Alec Baldwin claims Melania loves his Donald Trump impersonation on SN - Independent

Alec Baldwin claims Melania loves his Donald Trump impersonation on SNL

Apparently, the First Lady thinks 'that’s exactly what he’s like'

Jack Shepherd @JackJShepherd 3 days ago0 comments

The Independent Culture

Fury vows to 'punch Joshua's face in' after being called a 'fat f***'

The John Lewis Christmas advert is fiercely, preposterously secret

Bill Clinton suggests Donald Trump is a member of 'the dictators club'

Louis CK premiere cancelled 'ahead of New York Times story'

Alec Baldwin has been playing Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live for over a year, winning many high-profile fans.

While the President openly despises the impression — Tweeting as much multiple times — the First Lady is apparently an avid fan.

“Someone told me, who’s friends with someone in the White House or formerly in the White House, that Melania Trump loves SNL and she loves my impersonation,” Baldwin said during an interview on WNYC radio.

Trump's 100 Days: Alec Baldwin's best bits on Saturday Night Live

That high-profile informant also informed Baldwin that Melania thinks “that’s exactly what he’s like.” Baldwin added: “Apparently, Trump is horrified and besides himself that his wife actually thinks that’s funny.”

The White House immediately retorted the claims, for the First Lady’s director of communications saying: “That is not true, which is why Mr. Baldwin has no actual names to go with his bizarre assertion.”

Baldwin has made similar claims before, once saying an unnamed cabinet member complimented him on the impersonation.

Alec Baldwin takes Twitter break after backlash on Weinstein comments

Alec Baldwin admits to 'treating women in a very sexist way'

Alec Baldwin returns to SNL to mock Trump's hurricane response

The actor said at the time: “He goes, 'I'll get fired if anybody quoted me saying this, but that's exactly what he's like when you do it.’ “

Over the weekend, SNL caused some controversy as host Larry David made jokes about the Holocaust, causing some upset online.

Supersized Deep Sea Dredger Will Strain China's Testy Relations With Vietnam - Forbes

Supersized Deep Sea Dredger Will Strain China's Testy Relations With Vietnam

Ralph Jennings , CONTRIBUTOR

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

An activist shouts anti-China slogans during a rally marking the 42nd anniversary of the 1974 naval battle between China and then-South Vietnamese troops over the Paracel Islands, in Hanoi on Jan. 19, 2017. (HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to meet this week with Vietnam’s top three leaders, including the Southeast Asian side’s vaunted Communist Party chief. Xinhua News Agency, a voice of the Chinese government, heralds the encounters as new chances for cooperation with other countries. That makes sense as relations between the two Asian neighbors have seesawed over the years because of territorial disputes.

Then on Saturday Chinese state media announced tests of Asia’s largest vessel for dredging land from under the sea. It could easily be used in the disputed South China Sea for construction of artificial islands. Vietnam happens to be the most outspoken Chinese rival in the dispute over that 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea stretching from China's south coast to the island of Borneo.

Super-sized land reclamation vessel

The 140-meter-long, made-in-China Tian Kun Huo dredger, which the state-run China Daily news website says can crank out 6,000 cubic meters of land per hour up to 35 meters under the seabed, will probably get towed first to the Paracel Islands, experts believe. China has recently built out islets elsewhere in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea. The Paracels are a South China Sea archipelago of some 130 tiny natural features controlled by Beijing but vigorously contested by Hanoi since the 1970s.

More on Forbes: Why China Never Draws A Boundary Line Around Its Claim To The South China Sea

The dredging vessel "may be a major source of concern for Vietnam" because it's the only country that actively contests that island chain with China, says Le Hong Hiep, research fellow with ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. “If China builds more islands in the Paracels, Vietnam will be in a more difficult position to rally international support to oppose China’s move because this dispute has no other claimant state,” Le said.

More artificial islands?

Accelerated creation of artificial islands would help the Beijing government expand control of the South China Sea where most natural features, such as reefs and sandbars, are too small for development. Control means special rights of way for fishing boats or oil rigs. It might someday lead to blockage of foreign vessels in a sea where about one-third of the world’s marine shipping traffic passes.

