Donald Trump warns that Iran must never be allowed nuclear weapons

The President said the risk was of a nuclear Iran was so great other Arab nations are finding themselves siding with the Jewish state.

ByChristopher Bucktin

Donald Trump kicked off his Israel tour with a warning to Iran over its nuclear ambitions (Photo: REUTERS)

Donald Trump began his visit to Israel today by warning of the threat posed by Iran if it acquires nuclear weapons.
The President said the risk was so great other Arab nations are finding themselves siding with the Jewish state.
Iran has spent years building a nuclear program with the goal of producing a weapon capable of reaching Israel.
President Trump stood beside Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jersualem today as he said: “Iran must never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.”
He said Iran must also ‘cease its deadly funding, training and equipping of terrorists and militias’.
Following his arrival today President Trump indicated he hoped the common goal of preventing Tehran from building a nuclear capability would help unite Israel and Palestine.

Shortly after his speech, Mr Trump made a historic visit to the Western Wall, becoming the first sitting US president to visit one of Judaism’s holiest sites.
The White House refused for him to be accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the site’s location is in dispute.
The US has not officially recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital because government officials have wanted its status determined by Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Mr Trump, wearing a skullcap, placed his right hand on the wall and swayed slightly back and forth with his eyes closed.
He was flanked by his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner , who is Jewish, and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovich.
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a white folded up note, and placed it into a crack in the wall.

Trump is the first sitting president to visit Israel's Western Wall (Photo: AFP)

The tradition sees slips of paper containing written prayers to God placed in the wall.
Over a million notes are placed in the wall each year.
They are collected twice a year and buried on the Mount of Olives.
Meanwhile, first lady Melania Trump was seen standing in front of the small portion of the wall devoted to women.
The President flew into Israel from Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, where he gave a speech to Arab and Muslim leaders at a summit.
Mr Trump will hold talks with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
He has called an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement ‘the ultimate deal’ but has been vague about how it should happen, saying he prefers to leave it to both sides to decide between them in direct talks.

Trump is to hold talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders (Photo: AFP)

The two-day visit to Israel forms part of Trump’s first foreign trip as US president.
Despite Trump’s Middle East visit, the controversy surrounding the investigation into Russia meddling in last year’s election remains the main focus of US attention.
Today it emerged former national security adviser Michael Flynn will invoke his Fifth Amendment rights and not comply with a Senate Intelligence Committee subpoena.
He had previously offered to testify before the Senate and House Intelligence committees in exchange for immunity, but neither committee accepted the offer.
Flynn was fired from his post as national security adviser in February for misleading Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials about conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Russian officials reportedly bragged during the 2016 campaign that they could use Flynn to influence Trump in the White House.

Culled from Mirror

Middle-class pensioners to lose benefits under Tory plan to fund social care

Theresa May will launch the Tory manifesto on Thursday Credit: AFP

• Gordon Rayner, Political Editor
• Steven Swinford, Deputy Political Editor

17 May 2017 • 10:32pm

Middle-class pensioners are to lose benefits under Conservative plans to fund social care, Theresa May will announce on Thursday.
The Conservative manifesto will set out plans to begin means-testing winter fuel payments and to charge more people who currently receive free care in their own home.
The money saved from means-testing the annual heating handout, worth up to £300, will be used to help close the £2.8 billion social care funding gap.

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The Conservatives will also pass legislation to ensure nobody has to sell their home to pay for their care during their lifetime, and new rules will allow pensioners needing nursing home treatment to keep more of their assets.
The flagship policy marks a gamble as it risks angering core older Tory supporters. David Cameron repeatedly pledged to maintain universal pensioner benefits, but Mrs May’s team believes that pensioners can no longer be fully protected from austerity.
On Wednesday it was unclear whether the Prime Minister would also abandon the so-called triple-lock, which guarantees a rise in the state pension every year.
Writing in Thursday's Telegraph, Mrs May defends the welfare cuts by saying she is prepared to “take the big, difficult decisions that are right for our country in the long term”.

