Thousands mark 3 months of ‘yellow vest’ protests

Protesters take part in a demonstration of the “yellow vest” movement in Paris, France, on Saturday. Tens of thousands of “yellow vest” protesters marched across France on Saturday, three months since the movement began, and in a week that has seen growing international concern at police treatment of the protesters.SD-Agencies

Abe nominated Trump for Peace Prize ‘on request’

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize last autumn after receiving a request from the U.S. Government to do so, the Asahi newspaper reported on Monday.

The report follows Trump’s claim on Friday that Abe had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for opening talks and easing tensions with North Korea.

The U.S. Government had sounded Abe out* over the Noble Peace Prize nomination after Trump’s summit in June last year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the Asahi said, citing an unnamed Japanese Government source.

US planes land near Venezuela border with aid

The U.S. military airlifted* tons of humanitarian aid to a Colombian town on the Venezuelan border on Saturday as part of an effort meant to undermine* President Nicolas Maduro and back his rival for the leadership of the nation.

Two of three scheduled Air Force C-17 cargo planes that took off from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida had landed in Cucuta. That border city is swollen by a flood of migrants from Venezuela.

Judge rules ex-Trump campaign chairman lied

A federal judge ruled on February 13 that U.S. President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally* lied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, breaking his plea* agreement.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote that Manafort “made multiple false statements to the FBI, the OSC and the grand jury concerning matters that were material to the investigation” into interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election, when he worked for Trump.

Jackson’s ruling stated that Muller’s office had established “by a preponderance of the evidence” that Manafort intentionally lied in four out of five instances that it had laid out in December.

Mexican drug lord convicted by NY jury

The world’s most infamous* cartel* boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who rose from poverty in rural Mexico to amass* billions of dollars, was found guilty in a U.S. court of smuggling tons of drugs to the United States over a violent, colorful, decades-long career.

Jurors in federal court in Brooklyn convicted Guzman, 61, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, on all 10 counts brought by U.S. prosecutors.

N. Macedonia replaces signs to reflect new name

Workers in the newly renamed North Macedonia have begun replacing road signs to reflect the change in their country’s name, following a deal with neighboring Greece to end a nearly three decades-long dispute and secure NATO membership.

Workers were removing “Republic of Macedonia” road signs at a border crossing with Greece yesterday, a precursor to a series of steps the country will take as part of the agreement, including changing signs at airports, on official buildings, web pages and printed materials.(SD-Agencies)