China claims about 90% of the sea that's rich in fisheries and fossil fuel reserves. The claims overlap the maritime economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Vietnam is the second-most aggressive claimant after China, and the two sides have jousted for decades over disputes on land as well as at sea.

This aerial view of the city of Sansha on an island in the disputed Paracel chain, which China now considers part of Hainan province on July 27, 2012. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

More on Forbes: Making Sense Of The South China Sea Dispute

Beijing's landfilled islets in the sea’s Spratly chain are ready for military installations, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative under American think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. Vietnam contests the Spratly chain, as well.

Other coastal states lack the expertise or funds to build a super-sized dredging vessel.

Talks may be strained but will still happen

Leaders from China and Vietnam probably have the experience to brush off whatever ill will news of the dredging vessel may spark when Xi meets Vietnamese counterparts at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which is happening this week in Vietnam. The vessel is just being tested now, making it hard to protest just yet. But the knowledge that it's out there, along with other Chinese maritime technology that Vietnam doesn't have, is likely to give a cold hollow ring to any Chinese pledges of cooperation with the Vietnamese.

China has shown it probably won't discuss the Paracel dispute with Vietnam at the senior leadership level, said Trung Nguyen, international relations dean at Ho Chih Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

“It will be a problem for Vietnam and it’s increasingly difficult for Vietnam to counter against Chinese behavior in the South China Sea and reclamation work when they possess such high technology,” Nguyen said. “Up till now, I’m very pessimistic.”

This is what 44 seconds of GOP senators not responding to questions about Roy Moore sounds like - CNN Politics

This is what 44 seconds of GOP senators not responding to questions about Roy Moore sounds like

Analysis by Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

Updated 0245 GMT (1045 HKT) November 10, 2017

McConnell is questioned on Moore allegations

Source: CNN

McConnell is questioned on Moore allegations 00:44

(CNN)When Senate leaders planned an event Thursday afternoon with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House economic guru Gary Cohn to tout the rollout of their tax plan, the words "Roy Moore underage girl" were not likely on their minds.

But by the time the event happened, the allegations -- first reported by The Washington Post -- that the Alabama Republican Senate nominee had pursued relationships with four girls aged 14 to 18 when he was in his 30s was all anyone was talking about.

Which made this question and answer session SUPER awkward. (Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Orrin Hatch had both previously issued responses saying that if the allegations were true, Moore should step aside.)

Make sure you watch all 44 seconds of this. WARNING: It is a tough watch.

McConnell is questioned on Moore allegations 00:44

There's so much here. My thoughts -- in order.

1. The shouted question: "Do you believe these women who have made allegations against Roy Moore?"

2. Senate Majority Leader McConnell sitting stone-faced. And undoubtedly thinking: "Please let this end. And soon."

3. Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson makes a brief appearance, staring into nothing, before he is cropped out of the shot entirely.

4. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley smiling.

5. Utah's Hatch with an "I can't believe this is happening/"Is this actually happening?" look.

6. A staffer shouting "thank you" in a failed attempt to end the questioning.

7. McConnell stretching out his back and sitting up all while keeping the not-smiling-but-not-frowning he has absolutely mastered. And undoubtedly thinking: "Please let this end. And soon."

8. Another shouted question about "on-the-record accusations against Roy Moore, sir?"

9. McConnell looking to the side. And undoubtedly thinking: "Please let this end. And soon."

10. The Grassley wave.

11. Grassley saying, "Bye everybody," while McConnell turns to him and smiles.

12. Hatch staring into space bemusedly.

13. The second Grassley "bye" wave -- this time with WAY more wrist action.

14. McConnell removing his hand from the table. Licking his lips. And undoubtedly thinking: "Please let this end. And soon."

15. The camera pan out to Mnuchin and Cohn, who look like people who accidentally walked into a bank robbery.

16. The persistent questioner who shouts, "Write-in candidate?"

17. Hatch deciding that he's seen enough -- and waving everyone out in one grand gesture.

18. McConnell staring straight ahead. And undoubtedly thinking: "Please let this end. And soon."

In Saudi Crown Prince’s Crackdown, Echoes of Xi’s China - Bloomberg

In Saudi Crown Prince’s Crackdown, Echoes of Xi’s China

By Keith Zhai and David Tweed

November 8, 2017, 10:04 PM GMT+10

Two leaders round up rivals in the name of economic reform

Campaigns tap into public frustration with ruling elite

How Xi Jinping Went From Feeding Pigs to Ruling China

How Xi Jinping Went From Feeding Pigs to Ruling China

If Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s bid to speed economic reforms by rounding up rivals in graft raids sounds familiar, that’s because China has been doing it for years.

