World

17, December 2019

Colombia: First woman mayor of capital city marries girlfriend ⁰

Claudia Lopez, the first woman elected mayor of Colombia’s capital Bogota, married her girlfriend of three years on Monday.

Although the country is deeply religious and conservative, same-sex marriage is legal and gay couples have the right to adopt children — whether or not they are the biological children of one of the partners.

“I promise to honor you and love you for life!” Lopez wrote on Instagram to her wife, opposition senator Angelica Lopez.

“Thanks to life for this wonderful year: I earned my doctorate, won the Mayor’s office and married the love of my life.”

The message was accompanied by four pictures of the couple dressed in white and carrying bouquets of flowers.

The ceremony was private and not open to the press.

Lopez — who won the October mayoral poll in a narrow victory — seen as a significant step forward in a country used to being led by male elites.

The centre-left former senator, who will take office on January 1, is the first woman to win the post of mayor of Bogota.

Lopez defeated liberal Carlos Fernando Galan with just over 35 percent of the vote in the capital city of 7.2 million people.

Source: AFP

17, December 2019

Lebanese army clashes with supporters of Hezbollah, Amal in Beirut ⁰

Lebanese troops lobbed tear gas on Tuesday to disperse supporters of Shi’ite groups Hezbollah and Amal who tried to storm a square in Beirut in response to a video that purportedly offended Shi’ite figures, witnesses and media reports said.

Hundreds of youths on motorcycles waving their party and religious flags gathered in downtown Beirut chanting “Shi’ites, Shi’ites” and setting fire to tyres. They hurled stones and fireworks at security forces standing nearby, witnesses said.

Ignoring calls for restraint by politicians, the youths tried to break a security cordon to storm the square where demonstrators have set up tents as part of an anti-government protest that has been going on for weeks.

In the vicinity of the area close to a main road that links the capital’s eastern and western sections, scores of youths had burnt tyres, smashed office buildings and torched several cars, live coverage by local television stations showed.

The protesters camped in the square have been targeted by Shi’ite groups in the past angered by chants against their political leaders, although Tuesday’s violence was of an overtly sectarian nature.

The video, which inflamed passions in a country where sectarian divisions run deep, was purportedly made by an expatriate Lebanese Sunni from the northern city of Tripoli and released on social media.

In the predominately Sunni populated city of Saida in southern Lebanon, groups of masked youths stormed into a main square where they set ablaze several tents set up by demonstrators who have camped for weeks, local television stations said.

Lebanon has been gripped by a historic wave of protests since Oct. 17 leading to the resignation of Saad al-Hariri as prime minister, amid anger at the government’s failure to address the country’s worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

More than seven weeks since Hariri quit, politicians have been unable to agree on a new administration despite the deepening financial crisis.

The impasse took a violent turn at the weekend when Beirut was clouded in tear gas as security forces clashed with protesters who blame the ruling elite for corruption and bad governance. Dozens were wounded.

(REUTERS)

14, December 2019

9 US Lawmakers call on Biya to address the deteriorating situation in Southern Cameroons ⁰

A group of 9 members of the United States Congress have called on French Cameroun head of state, Paul Biya to demonstrate leadership in resolving the prolonged conflict in Southern Cameroons. In a letter written by Representatives Karen Bass, Christopher H. Smith, Ron Kind, F. James Sensenbrenner Jr, James P McGovern, David M. Cicilline, IIhan Omar, Ron Wrigh, and Tim Walberg, the US lawmakers called on Biya to implement a comprehensive strategy that addresses the killings currently going in Southern Cameroons.

“The situation is not getting better, as your government asserts: it is getting worse. According to the United Nations, as of November 2019, more than 2,000 people have died, as many as 71 0,000 people have been internally displaced, and 44,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Nigeria due to the ongoing conflict in the Northwest and Southwest. Roughly 2.6 million people in these areas are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 855,000 children, the majority of whom are internally displaced, do not have access to education. Your lasting legacy as President of the Republic of Cameroon also depends on this commitment” the lawmakers wrote.

Full text of the letter can be found here and below.

His Excellency Paul Biya President of the Republic of Cameroon

Unity Palace, Etoudi

P.O. Box 100 Yaoundé

Republic of Cameroon

Dear President Biya,

As members of the U.S. Congress, we are writing to express our deep concern over the ongoing insecurity and violence in the predominantly Anglophone Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon. Conflict between your security forces and non-state armed groups has led to an ever increasing number of casualties and of internally displaced persons and refugees, and has kept hundreds of thousands of children out of school for going on a third year in a row. These factors are having devastating social, political, and economic impacts on the regions, on the country itself, and more broadly in Central and West Africa.

