Trump’s former aide Cohen jailed for three years, and ID card reveals Russian Prez Putin was a Soviet spy.
May survives no-confidence vote
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has survived a no-confidence vote Wednesday, reports BBC.
The results mean that May cannot be moved from her position for the next one year. She will now resume Brexit negotiations with the EU — focusing on the contentious Irish backstop, BBC says.
However, the 117 votes against her indicated that her Brexit proposal is not popular among her own MPs in the House of Commons.
Removal of May was triggered when she called off the vote on Brexit proposal earlier this week, after that MPs lobbied to show her the exit door.
Trump’s former aide Cohen gets 3-year jail term for flouting campaign norms
Michael Cohen, personal lawyer and long-time fixer of US president Donald Trump, was sentenced to three years in prison by a federal court Wednesday, reports The Wall Street Journal.
After the court’s decision, Cohen apologised for lying to the Americans. He also admitted that his “blind loyalty to Donald Trump” erased his values.
“Time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds, rather than listen to my own inner voice,” he said.
Cohen was accused of campaign finance violations ahead of the 2016 US elections. He paid Stephanie Clifford to suppress her allegation of a sexual encounter with Trump. He also facilitated the illegal payments to American Media, Inc.
Recently recovered ID card shows Putin was a KGB spy
An East German secret police ID card bearing the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin was recently found in archives, reports CNN.
The ID card was issued in 1985 Putin, then a mid-ranking Soviet officer in Russian secret service KGB. As a Russian spy, Putin used to work closely with the East German State Security Service, commonly known as “Stasi”.
The ID card included a black-&-white photo of a young Putin and stamps that dated to the last few months of 1989.
The ID revealed that from 1985 to 1990 Putin was posted in Dresden, East Germany. According to the German newspaper Bild, the identity card proved that Putin was working for the secret service. However, Stasi Record Agency (BStU) stated that the existence of such ID card did not mean that Putin used to work for the secret service.
It said, “In the 15 districts of East Germany, the KGB representatives thus received access to the Stasi district office buildings. This was the case for Vladimir Putin as well”.
Russian spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that finding such an ID is not entirely unexpected.
China explains why ex-Canadian envoy was arrested
The Chinese foreign ministry has said that former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was arrested in Beijing Monday, used to works for a company that is not registered in China, reports Global Times.
Friends and colleagues of Kovrig, however, believe that his arrest was in retaliation against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou’s arrest in Vancouver on 1 December.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Kovrig has been researching on sensitive issues in China, including Beijing’s treatment of Muslims and Beijing’s ties with North Korea, for the past many years. His friends and fellow diplomats are of the view that China is using Kovrig as a pawn over Meng’s arrest.
Former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint Jacques told WSJ, “There is no coincidence in China and I see a clear link here with the Meng case. I see this as part of the big game that is going on with China putting pressure on Canada to try to secure the return of Meng.”
Meanwhile, Canada is finding itself caught in the US-China feud. The United States is its neighbour and ally, while China is a major and growing market for export-dependent Canada, The New York Times reports.
For Ottawa, China is the biggest market for 7,000 Canadian pig farmers, as pig feet which are hardly consumed in Canada, is in high demand among Chinese.
Canada has not yet faced any major retaliation in export from Beijing, but it is worried about the effect of the tension on export.
Brian Kingston, vice-president of international policy at the Business Council of Canada, said, “The Chinese have a track record of retaliation in situations like this.”
“Our response has to be that retaliation is pointless, adding, that this is not a Canada-China issue. We are responding to a US request,” he added.