Addressing for the first time allegations that have swirled around her husband the first lady brushed off speculation that her marriage is troubled and insisted she loves life in the US capital.

In a lengthy ABC television interview, Trump did not deny the many stories of her husband’s philandering. But she also made clear she does not dwell on it.

“It is not a concern and focus of mine,” she said. “I’m a mother and a first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do.”

“I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage,” she added.

“It’s not always pleasant, of course, but I know what is right and what is wrong and what is true and not true.”

The interview, excerpts of which were released by ABC ahead of a full broadcast Friday evening, came after nearly two roller-coaster years in the White House, during which Melania was frequently thought to be on the verge of breaking with President Trump, as one woman after another came forth claiming they had been paid to be quiet about their affairs with him.

But she gave no hint to ABC as to how the stories affected her.

Asked whether she loved her husband, she answered: “Yes, we are fine. It’s what media speculate, and it’s gossip. It’s not always correct stuff.”

Mysterious, impenetrable

In a White House known for its inability to keep secrets, the 48-year-old Slovenia-born former fashion model, Trump’s third wife, remains mysterious and impenetrable to the American public.

She gave the interview to ABC while she was on her first solo trip abroad last week, to Africa where she sought to promote her humanitarian efforts and US Agency for International Development projects.

Sitting in jodhpurs with a safari pith helmet at her side, Trump was poised and confident as she responded to uncomfortable questions on her personal life with the real estate billionaire who now leads the United States.

She is not the first lady to suffer gossip about a president’s unfaithfulness. Hillary Clinton endured husband Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office, and John F. Kennedy, president from 1961-63, was a serial cheater on wife Jackie.

But Donald Trump’s brash behavior has left his wife constantly under the Washington microscope, facing questions about whether she will leave him and move back to New York with their son Barron.

She scoffed at such talk in the ABC interview. “I am enjoying it. I really love to live in the Washington and the White House,” she said.

‘Most bullied person’

In Africa, she visited hospitals and schools and a wildlife park in Ghana, Malawi and Kenya, speaking to students and feeding a baby elephant, before stopping in Egypt to visit the Giza pyramids.

She hinted to ABC that life in the White House was not easy, dealing with people she didn’t always trust. “You always need to watch your back,” she said.

She also explained one reason why she had made fighting cyber bullying a target of her “Be Best” campaign.

“I could say I’m the most bullied person in the world,” she said, or “one of them, if you really see what people are saying about me.”

More comfortable facing a still camera than a microphone, Trump has taken much longer than most first ladies to open up to the media.

The interview came just over three weeks before the midterm congressional elections, in which Trump’s record is expected to play a big part in how voters cast their ballots.

Flak for fashion choices

Also like past first ladies, Melania is constantly under the microscope for her fashion choices, which lean toward well-cut, refined but not flashy clothes from Ralph Lauren and French-American designer Herve Pierre.

She took heavy flack in June when she wore a $39 Zara jacket that had “I really don’t care, do u?” written on the back, as she embarked on a trip to the Mexican border to see immigrant children who had been separated from their parents under her husband’s much criticized policy.

Tthe target of that message was unclear.

Donning a pith helmet during her Nairobi stop last week, and then an “Indiana Jones”-style Panama hat while in Egypt, Melania Trump also drew fashion maven reprimands as “insensitive” to the continent’s colonial history.

Reporters should “talk about my trip and not what I wear,” she responded during the journey.

All three were arrested on October 10 in Yangon for their investigation and coverage of the controversial business ventures of the Yangon Regional Government. They were charged under Article 505 (b) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, which does not allow the grant of bail and carries a maximum punishment of two years imprisonment.

Asia News Network, an alliance of 24 leading media in 20 Asian countries, stands by the three journalists – not because the Yangon Regional Government has no right to agitate for redress if it feels wronged by a news report  – but because of the vehement use of the harshest part of the Penal Code that is only suited for the most heinous crimes.

It is the role of a responsible media outlet to bring accountability and transparency in public institutions to the fore. It must be allowed to do its job without the fetters imposed by a draconian law, especially when Myanmar is striving for a just, democratic and open society, the ideals espoused by the National League for Democracy when it sought power from the people. The news report in contention was not a crime, but a public interest endeavour to improve the functioning of the Yangon Regional Government.

A free and fair Press must be allowed space to function if it is to play a role in creating a Myanmar free of nepotism, corruption and societal ills, and emerge as a state where the rule of law prevails.

