Two attempts to overthrow French President Emmanuel Macron‘s administration in the country’s parliament have failed, paving the way for the implementation of his wildly unpopular pension reforms and igniting fresh demonstrations in Paris.

Last Thursday, the government used special constitutional powers to enact contentious legislation that would raise the retirement age for the majority of workers from 62 to 64.
The no-confidence votes that were held on Monday were requested by lawmakers who were against the action.

The first resolution, which was presented by the small parliamentary group “LIOT,” which is made up of a number of minor parties, was thought to pose the greatest threat to the ruling party.
Only nine votes separated the 278 votes it obtained from the required 287 votes for passage.

The second vote – tabled last week by far-right party National Rally – drew less support, with only 94 lawmakers voting in favor.

The government’s narrow survival will exacerbates the legitimacy crisis that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s cabinet and Macron’s presidency are facing.

“The Prime Minister must resign, taking her reform with her,” said Mathilde Panot, parliamentary leader of the communist party, following the vote.

The opposition is now looking to appeal to France’s constitutional council, the highest constitutional body in the country, in order to block part or all of the law. The council would have up to a month to consider any objections to the legislation.

Meanwhile, popular anger against the reforms shows no sign of ending, with protestors gathering in central Paris following the votes and clashing with police.

CNN affiliate BFMTV showed footage of spontaneous gatherings of people marching and chanting slogans against the government, and images showed trash being set on fire.

There was heavy police presence across the capital as demonstrators moved between locations. At least 70 people were detained in the city during the demonstrations on Monday evening local time, a police source told CNN.

With one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world, France also spends more than most other countries on pensions at nearly 14% of economic output, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation.

The government argues that the current system – relying on the working population to pay for a growing age group of retirees – is no longer fit for purpose.

Over the weekend, with protesters gathering spontaneously in several cities to decry both the reform and the government’s use of constitutional Article 49.3 to force the bill through the National Assembly without a vote – a tactic seen by critics as undemocratic.

There were 169 people detained during protests across France on Saturday, according to the Interior Ministry.

In addition, workers in various sectors have been taking industrial action to protest the move.

Authorities in charge of civil air traffic asked airlines to cancel 20% of their flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Air France warned of flight cancellations in the upcoming days.

Oil refineries and storage facilities were also impacted, with 39% of TotalEnergie workers on strike Monday, according to a statement from the company, and more than 10,000 tons of garbage littering the streets of Paris as trash collectors have been on strike for the past two weeks.

Unions have called for nationwide strikes and protests this Thursday, hoping to bring the country to a standstill.

At their height two weeks ago, street protests gathered 1.28 million people across the country, according to the French Interior Ministry.

In France, at least 310 individuals have been jailed as a result of protests against the struggling government’s imposition of pension reforms that will result in a two-year increase in the retirement age.

The majority of the 258 arrests made on Thursday night, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, were in Paris, the French radio station RTL said.
The streets of the city were calm by Friday morning, but as a result of the unplanned protests on Thursday night, government ministers were on the defensive.

The controversial plans to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 were rammed through by the government on Thursday, inflaming the nation’s weeks-long protest movement.

Government spokesperson Olivier Veran and Budget Minister Gabriel Attal both repeated President Emmanuel Macron’s claim that the government hadn’t wanted to use its constitutional power to push through the law. They were speaking to French outlets, LCI and France Inter respectively.

“If we don’t do [the reforms] today, it’s much more brutal measures that we will have to do in future,” Attal said.

Protesters briefly blocked Paris’ ring road on Friday morning in protest at the pension reform, causing long delays to the morning commute, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

And a strike by garbage workers that has left many streets in Paris full of trash bags is continuing. Interior minister Darmanin said he would order police to force some of them to work.

“I respect the strike of the garbage collectors,” he said, “however, what is not acceptable is unsanitary conditions.”

In a note Thursday night, the interior ministry, in the context of the reaction to the pension reforms, called on security forces to “firmly maintain” protections for elected officials in France, who, “are sometimes the object of threats, insults, or even malicious acts such as damage to property.”

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced in the National Assembly earlier Thursday that Macron would trigger special constitutional powers to enact the proposed pension reform bill.

