Donald trump told Fox News he intends to run for president despite allegations. (FILE/AFP)
Former US president Donald Trump, in his first public interview after being arraigned on federal charges, had choice words for Joe Biden administration’s to describe its current state of relations with Saudi Arabia, which the Democratic leader earlier publicly denounced as a ‘pariah.’
“You take a look at Saudi Arabia, look at what happened. They are great people, they wanted to help us. He goes over there... he gets a fist bump. You know the fist bump means don’t shake my hand because your hand’s dirty… they were so insulted, do you understand that? Oh I don’t want to shake your hands, let’s go fist bump,” Trump told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in an hour-long interview.
Trump, the first former US president to face criminal charges, also said he would not drop his bid for a White House return if convicted of the 34 counts of falsifying business records that were filed against him.
“No, I’d never drop out – it’s not my thing. I wouldn’t do it.”
Trump: Macron over in China kissing Xi's a** - and then Biden got fist bump from the Saudis, which means don’t shake my hand your hands are dirty pic.twitter.com/BbMiE7jJ5T
The US Constitution does not prevent someone who has been charged with or convicted of a crime from seeking or holding office.
Trump likewise said that he does not see Joe Biden running for re-election in 2024: “I think it is almost inappropriate for me to say it, but I don’t see how it is possible. And it is not an age thing.”
“There is something wrong. I saw his answer today on television about where or not he is gonna [seek re-election]... that was a long answer... I don’t think he can, but say what you want. They did not expect him to get in, people could say he won an election… They are surrounded by vicious smart people, radical left people,” Trump said.
One possible candidate that could lead the Democrats for the 2024 elections, the former US president said, would be vice president Kamara Harris.
“Obviously, the one they would talk about would be the vice president, Kamala. I don’t think she has performed well on the big stage, maybe I’m wrong. But there would be a certain group of people who would go crazy if it is not her, they’re gonna be very angry if it’s not her.”
Trump also quipped about the US shooting ‘57 missiles into Syria’ while having chocolate cake with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, while the Asian leader was on a visit.
“President Xi was top of the line smart, our guy never was… President Xi was a brilliant man... there is nobody like him, we have a great relationship,” Trump commented.
Trump also narrated his 57-minute visit to the New York courthouse for his arraignment: “They were incredible… they signed me in, and I’d tell you people were crying, people that worked there. They have no problems putting in murderers, and they see everybody. It’s a tough place, and they were crying and said ‘I’m sorry.’”
During the interview, Mr Trump, who has been impeached twice, also speculated that Mr Biden “can’t” run for a second term due to his “mental state”. He complimented the mental faculties of Home Depot founder Bernard Marcus.
The interview with Carlson comes weeks after the publication of text messages that the Fox News host sent in January 2021 in which he said of the former president: “I hate him passionately. ... I can’t handle much more of this.”
The Kornet is a Russian man-portable anti-tank guided missile developed by the Shipunov Tula Instrument Design Bureau.
The Russian Defense Ministry has released footage of a Kornet man-portable anti-tank guided missile system with thermobaric ammunition and other anti-tank weapons destroying Ukrainian tanks attempting to counterattack Russian positions in the direction of Ugledar in the People's Republic of Donetsk.
The operation was observed by a UAV.
Known as AT-14 Spriggan by NATO, the Kornet is designed to destroy tanks and other armored targets, including those equipped with modern explosive reactive armor.
All administrative buildings in Artyomovsk controlled by Russian forces — DPR head
All administrative buildings in Artyomovsk (known as Bakhmut in Ukraine) are controlled by Russian forces, acting head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin said on Tuesday.
"All administrative buildings are already controlled by our forces," he said in an interview with Russia’s TV Channel One.
Pushilin stressed that he had been to Artyomovsk to see it with his own eyes, adding that he hardly saw any building not seriously damaged there, which could be "slightly reconstructed" and used in the future.
Earlier, Wagner PMC founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said that Russian forces controlled more than 80% of Artyomovsk, including all administrative centers.
Ukrainian ministries create shell companies to sign arms export contracts, US journalist Seymour Hersh said in an article, published on the Substack platform Wednesday.
"Many government ministries in Kiev have been literally "competing," I was told, to set up front companies for export contracts for weapons and ammunition with private arms dealers around the world, all of which provide kickbacks. Many of those companies are in Poland and Czechia, but others are thought to exist in the Persian Gulf and Israel," Hersh says.
Muharrem Ince, a Turkish presidential candidate from the Homeland Party (Memleket Partisi), has said in an interview with Sputnik that deliveries of munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine are a threat to humanity as a whole.
"Signals, which are being sent through deliveries of munitions containing depleted uranium, pose a threat not only to Russia and Turkiye but to all of humanity. The entire humanity should oppose it," Ince said.
