US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would consider extending the deadline for a trade deal with China beyond March 1.

"If we're close to a deal ... I could see myself letting that slide for a little while," Trump said at the White House.

The comments came as the third round of trade negotiations were set to resume in Beijing to avert more than doubling tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would consider extending the deadline for a trade deal with China beyond March 1. "If we're close to a deal ... I could see myself letting that slide for a little while," Trump said at the White House.

US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would consider extending the deadline for a trade deal with China beyond March 1. "If we're close to a deal ... I could see myself letting that slide for a little while," Trump said at the White House. The comments came as the third round of trade negotiations were set to resume in Beijing to avert more than doubling tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

Trump says could extend China trade talks deadline

US lawmakers reached a preliminary deal to provide some funding for President Donald Trump's Mexico border wall but waited Tuesday to see if he accepts the compromise and cancels a threatened government shutdown.

At nearly $1.4 billion for wall construction, the budget agreed by Republican and Democratic lawmakers was far less than the $5.7 billion that Trump wanted.

Trump has not given a definite answer, telling a crowd of supporters at a rally in the Texas frontier city of El Paso late Monday only that there was "probably some good news, but who knows?"

The money, along with other border security measures, was presented as a workable deal to satisfy both sides and allow Trump to shelve his threat to shut down swaths of government on Friday.

The funds would allow 55 miles of new walls along the border.

Hundreds of miles of barriers already run along the US-Mexican border but Trump says far more is needed to bring what he often calls an "invasion" of migrant criminals under control. Democrats say Trump vastly exaggerates the crime problem and uses the issue to whip up his right-wing voter base.

In December, Trump tried to pressure Congress into approving the $5.7 billion by refusing to sign off on funding swaths of government that have nothing to do with the wall, putting 800,000 jobs, from FBI agents to airport security, on hold for five weeks.

The Democrats refused to budge and Trump was forced into an embarrassing climbdown, allowing new negotiations to open with a new deadline of this Friday.

Republicans appear desperate to <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-lawmakers-meet-on-border-security-scrambling-to-avert-shutdown-196776">avoid a second shutdown</a>.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the compromise deal was "certainly good news."

"It provides new funds for miles of new border barriers," he told senators. By approving this, the government could then work "with predictability and certainty."

Senator Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the upper house, agreed.

"While the details are still being hammered out, the tentative agreement represents a path forward for our country, away from another round of fraught negotiations, up against a government funding cliff, away from a dreaded government shutdown," Schumer said.

Election ploy

Although there's little doubt that organized Mexican drug crime and people smugglers present a threat along the US border, Trump's fixation on wall building has polemicized Americans to the point where the left and right can barely discuss the issue.

For Trump, chants of "build the wall" were crucial to his surprise 2016 election victory. At the El Paso rally he introduced a new slogan for his coming 2020 reelection bid: "Finish the wall."

The thousands of devoted Trump fans, many of them wearing his red "Make America great again" campaign hats, cheered at the dire warnings about Mexican criminals and calls for bigger and longer walls.

"Walls save lives, walls save tremendous numbers of lives," Trump told them.

There was a counter-message a short distance from where Trump spoke when rising Democratic star Beto O'Rourke -- a possible challenger in 2020 -- held his own rally.

A former congressman who excited grassroots Democrats last November with an against-the-odds near upset of Republican Senator Ted Cruz, O'Rourke is from El Paso.

"Tonight, we will meet lies and hate with the truth and a positive, inclusive, ambitious vision for the future from the US-Mexico border," he said.

Trump dismissed O'Rourke as "a young man who's got very little going for himself except he's got a great first name."

Making fun of what he said was O'Rourke's much smaller crowd, Trump said: "That may be the end of his presidential bid."

&nbsp;

US lawmakers reached a preliminary deal to provide some funding for President Donald Trump's Mexico border wall but waited Tuesday to see if he accepts the compromise and cancels a threatened government shutdown.

US lawmakers reached a preliminary deal to provide some funding for President Donald Trump's Mexico border wall but waited Tuesday to see if he accepts the compromise and cancels a threatened government shutdown. At nearly $1.4 billion for wall construction, the budget agreed by Republican and Democratic lawmakers was far less than the $5.7 billion that Trump wanted. Trump has not given a definite answer, telling a crowd of supporters at a rally in the Texas frontier city of El Paso late Monday only that there was "probably some good news, but who knows?" The money, along with other border security measures, was presented as a workable deal to satisfy both sides and allow Trump to shelve his threat to shut down swaths of government on Friday. The funds would allow 55 miles of new walls along the border. Hundreds of miles of barriers already run along the US-Mexican border but Trump says far more is needed to bring what he often calls an "invasion" of migrant criminals under control. Democrats say Trump vastly exaggerates the crime problem and uses the issue to whip up his right-wing voter base. In December, Trump tried to pressure Congress into approving the $5.7 billion by refusing to sign off on funding swaths of government that have nothing to do with the wall, putting 800,000 jobs, from FBI agents to airport security, on hold for five weeks. The Democrats refused to budge and Trump was forced into an embarrassing climbdown, allowing new negotiations to open with a new deadline of this Friday. Republicans appear desperate to avoid a second shutdown. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the compromise deal was "certainly good news." "It provides new funds for miles of new border barriers," he told senators. By approving this, the government could then work "with predictability and certainty." Senator Chuck Schumer, the senior Democrat in the upper house, agreed. "While the details are still being hammered out, the tentative agreement represents a path forward for our country, away from another round of fraught negotiations, up against a government funding cliff, away from a dreaded government shutdown," Schumer said. Election ploy Although there's little doubt that organized Mexican drug crime and people smugglers present a threat along the US border, Trump's fixation on wall building has polemicized Americans to the point where the left and right can barely discuss the issue. For Trump, chants of "build the wall" were crucial to his surprise 2016 election victory. At the El Paso rally he introduced a new slogan for his coming 2020 reelection bid: "Finish the wall." The thousands of devoted Trump fans, many of them wearing his red "Make America great again" campaign hats, cheered at the dire warnings about Mexican criminals and calls for bigger and longer walls. "Walls save lives, walls save tremendous numbers of lives," Trump told them. There was a counter-message a short distance from where Trump spoke when rising Democratic star Beto O'Rourke -- a possible challenger in 2020 -- held his own rally. A former congressman who excited grassroots Democrats last November with an against-the-odds near upset of Republican Senator Ted Cruz, O'Rourke is from El Paso. "Tonight, we will meet lies and hate with the truth and a positive, inclusive, ambitious vision for the future from the US-Mexico border," he said. Trump dismissed O'Rourke as "a young man who's got very little going for himself except he's got a great first name." Making fun of what he said was O'Rourke's much smaller crowd, Trump said: "That may be the end of his presidential bid."