Hammond says reports of rift with PM's staff are 'tittle-tattle' 00:52

She says the manifesto, which will be unveiled in West Yorkshire, will “confront the great challenges of our time”.
The  Telegraph understands that the manifesto will also:

• Pledge to end the controversial policy of universal free school lunches for infants to fund an extra £1 billion per year for education – a funding commitment that will see every school receive more money;
•  Ditch the tax triple-lock that guaranteed no rises in income tax, national insurance or VAT, but will contain a general commitment to lower taxes;
• Keep a pledge to bring down immigration to the tens of thousands, but with no “arbitrary” deadline;
• Maintain the current policy of increasing the tax-free personal allowance to £12,500 by 2020 and the policy of increasing the 40p tax threshold to £50,000 by 2020;
• Eradicate the deficit by the middle of the next decade;
• Double the immigration skills charge – currently £1,000 per year – levied on companies for each non-EU national they employ. 

General election morning briefing: five things to know 00:57

Acknowledging that her plans will prove unpopular with some pensioners, the Prime Minister will say: “People are rightly sceptical of politicians who claim to have easy answers to deeply complex problems. It is the responsibility of leaders to be straight with people about the challenges ahead and the hard work required to overcome them.”

By means-testing winter fuel payments, which were introduced by Gordon Brown in 1997 and stand at £200 (rising to £300 for over-80s), the Conservatives could save more than £1.7 billion if they restrict the payments only to those who are classed as living in fuel poverty.

In 2015 Labour proposed a similar, but less far-reaching policy that would have removed the benefit from pensioners in higher tax brackets. It was criticised by the Tories at the time, who said it was unfair on those who had already retired.
The second part of the funding plan is to charge pensioners with assets of more than £100,000 for domiciliary care. For the first time, the value of pensioners’ homes will be taken into account when they are means-tested for care visits, meaning far more people will have to pay towards the cost.

Theresa May: I've always been in favour of foxhunting 01:09

At present around 870,000 people in the UK receive care visits in their homes, some of which is already privately funded. Mrs May will also emphasise her new policy of allowing all pensioners to keep assets of at least £100,000, rather than the current limit of £23,250, and legislating to ensure that nobody is forced out of their home to pay for their care.
On schools, Mrs May will also head off a middle-class rebellion over a proposed new funding formula that would have taken money away from good schools to boost funding for poorly performing schools.
Extra money will now be found to ensure that no school will be worse off when the new formula kicks in.

It will largely be paid for by scrapping universal free school meals for infants. School lunches for infants will now be means-tested as they are for older children. To soften the blow, all children will be offered free school breakfasts.

David Cameron said in his 2015 manifesto he would cap care contributions at £72,000 Credit: Getty

Culled from Telegraph

EFCC arraigns Babangida for alleged money laundering

By Bridget Chiedu Onochie (Abuja) and Yetunde Ayobami Ojo (Lagos)  

Both Aliyu and Nasko were alleged to have diverted the money into the account of a private company – D-Sabrin International Limited through the Niger State Commissioner for Environment.

Re-arraigns Ajudua
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, before the Federal High Court, Abuja on eight-count charge bordering on money laundering.
Aliyu was docked yesterday alongside his former Chief of Staff and the 2015 governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Umar Nasko, over allegation of conspiracy and diversion of over N1 billion Ecological Fund received from the Federal Government in 2014 on behalf of the state.
Both Aliyu and Nasko were alleged to have diverted the money into the account of a private company – D-Sabrin International Limited through the Niger State Commissioner for Environment.


However, the defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charge and therefore, prayed the court to allow them on bail pending the determination of the criminal charge against them. The defendants through their counsel, Mr. Mamman Usman (SAN), had argued that the offences for which they were charged were bailable and considering also that they were earlier granted administrative bail by the anti-graft agency.
In a bench ruling, the trial Judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, granted the former governor and his co-defendant bail to the sum N200 million with two sureties each.
Justice Dimgba held that the sureties could be public servants or professionals. He further ordered the defendants to surrender their international passports to the court registrar.
The case has been adjourned till July 6 and 7 for hearing. Also yesterday, the EFCC re-arraigned Lagos socialite, Fred Ajudua for allegedly defrauding a former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi of $10.3 million.
Ajudua was re-arraigned before a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on 28-count charge bordering on conspiracy to obtain money by false pretence. He pleaded not guilty to the offence of fraud he was alleged to have committed in 2004 alongside five accomplices.
The trial judge, Justice Josephine Oyefeso adjourned hearing of pending applications till July 12, 2017.
Guardian