Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: A royal shake-up - BBC News

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: A royal shake-up

By Daniela Relph

Royal correspondent

Related TopicsWedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle and Prince HarryImage copyrightREUTERS

This is no ordinary royal engagement.

Meghan Markle brings something different to the British Royal Family.

She is American, divorced, an actress and mixed race.

She is also a campaigner with a variety of humanitarian interests and won't want her marriage to limit her ability to speak out and support various causes - particularly those of gender equality.

As an advocate for UN Women, Ms Markle has worked on helping young girls reach their leadership potential. When she was first approached about working with the United Nations the Suits star insisted on undertaking a period of "work experience" first.

Couple to marry next spring

The prince and the actress

Who is Meghan Markle?

Prince Harry profile

In her own time she shadowed Elizabeth Nyamayaro, a senior advisor at UN Women. Elizabeth was impressed by the intelligence, commitment and curiosity of the actress.

The pair have since worked together closely on a number of UN missions and Elizabeth has no doubt that her friend and colleague will thrive in her new royal role.

"Her ability to listen, her passion for other people, wanting to create social change with that level of platform can only be a positive thing. She'll be fine, she'll be great in fact."

Meghan Markle giving a speechImage copyrightREUTERS

Image caption

Ms Markle addressed gender issues at the One Young World forum in Canada

But the media coverage of the relationship in its early days unsettled sections of the British press and its readers.

Prince Harry even took the unprecedented step of issuing a public statement asking for privacy and describing some of the coverage as having "racial undertones".

Much was made of his fiancée's upbringing in Los Angeles, with the area described as gang-infested and a place riddled with racial tension.

However, Ms Markle actually grew up in a very middle class neighbourhood of Los Angeles and attended a private Catholic school.

But in many ways she is an outsider.

Prince Harry isn't following a traditional path - he's not marrying the daughter of a grand aristocratic family.

His wife-to-be now has to negotiate her way through the British aristocracy, in a similar vein to her future sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.

It is an experience American nutritionist and author Julie Montagu knows well, as the future Countess of Sandwich.

Born and brought up in Illinois, she married the son of the Earl of Sandwich and is now Viscountess Hinchingbrooke.

She splits her time between London and the family estate, Mapperton, in Dorset.

"Even now I still get things wrong," she told me. "The British upper classes have their own way of doing things. But as an American I bring my optimism, positivity and work ethic into the mix which I believe is hugely important."

Ms Markle is joining a family and entering a world unlike anything she has previously experienced. Yes it brings with it great privilege. But it also means a lack of privacy and the acceptance of a public life. As an actress she may find herself well equipped to deal with the scrutiny ahead.

Lawsuit challenges Trump's choice for consumer financial bureau - CBS News

November 26, 2017, 10:11 PM

Lawsuit challenges Trump's choice for consumer financial bureau

President Trump's appointment of his budget director as interim director of a consumer financial protection agency championed by Democrats was challenged in a lawsuit filed in federal court Sunday night.

Leandra English, the federal official elevated to the position of interim director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by its outgoing director, filed the suit against Mr. Trump and his choice, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.

The suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia asked for a declaratory judgment and a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau.

English cited the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She said that as deputy director, she became the acting director under the law and argued that the federal law the White House contends supports Mr. Trump's appointment of Mulvaney doesn't apply when another statute designates a successor.

English was chief of staff to bureau director Richard Cordray when he named her deputy director as he prepared to resign last Friday. Cordray was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama and has been long criticized by congressional Republicans as overzealous.

The White House, with the support of an opinion issued Saturday by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, maintained that the president has the power to appoint an acting director. Steven A. Engel, newly confirmed head of the office, wrote that, while the deputy director may serve as acting director under the statute, the president still has authority under the Vacancies Reform Act.

Mr. Trump promised to bring the agency "back to life" in tweets Saturday afternoon, criticizing Cordray's leadership.

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, has been a total disaster as run by the previous Administrations pick. Financial Institutions have been devastated and unable to properly serve the public. We will bring it back to life!

8:48 AM - Nov 26, 2017

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

Check out the recent Editorial in the Wall Street Journal @WSJ about what a complete disaster the @CFPB has been under its leader from previous Administration, who just quit!

9:00 AM - Nov 26, 2017

A new director must be confirmed by the Senate. Earlier Sunday, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking GOP leader, pledged swift action whenever Mr. Trump nominates a successor to Cordray. Meanwhile, Thune said he expected that Mulvaney "will be on the job and he'll be calling the shots over there," but acknowledged the issue could end up in court.