Trump mulls border wall deal ending threat to government

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/competition-commission-probes-accusations-that-google-abused-android-to-block-its-rivals-sources-196940">India probing if Google used its Android operating system to block rivals: Sources</a>

India's antitrust commission is looking into accusations that Alphabet Inc's unit Google abuses its popular Android mobile operating system to block its rivals, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/delhi-hotel-fire-people-jumped-to-save-themselves-but-to-their-deaths-196943">Delhi hotel fire: People jumped to save themselves, but fell to their deaths</a>

People jumped from the top floors of the Hotel Arpit Palace in Delhi's Karol Bagh after it caught fire early Tuesday morning, but to their deaths.&nbsp;

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/samajwadi-party-chief-akhilesh-yadav-stopped-at-lucknow-airport-alleges-govt-preventing-him-from-visiting-allahabad-196923">Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, alleges govt preventing him from visiting Allahabad</a> 
 
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/contempt-of-court-ex-cbi-chief-nageswara-rao-leaves-courtroom-after-serving-day-long-sentence-of-confinement-196949">SC allows ex-CBI chief M Nageswara Rao to leave </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/contempt-of-court-ex-cbi-chief-nageswara-rao-leaves-courtroom-after-serving-day-long-sentence-of-confinement-196949">court</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/contempt-of-court-ex-cbi-chief-nageswara-rao-leaves-courtroom-after-serving-day-long-sentence-of-confinement-196949"> after day-long detention</a> 
 
The Supreme Court has finally allowed former interim CBI director M Nageswara Rao to leave the court after his day-long detention.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-denies-telling-banks-to-stop-working-with-palestinians-196947">US</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-denies-telling-banks-to-stop-working-with-palestinians-196947"> says it did not tell banks to stop working with Palestinians</a>

The United States has denied accusations it is pressuring banks to stop dealing with the Palestinian government, whose relations with Washington have been plummeting.

India probing if Google used its Android operating system to block rivals: Sources India's antitrust commission is looking into accusations that Alphabet Inc's unit Google abuses its popular Android mobile operating system to block its rivals, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

India probing if Google used its Android operating system to block rivals: Sources India's antitrust commission is looking into accusations that Alphabet Inc's unit Google abuses its popular Android mobile operating system to block its rivals, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Delhi hotel fire: People jumped to save themselves, but fell to their deaths People jumped from the top floors of the Hotel Arpit Palace in Delhi's Karol Bagh after it caught fire early Tuesday morning, but to their deaths. Akhilesh Yadav stopped at Lucknow airport, alleges govt preventing him from visiting Allahabad Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University. SC allows ex-CBI chief M Nageswara Rao to leave court after day-long detention The Supreme Court has finally allowed former interim CBI director M Nageswara Rao to leave the court after his day-long detention. US says it did not tell banks to stop working with Palestinians The United States has denied accusations it is pressuring banks to stop dealing with the Palestinian government, whose relations with Washington have been plummeting.

News brief: Big stories of the day

California pulls out troops from Mexico border

The choice of Vietnam as host of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/kim-trump-summit-a-remarkable-breakthrough-for-peace-south-korean-president-moon-196694">this month's summit</a> between US&nbsp;President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shows the Southeast Asian nation is headed in the right direction, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Tuesday.

Last week, Trump said he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on February 27 and 28. That follows an unprecedented June 11 summit of the two leaders in the wealthy city of Singapore.

"This important event has shown that Vietnam's investment environment is good, that Vietnam's development model is going in a right direction and especially that the security and safety in Vietnam is wonderful," Phuc told government officials at the Hanoi Stock Exchange.

"Vietnam will demonstrate its international role and do its best to let the word 'Vietnam'&nbsp;ring out."

Vietnam's foreign minister, Pham Binh Minh, will visit North Korea from February 12 to 14 ahead of the summit.&nbsp;

In a statement on Tuesday, North Korean state news agency KCNA confirmed the Vietnamese delegation had arrived, but did not provide any details of their itinerary or agenda.

As Vietnam prepares for the summit, its reform model is being widely touted as the economic path for impoverished and isolated North Korea to follow.

Last year, US&nbsp;Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea could follow the example of Vietnam, adding that Trump believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity.

The choice of Vietnam as host of this month's summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shows the Southeast Asian nation is headed in the right direction, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Tuesday.

