WASHINGTON – The first day of confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh – President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court – quickly lurched out of control Tuesday with screaming protesters and senators who refused to stick to the five-minute timeline for their partisan speeches.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, vowed to take charge of the hearings on Wednesday when senators get a chance to start questioning Kavanaugh in a grueling session that is expected to last at least 12 hours.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights of Tuesday’s session and what to expect on Wednesday:

The first day got off to a wild start.

The first 90 minutes of the hearing were taken up by dozens of protesters interrupting the proceedings by yelling out anti-Kavanaugh slogans. At the same time, Democratic members made a last-ditch effort to postpone the hearing to give them time to review a mountain of documents about Kavanaugh and to demand more.

The protesters were removed from the hearing room by Capitol Police, and attempts by Democrats to delay the proceedings failed when Grassley ruled them out of order.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate, dubbed the raucous scene “mob rule.”

Access to documents is a big battle.

Democrats said the hearing should be delayed until they receive all of the documents from Kavanaugh’s three-year tenure as staff secretary for former President George W. Bush.

The White House has withheld more than 100,000 pages based on claims of executive privilege. Democrats also complained that Republicans dumped 45,000 documents on the committee the night before the hearing, giving senators little time to review them.

But Grassley said the committee has already received 483,000 pages of records from Kavanaugh’s time working in the White House counsel’s office during the Bush administration. About 300,000 pages were posted on the committee’s website for public review, while the remainder were restricted to senators.

“The American people have unprecedented access and more materials to review for Judge Kavanaugh than they ever had for a Supreme Court nominee,” Grassley said in refusing to delay the hearing.

Kavanaugh finally got to speak.

After a day filled with lengthy speeches from the 21 senators on the Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh had a chance to introduce himself to the public as he read his introductory statement.

More: Parkland victim’s father tries to shake Brett Kavanaugh’s hand

Kavanaugh’s comments were the least controversial of the hearing. When it was finally his turn to speak, Kavanaugh told senators that, if confirmed to the high court, he would be a legal “umpire” who would not choose sides ahead of time.

“I don’t decide cases based on personal or policy preferences. I am not a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant judge. I am not a pro-prosecution or pro-defense judge,” Kavanaugh said. “I am a pro-law judge.”

Senators gave a preview of Day Two.

Senators told Kavanaugh some of the top issues that they will bring up when they get a chance to begin questioning him on Wednesday.

Both Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said they plan to ask Kavanaugh questions about his views on presidential power and the limits of that power.

“I want to know where you think executive powers begin and end,” Flake told Kavanaugh, who is currently a federal appeals court judge.

Blumenthal said the issue is especially important since Kavanaugh could be the deciding vote on whether or not special counsel Robert Mueller can indict Trump or compel him to testify as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“Your responses to our questions will be highly enlightening about whether you join us in defending the Department of Justice and the rule of law,” Blumenthal said

Democrats also indicated that they will ask the judge about his views on abortion rights, gun control, civil rights, and healthcare.

Expect Wednesday’s hearing to be a marathon.

The committee expects the hearing to last at least 12 hours, and possibly longer. Each of the 21 senators will get 30 minutes to ask questions of Kavanaugh, whose ability to survive the endurance contest is a key test of whether he will be confirmed.

If Kavanaugh is like most recent nominees, he will answer the questions cautiously and try to avoid saying how he would rule on a particular issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WASHINGTON – White House Chief of Staff John Kelly denied describing President Donald Trump as an “idiot” on Monday, as Trump and his aides sought to push back on a new book by veteran Washington reporter Bob Woodward that depicted chaos in the West Wing.

“The idea I ever called the President an idiot is not true,” Kelly said in a statement issued by the White House, adding that the claim “is another pathetic attempt to smear people close to President Trump and distract from the administration’s many successes.”

Kelly repeated a statement he made in May, saying that he and Trump “have an incredibly candid and strong relationship.”

Entitled Fear: Trump in the White House, the Woodward book is scheduled to be released on Sept. 11.

Woodward, who rose to fame via his coverage of the Watergate scandal during the Richard Nixon presidency in the early 1970s, is an associate editor at the Washington Post, which published excerpts of the book on Tuesday.

