German public prosecutor files lawsuit against four VW executives

03:16, November 13, 2019

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  Mulvaney to file his own impeachment lawsuit, lawyers say

  In this Oct. 17, 2019 file photo, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney speaks in the White House briefing room in Washington. (Photo: AP)White House acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney plans to file his own lawsuit over testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, withdrawing his bid to join a separate case filed last month by a former Trump adviser, his attorneys said Monday.The plans were revealed in a court filing that withdrew Mulvaney’s earlier request to become part of a suit by Charles Kupperman, the president’s former deputy national security adviser.Lawyers for Mulvaney had asked Friday evening to join that lawsuit, saying his case presented similar legal issues to that of Kupperman. But they switched course following a conference call with a federal judge. They said they instead plan to file their own lawsuit asking a court to rule on whether Mulvaney must follow a subpoena from Congress directing him to testify or an order from the White House that he not appear.Mulvaney faced opposition from lawyers for both Kupperman and House lawmakers in his bid to join the lawsuit, underscoring the lack of a unified approach from Trump administration officials in responding to the impeachment inquiry, which enters a critical public phase this week. Several people have testified in defiance of White House orders, while others have skipped their scheduled appearances.Kupperman’s lawsuit aims to have a court decide on compliance with congressional subpoenas and to resolve conflicting directives from the White House and Congress. He asked a judge to determine which branch of government should prevail.Like Kupperman, Mulvaney has defied a subpoena from impeachment investigators. Kupperman’s subpoena has since been withdrawn. His lawyer also represents former national security adviser John Bolton, who did not appear for a scheduled interview last week and has not been subpoenaed.Lawyers for Mulvaney had said their arguments raised similar issues that belong in th...

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  New testimony against Trump as impeachment goes public

  Career Foreign Service officer George Kent and top US diplomat in Ukraine William Taylor, right, are sworn in to testify during the first public impeachment hearing of the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill, Wednesday Nov. 13, 2019 in Washington.(Photo: AP)A top American diplomat revealed new evidence Wednesday of President Donald Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine to investigate political rivals as House investigators launched public impeachment hearings for just the fourth time in the nation’s history.William Taylor, the highest-ranking US official in Ukraine, said for the first time that Trump was overheard asking another ambassador about “the investigations” he’d urged Ukraine’s leader to conduct one day earlier. Taylor said he learned of Trump’s phone call with the ambassador only in recent days.It was allpart of what Taylor called the “irregular channel,”a shadow foreign policy orchestrated by the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, outside traditional oversight that raised alarms in diplomatic and national security circles.Republicans retorted that the Democrats still have no more than second- and third-hand knowledge of allegations thatTrump held up millions of dollars in military aidfor the Eastern European nation facing Russian aggression in return for Ukrainian investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee.The hearing, the first on television for the nation to see, provided hours of partisan back-and-forth but so far no singular moment etched in the public consciousness as grounds for removing the 45th president from office. Trump, who was meeting at the White House with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, declared he was “too busy” to watch.The long day of testimony unfolded partly the way Democrats leading the inquiry wanted: in the somber tones of two career foreign service officers who described confusion both within the US government and in Ukraine about what Trum...

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  HKSAR chief executive condemns knife attack against Hong Kong lawmaker

  (Photo: social media)HONG KONG, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam condemned the knife attack against a Hong Kong lawmaker on Wednesday, stressing that the society should never tolerate any violence.Lam said she believed Junius Ho, an HKSAR lawmaker running for the re-election in district council of Tuen Mun, was attacked as a district council election candidate during his campaign. Lam sent her regards to him, hoping him to recover soon, according to the HKSAR government.Ho was stabbed in the left side of his chest by a male in his election campaign event near Richland Garden, Tuen Mun, on Wednesday morning. He was sent to a hospital and fortunately not in a life-threatening condition.Two of Hos colleagues sustained injuries in hands and arms.Lam said she feared that the escalating violence in Hong Kong during the past months would be infectious and that some people are becoming more tolerant of violent behaviors.But no act of violence should be tolerated in any civilized societies, which should rather be condemned by the whole community, she said.Lam also said she noticed that because the attack against Ho took place during the district council election campaign, some political groups in Hong Kong are now concerned if some people have intentions or have planned to sabotage the election.The chief executive stressed that the HKSAR government will, like always, work to hold a fair, just and safe election and the whole society must jointly condemn any actions sabotaging the election, especially the violent ones.