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OBAMA SAID 'HE CRIED WHEN MALIA WENT TO COLLEGE' Barack Obama has said he could not hold back tears after dropping off his daughter Malia at university.   "It was a little bit like open-heart surgery," the former president  said of the moment he took Malia, his eldest daughter, to Harvard University. "I was proud that I did not cry in front of her," Mr. Obama said. "But on the way back, the Secret Service was off, looking straight ahead, pretending they weren't hearing me as I sniffled and blew my nose." "It was rough," he added. Mr Obama described the moment on Monday at an event for the Beau Biden Foundation. The non-profit was set up in honour of the late son of his former vice-president, Joe Biden. "At the end of our lives, whatever else we've accomplished, the things that we'll remember are the joys that our children - and hopefully way later, our grandchildren - bring us," Mr Obama said. ...

EU AND UK MAKE PROGRESS IN BREXIT NEGOTIATIONS Brexit talks have made surprise progress in this week's round of talks after Theresa May's Florence speech created "a new dynamic" in negotiations, both sides have said. Speaking at the end of the latest round, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters in Brussels: “The Prime Minister’s speech in Florence has created a new dynamic in our negotiations.  “On Monday I said that we needed a moment of clarity: David [Davis] and I, as well as our teams, worked well together. I want to thank both teams. We managed to create clarity on some points but on others, however, more work remains to be done and we are not there yet.  “But we will keep working in the constructive spirit until we’ve reach a deal on the essential principles of the UK orderly withdrawal.” Brexit Secretary David Davis meanwhile said "decisive steps forward" had been made "thanks to the constructive and determined way...

CHINESE GOVERNMENT ORDERS ALL NORTH KOREAN FIRMS TO CLOSE IN CHINA China's commerce ministry has ordered all North Korean companies based in the country to close as a result of UN sanctions over Pyongyang’s nuclear missile tests. Chinese authorities said on Thursday that North Korean firms or joint ventures in China will be shut within 120 days of the UN decision announced on 12 September. Overseas Chinese joint ventures with North Korean entities or individuals will also be closed, the ministry said in a statement on its website, not giving a timeframe, according to Reuters. The UN Security Council voted unanimously on 12 September to boost sanctions on North Korea, banning its textile exports and capping fuel supplies. The UN action was triggered by North Korea's sixth and largest nuclear test this month. It was the ninth Security Council sanctions resolution over North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear programs since 2006. https://www.semperdiamo...

'EGREGIOUS' SEXUAL VIOLENCE REPORTS EMERGE FROM ROHINGYA The head of the UN's migration agency said he's "shocked and concerned" about reports of sexual and gender-based violence among new Rohingya arrivals in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The International Organization for Migration's  Director-General William Lacy Swing made the comments on Wednesday as Rohingya refugees who escaped a military crackdown in Myanmar accused the army of raping women and girls. Myanmar's government denies the claims, but has refused to allow international observers to investigate. IOM is coordinating the humanitarian response amid an exodus of an estimated 480,000 people who have reached Cox's Bazar since August 25.  An agency statement on Wednesday said IOM doctors have treated dozens of women who experienced "violent sexual assault" since August, but said such numbers likely represent only a "small portion" of actual ca...

FACEBOOK CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG REJECTS TRUMP BIAS CLAIMS Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has dismissed comments made by Donald Trump that the site has always been against him. The US president accused the social network of "collusion"  on Twitter , branding it "anti-Trump". He made the same claim against the New York Times and the Washington Post. Facebook will shortly hand over 3,000 political adverts to congressional investigators probing alleged Russian meddling in the US election. The site believes the ads were probably purchased by Russian entities during and after the 2016 presidential contest. Facebook, Twitter and Google have been asked to testify before the US Senate Intelligence Committee on 1 November about the allegations of Russian interference. Facebook and Google have confirmed they have received invitations to attend the committee hearing, but none of the social media giants have yet said they will be present. Mark Zuckerber...

ROHINGYA MILITANT GROUP DENIES MASSACRING HINDUS IN RAKHINE MILITANTS fighting against the Tatmadaw army of Burma (Myanmar) have rejected allegations of mass killings of Hindu civilians in Rakhine State amid a large-scale humanitarian crisis. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) released a statement on Wednesday saying it “categorically denies” its members had been engaged in violence against civilians, as has been alleged by the Burmese military and some Hindu refugees in Bangladesh. Violence broke out in Burma’s northern Rakhine on Aug 25 after ARSA attacked around 30 police and military outposts. Many in the international community have condemned what they see as a disproportionate response from the Tatmadaw. The United Nations said on Tuesday that more than 480,000 people have now fled Burma into Bangladesh in the past month, bringing the total number of refugees there to over 700,000. ARSA said in a statement posted to Twitter that its combatants ha...

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION QUIETLY ANNOUNCES PLANS TO MONITOR IMMIGRANTS' SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS The United States government has quietly announced that it is planning on continuing to collect social media information on immigrants in America, a policy that has experts worried about privacy abuses and inefficiency. The rule, which was first spotted by  Buzzfeed News  and published last week by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Federal Register, would apply both to new arrivals in the country who have also undergone extensive vetting, as well as to naturalised citizens. The policy says the Department wants to include “social media handles, aliases, associated identifiable information, and search results” in the immigration files it keeps. It is unclear how immigration agents would access the accounts. But lawyers and experts say that the new policies are not likely to improve security in the United States, and that this sy...

