US EXPANDS LAUNDERING, FRAUD CHARGES AGAINST EX- TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHIEF MANAFORT

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Ex-Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and his former partner Richard Gates were hit on Thursday (Friday in Manila) with fresh charges of tax and bank fraud, as Russia election meddling special prosecutor Robert Mueller stepped up pressure on the president’s former aides. Already indicted for money laundering and tax evasion, Manafort and Gates were charged in a separate 32-count indictment with defrauding the US Internal Revenue Service and lying to US banks in order to get some $20 million in loans. As with the indictment of the two released by Mueller on October 30, the new charges were unrelated to the 2016 election campaign of President Donald Trump. Instead, they grew from the work Manafort and Gates performed for Russia-backed former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovych between about 2006 and 2014. Mueller’s team alleges that the two laundered $75 million through offshore accounts, many of them in Cyprus, bringing a large portion of the proceeds into the United States as loans and purchases to avoid income tax.

ABBAS DOWNPLAYS HEALTH CONCERNS AFTER US HOSPITAL VISIT

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas appeared on local television on Friday to downplay concerns over his health after undergoing what were described as routine tests in the United States. In an interview with Palestine TV while in the US, 82-year- old Abbas rejected reports he had been rushed to hospital during his visit. “It was a suitable opportunity to be here to conduct some medical tests, and these tests have been conducted and now we left,” he said after leaving hospital. Abbas said all the results are positive and reassuring. The health of the longtime smoker has long been the subject of speculation, with no clear successor identified. Abbas was in the US to meet with political allies amid a breakdown of communication with the US administration following President Donald Trump’s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Palestinians, who see the eastern part of the city as the capital of their future state, have said the US has disqualified itself as a mediator in talks with Israel and cut political ties with the administration.