The choice of Vietnam as host of this month's summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shows the Southeast Asian nation is headed in the right direction, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said on Tuesday. Last week, Trump said he would hold his second meeting with Kim in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on February 27 and 28. That follows an unprecedented June 11 summit of the two leaders in the wealthy city of Singapore. "This important event has shown that Vietnam's investment environment is good, that Vietnam's development model is going in a right direction and especially that the security and safety in Vietnam is wonderful," Phuc told government officials at the Hanoi Stock Exchange. "Vietnam will demonstrate its international role and do its best to let the word 'Vietnam' ring out." Vietnam's foreign minister, Pham Binh Minh, will visit North Korea from February 12 to 14 ahead of the summit. In a statement on Tuesday, North Korean state news agency KCNA confirmed the Vietnamese delegation had arrived, but did not provide any details of their itinerary or agenda. As Vietnam prepares for the summit, its reform model is being widely touted as the economic path for impoverished and isolated North Korea to follow. Last year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea could follow the example of Vietnam, adding that Trump believed Pyongyang could replicate Hanoi's path to normal relations with Washington and to prosperity.

Vietnam says being chosen to host second Trump-Kim summit is positive sign

By Naser Ghobadzadeh

Iran’s ruling clergy are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1979 revolution, during which Shi'ite Islamists, led by religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini, toppled Mohammad Reza Shah’s secular monarchy.

The linchpin of the Islamic Republic’s political system is Ayatollah Khomeini’s doctrine of Wilayat-i Faqih, or guardianship of the jurist, which makes a Shia religious jurist the head of state. The jurist’s legitimacy to hold the most powerful position in the state is claimed to be based on divine sovereignty.

As its name suggests, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s current system combines theocratic and republican elements. The president and parliament are democratically elected, while the members of powerful institutions such as the Guardian Council and the judiciary are appointed by the Supreme Leader (Walī-yi Faqīh).

The Guardian Council oversees elections and the final approval of the legislation. According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, all legislation, policies and programs must be consistent with the observance of Islamic principles. The Guardian Council has a duty to monitor all legislative decisions and determine whether their implementation would cause a violation.

This unprecedented political system brought in four decades of internal conflict. The established Islamic Republic of Iran also ceased being a US ally and instead became an enemy. International sanctions, along with the clergy’s mismanagement and endemic corruption, have resulted in a dire economic situation. There is a strong fear the high unemployment and inflation rate will continue to rise.

Under these circumstances, there are now doubts the Islamic Republic can survive. And some wonder whether we may soon see another revolution. So, what is the situation in Iran 40 years after the Shah was overthrown and who is agitating for change?

Decades of unrest

After Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, a more conservative Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, came to power and strengthened the theocracy.

The reformist movement emerged in the mid-1990s to counter the newly established conservative regime. They had little chance of gaining power through theocratic institutions, so they focused on the electoral side. They campaigned for women’s rights, democratic rule and a civil-military divide.

Reformists gained power twice: from 1997 to 2005 and from 2013 – with the election of the relatively moderate president, Hassan Rouhani – until now. In these years, reformists controlled electoral institutions such as the presidency and the parliament.

For decades, reformers have struggled to limit the power of theocratic institutions – while still broadly complying by the laws of the clergy, and the principles set in place by Khomeini – and expand the power of republican institutions. However, they were no match for the Khamenei-led resistance, and theocratic institutions are more powerful today than they were in the mid-1990s.

Iran has also continually had tense relations with the international community. In addition to eight years of war with Iraq, Iran has been under sanctions for almost all of the past four decades. These have been imposed by the US, the EU, and the United Nations over claims Iran breached its nuclear obligations.

Today, the Donald Trump-led US government is pursuing an extremely hostile approach to Iran. Crucially, the US has withdrawn from a nuclear deal negotiated with the Obama administration – under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program. The US has reapplied previous sanctions (which were lifted under the deal) and imposed new ones. Iranians are also the most affected of the Muslim majority countries included in Trump’s travel ban.

Reformists have made some progress towards easing economic hardship, loosening social control, and initiating a temporary easing of tensions with the outside community. But the parlous nature of the political structure empowers the theocrats to manipulate the system and stymie any reform effort that promises a path to democratisation.

Reformists or pro-regime opposition

The protests that swept Iran between December 2017 and January 2018 showed that many Iranians don’t consider the reformists capable of bringing about meaningful change. Protesters expressed their anger over increasing economic hardship, as well as Iran’s support and funding for foreign conflicts, namely the civil wars in Yemen and Syria. They also chanted slogans calling for an end to the rule of clerics.

Rampant corruption, the failure of Rouhani to fulfil his promises – such as boosting the economy, extending individual and political freedoms, ensuring equality for women and men, and easing access to the internet – and the return of sanctions have combined to shatter hope of reform. This has been expressed in global protests by the Iranian diaspora calling for a change to the government.

It seems unlikely the reformists will be able to maintain their positions in the country’s electoral institutions. The sad reality is that even if they have another chance, the result will only compound their failures.

These circumstances have led to another stream of opposition – one agitating for a toppling of the Islamic Republic and regime change – gaining currency. Most members of this group are in exile, including Iran’s ex-prince and son of the Shah overthrown by the revolution, Reza Pahlavi.

But there is profound disagreement between the opposition groups in exile. Although they share a similar goal, they have consistently proven unable to agree on an overarching framework. The profound divisions among the groups have drained both their resources and intellectual capacity, which has rendered them incapable of contesting the country’s ruling clergy.

