Mediaboss Marketing

Getty Images

BY: Ali Meyer March 8, 2017 1:51 pm

The Internal Revenue Service has located 6,924 documents potentially related to the targeting of Tea Party conservatives, two years after the group Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for them.

The watchdog group intended to find records regarding how the IRS selected individuals and organizations for audits that were requesting nonprofit tax status.

The agency will not say when it will make the documents available to the public.

"At this time, the Service is unable to provide an estimate regarding when it will complete its review of the potentially responsive documents," the agency said. "The Service will begin producing any non-exempt, responsive documents by March 10, 2017, and, if necessary, continue to produce non-responsive records on a bi-weekly basis."

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, is calling on President Trump to clean house at the agency.

"The corruption at the IRS is astounding," Fitton said in a statement. "Our attorneys knew that there were more records to be searched but the Obama IRS ignored this issue for years. President Trump needs to clean house at the IRS as quickly as possible."

View post:
Two Years Later, IRS Locates 6924 Documents Related to Tea Party Targeting - Washington Free Beacon

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump will ask Chancellor Angela Merkel for advice on how to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. officials said on Friday, as the U.S. and German leaders meet next week after sometimes pointed disagreements in recent months.

Merkel will visit the White House on Tuesday for talks with Trump and a joint news conference in what will be their first face-to-face meeting since the new U.S. president took power on Jan. 20.

They are expected to discuss Germany's level of defense spending for the NATO alliance, the Ukraine conflict, Syrian refugees, the European Union and a host of other issues, said three senior Trump administration officials who briefed reporters.

During the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Trump regularly criticized Merkel for her open-door refugee policy, contrasting it with what he promised would be tighter controls in the United States if he won office. Merkel has been a leading critic of Trump's effort to ban travelers temporarily from seven Muslim-majority nations, a list that has since been pared back to six.

"My expectation is that they'll have a very positive, cordial meeting," said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump has long expressed desire for warmer U.S. relations with Russia but some of his top Cabinet officials are skeptical.

The president will be very interested in hearing the chancellors views on her experience interacting with Putin," said another official. "He's going to be very interested in hearing her insights on what its like to deal with the Russians."

Trump will also ask for Merkel's advice on what role the United States can most helpfully play in ongoing diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has pitted Ukrainian forces against Russian-backed separatists.

The officials described Trump as impressed by Merkels leadership, particularly in Germany's role alongside France in seeking peace in Ukraine, and on Afghanistan.

Trump has been critical of NATO allies who he says do not pay their fair share, and the officials said he would raise with Merkel the need for Germany to increase its defense spending as he tries to rally European allies to contribute more to NATO.

Germany should be "leading by example" on increasing contributions to NATO, one official said.

"We are heartened by the German governments determination to reach NATOs benchmark of committing 2 percent of GDP to defense by 2024, the official said. The president believes that all allies must shoulder their share of the defense burden, the official said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Frances Kerry)

MOSCOW/ANKARA President Tayyip Erdogan sought to build cooperation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Friday over military operations in Syria, as Turkey attempts to create a border "safe zone" free of Islamic State and the Kurdish YPG militia.

JERUSALEM U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday invited Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House, in a first phone call between the two leaders since Trump took office.

ROTTERDAM/VIENNA Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will not be allowed to campaign for votes among expat Turks during a visit to Rotterdam on Saturday, the mayor of the Dutch port said, joining a growing list of European cities that have blocked such rallies.

Read more:
Trump to ask Merkel for advice on Putin, Ukraine: US officials - Reuters

Ukraine expects to start supplying electricity to the European Union network via its planned 'energy bridge' as early as 2019, and to complete the project by 2025, the head of the country's nuclear power plant operator said this week. The energy bridge will link unit 2 of Ukraine's Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant to Burshtyn Energy Island and connect with powerlines to Rzeszw in Poland and Albertirsa in Hungary.

Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers adopted a decree on the Ukraine-EU energy bridge in June 2015. This followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the project in March between Energoatom, Ukrenergo and Polenergia. The project aims to make the export of electricity possible by disconnecting Khmelnitsky 2 from the Ukrainian national grid, and to attract funding required to complete units 3 and 4 at the plant.

Energoatom president Yury Nedashkovsky told delegates at the Ukrainian Energy Forum, held in Kiev between 28 February and 3 March, the project would be the "first step on the way to fully integrated strategic synchronisation of the Ukrainian and European energy systems".

