Trump Snubbed By Jeb Bush But Backed By Cheney

The ex-Florida governor says he would vote for neither his party's presumptive nominee, nor likely rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton

By Sky News US Team

Failed Republican White House candidate Jeb Bush is the latest conservative figure to say he will not support Donald Trump.

He said in a Facebook post on Friday that his former rival "has not demonstrated that temperament or strength of character (worthy of the presidency).

"He has not displayed a respect for the Constitution. And, he is not a consistent conservative."

The former Florida governor said he would vote for neither his party's presumptive nominee, nor the likely rival in November's White House election, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Mr Bush was asked in recent days whether he might be Mr Trump's running mate, and his adviser's emailed reply was: "Hahahahahahahahaha."

His snub comes two days after his older brother, former US President George W Bush, and their father, former US President George H W Bush, said they would not endorse Mr Trump.

The Bushes' cold shoulder may be seen as personal since Mr Trump tormented Jeb Bush during his White House run, labelling him "low energy" and "an embarrassment to his family".

However, Mr Trump picked up support on Friday from the younger ex-President Bush's former deputy, Dick Cheney.

The list of opponents to the outsider candidate's hostile takeover of the Republican party has been growing.

Mitt Romney, who won the nomination in 2012, and Republican South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham are also refusing to support Mr Trump.

But the real estate baron's former rival, Rick Perry - who once called him a "cancer on conservatism" - said he would be open to being his running mate.

Republican mega-donor and casino magnate Sheldon Adelson is also backing Mr Trump, saying he has clinched the nomination “fair and square".

House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said he would meet Mr Trump next Thursday, a day after telling media he is "just not ready" to endorse Mr Trump.

Republican party chairman Reince Priebus said on Friday he will support Mr Trump, even if he disagrees with ideas like temporarily banning Muslims from entering the US.

US President Barack Obama smiled on Friday when asked during a White House briefing about the disarray among his Republican antagonists.

In his first remarks about Mr Trump's presumptive nominee status, Mr Obama had a message for the media: "This is not entertainment.

"This is not a reality show."

summary

Iran says several of its soldiers killed near Aleppo

DUBAI | By Bozorgmehr Sharafedin 

Several Iranian soldiers were killed near Aleppo, the Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday, in what appeared to be one of Iran's biggest losses in Syria since it deployed forces to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Islamist insurgents on Friday seized the strategic village of Khan Touman, some 15 km (9 miles) southwest of Aleppo. Dozens of people were reported to have been killed in the battle.
Fars news agency on Saturday quoted a Revolutionary Guards official as saying that 13 Iranian military advisors had been killed and 21 wounded in the fighting.
The attack on Khan Touman was launched by an alliance of Islamist insurgents known as Jaish al-Fatah, including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which has rejected diplomatic efforts to halt the five-year civil war.
Earlier this week, the United States and Russia brokered a ceasefire in the city of Aleppo itself. But fighting in the countryside to the south of the city, one of the major fronts where Iranian-backed forces have been deployed, has escalated in recent days.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group that monitors the conflict, said that Syrian and Russian jet planes have intensified their bombing of insurgent posts.
Jaish al-Fatah and affiliates have published on social media videos and photos of what appear to be the bodies of Iranians or other Shi'ite militias who were killed in Khan Touman.
Some videos include footage of their wallets, personal documentation and Iranian currency.
There are indications that some of the casualties might be Afghans who are trained in Iran and are deployed alongside Iranian soldiers in Syria.
The Revolutionary Guards in a statement on Saturday urged people not to be affected by the Islamist rebels' "psychological war on the social media".
A top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader on Saturday reiterated Tehran's continued support of Syria's president in a meeting with Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
"Iran will use all its means to fight against terrorists who are committing crimes in the region," Ali Akbar Velayati, Ayatollah Khamenei's top adviser on international affairs, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.
The war in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people though, with tens of thousands unaccounted for, some say the death toll may be as high as 400,000.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, additional reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi in Amman, editing by Digby Lidstone) 

Chinese fishing boat, cargo ship collision leaves 17 missing: state media

Seventeen people were missing after a Chinese fishing boat collided with a Maltese cargo ship and sank in the East China Sea on Saturday, state media reported, citing the country's coastguard fleet.

