Month: April 2019

Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has revealed he urged Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman to be “fully transparent” about missing journalist Jamal Khashoggi as international pressure for answers continued to grow. 

Mr Kushner, 37, who has developed a close relationship with the 33-year-old Prince Mohammed, said he had warned him that the “world was watching” and that Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance was “very serious”. 

The comments came during a rare public interview with Mr Kushner, who is married to the US president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, as world leaders and ministers continued to demand more clarity from the Saudi leadership.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister,  floated the possibility of cancelling a multi-billion dollar defence contract with Saudi Arabia, while other leading overseas politicians called for a "credible" explanation for what happened. 

Mr Khashoggi, who was living in America and writing for The Washington Post, has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, three weeks ago. 

Turkish officials claim he was killed and dismembered in the consulate. Saudi officials recently admitted Mr Khashoggi died there but claimed it was an accident after a row broke out. 

Mr Kushner’s relationship with Prince Mohammed, known by his initials MBS, has been in the spotlight in recent weeks.

The Trump administration’s decision to strategically align itself with Saudi Arabia has also been called into question. 

And on Monday, Steven Mnuchin, US Treasury Secretary, attracted widespread criticism for travelling to Riyadh to meet the crown prince behind closed doors.

Mr Kushner, who is a White House adviser with a brief that includes the Middle East, had cultivated a close relationship with the Prince Mohammed and has reportedly stressed the importance of Saudi-US relations during White House discussions in recent days. 

Making a rare public appearance, Mr Kushner struck a tough line during a question and answer session with a CNN presenter when talking about Mr Khashoggi’s death. 

Asked what he had told the crown prince, Mr Kushner said: "Just to be transparent, to be fully transparent. The world is watching. This is a very, very serious accusation and a very serious situation."

Asked if Prince Mohammed has listened to his advice, Mr Kushner said: "We’ll see." He also said that the US had its “eyes wide open” and stressed that the country was not “reliant” on Saudi Arabia for its strategy in the Middle East. 

Jean-Yves Le Drian, France’s foreign minister, said Mr Khashoggi’s death was “extremely serious” and vowed the country would take "necessary measures, if required” once the results of investigations into the incident were completed. 

Lolwah al-Khater, a spokesman for Qatar’s foreign minister, said the incident should be a “wake-up call for everyone”. Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister, said he was awaiting “credible answers” before deciding how to act. 

The husband of a Christian Pakistani woman who spent eight years on death row after being accused of blasphemy has asked Theresa May to grant them asylum in Britain.

Asia Bibi has faced calls for her life amid widespread protest after she was acquitted of an allegation of insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.

Her husband, Ashiq Masih, on Saturday called for the UK to grant the mother and their family refuge amid fears for their safety.

In a video seen by the Press Association, he says: "I am requesting the Prime Minister of the UK help us and as far as possible grant us freedom."

Speaking in Punjabi, he also called for asylum from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump in the footage.

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, who has also launched a petition calling for their asylum, said: "The fact no offer has manifested is shocking.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have rioted and called for her death."

The official route to asylum would mean the family would need to make the request after fleeing Pakistan.

However, the Pakistani government reached a deal with Islamists to restrict Ms Bibi’s travel while the case is reviewed.

The chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, Tom Tugendhat, said he has asked the Home Office for an "urgent evaluation of the situation", the Guardian reported.

"It is clear that Ms Bibi, and other religious minorities, are in grave danger and prime minister Imran Khan needs to decide if he believes in the rule of law or the rule of the mob," the Conservative MP added.

Mrs May has previously called for the death penalty to be abolished globally when asked about Ms Bibi’s case.

Ms Bibi was arrested in 2009, accused of insulting Islam’s prophet during an argument with fellow farm workers and sentenced to death for blasphemy.

Lawyers have denied she ever insulted Islam.

Campaigners have long-criticised Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, saying they are misused to abuse religious minorities.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court acquitted Ms Bibi on Wednesday, upholding the law but saying there was not enough evidence to convict her.

Ms Bibi’s lawyer fled Pakistan on Saturday while fearing for his life, according to reports.

Nasir Saeed, the director of CLAAS UK – a charity that supports persecuted Christians in Pakistan, called for Mrs May to intervene quickly.

"The lives of Asia Bibi and her family are in danger as long as she remains in Pakistan, as the protests following the verdict have shown," he added.

"We ask that Mrs May takes swift action to help secure the safe exit of Asia Bibi and her family from Pakistan, as the situation is becoming increasingly perilous."

France and Spain have reportedly offered Ms Bibi asylum.

It has been requested that the footage of her husband’s message is not made public for fear of reprisals.

Kim Jong-un’s much anticipated trip to Seoul may be delayed until early next year, Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, told parliamentary leaders on Monday. 

The government is considering whether the visit, which would be the fourth face-to-face meeting between the two leaders and the first ever venture of a North Korean head of state to the South, should fall before or after a second summit between Kim and Donald Trump, the US President. 

“For now, we’re making preparations on the assumption that it’s going to take place within this year,” Mr Moon said of his own meeting with Kim, reported the Yonhap news agency. 

He added he hoped the visit to Seoul would serve as a dramatic turning point in relations between North and South. 

The plan to meet in the South Korean capital was conceived in Pyongyang, during Mr Moon’s high profile first trip to the North in September.  

His three day visit was charged with symbolism, including a spontaneous journey together to Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean nation, and the president is reported to already be fretting about how he can reciprocate the gesture. 

According to UPI, Mr Moon told parliamentarians that he was concerned about the logistics of taking Kim to Mount Halla, a dormant volcano and the highest mountain in South Korea, as promised. 