The situation is not getting better, as your government asserts: it is getting worse. According to the United Nations, as of November 2019, more than 2,000 people have died, as many as 71 0,000 people have been internally displaced, and 44,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Nigeria due to the ongoing conflict in the Northwest and Southwest. Roughly 2.6 million people in these areas are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and more than 855,000 children, the majority of whom are internally displaced, do not have access to education. Ongoing insecurity and violence in the Northwest and Southwest have had a ruinous effect on the economy as documented by Cameroon’s leading employers’ confederation, the Groupement Inter-Patronal dii Cameroun. GICAM noted that Ghost Towns effectively shut down economic activity for 30.6 percent of the time in the past two and a half years and that the situation is getting worse. The conflict has severely hurt the timber, agro-industry, cocoa, energy, telecommunications, tourism, and transport sectors.

Given the failure of various internal initiatives to halt the crisis and bring peace to these regions of Cameroon, the government of Cameroon should demonstrate political will by engaging in the Swiss-led facilitation process, which could lead to future negotiations between the Cameroonian government and the opposition in the Northwest and Southwest, as well as the diaspora. A process of inclusive negotiation and institutional reforms would lead to greater power-sharing and decision-making, facilitate peace, and save Cameroonian lives. Children, particularly in rural areas of the Northwest and Southwest, need to resume their education, but that is not going to happen until there is a resolution of the conflict. We know you value education: the conflict in the Northwest and Southwest, if left unchecked, could very well lead to a generation of unskilled and underdeveloped people who are prone to unemployment, and prone to violent extremism and criminality. A peaceful and inclusive resolution of the crisis would strengthen bilateral ties and lead to greater trade and investment between our two countries.

Military action cannot solve this conflict. We understand that non-state armed groups are responsible for horrific acts of violence and we condemn those acts in the strongest terms. But a broad spectrum of international and domestic experts disagree with the Cameroonian government’s assertion that non-state armed groups are responsible for most of the violence: on the contrary, there is consistent and convincing evidence from a variety of unbiased and independent sources that Cameroonian security forces are responsible for the majority of killings of unarmed Cameroonian citizens and destruction of property including the burning of homes. There is evidence of soldiers dragging wounded people out of hospitals and their lifeless bodies found abandoned later. Soldiers have raped women, either for opportunistic or punitive reasons.

Promises for national dialogue have been made by the government, and some positive gestures have been carried out including the release of 333 lower level Anglophone prisoners and 225 political prisoners including Cameroon Renaissance Movement leader Maurice Kamto. There is evidence that government officials at the sub-Divisional Officer level deliberately misused their positions to prevent opposition candidates from registering and the government has blocked attempts of opposition parties to organize and hold rallies on spurious security grounds while allowing the ruling party to celebrate openly and lavishly the anniversary of your rule. Some opposition parties have voiced skepticism that the government and the national elections body ELECAM will be able to conduct February 9 municipal and legislative assembly elections in the Northwest and Southwest.

If there is not a durable ceasefire in the Northwest and Southwest, February elections, let alone plans for bilingualism, decentralization, DDR, reconstruction, and resumption of education are unlikely to succeed. A process of inclusive negotiations and a genuine commitment to establish peace is a necessary condition for all of the good suggestions from the national dialogue to move forward.

Many of us in congress are currently assessing U.S. policy toward Cameroon. As you know, the United States recently terminated the designation of Cameroon as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act because the Government of Cameroon engages in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. This follows the U.S. decision in February of this year to scale back military assistance to Cameroon, also because of human rights violations. Further considerations regarding U.S.-Cameroonian relations will depend on your commitment to engage in sincere dialogue. Only sincere dialogue can lead to an end to the violence and insecurity in the Northwest and Southwest, allowing people to return and rebuild their homes, children to return to school, and economic activity to resume safely.

Your lasting legacy as President of the Republic of Cameroon also depends on this commitment.

Sign: Hon. Karen Bass, Hon. Christopher H. Smith, Hon. Ron Kind, Hon. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr, Hon. James P McGovern, Hon. David M. Cicilline, Hon. IIhan Omar, Hon. Ron Wrigh, Hon. Tim Walberg

13, December 2019

UK: Prime Minister Johnson wins parliamentary majority, Corbyn to stand down ⁰

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government has got a “powerful new mandate” to deliver Brexit as his ruling Conservative Party won a huge majority in the parliamentary election, according to exit polls.