“We cannot bet on the future of our pensions,” Borne said amid jeers and chants from lawmakers. “This reform is necessary.”

Labor leaders in France called for new demonstrations following Borne’s announcement, with several thousand people converging at Paris’ Place de la Concorde and in several other cities in France on Thursday evening.

“By resorting to [constitutional article] 49.3, the government demonstrates that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year postponement of the legal retirement age,” tweeted Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, one of the unions leading the protests.

Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT trade union, also called for more strikes and protests, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

Massive protests have been held regularly throughout France since mid-January, with millions turning out to voice their opposition to the government’s plan. Mass strikes have hit transport and education.

The government has argued that reform is necessary to keep the pension system’s finances out of the red in the coming years.

“The aim is to balance the accounts without raising taxes or cutting pensions. Various options are on the table, but all include raising the retirement age,” government spokesman Olivier Veran told journalists in January, according to Reuters.

The pension reform bill passed the French Senate earlier on Thursday, but would have faced more of a hurdle passing the National Assembly – the lower house of the country’s parliament.

The session was stopped early for Borne’s announcement. Lawmakers erupted into chaotic scenes as she explained the government’s decision, fighting to be heard as lawmakers sang French national anthem “La Marseillaise” and others held signs reading “No to 64 years.”

Borne also criticized far-right lawmakers in the lower house for not backing the legislation.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, called for the prime minister to step down.

“After the slap that the Prime Minister just gave the French people, by imposing a reform which they do not want, I think that Elisabeth Borne should go,” tweeted Le Pen on Thursday.

Pension reform in France, where the right to retire on a full pension at 62 is deeply cherished, is always a highly sensitive issue and even more so now with social discontent mounting over the surging cost of living.

But with one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world, France also spends more than most other countries on pensions at nearly 14% of economic output.

Ma Ying-jeou, a former president of Taiwan, will make his first journey to mainland China since the 1949 conclusion of the Chinese Civil War next week.

Ma, a prominent figure in Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, will visit mainland China between March 27 and April 7, according to a statement released by his foundation on Sunday.

According to the foundation, he will pay respects to his ancestors in the southwest Hunan Province and head a group of Taiwanese students who will meet with counterparts from mainland China in several locations.

While the trip is ostensibly a private one it is filled with historic symbolism and comes at a time of deepening tensions over the future of Taiwan.

China’s ruling Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan but claims the self-ruled island democracy as its own and has repeatedly refused to rule out taking it by force.

At the end of the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong’s Communist Party took control of mainland China while the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan– with both sides claiming to be the legitimate representative of China in the following decades, until Taiwan’s transition into a democracy in the 1990s.

But more recent decades saw increasingly ties warm between Beijing and the KMT, a rapprochement that reached its peak during Ma’s administration.

Ma served as Taiwan’s president between 2008 and 2016 during which he drew stronger economic ties between China and the democratically ruled island but kept Beijing’s push for reunification at bay.

His perceived closeness to Beijing, particularly on the economic front, sparked protests and a major voter backlash.

The KMT have lost the last two elections to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is much more skeptical toward Beijing and rejects the tacit understanding that both sides acknowledge they belong to “one China,” but with different interpretations of what that entails.

China’s leader Xi Jinping has ramped up economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan ever since the DPP took power in 2016.

Ma’s historic trip is taking place against that febrile geopolitical backdrop and comes as Taiwan and the United States ramp up efforts to counter China’s growing military capabilities.

His trip will also come at a politically sensitive time. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen will soon make a stopover in the US en route to diplomatic allies in Latin America, an official with Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council told lawmakers earlier this month. US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also said he plans to meet with her when she is in the US.

Taiwan is scheduled to hold its next presidential election in January next year. Tsai is not eligible for re-election.

Fears of a Chinese invasion have loomed over Taiwan for more than seven decades but they have been supercharged by both Xi’s increased assertiveness and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The KMT has long rejected being characterized as a “pro-Beijing” party. But its leadership, including Ma, have often pushed the need to improve ties.

The KMT’s deputy chairman Andrew Hsia visited Beijing last month to meet with senior Communist Party leader Wang Huning.

In contrast, Beijing has severed official communication with Taiwan’s Tsai-led government.

