Page 8 - aruba-today-24dec-2016
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A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 24 december 2016
Putin praises Trump’s judgment, rejects hacking claims
V. ISACHENKOV He pointed at “the gap in
Associated Press views of what is good and
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian what is bad between the
President Vladimir Putin elites and broader mass-
voiced hope Friday that es,” adding that “the cur-
frayed relations with the rent administration has sys-
U.S. will improve once Don- temic problems.”
ald Trump becomes presi- In response to Obama’s
dent despite his pledge to comment that “Ronald
strengthen the U.S.’s nucle- Reagan would roll over in
ar arsenal. his grave” upon seeing re-
Speaking during a mara- cent poll results showing
thon end-of-the-year news that more than one-third of
conference that lasted Republicans view Putin fa-
the best part of four hours, vorably, Putin said Reagan
Putin heaped praise on would be happy to see his
the U.S. president-elect Republican party win.
while downplaying any “Reagan would be happy
concerns stemming from that representatives of his
Trump’s support for a party win everywhere, and
strengthened U.S. nuclear he would be happy for
capability. the president-elect,” Putin
Putin also used the oppor- Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks during his annual news conference in Mos- said, adding with a smile:
tunity offered by the press cow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 23, 2016. “No one but us believed
conference to lambast (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) in his victory.” Putin said
Trump’s rivals in the Demo- he was encouraged that
cratic Party for seeking to fronts, and are trying to find Asked how he respond- ing Democratic Party offi- the U.S. election showed
blame their defeat in No- the culprits elsewhere,” he ed to President Barack cials’ emails, Putin said he that “there are people
vember’s election to hack- said. “They are humiliat- Obama’s hacking accusa- wouldn’t divulge details of who sympathize with our
ing accusations against ing themselves. They must tions during a conversation a confidential talk. views of traditional values,
Moscow. know how to lose with dig- before the vote that Rus- “The most important thing is because it’s a good basis
“They are losing on all nity.” sia was involved in hack- the substance of the infor- for developing relations
mation the hackers have between our two powerful
presented to the public countries.” Putin expressed
opinion,” Putin said, add- hope that he would meet
ing that the Democrats soon with Trump to discuss
should have apologized to how to improve the two
Americans over the “ma- countries’ relations — and
nipulations” the emails re- would “definitely” visit the
vealed. United States if Trump in-
“The current administration vites him. Relations be-
and the Democratic Par- tween the U.S. and Russia
ty’s leadership are trying to have become increasingly
shift the blame for all their strained over the past few
failures to external factors,” years, sinking to their worst
Putin said. since the Cold War. q
Police: 2 Kosovo-born men held in
suspected German mall attack plot
BERLIN (AP) — Two Koso- do and whether anyone
vo-born brothers were de- else was involved. Police
tained Friday on suspicion said a judge allowed them
that they were planning to keep the men in custody
to carry out an attack on until Saturday while inves-
a shopping mall in west- tigators establish whether
ern Germany, days after a they have a solid case.
truck attack in Berlin that Police said in a statement
killed 12 people. that they increased their
The men, aged 28 and 31, presence at Centro and a
were detained in Duisburg nearby Christmas market
in the industrial Ruhr region on Thursday evening after
shortly after midnight, po- receiving a tip from “secu-
lice said. rity sources.” The mall was
Authorities suspect the two open for business as usual
men may have been plan- Friday.
ning an attack on the Cen- Centro is one of Germany’s
tro mall in nearby Ober- biggest malls, with more
hausen. than 250 shops. It opened
They are investigating 20 years ago on the site of
what the pair intended to a former steelworks.q
