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The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump made more than $150 million in income in 2005 and paid $38 million in income taxes that year.

The acknowledgement came shortly before MSNBC host Rachel Maddow reported on two pages of Trump’s 2005 tax forms on her Tuesday night show.

The records were obtained by Pulitzer prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who said he received the documented unsolicited, in the mail.

The documents have become highly sought-after because Trump refused to release his returns during the campaign, breaking a decades-long tradition. He claimed he was under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and said his attorneys had advised against it — though experts and IRS officials said such audits don’t bar taxpayers from releasing their returns.

The White House pushed back pre-emptively Tuesday night, saying that publishing those returns would be illegal.

“You know you are desperate for ratings when you are willing to violate the law to push a story about two pages of tax returns from over a decade ago,” the White House said in a statement.

The unauthorized release or publishing of federal tax returns is a criminal offense, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and up to five years in jail. But Maddow argued that MSNBC was exercising its First Amendment right to publish information in the public interest.

Based on the documents obtained by Johnston, Trump paid $36.5 million in taxes on $153 million in income, for an effective tax rate of around 24 percent. That percentage is higher than the roughly 10 percent the average American pays each year — but below the 27.4 percent that taxpayers earning 1 million dollars a year average, according to data from the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

Trump’s tax returns spotlight the role of the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was established nearly five decades ago to prevent the wealthy from using deductions and clever accounting to largely avoid paying taxes.

The AMT is a separate gauge of tax liability that, according to critics, has ensnared more middle-class people than intended, raising what they owe the federal government each year. It requires many taxpayers to calculate their taxes twice — once under the rules for regular income tax and then again under AMT — and then pay the higher amount.

Though opponents of the AMT have focused on the growing number of upper-middle-class earners who pay the tax, Trump’s 2005 disclosure shows it prevented him from avoiding most of the taxes he paid in 2005. If not for the AMT, Trump’s effective tax rate would have been just 3.5 percent.

Trump, according to his campaign website, has said he wanted to eliminate the tax, which is expected to bring in more than $350 billion in revenues from 2016 to 2025.

Trump long insisted the American public wasn’t interested in his returns and said little could be learned from them. But Trump’s full returns would contain key details about things like his charitable giving, his income sources, the type of deductions he claimed, how much he earned from his assets and what strategies Trump used to reduce his tax bill.

The issue was a major point of attack from his election rival Hillary Clinton, who suggested Trump had something to hide.

The White House has not said whether or not the president plans to release his returns while he’s in office. More than 1 million people have signed a White House petition urging the president to release them.

Nigerian government forces in the northeastern state of Borno have rescued 211 civilians from the Boko Haram group, the army authorities said on Sunday.

Troops of 22 Brigade Garrison, Operation Lafiya Dole, rescued the victims during an operation in Cingal Murye and Maja villages on Saturday, Xinhua quoted army spokesman Sani Usman as saying.

One the terrorist was neutralised, 11 bicycles were recovered from the fleeing terrorists, he added, noting that security team also escorted two heavy-duty trucks and 18 pickup vans to recover Internally Displaced Persons' food stuff from Mala Maja.

The Boko Haram insurgency has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths and displacement of 2.3 million people since 2009.

Nigeria has made a considerable gain on the Boko Haram front, with its security forces operating in the restive region dislodging the Boko Haram fighters from the Sambisa Forest, the group's largest training camp in the country, last December.

Islamic State (IS) terrorists are completely "trapped" and "the last road out of Mosul" has been cut off, claimed a US envoy Sunday in Baghdad.

"Just last night, the 9th Iraqi army division, up near Badush, just northwest of Mosul, cut off the last road out of Mosul," Xinhua quoted US envoy to the anti-IS coalition Brett McGurk as saying.

Meanwhile, Iraqi government forces have expelled IS fighters from about 30 per cent of western Mosul, a senior official from the elite Counter-Terrorism Service(CTS) said on Sunday, a major progress in the massive operation to retake the second largest city of Iraq.

The official said that CTS soldiers clashed fiercely with IS members in the old city centre in western Mosul, stressing that the enemy's power has been greatly weakened in the battle.

Iraqi government forces launched the offensive to liberate western Mosul on February 19 after declaring the full control of eastern Mosul late January.

McGurk also announced that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will visit Washington next week to hold discussions with US President Donald Trump on the further cooperation between two countries.

Gunmen disguised as medical personnel stormed a military hospital near the US Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people in a six-hour siege before Afghan security forces killed the attackers, authorities said.

The ISIS-affiliated news agency Amaq said the terror group claimed responsibility for the attack near Kabul's heavily fortified diplomatic quarter.

First, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the south gate to the Sardar Mohammed Daud Khan hospital, said Sediq Sediqqi, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman. Known as "the 400-bed hospital," it's the country's biggest and best-equipped medical facility.