Members of the Asia News Network ask that the Government of Myanmar order the immediate release of the three Eleven Media editors on bail and take all necessary steps to restore faith of the Press in the ideals of democratic governance.

    The big day for the ninth in line to the throne and Jack Brooksbank — a “commoner” with blue-blood friends — comes on the heels of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s fairytale service in May.

That event was watched by adoring masses and followed by months of fawning UK headlines about the US actress who charmed her way into the royal court.

But what may be a mixture of royal wedding overload and scepticism about Eugenie’s role in Britain’s public life stripped Friday’s ceremony of some of its charm.

    Newspapers have spent weeks complaining about taxpayers having to foot the ฃ2 million ($2.6 million, 2.3 million euro) security bill.

They noted the expense could have been spared had Eugenie not insisted on having a horse-drawn carriage parade around Windsor — just like Meghan and her prince.

The BBC also reportedly caused Buckingham Palace upset by deciding not to televise the event live because of its likely low ratings.

The smaller ITV commercial channel picked up the broadcast for its morning programme aired directly from a studio overlooking Windsor’s lawn.

ITV spent much of the morning discussing the fierce gusts of wind that forced arriving guests to grasp for their complicated hats and to rearrange their morning coats.

“Unfortunately, this is not a good wedding hair day,” one of ITV morning show hosts observed.

The lines of people covered in the Union Jack during Eugenie’s procession through the heart of Windsor were noticeably thinner than five months ago.

The couple did their best to win over the crowds by doing taped interviews for ITV, in which they heaped each other with praise.

Jack called his 28-year-old bride his “shining light”.

Eugenie called the 32-year-old wine merchant and tequila ambassador “humble and generous”.

And Eugenie won plaudits on social media for deciding to wear a dress that revealed the long scar from a childhood operation running down her spine.

Buckingham Palace said was “the specific request of Princess Eugenie who had surgery aged 12 to correct scoliosis.”

“I think you can change the way beauty is, and you can show people your scars and I think it’s really special to stand up for that,” Eugenie told ITV’s morning show.

– Cocktail bar groom –

The ceremony itself featured 850 guests and much of the morning saw royalty and celebrities strolling up to Windsor and arranging themselves in its magnificent 14th-century chapel.

Celebrities in attendance included British pop star Robbie Williams and the US actress Demi Moore.

But George Clooney was a surprise no-show despite creating the expensive brand of tequila Jack was the ambassador for in Europe.

Jack himself mixes in London’s glitzy social circles but is unknown to most outside the celebrity gossip world.

He managed a posh cocktail bar in London favoured by royals called Mahiki and has since launched his own wine wholesale business.

Press reports said he has lately harboured dreams of launching his own chain of pubs.

The MPC has no right to intervene in the case as the matter has reached the court, but it would like Yangon regional government to review the incident and lodge a complaint to the MPC. The MPC would like to make both sides accept an unpleasant situation, the statement said.

The Section 4 of the Media Law states the news media workers shall have the right – (a) to freely criticize, point out or recommend operating procedures of the legislative, the executive and judiciary in conformity with the constitution (b) to investigate, publish, broadcast information and related opinions to which every citizen is entitled in accordance with rules and regulations (c) to reveal issues relating to rights and privileges lost by the citizen.

The Section 21 says if any of responsibilities or ethics required in Article 9 is considered to be breached by a News Media worker, the aggrieved department, organization or individual shall have the right to complain to the council first.

The Section 12 states the council is the only organization which can perform its tasks independently regarding people from mass media in keeping with regulations stated in this law.

For that reason, the MPC strongly denounced charges against media professionals in use of other laws instead of using the media law.

Director Aung Kyaw Khaing of Yangon regional government sued chief editor Kyaw Zaw Lin, editor-in-charge Na Yi Min and reporter-in-chief Phyo Wai under Section 505 (b) at Tamwe Township Police Station. The MPC strongly denounced the charge against the senior journalists of Weekly Eleven News Journal, the statement said.

The refugee home was built by funds from Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand so that Myanmar citizens who are in trouble in Thailand can take refuge there with the help from AAC.

“We don’t know their intention behind the raid of the refugee home but they seemed to have shut it down; a home which was always providing help for Myanmar migrant workers. More than 100 migrant workers are facing difficulties as the authorities cut water and electricity supplies. Among them, there are infants. They are pressuring us to not look after the affairs of Myanmar workers in Thailand. We want Myanmar leaders to know about this incident,” said Ye Min from the AAC.