In 2015, Ma and Xi held a historic face-to-face meeting in Singapore – the first meeting between leaders of the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party since the end of the Chinese Civil War, although not on either side of the strait.

Ma’s foundation said a meeting between Xi and Ma is not currently being planned for the trip.

Taiwan’s presidential office said in a statement Sunday that Ma will be required to report details of his itinerary to the government before and after his visit to China.

When American soldiers imprisoned Salah Nsaif in Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib jail in 2003, he was 32 years old.

He fled his nation twenty years ago and now lives in distant Sweden with his wife and three kids, but the horrors of that country’s war never quite leave him.

“What occurred to me hurt a great deal.
When I left Iraq, it affected my personal relationships, Salah told CNN, adding that he felt imprisoned by his own thoughts.
“I withdrew myself because I didn’t want to see my child or anyone else.
It took me a while to get over my nightmares.

Two decades after the start of the US-led war in the country, Iraqis say that while some of the physical wounds may have healed over time, the psychological trauma from the conflict and its aftermath persists to this day.

On March 20, 2003, US President George W. Bush announced the beginning of the invasion of Iraq under the pretext of disarming it from weapons of mass destruction, a claim that was later debunked.

The invasion of Iraq evolved into an eight-year occupation with American military bases, checkpoints and soldiers dotted all over the country. It was followed by a civil war and a brutal Islamist insurgency that saw Iraq overwhelmed by sectarian violence and communal divisions.

For Salah and his family, the scars of imprisonment are felt to this day, both physically and mentally.

He was stripped naked several times, deprived of food, beaten, taunted by dogs and kept in solitary confinement, he told CNN.

Seeking professional mental health treatment is less common in Arab countries than in Western societies due to a social stigma. That’s why Salah didn’t consult a psychiatrist, he said. Instead, he sought comfort from his family, but it wasn’t always easy.

“You know, in Iraq, we have this culture of not talking to a doctor or a psychiatrist. We don’t even think about it,” he told CNN. “I needed to get out of this circle of fear and anxiety and move forward. At home things were difficult during the first few years with my wife – she became like an alien to me.”

Salah was working as a journalist with the Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera in Diyala, northeastern Iraq when US forces detained him.

He was never charged with a crime, according to Katherine Gallagher, a lawyer from the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights representing him in a 2008 lawsuit against a US government military contractor that was responsible for the interrogations in Abu Ghraib.

In the years that followed the invasion and the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s government, over 20,000 Iraqi prisoners of war were detained by US army officials.

Approximately 120,000 civilians were killed between the US military invasion and withdrawal, according to Iraq Body Count, an online database that tracks official statements, reports from hospitals and non-governmental organizations to document casualties from the Iraq war.

The Abu Ghraib prison scandal shook the world when it was exposed in 2004. Images of naked, leashed prisoners piled on top of each other in fetal positions as American soldiers smiled at the camera came to define the brutality of the war for many Iraqis.

“They would put a black bag over my head and force me to take my clothes off. They would leave me naked in my cell for days,” Salah said.

In the years that followed, documents that came to be known as the Torture Memos revealed such methods were authorized by the Bush administration under enhanced interrogation techniques. Human Rights Watch said this generally meant torture, sexual assault, and rape.

Abu Ghraib was first used by Hussein to detain Iraqis. The US military took over control from 2003 until 2006. Iraqi officials officially closed it in 2014.

Salah and his family immigrated to Sweden in 2017 and now hold Swedish citizenship. He and his children don’t talk about his ordeal. “They know what happened to me and that I was tortured… but never discussed the details. They just know it from Google.”

Alexandra Chen, a UK-based trauma specialist, told CNN that the trauma of war can be passed down generations, decades after the conflict ends.

“(If) one’s hypervigilance was a key element of them surviving a particularly traumatic period of their life,” she said, then that may “become methylated in your DNA so that your children and your grandchildren, in particular, have that ability to survive.”

Escaping these memories remains difficult for Salah. Twenty years later, he is still waiting for justice.

When the United States withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011, many Iraqis thought it was the dawn of a new era, one that would heal the horrific remnants of war.