Three gunmen then invaded the hospital, made their way to the second and third floors and opened fire, Sediqqi said. Among those killed were Afghan military personnel recovering from battle wounds, doctors and hospital employees.

Security forces and police mounted a counteroffensive. Heavily armed soldiers and armored vehicles surrounded the facility, a helicopter landed on the roof and a few patients climbed out of windows and stood on a ledge to escape the violence, video shows.

Soldiers killed the attackers about 3:30 p.m. local time (6 a.m. Wednesday ET) after six hours of fighting.

As soldiers cleared the building, they discovered bodies and the number of casualties quickly grew.

More than 50 people were wounded and taken to the Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, said Smael Kawosi, media relation officer for the Ministry of Health. It's not known whether any security personnel or police officers were killed.

The Taliban has claimed credit for other recent attacks. But a Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mojahid, denied responsibility for this rampage in a tweet, saying: "Today's attack on hospital in Kabul has nothing to do with the Mujahidin of Islamic Emirate," using the group's formal name.

In the vacuum of a Taliban claim, Amaq said ISIS claimed responsibility. Though it is credible that ISIS planned and carried out the attack, CNN has not independently verified the claim.

This is not the first attack at the hospital named after Afghanistan's first president. In May 2011, suicide bombers got inside, and killed six people and injured 26 others. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

Witnesses told CNN an explosion was first heard at 9 a.m. local time (11.30 p.m. Tuesday ET).

Afghan National Police special forces rushed in. "At first there was a firing followed by a huge blast," an employee at a nearby hospital said.

An employee at an Italian restaurant nearby said she heard one explosion, then heard gunfire about 25 minutes later.
The attackers were not immediately killed because security forces were busy evacuating patients, the defense ministry statement said.

US Army Gen. John Nicholson, commander of Resolute Support and US Forces in Afghanistan, said the attack "is an unspeakable crime." He praised security forces for the swift response, saying the forces deserve "our highest praise and respect."

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said the attack shows terrorists "don't follow rules and laws."

"According to international humanitarian laws, hospitals are immune from attacks," he said.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah tweeted: "I condemn the terrorist attacked on hospital in Kabul. While we work for peace, we'll avenge the blood of our people."

The US Embassy in Kabul said, "Targeting a medical facility providing care for the brave Afghans working to protect their fellow citizens has no possible justification in any religion or creed."

NATO forces in Afghanistan indicated that the organization was standing by to assist Afghan security forces, according to tweets from Operation Resolute Support.

"Once again insurgents show complete disrespect for humanity by attacking a hospital. We stand with Afghan people against terrorism."

Somalia's prime minister announced Saturday that 110 people have died from hunger in the past 48 hours in a single region as a severe drought threatens millions of people across the country.

It was the first death toll announced by Somalia's government since it declared the drought a national disaster on Tuesday. The United Nations estimates that 5 million people in this Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire spoke during a meeting with the Somali National Drought Committee. The death toll he announced is from the Bay region in the southwest part of the country alone.

Somalia was one of four regions singled out by the U.N. secretary-general last month in a $4.4 billion aid appeal to avert catastrophic hunger and famine, along with northeast Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. All are connected by a thread of violent conflict, the U.N. chief said.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Stephen O'Brien, was expected to visit Somalia in the next few days.

Thousands have been streaming into Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently.

The drought is the first crisis for Somalia's newly elected Somali-American leader, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. Previous droughts and a quarter-century of conflict, including ongoing attacks by extremist group al-Shabab, have left the country fragile. Mohamed has appealed to the international community and Somalia's diaspora of 2 million people for help.

About 363,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia "need urgent treatment and nutrition support, including 71,000 who are severely malnourished," the U.S. Agency for International Development's Famine Early Warning Systems Network has warned.

Because of a lack of clean water in many areas, there is the additional threat of cholera and other diseases, U.N. experts say. Some deaths from cholera already have been reported.

The government has said the widespread hunger "makes people vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses and to criminal and terrorist networks."

The U.N. humanitarian appeal for 2017 for Somalia is $864 million to provide assistance to 3.9 million people. But the U.N. World Food Program recently requested an additional $26 million plan to respond to the drought.

The US today said it is temporarily suspending the 'premium processing' of H-1B visas from April 3, eliminating the option of shorter wait times for the programme that helps highly skilled foreigners work at American firms. Under the current system, companies submitting applications for H-1B visas for potential employees can pay extra for expedited processing, which is known as premium processing.

The suspension is effective April 3, and could last up to six months, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The H-1B visas are widely used by Indian IT majors. Premium processing costs an additional USD 1,225 and ensures a response from the USCIS in 15 days or the fee is refunded. Processing of standard H-1B applications -- those that are not premium -- takes between three to six months. "This temporary suspension will help us to reduce overall H-1B processing time," the USCIS said.