Beyond the fight over who's in charge is the future direction of the bureau, created after the 2008 financial crisis and given a broad mandate as a watchdog for consumers when they deal with banks and credit card, student loan and mortgage companies, as well as debt collectors and payday lenders.

"All Americans should be deeply concerned about the White House's cynical decision to flout the law and attempt to put the ringleader of its dangerous, anti-consumer protection policies in charge," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said in a statement issued before the lawsuit was filed.

Taking aim at Mulvaney, she said the public deserves "a champion that protects them from predatory bankers and lenders, not the leadership of a Wall Street pawn who denigrates consumer protection as a 'sick, sad joke.'"

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer joined Pelosi in arguing that English was the rightful acting director. He accused Mr. Trump of ignoring the law "in order to put a fox in charge of a hen house."

Thune said he hoped eventually to see "reforms to that agency, which has essentially very little accountability to the Congress or anybody else." Another Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he thinks Mr. Trump was on "good ground" to pick Mulvaney for the job and hopes Mulvaney "will ride herd on these folks."

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said putting Mulvaney in charge was part of an effort to destroy the bureau.

"Wall Street hates it like the devil hates holy water," Durbin said. "And they're trying to put an end to it with ... Mulvaney stepping into Cordray's spot. But the statute is specific, it's clear, and it says that the deputy shall take over."

Thune appeared on "Fox News Sunday" while Durbin and Graham spoke on CNN's "State of the Union."

John Conyers: Veteran congressman gives up post amid harassment inquiry - BBC News

John Conyers: Veteran congressman gives up post amid harassment inquiry

26 November 2017

Mr Conyers says he looks forward to "vindicating" himself

The longest-serving member of the US Congress says he is stepping aside as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while sexual harassment allegations are investigated.

John Conyers again denied the accusations, but said he was stepping down to clear his name.

A staff member alleges she was fired for refusing to "succumb to sexual advances" from the Michigan Democrat.

A prominent civil rights leader, Mr Conyers first joined Congress in 1965.

The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and age discrimination involving staff.

On Sunday, Mr Conyers, who is 88, tweeted that he would like to remain as ranking member on the judiciary committee, but that he could not "in good conscience" allow the charges to "undermine" House colleagues.

It was reported on Tuesday that he had paid $27,000 (£20,000) in 2015 in exchange for the confidentiality of a former staff member who alleged she was fired for rejecting sexual advances.

He was also accused of repeatedly making sexual advances and inappropriately touching other female employees, according to signed legal documents seen by Buzzfeed.

Mr Conyers said that many of the allegations "were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger".

John Conyers, Jr.

@RepJohnConyers

Replying to @RepJohnConyers

I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger. I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics.

4:34 AM - Nov 27, 2017

The files have not been independently verified by BBC News.

The leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said it was imperative that Mr Conyers received "due process".

Ms Pelosi called him "an icon" who had advanced women's causes.

However she tweeted, in reference to Mr Conyers: "Zero tolerance means consequences... No matter how great an individual's legacy, it is not a license for harassment."

Mr Conyers is the last member of Congress to have been in office under President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s.

Republican house speaker Paul Ryan has called the allegations "extremely troubling".

He recently announced that all lawmakers and staff members must undergo anti-sexual harassment training.

Deposed Catalan leader brands the EU 'a club of decadent countries controlled by a small few' as he calls for region's own Brexit - Daily Mail

Deposed Catalan leader brands the EU 'a club of decadent countries controlled by a small few' as he calls for region's own Brexit

The politician attacked the EU as outdated in an interview with Israeli TV

He claimed the EU was a 'club of decadent and obsolescent countries'

Spain is seeking the deposed Catalan leader's extradition from Belgium

By Gerard Couzens For The Mailonline

PUBLISHED: 19:24 AEDT, 27 November 2017 | UPDATED:

Deposed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has branded the EU a 'club of decadent countries' and said a British-style 'Catexit' might be the solution.

The pro-independence politician attacked the organisation as outdated in an interview for Israeli TV after his failed attempts to get European backing for his cause from his hideaway in Brussels.

He claimed the EU was a 'club of decadent and obsolescent countries controlled by a small few and closely linked to increasingly debatable economic interests.'

