Showing posts with label International. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International. Show all posts

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch announced today the filing of civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than $1 billion in assets associated with an international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund. 

Today’s complaints represent the largest single action ever brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

Attorney General Lynch was joined in the announcement by Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California, FBI Deputy Director Andrew G. McCabe and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

According to the complaints, from 2009 through 2015, more than $3.5 billion in funds belonging to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) was allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates.


With today’s complaints, the United States seeks to recover more than $1 billion laundered through the United States and traceable to the conspiracy. 1MDB was created by the government of Malaysia to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment, and its funds were intended to be used for improving the well-being of the Malaysian people.

Instead, as detailed in the complaints, 1MDB officials and their associates allegedly misappropriated more than $3 billion.


“The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption,” said Attorney General Lynch.

“With this action, we are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people.


Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates.

Corrupt officials around the world should make no mistake that we will be relentless in our efforts to deny them the proceeds of their crimes. ”


“According to the allegations in the complaints, this is a case where life imitated art,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.

“The associates of these corrupt 1MDB officials are alleged to have used some of the illicit proceeds of their fraud scheme to fund the production of The Wolf of Wall Street, a movie about a corrupt stockbroker who tried to hide his own illicit profits in a perceived foreign safe haven.


But whether corrupt officials try to hide stolen assets across international borders – or behind the silver screen – the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that there is no safe haven.”

“Stolen money that is subsequently used to purchase interests in music companies, artwork or high-end real estate is subject to forfeiture under U.S. law,” said U.S. Attorney Decker.

“Today’s actions are the result of the tremendous dedication of attorneys in my office and the Department of Justice, as well as law enforcement agents across the country.


All of us are committed to sending a message that we will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt, a platform for money laundering or a place to hide and invest stolen riches.”

“The United States will not be a safe haven for assets stolen by corrupt foreign officials,” said Deputy Director McCabe.

“Public corruption, no matter where it occurs, is a threat to a fair and competitive global economy.


The FBI is committed to working with our foreign and domestic partners to identify and return these stolen assets to their legitimate owners, the Malaysian people.

I want to thank the FBI and IRS investigative team who worked with the prosecutors and our international partners on this case.”

“Today’s announcement underscores the breadth of the alleged corruption and money laundering related to the 1MDB fund,” said Chief Weber.

“We cannot allow the massive, brazen and blatant diversion of billions of dollars to be laundered through U.S. financial institutions without consequences.”


As alleged in the complaints, the members of the conspiracy – which included officials at 1MDB, their relatives and other associates – allegedly diverted more than $3.5 billion in 1MDB funds.

Using fraudulent documents and representations, the co-conspirators allegedly laundered the funds through a series of complex transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts located in the Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States.

These transactions were allegedly intended to conceal the origin, source and ownership of the funds, and were ultimately processed through U.S. financial institutions and were used to acquire and invest in assets located in the United States.


In seeking recovery of more than $1 billion, the complaints detail the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB’s assets as it occurred over the course of at least three schemes.

In 2009, the complaints allege that 1MDB officials and their associates embezzled approximately $1 billion that was intended to be invested to exploit energy concessions purportedly owned by a foreign partner.

Instead, the funds were transferred through shell companies and were used to acquire a number of assets, as set forth in the complaints. 



The complaints also allege that the co-conspirators misappropriated more than $1.3 billion in funds raised through two bond offerings in 2012 and $1.2 billion following another bond offering in 2013. 

As further detailed in the complaints, the stolen funds were laundered into the United States and used by the co-conspirators to acquire and invest in various assets.

These assets allegedly included high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York and Los Angeles, a $35 million jet aircraft, works of art by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, an interest in the music publishing rights of EMI Music and the production of the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.


The FBI’s International Corruption Unit and the IRS-CI investigated the case.

Deputy Chief Woo S. Lee and Trial Attorney Kyle R. Freeny of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Kucera and Christen Sproule of the Central District of California prosecuted the case.

The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided additional assistance.

The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, to use those recovered asset to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.

Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email to : kleptocracy@usdoj.gov


9:50 AM

It took a year in coming, but now that the United States Department of Justice indictment on 1MDB has been laid before the courts its impact can only be described as earth-shattering for Malaysia – and utter vindication for Sarawak Report.

