President Donald Trump on Sunday said that Russia was succeeding beyond its "wildest dreams" in sowing discord in the US but refrained once more from directly challenging Moscow on its election meddling.
In a flurry of tweets, the president blamed former president Barack Obama for failing to stop Russia while accusing the FBI of spending “too much time trying to prove collusion with the Trump campaign”.
But the president has made no move to take on Russia since indictments on Friday against 13 Russians that laid out in detail aspects of an alleged covert effort to sway the 2016 US presidential election in Mr Trump’s favour.
US intelligence chiefs last week warned that Russian meddling has continued and poses a threat to this year's US mid-term congressional elections.
Speaking at a security conference in Munich on Saturday, National Security Adviser HR McMaster called the evidence of Russian interference in US democratic processes “incontrovertible”.
But Mr Trump glossed over Russian responsibility and offered no indication of what his administration would do about it.
"General McMaster forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the Russians and that the only collusion was between Russia and Crooked H, the DNC and the Dems", president Trump said in a tweet late on Saturday, making reference to his Democratic party challenger Hillary Clinton.
He followed that up on Sunday saying: “I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said ‘it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer’. The Russian ‘hoax’ was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!”
Friday’s indictment was filed by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible collusion between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia, and possible obstruction of justice.
“For anyone, including the president, who continues to call this a witch hunt ... the evidence is now overwhelming and unequivocal and we need to move to protect ourselves from Russian interference in elections that are coming up,” said Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on CNN’s State of the Union.
Mr Trump, however, suggested that the problem lay with congressional and Department of Justice investigations, rather than the interference itself.
“If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams”, he tweeted.
“They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!”
In yet another tweet, he said: “Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing.”
Mr Schiff agreed that the Obama administration should have done more when it learned of the Russian meddling.
“None of that is an excuse for this president to sit on his hands,” he said.
“The president of the United States continues to sit on sanctions that Congress passed, that Congress wants enforced against Russia over this interference,” he said.
The US treasury department last month issued a list of prominent Russian political and business figures who could be sanctioned, as required under a law passed last year to punish Moscow for the election meddling.
But the administration said new sanctions called for under the law were not needed because the measure was already having a deterrent effect.
The indictments brought by Mr Mueller alleges that the Russian campaign was launched in 2014, initially as an effort to undermine confidence in the US political system.
By mid-2016, however, the campaign – under the direction of Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin – had become focused on hurting Mrs Clinton and helping Mr Trump, according to the indictment.
The effort allegedly involved hundreds of people working in shifts and with a budget of millions of dollars. Three companies were also indicted.
The indictment did not address the Russian government’s role or hacks of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.
“I do think there are other shoes to drop here besides this indictment,” former national security director James Clapper said on CNN.
In announcing the indictments, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said there was “no allegations in this indictment” that any American was a “knowing participant” in the Russian scheme – leading the president to declare that this vindicated his campaign team.
Mr Rosenstein also said there was no judgment on whether the Russian campaign “altered the outcome” of the White House race.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the charges, calling them “blabber” and “fantasies”.
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
PAKISTAN SQUAD
Pakistan - Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Rumman Raees.
Result
Tottenhan Hotspur 2 Roma 3
Tottenham: Winks 87', Janssen 90 1'
Roma 3
D Perotti 13' (pen), C Under 70', M Tumminello 90 2"
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 0
Liverpool 2 (Mane 50', 54')
Red card: Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)
Man of the match: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.8-litre%204-cyl%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E190hp%20at%205%2C200rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%20from%201%2C800-5%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeven-speed%20dual-clutch%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%206.7L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20From%20Dh111%2C195%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
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Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Credit Score explained
What is a credit score?
In the UAE your credit score is a number generated by the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), which represents your credit worthiness – in other words, your risk of defaulting on any debt repayments. In this country, the number is between 300 and 900. A low score indicates a higher risk of default, while a high score indicates you are a lower risk.
Why is it important?
Financial institutions will use it to decide whether or not you are a credit risk. Those with better scores may also receive preferential interest rates or terms on products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages.
How is it calculated?
The AECB collects information on your payment behaviour from banks as well as utilitiy and telecoms providers.
How can I improve my score?
By paying your bills on time and not missing any repayments, particularly your loan, credit card and mortgage payments. It is also wise to limit the number of credit card and loan applications you make and to reduce your outstanding balances.
How do I know if my score is low or high?
By checking it. Visit one of AECB’s Customer Happiness Centres with an original and valid Emirates ID, passport copy and valid email address. Liv. customers can also access the score directly from the banking app.
How much does it cost?
A credit report costs Dh100 while a report with the score included costs Dh150. Those only wanting the credit score pay Dh60. VAT is payable on top.