Those advocating for regime change have also been incapable of articulating a viable alternative to the Islamic Republic. All opposition groups overuse the abstract notion of “secular democracy” without clearly explaining what exactly they have in mind.

Pahlavi’s desire is reportedly not to put himself back on the throne, but to let the people decide what the political system would look like. He has said, "It’s not the form that matters, it’s the content; I believe Iran must be a secular, parliamentary democracy. The final form has to be decided by the people."

While this is a legitimate statement, figures like Pahlavi ought to offer viable alternatives that would help bring opposition groups together. Potential alternatives should also be structured to appeal to the masses, a considerable segment of whom have expressed disillusionment with the ideal of an Islamic state.

Opposition groups are absorbed in delegitimising the Islamic Republic, questioning the way the clergy run the country. In doing so, they forget the people who have already expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the clergy.

The opposition needs to skillfully craft an alternative to the Islamic Republic and a comprehensive plan for the transition to democracy. Until an alternative political system is formulated and popularised, the opposition will remain impotent and unable to initiate a transformation in the country.

Of course, change is not impossible. A military confrontation with Israel or the US, the departure of 79-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, or a spontaneous mass uprising could prove a game changer.

(Naser Ghobadzadeh is Senior Lecturer, National School of Arts, Australian Catholic University)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/forty-years-on-from-the-iranian-revolution-could-the-country-be-at-risk-of-another-one-110693">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

By Naser Ghobadzadeh Iran’s ruling clergy are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1979 revolution, during which Shi'ite Islamists, led by religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini, toppled Mohammad Reza Shah’s secular monarchy.

By Naser Ghobadzadeh Iran’s ruling clergy are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1979 revolution, during which Shi'ite Islamists, led by religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini, toppled Mohammad Reza Shah’s secular monarchy. The linchpin of the Islamic Republic’s political system is Ayatollah Khomeini’s doctrine of Wilayat-i Faqih, or guardianship of the jurist, which makes a Shia religious jurist the head of state. The jurist’s legitimacy to hold the most powerful position in the state is claimed to be based on divine sovereignty. As its name suggests, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s current system combines theocratic and republican elements. The president and parliament are democratically elected, while the members of powerful institutions such as the Guardian Council and the judiciary are appointed by the Supreme Leader (Walī-yi Faqīh). The Guardian Council oversees elections and the final approval of the legislation. According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, all legislation, policies and programs must be consistent with the observance of Islamic principles. The Guardian Council has a duty to monitor all legislative decisions and determine whether their implementation would cause a violation. This unprecedented political system brought in four decades of internal conflict. The established Islamic Republic of Iran also ceased being a US ally and instead became an enemy. International sanctions, along with the clergy’s mismanagement and endemic corruption, have resulted in a dire economic situation. There is a strong fear the high unemployment and inflation rate will continue to rise. Under these circumstances, there are now doubts the Islamic Republic can survive. And some wonder whether we may soon see another revolution. So, what is the situation in Iran 40 years after the Shah was overthrown and who is agitating for change? Decades of unrest After Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989, a more conservative Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, came to power and strengthened the theocracy. The reformist movement emerged in the mid-1990s to counter the newly established conservative regime. They had little chance of gaining power through theocratic institutions, so they focused on the electoral side. They campaigned for women’s rights, democratic rule and a civil-military divide. Reformists gained power twice: from 1997 to 2005 and from 2013 – with the election of the relatively moderate president, Hassan Rouhani – until now. In these years, reformists controlled electoral institutions such as the presidency and the parliament. For decades, reformers have struggled to limit the power of theocratic institutions – while still broadly complying by the laws of the clergy, and the principles set in place by Khomeini – and expand the power of republican institutions. However, they were no match for the Khamenei-led resistance, and theocratic institutions are more powerful today than they were in the mid-1990s. Iran has also continually had tense relations with the international community. In addition to eight years of war with Iraq, Iran has been under sanctions for almost all of the past four decades. These have been imposed by the US, the EU, and the United Nations over claims Iran breached its nuclear obligations. Today, the Donald Trump-led US government is pursuing an extremely hostile approach to Iran. Crucially, the US has withdrawn from a nuclear deal negotiated with the Obama administration – under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program. The US has reapplied previous sanctions (which were lifted under the deal) and imposed new ones. Iranians are also the most affected of the Muslim majority countries included in Trump’s travel ban. Reformists have made some progress towards easing economic hardship, loosening social control, and initiating a temporary easing of tensions with the outside community. But the parlous nature of the political structure empowers the theocrats to manipulate the system and stymie any reform effort that promises a path to democratisation. Reformists or pro-regime opposition The protests that swept Iran between December 2017 and January 2018 showed that many Iranians don’t consider the reformists capable of bringing about meaningful change. Protesters expressed their anger over increasing economic hardship, as well as Iran’s support and funding for foreign conflicts, namely the civil wars in Yemen and Syria. They also chanted slogans calling for an end to the rule of clerics. Rampant corruption, the failure of Rouhani to fulfil his promises – such as boosting the economy, extending individual and political freedoms, ensuring equality for women and men, and easing access to the internet – and the return of sanctions have combined to shatter hope of reform. This has been expressed in global protests by the Iranian diaspora calling for a change to the government. It seems unlikely the reformists will be able to maintain their positions in the country’s electoral institutions. The sad reality is that even if they have another chance, the result will only compound their failures. These circumstances have led to another stream of opposition – one agitating for a toppling of the Islamic Republic and regime change – gaining currency. Most members of this group are in exile, including Iran’s ex-prince and son of the Shah overthrown by the revolution, Reza Pahlavi. But there is profound disagreement between the opposition groups in exile. Although they share a similar goal, they have consistently proven unable to agree on an overarching framework. The profound divisions among the groups have drained both their resources and intellectual capacity, which has rendered them incapable of contesting the country’s ruling clergy. Those advocating for regime change have also been incapable of articulating a viable alternative to the Islamic Republic. All opposition groups overuse the abstract notion of “secular democracy” without clearly explaining what exactly they have in mind. Pahlavi’s desire is reportedly not to put himself back on the throne, but to let the people decide what the political system would look like. He has said, "It’s not the form that matters, it’s the content; I believe Iran must be a secular, parliamentary democracy. The final form has to be decided by the people." While this is a legitimate statement, figures like Pahlavi ought to offer viable alternatives that would help bring opposition groups together. Potential alternatives should also be structured to appeal to the masses, a considerable segment of whom have expressed disillusionment with the ideal of an Islamic state. Opposition groups are absorbed in delegitimising the Islamic Republic, questioning the way the clergy run the country. In doing so, they forget the people who have already expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the clergy. The opposition needs to skillfully craft an alternative to the Islamic Republic and a comprehensive plan for the transition to democracy. Until an alternative political system is formulated and popularised, the opposition will remain impotent and unable to initiate a transformation in the country. Of course, change is not impossible. A military confrontation with Israel or the US, the departure of 79-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, or a spontaneous mass uprising could prove a game changer. (Naser Ghobadzadeh is Senior Lecturer, National School of Arts, Australian Catholic University) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)

