Monday May 29, 2017
After summits with Trump, Merkel says Europe must take fate into own hands
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) and Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi (2-L) at the G7 Summit expanded session in Taormina, Sicily, Italy, Saturday. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Reuters - Europe can no longer completely rely on its allies, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday, pointing to bruising meetings of G7 wealthy nations and NATO last week. Merkel did not mention by name U.S. President Donald Trump, who criticised major NATO allies and refused to
endorse a global climate change accord, but she told a packed beer tent in Munich that the days when Europe could completely count on others were “over to a certain extent”. “I have experienced this in the last few days,” she said. “And that is why I can only say that we Europeans must
really take our fate into our own hands - of course in friendship with the United States of America, in friendship with Great Britain and as good neighbours wherever that is possible also with other countries, even with Russia.” “But we have to know that we must fight for our future
on our own, for our destiny as Europeans,” Merkel said. The two-day G7 summit in Italy pitted Trump against the leaders of Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan on several issues, with European diplomats frustrated at having to revisit questions they had hoped were long settled. The American tycoonturned-president backed a pledge to fight protectionism at the end of the G7 summit on Saturday, but refused to endorse the climate pact, saying he needed more time to decide. But EU Council President Donald Tusk said on Sunday he was more optimistic now than after the U.S. election last November after EU leaders held talks with Trump in Brussels. “What I am absolutely sure after this meeting is that despite some extraordinary ... expressions, behaviours, etc, etc, our partners in the G7 are much more responsible than the first impression after the election in the United States,” Tusk said in the Slovak capital.
U.S. MIGHT BAN LAPTOPS ON ALL FLIGHTS INTO AND OUT OF THE COUNTRY Reuters - The United States might ban laptops from aircraft cabins on all flights into and out of the country as part of a ramped-up effort to protect against potential security threats, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said yesterday. In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Kelly said the United States planned to “raise the bar” on airline security, including tightening screening of carry-on items. “That’s the thing that they are obsessed with, the terrorists, the idea of knocking down an airplane in flight, particularly if it’s a U.S. carrier, particularly if it’s full
of U.S. people.” In March, the government imposed restrictions on large electronic devices in aircraft cabins on flights from 10 airports, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey. Kelly said the move would be part of a broader airline security effort to combat what he called “a real sophisticated threat.” He said no decision had been made as to the timing of any ban. “We are still following the intelligence,” he said, “and are in the process of defining this, but we’re going to raise the bar generally speaking for aviation much higher than it is now.”
John Kelly Airlines are concerned that a broad ban on laptops
may erode customer demand. But none wants an incident aboard one of its airplanes. “Whatever comes out, we’ll have to comply with,” Oscar Munoz, chief executive officer of United Airlines (UAL.N), told the company’s annual meeting last week. Airlines were blindsided in January when President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning entry for 90 days to citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, sending airlines scrambling to determine who could board and who could not. The order was later blocked in the courts.
Britain says some of Manchester bomber’s network potentially still at large
Reuters - Members of Manchester suicide bomber Salman Abedi’s network are still potentially at large, British interior minister Amber Rudd said yesterday, after the terrorism threat level was lowered because of significant progress in the investigation. Police said they have arrested a large part of the network behind the bombing, which killed 22 people at a concert hall, and four more
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men were arrested over the weekend as police continued to close in on the group. Asked during an interview on BBC television whether some of the group were still at large, Rudd said: “Potentially. It is an ongoing operation. There are 11 people in custody, the operation is still really at full tilt in a way.” Greater Manchester Police said yesterday they had arrested a 25-year-old
man and a 19-year-old man on suspicion of terrorism offences, taking the total number of people arrested in connection with the attack to 15. Prime Minister Theresa May said developments in the investigation into the bombing meant that intelligence experts had decided to lower the threat level from its highest rating “critical”, meaning an attack could be imminent, to “severe”.
Salman Abedi
Trump attacks ‘fake news’ following Kushner reports
U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and his son-in-law Jared Kushner. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo Reuters - U.S. President Donald Trump attacked the news media and dismissed leaks from the White House as “fake news” yesterday, following reports his son-inlaw tried to set up a secret channel of communications with Moscow before Trump took office. Shortly after Trump’s remarks on Twitter, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly made the rounds of yesterday television news shows to praise any so-called back channel communications, especially with Russia, as “a good thing.” The Republican president returned to the White House after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe that ended on Saturday to face more questions about alleged communications between Jared Kushner and Russia’s ambassador to Washington. “It is my opinion that many of the leaks coming out of the White House are fabricated lies made up by the #FakeNews media,” Trump wrote in a series of Twitter posts yesterday. The White House faces mounting questions about potential ties between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign, which are also the subject of criminal and congressional investigations. Trump officials were preparing to establish a “war room” to address an issue that has begun to dominate his young presidency. Aides said Trump was expected to meet with lawyers as early as yesterday, the New York Times reported. Two Republican U.S. senators played down the Kushner reports yesterday, while the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, took a darker view of such contacts with representatives of Russian
President Vladimir Putin. “My dashboard warning light was clearly on and I think that was the case with all of us in the intelligence community - very concerned about the nature of these approaches to the Russians,” Clapper told NBC’s “Meet The Press.” Kushner, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, had contacts with Moscow in December about opening a secret back channel of communications, according to news reports published while Trump was away on his trip.
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