WASHINGTON – Charges were dropped against adult film star Stormy Daniels on Thursday after an Ohio strip club arrest that her lawyer slammed as a “politically motivated” setup against the woman suing President Donald Trump.

Daniels, 39, was apprehended without incident during a performance late Wednesday at the Sirens club in Columbus, Ohio after officers accused her of touching patrons “in a specified anatomical area.”

Saddened to hear the other 2 dancers arrested with me last night did not have their charges dropped. All tips from my stage performance tonight at Sirens in Columbus will go towards their legal fees. Come support the working women of this city. #letussurvive

— Stormy Daniels (@StormyDaniels) July 12, 2018

Police approached Daniels, who was topless and wearing a G-string, after she was seen “using her bare breasts to smack the patrons” and “fondling the breasts of the female patrons,” according to an incident report published online by a local news outlet.

Daniels allegedly held her breasts against one female detective’s face, before “forcing” the face of a male officer into her chest and “smacking his face with her bare breasts.”

She performed the same acts on a male officer after “fondling” his buttock and chest.

Ohio law prohibits employees who regularly appear “nude or semi-nude on the premises of a sexually oriented business” from being touched by or touching club-goers, unless they are members of the dancer’s immediate family.

My client @StormyDaniels refuses to be intimidated. She will return to the scene of the “no crime” tonight in Columbus, Ohio as scheduled. She never ceases to impress! #Courage #Basta

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) July 12, 2018

Another officer in the back of the venue went to get backup before arresting Daniels, who was released on bond.

Her lawyer Michael Avenatti announced Thursday that the charges had been “dismissed in their entirety” and thanked prosecutors for their “professionalism” in a tweet.

The state of Ohio moved to dismiss the case because it did “not have probable cause to proceed on any of the three charges set forth in the complaints,” according to scanned court documents that Avenatti posted to social media.

The court papers said “no evidence” was provided that Daniels “appears or has appeared regularly at Sirens.”

Avenatti charged earlier that “undercover” officers “asked” for the touching.

“Unbeknownst to her the police set up a sting operation within the strip club,” he told MSNBC.

Absurd

“During her performance, they asked her if they could place their face in between her breasts while she was performing on stage,” he said. 

“And she said yes.”

#teamstormy #stormydaniels This was the last pic taken before Stormy Daniels uncalled for arrest last night. pic.twitter.com/AOd995qOz1

— Bobaflex (@bobaflex) July 12, 2018

Avenatti called the three misdemeanor charges “an absurd use of law enforcement resources.”

Daniels later announced that a follow-up performance at the same club Thursday — initially cancelled — would go ahead after all. 

She vowed to donate “all tips” to the lawyers’ fees for two other dancers arrested with her. “Come support the working women of this city,” she tweeted.

Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, is suing Trump and his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen to nullify a 2016 non-disclosure agreement preventing her from speaking out about an alleged affair she says she had with Trump in 2006.

Cohen paid Daniels $130,000, just days before the 2016 election, in exchange for her silence.

She wants the non-disclosure agreement thrown out on the grounds that it is not valid because Trump never signed it.

Asked if Daniels’ arrest could impact her legal wrangling with Cohen, Avenatti said “not at all.”

Through White House officials, Trump has denied the affair with Daniels, although Cohen has admitted paying her $130,000 as part of the agreement.

He initially said he used his own money to pay Daniels and was not reimbursed by Trump.

However, the Republican president — who initially denied knowledge of the payment — subsequently conceded that Cohen was in fact reimbursed.

AFP

President Cyril Ramaphosa “bending the knee” to Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini is not surprising and has to do with mining rights.

This is according to Dr Aninka Claassens, a senior researcher at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) department of public law, who was speaking on Thursday at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Claassens, who has been working in rural communities resisting forced evictions since the 1980^s, was one of the participants in the UFS’ inaugural Thought-Leader series. It focused on land reform against the backdrop of the current national debate about expropriation without compensation.

She also served on a high-level panel appointed by Parliament to review legislation on land reform.

This high-level panel, which was chaired by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, recommended that the Ingonyama Act, that was enacted just before the democratic elections in 1994, be repealed.

Ever since the release of the report veiled threats of violence and secession has been forthcoming from King Goodwill Zwelithini, who is the trust’s sole trustee.

‘Wonderful meeting’ 

Last week, Ramaphosa skipped a community meeting in Chatsworth to rather go to Ulundi to meet King Zwelithini. The president said he assured the king in a “wonderful meeting” that neither the government nor the ANC had any intention of taking land from the Ingonyama Trust.

READ: Ramaphosa tells Zulu King Zwelithini that land in Ingonyama Trust is safe

Communal land came under the spotlight at the UFC event and was robustly discussed.

Claassens was of the view that there is no threat to land that is being administered by the trust and the real issue is that the Motlanthe-led panel dared to criticise the Ingonyama Trust.