“Since I myself have been to the Cheonji crater lake [on Mount Paektu], I had told Chairman Kim I would take him to Mount Halla, but since there is no helipad on Mount Halla I am worried,” he reportedly said. 

However, whether the visit goes ahead at all may hinge on the success of talks between Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, and Kim Yong-chol, one of North Korea’s most senior officials, in New York on Thursday. 

The two men will meet to discuss progress on denuclearisation and are expected to also broach the subject of a second US-North Korea summit, following on from the first historic meeting between Kim and President Trump in Singapore in June. 

The two will "discuss making progress on all four pillars of the Singapore Summit joint statement, including achieving the final, fully verified denuclearisation of (North Korea)," the State Department said in a statement about this week’s meeting. 

The talks come at a time when the two sides are once again at loggerheads over how to move forward on nuclear disarmament. 

North Korea’s foreign ministry warned over the weekend that Pyongyang would “seriously” consider reviving its nuclear weapons programme unless US sanctions are lifted. 

However, Mr Pompeo said on Sunday that he expected to “make some real progress” with Mr Kim, a former top intelligence chief and right-hand man to the North Korean leader, in terms of laying the groundwork for a second summit with the US president. 

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Mr Pompeo dismissed the North Korean threats to resume nuclear activities as “rhetoric.”

“I’m not worried about rhetoric. We’ve seen this as we go through negotiations. Stray voltage happens to be all around us,” he said. 

“We’re very focused. We know with whom we’re negotiating. We know what their positions are. And President Trump’s made his position very clear: No economic relief until we have achieved our ultimate objective.”   

Two male penguins who paired up as a "same-sex couple" have successfully incubated a baby chick and are "doting" on their tiny offspring, an Australian aquarium announced Friday.

Gentoo penguins Sphen and Magic are happily "taking turns caring for their baby chick," born on October 19 weighing 91 grams, said Tish Hannan of the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium.

Sphen and Magic had caught the attention of aquarium workers when they were constantly seen waddling around and going for swims together.

They then began to build a collective nest of pebbles, prompting the aquarium to provide a dummy egg for them to look after and, when they proved up to the task, a real egg.

The pair have bonded, Hannan, Sea Life’s penguin department supervisor, told AFP. "They recognise each other’s signature calls and songs.

"Only bonded penguins will be able to successfully find their partner using their calls when they are separated."

Unlike many mammal species, male and female penguins take on the same parenting roles, and share parental duties 50-50.

"There is no real difference when it comes to breeding behaviours between males and females," Hannan explained.

So it "is common to have male-male or female-female showing courtship and breeding behaviour."

In the wild, however, these courtships are unlikely to result in a chick, so they are normally shortlived, with the penguins becoming unsatisfied and looking for another partner.

"Because we have given Sphen and Magic the opportunity to have a potentially successful breeding season, it is very likely that they will return to each other again next year," said Hannan.

This is not the first time same-sex penguin couples have adopted eggs in captivity, with a handful of zoos worldwide reporting similar cases.

In 2009, two male penguins – Z and Vielpunkt – successfully hatched and reared a chick that was rejected by its heterosexual parents at a zoo in Berlin.

Before them came Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at a zoo in New York who were spotted frequently trying to mate with each other.

After they tried to incubate a rock, zookeepers gave them a foster egg which they successfully hatched. Their foster chick, a female called Tango, eventually paired up with another female.

General James Mattis, the US defence secretary widely regarded as a moderating influence on President Donald Trump, may leave the administration hinted the American leader who said he suspects the military veteran is a Democrat

In an interview aired on Sunday, Mr Trump seemed to suggest an inevitability about the four star general’s departure while adding that the two men had a "good relationship".

It is not the first time his exit has been discussed in Washington, although not publicly by Mr Trump, and just a few weeks ago the four star general was forced to dismiss reports of his impending departure.

But when asked during the CBS 60 Minutes conversation recorded on Thursday, if he thought Gen Mattis was heading for the door, the president was circumspect.

“Well, I don’t know. He hasn’t told me that. I have a very good relationship with him. I had lunch with him two days ago," he said.

“It could be that he is. I think he’s sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth. But General Mattis is a good guy. We get along very well.

"He may leave. I mean, at some point, everybody leaves. Everybody. People leave. That’s Washington.”

Reports have emerged during the last few months that Mr Trump is unhappy at the slow implementation of some of his military policies which he plants firmly at Gen Mattis’s feet, including his ban on transgender servicemen.

And in September, the Washington Post reported that a list of replacements was being drawn up. 

His departure may be hastened by claims made in Bob Woodward’s explosive tell-all book that he told colleagues the US leader had the understanding of a "fifth or sixth grader" –  a ten-year-old school pupil.

Should Gen Mattis leave imminently, he will be yet another high profile appointment to abandon the relatively young administration. Last week Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, announced her decision to leave at the end of the year.

When asked about the regular White House staff changes, often described as a revolving door, the president denied there was a retention issue.

"It’s fake news.’ he said. "I’m changing things around and I’m entitled to. I have people now on standby that will be phenomenal.

"I think I have a great Cabinet. There are some people that I’m not happy with. I have some people that I’m not thrilled with, and there are some people that I’m beyond thrilled with."

The Democrats have secured a majority in the House of Representatives in a blow to Donald Trump, but the Republicans have held the Senate with voter turnout surging.

The Democrats have surpassed the 218 seats required for a House majority by gaining the 23 they required and are on course to take more, allowing them to frustrate legislation that the Republicans try to pass through Congress.

However, the Republicans have held onto the Senate comfortably, taking three seats from the Democrats so far. President Trump’s party won key bouts in Texas, where Ted Cruz was re-elected against strong opposition from Beto O’Rourke, and Indiana, where Democrat incumbent Joe Donnelly was ousted by Republican…