An exit poll and early results suggested that Johnson’s party is set to gain 368 seats, 42 above the 326 needed for an absolute majority in the House of Commons.

With 595 of parliament’s 650 seats declared, the Conservatives have won 326, according to a tally of seats won so far by broadcaster ITV.

The prime minister, who will remain in power, arrived at the party headquarters on Friday, saying, “This One Nation Conservative government has been given a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done, unite this country and move it forward.”

‘Brexit on Jan. 31st, no ifs, no buts’

“We will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January, no ifs, no buts, no maybes,” Johnson told cheering supporters later.

Johnson had called for the general election in order to break a deadlock in parliament, which had blocked the country’s withdrawal from the European Union, more than three and a half years after the Brexit referendum in 2016.

The victory, the biggest majority for a Conservative government in more than three decades, will now pave the way for the government to deliver Brexit in January next year.

Corbyn to stand down after ‘disappointing’ loss

That, however, leaves the traditional opposition Labour party with about 190 seats —the worst electoral defeat in 84 years.

The party, which has lost seats in the areas which backed Brexit, is set to win 65 fewer seats than in 2017, according to early results.

Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who had promised a second Brexit referendum, said he would stand down, though he did not set a date for his departure.

“I will not lead the party in any future general election campaign,” Corbyn said, describing the election results as “very disappointing.”

“I will discuss with our party and ensure there is now a process of reflection on this result and the policies that the party will take going forward,” he added.

Critics blamed Corbyn for the loss, saying many voters had cited their dislike for him on doorsteps across the country.

“Corbyn was a disaster on the doorstep … everyone knew he couldn’t lead the working class out of a paper bag,” said Alan Johnson, a former senior minister.

A party needs to secure more than 320 seats to have a majority in the House of Commons, in order to pass legislation.

The centrist Liberal Democrats were predicted to win 13 seats, the Brexit Party none and the Scottish National Party 55 seats.

EU’s reaction

The election — the UK’s third general election in less than five years — was dominated by Johnson’s call for getting “Brexit done.” He is now expected to bring forward his Brexit legislation before Christmas.

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Friday the results meant Brexit would now materialize and that time was short to seal a new relationship deal between the EU and Britain.

“It is a very clear result – it will not change by tomorrow morning,” Lofven told reporters on leaving an EU summit in Brussels that Johnson skipped.

“(It) means that we will move forward with our separation… we now have 11 months to hash out a deal. It’s a very short time.”

Johnson’s deal for a withdrawal from the European Union has been agreed to in principle by the Parliament but is yet to be fully ratified by lawmakers.

Some in the government say Johnson will use his clear victory to push for a closer economic partnership with the bloc to protect manufacturing jobs.

If the deal fails once again, the plan is to leave the transition stage without a deal, as had been declared in the manifesto before the election.

Others, however, say the prime minister might also undertake a U-turn and extend the transition period beyond December 2020. Johnson has insisted he is able to negotiate a post-Brexit trade deal with the union without the need to extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020.

Trump overjoyed

In a reaction to early results, US President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Thursday, saying, “Looking like a big win for Boris in election”.

Trump had formerly called on Johnson to leave the European Union without a deal if he can’t get better terms from EU leaders.

The European council president, Charles Michel, said earlier that EU leaders would discuss the results of the election on Friday, but that there was “a strong message” coming from Britain.

“We will see if it’s possible for the British parliament to accept the withdrawal agreement to take a decision, and if it is the case, we are ready for the next steps,” he said.

Source: Presstv

11, December 2019

Rohingya genocide trial: Suu Kyi defends Myanmar ⁰

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, feted in the West as a heroine of democracy, has defended her country’s atrocities against Rohingya Muslims at the UN’s top court in the Hague.

The Nobel Peace laureate on Wednesday spoke for about 30 minutes at the courtroom in defense of the actions of the Myanmar military that for years had kept her under house arrest.

She claimed that the military’s actions, which have brought genocide allegations in a lawsuit filed by Gambia, were in fact a “clearance operation” in response to militant attacks against police stations in Rakhine State.

Suu Kyi then accused Gambia, acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, of making “incomplete and misleading” accusations and said the case should not be heard by the Hague.

Around 740,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh after a bloody crackdown by the Myanmar military in 2017 that UN investigators have already described as genocide.