"I think Britons should act more carefully on the matter," he added.
In March, UK Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie said that the country would provide Ukraine with depleted uranium tank ammunition, including armor-piercing shells for the 14 Challenger 2 battle tanks UK is planning to supply to Ukraine.
The Kremlin has repeatedly warned against further escalation of the situation.
Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Turkiye on May 14. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, put forward by a six-party opposition alliance, is considered incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main opponent. The list of presidential candidates also includes Ince and Sinan Ogan of the ATA Alliance.
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk attends the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China August 29, 2019. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk said on Wednesday the social media company is "roughly breaking even," as most of its advertisers have returned and its aggressive cost-cutting efforts have started bearing fruit after massive layoffs.
Musk, in an interview with BBC broadcast live on Twitter Spaces, said Twitter has about 1,500 employees now, a sharp decline from "just under 8,000 staff members" it had before he took it over in October.
Twitter has been marked by chaos and uncertainty since the $44 billion acquisition by Musk, as its layoffs have also included many engineers responsible for fixing and preventing service outages, sources told Reuters.
Last week, Twitter suffered a bug that prevented thousands of users from accessing links, its sixth major outage since the beginning of the year, according to internet watchdog group NetBlocks.
Musk acknowledged some glitches, including recent outages, but said they have not lasted very long.
He says Twitter was in a $3 billion negative cash flow situation and had to take drastic actions, referring to its large-scale layoffs.
"We could be cash-flow positive this quarter if things go well," he said in the interview that attracted more than 3 million listeners, adding the company currently has all-time high user numbers.
Twitter has been hit by a massive decline in advertising since his acquisition.
Musk had said that was due to the cyclical nature of ad spending and some of which was "political." He said on Wednesday most of its advertisers have returned.
The billionaire, who also runs electronic car maker Tesla (TSLA.O) and rocket company SpaceX, said he has no one in mind to succeed him as Twitter chief executive.
Musk has faced scrutiny from Tesla investors about the amount of time he spends running the social media platform and had previously said the end of this year would be "good timing" to find a new Twitter CEO.
Two police officers advance upon the suspect of a mass shooting lying on the ground at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. April, 10, 2023 in a still image from police body camera video. The video was digitally obscured at source. Louisville Metro Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
The desperate rush by a rookie policeman and his training officer to bring a mass shooting at a Kentucky bank to a halt was captured in spare but dramatic detail in footage from their body cameras, released by authorities on Tuesday.
The footage, shown by the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department during an afternoon briefing and which the police posted on Twitter later, comes a day after a Louisville bank employee killed five people and wounded nine others - including the two officers - while he livestreamed video of the attack on Instagram.
The body camera footage opens with an image of the console of the police cruiser as it pulls up to the downtown building. The steering wheel veers wildly from side to side as rookie officer Nickolas Wilt drives the car and his partner, Cory Galloway, shouts directions off camera.
"Pull up, pull up, pull up," Galloway barks. Gunfire sounds. "Back up! Back up! Back up!" he shouts again.
Arriving just three minutes after they have been dispatched, Wilt readies his handgun as Galloway grabs a rifle out of the trunk, and the camera image lurches up the steps to the bank building. A burst of gunfire is heard as the suspect shoots at the officers from inside the lobby.
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Both officers appear to fall, but Galloway scrambles to his feet and runs down the steps to hide behind a planter. He waits a few seconds, hears more gunfire, then peeks out and seems to react to seeing Wilt down. "God damn it!" he shouts.
Backup appears on the scene about three minutes after Galloway and Wilt.
"The shooter has an angle on that officer," Galloway says. "We need to get up there."
"God," he shouts two minutes later, "don't have an angle!"
After more gunfire, Galloway - who is himself injured - hits the gunman, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, from his position out on the steps.
"Suspect down," Galloway shouts as he walks into the building.
Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey, who spoke duringTuesday's presentation, explained that Wilt was also down. He had been shot in the head but was alive. At last report, he remained in critical condition.
"What you saw on that video was absolutely amazing," Humphrey said after displaying the body camera video from both officers as well as a bystander. "There’s only a few people in this country that can do what they did."
The OPEC logo pictured ahead of an informal meeting between members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Algiers, Algeria, September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina
Non-OPEC countries will account for a higher percentage of oil production gains this year and next, a reversal of the last two years, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted on Tuesday.
Gains by the U.S., Brazil, Canada and Guyana will overshadow OPEC after Saudi Arabia and other Middle East producers this month disclosed plans to cut output cuts by around 1.16 million barrels per day beginning next month.
Total non-OPEC liquid fuels production is expected to grow by 1.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023 and by 1 million bpd in 2024, the EIA said in its Short Term Energy Outlook. OPEC output will fall by 500,000 bpd in 2023, then rise by 1 million bpd in 2024, after the group's output agreement expires, EIA forecast.
