Icetruck

Maduro moves to restructure Venezuela's $120B foreign debt

Venezuela's president says his socialist government will begin restructuring a foreign debt estimated at more than $120 billion, saying U.S. financial sanctions are crippling the oil-dependent economy's ability to pay.

But President Nicolas Maduro also indicated he wanted to avoid a fight with international lenders. He ordered state-run oil company PDVSA to make one last $1.1 billion bond payment in full on Friday before the country launches its effort to ease future foreign payments.

"I decree a refinancing and a restructuring of all external debt and all of Venezuela's payments," Maduro said in a nationally broadcast address Thursday.

Venezuela's economy has contracted more than 35 percent since 2014, a sharper fall than the U.S. suffered during the Great Depression, and Maduro's government has found itself forced to choose between paying foreign creditors and helping a population ravaged by triple-digit inflation and widespread food and medicine shortages.

Until now, Venezuela has gone out of its way to honor its debts, finding new funds from ally Russia and disproving critics who long predicted a default. But financial sanctions announced in August by the Trump administration banning U.S. investors from lending new funds to Venezuela has made it harder to maintain the delicate balance.

Many banks and financial institutions now refuse to handle the government's payments, for fear it could damage their reputations. In May, Goldman Sachs experienced a major backlash after it made a big purchase of so-called "hunger bonds" from Venezuela that paid a huge return but opened it up to accusations it was profiting from Venezuela's misery.

"We have had to face a real global financial persecution," Maduro said.

The president said Venezuela has paid $72 billion to debt holders since he came to power in 2013 despite a precipitous fall in oil income for the OPEC nation.

Under the late President Hugo Chavez, the government went on a borrowing binge as oil prices that were around just $10 a barrel when he took office in 1999 soared to over $140, giving investors confidence they would be paid back from the nation sitting atop the world's largest oil reserves.

But as oil prices have fallen, the few risk-seeking investors willing to keep lending to Venezuela have been demanding astronomically high interest rates.

The country now has more than $120 billion in external debt, about half of which is in the form of dollar-denominated bonds, according to brokerage Caracas Capital.

To lead the debt renegotiation process Maduro named Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who faces U.S. sanctions of his own over allegations of being a major drug trafficker. He has dismissed the accusations as baseless and an attempt to undermine Maduro's rule.

Members of the opposition, who for months have criticized Maduro for prioritizing debt payments, nonetheless slammed his proposal to reverse course.

"Maduro can't restructure the debt because nobody in the world trusts his government," said National Assembly President Julio Borges, who previously letters to Wall Street banks urging them to cut off the government over human rights abuses committed during months of protests.

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Associated Press writer Jorge Rueda reported this story in Caracas and AP writer Joshua Goodman reported from Bogota, Colombia. AP writer Scott Smith in Caracas contributed to this report.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Election dramas exhaust Kenya, where democracy is challenged

Distraught Kenyan schoolgirls huddled against an alleyway wall, trapped between stone-throwing protesters and police wielding clubs and firing tear gas in an outbreak of violence following Kenya's disputed election that left national divisions more entrenched.

The girls scrambled to safety in a scene that captured the anguish of a flawed democracy facing protracted pressures unless Kenya's rival camps can somehow accommodate. The question of how the democratic institutions and relatively open society of this leading East African nation will respond is a bellwether for the continent, where democracy evolves in some places and authoritarianism takes root in others.

"This is not just about Kenya," said Murithi Mutiga, a Nairobi-based senior analyst for the International Crisis Group. "It's about the idea of moving toward greater and greater political competition and freedom and against those that say, 'Let's privilege economic development and forget political liberalism for now.'"

Kenya is in a lull after a bruising election cycle in which an Aug. 8 vote was nullified by the Supreme Court because of flaws, and an Oct. 26 repeat vote was boycotted by opposition leader Raila Odinga. President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner both times. While most of the country of 45 million was calm, some areas were hit by ethnic tensions, violent protests, sporadic arson and looting and deadly police gunfire during clashes. Police put the death toll at 19; human rights groups say it is more than 70.

"We are tired of suffering in Kenya," a woman nicknamed Mama Wetu ("Our Mother" in Swahili) said after the clash Monday that ensnared the schoolgirls in Kawangware, a Nairobi slum of shacks and dirt paths. At one point, protesters positioned themselves behind some of the girls, using them as a shield, witnesses said.

Such a scene gives the impression that Kenya is turning on itself, undermining its status as a regional economic hub, a popular tourist destination and an oasis of stability in the conflict-prone Horn of Africa region. Yet, despite the ethnic allegiances and patronage systems that handcuff Kenyan democracy, the country has avoided a repeat of the ethnic-fueled violence after the 2007 election that killed more than 1,000 people.