Khaing Gyi, Director of the AAC said there are Myanmar migrant workers, who are suing their employers in order to receive compensations for work-related injuries while living in the refugee home.

“They are facing legal trials and they have nowhere to stay. They have to stay in the refugee home even though now, there is no more water and electricity in there,” said Khaing Gyi.

Mahachai based AAC is helping Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand and is said to have played a key role in helping Myanmar workers receive compensation of over 70 million Baht for reasons such as injuries sustained from hazardous working conditions

Abe will visit from October 25 to 27 and mark the 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the two nations, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

The visit will “elevate our bilateral ties and put bilateral cooperation back on the right track,” Lu said at a regular press briefing.

He added that the two sides will work to “jointly uphold multilateralism and the free trade system”.

Lu said there a reception was planned to celebrate the Sino-Japanese friendship treaty, which was signed on October 23, 1978.

Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have met numerous times over the last few years on the sidelines of international events.

But no Japanese prime minister has paid an official visit to China since 2011 and no Chinese president has visited Japan since 2010.

Relations between China and Japan soured in 2012 over a territorial dispute over several tiny islands in the East China Sea.

In the dramatic breakout last November, 25 members of the persecuted minority used blankets to climb out of their cells in a daring pre-dawn escape from immigration detention in southern Thailand.

Eleven of them, all men, escaped overland to neighbouring Malaysia, where they were caught and charged with illegal entry.

Southern Thailand and Malaysia share a common border, which is easily penetrable.

The group were freed and flew to Turkey on Tuesday, their lawyer Fahmi Abdul Moin told AFP.

“Prosecutors decided to drop all charges on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

The decision was made after lawyers wrote to the Malaysian attorney general urging that the charges be withdrawn, Fahmi added.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) welcomed the group’s release.

“These 11 men faced detention, torture or worse if they were returned to China,” HRW deputy director for Asia Phil Robertson said.

China had asked Malaysia’s previous government to repatriate the group in February, but new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has taken a more independent stand with Beijing.

Since coming to power in May, Mahathir has cancelled more than $20 billion worth of mega-infrastructure projects backed by Chinese firms, including rail and gas pipelines.

Mahathir’s predecessor Najib Razak was seen as too friendly with Beijing.

Najib’s government last year deported to China 29 Uighurs it said were involved with Islamic militants.

Uighurs are persecuted in western China, where they are subject to strict regulations suppressing public displays of religion.

Over a million Uighur and other Muslim minority people have been detained in re-education camps for offences as minor as making contact with family members outside the country or sharing Islamic holiday greetings on social media, the UN says.

Beijing has denied reports of the camps but evidence is mounting in the form of government documents and testimonies from former detainees.

A scathing US congressional report released this month accused China of the unprecedented repression of its ethnic minorities, including Uighurs, with authoritarian tactics potentially constituting “crimes against humanity”.

He said the trade war was not going to benefit the countries concerned or the rest of the world.

“As Malaysia is a trading nation, it needs stability in the world market and if that is undermined, naturally the country will suffer,” he said at the inaugural Asean Leaders’ Gathe­ring here yesterday.

“For this reason, we are all for settling all problems – not through wars of any kind but through negotiations, arbitration and resorting to the world court.

It was at the Asean Summit here that Dr Mahathir bade farewell to the 10-member grouping when he stepped down as prime minister in 2003.

This visit is Dr Mahathir’s second to Indonesia since becoming prime minister again after Malay­sia’s historic general election in May.

In his address, he said he would like to see Asean assume a bigger role than before.

“I count on my Asean colleagues to work together to achieve the SDG targets for our individual countries.

“I also hope to see renewed support from the IMF, World Bank and the United Nations, through its va­­rious agencies, for Asean and for this region,” he said.

He also said Malaysia had always been very conscious of the sustainability of its development.

“It’s true that we have felled many trees in our forest to grow oil palm trees but today, we have stop­ped as we feel there could be other sources of income for us.

“At the same time, we are ensu­ring that palm oil production follows certain standards.

“We feel that we owe this to the world and we hope that the world will respond to our effort,” he said.

Dr Mahathir also referred to the attempt (by the European Union) to label palm oil from Malaysia as being unsuitable, saying that it was not at all true since palm oil had been consumed by millions of people without any harm.