Forty years on from the Iranian revolution, could the country be at risk of another one?

The top four Democratic and Republican negotiators in the US&nbsp;Congress on border security funding plan to meet on Monday in a bid to reach an elusive deal by a Friday deadline <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/no-more-us-congressional-talks-scheduled-to-avert-shutdown-196466">to avert another partial government shutdown</a>.

The talks were scheduled to resume in Washington hours before Republican President Donald Trump plans a rally in the Texas border city of El Paso, where he is expected to promote his long-promised wall along the US-Mexico border.

An anti-wall protest will greet the Republican president, led by hometown Democrat Beto O'Rourke, the former congressman who is considering running for his party's 2020 presidential nomination after gaining national prominence last year by nearly upsetting Republican Ted Cruz in a US&nbsp;Senate race in Texas.

In Washington, the lawmakers hope to reach an agreement on Monday to allow time for the legislation to pass the House of Representatives and Senate and get Trump's signature by Friday when funding is due to expire for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and several other federal agencies.

Negotiations broke down during the weekend over funding for immigrant detention beds and physical barriers along the US-Mexico border.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, and the panel's top Republican, US&nbsp;Representative Kay Granger, will attend the meeting with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, a Republican, and the panel's senior Democrat Patrick Leahy, according to congressional aides. They were tentatively set to meet at 3:30 p.m. (2030 GMT).

Trump's December demand for $5.7 billion to help construct a border wall triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without the president getting wall funding. Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks to allow congressional negotiators time to find a compromise on government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, to avert another shutdown on February 15.

The disagreement over border barriers and making detention facilities able to hold more immigrants to be deported are at the heart of the dispute between congressional Democrats and Trump, who has sought to crack down on illegal and legal immigration.

Campaign promise

Trump made a border wall one of his central campaign promises in 2016, saying it is needed to curb illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other crimes. Democrats, who assumed control of the House last month from Trump's fellow Republicans, oppose a wall as ineffective, expensive and immoral.

A sticking point in the border security talks has been a Democratic demand for funding fewer detention beds. Democrats oppose the Trump administration expanding its capacity to hold more people arrested by US&nbsp;Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for eventual deportation.

Democrats generally push for less use of detention, arguing it is much cheaper to release some immigrants but require restrictions on them such as wearing ankle bracelets that track their location. Republicans want to increase the number of beds in detention facilities to enable holding more people to speed up and expand deportations.

Trump has called the situation at the border a national security crisis and deployed an extra 3,750 US&nbsp;troops there this month.

His 2020 re-election campaign made a wall the centrepiece of a fundraising drive seeking contributions of $5 or more from supporters by midnight on Monday.

California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, was poised to withdraw all 360 of his state's National Guard troops from the border to counter Trump's claim of a national security crisis, according to US&nbsp;media reports. Democratic-governed New Mexico made a similar move last week.

&nbsp;

The top four Democratic and Republican negotiators in the US Congress on border security funding plan to meet on Monday in a bid to reach an elusive deal by a Friday deadline to avert another partial government shutdown.

