David Sorensen

Second Trump aide quits over abuse claims

WASHINGTON – A speech-writer has become the second White House aide this week to resign amid allegations of domestic abuse. David Sorensen denies his former wife’s allegations he was violent and emotionally abusive. His departure comes just days after another Trump official, Rob Porter, quit over allegations of abuse from two ex-wives, something he denies. Questions have been raised over how long it took the White House to act on the accusations facing Porter. Sorensen’s ex-wife Jessica Corbett told the Washington Post that he was physically abusive to her while they were married. She said that on separate occasions, her former husband ran a car over her foot, threw her against a wall and extinguished a cigarette on her hand. In response, Sorensen released a statement in which he said he had “never committed violence of any kind against any woman in my entire life”.

PYEONGCHANG – South Korea on Saturday investigated a mysterious internet shutdown during the Winter Olympics’ opening ceremony, which follows warnings of possible cyber-attacks during the Pyeongchang Games. Internal internet and Wi-Fi systems crashed at about 19h15 on Friday, and were still not back to normal at midday on Saturday, games organisers said. Cyber-security teams and experts from South Korea’s defence ministry, plus four other ministries formed part of a task force investigating the shutdown, they said, adding that it didn’t affect the high-tech opening ceremony. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korean president Moon Jae-in and US vice president Mike Pence were among the VIPs at Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium late on Friday.

BRASILIA – A Brazilian supreme court judge on Friday rejected a fresh bid by former president Luiz Inacio (Lula) da Silva to avoid prison for corruption while appeals wind their way through the court system. However, though the judge, Edson Fachin, shot down the “habeus corpus” challenge for now, he said it would be studied again by a full panel of the court’s 11 judges later on. “This decision by Justice Fachin will give the federal supreme court the opportunity to apply the constitution, especially as it relates to guaranteeing the presumption of innocence up until a final decision is taken,” Lula’s defence lawyers said in a statement. Lula is making every effort to stave off any prison time while he angles to return as president in elections later this year. – Nampa-AFP-BBC News

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