“In fact, Malaysia’s forest is very sustainable with 48% being covered with virgin jungle,” he explained, adding that “we absorb much of the world’s carbon monoxide produced by others”.

He said Malaysia was keen to work with all other Asean countries in improving living standards and was willing to share its methods to sustain Malay­sia’s development.

“However, we hope that we will be able to do this while ensuring the recovery of our economy, finances and the stability of our country,” he said, adding that Malaysia had gone through a change in government after 61 years.

Malaysia is faced with inherited problems and is now trying to resolve issues that affect the finance and administration machinery.

But the new government, he said, was committed to the prog­rammes laid out by Asean.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myan­mar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Papua New Guinea has observer status.

Dr Mahathir returned to Kuala Lumpur last night.

Its lawyer Datuk David Gurupa­tham said that if the jewellery were not seized by police but in the possession of the former prime minister’s wife, then she would have to return it or pay the price of the items together with damages and costs, if the court decides in its favour.

“On the other hand, if the goods have been lawfully seized, she can try to strike out the case again.

“But for now, the trial dates have been fixed for March 4 and 5. We will go to trial,” he said.

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Since Rosmah asserted that the jewellery was seized, he said the onus was on her to prove it.

“Since her application to strike out Global Royalty Trading’s case has been dismissed with costs, she will have to come to court and testify as to how these goods came to be seized and prove that they were seized, and provide the court with the seizure list.

“As for the government, they have to sift through 12,000 pieces of jewellery to confirm if the 44 pieces are there or not,” he said, adding that Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department director Comm Datuk Seri Amar Singh confirmed in an affidavit filed on behalf of the government in support of the application to intervene that they could not confirm whether the 44 pieces of jewellery were with them or not.

The US Energy Department said it would make it more difficult to ship nuclear technology to China, one of the few growing markets for new plants as the Asian economy tries to meet rising electricity demand through low-carbon sources.

“The United States cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes of US-China civil nuclear cooperation,” Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement.

The measures are the latest salvo in a widening US drive to pressure China, with the Trump administration recently slapping $250 billion in tariffs.

The Energy Department said it would not end exports to China but would show greater scrutiny and that there “will be a presumption of denial” for new licenses related to the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp.

The company was indicted last year along with a naturalized US citizen on charges of conspiring to develop sensitive nuclear material with US know-how without going through the required approval process.

The US already carefully reviews nuclear exports through the Energy Department’s so-called Part 810 authorizations, which verify if the technology goes to peaceful use and will not be sent to a third country.

“For decades China has maintained a concerted, central government-run strategy to acquire nuclear technology to gain economic advantage,” a US official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States last year shipped $170 million in nuclear exports to China, according to official figures. A 2017 Commerce Department report ranked China as the second largest market for US nuclear exporters, second only to Britain.

“We understand that the US industry may suffer in the short term from this decision,” the official said.

“However, China’s concerted effort to emulate and displace US nuclear products could cause the permanent loss of global markets and domestic jobs in the long run,” he said.

‘Americans are not stupid people’

Former president Barack Obama in 2015 signed off on an extension of nuclear cooperation between the United States and China, with his administration arguing that Beijing had moved to tighten controls as part of renewal negotiations.

Relations between the world’s two largest economies have soured sharply, however, with Trump earlier Thursday vowing to inflict economic pain on China if it does not blink in a trade war.

“They lived too well for too long and, frankly, I guess they think that the Americans are stupid people. Americans are not stupid people,” Trump said in an interview on “Fox and Friends.”

The mogul-turned-president boasted that his tariffs had already “had a big impact.”

“Their economy has gone down very substantially,” he said. “I have a lot more to do if I want to do it. I don’t want to do it but they have to come to the table.”

Trump is pressing China to improve trading conditions for US products and to end what US businesses say is widespread theft of their intellectual property.

China has responded by imposing counter tariffs, which the Trump administration alleges show political interference by targeting products from key states in next month’s congressional elections.

The International Monetary Fund this week cited the trade war as it lowered its 2019 growth forecast for China, which is set to see its slowest expansion since 1990. The IMF also lowered estimates for the United States and the global economy as a whole.

Trump renewed his charge that past presidents Obama and George W. Bush “let China get out of control” through the massive US imports of manufactured goods.

“We have helped rebuild China more than any other factor. We have helped rebuild it. I said it’s over.”