The joint investigation by the ‘Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Unit’ together with the FBI was personally presented at a Press Conference by the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who described the investigation into 1MDB as the “largest single action ever by the Kleptocracy Asset Initiative” and a “significant step in our ongoing work to combat global corruption and to ensure that the United States offers no safe haven to those who illegally use public funds for private gain“

The asset recovery indictment accuses Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak directly of having received hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from 1MDB into his private account.

 Most significantly of all it puts paid to the claim that the notorious $681 million paid into Najib’s account in 2013 was a “donation” from a Saudi Royal. 

To the contrary, the DOJ spells out in excruciating detail how this money was transferred not from a Saudi Royal, but from 1MDB, via Tanore Finance Corporation and into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s KL bank account.

And in a broad sweep of over a billion dollars worth of confiscated assets are included all the receipts from his step-son’s film Wolf of Wall Street, along with a string of properties and possessions held by Riza Aziz, Jho Low and their accomplice Khadem Al Qubaisi in the United States.

“Corrupt officials transferred money using a series of transactions involving more shell companies and bank accounts located all over the globe. 

Eventually more than $230 million of that found found its way in the account of shell companies whose beneficial owner was a close relative of a senior 1MDB official and that individual used money to buy luxury real estate in the United States and other assets and also used that money to fund a motion picture company called Red Granite Pictures who in turn used more than $100 million to finance the award-winning film The Wolf of Wall Street. 

Of course, neither 1MDB nor the Malaysian people saw a penny of profit from that film or the other assets purchased with funds siphoned from 1MDB. 

Instead that money went to associates of the corrupt officials at 1MDB and others” added Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell in a follow up speech, in a clear reference to Najib and his step-son Riza Aziz.

Altogether, the indictment says, the Prime Minister’s agent Jho Low “laundered” approximately $368 million of 1MDB’s funds through the United States, through the assets it has now frozen.

“The $1 billion in assets that we’re discussing today are just a portion of the more than $3 billion that was stolen from 1MDB and laundered through American institutions in violation of the law. 

1MDB was created to promote economic development… unfortunately and tragically a number of corrupt officials treated this public trust as a personal bank account”

There is no mistaking from this indictment that she is referring above all to Malaysia’s Prime Minister (Najib Razak)  himself.

FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was also on stage to outline the disgusting excesses of the thieves from 1MDB and explained why the United States has taken such strong and decisive action against the Malaysian fund:

“They used the money to pay gambling debts at Las Vegas casinos, they rented luxury yachts, they hired an interior decorator in London and spent millions on property… among the purchases was a jet for the purchase price of $35 million."

So why does this matter so much to us? 

Certainly there’s a lot going on in the world right now, terrorist attacks, violent crime and serious threats to American citizens and people around the world. 

Why does the corruption case halfway round the world matter so much to us here today? 

Well, I’ll tell you for a few reasons. 

First, because some of the profits of these schemes were invested in the United States, and when corrupt officials bring their ill-gotten gains to the United States, they also bring with they also bring with them their corrupt practices and disregard for the rule of law and that presents a threat to our economy and impacts trade and investment and fuels the growth of criminal enterprises and undermines our fair democratic processes…”

The FBI provides for the first time devastating and damning evidence of the purpose of the 1MDB thefts, which was to pass money to the man in charge who was Najib Razak.

The indictment (available in full at the base of this article) describes the PM as ‘Malaysian Public Official Number 1′:

No mistaking who Malaysian Public Official Number 1 might be!

From the very start the accusation is made that money was stolen from 1MDB, using several schemes and phases, listed as the 1) The Good Star Phase 2) The Aabar/BVI Phase and 3) The Tanore Phase.

Dealing with the Good Star Phase and PetroSaudi the indictment makes immediately clear that the claims by 1MDB and oil firm PetroSaudi that Good Star belonged to the latter were lies , The Feds confirm that the firm belongs to Jho Low, who siphoned first US$700 million out of the joint venture and later US$330 million, all under false pretences.



11:53 AM


1MDB funds were used to pay for gambling debts in Las Vegas, said US investigators.

"Funds were stolen under the pretense of a 1MDB investment in oil exploration.

"On paper the US$1 billion was for resource rights, instead (it was) used for personal enrichment...(including) gambling debts in Las Vegas casions, a luxury yacht, interior decorators in London, millions in property including a Bombardier jet costing US$35 million," said Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Andrew McCabe.

