Trump impeachment: White House withheld Ukraine aid just after Zelensky call
The White House sought to freeze aid to Ukraine just 91 minutes after President Trump spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone in July, a newly-released government email has revealed.
In the call, Mr Trump asked the Ukrainian leader to investigate his political rival, Democrat Joe Biden.
Democrats say it shows Mr Trump used the office for personal political gain.
The fateful phone call is key to the abuse of power charge on which Mr Trump has been impeached.
A US whistleblower who heard about the conversation raised concerns, which ultimately triggered the impeachment inquiry.
Romania comes to terms with monument to communism 30 years after Ceaușescu's death
Bucharest’s notorious Palace of the Parliament bears witness to the folly of dictator shot dead on Christmas Day 1989
by Shaun Walker in Bucharest
Bucharest’s most notorious building sits atop a small hill in the centre of the city, appearing squat despite its 84-metre height, due to its vast length and breadth. The Palace of the Parliament, as it is now called, is a monument to dictatorial folly whose benefactor was executed before he could see it completed.
Christmas Day will mark 30 years since Romania’s communist-era dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was tried and shot dead along with his wife, as the last revolution of 1989 swept through what was perhaps the communist bloc’s most repressive state.
Yet in a strange twist of fate, three decades after the Ceaușescu’s fall, his sinister fortress still dominates a whole quarter of central Bucharest. The building, planned to house every ministry under one supersized roof and act as the nerve centre for the entire communist government, today hosts Romania’s parliament.
Syria: ‘80,000 people’ flee Idlib as Russian-backed regime forces bombard rebel stronghold
Turkey’s president warns country cannot handle fresh wave of refugees fleeing airstrikesChiara Giordano
Turkey has warned it cannot handle a fresh wave of refugees from Syria as heavy airstrikes forced 80,000 more civilians to flee their homes.
Russian-backed Syrian government forces have pushed deeper in their offensive as they attempt to reclaim the northwestern province of Idlib – the last remaining major region still held by rebels opposed to president Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, said more than 80,000 people were currently on the move from Idlib to Turkey due to the bombardments.
Breaking TaboosA Rape Case Finally Has Japan Talking about Sexual Assault
The journalist Shiori Ito woke up in a hotel room naked and with no memory of what had happened. She is suing the man who brought her there and allegedly sexually assaulted her. It is a case that has divided Japan. On Wednesday, she won.
By Alexandra Rojkov
The night that changed Shiori Ito's life forever began with a spell of dizziness. Suddenly, the room started spinning and her eyelids became heavy.
On that evening, the then-25-year-old was with a fellow journalist at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo. His name was Noriyuki Yamaguchi, and he had made a name for himself in Japan, having interviewed senior politicians and written a biography about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ito and Yamaguchi were only cursorily acquainted. Ito was looking for a job and Yamaguchi had offered to discuss her options with her over dinner. And then Ito suddenly grew dizzy.
Northern Ireland’s deep state
by Daniel Finn
The term ‘deep state’ originally referred to close relations between repressive state agencies, organised crime and the far right in countries once ruled by military dictatorships, like Greece or Turkey. Among supporters of Donald Trump and Brexit partisans, it has been denuded of meaning: what they now call the ‘deep state’ is just the ‘permanent government’ of civil servants and judges with which any elected government has to reckon.
In the UK, however, ‘deep state’ had real meaning during the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland during which British security forces collaborated extensively with loyalist paramilitaries responsible for hundreds of sectarian killings. There is now much evidence to document this record, which far surpassed in scale the GAL episode in Spain, when the government of Felipe González (1982-96) sponsored the formation of death squads to target Basque militants. The history of collusion in Northern Ireland shows how far Britain’s ‘deep state’ has been willing to go against perceived adversaries on its own national territory.
Democratic senator says House cohorts have 'gaps' in impeachment case
Updated 2115 GMT (0515 HKT) December 22, 2019
Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama on Sunday described the allegations against President Donald Trump as "serious" but said he is keeping an open mind when it comes to the Senate impeachment trial.
Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Jones said he has been reviewing information about the allegations that Trump used his office to pressure Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up dirt on a potential political rival.
"I'm trying to see if the dots get connected. If that is the case, then I think it's a serious matter. I think it's an impeachable matter," he said. "But if these dots aren't connected and there are other explanations that I think are consistent with innocence, I will go that way too.
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