NEW YORK, – New York state’s attorney general is demanding that two of Donald Trump‘s adult children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, testify in her civil probe into the former U.S. president’s business practices and namesake company.

Subpoenas to the Trumps from the office of Attorney General Letitia James were disclosed in a Monday filing with a New York state court in Manhattan.

Donald Trump has also been subpoenaed to testify under oath.

Lawyers for the family late Monday asked a judge who has overseen disputes related to the probe to quash James’ “unprecedented and unconstitutional” bid for their testimony.

Alternatively, they asked the judge to block the subpoenas until Manhattan’s district attorney finishes a related criminal probe that James joined last May.

James’ subpoenas reflect an escalation of her nearly three-year probe into whether the Trump Organization fraudulently inflated the values of its real estate holdings to obtain bank loans, and reduced their values to lower its tax bills.

The probe has focused on properties including the Seven Springs Estate in Westchester County, New York, a downtown Manhattan office building, the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.

Alina Habba, a lawyer for Donald Trump, in an emailed statement accused James, a Democrat, of having “weaponized her office” through a “political witch hunt” that violates the former Republican president’s constitutional rights.

“Her actions are a threat to our democracy and I plan to hold her accountable to the fullest extent,” Habba said.

Another adult son of Donald Trump, Eric Trump, was questioned by James’ office in October 2020.

Donald Trump turned over the Trump Organization to his adult sons and the company’s longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, when he became president in 2017.

Ivanka Trump also worked for the Trump Organization, before serving in the White House as a senior adviser.

‘IMPROPER END-RUN’

James’ civil probe is separate from the criminal probe now led by new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg into the Trump Organization’s business practices.

Weisselberg and the company pleaded not guilty in that probe in July to charges they ran what a prosecutor called a “sweeping and audacious” tax fraud in which company executives were awarded “off-the-books” benefits over 15 years.

In their Monday court filing, lawyers for the Trumps accused James of trying to circumvent the grand jury process by obtaining testimony in her civil probe that could be used against the family in the criminal probe.

“The subpoenas are an obvious improper end-run around the rules,” the lawyers wrote.

James responded by accusing the Trumps of continually employing “delay tactics” to impede her probe, and that “despite their names” they must follow the same rules as everyone else.

“Our investigation will continue undeterred,” she pledged.

Bragg was sworn in on Saturday as district attorney to succeed fellow Democrat Cyrus Vance, who led that office for 12 years and began his probe in 2018.

Last month, Bragg told CNN that he plans to be personally involved in the criminal probe, and wanted his top lawyers on the case to stay on.

Donald Trump and the Trump Organization separately sued James in December in federal court in Albany, the state capital, to halt her civil probe.

They accused her of trying to “harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent.”

Donald Trump and his adult children have not been accused of criminal wrongdoing, and James cannot file criminal charges because her probe is civil. – Reuters

MOSCOW/WASHINGTON – China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France have agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin on Monday.

It said that the five countries – which are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – consider it their primary responsibility to avoid war between the nuclear states and to reduce strategic risks, while aiming to work with all countries to create an atmosphere of security.

“We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the English-language version of the statement read.

“As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons — for as long as they continue to exist — should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.”

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said the joint statement could help increase mutual trust and “replace competition among major powers with coordination and cooperation,” adding that China has a “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons, state news agency Xinhua reported.

France also released the statement, underscoring that the five powers reiterated their determination for nuclear arms control and disarmament. They would continue bilateral and multilateral approaches to nuclear arms control, it said.

The statement from the so-called P5 group comes as bilateral relations between the United States and Moscow have fallen to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War, while relations between Washington and China are also at a low over a range of disagreements.

The Pentagon in November sharply increased its estimate of China‘s projected nuclear weapons arsenal over the coming years, saying Beijing could have 700 warheads by 2027 and possibly 1,000 by 2030.

Washington has repeatedly urged China to join it and Russia in a new arms control treaty.

Geopolitical tensions between Moscow and Western countries have increased over concerns about Russia‘s military buildup near neighbouring Ukraine. Moscow says it can move its army around its own territory as it deems necessary.

Last Thursday U.S. President Joe Biden told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that a possible move on Ukraine would draw sanctions and an increased U.S. presence in Europe.

U.S. and Russian officials will hold security talks on Jan. 10 to discuss concerns about their respective military activity and confront rising tensions over Ukraine, the two countries said.

