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A federal judge lambasted former national security adviser Mike Flynn in court Tuesday, threatening to upend a proposed agreement between him and prosecutors that he should receive a lenient sentence after his extensive cooperation with investigators. “I’m not hiding my disgust—my disdain—for this criminal offense,” said U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. He questioned whether Mr. Flynn had truly accepted responsibility for his crimes, including lying to FBI agents, and suggested he might require incarceration, despite prosecutors’ contention that Mr. Flynn deserves no jail time. Judge Sullivan seemed especially troubled by Mr. Flynn’s lobbying work for Turkish interests and his...

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday night released a memo detailing then-national security adviser Michael Flynn's interview with FBI agents, in which Flynn repeatedly lied about his contacts with former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The FBI officials who interviewed Flynn, including former agent Peter Strzok, gave him multiple opportunities to describe his conversations with Kislyak. Flynn denied that he spoke to the then-Russian ambassador about sanctions. The memo about the FBI interview was filed by Mueller in federal court in Washington, D.C. Flynn is set to be sentenced in that federal court on Tuesday. DEVELOPING

WASHINGTON — Two former business associates of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey’s secret 2016 lobbying campaign to pressure the United States to expel a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Charges against the two former associates, Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin, were unsealed on Monday in an Alexandria, Va., courtroom. The two men were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules, and Mr. Alptekin also was charged with making false statements to F.B.I. investigators. The indictment is further evidence of a broad...

With a week to go before Christmas here are some stories from Washington to think about? Who will President Trump pardon?..... Will President Trump get a bill on his desk to let a lot of people out of federal prison? Criminal Justice Reform passed the House and now before the Senate.... For now the President wants to review the case of a former Green Beret charged with murder for shooting a man in Afghanistan in 2010.... No evidence of President Trump colluding with Russia. That's what Ken Starr...... Saudi Arabia has condemned the US Senate for passing resolutions..... North Korea...

BRUSSELS (AFP-Jiji) — The European Union’s foreign policy chief on Saturday asked Turkey to forgo any unilateral military action in Syria, where Ankara has threatened a fresh offensive against a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia. “The statements of a possible Turkish military operation in northeast Syria are a source of concern,” Federica Mogherini said in a statement. “We share the goal of ending violence, defeating terrorism and promoting stability in Syria and the wider region. We expect the Turkish authorities therefore to refrain from any unilateral action likely to undermine the efforts of the Counter-Daesh Coalition or to risk further instability in...

Khashoggi’s murder is only a symptom of a much bigger problem. The biggest mistake the Trump administration made in the Jamal Khashoggi case occurred while Khashoggi was still alive: letting Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, think he could get away with something so heinous — and so heinously stupid. But the bell was rung, as it were, and there is no way to unring it. The Saudis surely made everything worse by lying about it. But the aftermath is such a complicated mess because it illuminates decisions made long before Prince Mohammed’s goons brought a bone saw to...

Nineteen days after Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, the Saudi regime has at last acknowledged the obvious, that Khashoggi is dead. After first insisting that he had left the consulate of his own accord despite video evidence to the contrary, and then slamming the allegations of his murder as “baseless” and threatening oil sanctions against those claiming otherwise, the kingdom has finally settled on its official story: Khashoggi was inadvertently killed inside the consulate during a fistfight that just happened to break out in the midst of an otherwise standard meeting with...

Haspel arrived in Turkey Monday to meet with government officials and listen to the purported recording. The report indicated that she was the first U.S. official to have access to evidence since news leaked that Turkey obtained a recording of the killing.

In a hotel conference room in Denizli, Turkey, about 60 Iranians sing along to songs praising Jesus mixed with Iranian pop music. When the music stops, American pastor Karl Vickery preaches with the help of a Persian translator. "I'm not famous or rich. But I know Jesus. I have Jesus," he says, with a Southern drawl. The Farsi-speaking Christian converts shout "Hallelujah!" and clap.

The terrorist attack suspect in Strasbourg, France shot dead by police Thursday.... The latest polling in France for next May's European Parliament elections shows a lead for the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen.... And getting back to the "yellow vests" two representatives appeared before the media in Versailles France Thursday to announce that Phase 5 of the protest is on for this Saturday.... The Battle of Brexit. The word from the European Union summit in Brussels is that there will be no renegotiation or changes to the Brexit deal agreed to by the EU and Prime Minister Theresa...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to identify those responsible after a high-speed train rammed into a locomotive near Ankara, Turkey’s capital, before sunrise Thursday, leaving nine people dead and dozens injured. Mr. Erdogan said prosecutors had opened an investigation into the crash and that three people had been detained. “All aspects of the accident will be investigated, and those responsible will be identified,” the president said in a televised speech. Turkish television broadcast footage from the scene showing rescue workers racing to help passengers caught in an entanglement of wrecked carriages covered by light snow. The high-speed train with...

