US Federal Judges Push Back Against Trump Order, Stopping Deportations Nationwide

The ruling out of New York was the first of several Saturday night and Sunday early morning. Rulings out of federal courts in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington — all siding with challengers to Trump’s executive order — followed.

Less than 36 hours passed after President Trump signed his executive order on Friday restricting immigration on several fronts before four federal judges had issued rulings in quick succession blunting the effect of the order and calling its constitutionality into question.

The executive order — “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States” — temporarily halted the US refugee program for 120 days; indefinitely suspended the intake of refugees from Syria; and blocked all people from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days.

Official - Obama administration expels 35 Russian diplomats, closes two compounds

The United States expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in response to a campaign of harassment against American diplomats in Moscow, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
The move against the diplomats from the Russian embassy in Washington and consulate in San Francisco is part of a series of actions announced on Thursday to punish Russia for a campaign of intimidation of American diplomats in Moscow and interference in the U.S. election.

US election results, Syrian conflict: President Putin’s traditional end-of-year Q&A marathon session Begins

Whenever Putin Speaks, the world listen!
"Nothing surprising" in Donald Trump's promise to expand US nuclear forces
Claims Russia's armed forces "stronger than any potential aggressor"
Putin plays down chances of early presidential election in 2017 

Russian president’s traditional end-of-year Q&A marathon session. Over 1,400 journalists have joined the event. It is expected that the focus will be on the US election results, Syrian conflict, and domestic issues.
President Putin is expected to speak on the Syrian crisis, the US election results, and his cautious optimism towards a possible rapprochement between Moscow and Washington, as well as on the economic challenges faced by Russia.

At least 1,437 reporters have been accredited this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

President Obama mourns dead in Hiroshima where a U.S. atomic bomb killed thousands instantly 1945, calls for world without nuclear arms

US President Barack Obama on Friday became the first incumbent U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, site of the world's first atomic bombing, in a gesture Tokyo and Washington hope will showcase their alliance and reinvigorate efforts to rid the world of nuclear arms.

Even before it occurred, the visit stirred debate, with critics accusing both sides of having selective memories, and pointing to paradoxes in policies relying on nuclear deterrence while calling for an end to atomic arms.

The two governments hope Obama's visit to Hiroshima, where a U.S. atomic bomb killed thousands instantly on Aug. 6, 1945, and some 140,000 by the year's end, underscores a new level of reconciliation and tighter ties between the former enemies.

Tear gas, arrests as Egypt protesters defy ban

Egyptian police fired tear gas at protesters in Cairo who defied government warnings and held a rally Monday calling for the "downfall" of the regime, quickly scattering them and making arrests. A coalition of leftist and liberal groups had called for the protest, ostensibly against the handing over of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

But in a country where most protests are banned, the gesture was aimed more at defying what activists call the heavy-handed rule of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

In the lead-up to the protest, police arrested dozens of activists over the past week, in some cases raiding their homes. By Monday morning, police had closed off a street leading to the Journalists' Syndicate, where the protesters had announced they would gather, and deployed in force in central Cairo.

US Barack Obama 'set to release' secret 28 pages of 9/11 report, There is speculation that Saudi officials may likely support the attacks

The US government appears set to release at least part of a 28-page classified chapter from the 9/11 report that may point the finger of Saudi collusion into the attacks that struck New York and Washington.

The former head of a bi-partisan committee that investigated the attacks that left more than 3,000 people dead and published its findings, said he believed the Obama administration would make a decision on the issue by June.

The unreleased documents, kept in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol building in Washington DC, contain information from the joint congressional inquiry into “specific sources of foreign support for some of the September 11 hijackers while they were in the United States”.

Mr Graham, a former Democratic senator, said a government official told him that intelligence officials will decide in the next several weeks whether to release at least parts of the documents. The disclosure would come at a time of strained US relations with Saudi Arabia, a long-time American ally.

Economic Crisis: Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun Says Nigeria Has Not Applied For An IMF Loan Because It Is 'Not Sick'

Kemi Adeosun

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria, which is going through its worst economic crisis in years, has not turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance because it is "not sick", its finance minister said.