But by the end of that year, a fanatical militant group reemerged that would wreak havoc in the country and far beyond it. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had by 2014 taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria, imposing its radical version of Islamic law in the territories it governed.

Abbas Al Duliami was five years old when the US occupied Iraq. He lived in Baghdad for the first few years until his family fled to Syria in 2007 to escape the carnage. Although he was young, he said he was robbed of a childhood.

Chen says this is prevalent in younger Iraqis.

“We assume that when they’re so young they don’t remember anything”, said Chen, adding that science shows the first five years of life are the most sensitive for brain growth.

Abbas returned to Baghdad with his family in 2011 hoping to start over, but ISIS threatened that new life with more upheaval, leading them to move again.

Now finishing his education in the United Arab Emirates, he said nightmares of war continue to haunt him.

“Growing up during these years was hard because I was a kid watching people being kidnapped or killed on the streets for years. It stays with me,” he told CNN.

For those who weren’t fortunate enough to escape, the trauma became a permanent part of their lives.

Ghofran Mohammed, 28, who still lives in Baghdad, was eight years old when the US invaded. She recalls watching soldiers arrest people daily.

She never spoke about the war with a mental health professional and said her family encouraged her to move on from the trauma.

“My parents told me to forget what I saw and continue my life and education after they saw I was traumatized,” she told CNN.

Chen, the trauma specialist, says children can absorb their parents’ distress when they start believing that they are the cause of the distress. That can affect their romantic relationships and their relationships with children, she says.

While therapy helps, she adds, it’s not the solution. “This is not rocket science. And the solution… in addition to the prevention of traumas, is for the wars to stop.”

Netanyahu government makes first climbdown on plan to weaken Israel’s judiciary

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a change Monday to a key part of its controversial plans to overhaul the country’s judicial system. Opposition leaders inside and outside the legislature immediately rejected the proposed changes as insufficient. The concession would give Israeli governments less power to select new judges – but still more power than it has now. The lawmaker leading the overhaul process, Simcha Rothman, announced the change to government plans, and also said parliament would delay passage of other elements of the plan until after the parliament’s Passover holiday in April.

• Background: The original bill to change how judges are selected would have established a selection committee where coalition-appointed members would have a clear majority. The new plan reduces the power of the coalition, giving them a one-seat majority of appointed spots on the judge selection committee. In another concession, it says that once two supreme court judges have been appointed by the committee, further judges can only be selected by a supermajority of the committee.
• Why it matters: The change announced by the government marks its first climbdown in the face of massive public protests and international pressure. For months, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have regularly taken to the streets to protest the overhaul. They’ve been joined by senior figures in Israel’s security, high-tech, financial and academic fields. Leaders of the Israel’s allies, including the US and Germany, have also expressed concern, calling for “consensus” to be reached on the reforms instead of the government imposing unilateral measures.

Iranian president invited to visit Riyadh by Saudi king – Iranian official

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz has written to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi inviting him to Riyadh, Deputy Chief of Staff for Political Affairs to Iran’s President Mohammad Jamshidi tweeted on Sunday, adding that Raisi welcomed the invitation and stressed Iran’s readiness to expand cooperation. There has been no confirmation by Saudi Arabia of the letter or invitation. Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said during a news conference on Sunday that the two countries had agreed to hold a meeting between their top diplomats.

• Background: On March 10, Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore ties in a Chinese-brokered deal seven years after diplomatic relations were severed between the two countries. Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in 2016 after its embassy was attacked following the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.

• Why it matters: A rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia could have a significant impact in calming regional tensions after decades of rivalry between the two that saw them engage in proxy conflicts in the Middle East. The Saudi finance minister said last week that it could even spur Saudi investment in Iran.

Yemen’s Houthis and government say prisoner exchange deal reached

The two sides in Yemen’s conflict on Monday said they had agreed to exchange some 880 detainees after talks in Switzerland facilitated by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, Reuters reported. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said it would release 181 detainees, including 15 Saudi and three Sudanese, in exchange for 706 prisoners from the government, according to statements on Twitter by the head of the Houthis’ prisoner affairs committee Abdul Qader al-Murtada and the group’s chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam.