On Tuesday, Suu Kyi listened with a stony face to accounts by lawyers of Rohingya victims, including a mother whose one-year-old son was beaten to death and an eight-month-pregnant woman who was stamped on and then repeatedly raped.

Dildar Begum, a Rohingya widow from Tula Toli village in Myanmar, broke down in tears while describing the killings in her village she says were carried out by the Myanmar army and militias.

Suu Kyi said while disproportionate military force may have been used and civilians killed, the acts did not constitute genocide.

“Can there be genocidal intent on the part of a state that actively investigates, prosecutes and punishes soldiers and officers that are accused of wrong doing?” she claimed.

Last year, Myanmar’s military announced that seven soldiers involved in a massacre of 10 Rohingya men and boys in the village of Inn Din in September 2017 had been sentenced to “10 years in prison with hard labor in a remote area”.

They were the only security personnel the military has said it has punished over the 2017 operation. They were granted early release after less than a year in the prison.

One of the soldiers confirmed to Reuters that he had been released but declined to comment further, saying: “We were told to shut up.”

Two fellow inmates told the news agency that the release came in November – less than a year into the 10-year prison term.

Opening Myanmar’s defense, Suu Kyi said, “Gambia has placed an incomplete and misleading picture of the factual situation in Rakhine state in Myanmar.”

“Surely, under the circumstances, genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis,” she told the panel of 17 judges.

World Court launches genocide hearings against Myanmar

Gambia’s legal team provided a photograph of Suu Kyi with three smiling generals who are also Myanmar government ministers. The lawyers argued that the picture is an evidence of her close ties to the military.

“All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people,” Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou told the judges.

The final ruling on genocide may be years away, though.

A United Nations fact-finding mission has previously found that “the gravest crimes under international law” have been committed in Myanmar and called for genocide trials.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently approved a long-awaited full investigation into the crimes against the Rohingya minority.

Activists urge intl. boycott of Myanmar on eve of trial over Rohingya genocide

Soldiers and Buddhist mobs razed hundreds of villages in the remote western Rakhine State, torturing, killing, and raping the Rohingya people.

The Rohingya have inhabited Rakhine State for centuries, but the state denies them citizenship.

Source: Presstv

11, December 2019

Bomb explodes at gate of largest US base in Afghanistan ⁰

A bomb explosion near the largest US military base in Afghanistan has left at least five injured, officials say.

The attack which took place on Wednesday near the entrance to Bagram Airfield has also damaged a hospital that was under construction.

“The explosion happened in front of the gate of the Korean hospital which is almost adjacent to Bagram airfield,” said Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the governor of Parwan province.

“So far five injured civilians have been transferred to the hospital,” Shahkar said, adding that all five wounded in the attack were Afghans.

“A 30-minute clash also happened between the attackers, who obviously wanted to enter the base, and foreign forces,” she said.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast so far.

NATO’s mission said in a statement that there were no US or coalition casualties and “the attack was quickly contained and repelled.”

However, a future medical facility being built for locals was badly damaged, the statement added.

Wednesday’s attack comes as the United States has resumed talks with the Talibanmilitant group, three months after President Donald Trump abruptly halted negotiations aimed at ending America’s longest war.

Washington resumed talks with the Taliban in Qatar’s capital Doha on Saturday.

Trump ended yearlong talks with the Taliban in September, when an agreement appeared imminent that could end America’s longest war.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time, vowing to bring stability to the war-ravaged nation.

However, US forces have remained bogged down there through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.

More than 14,000 US troops remain in Afghanistan and Trump has repeatedly expressed his frustration with their continued deployment.

On Monday, a confidential trove of US government documents made public by The Washington Post revealed that American officials have “constantly lied to” the US public about what has been going on in the now 18-year war on Afghanistan.

Source: Presstv

11, December 2019

US: Trump pays $2 mn in damages to charities after court ruling ⁰

Donald Trump on Tuesday paid $2 million in damages as part of a settlement over use of his former charity to further his political and business interests — the latest item on the US president’s list of legal woes.

Trump had been accused of using foundation funds to settle lawsuits, promote his Trump-branded hotels, and for personal spending, including the purchase of a portrait of himself to display at one of his golf clubs.

The $2 million was paid equally to eight different charities, including the Children’s Aid Society, the United Negro College Fund and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, according to a statement from New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat.

“Charities are not a means to an end, which is why these damages speak to the president’s abuse of power and represent a victory for not-for-profits that follow the law,” she said in the statement.