Africa's top oil exporter, which has the continent's biggest economy, has been hit hard by the fall in crude prices since oil sales account for around 70 percent of its income.

The economy grew 2.8 percent last year, its slowest pace in decades, and in March annual inflation rose to a near four year high of 12.8 percent.

Ex-INEC Chair Jega Hopes in Technology, Urges Global Attention to Nigeria

Former Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, has expressed the optimism that increasing use and mastery of technology by the commission would enhance the transparency and credibility of Nigerian elections.

He said despite momentary challenges encountered with the Smart Card Reader in the 2015 general election, its use along with chip-based Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) contributed in a major way to the positive acclaim of the elections.

Why Iran rejects U.S. action in Iraq as militants push east

Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL)
 stand guard at a checkpoint in the northern Iraq city of Mosul

(Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader accused the United States on Sunday of trying to retake control of Iraq by exploiting sectarian rivalries, as Sunni insurgents drove toward Baghdad from new strongholds along the Syrian border.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's condemnation of U.S. action in Iraq came three days after President Barack Obama offered to send 300 military advisers in response to pleas from Iraq's government. It ran counter to speculation that old enemies Washington and Tehran might cooperate to defend their mutual ally in Baghdad after two weeks of swift territorial gains by Sunni Islamists.

On Sunday, militants overran a second frontier post on the Syrian border as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) pursues the goal of its own caliphate straddling both countries.

Hunt for Chibok Girls is Unlikely to have a Happy Ending" - by: Joe Brock

(Reuters) - Nigeria's hunt for more than 200 abducted schoolgirls is not all that it seems. In public, an international operation is gathering pace while behind the scenes, officials say it is unlikely to deliver the success that global opinion demands.

The United States and Britain are helping Nigerian forces in the effort to liberate the girls taken from their school in Borno state a month ago by Boko Haram Islamist militants.

The pressure for results is huge, with the likes of Michelle Obama and film star Angelina Jolie supporting a social media campaign operating under the Twitter tag ‪#‎BringBackOurGirls‬.

Washington has sent surveillance aircraft as well as assigning medical, intelligence, counter-terrorism and communications advisers to the mission.

Adamawa Governor Murtala Nyako Indicts Pres. Jonathan Of Sponsoring Boko Haram

Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, accused Nigeria’s President and key government officials of possibly supporting state terrorism during a speech on security challenges in Northern Nigeria at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, DC.

Ukraine Crimea War: EU to postpone sanctions' debate

Hours earlier the EU leaders announced 3-step sanctions against Russia, from political to possible economic measures.

US destroyer "routine visit" on Black Sea. EU to postpone sanctions' debate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YI0qEU9VnnQ#t=0

Moscow accuses Washington of feeding the Ukrainian protests

According the Russian Foreign Ministry, quoted by Itar-Tass: Washington cannot admit, of course, that they themselves were feeding the “Maidan” [protests] and encouraging the overthrow of the legitimate government by force, thus paving the way to those who are posing as the legitimate authorities in Kiev now

U.S. Secretary of State, Foreign Secretary and Ukraine Foreign Minister Meet in Paris

            Press Statement on the Budapest Memorandum Meeting

Diplomatic source confirmed that Kerry, Hague and eshchytsia hold direct talks on Ukraine crisis in Paris today and have issued a joint statement reminding the Russian Federation of the Budapest Memorandum, the 1994 agreement signed by the Governments of the U. S. A., the U. K. and Russia. 

 

 The joint statement reads:

Afghanistan President frees 65 inmates from Parwan prison over strong U.S. objections

Afghanistan released 65 accused militants from a former U.S. prison on Thursday despite protests from the American military, which says the men are Taliban fighters who will likely return to the battlefield to kill coalition and Afghan forces. 

The release had been ordered by President Hamid Karzai several weeks ago, after his government took over the prison from U.S. troops. 

The decision had prompted angry denunciations from Washington and strained relations between the two countries ahead of the year-end withdrawal of most international combat troops. U.S. forces in Afghanistan say the men have the blood of international and Afghan soldiers on their hands. 