• Background: The exchange of around 15,000 conflict-related detainees has been under discussion as a key confidence-building measure under a December 2018 UN-mediated deal known as the Stockholm Agreement. UN special envoy Hans Grundberg told the UN Security Council last week that there were intense diplomatic efforts at different levels to end the fighting in Yemen.

• Why it matters: There is hope that a deal could facilitate broader efforts to end the hostilities, which have been helped by the resumption of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia this month. The conflict in Yemen has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

A group of archeologists in the United Arab Emirates on Monday found what they believe to be the oldest pearling town in the Persian Gulf on Siniya Island, just east of the Umm al-Quwain emirate.

The 12-hectare (30-acre) town functioned between the late 6th and mid-8th centuries, predating the Islamic civilization, according to the Umm al-Quwain Department of Tourism and Archeology.

The findings show the town to be one of the “largest surviving urbanized settlements ever found” in what is today the UAE, and is believed to have housed thousands of residents, many of whom relied on the pearling industry. The houses were built from local beach rocks and materials from the surrounding environment and roofs were made of palm trunks.

While other pearling settlements are known to have existed in the region, this one is particularly unique, said Timothy Power, associate professor of archaeology at UAE University. Not only because of its age and size, but also because it was not seasonal, but rather operated year-round, he said.

“This is a different order of settlements, this is a proper town,” Power told CNN, adding that it was densely populated with a range of housing types, and included various socio-economic groups.

Residents of the town were likely Christian, as the settlement is located near an ancient Christian monastery that was discovered just last year, Power said.

The practice of pearling, where divers recover pearls from oysters or mussels from seas and lakes, has been part of the region’s heritage for more than 7,000 years, according to the Umm al-Quwain Department of Tourism.

“We know from historical clauses that there were other important pearling markets in this period,” Power said, but it was clear that pearling was a key industry for this town.

At peak times of the pearling market, huge numbers of people were involved in the industry, Power said. In neighboring Abu Dhabi, he added, almost two-thirds of the male population were involved in pearling in the 19th century.

After forcing through controversial pension reforms, French President Emmanuel Macron will face votes of no-confidence on Monday, drawing outrage from parliamentarians and nationwide protests.

Whatever of the outcome, Macron’s government is expected to survive the motions, and he will continue to serve as president. Yet, the backlash against the reforms doesn’t appear to be abating.

The contentious law to raise the retirement age for the majority of workers from 62 to 64 was forced through by the French government on Thursday by using special constitutional powers.

On Friday, French lawmakers filed two motions of no-confidence against the Prime Minister – one from a grouping of small parties, and one from National Rally, a far-right party.

In order to be successful, the majority of sitting lawmakers – 287 of them – would need to vote in favor.

If successful, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne would have to resign and the pension reform legislation would be rejected. This would leave French President Emmanuel Macron with the option to either replace the prime minister or dissolve the parliament.

The move to oust Macron’s government is believed to be unlikely to succeed, however, since the pension reforms also have the support of the Republican party, making it harder for the rest of the opposition parties to get the absolute majority needed.

“There will be no majority for these votes of no confidence. Responsibly, we do not want to add chaos to chaos and let our country sink into disorder,” the leader of the Republican group Eric Ciotti tweeted.

Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also downplayed suggestions that the vote might be successful.

“There will be no majority to bring the government down, but it will be a moment of truth,” Le Maire told local news outlet Le Parisien.

“I understand our countrymen’s fears and anxieties, but we will definitely not improve things by denying economic reality,” he added.

With one of the lowest retirement ages in the industrialized world, France also spends more than most other countries on pensions at nearly 14% of economic output, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation.

The government argues that the current system – relying on the working population to pay for a growing age group of retirees – is no longer fit for purpose.

Yet the protests took aim not only at the pension reform, but the constitutional power used to force it through.

Unable to gain majority support for the bill in parliament, Macron resorted to using Article 49.3, which enabled his government to pass the bill through the National Assembly without a vote.

The move has been widely condemned by protesters and lawmakers as undemocratic.

“We are facing a president who makes use of a permanent coup d’état,” Olivier Faure, leader of the French Socialist Party, told local media Thursday.

Over the weekend, protesters gathered spontaneously in several cities, sometimes clashing with the police.

