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Appeals court rejects Trump claim of immunity from prosecution

Appeals court rejects Trump claim of immunity from prosecution
The appeals court put the immunity ruling on hold until Monday to give Trump the opportunity to appeal to the US Supreme Court, which can decide whether to take the case or allow the lower court’s ruling to stand. (Reuters)
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Updated 07 February 2024
AFP
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Appeals court rejects Trump claim of immunity from prosecution

Appeals court rejects Trump claim of immunity from prosecution
  • Trump had been set to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden
Updated 07 February 2024
AFP
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WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has no immunity from prosecution as a former president and can be tried on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, a federal appeals court said Tuesday in a landmark ruling.
A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Trump’s claim that he is immune from criminal liability for actions he took while in the White House is “unsupported by precedent, history or the text and structure of the Constitution.”
“Former President Trump’s stance would collapse our system of separated powers by placing the President beyond the reach of all three Branches,” the judges said in a unanimous opinion. “We cannot accept that the office of the Presidency places its former occupants above the law for all time thereafter.”
The ruling is a major legal setback for Trump, 77, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and the first ex-president to be criminally indicted, and a spokesman said he plans to file another appeal.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, slammed the ruling and said it means “a President will be afraid to act for fear of the opposite Party’s Vicious Retribution after leaving Office.”
“A President of the United States must have Full Immunity in order to properly function and do what has to be done for the good of our Country,” he said. “A Nation-destroying ruling like this cannot be allowed to stand.”
The appeals court put the immunity ruling on hold until Monday to give Trump the opportunity to appeal to the US Supreme Court, which can decide whether to take the case or allow the lower court’s ruling to stand.
Trump had been set to go on trial in Washington on March 4 on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
But District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the case, was forced to postpone it pending a ruling by the appeals court on the immunity claim, which she had rejected in December.
The three appellate court judges who heard Trump’s appeal last month were also unconvinced by his arguments.
“For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant,” they said.
“But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution.”
Special Counsel Jack Smith filed the election conspiracy case against Trump in August and had been pushing hard for the March start date for his trial.
Lawyers for the former president have sought repeatedly to delay the trial until after the November presidential election, when Trump could potentially have all of the federal cases against him dropped if he wins the White House again.
Trump also faces 2020 election interference state charges in Georgia, and has been federally indicted in Florida for allegedly mishandling classified information.
He was impeached twice by the Democratically controlled House of Representatives while in office — once for inciting an insurrection — but acquitted both times by the Senate.
During arguments last month before the appeals court, Trump’s attorney John Sauer claimed that a president can only be prosecuted for actions taken while in the White House if first impeached and convicted by Congress.
“To authorize the prosecution of a president for his official acts would open a Pandora’s Box from which this nation may never recover,” Sauer said.
The appeals court judges disagreed.
“Presidential immunity against federal indictment would mean that, as to the President, the Congress could not legislate, the Executive could not prosecute and the Judiciary could not review,” they wrote.
The Supreme Court is already scheduled to hear another important election-related case this week.
The Colorado Supreme Court barred Trump in December from appearing on the Republican presidential primary ballot in the state because of his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Trump appealed the Colorado ruling and the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which includes three justices appointed by the former president, is to hear oral arguments in the case on Thursday.

Topics: Donald Trump US court

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Search underway for American reportedly abducted in southern Philippine town

Search underway for American reportedly abducted in southern Philippine town
Updated 3 sec ago
AP
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Search underway for American reportedly abducted in southern Philippine town

