Section: Independent Online (South Africa)
‘Sex expert’ in Trump-Russia scandal pleads guilty in Thai ‘sex seminar’ case
Moscow – A model whose alleged affair with a Russian oligarch made her an unexpected player in probes over Moscow’s influence pleaded guilty Tuesday in Thailand to charges linked to a “sex training” seminar, setting the stage for her deportation. The model and self-described sex expert from Belarus, Anastasia Vashukevich,...
Model claiming to have damning Trump secrets to be released
Pattaya, Thailand – A Belarusian model who claimed she had proof of Russian efforts to help Donald Trump win office was ordered released on Tuesday, nearly a year after she was arrested in Thailand for participating in a “sex training course”. Anastasia Vashukevich, known by her pen name Nastya Rybka, has been held with several...
Why the FBI might have thought Trump could be working for Russia
Washington – The theory that President Donald Trump is or has been a Russian asset is a popular one among his detractors. But for the first time, we’re learning that it’s something the FBI suspected strongly enough to dig into. The Washington Post has confirmed that the FBI launched a counterintelligence inquiry into whether...
Officials claim Trump concealed details of face-to-face encounters with Putin
Washington – President Donald Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials,...
Nazi guard dies months after being booted from his US home
New York – A Nazi war criminal who was recently booted from his home in Queens and deported to Germany has died. Jakiw Palij, 95, worked as a guard at the Nazi German Trawniki SS camp in occupied Poland. When he arrived in the United States in 1949 he claimed he worked on his father’s farm in Poland and at a factory in Germany during...
In New Year letter to Trump, Putin says Moscow is open for dialogue
Moscow – Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a New Year letter to his US. counterpart Donald Trump said on Sunday that Moscow was ready for dialogue on a “wide-ranging agenda”, the Kremlin said. At the end of November, Trump abruptly cancelled a planned meeting with Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina, citing...
Entries open soon for Andrei Stenin contest for young photographers
Moscow – The International Press Photo Contest named after Andrei Stenin, a Rossiya Segodnya photojournalist who died in the line of duty in southeastern Ukraine, will on Saturday begin accepting submissions for its fifth year. The start date always falls on Stenin’s birthday, December 22. Entries from young photographers aged 18 to...
Putin holds his traditional end-of-year press conference
Moscow – President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the West was threatened by an increasingly powerful Russia, as he promised further economic growth during an end-of-year press conference. The annual event comes after months of increasing discontent at home and tensions abroad, from a stand-off with Ukraine to deteriorating ties with...
Clooney foundation launches global initiative to monitor court trials
Washington – A justice foundation created by George and Amal Clooney is set to announce on Wednesday a global initiative called TrialWatch to monitor court trials where there is a risk of abuse and to rank countries’ judicial systems. Working with the Columbia University Law School and the American Bar Association, the TrialWatch...
March 5 sentencing for former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort
Washington – A US District Court judge on Friday tentatively set a sentencing date of March 5 for Paul Manafort, the former campaign manager of President Donald Trump. Manafort, 69, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy and another of obstruction of justice and agreed to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s...