The top four Democratic and Republican negotiators in the US Congress on border security funding plan to meet on Monday in a bid to reach an elusive deal by a Friday deadline to avert another partial government shutdown. The talks were scheduled to resume in Washington hours before Republican President Donald Trump plans a rally in the Texas border city of El Paso, where he is expected to promote his long-promised wall along the US-Mexico border. An anti-wall protest will greet the Republican president, led by hometown Democrat Beto O'Rourke, the former congressman who is considering running for his party's 2020 presidential nomination after gaining national prominence last year by nearly upsetting Republican Ted Cruz in a US Senate race in Texas. In Washington, the lawmakers hope to reach an agreement on Monday to allow time for the legislation to pass the House of Representatives and Senate and get Trump's signature by Friday when funding is due to expire for the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department and several other federal agencies. Negotiations broke down during the weekend over funding for immigrant detention beds and physical barriers along the US-Mexico border. House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, a Democrat, and the panel's top Republican, US Representative Kay Granger, will attend the meeting with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, a Republican, and the panel's senior Democrat Patrick Leahy, according to congressional aides. They were tentatively set to meet at 3:30 p.m. (2030 GMT). Trump's December demand for $5.7 billion to help construct a border wall triggered a 35-day partial government shutdown that ended last month without the president getting wall funding. Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks to allow congressional negotiators time to find a compromise on government funding for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, to avert another shutdown on February 15. The disagreement over border barriers and making detention facilities able to hold more immigrants to be deported are at the heart of the dispute between congressional Democrats and Trump, who has sought to crack down on illegal and legal immigration. Campaign promise Trump made a border wall one of his central campaign promises in 2016, saying it is needed to curb illegal immigration, drug trafficking and other crimes. Democrats, who assumed control of the House last month from Trump's fellow Republicans, oppose a wall as ineffective, expensive and immoral. A sticking point in the border security talks has been a Democratic demand for funding fewer detention beds. Democrats oppose the Trump administration expanding its capacity to hold more people arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents for eventual deportation. Democrats generally push for less use of detention, arguing it is much cheaper to release some immigrants but require restrictions on them such as wearing ankle bracelets that track their location. Republicans want to increase the number of beds in detention facilities to enable holding more people to speed up and expand deportations. Trump has called the situation at the border a national security crisis and deployed an extra 3,750 US troops there this month. His 2020 re-election campaign made a wall the centrepiece of a fundraising drive seeking contributions of $5 or more from supporters by midnight on Monday. California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, was poised to withdraw all 360 of his state's National Guard troops from the border to counter Trump's claim of a national security crisis, according to US media reports. Democratic-governed New Mexico made a similar move last week.

US lawmakers to hold border security talks in bid to avert shutdown

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-republican-thinks-former-vice-president-biden-can-beat-trump-196411">Donald Trump</a> pushed back Sunday at the suggestion he spends much of his workday taking it easy, as the White House kept up the hunt for the person behind an embarrassing leak of the president's schedule.

According to details published last week by Axios, 60 per cent of Trump's work life is categorized as "executive time," meaning unstructured time to make phone calls, read newspapers, tweet and watch television.

Seeking to set the record straight, the president said such free time should be viewed as "positive, not negative."

"When the term Executive Time is used, I am generally working, not relaxing," Trump tweeted. "In fact, I probably work more hours than almost any past President.

"The fact is, when I took over as President, our Country was a mess," Trump continued.

"Depleted Military, Endless Wars, a potential War with North Korea, VA, High Taxes &amp; too many Regulations, Border, Immigration &amp; HealthCare problems, &amp; much more.

"I had no choice but to work very long hours!" added the president, who rarely has official work before 11:00 am, according to the daily guidance issued to the media by his press office.

Quizzed about what appeared to be a rather easy typical day at the office for the world's most powerful man -- acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney also pushed back on Sunday.

"That executive time is on there to allow the president to prep for the next meeting, to debrief from the previous meeting," Mulvaney told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"The phone calls start at 6:30 in the morning, and they go until 11:00 at night. So I can assure you that the gentleman is working more than what's on that calendar," he said.

Trump has reportedly ordered an aggressive search for the source of the leak. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Mulvaney said the White House was hoping to identify the culprit "this week."

Donald Trump pushed back Sunday at the suggestion he spends much of his workday taking it easy, as the White House kept up the hunt for the person behind an embarrassing leak of the president's schedule.

Donald Trump pushed back Sunday at the suggestion he spends much of his workday taking it easy, as the White House kept up the hunt for the person behind an embarrassing leak of the president's schedule. According to details published last week by Axios, 60 per cent of Trump's work life is categorized as "executive time," meaning unstructured time to make phone calls, read newspapers, tweet and watch television. Seeking to set the record straight, the president said such free time should be viewed as "positive, not negative." "When the term Executive Time is used, I am generally working, not relaxing," Trump tweeted. "In fact, I probably work more hours than almost any past President. "The fact is, when I took over as President, our Country was a mess," Trump continued. "Depleted Military, Endless Wars, a potential War with North Korea, VA, High Taxes & too many Regulations, Border, Immigration & HealthCare problems, & much more. "I had no choice but to work very long hours!" added the president, who rarely has official work before 11:00 am, according to the daily guidance issued to the media by his press office. Quizzed about what appeared to be a rather easy typical day at the office for the world's most powerful man -- acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney also pushed back on Sunday. "That executive time is on there to allow the president to prep for the next meeting, to debrief from the previous meeting," Mulvaney told NBC's "Meet the Press." "The phone calls start at 6:30 in the morning, and they go until 11:00 at night. So I can assure you that the gentleman is working more than what's on that calendar," he said. Trump has reportedly ordered an aggressive search for the source of the leak. Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," Mulvaney said the White House was hoping to identify the culprit "this week."

Trump defends 'executive time' after schedule leak

The agreement for a <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/hard-work-still-needed-before-kim-trump-summit-us-envoy-196161">second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong</a> Un was a "remarkable breakthrough" for peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, President Moon Jae-in said Monday, but he acknowledged doubts remained over denuclearisation.

The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June.

That meeting -- the first-ever between the leaders of the US and North Korea -- produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula".

But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over it means and analysts say tangible progress on denuclearisation will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV".

With the high-stakes summit now two weeks away, Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the meeting in the Vietnamese capital.&nbsp;

"For us, the era of peace and prosperity on the peninsula has drawn closer," said Moon in his first comments since the summit was announced.