The arrest of princes, billionaires, ministers and retired officials in Saudi Arabia last weekend bore resemblance -- in both scope and stated mission -- to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s five-year-old anti-corruption campaign. And they may also have similar side benefits: pacifying the ruling elite and consolidating power around one man.

Such crackdowns have proven a reliable tool for governments from Brazil to Russia seeking to remove rivals and build legitimacy. Like Xi’s, the anti-graft campaign by the 32-year-old Prince Mohammed, who’s known as MBS among journalists and diplomats, appeals to a public increasingly concerned that the rich and powerful feel above the law.

“I certainly see similarities between the two leaders -- they are both consolidating power through the guise of reforms,” said Lydia Khalil, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney and a Middle East specialist. “The reforms that MBS and Xi may be proposing may be popular and reasonable among some -- in fact many -- but the manner in which reforms are enacted are as important as the reforms themselves.”

Khalil warned that power grabs carried out under the guise of reform, without transparency and due process, risked a country’s long-term stability.

Wealthy Targets

There are important differences between the crackdowns. Xi’s campaign unfolded slowly over months and initially focused on retired officials, while Prince Mohammed struck immediately at rival power centers. Xi launched his effort after formally securing power in late 2012, while Prince Mohammed is still the heir-apparent.

Still, the similarities abound. Those detained included billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the country’s richest man and an investor in companies such as Citigroup Inc. and Twitter Inc. King Salman, the crown prince’s father, told state TV that the most sweeping crackdown yet of his reign “will be applied on those big and small, and we will fear no one.”

In China, Xi has made similar pledges to make his country a place where “nobody dares to be corrupt.” The campaign has ensnared more than 1.5 million “tigers and flies,” including the country’s retired top general, former security chief and one-time presidential contender.

The effort has also extended to the business elite, with Wu Xiaohui, the founder of Anbang Insurance Group Co., China’s third-largest insurance company by premiums, missing since June amid reports that he was taken away for questioning.

Reform Cudgel

The ever-looming threat of prosecution has provided Xi a cudgel to push through policies. In a speech last month, he affirmed promises to improve the value of Chinese goods and pledged to restore the country to what he sees as its rightful place as a global power.

“The success of China’s anti-corruption campaign could be a good example to all authoritarian regimes,” said Zhu Lijia, a public affairs professor at the state-run Chinese Academy of Governance in Beijing. “It could maintain the political status of the ruling body while at the same time win public support and push forward the reforms they want.”

While investors wait to see whether Xi’s economic goals come to fruition, the political benefit to the president has been undeniable. He emerged from a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle last month more powerful than any Chinese leader in decades.

At the ruling Communist Party’s congress in Beijing, Xi avoided naming a successor while installing numerous top allies in senior leadership posts. He got his name written into the party charter, giving him a status on par with Mao Zedong.

Public Support

While reliable polling is hard to come by in China, support for the crackdown appears broad. Some 83 percent of Chinese people surveyed by the Pew Research Center last year described corruption as a bigger problem than any other issue. At the same time, 64 percent said they believed the situation would improve over the next five years.

There’s also a risk of a backlash as Prince Mohammed consolidates power and moves to counter critics, according to Raihan Ismail, an associate lecturer at the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra. She cited the arrests of intellectuals and clerics who have been critics of his war in Yemen and blockade of Qatar.

“What he is trying to do is to eliminate royal detractors and critics to consolidate power within his family,” Ismail said. “Companies are going to be nervous. Already we have the Gulf crisis. And that’s not helpful either.”

Trump, Putin Will Not Have Formal Meeting in Vietnam - NBC News

Trump, Putin Will Not Have Formal Meeting in Vietnam

by ALI VITALI

DA NANG, Vietnam — President Donald Trump will not hold a formal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin here, but the two men are likely to bump into each other, the White House said.