The payments were made the same day that Democrats in Congress unveiled two articles of impeachment against Trump, a momentous step asserting that he abused his office and deserved to be removed.

James filed the lawsuit against the Trump Foundation in June last year, accusing it of “persistently illegal conduct” that included improper coordination between the charity and his campaign team during his 2016 White House bid.

Trump agreed to shut down his personal charity in 2018, but the suit moved ahead regardless, as prosecutors sought millions of dollars in restitution and penalties.

The suit also said that in early 2016 while Trump was running for president, he organized what was billed as a Trump Foundation fundraiser but was actually a campaign event.

Trump had pushed back against the lawsuit, defending his organization’s work and lauding its financial responsibility.

“It has been 4 years of politically motivated harassment,” he said in a statement after the court ruling. “All they found was incredibly effective philanthropy and some small technical violations, such as not keeping board minutes.”

Trump faces ongoing legal troubles on multiple fronts. Courts have ordered that two banks must hand over to Congress documents related to the president’s finances, and he is fighting an attempt by a New York prosecutor to compel the release of eight years’ worth of tax returns, among other battles.

Source: AFP

10, December 2019

World Court launches genocide hearings against Myanmar ⁰

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has launched genocide hearings against Myanmar, as the first major legal attempt to bring the country to justice over horrific atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims.

The three-day hearings in the United Nations’ top court kicked off at The Hague on Tuesday following a November lawsuit filed by the West African country of Gambia.

Acting on behalf of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Gambia called on the ICJ to take emergency measures to halt Myanmar’s “ongoing genocidal actions” against the Rohingya.

“All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people,” Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou told judges on Tuesday.

Demonstrations have been planned outside the court and across the Dutch city against and in support of Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who attended the tribunal.

Body of evidence: The scars of the Rohingya

Rohingya Muslims, recognized by the UN as the world’s most persecuted minority group, are denied Myanmarese citizenship as the country’s leadership brands them as “illegal” immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, which, for its part, says they are from Myanmar.

A military crackdown that began in 2016 saw thousands of the Muslims being killed, injured, arbitrarily arrested, or raped by Myanmarese soldiers and Buddhist mobs.

Myanmar faces genocide accusations for persecuting Rohingya

After the initiation of the military campaign that the UN itself has already said was perpetrated with “genocidal intent,” more than 730,000 members of the minority fled Myanmar’s northwestern state of Rakhine to Bangladesh. They have largely been camped in the country’s southern district of Cox’s Bazar in squalid conditions.

Myanmar has repeatedly justified the crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine and insists its own committees are adequate to investigate allegations of abuse.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel “Peace” Prize winner now in the dock at the World Court, refused to stop or take any action against the military and the Buddhist mobs.

Source: Presstv

8, December 2019

Calls for halt to Saudi military training in US after attack ⁰

Key lawmakers called Sunday for a halt to a Saudi military training program after a shooting rampage at a US naval base in which a Saudi officer killed three American sailors.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he has ordered a review of vetting procedures while defending the training program that brought Mohammed Alshamrani to Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida.

Alshamrani, a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force, opened fire in a classroom at the base on Friday, killing the three sailors and wounding eight other people before being shot dead by police.

The FBI said Sunday the shooting was being investigated with the “presumption” it was an act of terrorism, but that authorities had yet to make a final determination.

Alshamrani was reported to have posted a manifesto on Twitter before the shooting denouncing America as “a nation of evil.”

“We need to suspend the program until we investigate,” Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican on national security issues, said on Fox News.

“I like allies. Saudi Arabia’s an ally, but there’s something really bad here fundamentally. We need to slow this program down and reevaluate,” he said.

US media reported that six Saudi nationals also assigned to the base have been questioned, and that Alshamrani had shown videos of mass shootings at a dinner party the night before the attack.

In a pre-taped interview that aired on Fox News Sunday, Esper confirmed that several Saudis have been detained, including “one or two” who filmed the shooting on their cellphones.

He said it was unclear if they began filming before the shooting began or after it started.

– Vetting –

The attack has struck a live nerve in the United States with its echoes of the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which Saudi citizens accounted for 15 of the 19 hijackers that flew airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Saudi Arabia remains one of the closest US allies in the Middle East, and US President Donald Trump has cultivated its controversial de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican whose Florida district includes the Pensacola base, warned the shooting “has to inform on our ongoing relationship with Saudi Arabia.”

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” he called for the military training program to be halted “until we are absolutely confident in our vetting program.”