The meeting was a "remarkable breakthrough in the peace process on the Korean peninsula", the South Korean president added. &nbsp;

But he acknowledged there were "still many doubts about whether the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and peace process can be concluded successfully".

The leaders of the two Koreas and the US have persisted in talks over the issue because of "strong confidence in the direction history should take", added Moon, who has taken on the role of middle man between Pyongyang and Washington, trying to bridge the gap on denuclearisation talks. &nbsp;

Security allies Seoul and Washington have at times pursued divergent approaches toward Pyongyang, with the dovish South Korean leader pursuing engagement while the United States insists pressure must be maintained until the North denuclearises.

But Moon expressed gratitude to both Trump and Kim for their "unprecedented, bold diplomatic efforts", saying they were "crossing a sea of deep mistrust".&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

The agreement for a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un was a "remarkable breakthrough" for peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, President Moon Jae-in said Monday, but he acknowledged doubts remained over denuclearisation.

The agreement for a second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un was a "remarkable breakthrough" for peace negotiations on the Korean peninsula, President Moon Jae-in said Monday, but he acknowledged doubts remained over denuclearisation. The US President and North Korean leader are due to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 following their landmark first summit in Singapore last June. That meeting -- the first-ever between the leaders of the US and North Korea -- produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula". But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over it means and analysts say tangible progress on denuclearisation will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV". With the high-stakes summit now two weeks away, Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the meeting in the Vietnamese capital. "For us, the era of peace and prosperity on the peninsula has drawn closer," said Moon in his first comments since the summit was announced. The meeting was a "remarkable breakthrough in the peace process on the Korean peninsula", the South Korean president added. But he acknowledged there were "still many doubts about whether the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and peace process can be concluded successfully". The leaders of the two Koreas and the US have persisted in talks over the issue because of "strong confidence in the direction history should take", added Moon, who has taken on the role of middle man between Pyongyang and Washington, trying to bridge the gap on denuclearisation talks. Security allies Seoul and Washington have at times pursued divergent approaches toward Pyongyang, with the dovish South Korean leader pursuing engagement while the United States insists pressure must be maintained until the North denuclearises. But Moon expressed gratitude to both Trump and Kim for their "unprecedented, bold diplomatic efforts", saying they were "crossing a sea of deep mistrust".

Kim-Trump summit a 'remarkable breakthrough' for peace: South Korean President Moon

By Scott Morgenstern and John Polga–Hecimovich

As political and economic crises threaten to topple Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, political scientists like us are not surprised that he has run into trouble.

Instead, we see Venezuela as another example of what scholars call the “resource curse.” That’s the unfortunate correlation first described by the British economic geographer Richard M. Auty between nations with vast wealth from oil or other natural resources and political instability.

Venezuela is a textbook case of the curse, since nearly 90 per cent of its people are now living in poverty in the country with the world’s largest oil reserves. After decades of leaders who failed to harness this commodity for peace and prosperity, it is questionable whether a new government can do a better job.

Only a few oil and natural gas-rich countries, such as the United States, Canada and Norway have avoided this curse – in part because they built solid institutions and diverse economies before their petroleum drilling began.

The resource curse

The resource curse has afflicted many Latin American countries with profligate and populist elected leaders who succumbed to the temptations of corruption and reckless spending when easy money poured in, followed by right-wing dictatorships imposing repressive technocracies. Oil and wealth from other commodities like gold and copper, and foreign aid, have also supported kleptocrats and dictatorships who have often used their fortunes to retain power in other regions.

The scholars Terry Karl and Thad Dunning have persuasively argued that oil export revenue helped sustain Venezuelan democracy from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The government, they explained, could buy support from the elite with lower taxes and from the poor with social programs.

Oil money, in short, can sustain whatever government is in power, be it dictatorship or democracy.

But when crude prices fall, the loss of revenue polarises politics as the wealthy and the poor fight over the reduced proceeds. And when these countries not only rely on one export but also very limited markets, that adds to their vulnerability.

Oil sales constituted 98 per cent of Venezuela’s export earnings in 2017, with the US buying nearly half of the country’s exported crude.

Boom and bust

After several decades of strong economic performance backed by comparatively impressive social programs, Venezuela’s economy started to sputter in the 1980s. The vast sums of money it had borrowed a decade earlier, backed by future oil revenues, were coming due by that time.

President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who had presided over strong economic growth between 1974 and 1979, returned to power in 1989. However, this time the country faced a weak currency, rising poverty rates, and increased foreign and public debt in combination with low oil prices.

To stabilize the economy, Pérez implemented austerity policies that deregulated capital markets and reduced-price controls on gasoline and other products.

These measures exacerbated economic hardships for the poor, and Venezuelans took to the streets to protest in deadly riots known as the Caracazo. Pérez survived two coup attempts in 1992 only to be impeached and forced out of office for embezzlement in 1993.

Popular anger against economic conditions and the dominant political class led voters to back more polarizing politicians. The first coup attempt against Pérez in 1992 was organized by Hugo Chávez, then a lieutenant-colonel, who famously exclaimed to the nation that he had failed “for now.”

He was right. Just six years later, in 1998, he ran for president and won an overwhelming victory.

Building support 
 
Luckily for Chávez, oil prices had started to rise again, eventually reaching record levels while he was in power. Aside from a brief downturn brought on by the Great Recession, those high oil prices raised enough revenue to help sustain his support.

He gained extra revenue by restructuring Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country’s state-owned oil and natural gas company that now faces U.S. sanctions, to increase his control and to direct a bigger percentage of its export earnings into government coffers.

