US talk show hosts hit back at Trump abuse

The hosts, who also published a column on the Washington Post website yesterday, said they had known Mr Trump for more than a decade and had “fond memories” of their relationship, but that he has changed in the past two years.

They said Mr Trump was lying about Ms Brzezinski having a face-lift, although “she did have a little skin under her chin tweaked”.

Their programme and Mr Trump have had a chequered relationship. They were criticised by some for being too close to him during the election campaign and giving his candidacy an early boost, but have turned sharply against him.

President Trump’s tweets united Democrats and Republicans in a chorus of protest that amounted to perhaps the loudest outcry since Mr Trump took office.

“Obviously I don’t see that as an appropriate comment,” said Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. IRAQI troops are clearing up a key neighbourhood in Mosul after making significant gains against Islamic State militants in the city and the prime minister declared an end to the extremist group’s self-proclaimed caliphate.

Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al Saadi and Lieutenant Colonel Salam Hussein said their forces were continuing to clear territory in the Old City after retaking the symbolic al Nuri Mosque on Thursday.

Lt Gen al Saadi said his forces were continuing to push forward from the Old City and had reached within 700 metres of the Tigris River, which roughly divides Mosul into an eastern and western half.

The mosque and its 12th-century minaret were blown up by IS last week an indication, the Iraqi government said, of the militants’ imminent loss of Mosul.

Iraqi civilians flee as Iraqi Special Forces move toward IS positions in the Old City of Mosul.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Haider al Abadi announced that full liberation of the city was near and Iraq’s “brave forces will bring victory”.

The operation to retake Mosul, closely backed by the US-led coalition, was launched in October with the Iraqi government initially pledging the city would be liberated in 2016.

Instead, it has been a

long and deadly fight.

Eight months on, IS holds less than two square kilometres of the city. Clashes have displaced more than 850,000 people, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

About 300 IS fighters are thought to be holed up inside the last Mosul districts, along with 50,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma has acknowledged corruption and other “negative tendencies” in the ruling party that has led since the end of apartheid in 1994, but sharply criticised opponents who want him to resign.

Mr Zuma spoke at the opening of a major policy conference at which the African National Congress, which rose to prominence generations ago as the main movement against white minority rule, sought to project unity.

However, some veterans of the struggle against apartheid boycotted the event because of concerns about alleged state corruption and mismanagement on Mr Zuma’s watch.

He said the ANC has done much to expand democracy and improve the lives of South Africans, although he admitted corruption, factionalism and other problems were hurting the party.

“To restore and maintain