That is partly thanks to a 2010 constitution whose human rights provisions are among the most progressive in the world, instilling some faith among Kenyans that institutions could peacefully resolve grievances. The Supreme Court, the constitution's guardian, scrapped the August presidential election after a petition from Odinga, and is likely to again consider complaints about alleged irregularities in last week's election.

Yet the Oct. 24 shooting of the police driver of a Supreme Court judge, and the failure of the court to muster a quorum the next day to consider a petition to postpone the Oct. 26 election, suggest possible efforts to intimidate the judiciary so recently seen as willing to assert its independence from political pressure.

The nullification of Kenya's August vote was the first time a court in Africa had overturned a presidential election. The effects are showing up elsewhere on the continent. On Wednesday, Liberia's Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to preparations for a runoff presidential election next week as it awaits a hearing on alleged voting irregularities.

The possibility that Kenya's Supreme Court could nullify the second presidential election this year and order a third vote threatens a "Kafkaesque situation where we have elections for years and years," said Martin Kimani, a presidential envoy and head of a government task force on counter-terrorism.

"We are testing our institutions" and learning about their strengths and weaknesses, Kimani said.

One commentator wrote in The Standard, a Kenyan newspaper, that the constitution does not "cushion us against the tyranny" of large ethnic groups that form alliances, lord it over smaller groups and share the spoils of power with friends, family and other supporters.

"In Kenya, it is a case of winner-takes-it-all," wrote Mohamed Guleid, a former county deputy governor in the opposition. He said the situation "can neither be resolved by an election nor by the courts, but by leaders who go beyond political affiliations to form an inclusive government."

For now, neither side is reaching out to the other.

The 56-year-old president, who by law cannot run for a third term, has denounced the "politics of darkness" in a slap at Odinga. The 72-year-old opposition leader has promised peaceful protests and wants a new election. Kenyatta, an ethnic Kikuyu, and Odinga, a Luo, also faced off in a disputed 2013 election. Their fathers were political allies and then rivals after Kenya's independence from Britain in 1963.

"There's very little ideological daylight between them," said Mutiga, the International Crisis Group analyst. Once they exit the political scene, he said, Kenya's tensions might "dial down a bit."

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Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Japan unveils female police squad to protect Melania, Ivanka Trump

WATCH All-female team of Tokyo police officers train for the Trumps' arrival

Tokyo police have formed a squad of female officers to guard first lady Melania Trump when she and President Trump visit Japan in a few days, Japanese media reported today.

The squad will also protect Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and one of his advisers, while she is there for the presidential visit, local media reported. She arrived in Tokyo today.

The officers wore black suits as they trained outside Tokyo’s Imperial Palace Wednesday, ahead of the Trumps’ arrival.

“We opted for a more cultivated look to suit the occasion," an officer in charge of the security plan said, according to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The team even practiced their training on the city’s streets.

NHK

Protocol for Trump in Asia means no insults, no surprises President Trump will not visit Korean demilitarized zone, official says

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that police in the Japanese capital put together the unit ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Police planned to employ more than 10,000 officers to provide security while the U.S. president is in Japan.

President Trump was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday, the first stop in a five-nation tour. He will also go to South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Anthony Trotter contributed reporting from Tokyo.

Issei Kato/Reuters

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Spain judge jails Catalan ministers, mulls leader's arrest

A Spanish judge jailed nine former members of Catalonia's separatist government Thursday and was deliberating a possible international arrest warrant for the region's ousted president, who remained in Belgium while the others appeared in a Madrid court for questioning about their efforts to break away from Spain.

Former President Carles Puigdemont and his 13-member Cabinet are being investigated for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement stemming from their pursuit of Catalan independence. The Spanish government removed them from office on Oct. 27 and they were summoned to appear in Spain's National Court on Thursday.

After the nine Catalan Cabinet members who showed up were questioned, a judge sent eight of them to jail without bail. One was ordered held in lieu of 50,000 euros ($58,300) in bail. The seven men and two women were taken from the court in police vans hours later and assigned to prisons in the Madrid area.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Catalan towns to condemn the pre-charge detentions, which fellow separatist politicians and elected officials criticized as an attack on ideas.

"We won't give up, we won't fail, we will fight till the end," Marta Rovira, an increasingly prominent politician in Catalonia's republican-left ERC party, said.

"We have all the right in the world to live in a country with more justice, dignity and freedom," she told reporters as tear welled in her eyes.

The Spanish government said it does not comment on judges' decisions in deference to the separation of powers.

Investigative magistrate Carmen Lamela ordered the officials into custody at the request of prosecutors, who also asked Thursday for an international warrant seeking Puigdemont's arrest. Under Spain's legal system, investigating judges can have suspects detained while a comprehensive probe, sometimes taking months, determines if they should be charged.

Puigdemont surfaced in Belgium on Tuesday with some of his ex-ministers, saying they were seeking "freedom and safety" there. He and four of the officials remained in Brussels on Thursday.

