List of All Articles with Tag 'd'

Nato leaders have refused to offer Ukraine a timetable or clear conditions for membership – a stance the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky called absurd. A communique released on the first afternoon of a two-day summit in Lithuania said only that Kyiv would join the alliance “when allies agree and conditions are met”. It came despite Mr Zelensky denouncing delays to the process, accusing Nato of handing Russia “motivation” in its invasion. “It’s unprecedented and absurd when [a] time frame is not set, neither for the invitation, nor for Ukraine’s membership,” he said as the summit began. He also claimed the alliance was leaving a “window of opportunity” for Ukraine to be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with its invaders and expressed anger at a “vague” draft agreement. “Uncertainty is weakness,” he said. Later, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg insisted the alliance had taken “key decisions at a critical moment” and that allies have agreed “a strong, united and positive message for Ukraine” as well as a “positive path forward for membership”. Asked about Mr Zelensky’s concerns, Mr Stoltenberg said it was important to ensure that Ukraine wins the war because “unless Ukraine prevails, there is no membership to be discussed at all”. “There has never been a stronger message from Nato at any time, both when it comes to the political message of the path forward for membership and the concrete support from Nato allies,” he said, adding that previous members had joined without a timeline. “They are conditions-based, have always been,” he said. Mr Stoltenberg could not disguise the differences between the 31 members over Ukraine’s pathway to membership. Britain had been pushing for the US and other more hesitant allies, such as Germany, to agree to language signalling bolstered support for Ukraine to join, while many eastern European nations have pushed for swift resolution. However, all attendees – including Ukraine – agree the country cannot join during the war, as to do so would risk pulling the group into direct conflict with Russia. Nato did not specify conditions Ukraine needs to meet, but said members would help Kyiv to make progress on military matters as well as on additional democratic and security sector reforms. The US, in particular, has been keen for Ukraine to make progress against corruption. Later, speaking to a crowd of thousands in central Vilnius – many waving Ukrainian flags – Mr Zelensky’s disappointment was clear. “I embarked on a trip here with faith in decisions, with faith in partners, with faith in a strong Nato. In a Nato that does not hesitate, does not waste time and does not look back at any aggressor,” he said. “And I would like this faith to become confidence – confidence in the decisions that we deserve – all of us deserve, and every warrior, every citizen, every mother, every child expects,” he added. “Is that too much to expect?” President Joe Biden has stressed Nato needs to stay united. “I still think that President Putin thinks the way he succeeds is to break Nato and we’re not going to do that,” Mr Biden said. Rishi Sunak told reporters that both Britain and Ukraine recognised Kyiv could not join the alliance “in the midst of a conflict”. Mr Sunak said: “I’ve always said that Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato and that we stand by the language of Bucharest in 2008. I think what is important at this summit is that that commitment is reaffirmed and also that there is demonstrable progress towards that goal.” He also appeared to confirm reports Ukraine would be offered an "Israel-style" security deal, as part of a multi-year plan to defend itself from Russia. Mr Sunak told reporters he was “keen to try and get this over the line”. He said it was “distinct from the Nato conversation” and would “send a very strong signal of deterrent to Putin, that he can't wait people out, in terms of this conflict”. The UK and its G7 allies will agree a new framework to guarantee Ukraine’s long-term security on Wednesday, in a system that has been dubbed “Nato-lite”. Under the plans, Ukraine receives more defence equipment, intelligence, support for cyber and hybrid threat defences as well as expanded training programmes. The move will also help develop Ukraine’s industrial base. The UK will also announce new support for Ukraine, including thousands of extra rounds of ammunition for Challenger 2 tanks and more than 70 combat and logistics vehicle. As the war takes its toll on Ukraine’s military resources there will also be a £50m package to help repair equipment and a new military rehabilitation centre will be established. Mr Sunak said countries were “stepping up our formal arrangements to protect Ukraine for the long term”. Wednesday will also see the first meeting of the new Nato-Ukraine Council. Western nations continued to pledge arms and monetary support to Ukraine’s fight against Russia. President Emmanuel Macron said France would begin supplying long-range cruise missiles, following a similar announcement by Britain. With a range of 250km (155 miles), the missiles nearly triple Ukraine’s previous capabilities, allowing forces to hit Russian troops and supplies deep behind the front lines. Defence secretary Ben Wallace said Ukraine has already “successfully” used the UK missiles, known as Storm Shadow. Germany, too, announced new aid worth €700m (£600m), including two Patriot air defence missile launchers, and more tanks and fighting vehicles. A coalition of 11 nations will also start training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter jets in August in Denmark, and a training centre will be set up in Romania. The summit was also buoyed by the prospect of Sweden joining as its newest member after Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan abruptly dropped his objections to the move, while pushing to revive talks for Turkey to join the European Union. Finland also attended the summit as a member for the first time after its own entry into the alliance in April. Moscow, which has disingenuously cited Nato’s eastern expansion as a factor in its decision to invade Ukraine, said Europe would be the first to face “catastrophic consequences” should the war escalate. “Potentially, this issue [of Ukraine joining Nato] is very dangerous for European security... and therefore those who will make the decision must be aware of this,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary G7 allies set to announce security package for Ukraine at Vilnius Nato summit Biden blames busy schedule for skipping Nato leadership dinner Ukraine still has conditions to meet before it can join Nato, leaders say