He said this at a US Department of Justice press conference on the civil complaints lodged by the department to seize approximately US$1 billion of assets linked to 1MDB.

"The Malaysian people were defrauded on an enourmous scale (in) a scheme which tentacles reached around the world," he said.

Other assets listed by the department in its lawsuits filed today include:
Artworks from Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh;

About US$250 million investment in Parklane Hotel, New York;

US$176 million invested in EMI Music;

US$100 million worth of real estate in the US, United Kingdom and elswhere, including a mansion in Beverly Hills, a condominium in New York and a townhouse in the United Kingdom; and

Proceeds from the film 'The Wolf of Wall Street' which Red Granite Pictures has rights to.

Below is the press statement from the US Department of Justice in full:


Today’s complaints represent the largest single action ever brought under the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative.

Attorney General Lynch was joined in the announcement by Assistant Attorney General Leslie R Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, US Attorney Eileen M Decker of the Central District of California, FBI Deputy Director Andrew G. McCabe and Chief Richard Weber of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

According to the complaints, from 2009 through 2015, more than US$3.5 billion in funds belonging to 1MDB was allegedly misappropriated by high-level officials of 1MDB and their associates. 

With today’s complaints, the United States seeks to recover more than US$1 billion laundered through the United States and traceable to the conspiracy.

1MDB was created by the government of Malaysia to promote economic development in Malaysia through global partnerships and foreign direct investment, and its funds were intended to be used for improving the well-being of the Malaysian people.

Instead, as detailed in the complaints, 1MDB officials and their associates allegedly misappropriated more than US$3 billion.

“The Department of Justice will not allow the American financial system to be used as a conduit for corruption,” said Attorney General Lynch.

“With this action, we are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people.

"Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates.

"Corrupt officials around the world should make no mistake that we will be relentless in our efforts to deny them the proceeds of their crimes. ”

“According to the allegations in the complaints, this is a case where life imitated art,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell.

“The associates of these corrupt 1MDB officials are alleged to have used some of the illicit proceeds of their fraud scheme to fund the production of 'The Wolf of Wall Street', a movie about a corrupt stockbroker who tried to hide his own illicit profits in a perceived foreign safe haven.

"But whether corrupt officials try to hide stolen assets across international borders – or behind the silver screen – the Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that there is no safe haven."

“

“Today’s actions are the result of the tremendous dedication of attorneys in my office and the Department of Justice, as well as law enforcement agents across the country.

"All of us are committed to sending a message that we will not allow the United States to become a playground for the corrupt, a platform for money laundering or a place to hide and invest stolen riches.”

“The United States will not be a safe haven for assets stolen by corrupt foreign officials,” said Deputy Director McCabe.

“Public corruption, no matter where it occurs, is a threat to a fair and competitive global economy.

"The FBI is committed to working with our foreign and domestic partners to identify and return these stolen assets to their legitimate owners, the Malaysian people. 

I want to thank the FBI and IRS investigative team who worked with the prosecutors and our international partners on this case.”


Today’s announcement underscores the breadth of the alleged corruption and money laundering related to the 1MDB fund,” said Chief Weber.

 “We cannot allow the massive, brazen and blatant diversion of billions of dollars to be laundered through US financial institutions without consequences.”

As alleged in the complaints, the members of the conspiracy – which included officials at 1MDB, their relatives and other associates – allegedly diverted more than US$3.5 billion in 1MDB funds.

Using fraudulent documents and representations, the co-conspirators allegedly laundered the funds through a series of complex transactions and fraudulent shell companies with bank accounts located in the Singapore, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States.

These transactions were allegedly intended to conceal the origin, source and ownership of the funds, and were ultimately processed through U.S. financial institutions and were used to acquire and invest in assets located in the United States.

In seeking recovery of more than US$1 billion, the complaints detail the alleged misappropriation of 1MDB’s assets as it occurred over the course of at least three schemes.

In 2009, the complaints allege that 1MDB officials and their associates embezzled approximately US$1 billion that was intended to be invested to exploit energy concessions purportedly owned by a foreign partner.

Instead, the funds were transferred through shell companies and were used to acquire a number of assets, as set forth in the complaints.

The complaints also allege that the co-conspirators misappropriated more than $1.3 billion in funds raised through two bond offerings in 2012 and $1.2 billion following another bond offering in 2013.

As further detailed in the complaints, the stolen funds were laundered into the United States and used by the co-conspirators to acquire and invest in various assets.