There were 169 people detained during protests across France on Saturday, according to the Interior Ministry.

In addition, workers in various sectors have been taking industrial action to protest the move.

Authorities in charge of civil air traffic have asked airlines to cancel 20% of their flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Air France has warned of flight cancellations in the upcoming days.

Oil refineries and storage facilities are also impacted, with 39% of TotalEnergie workers on strike Monday, according to a statement from the company, and more than 10,000 tons of garbage are littering the streets of Paris as trash collectors have been on strike for the past two weeks.

And the situation could worsen as unions have called for nationwide strikes and protests this Thursday, hoping to bring the country to a standstill.

Former President of the United States of America (USA) Donald John Trump says he expects some members of the security particularly the FBI to pick him up in a swoop arrest come Tuesday March 21, 2023.

On Saturday, Trump announced he would be arrested on Tuesday in a criminal case involving hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, but there has been no official confirmation on the likelihood that charges will be brought.

Top Republicans, including some of Donald Trump’s potential rivals for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, rushed to his defence after the former president said he expected to be arrested next week.

“The idea of indicting a former president of the United States is deeply troubling to me, as it is to tens of millions of Americans,” said former vice-president Mike Pence, who is widely expected to launch a campaign for the Republican nomination in the coming weeks.

The reaction underscores the political risks faced by would-be opponents who are eager to convince voters that it is time to move on from the former president, but who must contend with the fact that he remains the most popular figure in the party.

Trump garnered similar support last summer after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago club as part of an investigation into his handling of classified documents. The search also proved a fundraising boon.

Among those coming to Trump’s defence on Saturday were House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who said a possible indictment would be “an outrageous abuse of power by a radical DA [district attorney] who lets violent criminals walk as he pursues political vengeance” against Trump.

McCarthy said he would direct relevant Republican-led House committees “to immediately investigate if federal funds are being used to subvert our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated prosecutions”. McCarthy has not endorsed Trump’s White House campaign, but Trump helped McCarthy secure the speakership after a contentious campaign that required multiple rounds of voting.

McCarthy’s predecessor as speaker, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said in a statement, “the former president’s announcement this morning is reckless: doing so to keep himself in the news and to foment unrest among his supporters.”

“He cannot hide from his violations of the law, disrespect for our elections and incitements to violence.”

On Saturday, Trump posted a message on his Truth Social platform, referring to himself in the third person, saying: “The far and away leading Republican candidate and former president of the United States of America will be arrested on Tuesday of next week.”

Law enforcement officials in New York have been making security preparations for the possibility that Trump could be indicted, but there has been no public announcement of any timeframe or any indictment.

Donald Trump in Davenport, Iowa, on 13 March.
A spokesperson and a lawyer for Trump said later on Saturday that his post was based on media reports rather than any actual update from, or communication with, prosecutors. Trump’s post cited “illegal leaks from a corrupt and highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office”.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment.

In his post, Trump called on his supporters to “PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!”

The post evoked the message from the then-president that preceded the insurrection by extremist supporters at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 which ultimately failed to thwart the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.

As per reports, a rich friend of the Duchess of York is being sued in the US for allegedly funding a sex trafficking organization.

Trammell Crow, 72, with whom Sarah Ferguson allegedly struck up a connection, is charged with funding the operation that resulted in the assault of two women.

The court documents submitted in California accuse the £6 billion Texas tycoon of a number of allegations.

The lawsuit was filed by two women, Julia Hubbard and Kayla Goedinghaus against Mr Crow and his associates in a court in November, it has been reported.

They claimed that the ring was run by a man called Richard Hubbard with the ‘with the essential financial assistance and influence’ of Mr Crow.

The Duchess, 63, and Mr Crow are said to have bonded over their shared interest in environmental issues – their friendship was first reported at the beginning of the month.

The lawsuit claims that Mr Hubbard used ‘force, threats of force, fraud, or coercion to compel Hubbard and Goedinghaus to engage in commercial sex acts’.

The case was filed under laws governing racketeering and it claims that the defendants ‘conspired together’ to commit offences including human trafficking.

The women claim that Mr Hubbard forced the alleged victims to take drugs like Xanax ‘in order to force them to participate in sex acts’.