President Donald Trump is joined by legislators and Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil-Kurdistan, Iraq, left, as he signs H.R. 390-Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act of 2018 Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018 in the Oval Office of the White House. | Photo: White House | Shealah Craighead)Religious leaders and human rights activists are rejoicing after President Donald Trump signed a bill that supporters say will “boost” efforts to help Christians and other religious minorities victimized by the Islamic State’s genocide in Iraq and Syria.Surrounded by religious leaders and respected religious freedom advocates, Trump signed on Tuesday the Iraq...

Donald Trump has a name for everything and everyone, from Crooked Hillary to Little Rocket Man, who for a time became his best friend. Will he call the next region-wide conflagration in the Middle East, when it breaks out, Obama’s War? If he hasn’t thought of that already, he should start considering it now. Because the catastrophic policies of our former president have emboldened the Islamic state of Iran and enabled it to threaten the United States and our allies militarily in ways never before possible. When Obama took office in January 2009, he inherited a strong U.S. military and...

The train collided head-on with a maintenance vehicle in Ankara's Marsandiz station, causing part of a bridge to collapse onto two carriages, state news agency Anadolu said. Two of those injured were in a critical condition, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told the agency, adding no more wounded were at the crash site as of Thursday afternoon. According to Anadolu, 206 passengers were on the train at the time of the crash. Three of the dead were train conductors, while the other six were passengers. CNN Turk said the crash took place four minutes after the train left the station.

Police in France are looking for the suspect in a terrorist attack near a Christmas market in Strasbourg that killed three people and wounded 12 others. The terrorist suspect is known to French authorities who raided his home yesterday. Authorities revealed today that the attacker shouted "Allahu Akhbar".... Laurent Nunez, France's Secretary of State for the Interior, says he hopes that the "yellow vests" protests will be fewer this Saturday saying there is a need for responsibility after the terrorist attack.... The Battle of Brexit. British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a leadership challenge from within her own party....

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Nouri Mahmoud, a spokesperson for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), has accused Turkey of sending sleeper cells to areas held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).In an interview with Kurdistan24 last week, Mahmoud said Turkey directly supports all “jihadi groups.”  The spokesperson was referring to when the so-called Islamic State (IS) controlled Jarabulus and Tal Abyad, “when the borders were open and oil deals ongoing.”However, after the SDF controlled areas from IS in Tal Abyad, Manbij, Raqqa, and now also Deir al-Zor, Turkey, “through its intelligence, started to send infiltrators to Syria,” he added.“When we talk...

Full Title: Three-year-old girl is 'scarred for life' after she was left with chemical burns up her arm when she got henna tattoo as a 'holiday treat' in Turkey Freja Ellis was on a family break in Antalya, Turkey, when she got the temporary tattoo with permission from her mother Marlana, 32. But shortly after arriving back in the UK, Freja, from Herne Bay, Kent, complained the cat pattern - which stretched from her wrist to her elbow - was itchy. 'We were entirely unaware of the dangers and want to make sure other parents know what can happen so...

ISTANBUL- A crackdown on political dissent in Turkey is widening to participants in a major civic unrest 5-years ago. Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for a prominent actor, a leading journalist/civil society activists.The arrests are in connection with the 2013 protests known as Gezi. The unrest began over plans to turn Gezi Park in central Istanbul into a shopping mall. The protests quickly transformed into broader demonstrations opposing the government and, in particular, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At its peak, the unrest saw millions of people take to the streets across the country.For Erdogan, who is now president, the...

The French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to his nation at 2pm Eastern time in the US today. He will break his verbal silence to address the challenge presented by the 'yellow vests' protest movement..... Climate change was on the agenda at a world conference in Katowice, Poland over the weekend..... The Battle of Brexit. Newspapers in the UK claimed that Prime Minister Theresa May won't allow her Brexit plan to be voted on Tuesday but her people said there would be a vote. May spoke to the Irish Prime Minister Sunday as well as the European Union leader Donald Tusk....

ISIS release pictures of their new gold coins they say will 'break capitalist enslavement' - so why are they still paying their deranged gunmen in US dollars? ISIS have released a new hour long video, showing off their latest propaganda tool - their very own coin currency. The video, which includes a dreary and distorted history of world economics, shows the smelting of gold, silver and copper coins. Dramatised by clips from Hollywood war films, the film accuses the US of 'confiscating Americans real wealth through an executive decree' with the introduction of the Gold Reserve Act in 1934. Yet...