The excerpts described a struggle by aides to rein in Trump.

Regarding the fraught relationship between the president and his chief of staff, the Post reported that Woodward found that Kelly “frequently lost his temper” over Trump, and that he thought the president was “unhinged.”

“He’s an idiot,” Kelly said, according to the Post‘s account of Woodward’s book. “It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in Crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”

Trump himself said Woodward has “credibility problems” – though the president told the author last month he thought he had always been fair.

“I probably would have preferred to speak to him, but maybe not,” Trump told The Daily Caller website. “I think it probably wouldn’t have made a difference in the book. He wanted to write the book a certain way.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders attributed the book’s criticism to “disgruntled” former aides.

More: Woodward book ‘Fear’ reflects chaos in White House, says Kelly called Trump an ‘idiot’

The Post published what it said was a conversation Woodward had with Trump after the book was finished. The author detailed how the White House rebuffed his requests for an interview with the president.

At one point, Trump told Woodward, “you know I’m very open to you. I think you’ve always been fair. We’ll see what happens. But all I can say is the country is doing very well.”

The White House denials echoed those made about previous critical books, particularly those by journalist Michael Wolff and former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman.

Among Woodward’s other revelations:

– Former defense attorney John Dowd and colleagues did not want Trump to testify before Russia special counsel Bob Mueller because they didn’t think he could tell the truth. The book discusses a mock interview that attorneys conducted with Trump in which the president fared poorly, and that lawyers re-enacted parts of that interview for Mueller himself.

“Don’t testify,” Dowd was quoted by Woodward as saying. “It’s either that or an orange jumpsuit.”

In a statement emailed to USA TODAY, Dowd said he has not read the book and does not plan to address “every inaccurate statement” attributed to him, but he denied he replayed the mock interview before Mueller, that he questioned the president’s truthfulness and that he made the remark attributed to him about the orange jumpsuit.

– Former economic adviser Gary Cohn removed papers from Trump’s desk in order to block efforts to remove the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, as well as a separate trade deal with South Korea.

In his interview with The Daily Caller, Trump denied that aides have removed documents from his view, saying “it’s just made up” and that “there was nobody taking anything from me.”

– Trump told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis he wanted to have Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad assassinated after evidence surfaced of a chemical weapons attack on rebels in that country; Mattis ignored the request and planned the targeted missile strike on chemical weapons facilities that Trump eventually approved.

Woodward also reported that Mattis once described Trump as acting like a “fifth- or sixth-grader,” prompting a denial by the defense secretary.

Mattis said in a statement that he never uttered “contemptuous words” about the president, and added that Woodward’s “anonymous sources do not lend credibility” to his book.

Trump did not comment directly on Woodward his Twitter feed, but did post the statements of denials by his aides.

In her statement, Sanders called the Woodward book “nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad.”

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Watch Efe Obada in action for the Carolina Panthers as he completes his extraordinary journey from child refugee born in Nigeria and trafficked to the UK, to the NFL.

READ MORE: Khalil Mack signs record NFL defensive player deal with Chicago Bears

The 2018 NFL season gets under way on Thursday 6 September – watch weekly highlights in the NFL Show on BBC iPlayer.

China is Africa’s largest trading partner and has already spent tens of billions of dollars in investment and loans – with the promise of much more to come.

From roads and railways to ports, the Chinese government is backing large-scale projects across Africa as part of its so-called Belt and Road initiative.

The leaders of more than 50 African countries have been in Beijing for a two-day summit.

China’s President Xi Jinping offered $60bn in new financing deals. But what are the long-term financial risks?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Dan Wang – Economist Intelligence Unit analyst

Lahcen Haddad – Morocco’s former tourism minister and MP

Aly-Khan Satchu – CEO of investment advisory firm Rich Management Ltd

Source: Al Jazeera News

President Trump responded to a Nike ad campaign that features Colin Kaepernick, saying the company is sending a “terrible message” by featuring the free agent quarterback.

In an interview Tuesday with The Daily Caller, Trump said “there’s no reason” for Nike to use Kaepernick in its marketing campaign.