It is alleged that Mr Crow was ‘key to the venture’s existence and long-running success’ as he invested in it.

The lawsuit states: ‘Crow maintained what he called lingerie rooms in each property he owned in which he kept a variety of lingerie for female guests to wear, as well as what he called ‘stripper shoes’.’

There are a number of other claims in the legal papers about sex parties and drugs that allegedly involved Mr Crow.

In a request to dismiss the case, Mr Crow’s lawyer Ken Stone said the plaintiffs were either married or used to be in relationships with the men they were accusing.

The document states: ‘Plaintiffs’ attempt to leverage their long-running domestic quarrels into federal human trafficking and (racketeering) claims is a cynical attempt to extract financial gain from persons who were unfortunate enough to cross paths with them’.

The allegations include that Ms Hubbard met Mr Crow while she ‘worked at a Dallas gentleman’s club’.

The motion to dismiss states: ‘Ms. Hubbard alleges that she became close friends with Mr. Crow, such that they exchanged text messages, he would ‘allow himself to be photographed with her’ and he invited her to attend charity events while she invited him to her modeling events.

According to Mr Stone there are ‘no allegations that Mr. Crow was ever romantically or sexually involved with Ms. Hubbard’.

The complaint fails to allege any sex trafficking crime against Mr Crow and instead attempts to ‘smear’ him with ‘allegations concerning his lifestyle’, the document states.

In a statement Mr Stone said the accusations were ‘absurd and blatantly false’.

He told The Sun: ‘The story shared by the Plaintiffs is upsetting and paints a picture of numerous troubled and broken domestic relationships.

‘We are certain this will be made clear in future legal proceedings’.

A spokesman for the Duchess said: ‘The Duchess has only met Mr Crow once with others to discuss environmental issues.’

Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, is in advanced talks to to purchase all or a portion of Credit Suisse, a troubled rival..

After claiming to have discovered “significant weakness” in its financial reporting, Credit Suisse is experiencing a crisis of trust, and its shares have dropped precipitously recently.

The Swiss National Bank’s emergency $54 billion (£44.5 billion) bailout hasn’t made a difference.

Regulators are trying to facilitate a deal before markets reopen on Monday.

There are concerns that Credit Suisse shares could continue to plummet, after they fell 24% on Wednesday.

This prompted a general sell-off on European markets, and fears of a wider financial crisis.

The Swiss government held an emergency meeting on Saturday night, but so far there has been no official statement on the progress of the negotiations.

UBS is said to have asked the Swiss government to cover about $6bn (£4.9bn) in costs if it were to buy Credit Suisse, according to sources quoted by Reuters.

Any deal may also result in significant job losses.

The problems have coincided with the failure of two lenders in the US – Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank – raising fears over the health of the banking system.

Credit Suisse, which was founded in 1856, has faced a string of scandals in recent years, including money laundering charges.

It reported a loss of 7.3bn Swiss francs ($7.9bn; £6.5bn) in 2022 – its worst year since the financial crisis of 2008 – and has warned it does not expect to be profitable until 2024.

UBS, however, made a profit of $7.6bn in 2022.

As well as being a domestic bank with 95 branches, Credit Suisse has a global investment banking operation and manages the assets of rich clients.

It is one of 30 banks worldwide deemed too big to fail because they are of such importance to the international banking system.

At the end of last year Credit Suisse had a global staff of 50,480, including 16,700 in Switzerland, though 9,000 jobs were to be axed, the Swiss broadcaster SRF reports.

China and Russia announced a visit to Moscow by President Xi Jinping next week. Beijing, a longtime Moscow ally, seeks a peace mediator role over the war in Ukraine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to Russia next week, Beijing and Moscow said on Friday.

The Kremlin said the three-day trip will take place “at the invitation” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

The announcement came on the same day that the International Criminal Court at The Hague issued a rare arrest warrant for Putin for alleged war crimes over the Ukraine conflict.

The West is suspicious of China’sChina’s close relations with Russiaand Beijing’s vow to stay neutral in the nearly 13-month-old conflict.

What is on the agenda?
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Xi would have a one-to-one meeting over an informal dinner Monday. On Tuesday, officials from both countries are set to take part in broader talks.

