Impeachment inquiry: White House attacks witness who heard 'improper' call
The White House attacked its own top Ukraine official as he testified to an impeachment hearing that a phone call made by the president was "improper" and had left him in "shock".
Lt Col Alexander Vindman told Congress that President Donald Trump made "inappropriate" political demands of the Ukrainian president.
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Lt Col Vindman said.
The hearings are investigating whether Mr Trump abused his presidential power.
An Iraq war veteran who serves in a senior role on the US National Security Council (NSC), Lt Col Vindman testified before the House on Tuesday in his Army dress uniform.
An extremely big present': Israeli settlers welcome US policy shift
Announcement that settlements no longer considered illegal is another blow for Palestinians
Mahmoud Yaqoub, a 49-year-old Palestinian farmer, is hemmed in on two sides by an Israeli settlement. Standing on his roof, he points up the hill at olive trees he says are his. But he cannot reach them as a metal fence has been erected around Efrat, confiscating part of his family’s land.
Yaqoub’s sheep are confined to a metal shack next to his house. He says the Israeli army banned him from shepherding them on his land as it is considered too close to the settlement.
Until this week, the US – in line with overwhelming global consensus – had considered settlements such as Efrat to be illegal under international law. On Monday, the Trump administration announced that it believed this was no longer the case.
Iran protests leave 'over 100 dead,' Amnesty says
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International said Iranian security forces have killed at least 106 protesters during ongoing unrest over a fuel price hike. But the real death toll could be much higher.
At least 106 people have been killed across Iran since widespread protests erupted five days ago, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
"The organization believes that the real death toll may be much higher, with some reports suggesting as many as 200 have been killed," Amnesty said in a statement.
Citing "credible reports," Amnesty said people had been killed in 21 cities in "a harrowing pattern of unlawful killings by Iranian security forces."
Citizens will take climate action into their own hands, former Tory leader warns
By Latika Bourke
The UK's former Tory leader William Hague has warned that tens of millions of citizens will take climate change action into their own hands if governments continue to fail to address the climate emergency.
Delivering a blunt warning to Britain's peak farming body, the National Farmers Union (NFU), the former foreign secretary also warned that the UK's longer-term problems were not Brexit-related and said there was no excuse for the government failing to prepare for the geopolitical shifts set to occur in coming decades.
US and South Korea end talks on sharing cost for maintaining US troops on Korean peninsula
Updated 1423 GMT (2223 HKT) November 19, 2019
Negotiations between the US and South Korea on dividing the cost for maintaining US troops on the Korean peninsula ended abruptly, the two countries announced Tuesday.
The sudden end to the talks, which were in their third round, comes amid renewed tensions between the allies after President Donald Trump hiked the price tag for US forces roughly 400% for 2020, a move that frustrated Pentagon officials and deeply concerned Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
The new $4.7 billion price tag also angered Seoul, which has successfully negotiated the cost sharing agreement with the US for decades and is dealing with newly heightened tensions with North Korea.
Conservatives submit ex-imperial member restoration proposal to Abe
A conservative group within Japan's ruling party on Tuesday submitted to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a proposal to allow men from now-abolished collateral branches of the imperial family to rejoin it, as part of measures to ensure stable succession.
With the heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne limited to only three at present under the law stipulating only males in the patrilineage can ascend the throne, the Liberal Democratic Party group called for enabling unmarried male members of the former branches to join the imperial family through adoption or marriage, if they want to.
"We would like to consider the matter (of stable succession) carefully while taking into account the significance of a patrilineal succession continuing without an exception since ancient times," Abe told a meeting with the group led by House of Councillors member Shigeharu Aoyama, according to a participant.
No comments:
Post a Comment