These assets allegedly included high-end real estate and hotel properties in New York and Los Angeles, a US$35 million jet aircraft, works of art by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, an interest in the music publishing rights of EMI Music and the production of the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.

The FBI’s International Corruption Unit and the IRS-CI investigated the case. Deputy Chief Woo S Lee and Trial Attorney Kyle R Freeny of the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Kucera and Christen Sproule of the Central District of California prosecuted the case. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided additional assistance.

The Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative is led by a team of dedicated prosecutors in the Criminal Division’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, in partnership with federal law enforcement agencies to forfeit the proceeds of foreign official corruption and, where appropriate, to use those recovered asset to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.

Individuals with information about possible proceeds of foreign corruption located in or laundered through the United States should contact federal law enforcement or send an email tokleptocracy@usdoj.gov



4:01 AM

This is Obama's speech during a convention .

"There are limits to our reach in other countries if they are determine to oppress their people ..OR.. deny the rights of girls education ...OR ...SIPHONE OFF DEVELOPMENT FUNDS IN THE SWISS BANK ACCOUNT because they are corrupted."

See it for yourself .

4:22 AM

A few of days ago, the sycophants were overjoyed in their quest to white wash Najib Razak from his corruption scandal – when BBC published a story which somehow had coincided with Apandi Ali’s statement which acquitted Najib even before any charges were brought forward to the courts. 

Facebook and other social media platforms were littered with their joyfulness.

The story was about one ‘well-placed’

Saudi source who had told BBC amazing ‘facts’ about the multi billion ringgit ‘donation’ our Najib Razak had received back in 2013.

The story goes like this:

The well-placed Saudi source, who has asked not to be named, told the BBC the payment was authorised from the very top – from Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah – with funds coming from both his personal finances and state funds.

Prince Turki bin Abdullah, one of the king’s sons, is reported to have had extensive business dealings in Malaysia.

The purpose of the donation was simple, said the Saudi source – it was to help Mr Najib and his coalition win the election, employing a strategic communications team with international experience, focusing on the province of Sarawak, and funding social programmes through party campaigning.

But why should the Saudis care about an election in a non-Arab country more than 6,000 km (3,700 miles) away? 

The answer, the source said, lay in their concerns over the rising power of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they consider a terrorist organisation. 

The Saudis were already upset at events in Egypt, where President Mohammed Morsi was busy consolidating the Brotherhood’s hold on the country. It would be another three months before Mr 

Morsi was to be deposed by the army, and the Saudis were convinced that the opposition was being supported by the Brotherhood and Qatar, which backed the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in the Middle East.

So how unusual is it for the Saudi royal family to hand over this amount of cash in a personal donation?

 Not at all, said the Saudi insider, adding that Jordan, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan have all been beneficiaries of multi-$100m donations from the Saudi royal purse. 

“There is nothing unusual about this donation to Malaysia,” he said. 

“It is very similar to how the Saudis operate in a number of countries.”

Saudi Arabia was quick to support the overthrow of Mr Morsi in Egypt, providing the military-backed government with billions of dollars in aid and loans. 

Jordan has been the beneficiary of more than $1bn in Saudi development funding, while Riyadh has deposited more than $1bn in Sudan’s central bank and signed deals to finance dams on the Nile. 

Morocco has been provided with oil, financing, investments and jobs in recent years.

In conclusion, this WELL-PLACED source told the world that the late King Abdullah who died in January 2015, had used the money from Saudi Arabia’s government as well as his personal money to contribute USD681 million and banked into Najib’s private bank accounts. 

One of his sons has some dodgy business dealings with Malaysia too. 

Apparently back in 2013, Malaysia did not have enough funds from their yearly Budget to pay for social programmes and Barisan Nasional had no money to cover the costs of 2013 General Elections campaign hence, the handout was given.

Najib must have been the world’s best beggar.

Also, it is also to curtail the influence of Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organisation. 

The donation of this nature is not unusual because the leaders in Jordan, Morocco and Egypt as well as the Governor of Sudan’s central bank have also secretly received billions of dollars in their own private bank accounts! 

Where the money were then disbursed out in order to do whatever they were instructed to do by the King of Saudi Arabia.

If the story above is not weird enough, it seems back in December 2015 our Deputy Prime Minister, Zahid Hamidi had confirmed that the donation came from many donors.