Asked whether Puigdemont would turn himself in if the arrest warrant is granted, his lawyer in Belgium, Paul Bekaert, told The Associated Press: "Certainly. Or the police will come get him." Bekaert said Puigdemont intends to cooperate with Belgian police.

Also Thursday, six Catalan lawmakers appeared for a parallel session in the Spanish Supreme Court. They were given a week to prepare their defenses and instructed to return for questioning on Nov. 9.

In all, Spanish prosecutors are investigating 20 regional politicians for rebellion and other crimes that would be punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

In a written ruling, the National Court judge said the eight jailed without bail had planned and executed a roadmap since 2015 to create an independent Catalan republic.

The ruling said the activities of those under investigation were "meditated and perfectly prepared and organized, repeatedly disobeying systematically over two years Constitutional Court resolutions in favor of the independence."

The judge said the eight were being jailed without the possibility of bail because of the risk of them fleeing prosecution or hiding or destroying evidence.

Lawyers for the jailed officials said they planned to appeal Lamela's order. Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, who represents Puigdemont and four more of the ousted Cabinet members, said the judge's decision to send them to jail "lacked justification" and was "disproportionate."

The Catalan officials' supporters and party aides in Madrid were seen crying outside the courthouse when the judge's decision was announced. They shouted "Freedom! Freedom!" and sang the Catalan official anthem, "Els Segadors," which translates to "The Reapers" in English.

Spain took the unprecedented step of triggering constitutional powers allowing it to take over running Catalonia following a declaration of independence by the regional parliament on Oct. 27. Madrid dismissed the Catalan Cabinet, dissolved the parliament and called a new regional election for Dec. 21.

Junqueras, in a tweet sent shortly after the judge's decision, called on Catalans to cast ballots to defeat unionists.

"Do every day everything that is in your hands in order for good to defeat evil in the ballots of Dec. 21," the tweet posted through Junqueras' account said. "Standing up, with determination and onward to victory."

Puigdemont, also in a tweet, wrote that "the legitimate government of Catalonia has been jailed for its ideas."

Javier Melero, a lawyer representing some of the separatist lawmakers investigated in the Supreme Court, criticized Puigdemont and the four ministers who skipped court. He said their actions would be damaging for his clients, three lawmakers who are members of Puigdemont's PDeCAT party.

"Not being at the service of the judiciary when you are summoned is always damaging for the rest of those being investigated," Melero said.

About two dozen politicians and elected officials from Catalan separatist parties gathered at the gates of the Supreme Court in a show of support for the lawmakers under investigation.

"If the question is if in Spain you can trust the judicial system, my answer is no," said Artur Mas, a former president of the Catalan government. "From the personal point of view and also for my personal experience, I don't think that there are all the guarantees to have a fair trial."

Mas was banned by a Barcelona court from holding public office for two years after he ignored a Constitutional Court ruling and went ahead with a mock vote on Catalonia's independence in 2014.

Across the street, half a dozen protesters with Spanish flags were stopped by police. They shouted at the Catalan politicians, "cowards" and "to jail, to jail."

The protracted political crisis over Catalonia, Spain's worst in decades, could have an impact on the country's economic growth, Spain's central bank warned in a report published Thursday.

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Sylvain Plazy in Belgium, Paolo Santalucia in Madrid, and Elena Becatoros in Barcelona, contributed to this report.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Catalonia crisis: Protests as ex-ministers held in Spanish custody

Thousands of Catalans have protested against the detention of eight regional ministers sacked over Catalonia's push for independence from Spain.

The officials – who appeared in Spain's high court – are accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.

Prosecutors are also seeking a European Arrest Warrant for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who did not show up in court and is now in Belgium.

The request also covers four other ex-ministers who ignored the summons.

Spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum on independence from Spain was held in Catalonia on 1 October in defiance of a constitutional court ruling that had declared it illegal.

Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on Catalonia, dissolving the regional parliament and calling local elections for 21 December.

This came after Catalan lawmakers voted to declare the independence of the affluent north-eastern region.

The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part in the referendum, 90% were in favour of independence.

• Catalonia sings for its exiled leaders
• Catalonia crisis in 300 words
• What next for Spain?

On Thursday, thousands of people gathered outside Catalonia's regional parliament in Barcelona.

Many carried Catalan flags and slogans that read "Freedom for political prisoners".

Similar protest rallies were held in other Catalan towns.

Political parties and civic groups in the affluent north-eastern region also condemned the judicial move,

What happened in Spain's high court in Madrid?

Nine out of 14 summoned Catalan ex-ministers appeared before Judge Carmen Lamela.

She said they had to be detained because they might otherwise leave the country or destroy evidence.