"There was never a meeting confirmed, and there will not be one that takes place due to scheduling conflicts on both sides,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Air Force One. "Now, they’re going to be in the same place. Are they going to bump into each other and say hello? Certainly possible and likely."

The Russian government had previously said there would be a meeting between the two leaders, but White House officials remained vague throughout the president’s time in Asia on the status of the meeting.

It would come as trump faces continued pressure at home over ongoing investigations into allegations that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin during the 2016 election, as well as Russian meddling in the race.

But Trump has also called out Russia in recent days to do more in pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear program and provocative behavior.

Trump and Putin met on the sidelines of G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, and at a formal dinner there in July.

Trump and Xi Both "Lose-Lose" - Bloomberg

Trump and Xi Both "Lose-Lose"

Neither the U.S. nor China is well-served by ignoring the issues between them.

By Michael Schuman

November 10, 2017,

A little too buddy-buddy. Photographer: Thomas Peter/Getty Images

China’s President Xi Jinping likes to talk of “win-win” diplomacy and this week’s official visit by President Donald Trump to Beijing would seem to fall into that category. Trump walked away with a very tweetable $250 billion in deals -- covering everything from aircraft to soybeans -- to brag about to his domestic supporters. Xi, like so many Chinese leaders before him, appears to have shipped off the barbarian chieftain with a few baubles to distract him from harassing the empire.

QuickTake

China's Market Meddling

The reality, though, is that the Trump-Xi summit was a “lose-lose” proposition. By focusing on headline-friendly deals, the two leaders shunted aside the more difficult economic challenges facing the U.S.-China relationship -- and set back the long-term interests of both their nations.

Sure, we shouldn’t sniff at a quarter-trillion dollars -- even if many deals, merely in the memorandum stage, may never materialize. Whatever develops will be a boon for U.S. businesses and farmers. And Xi benefits, too. By appeasing a White House obsessed with trade deficits, Xi could deflate, at least temporarily, mounting pressure in Washington to take action against unfair Chinese business practices.

But there’s the rub. Trump didn’t do U.S. businesses any favors by failing to address the major issues they face in China. American CEOs want the Chinese government to open its gargantuan market more widely to foreign business, better protect their intellectual property, stop extracting technology in exchange for access and treat their companies as equals to their Chinese rivals. Trump barely flicked at any of these problems (at least publicly). In fact, he went even further, practically absolving China of any responsibility for treating the U.S. unfairly. “I don’t blame China,” he said. “After all, who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens? I give China great credit.”

That made for many enthusiastic handshakes during Trump's Beijing jaunt. It left U.S. companies no better off, though, with little support from their own president on issues that could determine their ability to compete -- even survive -- in the world’s second-largest economy. For his part, Xi was only too happy to dodge. Trump's soft-glove approach has ensured China can continue to pursue a nationalistic agenda to upgrade key industries, amply subsidized by the state.

Yet Xi shouldn’t feel too proud of himself. The same reforms Trump should have been pushing would help the Chinese leader achieve his goals, too.

Opening China’s domestic market would enhance competition, in the process improving the performance of Chinese companies. That would help control risky debt and enliven sagging productivity. A more open economy would also encourage greater consumption -- also a stated Beijing policy -- which would in turn give a boost to healthier growth.

Stricter protection of intellectual property would entice foreign firms to import much-needed technology into China and spur local entrepreneurs to innovate -- both critical if China is to leap into the ranks of the world’s most advanced economies. And by taking such steps, China would go a long way towards dissuading the U.S. and other governments from erecting protectionist hurdles to Chinese business. That would ensure Chinese companies the continued free access to foreign markets they need to expand internationally, thus fulfilling yet another of Xi’s economic priorities.

Perhaps Xi will eventually arrive at the conclusion that such reforms are indeed necessary. But some swift kicks from the U.S. could speed that process along. Without external pressure, Xi has a lot less incentive to undertake changes that would transform the country’s state-led economic system and threaten players who currently benefit from it.

Of course, such high-profile summits are often more about cooperation than confrontation. Once back in Washington, Trump may toughen his stance and press Xi harder. Perhaps Xi, the country’s unchallenged leader after last month’s Communist Party congress, will march forward more quickly on reform as many China watchers hope.