The fishing boat, Lu Rong Yu 58398, had 19 people on board when the incident happened at 3.40 a.m. Beijing time (1940 GMT), the China News Service said, adding that two people had been rescued by passing fishing boats and a search and rescue operation was still underway.
China National Radio said that it had hit Maltese cargo ship Catalina, a 40,485 ton bulk carrier, which has continued sailing. They did not specify where in the East China Sea the collision happened.
The East China Sea is home to a group of uninhabited islets claimed by both China and Japan and previous incidents involving Chinese fishing boats and Japanese patrol ships have stoked diplomatic rows.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Italy rescues nearly 1,800 migrants in Mediterranean

Italian vessels have helped rescue nearly 1,800 migrants from boats trying to reach Italy from north Africa in the last 24 hours, the navy said on Friday, indicating that numbers are rising as the weather warms up.

The navy said 1,759 migrants were rescued in 10 operations involving the Italian navy, coastguard and finance police, the European Union's external borders agency Frontex and the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The Italian frigate Grecale was taking the migrants to the Sicilian port of Augusta, where they were expected to arrive on Saturday morning, a navy statement said. It gave no details of their nationalities.
The latest arrivals picked up in the Strait of Sicily will bring the total of migrants reaching Italy by boat so far this year to more than 30,000, slightly higher than in the same period of 2015.
Humanitarian organizations say the sea route between Libya and Italy is now the main route for asylum seekers heading for Europe, after an EU deal with Turkey dramatically slowed the flow of people reaching Greece.
Officials fear the numbers trying to make the crossing to southern Italy will increase as sailing conditions improve in warmer weather.
More than 1.2 million Arab, African and Asian migrants fleeing war and poverty have streamed into the European Union since the start of last year.
Most of those trying to reach Italy leave the coast of lawless Libya on rickety fishing boats or rubber dinghies, heading for the Italian island of Lampedusa, which is close to Tunisia, or toward Sicily.
On Wednesday, however, Italy's coastguard said it had rescued 42 migrants from a sailboat off the coast of Puglia, in the southeastern heel of mainland Italy.
(Reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Andrew Roche)

Opponents try to head off maverick mayor in final rallies for Philippine presidency

MANILA | By Martin Petty 

Philippine election hopefuls campaigned for a final day on Saturday amid the drama of a late intervention by the country's outgoing leader to try to block maverick mayor Rodrigo Duterte from winning the presidency.President Benigno Aquino caused a stir on Friday with a call for candidates to collaborate against Duterte in a last-ditch move to stop the "Trump of the East" from converting his runaway popularity into victory in Monday's vote.
Philippine politics is no stranger to controversial characters and the firebrand Duterte is one of its most divisive, alarming opponents with his advocacy of extrajudicial killings as a deterrent against rampant crime and illegal drugs.
There were no signs on Saturday of Aquino's idea taking hold. Some experts said it could backfire on his chosen successor, Manuel Roxas.
Roxas invited rival Grace Poe for talks aimed at derailing Duterte, who has a double-digit lead in the latest opinion polls, but met a resounding "no". Vice-President Jejomar Binay's team described Aquino's call as "hollow".
Political analyst Prospero de Vera said the government had seen the writing on the wall for its candidate and it needed to change tack.

"This is all part of the administration's messaging to project that Manuel Roxas has the momentum," he said.
"They need these dramatics to prevent allies in the provinces from jumping ship," de Vera said.
The five candidates have major rallies planned later on Saturday, the final day allowed for campaigning. Duterte was a clear leader in final opinion polling with a lead of 11 points over Poe, with Roxas close behind in third.
Duterte, 71, is the alternative candidate who has lit up the race with his incendiary rhetoric and image as a loose cannon.
Experts say his recent surge, and Poe's popularity, represents public disenchantment with Aquino's administration.
That sentiment has perplexed investors and some Western governments given the robust performance of the Philippine economy under Aquino. However, criticism by opponents that it has not translated into jobs or better livelihoods for millions of poor appears to be resonating.
Poe's pro-investment, anti-poverty platform is striking a chord, however, as is Duterte's promises of a war on crime and his profanity-packed speeches during a campaign that bears the emblem of a clenched fist.
Duterte's campaign manager, Leoncio Evasco Jr, described Aquino's call for a united front against the Davao city mayor as desperate.
"It also further unmasks the true character of the Aquino regime – one that in the face of debacle will abandon ship and run like a headless chicken," Evasco said in a statement.
(Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Paul Tait) 