Those who were held are:

• Former Deputy Vice-President Oriol Junqueras
• Former Interior Minister Joaquim Forn
• Former Foreign Affairs Minister Raül Romeva
• Former Justice Minister Carles Mundó
• Former Labour Minister Dolors Bassa
• Former Government Presidency Councillor Jordi Turull
• Former Sustainable Development Minister Josep Rull
• Former Culture Minister Meritxell Borras

The ninth official, ex-Business Minister Santi Vila, was granted bail at the request of prosecutors. He quit before the Catalan parliament voted for independence last Friday.

In addition to Mr Puigdemont, prosecutors have asked Spain's high court judge to issue European arrest warrants for the following Catalan officials:

• Meritxell Serret, former agriculture minister
• Antoni Comín, former health minister
• Lluís Puig, former culture minister
• Clara Ponsatí, former education minister

Five other senior members of the Catalan parliament, as well as Speaker Carme Forcadell, are facing the same charges but, because of their parliamentary immunity, their cases are being handled by the Supreme Court.

Their hearings have been postponed until 9 November.

How did Carles Puigdemont react?

In a statement broadcast on Catalan TV from an undisclosed location in Belgium, he described the detentions as "an act that breaks with the basic principles of democracy".

"I demand the release of the ministers and the vice-president," he added.

Mr Puigdemont, who was spotted in a Brussels cafe on Thursday, has said he will not return to Spain unless he receives guarantees of a fair trial. He did not specify his exact demands.

Belgium's federal prosecutor has said the law will be applied once an arrest warrant is received, according to Efe news agency.

Mr Puigdemont's lawyer said the climate was "not good" for him to appear in court, but he also said his client would co-operate with the authorities in Spain and Belgium.

• The man who wants to break up Spain

Mr Puigdemont's handling of the crisis has drawn criticism among some other Catalan politicians, with left-wing parliamentary deputy Joan Josep Nuet criticising him for creating "yet more bewilderment".

Spain's central bank warned on Thursday of the "significant risks and economic costs" resulting from the crisis, and that Catalonia's economy could fall into recession.

Early numbers suggest that the vital tourism sector of the region has already been affected by the ongoing uncertainty.

EU arrest warrant: What happens next?

If Spain's high court judge issues a warrant, a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) will be sent to Belgian prosecutors, who have 24 hours to decide whether the paperwork is correct. If they do, they then have 15 days to arrest Mr Puigdemont and the four others. If one or all of them appeals against it, that process could last another 15 days.

Belgium has a maximum of 60 days to return the suspects to Spain after arrest. But if the suspects do not raise legal objections, a transfer could happen within a few days.

A country can reject an EU arrest warrant if it fears that extradition would violate the suspect's human rights. Discrimination based on politics, religion or race is grounds for refusal. So are fears that the suspect would not get a fair trial.

There is an agreed EU list of 32 offences – in Article Two of the EAW law – for which there is no requirement for the offence to be a crime in both countries. In other words, any of those offences can be a justification for extradition, provided the penalty is at least three years in jail.

However, neither "sedition" nor "rebellion" – two of the Spanish accusations against the Catalan leaders – are on that list.

Source – bbc.com

Departing Twitter employee deactivates Trump's account

A Twitter customer support worker who was on his or her last day on the job deactivated President Donald Trump's account for a few minutes Thursday evening, the social media company reported.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday, social media reports surfaced that the president's personal account, @RealDonaldTrump, was unavailable, providing the error message that the user "does not exist." The account was restored by 7:03 p.m.

Twitter took responsibility for the outage. In a tweeted statement, the company said Trump's account was "inadvertently deactivated due to human error" by one of its employees. The account was unreachable for 11 minutes.

Twitter later said the deactivation "was done by a Twitter customer support employee who did this on the employee's last day."

"We are conducting a full internal review," the company said.

A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Harvey Weinstein faces 2 new criminal investigations

Authorities in Los Angeles and New York said Thursday they had opened new investigations into Harvey Weinstein, the latest in a series of criminal probes into conduct by the disgraced film mogul which has sparked a sexual harassment scandal roiling Hollywood and other industries.

The Manhattan district attorney's office said a senior prosecutor has been assigned to investigate allegations by "Boardwalk Empire" actress Paz de la Huerta, who told CBS News that Weinstein raped her twice in her apartment in 2010. Spokeswoman Joan Vollero said New York police were also involved, but further details could not be provided.

De la Huerta spoke to CBS News by phone and said the first rape occurred in October 2010 after Weinstein gave her a ride home from a party, insisted on having a drink in her apartment and forced himself on her. She said the second rape occurred in December 2010 after Weinstein came to her apartment; she had been drinking and was not in a condition to give consent, CBS reported the actress said.

Los Angeles police are investigating allegations about Weinstein that occurred in 2015, but spokesman Josh Rubenstein said he could not provide any additional details. The department is also investigating a report by an Italian actress and model who said she was raped by Weinstein in 2013.

Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister reiterated a statement that Weinstein, 65, denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Authorities in Beverly Hills and London are also investigating Weinstein for possible criminal cases.

The investigations came four weeks after The New York Times published an expose of sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein, leading to his firing from the company he co-founded and his expulsion from the producers guild and the organization that bestows the Academy Awards.

The accusations against Weinstein have prompted numerous allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against powerful men in Hollywood and other industries.

CNN reported on Thursday that eight current or former "House of Cards" workers claim that Kevin Spacey made the production a "toxic" workplace and one ex-employee alleges the actor sexually assaulted him.

The workers' identities were withheld from Thursday's report because they fear professional fallout, the cable news channel said.

Among them is a former production assistant who alleged that Spacey assaulted him during one of the Netflix show's early seasons, and CNN reported that all of the people described Spacey's behavior as predatory.

The report accuses Spacey of allegedly targeting staffers who were typically young and male with nonconsensual touching and crude comments.

Netflix has suspended production on the series, which was slated to end after its sixth season. The streaming service and "House of Cards" producers said Thursday that one allegation against Spacey involved a remark and gesture made during production of the show's first season in 2012. After, Spacey willingly participated in training and producer Media Rights Capital said it was not aware of any additional complaints against the actor since then.

The production company said it has instituted a hotline for complaints and will investigate them thoroughly. There was no word on the fate of "House of Cards" in Thursday's statements.

A person with knowledge of the decision said late Thursday that Spacey's publicist and talent agency CAA have parted ways with the actor. His representatives on Wednesday said the two-time Oscar winner was in treatment for an unspecified condition.

Also on Thursday, actor Corey Feldman appeared on "The Dr. Oz Show" and named the man who he said molested him when he was a young teen.

Feldman made his comments in an interview with series host Mehmet Oz and in an on-air call that Oz identified as being to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles Police Department Officer Drake Madison says the department is aware of the show, but no report has yet been filed.

The Associated Press is withholding his name because the man could not be located to comment on Feldman's allegations.

Feldman, 46, gained fame in the 1980s with films including "Gremlins," ''The Goonies" and "Stand by Me."

While the outcome of criminal investigations into allegations against Weinstein remains unclear, the producer may have to give sworn testimony in a lawsuit he filed against his former company.

Attorneys for The Weinstein Co. told a Delaware judge on Thursday that they want to take sworn testimony from the producer, who is suing to gain access to his personnel file and emails.

Weinstein's seeking the records to defend himself in potential civil and criminal cases, and to help the company respond to a civil rights investigation by New York's attorney general.

The judge said Weinstein could be deposed, even though his attorney said a deposition would be "tricky" and "fraught with problems," given the ongoing criminal investigations. The attorney said Weinstein's ability to testify would be limited without waiving his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

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AP Television Writer Lynn Elber and Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles, AP writer Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware, contributed to this report.

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The Latest: Spacey's agent, publicist part ways with actor

The Latest on sexual harassment allegations against powerful figures in Hollywood and other industries (all times local):

10 p.m.

The talent agency CAA is no longer representing Kevin Spacey as of late Thursday evening.

A person with knowledge of the decision who was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed that both CAA and Spacey's publicist Staci Wolfe have parted ways with the actor amid growing claims of sexual harassment against him.

Representatives from the agency did not immediately respond to request for comment.

CNN reported Thursday that eight current or former "House of Cards" workers claim Spacey made the Netflix production a "toxic" workplace and one ex-employee alleges the actor sexually assaulted him.

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9:10 p.m.

Manhattan prosecutors are investigating actress Paz de la Huerta's accusations that Harvey Weinstein raped her twice in her apartment in 2010.

The actress told CBS News for a report aired Thursday that the first incident happened in October 2010 after Weinstein gave her a ride home after a party. The actress told the network the second rape occurred in December 2010.

Manhattan district attorney's spokeswoman Joan Vollero says a senior sex crimes prosecutor has been assigned to the investigation, which is being conducted along with New York police.

Weinstein's representative, Sallie Hofmeister, says the 65-year-old Oscar winner denies any allegations of non-consensual sex. De la Huerta's agent did not return an email message seeking comment.

Police in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles and London are also investigating allegations against Weinstein.

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8:55 p.m.

CNN is reporting that eight current or former "House of Cards" workers claim that Kevin Spacey made the production a "toxic" workplace and one ex-employee alleges the actor sexually assaulted him.

The workers' identities were withheld from Thursday's report because they fear professional fallout, the cable news channel said.

Among them is a former production assistant who alleged that Spacey assaulted him during one of the Netflix show's early seasons, and CNN reported that all of the people described Spacey's behavior as predatory.

The report accuses Spacey of allegedly targeted staffers who were typically young and male with nonconsensual touching and crude comments.

Netflix and Spacey's publicist didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Production of "House of Cards" was previously suspended.