“But I think it’s a terrible message that they’re sending and the purpose of them doing it, maybe there’s a reason for them doing it,” Trump told The Daily Caller. “But I think as far as sending a message, I think it’s a terrible message and a message that shouldn’t be sent. There’s no reason for it.”

The ad was unveiled Monday as Nike, the NFL’s official apparel sponsor, celebrates the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” campaign.

“Believe in something,” the advertisement reads in white letters in front of a black-and-white photo of Kaepernick. “Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

The response to the campaign has been polarizing, with many expressing support for Kaepernick and Nike, and others pushing for a boycott on the company’s merchandise. Though Trump expressed disappointment in Kaepernick being one of the faces of the Nike campaign, he did acknowledge that the company is allowed to determine its own strategy.

“As much as I disagree with the Colin Kaepernick endorsement, in another way — I mean, I wouldn’t have done it,” Trump told The Daily Caller. “In another way, it is what this country is all about, that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do, but I personally am on a different side of it.”

More: Colin Kaepernick belongs as an NFL quarterback — and these six teams could use him

More: Colin Kaepernick and Nike both won with their new ad, even if little will immediately change

The NFL also issued a statement Tuesday afternoon in reference to Kaepernick.

“The National Football League believes in dialogue, understanding and unity,” NFL executive vice president of communications and public affairs Jocelyn Moore said Tuesday in a statement. “We embrace the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful, positive change in our communities. The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action.”

Kaepernick has filed a collusion grievance against the NFL. Kaepernick’s lawyers contend that his involvement in various social causes, including protests of police brutality and social inequality during the pregame playing of the national anthem, prompted NFL owners to collude to deny his employment in the league.

Late in August 2016, Kaepernick started his protests – first sitting, then kneeling – during the playing of the anthem. Several players have followed his lead.

Trump has been an outspoken critic of Kaepernick’s and other players who have protested during the anthem, at times calling for players to be suspended or even fired for demonstrating.

Kaepernick’s legal team secured a minor victory last week in the collusion case, when arbitrator Stephen Burbank ruled against the NFL in the league’s bid for a summary judgment, determining there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial.

Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.

 

WEST CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — In January, Tiger Woods accepted U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk’s request to be an assistant captain for the upcoming tussle with Europe.

There was a catch, however. Woods, coming off the fourth surgery on his back and just starting his latest comeback, told Furyk he wanted to play.

It seemed like a long shot — no one, not even Tiger, knew what to expect in this comeback. Well, Woods exceeded expectations and now needs to quit his job as an assistant.

As expected, Furyk used three of his four discretionary selections Tuesday to pick Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau. The three left little doubt over the course of the year that they deserve to wear the red, white and blue, easing Furyk’s decision. With the selection of Woods, Furyk also named as his vice captains David Duval, Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar.

MORE: Tiger Woods still seeks elusive win after rough week in Boston

MORE: Phil Mickelson makes his case for Ryder Cup again with a closing 63

MORE: Bryson DeChambeau makes it two wins in a row in FedExCup playoffs.

Woods, 42, who was ranked No. 1,199th last December, has climbed to No. 26 on the strength of five top-6 finishes, including a second in the PGA Championship and a tie for sixth in the British Open.

Mickelson, 48, who has been on the last 23 U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams, won the WGC-Mexico Championship and is ranked No. 24 in the world. His immeasurable presence in the team room is well documented.

DeChambeau, 24, a U.S. Amateur and NCAA individual champion who will make his Ryder Cup debut, has won the first two events of the FedExCup Playoffs, joining Vijay Singh as the only players to accomplish the feat. DeChambeau also won the Memorial earlier this year.

Furyk will make his final pick Monday. This week’s BMW Championship is the final chance for players to impress Furyk. Among the leading contenders for the last pick are Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner.

Europe captain Thomas Bjorn will announce his four picks on Wednesday. The Ryder Cup will played Sept. 28-30 in Paris.

Woods, Mickelson and DeChambeau join a formidable octuple who earned their berths as the top 8 qualifiers — world No. 1 Dustin Johnson; No. 2 and reigning U.S. Open and PGA champion Brooks Koepka; No. 3 and reigning FedExCup champion Justin Thomas; No. 9 Rickie Fowler; No. 10 Jordan Spieth, No. 13 Bubba Watson, reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed; and reigning Players champion Webb Simpson.

