Newsaholic

Post criticism over Donald Trump’s visits to the Korean peninsula with no warning against nuclear disarmament, the White House has made an official statement to kill the criticism. Speaking on behalf of Trump, the White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien made a rather lukewarm statement, stating that the US would be very disappointed if Northern Korea tested a long-range or nuclear missile. O’ Brien has further said that as a leading military and economic power, the United States would take appropriate action if need be. Washington has many “tools in its tool kit” to respond to any such test,” O’Brien has added making a public statement to the media recently. North Korea has been asking Washington to offer a new initiative to iron out differences over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program. But since Trump took office, there has been no action except dialogue, something that the North Korean officials have called as a fooling tactic. Last week, North Korea has already ...

Russia said it had thwarted terror attacks reportedly planned in St Petersburg as the result of a tip from Washington, as President Vladimir Putin personally thanked his US counterpart Donald Trump. Russian news agencies cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that as a result of the information, two Russians had been detained on 27 December on suspicion of plotting attacks during new year festivities in St Petersburg. The Kremlin said Putin passed on his gratitude to Trump for the tip from US special services during a phone call on Sunday. It gave no further details. Diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow are fraught over disagreements concerning Ukraine and Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the US presidential election, but Trump and Putin have kept personal lines of communication open. Two years ago, the Russian leader phoned Trump to thank him for a tip that Russia said had helped prevent a bomb attac...

The Philippines has refused entry to two members of the US Senate and plans to tighten restrictions on the entry of US citizens in the event Washington imposes sanctions.   This was stated the the press secretary of the Philippine President Salvador Ponelo.   It is noted that already adopted bans were imposed on the entry of Senators Richard Durbin (Democrat from Illinois) and Patrick Leahy (Democrat from Vermont).   According to the head of the presidential press service, measures against all American citizens will be taken if the United States imposes restrictions on any Filipino official for arresting the opposition administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, deputy Leila de Lima.   "We will not sit back if they [the US] continue to interfere in our affairs as a sovereign state," Ponelo added.   It is noted that this step is a response to the adoption by the US Congress of the provisions for the budget for 2020, providing for the imposition of san...

Recent widespread video removals have crypto Youtubers searching for greener and more dependable pastures for content production. While reports have since emerged of Youtube claiming the incident was an accident, and that videos are now being restored, the “Christmas Crypto purge” of 2019 has nonetheless burnt an indelible memory into the minds of dedicated Youtubers. Numerous content creators in the cryptocurrency space were issued with community guideline strikes which judged their videos as “harmful or dangerous content”. Masses of crypto videos were unceremoniously deleted in one fell swoop. The timing of YouTube’s coordinated attack on the cryptocurrency space betrays part of its motive. By striking at the cryptocurrency space during the busiest time of the year, YouTube apparently hoped to minimize any pushback. Any notion that YouTube wants to work with its users to resolve its problems can be put safely to bed. Rather, this pre...

When the rocket sirens were sounded, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was speaking in Askelon and was rushed off stage. A similar incident occurred in Ashdod in September. Israeli military aircraft carried out strikes in Gaza early Thursday, hours after rocket fire toward the southern city of Ashkelon forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt a campaign event and take cover. The Israeli military said warplanes and helicopter gunships struck several targets belonging to the Hamas terror group, “including the group’s military complexes.” It said the strikes were in response to Wednesday’s rocket fire. IDF fighter jets and helicopters attacked several Hamas terror targets in the Gaza Strip, including the organization’s military complexes, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said on Thursday. The attack was in response to rocket fire from Gaza at Israel on Wednesday night. The IDF said, "Hamas is responsible for everything occurring in and out of the Gaza Strip and it will bea...

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday that he was not ruling out calling witnesses in President Donald Trump's impeachment trial - but indicated he was in no hurry to seek new testimony either - as politicians remain at an impasse over the form of the trial by the Republican-controlled Senate. The House voted on Wednesday to impeach Trump, who became only the third president in US history to be formally charged with "high crimes and misdemeanours". But the Senate trial may be held up until congressional leaders agree on how to proceed. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding trial witnesses who refused to appear during House committee hearings, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Advisor John Bolton. McConnell, who has all but promised a swift acquittal of the president, has resisted making any guarantees, and has cautioned Trump against seeking the testimony of witnesses he desires for fear of ...

Manfred Weber, whose bid to be European Commission president was firmly rejected by EU leaders, blamed French President Emmanuel Macron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for his downfall, and said there were "powerful forces who did not want to accept the election result." "There were backroom talks and late-night sessions in which the Macron and Orbán axis prevailed and the Spitzenkandidat system was dismantled," Weber told Bild on Thursday. "This is not the Europe I want and I will continue to fight for the democratization of the EU." Weber was the center-right European People's Party's Spitzenkandidat, or lead candidate, in the European election. After the EPP emerged as the largest group in the election, despite losing seats, many in the EPP believed Weber should become Commission president. But his candidacy came in for sustained criticism and EU leaders on Tuesday nominated another German c...

Donald Trump’s impeachment is a black mark against his presidency of historic proportions, but it does not guarantee his removal from office. That decision lies in the hands of the US Senate, the another half of the US Congress, which will consider the issue during the blockbuster trial in January. Unlike in the House of Representatives, where a simple majority vote was enough to pass impeachment, two-thirds of senators will need to vote to remove Mr Trump for it to happen. That means 67 of the 100 senators must back the move. Given there are only 47 Democrats or independents, 20 Republicans would have to support removal, which looks very unlikely.  The trial itself, which has only ever happened for two other US presidents, will be a moment of epic political theatre and major consequence. The Supreme Court’s chief justice – John Roberts, who was nominated by Republican president George W Bush – will sit as the judge for the trial.  The ...

While the fate of Mr. Donald Trump has finally been decided, a lawyer of a Ukrainian the oligarch has finally disclosed how used the services of Lev Parnas, an associate of U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Parnas and his wife were utilized to purchase a Florida home at the cost of $1 million.  Ralph Isenegger had done the deal on behalf of the wealthy Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash. An interest-bearing loan was used for this personal transaction but what has been jarring with the US prosecutors is the fact that the news of this transaction was withheld at the time of interrogation. The loan was given in four installments deposited in Parnas’ wife’s bank account and was requested to kept confidential. This is another discrepancy owing to the fact that Parnas’ wife does not have any means of employment and such a big loan without any assets does not make sense. Firtash is apparently fighting extradition by U.S. authorities on bribery ch...

What America was vying for, has been taken away by Russia, as Syria has chosen two Russian companies to undertake their oil exploration contract. Syria is one of the richest sources of oil in the world.   According to Agence France Presse (AFP) reports, before the civil war, Syria produced around 380,000 barrels of oil per day. Post the war, oil production collapsed. The Russian companies have been identified as Mercury LLC and Velada LLC. According to new sources, the Syrian oil minister Ali Ghanem has said that the contract is solely to ensure Syria can maintain good relations with ‘friendly nations’. The deals will cover exploration and production in three blocs including an oilfield in northeast Syria and a gas field north of the capital Damascus. Sources confirm that while the contract was signed in a parliament session, it had been agreed upon a year ago.   Undeniably, an American loss is looking at a Russian gain. Shunned by West...