About half of the forecast gain by non-OPEC producers in the next two years will come from the United States, the agency said. U.S. crude production set to rise 5.5% to 12.54 million bpd this year and another 1.7%, to 12.75 million bpd, in 2024.
GASOLINE PRICES
U.S. retail gasoline prices are expected to average around $3.50 per gallon this summer, peaking between $3.60 per gallon and $3.70 per gallon in June, the EIA said. A year ago, prices jumped to $5 a gallon as oil soared and storage levels shrank.
The average U.S. household is expected to spend between $2,140 and $2,730 on gasoline this year, down from $2,780 in 2022, the EIA forecast.
Brent crude oil spot price will average $85 per barrel this year, a $2 per barrel increase from last month's forecast on the OPEC output curbs, the EIA said.
On the demand side, oil consumption is expected to remain relatively stable. Liquid fuels consumption will rise by 1.4 million bpd in 2023 and by 1.8 million bpd in 2024, EIA said. It expects global oil markets to be in relative balance over the coming year.
U.S petroleum and other liquid fuels consumption would tick up 0.5% to 20.4 million bpd in 2023 and rise 1.6% to 20.7 million bpd in 2024, EIA added.
The Russian military is training special “tank hunter” units designed to take on the German, British, and American armor being sent to Ukraine. What sorts of weapons will Russian forces have at their disposal to counter the sophisticated Western heavy weapons platforms? Sputnik explores.
The Russian military is taking proactive steps to prepare to engage Challenger 2, Leopard 2, Abrams, and even Leclerc tanks. Speaking to media on Sunday, Russian Armed Forces Combat Training Center head Yevgeny Arifulin said troops have studied NATO tanks’ strengths and weaknesses, and absorbed a series of “methodological recommendations” created by Colonel General Ivan Buvaltsev, a veteran tankman with nearly 45 years of experience operating and commanding armored forces under his belt.
“These are groups that will be directly involved in hunting for these [Western tanks]. In addition, tankers are being prepared here for tank duels. But the main thing is the tank hunters, who will be waiting for them in the area where these tanks would not like to see us,” Arifulin said.
German and NATO officials began confirming last month that the first batches of the nearly 300 Leopard 2, Challenger 2, and Abrams tanks promised to Kiev had begun trickling into the country.
The UK’s decision to equip its Ukraine-bound Challengers with toxic depleted uranium munitions has sparked controversy, with scientists and activists expressing concerns that the conflict zone could be turned into a radioactive wasteland – just like parts of the former Yugoslavia and Iraq after their bombardment by NATO, US, and British forces in the 1990s and 2000s. NATO has ignored these concerns, while the UK’s MoD has assured that the DU rounds are safe, notwithstanding mountains of evidence to the contrary.
“Britain has delivered the Challenger. Many NATO allies have delivered the Leopard 2, and the United States is now in the process of arranging deliveries of the Abrams. And this is in addition to, for example, the Marder infantry fighting vehicles and the American Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. All this together will give the Ukrainians the necessary means to return their territories and further push back Russian forces," Stoltenberg said at a press briefing last week.
Kiev says it now has nearly 60 NATO MBTs in its inventory, and expects more to be delivered in the coming weeks.
What Kinds of Weapons Will Russia’s Tank Hunters Have at Their Disposal?
Arifulin did not go into detail about the types of weapons Russia’s special tank-hunting units could use in their operations against Western main battle tanks. But there are a variety of options, starting with the 2A46 125 mm smoothbore cannon fitted aboard the Russian T-90, T-80, T-72, and T-64 tanks, which have the necessary power to penetrate NATO armor in tank-on-tank engagements, provided the right operational deployment and combat support.
From the air, Western MBT armor can be engaged using the 9K121 Vikhr, an aircraft-mounted laser-guided anti-tank missile system fitted aboard Su-25 attack aircraft, Ka-50 and Ka-52 helicopters, as well as some warships and coastal patrol ships. Armor-mounted systems include the 9M120 Ataka – a late Soviet-era HEAT warhead ATGM which can be equipped aboard a wide array of armored fighting vehicles, as well as helicopters.
What Makes the Kornet Special?
Then there’s the Kornet. Developed through the 1980s and 1990s and first entering into service with the Russian military in 1998, the Kornet is a widely-produced man-portable anti-tank guided missile system designed specifically to take on the latest NATO third-generation battle tanks like the Leopard 2, Challenger 2, and Abrams.
While all of the systems listed above will almost certainly be among the equipment used by Russian forces against NATO armor in the coming months (unless a peace deal can somehow be reached), the Kornet is the only one among them with confirmed kills of German and US tanks under its belt.