Search underway for American reportedly abducted in southern Philippine town
  • If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines
Updated 3 sec ago
AP
MANILA: The Philippine police said Friday it has launched a search after gunmen reportedly abducted an American national, who was shot in the leg as he tried to resist before being spirited away from a southern Philippine coastal town by speedboat.
If confirmed to be a case of kidnapping for ransom, it would be the latest reminder of the long-running security problems that have hounded the southern Philippines, the homeland of a Muslim minority in the largely Roman Catholic nation.
Police in Sibuco town in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte tried to pursue the suspected abductors and their victim, who they identified as Elliot Onil Eastman, 26, from Vermont, after the reported abduction on Thursday night.
“We confirm that there was a report of the alleged abduction of an American national,” the regional police said in a statement. “We want to assure the public, particularly the community of Sibuco, that we are doing everything in our power to secure the safe recovery of the victim.”
The police asked the public to immediately provide any information that could help an ongoing investigation of the reported abduction.
Two police reports seen by The Associated Press said that a resident of Sibuco, Abdulmali Hamsiran Jala, reported to police that four men in black clothing who were armed with M16 rifles and introduced themselves as police officers forcibly took Eastman, who tried to escape.
One of the gunmen shot Eastman in the leg before dragging him into a speedboat then fled by sea further south toward the provinces of Basilan or Sulu, the police reports said.
Policemen chased but failed to find the gunmen and Eastman and alerted other police and Philippine marine units in the region, according to the reports.
Philippine authorities did not immediately provide background details of Eastman, but a person with a similar name has posted pictures and videos of himself on Facebook saying he had married a Muslim woman in Sibuco.
The US Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to questions about the reported abduction.
The southern Philippines has bountiful resources but has long been hamstrung by stark poverty and an array of insurgents and outlaws.
A 2014 peace agreement between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the largest of several Muslim separatist groups, has considerably eased widespread fighting in the south. Relentless military offensives have weakened smaller armed groups like the notoriously violent Abu Sayyaf group over the years, considerably reducing kidnappings, bombings and other attacks.
The Abu Sayyaf group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the Philippines, is an offshoot of decades-long Muslim separatist unrest in the south and carried out mass kidnappings for ransom, beheadings and bombings more than two decades ago in the southern region.
They targeted American and other Western tourists and religious missionaries, most of whom were freed after ransoms were paid. A few were killed, including an American who was beheaded on the island province of Basilan and a US missionary who was killed while Philippine army forces were trying to rescue him and his wife in 2002 in a rainforest in Sirawai town near Sibuco.
The Philippines will hold mid-term elections next year for more than 18,000 local, national and congressional posts, mostly provincial mayors and governors. In the traditionally volatile south, crimes including kidnappings and extortion have traditionally spiked as rogue politicians try to raise funds to fuel their campaigns ahead of elections in the past but only a few and isolated incidents have been reported in recent years, according to authorities.

US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist

US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist
Updated 25 min 46 sec ago
AFP
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US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist

US charges Indian agent over alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist
  • Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering
  • Yadav is the second Indian man to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
Updated 25 min 46 sec ago
AFP

WASHINGTON: An Indian intelligence official has been indicted for his role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in the United States, the Justice Department said Thursday.
Vikash Yadav, 39, who remains at large, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and money laundering, the department said.
Yadav is the second Indian national to be charged in the United States in the alleged plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who lives in New York.
Nikhil Gupta, 53, pleaded not guilty in June to involvement in the assassination plot after being extradited to the United States from the Czech Republic.
Pannun is affiliated with a New York-based group called Sikhs for Justice that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a northern Indian state with a large Sikh population.
Pannun, in a statement on X, denounced the alleged assassination plot as a “blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism” and a “threat to freedom of speech and democracy.”
The Justice Department accused Yadav of directing the plot and said he recruited Gupta in May 2023 to hire a hitman to carry out the murder.
Gupta allegedly contacted an individual he believed to be a criminal associate to hire a hitman. The individual was in fact a confidential source working with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“Yadav, an employee of the Indian government, used his position of authority and access to confidential information to direct the attempted assassination of an outspoken critic of the Indian government here on US soil,” Anne Milgram, the DEA chief, said in a statement.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department “will be relentless in holding accountable any person — regardless of their position or proximity to power — who seeks to harm and silence American citizens.”
According to the Justice Department, Yadav was employed by the Indian government’s Cabinet Secretariat, which houses the country’s foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
The United States said Wednesday it had been informed by India that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “We are satisfied with the cooperation.”
The action by New Delhi represented a sharp contrast to its defiant approach to similar charges from Canada, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday accused India of violating his country’s sovereignty.
Canada has separately alleged that India arranged a plot on its soil that ended in the killing last year of a Sikh separatist, who was a naturalized Canadian citizen, outside a Vancouver temple.
Unlike the United States, Canada has highlighted its concerns publicly and at the highest level, with Trudeau criticizing India’s actions.
Canada and India on Monday expelled each other’s ambassadors as Ottawa said that the Indian campaign went further than previously reported.
India has rejected Canada’s charges and alleged a domestic political motive by Trudeau.
Canada has the largest Sikh community outside of India, concentrated in suburban areas that are critical in national elections.

Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens

Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens
Updated 31 min 16 sec ago
AFP
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Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens

Nigerians sacrifice cars as cost of living crisis worsens
  • The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023
  • In the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high
Updated 31 min 16 sec ago
AFP

LAGOS: Nigeria’s economic crisis and soaring petrol prices forced Bolaji Emmanuel to give up his driver and his Honda Pilot utility vehicle, as he struggles with spiking living costs.
Emmanuel is not alone. Many in Africa’s most populous country are abandoning their cars as the costs strain disposable income.
The price of petrol has risen more than fivefold since President Bola Tinubu took office in May 2023.
“I parked it at my son’s house. I use public transport now,” Emmanuel, a 72-year-old retired health worker, said. “It is not convenient, but it is what the economy demands.”
Since coming to power, Tinubu has ended a costly fuel subsidy and freed up the naira currency, in reforms that government officials and analysts say will revive the economy and attract investors.
But in the short term, Nigeria has seen one of its worst crises in decades with inflation at a three-decade high.
A liter of petrol sold for around 195 naira just before Tinubu took office. The price rose to at least 998 naira ($0.61) per liter in Lagos and 1,030 naira in the capital, Abuja, at the beginning of October. It can go for as much as 1,300 naira elsewhere.
Inflation reached an almost three-decade high of 34.19 percent in June. It has since slowed to 32.7 percent in September.
The slump in purchasing power is piling more hardship on locals, with more than 40 percent of the population living in poverty, according to the World Bank. That figure is expected to rise in 2024 and 2025, before it stabilizes in 2026.
The Nigerian middle class, which made up about 20 percent of the population in 2020, now readily sacrifices the comfort of private cars for survival.
Car dealers in Lagos and Abuja said that they had seen more and more people trading their fuel-guzzling cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) for more efficient vehicles to cut costs.
“People are actually selling their big cars these days,” Maji Abubakar, a car dealer in Abuja, said. “The problem is that even if you put them on the market, there isn’t much demand for them.”
“It has been more than a year since I sold a car with an eight-cylinder engine, and the major reason is the price of petrol,” he added.
With fewer cars on the road, even the notorious Lagos traffic, known as “go-slow,” has thinned out.
Elijah Bello, a tech entrepreneur in the southern state of Ogun, has looked for a buyer for his Lexus RX 350 SUV for months.
He has since bought a smaller, energy-saving Toyota Corolla to replace it.
The trend, which began last year, “will intensify” and “we will see fewer cars on the roads,” said Bunmi Bailey, head of research at SBM Intelligence risk consultancy.
Bailey can fill his small car for 55,000 naira. “I can use it for two weeks for my normal home-to-work movement,” he said, while his larger car consumes 110,000 naira worth of petrol in just eight days.
The market for new cars has dropped by 10 to 14 percent in the last year, said Kunle Jaiyesinmi, deputy director at the Lagos-based CFAO Group, which specializes in automobile distribution.
“An SUV that sold for 40 to 45 million naira ($24,000 to $27,000) about two years ago, for now, if you want to negotiate the price, you see that it is within the range of 95 or 100 million ($57,000 to $60,000),” Jaiyesinmi said.
But unyielding inflation and high exchange rates are steering more middle-class people away from used Japanese- and American-brand cars, toward increasingly popular Chinese-made ones.
Some are turning to bicycles, despite the lack of appropriate infrastructure in cities like Lagos, where car crashes are common.
“Sure, we notice (a rise in) cycling... for months since the fuel hike,” said Femi Thomas, head of FT Cycle Care, a Lagos-based organization that promotes cycle use.
Food delivery platform Glovo said it had recorded a growing interest in bicycle deliveries among its riders.
About 20 percent of orders are delivered by bike, Chidera Akwuba, the group’s public relations manager in Nigeria, said.

