Inside Mar-a-Lago for 48 hours critical to the Russia investigation
Updated 2231 GMT (0631 HKT) December 9, 2017
The answer to one of the most critical questions at the heart of the Russia investigation may well lie in the grand hallways of Mar-a-Lago.
Did President Donald Trump know Michael Flynn talked about sanctions during his conversations a year ago with the former Russian ambassador? Or did the President's small circle of advisers keep it from him?
A look back at a pivotal 48-hour period -- inside the President's Palm Beach estate -- offers a fresh window into some of the early thinking and actions of the new Trump team, the consequences of which are now front-and-center in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
A battle for public opinion: Trump goes to war over Mueller and Russia
In recent days, the rightwing media and Trump loyalists have been scrambling to discredit the special counsel and smear his Russia inquiry as a liberal plot
by David Smith in Washington and Ben Jacobs in Pensacola, Florida
Sunday 10 December 2017 07.00 GMT
Illegitimate and corrupt. Using the FBI as a political weapon and America’s secret police. “Secret surveillance, wiretapping, intimidation, harassment and threats. It’s like the old KGB that comes for you in the dark of the night, banging through your door.”
This is special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, as seen through the eyes of news anchor and analyst Gregg Jarrett this week. Anyone expecting him to be challenged live on air was destined for disappointment.
Fox News host Sean Hannity replied: “This is not hyperbole you are using here.”
It was one telling glimpse of the parallel universe that Donald Trump hopes will save him from Mueller’s sprawling investigation and potential impeachment. Far from an outlier, it was typical of how in recent days rightwing media, congressional Republicans and Trump’s base have gone to war, seeking to discredit and delegitimize the special counsel.
North Korea: South Korea imposes new set of sanctions to stop 'illegal funding' going to neighbour state
Jon Sharman
South Korea says it is imposing a new round of economic sanctions on its neighbour North Korea, going above and beyond the measures of its international partners.
The foreign ministry in Seoul said that adding another 20 North Korean companies and 12 individuals to its blacklist would stem the flow of “illegal funding” going towards Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes, Yonhap reported.
The new measures will go into effect on Monday, the news agency reported.
They come just days after Seoul put 18 North Korean banking officials on a blacklist after its foreign ministry said they had “worked overseas, representing North Korean banks and getting involved in supplying money needed to develop weapons of mass destruction”.Liberated RaqqaThe Stench of Death amid Hopes for Life
The former Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa has been liberated, yet the city remains largely uninhabitable, criss-crossed with mines and strewn with rotting corpses. One man has made it his mission to bring the city back to life.
On Dalla Square, where uniformed teens sit around a chipboard fire at the first checkpoint into the city, Abdullah al-Arian notices that the smell is still there. The smell of the "caliphate." The smell of the military offensive. The smell of death.
It's a Tuesday morning in November and Arian, a lawyer, is attempting to navigate his SUV around the piles of rubble and mounds of earth to get into the city he once called home. He is driving into the devastation, into the stench -- into Raqqa. The city lies deathly quiet and empty beneath the autumn sun. He is driving slowly into the graveyard that was once the "caliphate's" Syrian stronghold. Behind the SUV is a gray minibus carrying two pharmacists and a doctor, all of whom are staring silently out the windows.
Will election change fate of the Agariyas of Gujarat?
by Sharanya Deepak
The Agariyas tribe in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch desert near the Arabian Sea is excited yet doubtful as to whether elections in one of India's most industrialised states will change their fortunes.
Marked by mass illiteracy, lack of education and health facilities, and political underrepresentation, the community lives on the margins of the Gujarati society.
For eight months between mid-November and August, Agariya people live in the desert, working under extreme weather conditions, helping to produce about 76 percent of India's salt.Tear gas at Lebanon US embassy protest
Protesters have clashed with Lebanese security forces outside the US embassy near the capital, Beirut, the latest demonstration against US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Security forces fired tear gas and water cannon to force back flag-waving protesters.
Overnight the Arab League condemned the US decision.
It said the US could now not be relied upon as a broker of Middle East peace.
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