The fallout stems from last weekend's BuzzFeed News report in which actor Anthony Rapp said that Spacey attempted to seduce him in 1986, when Rapp was 14.

Spacey apologized earlier this week for the incident but said he didn't recall what might have been "drunken behavior." In a statement Wednesday, Spacey's publicist said he's seeking unspecified treatment.

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8:20 p.m.

Actor Corey Feldman is identifying a man he said molested him when he was a young teen.

In an appearance on "The Dr. Oz Show" that aired Thursday, Feldman said he was assaulted at age 13 or 14 by the man, adding that "multiple people" also abused him.

Feldman made his comments in an interview with series host Mehmet Oz and in an on-air call that Oz identified as being to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Los Angeles Police Department Officer Drake Madison says the department is aware of the show, but no report has yet been filed.

The person Feldman identified could not be immediately located.

In recent TV interviews and online, Feldman said he planned to make an independent film that would bring to light child sexual abuse in Hollywood by telling his own, uncensored story and was fundraising for it.

Feldman gained fame in the 1980s with films including "Gremlins," ''The Goonies" and "Stand by Me."

In a 2011 interview with the Daily Mail website, Feldman said he was "literally surrounded" by pedophiles as a young actor and claimed abuse was a rampant problem in Hollywood.

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7:50 p.m.

Los Angeles police say they are investigating after a second woman came forward to report criminal wrongdoing involving film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

Los Angeles police spokesman Josh Rubenstein confirmed the investigation to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

He says the incident occurred in 2015 but police declined to provide any other details.

Los Angeles police are also investigating another report filed by an Italian actress who said she was raped by Weinstein in 2013. That investigation is still ongoing.

Authorities in Beverly Hills, London and New York are also investigating Weinstein for possible criminal cases.

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4:40 p.m.

CBS' "Late Show" says a pre-taped interview with Jeremy Piven won't air Friday amid a sexual harassment allegation against the actor.

In a statement Thursday, a "Late Show" spokesperson said that Piven's appearance was taped Monday, one day before the accusation by actress and reality star Ariane Bellamar was made public.

Since the show is unable to address what it called "recent developments," Piven's segment is being replaced with a new guest, according to the "Late Show" statement. The substitute guest's name was not immediately announced.

On Tuesday, Bellamar said that Piven, the Emmy-winning star of HBO's "Entourage" and now in the freshman CBS drama "Wisdom of the Crowd," groped her on two occasions.

Piven has said he unequivocally denies what he labeled an "appalling" allegation.

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4:30 p.m.

Billboard magazine's chief strategy officer has stepped down following an allegation from a woman who says he sexually harassed her seven years ago when both were working at another music magazine.

According to an internal memo to staffers, Billboard says it takes "these matters very seriously" and that the magazine and executive Stephen Blackwell have "agreed to part ways."

Amy Rose Spiegel, now 26, and the author of "Action: A Book About Sex," claimed on Twitter that Blackwell "harassed me and other women, particularly the youngest ones, who reported directly to him" when they worked at the magazine Death & Taxes.

Blackwell is the latest figure in the music industry to be linked to allegations of misusing their power. On Wednesday, Kirt Webster, a major country music publicist who has represented high profile clients like Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr., was accused of sexually assaulting an aspiring country singer. Webster's company called them "egregious and untrue allegations."

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12:00 p.m.

Attorneys for the company co-founded by film mogul Harvey Weinstein say they want to depose him in a lawsuit he filed seeking his employment file and emails.

Weinstein says he needs the records from The Weinstein Company Holdings to defend himself in potential civil and criminal cases, and to help the company respond to a civil rights investigation by New York's attorney general.

An attorney for company told a Delaware judge Thursday that Weinstein needs to be deposed to determine his true purpose in demanding the documents, which she suggested is purely personal and thus not allowed under Delaware corporation law.

The judge said he would hold a January hearing to decide whether Weinstein's demand for corporate records should be granted.

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By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A giant Singaporean sovereign wealth fund is in talks to buy a stake in OakNorth, the first of Britain's new generation of "challenger banks" to hit a coveted $1bn valuation.

Sky News has learnt that the south east Asian state's Government Investment Corporation (GIC) is close to agreeing a deal to acquire 10% of OakNorth, the business-focused lender.

Sources said on Thursday that GIC would buy the stake from Indiabulls, one of the bank's biggest existing shareholders.

The acquisition will be interpreted as a vote of confidence by the Singaporean state fund in the UK economy, although insiders added that GIC's presence as a shareholder would also allow OakNorth to plot its expansion into Asia.

It comes just weeks after OakNorth raised more than £150m from a trio of investors, valuing the company at close to £1bn.

Launched just two years ‎ago, the bank secured new capital from Clermont Group; a Singaporean investor in energy, healthcare and financial services, Coltrane Capital; a US-based fund and Toscafund, a London-based investor.