A conference on a major nuclear treaty that was set to begin on Tuesday at the United Nations has been postponed until August due to the COVID-19 pandemic. – Reuters

BERLIN – Germany wants to avoid an escalation in the dispute about a European proposal to classify both nuclear energy and natural gas as climate-friendly energy sources by abstaining in a vote about the investment plan, government sources said on Monday.

The European Commission’s decision to include gas and nuclear investments in the European Union’s “sustainable finance taxonomy” rules was circulated in a draft proposal late on Dec. 31 – a timing which was criticised by European lawmakers.

During months of heated debate on the proposals, Germany and other EU member states argued that gas investments were needed to help them quit more-polluting coal. Others said labelling a fossil fuel as green would undermine the credibility of the EU as it seeks to be a global leader in tackling climate change.

Emissions-free nuclear energy is similarly divisive. France, the Czech Republic and Poland are among those saying that nuclear power should have a big role in curbing global warming. Austria, Germany and Luxembourg are among those opposed, citing concerns around radioactive waste.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition government, consisting of the centre-left Social Democrats, the ecologist Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats, is also split on the matter.

During coalition negotiations last year, the three parties were not able to agree on a joint wording regarding the EU‘s green investment rules and therefore did not mention the topic in their coalition deal presented in November.

Behind closed doors, leaders of the three parties agreed to avoid a fight against the European Commission’s compromise proposal and simply abstain in the vote when EU leaders will have their final say at a summit later this year, two people familiar with the decision said on condition of anonymity.

A government spokesperson said earlier on Monday that the three coalition parties rejected the use of nuclear energy in Germany.

But the parties agreed natural gas could be used as a bridging technology for the time being and they would discuss how to proceed with the Commission’s proposal going forward, he added.

The Commission will now collect comments to its draft until Jan. 12 and hopes to adopt a final text by the end of the month. After that, the text can be discussed with EU governments and parliament for up to six months. But it is unlikely to be rejected because that would require 20 of the 27 EU countries, representing 65% of EU citizens, to say “no”. – Reuters

SAO PAULO – Deforestation last year rose to the highest level since 2015 in Brazil’s Cerrado, prompting scientists on Monday to raise alarm over the state of the world’s most species-rich savanna, a major carbon sink that helps to stave off climate change.

The Cerrado, which is spread across several states of Brazil and is one of the world’s largest savannas, is often called an “upside-down forest” because of the deep roots its plants sink into the ground to survive seasonal droughts and fires.

Destruction of these trees, grasses and other plants in the Cerrado is a major source of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions, although it is far less densely forested than the more famous Amazon rainforest that it borders.

Deforestation and other clearances of native vegetation in the Cerrado rose 8% to 8,531 square kilometers in the 12 months through July, Brazil’s official period for measuring deforestation, according to national space research agency Inpe. That is more than 10 times the size of New York City’s land area of 783.84 square km.

“It’s extremely worrying,” said Mercedes Bustamante, an ecologist at the University of Brasilia.

Bustamante also criticized the government for a lack of transparency for announcing the deforestation data on New Year’s Eve.

The added destruction is particularly concerning, scientists say, when considering that roughly half of the Cerrado has been destroyed since the 1970s, mostly for farming and ranching.

“You’re transforming thousands of square kilometers annually,” said Manuel Ferreira, a geographer at the Federal University of Goias.

“Few other places on earth have seen that rapid of a transformation.”

Ferreira said that new plant and animal species are regularly being discovered in the Cerrado and that many are probably being eradicated before they can be studied.

After falling from highs in the early 2000s, deforestation in the Cerrado has been creeping up again since right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019, calling for more farming and development in sensitive ecosystems.

Last month, a Brazilian soy lobby group said that data showed farmers were increasingly using previously cleared land in the Cerrado rather than deforesting wholly new areas to plant the cash crop. More than half of Brazil’s soy farmland is in the Cerrado.

Bustamante and other scientists blame Bolsonaro for encouraging deforestation with his pro-development rhetoric and for rolling back environmental enforcement.

Bolsonaro’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment. He has previously defended his policies as a means to lift the interior of the country out of poverty and pointed out that Brazil has preserved far more of its territory than Europe or the United States.

“Deforestation is the most naked and raw indicator of the terrible environmental policy of this government,” said Ane Alencar, the science director at the non-profit Amazon Environmental Research Institute. – Reuters