North Korean leader hails nuclear success in opening congress

PYONGYANG | By James Pearson 

 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday hailed the country's recent nuclear test and launch of a satellite into space, as he opened the first congress of the country's ruling Workers' Party in 36 years.Wearing a dark western-style suit and grey tie, the 33-year-old was flanked by his top military aide and the titular head of state in a massive hall packed with military and party delegates, according to footage on North Korean state television aired late on Friday.
During the congress, Kim is expected to further consolidate his control over a country that has grown increasingly isolated over its pursuit of nuclear weapons, including its fourth nuclear test in January, which led to U.N. resolutions in March tightening sanctions.
"In this year of the seventh party congress, the military and the people accomplished the great success in the first hydrogen bomb test and the launch of an earth observation satellite, Kwangmyongsong-4, to brilliantly illuminate the prowess of Juche Joson," he said, referring to the North's home-grown founding ideology combining Marxism and extreme nationalism.
"Unprecedented results have been accomplished."
Foreign analysts expect the third-generation leader of the Kim dynasty to formally adopt his "Byongjin" policy of simultaneously pursuing nuclear weapons and economic development.
"Kim is after catching two rabbits, a nuclear arsenal and economic development, and he's likely going to declare the country is a nuclear weapons state, so that's one rabbit," said Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
"He might also lay out a five-year or seven-year blueprint for the development of the people's economy," Yang said.
Foreign journalists invited to cover the event were not permitted inside the April 25 House of Culture, the imposing stone structure draped in red party flags where the congress is expected to run for several days.
Kim has aggressively pursued nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. The February satellite launch was criticized internationally as a long-range missile test in disguise.
Giant neighbor China, the North's lone major ally, backed the U.N. resolutions, as it grew frustrated over the nuclear tests.

Brazil Senate committee votes for Rousseff to stand trial

BRASILIA | By Maria Carolina Marcello and Anthony Boadle 

A Senate committee recommended on Friday that Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff be put on trial by the full chamber for breaking budget laws, moving a step closer to the likely suspension of the leftist leader from office next week.Despite renewed promised by Rousseff on Friday to resist her removal, her chances for staying in office are dimming. Her departure would come at a time when a majority of Brazilians are against Rousseff because of an economic recession and a massive corruption scandal that has exposed wrongdoing by ruling party officials.
The full Senate is expected to vote to put her on trial on Wednesday, which would immediately suspend Rousseff for the duration of a trial that could last six months. During that period, Vice President Michel Temer would replace her as acting president.

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The upper house committee voted 15-5 to accept the charges against Rousseff, which involve budget irregularities that critics say masked budget problems while she ran for re-election in 2014, and her opponents are certain to muster the simple majority needed to begin a trial.
"I will resist until the last day," Rousseff said at an event where she announced the delivery of low-cost housing. The president said she would not resign because she committed no crime, and called her looming ouster a "coup d'etat."
If the Senate convicts Rousseff, by a two-thirds majority vote to oust her, Temer would serve out the remainder of Rousseff's second term through 2018.
Local newspaper surveys say the opposition has 50 of the 54 votes needed, with many of the 10 undecided senators likely to favor her ouster.
Rousseff has struggled to survive politically in the face of Brazil's biggest ever corruption scandal and its worst recession since the 1930s. Her removal would mark an end to 13 years of leftist rule by the Workers Party that began in 2003 under her mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
While Rousseff is not directly accused of corruption, Brazil's top prosecutor has asked for her to be investigated for obstructing justice in the kickback scandal that has engulfed state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) and fueled Brazil's political crisis.
In a separate initiative launched by the opposition, Rousseff's 2014 re-election campaign is being investigated by an electoral court for alleged funding with bribe money.

At Rousseff's presidential palace Friday, officials had glum faces and appeared resigned to the end of her administration.

One aide denied they were packing up already, but added: "No doubt, we have to start organizing things."
Echoing the sense of an administration that has run out of time, no reporters showed up for a news conference called by Women Affairs Secretary Eleonora Menicucci, a close Rousseff aide. She ended up speaking only to a government television camera.
Rousseff's supporters on the Senate committee have called for annulment of the impeachment proceedings because the man who launched them last year, lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha, was himself removed from office on Thursday by the Supreme Court for obstructing the investigation of corruption accusations against him.
The top court has so far dismissed all government requests to halt the impeachment proceedings.
Workers Party Senator Lindbergh Farias said the ouster of Rousseff was aimed at undoing Lula's work to help the poor, and at rolling back workers' benefits, privatizing state companies and aligning Brazil's foreign policy closer to the United States.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Maria Carolina Marcello; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Frances Kerry)