Topics: Nigeria

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India foreign minister’s Pakistan visit a ‘good beginning’, Nawaz Sharif says

India foreign minister’s Pakistan visit a ‘good beginning’, Nawaz Sharif says
Updated 18 October 2024
Reuters
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India foreign minister’s Pakistan visit a ‘good beginning’, Nawaz Sharif says

India foreign minister’s Pakistan visit a ‘good beginning’, Nawaz Sharif says
  • Indian envoy was in Pakistan for a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
  • Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was among nearly a dozen leaders participating in the gathering in Islamabad
Updated 18 October 2024
Reuters

MUMBAI: The visit of India’s foreign minister to Pakistan earlier this week was a “good beginning” that could lead to a thaw in relations between the two rivals, former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying by Indian media on Friday.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in Pakistan on Tuesday and Wednesday for a meeting of governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, with the capital city under tight lockdown.
“This is how talks move forward. Talks should not stop,” Sharif, the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz (PML-N), and the brother of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, told a group of visiting Indian journalists, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
Jaishankar was among nearly a dozen leaders participating in the gathering in Islamabad, nearly a decade since an Indian foreign minister has visited amid frosty relations between the two nuclear powers.
Jaishankar and his counterpart Ishaq Dar had an “informal interaction,” an official in Pakistani foreign ministry said on Thursday, but New Delhi denied that any sort of meeting had taken place.
“We had made it very clear that this particular visit is for SCO head of government meeting. Other than that, there were some pleasantries exchanged on the sidelines of the meeting,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday.
“We have lost the last 75 years and it is important we don’t lose the next 75 years,” Sharif was quoted as saying in the Times of India newspaper.

Topics: India Pakistan

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North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country
Updated 18 October 2024
Reuters
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North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un calls South Korea a foreign, hostile country
  • North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year
  • The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week
Updated 18 October 2024
Reuters

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has described South Korea as a foreign and hostile nation, state media KCNA reported on Friday with photos showing Kim and high-ranking military personnel at a command post poring over a map labelled “Seoul.”
The report comes a day after KCNA said North Korea amended its constitution to designate South Korea a “hostile state” and dropped unification of the two countries as a goal.
Kim has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year, accusing Seoul of colluding with Washington to seek the collapse of his regime.
The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week. Those actions underscored “not only the physical closure but also the end of the evil relationship with Seoul,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.
Seoul has said that if North Korea were to inflict harm upon the safety of its people, “that day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
Kim made the remarks while inspecting the headquarters of the 2nd Corps of North Korean army on Thursday, KCNA said. During the visit, he also said the changed nature of the South Korea-US alliance, and their different, more developed military maneuvers highlight the importance of a stronger North Korean nuclear deterrent.
“Kim is trying to mentally fortify the frontline soldiers with his comments” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“This ‘two hostile countries’ rhetoric is, in the end, Kim Jong Un’s survival strategy … Don’t interfere, live separately as a hostile country. It’s a path (North Korea) has never gone before, and no one can be sure about its success.”
On Sunday, South Korea will begin annual large-scale military exercises called Hoguk to improve operational performance, the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday.

Topics: Kim Jong Un North Korea South Korea

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