US President Donald Trump has gone on a 17-day holiday to one of his golf resorts near New York. Trump arrived at Trump National in Bedminster, New Jersey on Friday for his extended break. The Trump National Golf Club occupies 535 acres of rambling countryside in central New Jersey, 45 minutes away from New York City.

The president, who had repeatedly criticized his predecessor, Barack Obama, for taking too many vacation days to play golf and even vowed during his election campaign not to go on vacation if he became president, left the White House in complete shambles.

This is his first long absence from the White House since he became president. The White House said the president’s stay at his golf resort would be a “working vacation”. “The President will continue to work over the next two weeks,” said White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters. The White House’s faulty cooling and heating systems were cited as one of the reasons for the president’s untimely leave.

Trump criticized Obama in 2011 for playing golf and then heading to a 10-day vacation. “Nice work ethic,” Trump tweeted back then. “Pres. Obama is about to embark on a 17 day vacation in his ‘native’ Hawaii, putting Secret Service away from families on Christmas. Aloha!,” Trump tweeted on another occasion. Not only did Trump criticize Obama for his vacations, he routinely told supporters he would never take time off if he were elected because he would be swamped with work.

“I would not be a president who took vacations,” he said in 2015. “I would not be a president that takes time off.” Despite his comments, Trump has taken considerably more time off than Obama in their respective first seven months in office.

According to a Washington Post tally, by the end of August Trump will have spent all or part of 53 days at leisure during his presidency, compared with 15 days for Obama through August 2009. Trump, who is grappling with a Russia scandal, has been the target of extraordinary leaks from government officials since he took the helm.

Trump has also failed to win any major legislative scores in his first seven months in office, and is at odds with several Republican lawmakers on multiple fronts. Trump’s popularity is at an all-time low, as well. A recent poll from Quinnipiac University found that only 33 percent of American voters approve of his performance in office, while 61 percent were against him. This marks Trump’s lowest approval and highest disapproval number since elected. ‘If you are not happy, leave!’

Vicente Fox, Mexico’s former president, who is an outspoken critic of Trump, has questioned the reason for his extended vacation, saying he should leave office if he is unhappy. “[L]eaving on vacation, huh? What for? If you’re not happy with your job, just leave. After all, it was never for you,” the former Mexican president tweeted.
The tweet by Fox seems to be in reference to a former tweet by Trump in which he stated his aversion to vacations. “What’s the point [of vacation]? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job,” Trump had tweeted back in 2012.

Source: Presstv

The U.S. military has opened an inquiry into allegations that French Cameroun troops carried out torture and murder at a base where American troops were present, a U.S. spokesman said Friday.

Amnesty International last month said it had documented 80 cases of abuse by La Republique troops at their Salak base in the country’s Far North region. Amnesty alleged the abuses were carried out between 2013 and 2017 against people suspected of involvement with Nigeria-based Boko Haram extremists.

Amnesty said U.S. troops were present at several locations within the Salak base, headquarters of the Rapid Intervention Battalion. Col. Mark Cheadle, a spokesman for the U.S. Africa Command, said a “commander’s inquiry” has been launched to determine if any U.S. troops were aware of any of the alleged abuses.

The Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government has criticized the Amnesty report. Most of the cases investigated by Amnesty International involved men 18 to 45 years old, though the group documented the mistreatment of some women, children and people with mental and physical disabilities.

“Detainees were severely beaten with various objects including electric cables, machetes and wooden sticks,” suspended from poles and subjected to drowning, the report said, adding that many were deprived of food, water and medical attention.

Several people interviewed said they had witnessed deaths after torture. Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced 2.7 million in northeastern Nigeria and neighboring countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. The countries all contribute to a multinational force to combat the insurgency.

Source: FOXNews

US President Donald Trump had tense exchanges during phone calls with the leaders of Mexico and Australia in January, just days after his inauguration, according to leaked transcripts of his calls. Transcripts of the two conversations Trump had with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull were obtained by The Washington Post, which posted them online on Thursday.

The transcripts were assembled from the notes of White House aides listening to the calls, the newspaper said. The transcripts confirm previous news reports of tension during the conversations with Peña Nieto on January 27 and with Turnbull the next day, just a week after Trump’s inauguration.

When the Post published an account of the conversations in early February, Trump tweeted that it had been a “very civil conversation that FAKE NEWS media lied about.” The publication is the latest of sign that established norms are breaking down inside the White House and reflect the vicious infighting inside the White House between rival factions, despite the appointment of the new chief of staff John Kelly.

The transcripts of his conversations “show the president to be no more coherent in private than he is public: ill-informed – even about a major attack on US soil – and narcissistic to the point of absurdity,” The Guardian said.

Trump told Turnbull during their call on January 28 that “I am the world’s greatest person” and “you are worse than I am.” The exchange was so sharp that Trump said talking to President Vladimir Putin of Russia was more pleasant.
The conversation became combative after Trump said he would not honor a bilateral agreement between Australia and the administration of former President Barack Obama concerning refugees landing in the US.

“I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country,” Trump said. “It makes me look so bad and I have only been here a week.” “Somebody told me yesterday that close to 2,000 people are coming who are really troublesome,” he complained to Turnbull.

Turnbull explained that it was important for the United States to live up to the agreement and the deal required the US to accept up to 1,250 refugees, not 2,000, and each of them would be subject to vetting and could be rejected. “That is a good idea,” Trump said. “We should do that too. You are worse than I am.” “Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous,” Trump said shortly before ending the call abruptly.

During his conversation with Mexico’s Peña Nieto, Trump repeatedly threatened to impose a stiff border tax to keep out Mexican products and complained about “pretty tough hombres” who were bringing so many drugs over the border. The biggest point of contention came as Trump insisted that Peña Nieto stop saying publicly that he would not pay for the border wall that the US president had promised to build on the US-Mexico border.

“If you are going to say that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall, then I do not want to meet with you guys anymore because I cannot live with that,” Trump said. “We find this completely unacceptable for Mexicans to pay for the wall that you are thinking of building,” Peña Nieto told Trump. “My position has been and will continue to be very firm, saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.”

Culled from Presstv

The United States has issued a ban prohibiting its citizens traveling to North Korea, following the death of an American national who was imprisoned in the Asian country over espionage charges.

The measure was introduced on Wednesday after American officials said the risk of arrest by North Korean officials presented an “imminent danger to the physical safety” of US citizens. The ban will come into effect on September 1.

“All United States passports are declared invalid for travel to, in, or through the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] unless specially validated for such travel,” read the restriction in the US government’s Federal Register.

Strict warnings against traveling to North Korea were already in place before the ban was first revealed last month following the death of university student Otto Frederick Warmbier who died after falling into a coma in a North Korean prison.

Warmbier, 22, spent 17 months in a North Korean jail over spying charges and was released to his family back in the US after falling into a coma due to a “severe neurological injury.” He died on June 19.

North Korea has detained at least 17 American citizens over the past decade and three of them remain imprisoned there, according to official reports.

The US says it is concerned by the North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests. Pyongyang, in response, accuses Washington of plotting with regional allies to topple its government.

North Korea has so far conducted a total of five nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009, 2013 and twice in 2016, and numerous missile test-launches.

Pyongyang has defied sanctions and international pressure, saying it will continue to strengthen its military capability to protect itself from the threat posed by the presence of US forces in the region.

North Korea says it will not give up on its nuclear deterrence unless Washington ends its hostile policy toward Pyongyang and dissolves the US-led UN command in South Korea.

Source: Presstv