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont gives a press conference to lanuch his campaign for the Catalan regional elections, in Oostkamp near Brugge, Belgium +2

Ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont gives a press conference to lanuch his campaign for the Catalan regional elections, in Oostkamp near Brugge, Belgium

Arguing Catalonia should turn the tables on EU chiefs who have warned there would be in place in Europe for the region if it breaks away from the rest of Spain, he added 'They're constantly telling us we're going to be left out of the European Union but the ones who should take that decision are the citizens of Catalonia.

'Lets see what the people of Catalonia say. Perhaps there are not many people who want to form part of this EU…so insensitive to the abuse of human rights, of the democratic right of a part of its territory only because a post-Franco right wants it to be that way.

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His comments, made during an interview for a programme on Israeli state broadcaster Kan called Zman Emet, were previewed in Catalan daily La Vanguardia.

The interview took place in Brussels where Puigdemont has been holed up since fleeing Spain following the Catalan Parliament's unilateral declaration of independence at the end of October.

The pro-independence politician attacked the organisation as outdated in an interview for Israeli TV after his failed attempts to get European backing for his cause from his hideaway in Brussels

The pro-independence politician attacked the organisation as outdated in an interview for Israeli TV after his failed attempts to get European backing for his cause from his hideaway in Brussels

The declaration led to the Spanish government imposing direct rule over Catalonia. Puigdemont's former government ministers were subsequently remanded in jail pending an ongoing judicial investigation.

Spain is seeking the deposed Catalan leader's extradition from Belgium after state prosecutors said they wanted him charged with rebellion or sedition.

The dad-of-two, married to Romanian actress-turned journalist Marcela Topor, faces a 30 year prison sentence if convicted of rebellion.

Puigdemont admitted in the interview he feared for his safety and claimed his family had received death threats.

Despite his attack on the EU, he told interviewer Henrique Cymerman he wanted to 'work to change' the institution.

Puigdemont's comments took many in Spain and Catalonia by surprise.

Carlos Campuzano, the spokesman for the deposed Catalan leader's party PDECat in the Spanish Parliament, insisted today/yesterday (MON) a Brexit-style referendum was not on its agenda.

He said: 'The EU has been key in members' economic and social prosperity. There's no future without Europe.'

Albert Rivera, leader of the pro-union Ciudadanos party, said Puigdemont's comments outed him as a Catalan version of French National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

'Now we understand everything,' he said.

'Now his populist and nationalist mask has fallen. All populism is the same, they want to destroy the EU. Nationalism and populism are two sides of the same coin.'

Richard Branson accused of sexual harassment - Fox News

Richard Branson accused of sexual harassment

Fox News

Billionaire Richard Branson is the latest high-profile person to be accused of sexual harassment following a party on his Necker Island in 2010.

After posting about the alleged incident on her Facebook, Antonia Jenae shared a story with The Sun in which she claims Branson stuck his head between her breasts and “motorboated” them by blowing and making an engine noise. At the time, Jenae was a backup singer for Joss Stone. After a concert, the group was invited by Branson back to his island where the alleged incident took place.

“He went ‘brrrrrr’ and just walked away. It was surreal, totally out of the blue. Joss and I were like, ‘What the hell was that?!’ Everyone was wondering why I wasn’t angry because I’m usually a firebrand. But I was just too shocked.”

She also claims that Branson tried to get her to show him her breasts and to walk around topless. The next day, she was invited on a plane back to the U.S. with Branson and his wife.

A spokesperson for Branson told the outlet that members of Joss Stone’s band were invited for a party in 2010, no one seemed upset afterwards.

“Richard has no recollection of this matter. Neither do his family and friends who were with him at the time. There would never have been any intention to offend or make anyone feel uncomfortable. Richard apologises if anyone felt that way,” the spokesperson said.

China's Top Uber-for-Trucks Apps Agree on a Merger - Bloomberg

China's Top Uber-for-Trucks Apps Agree on a Merger

By Lulu Yilun Chen

November 27, 2017,

Huochebang, Yunmanman are said to pick Wang Gang as new CEO

Newly merged company is said to be worth at least $2 billion

Huochebang and Yunmanman, China’s two biggest apps for Uber-like truck services, have agreed to merge, creating a company valued at more than $2 billion, people familiar with the matter said.

Wang Gang, a backer of Yunmanman’s and an angel investor in ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing, will become the chief executive officer of the new entity, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The companies are already in the process of seeking new funding to sustain their rapid pace of expansion, the people said. They could announce the deal as early as Monday, the people added.