“During the talks, they will discuss topical issues of further development of comprehensive partnership relations and strategic cooperation between Russia and China,” the Kremlin said. “A number of important bilateral documents will be signed,” it added.

Putin wants closer military ties with China

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China’s Foreign Ministry described Xi’s trip as “a visit for peace” that aimed to “practice true multilateralism… improve global governance and make contributions to the development and progress of the world.”

“At present, changes not seen in a century are rapidly evolving, and the world has entered a new period of turmoil,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press conference.

“China will uphold its objective and fair position on the Ukrainian crisis and play a constructive role in promoting peace talks.”

Beijing’s peace efforts
China has previously offered to broker peace in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But Beijing’s refusal to condemn Russia’s war has prompted the West to react to its mediation efforts with skepticism.

Top-ranking US officials have even accused China of supplying Russia with arms for its ongoing war in Ukraine. China has denied these claims.

On Friday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US would oppose any effort by China at the meeting to propose a cease-fire in Ukraine as the “ratification of Russian conquest.”

“We also hope that President Xi will reach out to President Zelenskyy directly, as we continue to believe that it’s very important that he hears from the Ukrainian side as well and not just from Mr. Putin,” Kirby added.

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Kyiv attempts to boost Beijing ties
Kyiv has sought to strengthen its relations with Beijing and on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Zelenskyy urged China to take part in a summit to discuss Kyiv’s so-called peace formula.

Ukraine has repeatedly said that any plan to end the war must involve the full withdrawal of Russian troops to Ukraine’s borders in 1991, the year the Soviet Union was dissolved.

China’s top diplomat Qin Gang held a rare phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, on Thursday.

Qin told Kuleba that Beijing “always upheld an objective and fair stance on the Ukraine issue, has committed itself to promote peace and advancing negotiations and calls on the international community to create conditions for peace talks,” according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

Kuleba wrote on Twitter that he “underscored the importance of Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula for ending the aggression and restoring just peace in Ukraine.”

Chinese-Russian ‘no limit’ ties
In February 2022, Beijing and Moscow struck a “no limits” partnership when Putin was visiting China for the opening of the Winter Olympics — weeks before launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Since then, both countries have reaffirmed the strength of their ties.

In late December, Putin invited Xi to Russia over a conference video call to “demonstrate to the whole world the strength of the Russian-Chinese ties.” He further said that the visit could “become the main political event of the year in bilateral relations.”

Trade between the two countries has increased since the invasion last year. China is Russia’s biggest buyer of oil, a key source of revenue for Moscow at a time when the European Union and its allies have economically boycotted the Kremlin.

In central Paris, protesters and police have once more exchanged blows over the French government’s proposed pension reforms.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the thousands of protesters who set fires and some of whom tossed firecrackers at them.

Since President Emmanuel Macron chose to enact the divisive measures to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote, there have been two nights of disturbance.

No-confidence motions have been filed against his government in response.

The first was signed by independents and members of the left-wing Nupes coalition in parliament, while a second came from the far-right National Rally party.

Both are expected to be debated early next week.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally MPs in parliament, called the decision to push through the pension changes “a total failure for the government”.

Police made dozens of arrests during the unrest at Place de la Concorde, not far from the parliament building.

Protests also took place on Friday in other French cities – notably Bordeaux, Toulon and Strasbourg.

“We won’t give up,” one demonstrator told AFP news agency. “There’s still hope that the reform can be revoked.”

Another told Reuters that pushing the legislation through without a vote was “a denial of democracy… a total denial of what has been happening in the streets for several weeks”.

The government has said the changes to pensions are essential to ensure the system is not overburdened and prevent it collapsing.

But many people, including union members, disagree and France has now seen more than two months of heated political debate and strikes over the issue.

Transport, public services and schools have all been affected, while a rolling walkout by waste collectors has seen thousands of tonnes of rubbish left on the streets of the capital.

Fuel deliveries have also been blocked and there are plans to stop production at a large refinery in Normandy in the coming days.

“Changing the government or prime minister will not put out this fire, only withdrawing the reform,” said the head of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger.

Source: BBC