The change comes as President Donald Trump is said to be drafting a new version of his court-halted executive order that banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. By temporarily suspending premium processing, the USCIS said it will be able to process long-pending petitions, which they have currently been unable to process due to the high volume of incoming petitions and the significant surge in premium processing requests over the past few years, and prioritise adjudication of H-1B extension of status cases that are nearing the 240-day mark.

For Silicon Valley companies, many of which employ large number of H-1B holders, this move could signal that waiting time for approval may get much longer. Under the current system, a company that is sponsoring a potential employee or current employee's H-1B petition may fill out a form to expedite the processing of that petition, the Verge reported. Meanwhile, the USCIS also announced that it would start accepting the H-1B visa applications for the fiscal year 2018 beginning October 1, 2017, from April 3.

At least eight Afghan civilians, including four children, were killed in a blast as they tried to escape fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban, officials said Saturday.

Some 22 others were injured in the explosion in the Bala Buluk district of Farah province Friday, the latest carnage as the resurgence of the Taliban brings rising insecurity.    

"Their vehicle hit a roadside bomb as they were fleeing the scene of fighting," provincial spokesman Nasir Mehri told AFP.  

But Wakil Ahmad, a resident of the district, said the deaths were caused by an Afghan army air strike, during bombing of Taliban positions.

Afghan defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said they were "investigating the allegations".

Afghan civilians are paying a high price for the escalating conflict. Civilian casualties in 2016 were the highest recorded by the UN since 2009, with nearly 11,500 non-combatants killed or wounded.

The United Nations warned that the alleged use of chemical weapons in Mosul, if confirmed, would be a war crime and a serious violation of international humanitarian law, according to a statement released Saturday.

"This is horrible," Lise Grande, the humanitarian coordinator in Iraq said in the statement, "there is never justification -- none whatsoever -- for the use of chemical weapons."

The alleged attack occurred this week in eastern Mosul, an area declared fully liberated by Iraqi forces in January. The attack hit a neighborhood along the Tigris River -- which roughly divides the city in two.

Doctors in an urgent care hospital in the nearby city of Irbil say they began receiving patients showing symptoms of chemical weapons exposure on Thursday.

"The mortar hit our house, right inside the living room where we were sitting," said Nazim Hamid, whose children had burns to their faces, arms and legs. The family was being treated in the Irbil hospital.

"There was a very bad smell, it was some kind of gas," he said. "My kids were affected, some of them were burned and some of them had difficulty breathing."

Hussein Qader, the deputy director of the hospital, said all 10 patients admitted for exposure are in stable condition and will be discharged in the coming days.

Most of western Mosul is still under Islamic State group control despite a handful of recent gains on the city's southwestern edge by Iraqi forces over the past two weeks.

IS has used chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria at least 52 times according to a report published late last year by IHS conflict monitor, a London-based research and intelligence gathering group. The report said that at least 19 of the 52 attacks took place in and around Mosul.

Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition officials have repeatedly expressed concern regarding IS chemical weapons attacks. However IS-claimed insurgent attacks in Iraq and attacks targeting civilians attempting to flee Mosul cause far greater numbers of injuries and deaths to civilians.

Iraqi forces launched the operation to retake Mosul in October and began a push to retake the city's western half last month.

After more than two years of slow territorial victories against IS by Iraqi ground forces backed by U.S.-led coalition air power, western Mosul is the last significant urban area IS controls in Iraq.

The Russian leader said Moscow and Bishkek agreed to step up military and technical cooperation and added that Russia is ready to close its military base in Kyrgyzstan should Biskek ask for it.

Russia and Kyrgyzstan have agreed to strengthen military and technical cooperation to face terrorist and criminal threats, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday after talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart.

"We agreed to actively strengthen bilateral, military and military-technical cooperation. We confirmed a common understanding that the Russian military base's presence is an important factor in ensuring stability and security in the Central Asian region," Putin said.

He noted that talks with Almazbek Atambayev centered on threats facing the Central Asian region, including anti-terrorism, drug trafficking and cross-border organized crime.

"If Kyrgyzstan ever says that we have strengthened our armed forces so much that this base is not necessary, we will leave that same day," Putin said. "We have no need to deploy a military contingent, it is associated only with ensuring the security of Kyrgyzstan itself."

He echoed Atambayev's statement earlier that their high-level talks did not focus on the expansion of the existing Russian base in the Central Asian republic.

"If Kyrgyzstan finds it necessary to do so, then we will have discussions, but bear in mind that this is also an additional cost to us," Putin stressed.

The top official of France's Charente region says a police sharpshooter has accidentally fired his weapon during a speech by President Francois Hollande and two people were slightly injured.

Pierre N'Gahane said the incident occurred Tuesday while Hollande was inaugurating a new fast train line in the western town of Villognon.