Thursday, August 30, 2018

                    NEWS SUMMARY AT THIS HOUR

                                       (EXPANDING AND UPDATING TILL 730AM)

In the flurry of tweets yesterday from President Trump was word that White House Counsel Donald McGahn is leaving soon.   The President's announcement follows the revelation that McGahn spent 30 hours being interviewed by the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Interviewed on National Public Radio this morning legal scholar and supporter of the President, Alan Dershowitz, said it was a good idea for McGahn to be leaving because his conversations with Mueller's team make him a potential witness against the President.

Dershowitz thinks the President "should be worried" about what McGahn said because Mueller probably got information he didn't have before and could use it to promote the notion that the President is involved in wrongdoing,

An economic crisis in Argentina as the value of the country's currency dropped seven percent Wednesday.

President Mauricio Macri asked the International Monetary Fund for early release of a 50 billion dollar loan Argentina secured earlier this year.

At that time Macri has said Argentina's economy was doing so well  that the loan would not be needed.

In Venezuela the new government economic decrees are driving private business out of business.

Blogger Daniel Duquenal posted on "Venezuela News And Views" from Caracas in the last 24 hours:
"no food whatsoever within one month".

Figures for economic growth in the USA during the second quarter of this year have been revised upwards.    The growth rate for the nations Gross Domestic Product revised up from 4.1 to 4.2 percent.  A growth rate that strong signals strong job producing growth. 

President Trump says North Korea's disturbing attitude towards the United States recently is because of China and the dispute over tariffs with North Korea's close ally.

Trump says he hopes to work out the trade dispute with China's president.

The President's comments came on Twitter.

China has responded characterizing the comments as hard to understand and irresponsible.

New York's incumbent Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo spared with outsider progressive challenger Cynthia Nixon in a debate at Hofstra University.    They are running against each other in the Democrat primary on September 13th.

Cuomo challenged Nixon: "Can you stop interrupting?" to which Nixon replied: "Can you stop lying? with Cuomo's response: "Yeah, as soon as you do".

Senator John McCain's 2008 running mate Governor Sarah Palin is not invited to the funeral services for him.

According to Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News, a source in the Palin family says:  "Out of respect to Senator McCain and his family we have nothing to add at this point.   The Palin family will always cherish their friendship with the McCains and hold those memories dear."

Russia's Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov says he has expressed concern to the US government about signs that military action is being planned against Syria.  Antonov warned against any 'groundless and illegal aggression against Syria".

A Russian military spokesman said last Saturday that British intelligence is plotting with jihadist opposition forces to stage a false flag chemical attack in Syria to trigger US military action.

The US State Department is disputing reports claiming that Syrian officials met with US officials earlier this year.   The reports said that the US offered to pull its forces out of northeastern Syria in exchange for an Iranian withdrawal in Syria's south.

And in Germany more nationalist protests are planned today and Saturday over the attack on three Germans last weekend in the city of Chemnitz that killed one of them, a 35-year old man.  Two foreign born suspects are in custody, an Iraqi and a Syrian.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has denounced the protests as "hate on the streets" that "has nothing to do with our constitutional state".

Government officials are investigating the leak online of an arrest warrant for one of the suspects expressing alarm that individuals the media describe as "far right" inside the police and courts may have been responsible for the leak.


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