But those are all maybes. What was missed on Trump’s trip to China was an opportunity for the world’s two most powerful men to tackle some big decisions on issues that could shape not just the future of the U.S.-China relationship, but the growth prospects and competitiveness of both economies. That truly would have been a “win-win.”

Trump at Apec summit: US will no longer tolerate trade abuses - BBC News

Trump at Apec summit: US will no longer tolerate trade abuses

Donald Trump said he would put "America first" at the Apec summit

President Donald Trump has said the US will no longer tolerate "chronic trade abuses", in a defiant address at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Vietnam.

He said the US was prepared to work with Apec countries as long as they "abide by fair reciprocal trade".

Mr Trump said free trade had cost millions of American jobs, and he wanted to redress the imbalance.

He has already visited China and Japan as part of a five-nation Asia tour.

Apec brings together 21 economies from the Pacific region - the equivalent of about 60% of the world's GDP.

Since taking office, President Trump has pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major trade deal with 12 Apec member countries, arguing it would hurt US economic interests.

Trump says trade deficit not China's fault

Trump, China and Twitter - what's going on?

The hidden messages in Trump's Asian menu

Chinese President Xi Jinping also addressed the summit in the Vietnamese port city of Da Nang, where he said that globalisation was an irreversible trend but the world needed to make it more balanced and inclusive.

What did Trump say?

In his speech on Friday, President Trump railed against the World Trade Organization, which sets global trade laws, and said it "cannot function properly" if all members do not respect the rules.

He complained about trade imbalances, saying the US had lowered market barriers and ended tariffs while other countries had not reciprocated. "Such practices hurt many people in our country," he told business and political leaders at the summit.

But he did not lay the blame on Apec countries, and instead accused earlier US administrations of not acting earlier to reverse the trend.

He said America would make bilateral agreements with "any Indo-Pacific partner here who abides by fair reciprocal trade", but only "on a basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit".

Mr Trump has repeatedly referred to the region as "Indo-Pacific", a term used to define America's new geopolitical view of Asia.

"Indo-Pacific" - Trump's latest catchphrase

The US president had travelled to Da Nang from Beijing, where he had also discussed America's huge trade imbalance with China. There too, he said he did not blame the country for "taking advantage".

America's narrowing role in Asia-Pacific

By Jonathan Head, BBC South East Asia correspondent

This was a strong, confident speech by President Trump giving two starkly contrasting messages. He opened with glowing praise for the achievements of the Asia Pacific region. He listed most of the larger members of APEC, his flattery bringing applause from the audience, none louder than that which greeted his description of Vietnam's 2000-year struggle for statehood. He brushed over the Vietnam War.

Then came a list of America's grievances on trade. His reference to currency manipulation, and forcing companies to give up their intellectual property to get market access were clearly directed at China. Instead of multilateral arrangements, he offered new, bilateral agreements with countries prepared to give America a better deal.

Mr Trump made no mention of the leadership the US has traditionally offered, in values, economic philosophy and military alliances. There was no mistaking the narrower role he sees for the US in the Asia Pacific region.

Balancing trade and language

The total trade relationship between the US and China was worth $648bn last year, but trade was heavily skewed in China's favour with the US amassing a nearly $310bn deficit.

Mr Trump has in the past accused China of stealing American jobs and threatened to label it a currency manipulator, though he has since rowed back on such rhetoric.

China said on Thursday it would further lower entry barriers in the banking, insurance, and finance sectors, and gradually reduce vehicle tariffs.

Trump spoke about North Korea and US-China trade in Beijing on Thursday

Mr Xi promised "healthy" and "balanced" economic and trade relations.

Deals worth $250bn (£190bn) were also announced, although it was unclear how much of that figure included past agreements or potential future deals. At the same time, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told journalists the deals were "pretty small" in terms of tackling the trade imbalance.

Trump vs Xi: The two men compared

Before the Beijing talks, Mr Trump in Tokyo lashed out at Japan, saying it "has been winning" on trade in recent decades.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will also be making a speech at the Apec summit. Japan had a $69bn (£52.8bn) trade surplus with the US in 2016, according to the US Treasury department.

Media captionIt's unclear whether Mr Trump will address human rights issues in Vietnam

After attending the Apec summit, Mr Trump will pay a state visit to the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

Mr Trump will end his 12-day Asian tour in the Philippines on 13 November.