Woods will be playing in his first Ryder Cup since 2012, when he went 0-3-1 as Europe stormed back on the final day for victory. Woods has played in the Ryder Cup seven times, amassing a 13-17-3 record, including 4-1-2 in singles.

Woods was a key factor in the USA’s 17-11 victory in 2016 as an assistant captain, as players gravitated to his wisdom and encouraging words.

Mickelson will be playing in his 12th Ryder Cup. He has an 18-20-7 record, including 5-5-1 in singles.

Manchester United’s Luke Shaw says he “nearly lost his leg” after breaking it in two places in September 2015.

The full-back, 23, missed the rest of the season after suffering the injury in a Champions League 2-1 defeat by PSV Eindhoven.

Having also missed two months of 2016-17 with a groin injury and having foot surgery twice, Shaw feels “privileged” to be part of the England squad again.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about stopping playing,” he said.

“I had a lot of complications with my leg and that was the really hard moment for me in my career,” he added.

“But I had a lot of good people around me, a lot of good friends and family. They helped me through it.

“No-one knows but I was really close to actually losing my leg. I never knew that until six months later when the doctor told me.

“At the time, they were thinking about flying me back and if I’d have flown back, I would probably have lost my leg because of the blood clots and stuff.

“I’ve got – I don’t want to talk about it too much – two scars down the side of my leg where they had to cut it open and pull them out because of how severe it was.

“But I don’t really care about that anymore. I feel really strong – and my right leg is exactly as it was before my leg break.”

Shaw became one of the most expensive teenagers in world football in June 2014 when, aged 18, he moved from Southampton to United for £27m, four months after his England debut.

He only started 17 Premier League matches in the two seasons following his broken leg, but he has played every minute of United’s opening four games in 2018-19.

Having been recalled to Gareth Southgate’s England side, he could play in the Nations League tie against Spain on Saturday and Tuesday’s friendly versus Switzerland.

‘Gone from a kid to a man’

In April 2017 United boss Jose Mourinho criticised Shaw’s attitude, training, focus and ambition, saying the defender was “a long way behind” his team-mates.

Six months ago Shaw’s tactical awareness was also criticised, but earlier this season Mourinho said “we are very, very happy” with Shaw, called him “mentally and physically stronger” and praised his “better understanding” of the game.

“Of course I’ve had an unfortunate two or three years, that’s in the past and I’m just looking forward,” said Shaw on Tuesday, who denied claims he had in the past regularly drunk fizzy drinks and ate too many snacks.

“On the nutrition side, I wouldn’t say I made massive changes. I’ve cut out some of the silly things I was doing.

“I wanted to prove everybody wrong and get back to my best. I’m feeling the best ever, not just on the pitch but off it. I’ve gone from sort of a kid to a man now.”

‘Mourinho has always believed in me’

Shaw has played seven times for England but his last cap came in March 2017, as a second-half substitute in a 1-0 friendly defeat by Germany.

He said he was “gutted” to miss out on England’s run to the World Cup semi-finals, and the experience of watching from the outside resulted in him doing extra training in Dubai over the summer to get fit for the new campaign.

Despite being criticised by Mourinho, he praised his boss but admitted he had a lot of things to improve.

“Jose put his trust in to me at the start of this season and obviously at times, people thought he didn’t trust me,” added Shaw. “It would have been easy for him to say ‘I want to sell him, I don’t want him here anymore’, but I think he’s always believed in me.

“Mentally it made me come out the other side and made me stronger, to want to prove to him that I can do what sometimes, in the last couple of seasons, he’d said I couldn’t.

“I think, at times, he got frustrated with me because he knew I could do better. Maybe, when I look back, at times maybe he was right.

“I had a chat with the manager before the season and he said he wanted me to stay and fight for my place, and that motivated me a lot in the off-season. I came back and played games in pre-season, and now I have my fitness fully and everything is good.”