During the course of Turkiye’s police actions in Syria in 2016 and 2018, Ankara deployed dozens of its Leopard 2A4 tanks in the country, engaging in combat against Kurdish militants and Daesh (ISIS)* fighters. Over the course of the operations, Turkiye lost a dozen or more Leopard 2s to roadside bombs, suicide car bombs, and Russian-made anti-tank weapons.
In a 2017 report, German investigators concluded that six of ten Leopard 2s destroyed in fierce fighting in the city of al-Bab were killed using Kornet missiles operated by Daesh fighters. Although several Leopards had previously been lost by NATO forces in Afghanistan to roadside bombs in the 2000s, the Turkish military’s losses in Syria helped to lift the air of invincibility around Germany’s tanks against modern anti-tank weapons once and for all.
Kornets demonstrated similar characteristics against the vaunted Abrams tank in Iraq. Shortly after the US invasion in 2003, Iraqi special forces provided US forces with the first inkling that the war wouldn’t be anything like the first Gulf War in 1991 (when the Iraqi Army failed to knock out a single Abrams). This time around, Iraqi Republican Guard units equipped with Kornet anti-tank missiles knocked out two Abrams and a Bradley in fighting in the south of the country. Over half-a-dozen more Abrams, these ones belonging to the Iraqi Army, were destroyed by Daesh in Iraq between 2014 and 2016 using captured Kornets.
Hezbollah similarly used Kornets to effect in 2006, destroying up to four of Israel’s coveted Merkava tanks (which are often touted as superior to the Abrams) during the Lebanon War.
Why Are Kornets so Deadly?
The secret behind the Kornet’s deadliness lies in its tandem warheads – which can penetrate homogenous steel armor up to 1,300 mm thick (the Leopard 2A4 and Abrams have a maximum front armor thickness of 800 and 700 mm thick, respectively). After contact with the enemy tank, the first warhead explodes, with the second then generating a jet of immense heat that burns through armor, reaches the crew compartment, kills everyone inside, and detonates ammunition stores (which causes the MBT’s turret to be literally blown off in some instances).
The latest models of the weapon feature top attack capability similar to that of the American Javelin, as well as thermobaric and blast fragmentation warheads for use against targets besides tanks.
Kornets have a range of between 100 and 8,000 meters, making them deadly in urban environments, but equally dangerous across open spaces and the rolling plains which make up much of the Donbass and Ukraine east of the Dnepr River.
Along with use by troops, Kornets can be mounted aboard customized Tigr infantry mobility vehicles, with the system, known as Kornet-EM, featuring two retractable launchers carrying four Kornet missiles apiece, plus eight additional rounds. The vehicles’ payload makes them capable of destroying entire platoons of enemy tanks, although operation is potentially more dangerous given the vehicles’ size compared to individual troops. The systems can also be fitted aboard BMP-2 and MBD-2 armored vehicles.
Since the system’s introduction in the late 1990s, Kornets have been exported to over two dozen countries around the world. The system’s producers –Degtyaryov Plant and the Volskiy Mekhanicheskiy Zavod, do not provide updated statistics about the number of Kornets produced. However, according to a 2010 estimate, about 35,000 had been made and sold by the late 2000s.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has never labeled Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a “war criminal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
His comments came after Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” rejected calls to put restrictions on the account of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev after the latter wrote a long post declaring Ukraine would disappear “because nobody needs it.”
Defending his decision, the billionaire CEO claimed he had been informed that “Putin called me a war criminal for helping Ukraine, so he’s not exactly my best friend.” He added that “all news is to some degree propaganda” and people should be allowed to “decide for themselves.”
However, Peskov dismissed the claim that Putin had referred to him as a war criminal.
“Apparently, Musk received somewhat incorrect, or to be more precise, fake information. It looks like another hoax. Putin has never said that,” he stated.
Peskov made the clarification when asked to comment on whether Russia would unblock Twitter after the platform lifted certain restrictions on the accounts of Russian officials.
Twitter has been banned in Russia since last spring after its media regulator, Roskomnadzor, accused the social media platform of spreading misinformation about the Ukraine conflict.
“To get an answer to this question, you need to contact the relevant department – Roskomnadzor. It’s upon them to decide whether all requirements are met. In the meantime, there is a large number of materials that do not meet the requirements,” Peskov said.
The idea to unblock Twitter in Russia was floated this week by several high-ranking Russian officials, who argued that, with Musk at its helm, the platform could once again be a good way for Moscow to voice its views to a Western audience.
The proposal, however, has been met with some resistance from certain Russian lawmakers, with Aleksandr Yushchenko, an MP from the Communist Party, claiming that the platform is still “hostile” to Russia and is filled with “outlandish and mostly pro-Ukrainian” followers.