OakNorth's advisors include Lord Turner, the former chairman of the City watchdog, and Lord Maude, the former trade minister.

Its new funding took OakNorth beyond the $1bn valuation threshold which sees tech companies described as unicorns, putting the bank in the same bracket as the likes of TransferWise, the payments app.

Sources said OakNorth's funding round had delivered a boost to the wider challenger banking sector at a time when analysts have been expressing doubts about new entrants' ability to gain significant scale.

OakNorth, which was co-founded by Rishi Khosla, focuses on lending sums of up to £20m to entrepreneurs, and broke even before it had marked its first year of operation.

The company had also repaid all of its accrued losses before it turned two years old, a mark of its rapid progress, according to insiders.

"While we have reached an £800m loan book in two years, we know that this represents just a fraction of the businesses that need financing support," Mr Khosla said last month.

"This funding will enable us to boost our lending by an additional £1.5bn and add thousands more jobs and homes in the UK."

Mr Khosla has sought to make a virtue of the gap in the UK banking market for financing SMEs, and has lent to more than 150 business customers to date.

OakNorth has also tried to differentiate itself through the quality of its cloud-based technology‎ platform, underlining the extent to which advances in areas such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are now playing a central role in the banking sector's development.

Sources said that OakNorth was in advanced talks with a number of banks in North America about licensing its Acorn Machines AI technology for use, underlining an important growth opportunity for the company.

Antony Jenkins, the former Barclays chief executive, recently raised tens of millions of pounds to fund the growth of his financial technology venture, 10X.

In its latest annual report filed at Companies House, OakNorth said it had benefited from uncertainty created by the Brexit vote.

"We were able to establish ourselves as a credible contender to the main high street banks‎, tripling out loan book in the months following [the Brexit vote]", it said.‎

OakNorth could not be reached for comment on the GIC deal.

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Source – News.sky.com

North Korea crisis becoming unsolvable, experts warn, as Trump heads to Asia

WATCH 'No magic fix' on North Korea, expert says

All it would take is a miscalculation — an error in interpretation by a single soldier, for example — to plummet the United States, North Korea and the region into war, some analysts warned.

Imagine a North Korean surface-to-air missile operator who sees a U.S. B-1B bomber flying closer and closer to his country’s airspace and, after years of anti-U.S. propaganda that has portrayed an aggressive invader, thinks his country is at risk. What was a defensive military exercise, by U.S. accounts, becomes an international incident, with two pugnacious leaders — who don’t like to be seen as backing down — risking a wider conflict.

While it may seem theoretical, a growing chorus of foreign policy experts across the political spectrum are warning that the standoff is closer to war than at any other time in recent years. Some even argue the problem is becoming intractable, if not impossible to solve, which makes military action that much more likely.

As President Donald Trump heads to Asia on Friday for a 12-day trip, the North Korean crisis will be a top priority, especially because the United States is “running out of time,” according to his national security adviser, H.R. McMaster.

President Trump will not visit Korean Demilitarized Zone, official says Trump says Tillerson is ‘wasting his time’ on talks with North Korea

“We are in a race to solve this, short of military action,” McMaster said Oct. 19, adding that Trump “is not going to accept this regime threatening the United States with a nuclear weapon.”

North Korea is heading toward that capability — an intercontinental ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead — so quickly that CIA Director Mike Pompeo said recently the United States “ought to behave as if they’re on the cusp.”

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Such stark warnings are a reflection of their boss’s language too.

“They won’t be around much longer,” Trump tweeted of the regime on Sept. 23, days after he warned in his U.N. General Assembly address the United States could “totally destroy North Korea.”

He later tweeted, “Clinton failed, Bush failed, and Obama failed. I won’t fail.”

But it’s precisely because of his rhetoric that the United States is more tightly boxing itself in with Kim Jong Un’s regime, according to interviews with over a half-dozen experts and former administration officials.

A dangerous deadlock

In particular, North Korea is racing toward the very capability the White House says is unacceptable. And North Korea’s statement that it will not negotiate until it has a nuclear-armed ICBM is a sign that Kim sees it as a necessary guarantee of his security against what he calls increased U.S. aggression.

“Kim Jong Un has made it very clear that he considers his nuclear deterrent to be the key to his survival and the key to deterring what he perceives to be a hostile United States,” said Robert Einhorn, a longtime diplomat who served as a State Department special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control.

He added, “I just don’t think that we’re going to be able to mount the sanctions campaign that’s going to persuade Kim Jong Un to give it up and to give it up soon.”

Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

But the deadlock could mean military action of some sort is much likelier.

“The incentives to retain this capability may be much stronger and, because of what the administration has said about the unacceptability of their possessing the capability to deliver nukes to the United States, seems to have made a military solution increasingly hard to avoid,” said Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea under President George W. Bush and the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs under President Obama.

