. After the Syrian success, the Palestinians want Russia to play a much bigger role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Palestinian parties want Russia to take on Israel and the US on its behalf. Will Russia give in to the dream of regional hegemony or use this as leverage to crack a deal with the United States for economic purposes?&nbsp;

Trump called Netanyahu within days of taking power and even though he held on to the announcement of moving the embassy, soon after the phone call Israel restarted work on settlements in east Jerusalem.

(WION)

Donald Trump says he will move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, making Hamas and Fatah very angry

By: Anchal Vohra Jerusalem is the heart of Israel and Palestine and it beats at the Temple Mount, as Jews call it, or Haram esh-sharif, as Muslims refer to it. A confluence of the three biggest monotheistic religions, this is where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son Issac before God's last second intervention. Crusaders turned it into a church. The third-most revered site in Islam, it is here that Allah asked the prophet to look at Kaaba. Hence, jurisdiction over this edifice is a highly sensitive matter. East Jerusalem is the home of the Dome of the Rock. In possession of the Western part, Israel annexed the East from Jordan in and since then, to keep the peace, Jordan manages Al Aqsa mosque's affairs through a waqf board. But now, Donald Trump says he will move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which in effect is America’s strongest acknowledgment of Jerusalem being Israel’s capital. To find out what the Palestinians are thinking, I travelled to Ramallah, barely a fifteen minute drive from Jerusalem, but an hour-long wait at the check point. A city within a city, the thick cement wall divides Israel from Palestine, and boards warn Israelis from entering the enemy territory. Inside, the wall is decorated with grafitti about the Palestinian movement and sketches of the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat. Jerusalem doesn't belong to Israel, says Abel Taqz, a member of the Palestinian People's Party, which played a big role in the first Palestinian intifada. Taqz is furious at Donald Trump for wanting to shift the embassy. He says this would end the peace process and the two-nation solution would lose all meaning. His room is decorated with revolutionary posters. One of them depicts a tree with long roots. Taqz explains, "This shows our roots are deep." Taqz's intention is to let Trump know that Palestinians haven't forgotten their roots. The threat is a veiled concern. He fears the new American president may bring chaos upon the region. "If Palestinian people lose hope of a two-state solution...And Israel is not willing to solve the problem and keep building settlements in Palestinian lands, it means there will be no hope for the people. And when people lose hope, anything can happen. Palestinian problem is the core issue of conflict in the Middle East and there is a danger of religious wars in the region. If Donald Trump supports Netanyahu's plans for a Jewish state, other islamic nations will support an Islamic state in Palestine. This will redirect the whole issue from political to a religious one and this can only result in a violent war, which will affect countries well beyond these two nations", he said. Of the two parties, Fatah and Hamas, both agree that there will be violence if the US takes this step. But the ruling party, Fatah has a different plan to take on the might of the US. A party member Amin Shooman says, "In Syria after Russia entered, it ended the war in Aleppo and everything is good now. We hope what happened in Syria, happens in West Bank and Putin stands with the Palestinians and demands from Trump that he doesn't move the embassy to Jerusalem." Russia has already been trying to bring the two Palestinian factions, Fatah in Ramallah and Hamas in Gaza Strip, together. Fayez Warda, a Hamas leader who has been arrested several times both by the Israelis and Fatah, says, “Our view of Russia is different from America. We look at Russia as a friend and they are holding reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.” It is evident Russia is being seen as a formidable power in the region. After the Syrian success, the Palestinians want Russia to play a much bigger role in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Palestinian parties want Russia to take on Israel and the US on its behalf. Will Russia give in to the dream of regional hegemony or use this as leverage to crack a deal with the United States for economic purposes? Trump called Netanyahu within days of taking power and even though he held on to the announcement of moving the embassy, soon after the phone call Israel restarted work on settlements in east Jerusalem. (WION)

Ramallah warns of a religious war, rakes up Russia

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