She pointed out that their recommendation about the Ingonyama Trust was only one of several recommendations.

The trust leased out land on which people have had houses and fields. It is bound by law to report to the department of rural development and land reform and Parliament.

In March, Parliament instructed the trust to stop the leasing of land, to no avail.

“The trust is relying on the President’s statement to ensure that all forms of oversight will stop,” she said.

“What is really happening in KwaZulu-Natal is the most simple form of rent-seeking,” she said.

“The trust is commodifying land people lived on for years,” said Claassens, adding that it entrenches structural inequality.

‘Benefits or mining’ 

She said multinational mining companies are involved. 

“In that context, him (Ramaphosa) bending the knee to the king is not surprising, it has to do with mining and the benefits of mining,” she explained. “And tragically, that mining boom is dispossessing black people.”

She said politicians set up rent-seeking mechanisms based on the same structures as colonialism.

Professor Lungisile Ntsebeza, holder of the AC Jordan Chair in African Studies at UCT, said the reserves established by colonial governments for indigenous people are still with us in South Africa today.

“We must find a way to do away with the Bantustan system,” he said.

Professor Philippe Burger, acting dean of the faculty of economic and management sciences at UFS, said the Ingonyama Trust must be reformed.

However, he said he doesn’t see that happening, “particularly with an election coming up”.

Burger said power needs to go from chiefs to the communities itself.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed suggestions that Nigerians living in South Africa are specifically being targeted for attacks.

While in Abuja, he has had to answer questions on how his government will curb “persistent attacks against Nigerians” living in South Africa. The questions have come from journalists and investors.

“There have been a number of incidents in our country where foreign nationals, some of whom are Nigerians, have lost their lives and I would like to say here and now that has been as a result of criminal activity among our own people, which we are focusing on,” he said.

Ramaphosa is in the Nigerian city meeting with his counterpart, President Muhammadu Buhari, as part of a charm offensive to improve often tense relations between Africa’s power houses.  

READ: Sign free trade agreement, Ramaphosa urges Nigeria

Ramaphosa said he had wanted Buhari to be his first guest after taking office in February but when it did not happen, he planned his first foreign bilateral meeting outside of the Southern African Development Community to be with Buhari.

The two held a two-hour tête-à-tête where the safety and security of Nigerians and improving trade relations were discussed.  

‘117 Nigerians killed’

“We had a wonderful exchange and we both got a sense that we are opening a new page in the relationship between SA and Nigeria and this new page gives us opportunity to go beyond where we have been before in a number of areas,” he said.

Despite high trade volumes between the two countries there is a negative sentiment against South Africa in Nigeria, with local news dominated by attacks against Nigerians living in South Africa.

An official in the Nigerian Presidency was quoted as saying that 117 Nigerians were killed extra-judicially between 2013 and 2018 in the southern African country. A figure dismissed by the South African government.

“I want to dispel this notion that when a Nigerian loses his or her life in SA, it is as a result of an intentional action by South Africans against Nigerians,” he said.

Ramaphosa blamed the “pervasive crime” in South Africa on high unemployment rates, poverty and inequality.

He said South Africans bore the brunt of the high levels of crime.

Concern over ‘dumping’ of goods

Ramaphosa and Buhari also discussed the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement that Nigeria is yet to sign. Earlier he nudged Buhari to sign the agreement, which will allow free movement of goods, dropping tariffs.

When asked if Ramaphosa had convinced him to sign on, Buhari joked he was a “slow reader of checks and agreements”.

There have been concerns in the county, especially from manufacturers, that the free trade agreement will allow for cheaper goods to be “dumped” in Nigeria, endangering local manufacturers.

“Our industries are just coming up, so we are trying to guarantee employment, goods and services for our country,” Buhari said.

“We have to be careful with agreements that will compete against our own infant industries,” he added.

At least 49 countries, including South Africa, have signed the agreement. However, only six have ratified it.

JOHANNESBURG – Thailand’s Tham Luang cave where 12 soccer boys and their coach were trapped for two weeks after it flooded will be turned into a museum.

Authorities says the area will become a living museum to showcase how the rescue unfolded.

GALLERY: All 13 rescued from flooded Thai cave: navy SEAL unit

Plans are already in place to turn it into a major tourist destination.

Thai officials say the fate of the boys and the multinational rescue has put the cave firmly on the map.

The Thai Prime Minister says extra precaution must be first implemented to ensure the safety of tourists.

eNCA

JOHANNESBURG – Numsa’s general secretary Irvin Jim’s concerned about various media reports that cash-strapped Eskom‘s been splurging money on senior staff.

Executives have allegedly been receiving unlimited free petrol.

UPDATE: Eskom ups its wage offer

“There have been a couple of issues that worried us. I mean last week we would have appreciated that the Business Day would have revealed a couple of serious stuff around packs for managers, and the senior employment of another person who is going to be very expensive….we’re here objectively to negotiate,” said Jim.

eNCA