ROY MOORE DEFEATS TRUMP-BACKED LUTHER STRANGE IN ALABAMA REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY Socially conservative former Alabama chief justice, one of the most controversial US politicians, was removed from state Supreme Court post twice The former Alabama judge Roy Moore, one of the most controversial figures in Republican politics, is on course to become a US senator – in spite of opposition from  Donald Trump . With 95%   of the vote in on Tuesday night, Moore, the former chief justice of the  Alabama  Supreme Court was ahead of appointed incumbent Luther Strange by 55% to 45% in the Republican Senate runoff.  Moore’s victory comes despite being outspent by a margin of 10-to-1 by Strange, who had been appointed in January to the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions after his confirmation as US attorney general. Moore was previously twice removed as Alabama’s chief justice, first for for refusing to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments that he...

MILITARY OPTION FOR NORTH KOREA NOT PREFERRED, BUT WOULD BE 'DEVASTATING' President Donald Trump warned North Korea on Tuesday that any U.S. military option would be “devastating” for Pyongyang, but said the use of force was not Washington’s first option to deal with the country’s ballistic and nuclear weapons programme. “We are totally prepared for the second option, not a preferred option,” Trump said at a White House news conference, referring to military force. “But if we take that option, it will be devastating, I can tell you that, devastating for North Korea. That’s called the military option. If we have to take it, we will.” Bellicose statements by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks have created fears that a miscalculation could lead to action with untold ramifications, particularly since Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3. Despite the increased tension, the United States has not detected any c...

ISLAMIC STATE ATTACKS IRAQI FORCES WEST OF BAGHDAD, KILLING AT LEAST SEVEN Islamic State militants attacked on Wednesday several positions held by Iraqi forces in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, killing at least 7 soldiers and wounding 16, according to a preliminary toll from security sources. Iraqi forces were bringing reinforcements to the area under attack, near the city of Ramadi, as clashes continued several hours after the militants attacked the troops with suicide car bombs, mortars and machine guns. Islamic State militants were driven out from Ramadi in late 2015 but a low-intensity guerrilla war has continued in the region. https://www.semperdiamondlodge.com/  

PANAMA PAPERS PROBE: PAKISTAN FINANCE MINISTER ISHAQ DAR INDICTED, PLEADS NOT GUILTY The apex court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister and ordered corruption cases against him Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was today indicted by an anti-corruption court, hearing the Panama Papers case, for possessing assets beyond known sources of income. The minister pleaded not guilty to all charges, terming them baseless. Anti-corruption watchdog National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on September 8 filed a case against Dar for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income following the July 28 verdict of the Supreme Court. The apex court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister and ordered corruption cases against him, his children Maryam, Husain and Hasan and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar. A situation of chaos was observed outside the accountability court when Dar arrived for the hearing. The doors to the court were shut for reporters, an...

US STARTS WORK ON MEXICO BORDER WALL The US Customs and Border Protection agency has started to build eight sections of prototype fencing for Donald Trump’s proposed wall on the Mexican border. “With a heavy federal and local law enforcement presence, workers have broken ground in an area surrounded by chain link fencing at Otay Mesa, one of three ports of entry in the San Diego-Tijuana metropolitan region. The eight prototype designs “will be between 18-30 feet high”, says  CBS News , “and will inform future design standards which will likely continue to evolve to meet the US Border Patrol’s requirements”. Local activists have dismissed the construction of the prototypes as “political theatre for a wall that has no funding, and has really no way to exist”,  NBC San Diego  reports. Each section is expected to cost up to £334,000, paid for out of federal funds that have already been allocated. However, Congress is yet to approve the first...

AT LEAST 14 KILLED, 8 INJURED IN DRUG REHAB CENTER SHOOTING IN NORTHERN MEXICO At least 14 people have been killed and eight others injured after an armed group attacked a drug rehabilitation center in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, local media report, citing authorities. “An armed group entered the Uniting Families rehabilitation center to shoot the [residents], killing 14 people, leaving eight injured,”  Chihuahua’s security secretary said in a statement,  The incident took place in the city of Chihuahua, the capital of the state of the same name. Footage posted online by Tiempo shows police and ambulances arriving at the scene. According to witnesses cited by Tiempo, the gunmen arrived the building and began shooting with AK47s. A separate video posted by El Diario de Chihuahua shows an injured man being transported from an ambulance into a hospital. It is estimated that about 25 people were inside the center when the attack occurred, according ...

VENEZUELA REJECTS US AND SPANISH 'INTERVENTIONIST' ATTACKS   The Trump administration recently slapped new sanctions on Venezuela and North Korea. Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has attacked U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter for his "interventionist position and support for violent and extremists in Venezuela." Arreaza said that instead of addressing the situation in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, Trump is "obsessively engaging in attacking Venezuela." The foreign minister also called out the hostile attitude of Spain, arguing that U.S. and Spain were intervening in Venezuela's internal affairs. At a news conference, both Trump and Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy spoke of "increase commitment" over North Korea and Venezuela . "The international community should be forceful with regards to Venezuela," Rajoy said. "What is happening in Venezuela is unacceptable," the Sp...