“As your future Prime Minister, do you think I am more clever than my would-be predecessor?”

However MACC said, they have met this one and only donor which was never officially identified. 

So who is telling a lie? 

Was it the MACC, or Zahid Hamidi? 

Or did Zahid Hamidi just confirmed that this ‘well-placed’ Saudi source is a liar?

And it gets more bizarre to learn that MACC have met a donor which have died more than 6 months before this ‘donation’ fiasco was exposed.

Or maybe the more logical explanation would be that this crazy Saudi source did not know what he is saying and had simply dropped names. Surely King Abdullah must not be the donor. 

Otherwise, MACC must have interviewed the late King using the ouija board.


This is also the paid sycophants’ main mode of communications with their paymaster

The story gets weirder when the donation was said to be given in order to stem the rise of Muslim Brotherhood. 

But back in June 2012, Najib Razak congratulated President Morsi as the new President of Egypt!


A dictator congratulating a terrorist leader? 

Can be a plot in the next Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie

Hello Najib, didn’t you know that Morsi is a terrorist?! 

Won’t your future donor-to-be be furious at you for congratulating Morsi at that point of time?

But the icing on the cake is when Najib Razak himself invited the Chairman of Muslim Brotherhood’s political party,

Dr Saad Katatni to speak in Umno’s General Assembly in December 2013!

Of course Dr Saad Katatni could not come as he was in jail in Egypt at that time but his speech was delivered DURING Umno’s general assembly by his representative.

The content of the speech?

It’s about promoting moderation, democracy and criticising extremism! Is Muslim Brotherhood really a terrorist organisation?

Hello Mr. ‘Well-Placed’ Saudi Source, do you really know anything about anything at all?

BBC really need to do serious homework before they quote any Tom, Dick and Harry’s fairy tales.

Or maybe at that time, it was just a slow news day at the BBC headquarters.

The best part is, the government of Saudi Arabia and even its Ambassador here in Malaysia are keeping quiet about this. 

They are neither denying or confirming all these crazy stories by the BBC. 

As it is, other more prominent news agency had tried to get comments from the Saudi royal family but to no avail.


The closest glimpse of any real and believable story came from the Sydney Morning Herald where a spokesperson for the Saudi Foreign Ministry said his government will investigate the claim made by our Attorney General that USD620 million was returned to the royal family.

And Dow Jones News reported that “a Saudi government official, while declining to comment specifically on the prosecutor’s statement, said the Saudi ministries of foreign affairs and finance had no information about such a gift and that a royal donation to the personal bank account of a foreign leader would be unprecedented.“

Saudi government doesn’t know about this multi billion affair eventhough we are told that King Abdullah had also used Saudi’s ‘state funds’ to finance Umno’s campaign in Malaysia’s general election?

Now, we wonder who this ‘well-placed’ Saudi source that was looked upon so highly by some quarters here in Malaysia. His ‘facts’ have made us laughed quite a bit.

We hope this crazy Arab (if he is an Arab at all) is not someone who is associated with this missing person:

Looks familiar ? Looks like him but not 'Him'
Used to be very popular and somewhat likeable. 

Now a ‘pariah’ in his own country.


4:38 AM

The Singapore Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) said Penang-born billionaire Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was amongst the persons of interest in its investigation into money-laundering linked to 1MDB, according to Singapore's Straits Times.

CAD investigation officer Oh Yong Yang said this during the trial of former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei who is facing charges for facilitating money-laundering linked to 1MDB and attempting to cover up.

Oh was quoted as saying during the trial in Singapore that the other "persons of interest" included Jho Low's associates Eric Tan Kim Loong and Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny.

10:53 AM

Donald Trump wins. 

My wife puts it best:

“We live in the Age of The Kardashians.

As long as you can create enough hoopla as a one-man circus, you can make it.”

For some reason, she also always refers to Trump’s "locker room" comments as “catch the kitty”, and seems to think that anything to do with cats always wins.

On more serious notes, let’s speculate and reflect on how Trump won, and what we might learn from this debacle.

Repeating Bush’s victory conditions

My view is that Trump won in circumstances similar to those which propelled George W Bush to victory in 2004.

These men share a number of similarities.

They were widely denounced around the world as idiots, they ran a campaign amidst a backdrop of global terrorism, and they faced rather placid, uninspiring Democratic nominees.