The prisoners were freed just after 9 a.m. from the Parwan Detention Facility near Bagram Air Field, about 28 miles north of Kabul, prison chief Gen Faroq Barekzai Bagram told CBS News.

Maj. Nimatullah Khaki, a prison spokesperson, says they boarded a bus to leave the facility, laughing and smiling.

In a statement Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul called the release "deeply regrettable."

"Releasing these individuals is contrary to Afghanistan’s commitment in our 2012 Memorandum of Understanding to take all necessary steps to ensure that detainees do not pose a continuing threat to Afghanistan, the international community or the United States," the statement said.  

"The Afghan government bears responsibility for the results of its decision.  We urge it to make every effort to ensure that those released do not commit new acts of violence and terror, and to immediately bring to justice any who do so." 

The U.S. has argued for the detainees to face trial in Afghan courts - citing strong evidence against them, from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing - but Kabul has cited insufficient proof to hold them. 

Karzai has referred to the Parwan prison as a "Taliban-producing factory" where innocent Afghans are tortured into hating their country. 

The U.S. military late Wednesday night issued a strongly worded statement condemning the then-imminent release, which it said would include detainees directly linked to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians. 

Among those who were expected to walk free Thursday morning were Mohammad Wali, who the U.S. military says is a suspected Taliban explosives expert who allegedly placed roadside bombs targeting Afghan and international forces. The military said Wali had been biometrically linked to two roadside explosions and had a latent fingerprint match on another improvised explosive device, as well as testing positive for explosives residue. 

Others in the group include Nek Mohammad - who the U.S. says was captured with extensive weapons, and a man identified as Ehsanullah, who is claimed to have been biometrically matched to a roadside bomb and who tested positive for explosives residue. 

The U.S. military had formally disputed the prisoners' release, but an Afghan review board had effectively overruled those challenges. 

The detainees' release has been in the works for weeks, and comes as Karzai's government has taken an increasingly hostile tone toward the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.

CBS

3 Dead in Shooting at US Shopping Mall

Police in the eastern U.S. state of Maryland say three people were killed in a shooting Saturday at a shopping mall, including the suspected gunman, who appeared to have killed himself.

The mall in the Baltimore suburb of Columbia, Maryland, is just under 50 kilometers north of Washington.

Authorities say they were alerted to the shooting by an emergency phone call in the late morning.

Howard County Police Chief Bill McMahon told a news conference the shooting occurred outside of a store on the upper level of the Mall of Columbia near the food court. He said the two people killed by the shooter were employees of the store, one male and one female, both in their 20s.

Media reports have indicated the shooting may have been a domestic incident. McMahon said authorities have no knowledge of that but are investigating. He said the suspect used a shotgun and had a "large amount" of ammunition. Five people were injured, but only one is reported to have suffered a gunshot wound.

Moe Moe Htun, an employee with Voice of America's English Web desk, was at a Starbuck's in the mall with her husband when the shooting took place.

"I heard bang, bang, bang, you know, very, very loudly, three times, and I thought, 'Oh, you know, it's from the construction,' because there's construction going on in that parking lot," she said. "So it was really, really very loud, and then it sounded like it came just across from where I was standing in Starbuck's in the mall. So then, just a few seconds later, there is a lady, and then she was running and then screaming 'someone is shooting!'"

Htun, originally from Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, described a chaotic scene.

"People were so scared. You [could] see it on everybody's faces. People were just running out of the mall and grabbing the hands of their kids and just running out of the mall. People did not look back, just getting out of the mall as fast as you could."

Htun says she and her husband ran out of the mall and hid behind parked cars in case the shooter emerged outside.

"When I started running, I did not think twice, and I did not look back. I just ran, I was so frigthened."

Police were soon there to help clear people from the mall and announced on Twitter a little more than an hour after the emergency call that the shopping center was believed to be secure.

But that is little consolation to witnesses like Htun, who says she shops at the Columbia mall often.

"Now, I don't feel safe to go to the mall," she said.  "It's like wherever you go, you have to keep your eyes and ears open, and then if you hear something, just don't think twice, just run because you can be a target."

Source