The Department of Justice has told a federal judge in New York that it will no longer defend former president Donald Trump in a defamation case brought by writer E Jean Carroll, who earlier this year won a civil judgement against the ex-president for sexual battery and defamation in a separate matter. In a letter to the attorneys for Mr Trump and Ms Carroll, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said the department would now decline to certify that Mr Trump was acting in the scope of his job as President of the United States when he denied attacking Ms Carroll in June 2019 and accused her of fabricating a sexual assault claim against him to boost book sales. Mr Boynton said the decision, which reversed an earlier effort to defend Mr Trump which had begun during his term in the White House, came due to clarified appellate court precedent which stated that courts need not always find that an elected official’s statements to the press were in the scope of their employment. “Applying the clarified D.C. respondeat superior standard, the Department has determined that it lacks adequate evidence to conclude that the former President was sufficiently actuated by a purpose to serve the United States Government to support a determination that he was acting within the scope of his employment when he denied sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll and made the other statements regarding Ms. Carroll that she has challenged in this action,” he said. The Justice Department official also said the department had considered new evidence of Mr Trump’s state of mind when he made the statements at issue, and determined that it “does not establish that he made the statements at issue with a ‘more than insignificant’ purpose to serve the United States Government”. Additionally, Mr Boynton noted that even though the defamatory statements regarding Ms Carroll and the allegations she was making against Mr Trump were made during a press gaggle on the South Lawn of the White House, they were not made in the context of “a work-related incident”. “Here, although the statements themselves were made in a work context, the allegations that prompted the statements related to a purely personal incident: an alleged sexual assault that occurred decades prior to Mr Trump’s Presidency. That sexual assault was obviously not job-related,” he said. Although the Justice Department official conceded that an elected official’s “ability to retain the trust of his constituents” is “an important part of his ability to effectively perform his job,” he said the “evidence of personal motivation” in the case at hand “outweighs any public- purpose inference one might draw in other circumstances,” and cited statements Mr Trump made about Ms Carroll after he left office — and after a New York jury found that he had defamed her in a separate trial in May. “The later statements are substantially similar to the three June 2019 statements at issue in this action, and because he was no longer the President when he made the later statements, Mr. Trump could not have been motivated by any interest in serving the United States Government,” he said. He added later that the jury’s finding that Mr Trump sexually assaulted Ms Carroll in a department store changing room in the 1990s “supports an inference that Mr Trump was motivated by a ‘personal grievance’ stemming from events that occurred many years prior to Mr Trump’s presidency”. Without the Department of Justice’s intervention to defend the twice-impeached ex-president, he will not be able to argue that he enjoys any immunity from the lawsuit and he will not be able to substitute the US government as a defendant in the case. And because a prior jury already found similar statements he made about the former Elle magazine writer to be defamatory, legal experts say it will be a simple matter for Ms Carroll to obtain another jury verdict against him when the case goes to trial. Ms Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said: “We are grateful that the Department of Justice has reconsidered its position. We have always believed that Donald Trump made his defamatory statements about our client in June 2019 out of personal animus, ill will, and spite, and not as President of the United States. Now that one of the last obstacles has been removed, we look forward to trial in E Jean Carroll’s original case in January 2024.” Read More Trump loses bid to throw out E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit Donald Trump countersues E Jean Carroll for defamation over rape claims Trump is funneling 10% of 2024 campaign donations to cover his legal bills Judge lets columnist amend defamation claim with over $10 million demand for damages from Trump

Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy's family just got a little bigger.

Laurentian Bank of Canada, which has been working on a turnaround under a new chief executive officer since

As a grand jury in Georgia convened to potentially consider criminal charges against him, and as a partisan investigation into his political enemies appears to have imploded, Donald Trump lashed out on his Truth Social with a series of unhinged posts suggesting President Joe Biden’s son should get the death sentence and that a “crackhead” is running the White House. The leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination, facing what could be a third criminal indictment within a year, lambasted a federal prosecutor who directly refuted baseless allegations that the investigation into Hunter Biden was marred by political interference. In another post, he said the “deranged” US Department of Justice special counsel investigating Mr Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and his attempts to overturn 2020 election results should instead investigate the “Cocaine dilemma” at the White House. “I’d bet they already know the answer, but just in case, it could be done in 5 minutes,” Mr Trump wrote. “Is it Crooked Joe and his wonderful son, Hunter? Release the findings, release the tapes. We can’t have a crackhead in charge of our Nuclear Arsenal!!!” Mr Trump called US Attorney David Weiss a “COWARD” and a “smaller version” of his Attorney General Bill Barr, who “never had the courage to do what everyone knows should have been done.” “He gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence,” Mr Trump wrote. Last month, the Justice Department approved a plea deal with Hunter Biden that will likely allow the 53-year-old to avoid prison in exchange for a guilty plea over failing to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018. Shortly before that plea deal was struck, IRS agent Gary Shapley alleged before a congressional committee that the Justice Department had buried a more-serious case against the president’s son, and that Mr Weiss unsuccessfully persuaded federal prosecutors to bring charges, prompting Mr Weiss to request his appointment as a special counsel. Mr Weiss, who was appointed by Mr Trump, has shot down those claims. “To clarify an apparent misperception and to avoid future confusion, I wish to make one point clear: in this case, I have not requested Special Counsel designation,” he wrote in a recent letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On Monday, the Justice Department announced charges against a “whistleblower” who has repeatedly accused the Bidens of corruption with arms trafficking, acting as a foreign agent for China and violating Iran sanctions – charges that have roiled Republican officials who have repeatedly accused the Bidens of wrongdoing without presenting such evidence. Meanwhile, Republicans like Mr Trump have baselessly accused the Bidens of trafficking cocaine into the White House after the drug was allegedly discovered at an entry while the family was in Maryland. Congressional Republicans have demanded a briefing from the US Secret Service. The former president’s latest statements come as a grand jury in Atlanta was sworn in to consider charges against Mr Trump and his allies in their attempts to subvert the outcome of Georgia’s election results in that state. A potential indictment in that state would follow federal charges in Florida stemming from the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and in New York City, where prosecutors have criminally charged him with 36 counts of falsifying business documents. The Georgia case is separate from the Justice Department special counsel probe into his attempts to overturn 2020 election results. On Monday, Mr Trump’s lawyers asked a federal judge in Miami to indefinitely delay his trial on charges over his handling of classified documents, claiming that it would not be possible to try the case before the presidential election. In the 12-page filing, they called the government’s case against him “extraordinary” and claim it “presents a serious challenge to both the fact and perception of our American democracy” because Mr Trump is seeking his party’s nomination to run against the incumbent president who defeated him in 2020. Read More Trump news – live: Georgia grand jury sworn in for 2020 election case as Trump calls Biden ‘crackhead’ Georgia grand jury sworn in to consider Trump charges over attempts to upend 2020 election He claimed to have dirt on the Bidens. Now the DoJ say he’s a Chinese spy. Who is Gal Luft? Karine Jean-Pierre shuts down ‘incredibly irresponsible’ question about White House cocaine