"We expect, as the result of having a long-term export contract, to receive a financial instrument for solving the issue of infrastructure development in Ukraine, increasing the efficiency and capacity of our power units, as well as completing two power units at Khmelnitsky that are currently in a closed state with a high degree of construction readiness," he said. Units 3 and 4 are 73% and 28% complete, respectively, he added.

The project will add 1000 MWe of nuclear power capacity to the existing export potential of Burshtyn Island, which is currently supplied exclusively by 550 Mwe of thermal generation capacity.

Energoatom said on 3 March that the total 1550 MWe will be the "cornerstone" on which the possibility of the Ukrainian power system operating in synchronicity with the system managed by ENTSO-E will be be based. ENTSO-E - the European Network of Transmission System Operators - represents 42 electricity transmission system operators from 35 countries across Europe. The total capacity available will eventually be as high as 2550 MWe, Energoatom added.

Energoatom expects upgrading Khmelnitsky 2 and its connection to Burshtyn Island, and other work to support its ultimate connection to the ENTSO-E power system to cost about 47 million ($50 million).

Back-up power sources will be provided, Nedashkovsky said, to prevent electricity 'blackouts'. Power demand in Ukraine is decreasing, Energoatom said, making the prospect of exporting electricity even more attractive. The company expects to produce 82 GWh of nuclear power this year, down from 88 GWh in 2015.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News

Read this article:
Ukraine sets sights on EU power export in 2019 - World Nuclear News

Kyiv Post

How to fight Russian propaganda, from a Ukrainian who's been battling the post-truth era for years Quartz As the US Congress and intelligence agencies investigate Russia's attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, there are some people visiting Washington, DC with a lot of experience of fighting that kind of thing. Since its 2014 revolution ... US: Russia's activities in Ukraine impair human rights at homeThe Ukrainian Weekly (press release) (subscription) Klimkin says Ukraine can demonstrate Russia's violations of intl law in UN courtKyiv Post French investors begin to work actively in Ukraine KlimkinUkrinform. Ukraine and world news all 33 news articles »

See more here:
How to fight Russian propaganda, from a Ukrainian who's been battling the post-truth era for years - Quartz

The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Peter Maurer, has concluded a five-day visit to Ukraine. With hundreds of thousands of people living in towns and villages close to the front line, he expressed alarm about their living conditions following the dramatic increase in fighting in eastern Ukraine since the beginning of the year.

"Hundreds of thousands of people are living under the perpetual threat of shelling, shooting, and landmines. Their access to basics like food, water and electrical power has been dramatically curtailed," said Mr Maurer. "The functioning of the Donetsk water filtration station, on which tens of thousands depend, has been repeatedly disrupted as a result of the fighting. Only last week, it stopped functioning for several days and our teams began trucking in water, supplying nearly 150,000 litres in under a week," said Mr Maurer. He reiterated the ICRC's call for a series of "safety zones" to be established to better protect critical water, gas and electricity installations on the front line.

On top of the threat posed to civilians by the rise in hostilities and the poor living conditions many are experiencing, the ICRC is concerned that people's ability to move around is being severely constrained, due to the difficult situation at the crossing points. Mr Maurer called for "concerted action" to be taken to improve the situation for civilians trying to cross the line of contact. They often have to wait for many hours exposed to heat, cold and the threat of shelling and landmines.

During his visit, Mr Maurer met the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and other senior Ukrainian government officials. He also met with local representatives of other districts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Following his meetings in Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk, Mr Maurer reiterated his call for ICRC delegates to be granted "systematic and unhindered access" to all detainees held in connection with the Ukraine conflict, on all sides.

In addition, Mr Maurer spoke on the issue of people missing in connection with the conflict. "There are a large number of people but no-one knows the exactly how many, perhaps between 1,000 and 2,000 missing as a result of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Finding answers and supporting their families is one of our priorities," he said.

"Our dialogue with the authorities on this issue has so far been very constructive. But we must not lose momentum. Having a means for the sides to share information on missing people will be key to resolving cases," added Mr Maurer. The ICRC is ready to act as a neutral intermediary, between the sides, on specific humanitarian problems. It has adopted this role to help resolve a number of issues related to the water supply, detention and other key humanitarian concerns since the start of the Ukraine conflict.

For further information, please contact: Sanela Bajrambai, ICRC Kyiv, tel: +380 67 509 42 06 Jennifer Tobias, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 79 536 92 48, jtobias@icrc.org

Read more from the original source:
Ukraine: ICRC president alarmed at deteriorating conditions for civilians on the front line - ReliefWeb