THE White House is invoking executive privilege, reserving the right to block the full release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia probe, escalating United States President Donald Trump’s battle with Congress.
The administration’s decision was announced just as the House Judiciary Committee was meeting to consider holding attorney general William Barr in contempt of Congress over failure to release the report.
Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said the action taken by Trump’s Justice Department was a clear new sign of the president’s “blanket defiance” of Congress’ constitutional rights.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said it was a response to the “blatant abuse of power” by Democratic Representative Nadler.
MEANWHILE, at least eight people were killed when militia fighters attacked a city at the epicentre of Congo’s Ebola outbreak.
Seven members of a Mai-Mai militia and a police captain were killed, according to Butembo mayor Sylvain Kanyamanda.
The violence came after health workers in the field were threatened, further damaging efforts to contain the deadly disease.
Attacks on Ebola health centres have already forced Doctors Without Borders and other international aid organisations to leave.
ELSEWHERE, Asia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan, has left the country for Canada to be reunited with her daughters.
Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2009 after a dispute with a fellow farm worker.
She spent eight years on death row until the Supreme Court last year overturned her conviction. She has since been in protective custody.
Islamic extremists have rioted over the case and threatened to kill her, and also urged the overthrow of the government after Bibi’s acquittal. Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law carries an automatic death penalty.
AND finally, at least five people were killed when Taliban fighters attacked the offices of a US-based aid organisation in the Afghan capital.
The attackers set off a huge explosion and battled security forces in an assault lasting more than six hours.
The Interior Ministry's statement said four civilians and a police officer were killed and 24 others were wounded in the assault.
The attack, targeting the US-based Counterpart International, ended after all five insurgents were killed by Afghan forces, the statement said.
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