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio is calling on Congress to stop funding Department of Justice investigations into elected officials, political candidates and their families until a new policy for how they are managed is developed.

Researchers try to quantify just how severe the stranglehold of patriarchy on Hindi cinema is.

Leslie Van Houten, a former Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer, was released from a California prison on Tuesday, a prison spokesperson told CNN.

A man who says he is armed has barricaded himself in a room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, police say, where the individual is holding a female hostage. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said they received a complaint of a domestic disturbance at around 9.15am on Tuesday. When they arrived at the hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the man refused to come out and told officers he was armed, police said. Vegas police said the man pulled a woman into his room “by force” and that she remains inside. “She is still in the room at this time,” a police spokesman said on Tuesday morning during a press update. “The female has been heard from and is still OK.” The officer added that no shots have been fired and no weapons have been seen. SWAT teams and crisis negotiators have been sent to the hotel on the 3500 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard. Police asked residents to avoid the area and watch out for emergency personnel. “We are actively trying to resolve this situation,” the LVPD said in a tweet. North Carolina real estate broker Alyssa Hellman told The Independent she was at the Caesars Palace pool with her wife when she heard a loud bang at about 1.30pm. She said she looked up to see that a window had been broken on about the 10th floor, and a man inside started throwing furniture out onto the concourse. “We heard a bang and then one of the windows was broken open, and the guy was throwing things out. Lamps, a TV and a minibar. He’s drawn the curtains now,” Ms Hellman said. Ms Hellman said guests were evacuated from the pool area, but staff did not explain what was going on. The couple had retreated to a safe distance and said everyone around them seemed “pretty calm and content”. “We’re tucked back hidden away, closer to the Bellagio,” she said. A video posted to Twitter showed security guards duck for cover as a television fell to the ground behind them. One guest told 8NewsNow that she had been swimming in the pool when a security guard ordered everybody out. The witness said she saw chairs being thrown from a window, which appeared to be completely smashed out. Caesars Entertainment said in a statement: “We are aware of the security incident at Caesars Palace. Our team is cooperating fully with law enforcement officers on scene who are handling the investigation.” Read More Caesars Palace standoff news - live: SWAT teams respond to ‘armed’ man barricaded in Las Vegas hotel room Las Vegas police officer set to go on trial over $165k stolen in 3 casino heists Oklahoma county sheriff and three other officials allegedly caught on tape talking about killing journalists Ex-student sentenced to 16-plus years in prison for 2022 attack on Las Vegas high school teacher

When it comes to the job market, the Federal Reserve seems to want the latest data to bear bad news for the average American. But with inflation, the Fed is rooting for good news.

MLB All-Star Game: Texas Rangers players praise Bruce Bochy's leadership, Carlos Estevez takes step for Los Angeles Angels, and Spencer Strider dishes on why he keeps it simple with the Atlanta Braves.SEATTLE —As we get closer to the start of the MLB All-Star Game, let's empty th...

The Justice Department has reversed course and said it no longer believes that Donald Trump should be entitled to immunity for his response to E. Jean Carroll's accusation of sexual assault, allowing the case to move forward to trial in January.