Porn star describes threat over alleged Trump encounter
WASHINGTON — Adult film star Stormy Daniels says she was threatened to keep silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006, telling her story in a highly anticipated interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday.
Daniels said she was threatened by an unidentified man in Las Vegas to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump, an incident that she said happened while she was with her young daughter. She said in the interview that she had one encounter of consensual sex with the future president.
“He knows I’m telling the truth,” said Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford. She does not allege that she was coerced in her encounter with Trump, saying, “This is not a ‘Me too.’ I was not a victim.”
The adult film actress provided little new evidence of her alleged 2006 affair with Trump but said she faced intimidation tactics aimed at ensuring her silence in 2011.
Daniels said that in the incident, in a parking lot, the man told her: “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.” She said he then looked at her daughter and said, “That’s a beautiful little girl. It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
Trump plans to oust Shulkin as VA secretary
PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump is planning to oust embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin amid an extraordinary rebellion at the agency and damaging government investigations into his alleged spending abuses, three administration officials told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Two officials said an announcement on Shulkin could happen this week, subject to Trump’s final decision as the White House hones in on possible replacements to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. One of the officials rated Shulkin’s chances of being pushed out in the next day or two at “50-50.” The three officials demanded anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter.
Trump, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate, told associates that he would keep two other administration officials who had been under fire: White House chief of staff John F. Kelly and Housing Secretary Ben Carson.
“He did say that he’s expecting to make one or two major changes,” said Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, a Trump confidant who spoke with the president over the weekend, on ABC’s “This Week.”
“Now, other White House sources, not the president, tell me that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin is likely to depart the Cabinet very soon,” Ruddy said.
37 dead, 69 missing in Russian shopping center fire
MOSCOW — A devastating fire at a shopping center in a Siberian city killed 37 people and left 69 others missing Sunday, many of them children, a Russian state news agency reported.
The Tass agency quoted firefighters as saying that 40 of the missing at the four-story Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo were children. An additional 43 people were injured in the blaze, the report said.
There has been no immediate information on the cause of the fire at the mall, which is about 1,900 miles east of Moscow. But Tass reported that the fire started on the top floor and consumed an area of about 16,150 square feet.
The reports didn’t say if the victims died from burns or smoke inhalation.
The shopping mall, which opened in 2013, has a cinema, petting zoo, children’s center and bowling, Tass reported.
From wire sources
Saudis say 1 dead during missile barrage by Yemen rebels
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Yemen’s Shiite rebels fired a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Arabia late Sunday on the third anniversary of a kingdom-led war in Yemen, with fragments of one missile over Riyadh killing one person and wounding two.
The casualties were the first in Saudi Arabia’s capital since the Saudi-led war in Yemen began in March 2015, though previous rockets fired by the Yemeni rebels have caused deaths in other parts of the kingdom.
The rebels known as Houthis said they launched a missile attack targeting Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and other sites, again showing their ability to strike deep into the neighboring kingdom amid the stalemated war in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country.
The barrage likely will spark new criticism of Iran’s role in the conflict as well, as the Houthis identified some of the missiles fired as a type that the United Nations and the West say comes from Tehran.
The Saudi military said it intercepted seven ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at the kingdom, three of them targeting Riyadh, two targeting Jazan and one apiece targeting Najran and Khamis Mushait.
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China appeals for cooperation as it warns of ‘trade war’
BEIJING — A top Chinese official warned Sunday that a “trade war” would harm all sides but gave no indication of Beijing’s possible next move in a spiraling dispute with President Donald Trump over steel and technology.
Speaking to global business leaders at a development forum, Vice Premier Han Zheng appealed for cooperation to make economic globalization “beneficial for all.”
“A trade war serves the interests of none,” Han said at the China Development Forum. “It will only lead to serious consequences and negative impact.”
Han didn’t mention Trump by name or refer directly to the dispute with Washington, but the country’s newly appointed economy czar warned Saturday that Beijing will defend its interests. The government issued a $3 billion list on Friday of U.S. goods including pork and stainless steel pipes it said might be hit by higher tariffs.
The Commerce Ministry said those charges were linked to Trump’s approval earlier of higher tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. But a bigger battle is brewing over Trump’s approval Thursday of a possible tariff hike on $30 billion of Chinese goods in response to what Washington says is Beijing’s improper acquisition of foreign technology.