Bush’s chief strategist was Karl Rove, and he had a devastatingly simple approach for 2004.

He said:

Look, there are millions of right-leaning Americans out there who aren’t voting.

Forget compassionate conservatism and centrism, swing hard to the right, inspire right-leaning Americans to come out and vote (when they usually don’t), overwhelm the opposition.

This ended up working beautifully.

Rampant fear-mongering, and positioning

Bush as a decisive, hawkish leader opposed to John Kerry’s flip-flopping weakness led to a resounding electoral success - while the rest of the world watched on, dumbfounded.

Twelve years later, we appear to be experiencing very similar disbelief and shock - and likely for very similar reasons.


10:46 AM

A posse of gun-toting female bodyguards have been assigned to protect the heir to the throne's wife.

This exclusive picture shows a member of the British royal family being guarded for the first time by a group of all-women bodyguards.

"The Duchess of Cornwall, who is on an official visit to the UAE on behalf of the British Government with her husband, is said to be delighted by the decision to assign her a female team while she is travelling in the Gulf," a spokesperson said.

The photograph was taken as the 69 year old royal and her entourage left the luxury Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi yesterday morning for a busy day of public engagements.

Despite their picture-perfect make-up and fashionable 'flatform' shoes, the ladies' flowing black hijabs and abayas concealed unidentified weapons ready to use at close proximity in case of an attack.

Aged between 29 and 30, each member of the eight-strong team is trained in martial arts and close quarters fighting techniques as well as defensive and evasive manoeuvres, a source close to them revealed.

The women were handpicked from the UAE's elite private presidential guard, which boasts more than 50 female members in all.

Back in the UK senior female royals including the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge do have a small number of female bodyguards, but their Scotland Yard close protection teams are very male dominated. 


9:04 PM

Rioting has broken out in America in reaction to Donald Trump’s shock election as the next US president.

More than 100 protesters gathered in Oakland in the early hours of Wednesday morning attempting to block freeways, with at least one hit by a car.

There were also reports that cars were set on fire and windows of others were broken with emergency services closing down one highway to deal with the incident.

"Protesters were also seen in masks outside a Trump supporters party in San Francisco and in Berkeley others were heard chanting ‘not my president'," according to local media.

Hillary Clinton supporters were also filmed marching through Portland in Oregon shouting and setting fire to the US flag.

Other protests have broken out in the San Diego, San Fransisco and San Jose areas.

Anti-racist protesters are to stage a demonstration outside the US Embassy in London following the shock election victory.


8:58 PM

Canada's main immigration website appeared to crash and New Zealand reported increased traffic from US nationals as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump inched closer to the White House on Wednesday.

Canada's main immigration website appeared to suffer repeated outages on Tuesday night as Trump took the lead in several major states and his prospects for winning the US presidency turned markedly higher.

In New Zealand, immigration officials told Reuters on the eve of the vote that New Zealand Now website, which deals with residency and student visas, had received 1,593 registrations from US citizens since Nov. 1 – more than 50 percent of a typical month's registrations in just seven days.

Visits to New Zealand Now from the US were up almost 80 percent to 41,000 from 7 Oct to 7 November, compared to the same period last year.

Rod Drury, the chief executive of NZ-based global accounting software firm Xero, said the statistics matched up with interest his company has been seeing from prospective US national employees concerned about a Trump win.

Drury said what started as a joke was becoming a reality.

"I've got lots of messages coming through at the moment asking for a job in New Zealand, and we're saying 'yes you can'," Drury told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday.

"It will be interesting to see whether it translates into real action, it's an active conversation that moved to getting more serious and we’ll see what will happen in the next month."

NZ immigration officials declined to comment.

Meanwhile, some users in the United States, Canada and Asia saw an internal server error message when trying to access Canada's immigration website.

Canadian officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but the website's problems were noted by many on Twitter.

After some Americans, often jokingly, said they would move to Canada if Trump was elected, the idea was taken up by some Canadian communities.

In February, the island of Cape Breton on Canada's Atlantic coast marketed itself as a tranquil refuge for Americans seeking to escape should Trump capture the White House.

Drury said New Zealand and other non-American tech companies would benefit from a Trump win.

"A lot of the tech world has been driven out of the US and I think this does change the landscape quite a lot," he said.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the New York Times in July that her late husband Martin D Ginsburg would have been advocating a move to New Zealand if Trump became president.


12:12 AM
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