The merger would end a costly and frosty battle and create a dominant player in a domestic trucking market estimated to be worth 5 trillion yuan ($753 billion). It’s the latest corporate tie-up to emerge from an increasingly competitive technology sector, the most prominent being the marriage of Didi Chuxing and Uber’s Chinese business.

Yunmanman representative Johnny Xu, who this month denied the pair were considering a merger, didn’t respond to requests for comment. Julia Zhu, a spokeswoman for Yunmanman, said she couldn’t immediately comment. Jarry Yan, a spokesman for Huochebang, also declined immediate comment.

Wang doesn’t currently hold an executive position with either company. He previously held management roles at e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and its Alipay affiliate before becoming an angel investor in Didi.

Yunmanman and Huochebang -- known also as Truck Alliance -- compete in a sector where more than 200 outfits are fighting for a slice of business. While 80 percent of the country’s cargo is carried by road, trucks often spend hours standing empty in vast parking lots and their drivers rely on typically chaotic service centers to find their next load.

Both companies are backed by investors with deep pockets and use technology to match drivers with cargoes via their smartphones, as well as sell truckers toll cards, gasoline, tires and second-hand vehicles.

Yunmanman, formally known as Jiangsu Man Yun Software Technology Co., has backing from Sequoia Capital and Yunfeng Capital, the venture fund co-founded by billionaire Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma. Truck Alliance, which has been valued at more than $1 billion, has Tencent Holdings Ltd., Baidu Capital, Hillhouse Capital, International Finance Corp. and All-Stars Investment Ltd. on its side.

Russia warns of 'apocalyptic scenario' on Korean Peninsula- CNBC News

Russia warns of 'apocalyptic scenario' on Korean Peninsula

Tensions between North Korea and its closest neighbor South Korea appear to be ratcheting up again.

A senior Russian official has warned of an "apocalyptic scenario" developing on the Korean Peninsula.

The comments come as the international community watches for the next move from the secretive and unpredictable regime in North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un.

Holly Ellyatt

CNBC.com

People watch a television broadcast reporting the North Korean missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station on September 15, 2017 in Seoul, South Korea.

Tensions between North Korea and its closest neighbor South Korea appear to be ratcheting up again just as a senior Russian official warned of an "apocalyptic scenario" developing on the Korean Peninsula.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said Monday that the world could not ignore the crisis surrounding North Korea and fears over the country's suspected nuclear missile development, but that he hoped a peaceful solution could be found.

"A scenario of the apocalyptic development of the situation on the Korean Peninsula exists and we cannot turn our blind eye to it," Morgulov said speaking at the opening of the eighth annual Asian Conference of the Valdai discussion club in Seoul, according to Russia's state-run news agency Tass.

"I hope that a common sense, pragmatism and an instinct of self-preservation would prevail among our partners to exclude such negative scenario," the Russian diplomat said.

The comments come as the international community watches for the next move from the secretive and unpredictable regime in North Korea and its leader Kim Jong Un. There have been repeated demands for the country to stop its suspected nuclear weapons development program but Pyongyang has repeatedly appeared to have ignored these, carrying out a string of missile and nuclear tests.

President Donald Trump has warned North Korea that the country was prepared to go to war but Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the U.S. not to use military might against the Communist regime, insisting that a peaceful solution can be found.

Russia has a vested interest in a peaceful solution to the North Korea problem as it shares a 17-kilometer land border with the country and does not want the U.S. to meddle in the region.

Similarly, North Korea's other neighbor China also has an ambivalent stance towards Pyongyang, wanting to avoid the collapse of the regime and an influx of refugees over the border.

Yet it has appeared to be increasingly weary of North Korea's repeated nuclear tests and missile launches. In September, China's United Nations ambassador called on the regime to "take seriously the expectations and will of the international community" to halt its nuclear missile development.

There have long been tensions between North and South Korea with both sides accusing each other of various violations and attacks, from state-sponsored hacking and espionage to accusations of violations of other's territorial waters and airspace.

Just on Monday, South Korea's defense minister said that the North had violated an armistice agreement between the two countries when North Korean soldiers shot at and wounded another North Korean soldier as he defected and crossed the border.

"Shooting towards the South at a defecting person, that's a violation of the armistice agreement," Song Young-moo said during a visit to the border on Monday, Reuters reported.