He said he told the Saudi ambassador “as clearly as I possibly could that we want no interference from the kingdom as it relates to Saudis that we have.

“And if there are Saudis that we do not have that may have been involved in any way in the planning, inspiration, financing or execution of this, that we expect Saudi intelligence to work with our government to find the people accountable and hold them responsible.”

“And I was given every assurance from the ambassador that that would occur,” he said.

– Relationship questioned –

Democrats questioned the broader security relationship under the Saudi crown prince, citing Riyadh’s role in the brutal war in Yemen and the 2018 assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post.

Saudi Arabia has yet to account for Khashoggi’s murder at its Istanbul embassy, said Representative Zoe Loghren. “So yes, there are a lot of questions about Saudi Arabia,” she said on ABC.

“This is a relationship that has serious problems,” said Cory Booker, a senator and presidential candidate.

“And the fact that this president seems, in a very transactional way, doubling down on the relationship, and telling us it’s because of just financial interests, is unacceptable.”

Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said it was too early to say the shooting was an act of terrorism but that Congress would press for a full investigation by the Saudis.

“And I wish the president of the United States, rather than trying to speak for the Saudi government, were pressing the Saudi government for answers,” he added on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has denounced the shooting as a “heinous crime” and said the gunman “does not represent the Saudi people.”

Prince Khalid bin Salman, the king’s younger son and the deputy defense minister, offered his “sincerest condolences” to the victims’ families.

“I was trained in a US military base, and we used that valuable training to fight side by side with our American allies against terrorism and other threats,” Prince Khalid added on Twitter.

Trump said King Salman and the crown prince would “help out the families very greatly,” without specifying how.

Source: AFP

5, December 2019

Trump calls Trudeau ‘two-faced’ at NATO summit as candid chat goes viral ⁰

NATO leaders professed unity on Wednesday at a summit near London — but a spat over off-the-cuff chit chat at a royal reception rattled their show of solidarity.

U.S. President Donald Trump branded the leader of America’s northern neighbor “two-faced” after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared to gossip about Trump in comments caught on camera and microphone.

Trudeau was seen standing in a huddle with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Britain’s Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, at Tuesday evening’s Buckingham Palace reception for NATO leaders.

Trudeau could be heard saying incredulously, “he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.” Trudeau confirmed that was a reference to Trump’s long and unscheduled question-and-answer session with journalists earlier Tuesday.

Trudeau also said: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.” He explained Wednesday that was in reference to Trump’s decision to hold the next Group of Seven meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat.

Power & Politics✔@PnPCBC

.@JustinTrudeau, @EmmanuelMacron, @BorisJohnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions @realDonaldTrump by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day.

Footage of the palace reception was recorded by a pool camera. The clip was posted online by Canadian broadcaster CBC and has been viewed more than 5 million times.

Speaking Wednesday at the summit venue in Watford, outside London, Trump said Trudeau was likely upset that the U.S. president had broached the fact that Canada falls short of the NATO target of spending 2% of its gross domestic product on defense.

“Well he’s two-faced,” Trump told reporters. “And honestly, with Trudeau he’s a nice guy, I find him to be a very nice guy but you know the truth is that I called him out on the fact that he’s not paying 2% and I guess he’s not very happy about it.”

Redmond Shannon✔@RedShannon

Donald Trump on Justin Trudeau: “He’s two-faced… I called him out on the fact that he’s not paying 2%”

Trudeau had a quiet word and a handshake with Trump as he arrived at the summit Wednesday, and later tried to shrug off the episode.

“As you all know, we have a very good and constructive relationship between me and the president,” Trudeau told reporters at a news conference.

Asked if the incident had given him pause for thought, Trudeau said that ensuring the focus of attention remained on matters of substance “is something that we’re all going to try to do a little harder.”

Sarah Sears@iamSas

PM Trudeau was asked about his “jaw drop” comment that was caught by microphones last night. Here was his explanation – and a nod that his team was also caught off guard by last night’s video.

Johnson, meanwhile, professed ignorance when asked by reporters about the conversation.

“That’s complete nonsense,” he said, adding: “I really don’t know what is being referred to there.”

Leaders of the 29 NATO states met to mark the 70th anniversary of the military alliance — and trying to patch up differences over defense spending, the alliance’s strategic direction and member nation Turkey’s military action in northern Syria.

The two-day gathering ended with a show of unity, as the leaders declared their commitment to the alliance’s principle of collective defense, saying in their final declaration that “an attack against one Ally shall be considered an attack against us all.”

(AP)