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US Attorney General to Leave Post by Christmas

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US Attorney General William Barr, one of Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, is stepping down before Christmas, the president has announced.

Mr Barr’s term was due to end on 20 January, when Mr Trump leaves office.

Tensions between the two erupted after Mr Barr said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in November’s vote.

He was criticised by Mr Trump for not publicly disclosing that the justice department was investigating Joe Biden’s son during the campaign.

Mr Trump tweeted Mr Barr’s resignation letter saying: “Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job”.

Mr Barr’s letter to the president began by saying he “appreciated the opportunity to update” the president on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) review of voter fraud allegations in the recent election and “how these allegations will continue to be pursued”.

He did not give more details about the review, and praised Mr Trump’s achievements in office before ending the letter by saying he will depart from his position on 23 December.

Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will serve as acting attorney general, Mr Trump said.

Rumours that Attorney General Barr was eying an early exit from the Trump administration turned out to be true. Although he received a traditional Trump send-off – his departure announced via Twitter – the president was cordial, thanking him and posting his effusive resignation letter.

If there were any discord over the attorney general’s recent handling of election investigations – his assertion that he had seen no evidence of widespread fraud – it did not spill into public view.

Mr Barr probably will best be remembered for his management of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. He defused what could have been a political bomb for the president by giving an advanced summary of the independent counsel’s full report in a four-page memo that downplayed many of its more serious allegations.

Perhaps the president’s gratitude for that service outweighed any of their more recent disagreements and allowed them to part on amicable terms. Or perhaps in the waning days of the Trump presidency, there was no sense fighting on the way out the door.

With William Barr gone, however, there may be less institutional resistance if President Trump decides to bypass traditional Justice Department procedures and issue a spate of controversial pardons for his closest allies. By exiting now, Mr Barr is affording himself the ability to stay silent on such matters.

Mr Barr, 70, had previously served as attorney general under President George Bush in the early 1990s.

He came out of semi-retirement in 2019 to replace Jeff Sessions, who was forced out by President Trump over the justice department’s appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

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Russian Army Fires Ballistic Missiles at Kiev from Crimean Peninsula

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The Russian Army has hit the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, with ballistic missiles, injuring four people and damaging an uninhabited three-storey building, according to officials.

Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko said  that two of the injured  people were in a central neighbourhood and  had been taken to hospital.

Rocket debris also fell in two other neighbourhoods.

According to the Ukrainian air force, two ballistic missiles were fired at the city of millions, from the Russian-controlled Crimea Peninsula.

Both were shot down.

Half a dozen explosions from anti-aircraft missiles had previously been heard in the city centre.

The air raid warning was only triggered a few seconds beforehand, it said.

Ukraine has been facing  Russian invasion for over two years.

Since then, the Ukrainian air defence system has been massively reinforced with Western systems. (dpa/NAN)

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Cambodia Arrests 2 Foreigners for Smuggling 2.27 kg Narcotics

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Cambodian customs police at the Phnom Penh International Airport said they have arrested two South Korean nationals for an attempt to smuggle 2.27 kg narcotics to South Korea.

The duo, a man and woman, were caught Sunday night while they checked in for a ZA215 flight bound for Seoul.

The General Department of Customs and Excise of Cambodia said in a news release on Monday.

In their body searches, our customs officials found many packs of drugs wrapped around their waists, the news release said.

“As a result, some 1.29 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 0.98 kg of ketamine were seized from the two suspects’ possession.’’

The Southeast Asian country has no death sentence for a drug trafficker.

Under its law, someone found guilty of trafficking more than 80 grammes of illicit drugs could be jailed for life.

According to the country’s Anti-Drug Department (ADP), Cambodia nabbed 3,899 drug-related suspects, including 106 foreigners, in 1,659 cases from Jan. 1 to March 3, 2024.

According to the report they confiscated a total of 2.79 tonnes of narcotics.

Most of the seized drugs were ketamine, crystal methamphetamine, methamphetamine tablets, heroin, ecstasy, and cocaine. (Xinhua/NAN)

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February Ends with Extreme Heat – WMO

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The UN weather agency, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), says February saw more extreme heat and unusually high temperatures in both hemispheres.

Summarising the state of the climate, it said the month ended with extreme heat in the southern hemisphere where it is summer, while high temperatures atypical of the northern hemisphere winter prevailed.

Parts of North and South America, northwest and southeast Africa, southeast and far eastern Asia, western Australia and Europe all saw record-breaking temperatures, either on a daily basis or for all of February.

“The anomalous heat is consistent with the persisting warming observed since June 2023, with seven consecutive new global monthly temperature records, including January 2024,” Alvaro Silva, a climatologist working with the WMO, said in a statement.

Global sea surface temperatures were record high. While the El Niño weather pattern “has stoked temperatures in some parts of the world, human induced climate change is the long-term major contributing factor,” he added.

Conversely, a large part of northwestern Canada, central Asia – and from southern central Siberia to southeastern China – witnessed exceptional cold during the last week of the month.

The meteorological winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the southern hemisphere finished officially at the end of February.

Meanwhile, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) raised increasing concern on Friday that more refugees would cross into Chad from Darfur in the coming weeks amid a worrying lack of food and other essentials.

Almost a year since the start of the civil war between rival militaries in Sudan, neighbouring Chad urgently needs more humanitarian aid and significant development investment, the agency reported, especially in its eastern areas which are hosting the refugee influx.

This investment will allow the country to continue its generous open-door stance towards refugees.

“Chadian officials are concerned that many more hungry Sudanese families will come in the next weeks,” said Kelly Clements, UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner, who is in the country to review the relief operation.

“The country is committed to keeping its borders open, despite the fragility of this region.

“But, doing so will put even more strain on Chad, which has so graciously been hosting refugees from Sudan’s war – now raging almost a year – and other refugees still here from earlier emergencies.” (NAN)

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