Mutuati, Kenya – On a bitterly cold night in July 2014, Morris Nkonja grabbed his machete and set out along a muddy path off the main road in Mutuati, a hilly village in Meru, central Kenya. 

His mission, like many other times before, was simple: break into a restaurant that was closed for the day, grab valuables and vanish into the dead of night.

“I broke the door and went straight to the counter where they keep cash,” recalls the now-30-year-old. “I smashed the safe box and seized all the cash inside. I thought it was a lucky night for me.”

But Nkonja’s luck quickly ran out. As soon as he stepped outside, he was instantly surrounded by five men, also equipped with long, sharp-edged machetes.

“It was well-planned. They knew I was coming and that is why they waited silently for me to finish,” says Nkonja, who was a well-known robber in the area.

“I will never forget that night,” he adds, massaging his knee with his rough, right palm.

The men had been hired by the owner of the restaurant to protect it due to Mutuati’s rising crime.

Everything has a start and an end, and tonight will be your last, roared one man among the group.

“Which limb do you want us to chop off?” another asked Nkonja, who was now begging for mercy.

A machete promptly came down, cutting off the robbers left arm. In a blink of an eye, the five men had served their own form of “justice” – no need for police or courts to get involved.

Seeking alternatives

Crime is a major problem in Meru, a khat-rich county where an estimated 500,000 people depend on the trade of the mild narcotic.

Last year, Meru recorded Kenya’s second-highest number of crimes: 5,151, or seven percent of all cases nationwide. In 2015, it topped the list with highest number of murder cases across Kenya’s 47 Kenyan counties.

Daniel Mbogori, 54, is a private security worker who is frequently hired to protect businesses in Mutuati. Over the past 10 years, he says he has used his machete to cut off the limbs of more than 40 thieves.

He says the surging number of crimes and a slow prosecution process are the main reasons people hire him.

“If we take them to the police, they are bailed out for a small amount of money and they continue stealing. But if we give justice to them, they reform and become good men,” says Mbogori.

One of them is Henry Murugi.

Dressed in an old green coat and blue jeans, he vividly recalls the instance he lost his right arm more than two decades ago.

“I was indignant and jobless. So that night, I left my house and went to a khat farm to get a few kilos of khat to sell the next day,” he recalls. Once done, he tried to run back home but came across a group of men.

“I saw angry men with long machetes looking at me. I looked back and found others. I dropped the khat and surrendered my right arm,” he says.

‘Life has to go on’

Such practices seem to have the approval of many residents in Mutuati and its surrounding villages who say that they have lost their trust in Kenya’s police and the country’s judicial system. Instead, they argue, this kind of punishment has led to the reforming of many thieves.

Esther Karimi, a member of the assembly in Meru county, says that aggrieved residents are often denied justice due to collusion between the authorities and perpetrators. 

“Players such as the police often collude with perpetrators to interfere with case files or evidence. Instant justice has been necessitated by the lousy nature of our judicial system,” Karimi says.

Isaack Mwiti, 33, is a trader in Mutuati and a victim of theft. Standing by his red-painted shop where he sells dry foodstuffs, Mwiti says that he stopped worrying about being robbed after this form of punishment became an option.

“In the end, we all want bad people to pay the price, whether in jail or cutting their limbs. For me, I think the latter works well,” says Mwiti, adding that crime has significantly reduced in the area.

“Now, many people think twice before attempting larceny.”

Buxton Mayabi, Meru deputy county commissioner, says authorities are aware of such cases.

“Revenge is a type of a mob injustice and we condemn it. This is not the only affected county in the country, but we are aware of the criminal act and we are dealing with them within the law,” adds Mayabi.  

Mwenda Mbijiwe, a security analyst, says the practice is a reflection of the government’s failure to protect its people.

“The implementers of what we call the social contract between the people and the government have failed. When there is a failure by government to honour the social contract, then the citizens take upon themselves to honour themselves,” says Mbijiwe.

Back in Mutuati, Nkonja heads to a bar he frequents to temporarily forget his struggles

“Missing an arm is a symbol of my past life; everyone will know that I lost it due to robbery,” says Nkonja, who is unable to sufficiently fend for himself and is now left at the mercy of relatives.

“Life has to go on.”