Vershbow added that Kim, who is more assertive than his father, North Korea’s previous ruler, has “internalized the lessons of what happened to Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi,” who were overthrown by U.S.-led interventions.

Kim views his nuclear weapons as a way to make sure that doesn’t happen to him, experts said.

The administration’s demands may be making the situation more difficult. Its insistence that North Korea denuclearize and that talks begin on that condition are not helping bring North Korea to the table, said several experts, as well as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“The White House is approaching North Korea in an increasingly binary way — either North Korea backs down and agrees to diplomacy on our terms or we take military action and risk war,” Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., was expected to say on the Senate floor today, according to an advance copy of his remarks.

The threat of silence

What makes the situation even more dangerous — and the threat of an escalation more likely — is the lack of communication, according to some officials.

“Wars have started for lesser reasons than the big egos of leaders,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who has worked at the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill. “It’s easier than most Americans think to stumble into war based on confusion or misinterpretation of some hostile action by one party perceived wrongly by the other.”

Mike Fuchs, a deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs under Obama, described it as speaking different languages: the foreign policy by tweets and movement of military assets by the United States and North Korea’s provocative tests and bellicose rhetoric.

“Those types of actions on both sides, combined together without a direct diplomatic high-level regular channel to discuss a way forward, is a recipe for a disaster,” he said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said there are some lines of communication between the two, but the State Department denied a Reuters report Tuesday that talks are more extensive than a channel at the United Nations in New York focused on three U.S. citizens held captive by North Korea.

“While we do maintain a channel to North Korea to discuss detained American citizens, we are not pursuing broad talks with North Korea at this time,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News. “We have not ruled out doing so in the future, but only if and when North Korea’s behavior significantly improves.”

The State Department declined further comment, but the administration previously blamed the lack of communication on North Korea’s continued nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

“North Korea has shown zero inclination to engage in substantive talks with anyone in the world on this subject,” a senior administration official told reporters Tuesday. “The operative question is, why is that the case?”

Trump’s tweets making it worse?

Trump’s comments may be responsible as well, at least in part.

“President Trump has personally insulted their leader, and in their system that’s a terrible sin,” Einhorn said. “Apparently, in efforts to reach out to them, they cite this as one reason why it’s impossible for them to talk — the ‘Little Rocket Man’ and similar taunts.”

But some argue that Trump’s remarks are not taken that seriously.

Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP

“Most countries, even the North Koreans, have taken the measure of Donald Trump, and they know that whatever comes out of his mouth has nothing to do with whether we would or whether we wouldn’t” act, said Chris Hill, who, as the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs under George W. Bush, was head of the U.S. delegation to six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program.

But that itself is a danger that could lead North Korea to overstep, according to Jung Pak, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution who served in the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“If Kim does not believe in the credibility of the U.S. military threat, being inured to the empty bluster of President Trump, he could potentially be goaded by additional tweets or U.S.–South Korean military shows of force into following through on the threats,” she wrote Monday.

Which way forward?

The dangerous impasse had led many, Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice among them, to argue that the only way forward is to accept and deter: accept the reality of North Korea’s nuclear program and deter the country from attacking the United States and its allies.

But the Trump administration views that as anathema.

“Accept and deter is unacceptable,” McMaster said recently. “The only acceptable objective is denuclearization.”

Accept and deter would be “the beginning of the end of our alliances,” Hill told ABC News.

Instead, even critics of the administration argue that the only way to resolve the crisis long term is to stay on the current path, regardless of what Trump and Kim say.

“I don’t see we have a choice but to continue this and to try to be closer to our allies and really sit down with the Chinese and explain why we’re not going to put up with this,” said Hill, who remains convinced that the United States can change Kim’s calculus and, eventually, end his pursuit of nuclear weapons.

The status quo could work to the U.S.’s advantage, according to Kori Schake, who served in George W. Bush’s administration at the National Security Council, Pentagon and State Department. “If we are frozen in that standoff, that leaves time for economic sanctions to work” she said.

There is more that can be done too, from the White House’s using secondary sanctions to ramp up the pressure on China and Russia — a “bad idea whose time has come,” Hill said — to more U.N. or U.S. sanctions.

A bipartisan group of senators reached an agreement late Wednesday to do just that, with a new bill to target North Korea’s financial supporters.

But ultimately, it comes down to time and whether the administration that blasted its predecessor’s policy of strategic patience has the patience for its own peaceful pressure campaign on North Korea to work.

At this point, its urgent rhetoric “is inconsistent with the time required for the tools they are using — economic sanctions and diplomacy — to produce results,” Schake said, calling it a “timeline problem” that leaves the Trump administration “not likely to succeed on this line of policy.”

In the end, that’s as much a political decision as a policy one, keeping the president happy when he is demanding results. For now, the clock is still ticking.

Source – abcnews.go.com