With that money, he built popular support by paying for dozens of safety net programs, such as the “Barrio Adentro” health initiative for the poor and the “Misión Robinson” literacy program, starting massive infrastructure projects, and continuing to subsidise the world’s cheapest gasoline.

When Chávez appointed allies to prominent posts at PDVSA in 2002, dissident members of the military and radicalized leaders of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce staged a coup attempt that ultimately failed to oust him.

Meanwhile, the government invested too little in the oil industry and mismanaged it. At the same time, it did too little to prepare for the possibility of lower revenue from oil, to boost other exports or to stop depending on the United States as its biggest customer. Following a big decline, Venezuela remained America’s third-largest source of foreign oil as of October 2018.

Maduro’s staying power

Maduro arrived to power in 2013, after the 58-year-old Chávez died from cancer. By then, Venezuelan oil production had declined, and just one year later global oil prices began to collapse.

Maduro’s popularity collapsed too, although he did get re-elected in 2018 in a race without any independent international electoral observers that was marked by boycotts, accusations of repressing the opposition, and vote-rigging.

On top of his misfortune to be leading Venezuela during an oil price slump, Maduro has turned out to be even worse at managing the oil industry than Chávez. He installed military cronies as managers, led by Manuel Quevedo, a major general in Venezuela’s National Guard.

Since his rise, there have been more purges of PDVSA executives, and many reports that lower-level workers are staying home since they can no longer afford the commute on their wages. Adding even further to the commotion, corruption has run rampant.

The increased social and economic upheaval has even led many poor people to withdraw their allegiance to Maduro. Amid the turmoil, the U.S. and many other countries are recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó, as the nation’s legitimate president.

Whether or not Guaidó manages to dislodge Maduro’s grip on power, the country’s turbulent history suggests that long-term success will require much more than removing its current embattled leader. Any future leaders must also build the coalitions and institutions necessary to break the resource curse and thus empower Venezuela to finally draw social and economic stability from its oil wealth.

(Scott Morgenstern is Professor, University of Pittsburgh; John Polga–Hecimovich is Assistant Professor, United States Naval Academy)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL) 
&nbsp;

By Scott Morgenstern and John Polga–Hecimovich As political and economic crises threaten to topple Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, political scientists like us are not surprised that he has run into trouble.

By Scott Morgenstern and John Polga–Hecimovich As political and economic crises threaten to topple Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, political scientists like us are not surprised that he has run into trouble. Instead, we see Venezuela as another example of what scholars call the “resource curse.” That’s the unfortunate correlation first described by the British economic geographer Richard M. Auty between nations with vast wealth from oil or other natural resources and political instability. Venezuela is a textbook case of the curse, since nearly 90 per cent of its people are now living in poverty in the country with the world’s largest oil reserves. After decades of leaders who failed to harness this commodity for peace and prosperity, it is questionable whether a new government can do a better job. Only a few oil and natural gas-rich countries, such as the United States, Canada and Norway have avoided this curse – in part because they built solid institutions and diverse economies before their petroleum drilling began. The resource curse The resource curse has afflicted many Latin American countries with profligate and populist elected leaders who succumbed to the temptations of corruption and reckless spending when easy money poured in, followed by right-wing dictatorships imposing repressive technocracies. Oil and wealth from other commodities like gold and copper, and foreign aid, have also supported kleptocrats and dictatorships who have often used their fortunes to retain power in other regions. The scholars Terry Karl and Thad Dunning have persuasively argued that oil export revenue helped sustain Venezuelan democracy from the 1950s to the early 1980s. The government, they explained, could buy support from the elite with lower taxes and from the poor with social programs. Oil money, in short, can sustain whatever government is in power, be it dictatorship or democracy. But when crude prices fall, the loss of revenue polarises politics as the wealthy and the poor fight over the reduced proceeds. And when these countries not only rely on one export but also very limited markets, that adds to their vulnerability. Oil sales constituted 98 per cent of Venezuela’s export earnings in 2017, with the US buying nearly half of the country’s exported crude. Boom and bust After several decades of strong economic performance backed by comparatively impressive social programs, Venezuela’s economy started to sputter in the 1980s. The vast sums of money it had borrowed a decade earlier, backed by future oil revenues, were coming due by that time. President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who had presided over strong economic growth between 1974 and 1979, returned to power in 1989. However, this time the country faced a weak currency, rising poverty rates, and increased foreign and public debt in combination with low oil prices. To stabilize the economy, Pérez implemented austerity policies that deregulated capital markets and reduced-price controls on gasoline and other products. These measures exacerbated economic hardships for the poor, and Venezuelans took to the streets to protest in deadly riots known as the Caracazo. Pérez survived two coup attempts in 1992 only to be impeached and forced out of office for embezzlement in 1993. Popular anger against economic conditions and the dominant political class led voters to back more polarizing politicians. The first coup attempt against Pérez in 1992 was organized by Hugo Chávez, then a lieutenant-colonel, who famously exclaimed to the nation that he had failed “for now.” He was right. Just six years later, in 1998, he ran for president and won an overwhelming victory. Building support Luckily for Chávez, oil prices had started to rise again, eventually reaching record levels while he was in power. Aside from a brief downturn brought on by the Great Recession, those high oil prices raised enough revenue to help sustain his support. He gained extra revenue by restructuring Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country’s state-owned oil and natural gas company that now faces U.S. sanctions, to increase his control and to direct a bigger percentage of its export earnings into government coffers. With that money, he built popular support by paying for dozens of safety net programs, such as the “Barrio Adentro” health initiative for the poor and the “Misión Robinson” literacy program, starting massive infrastructure projects, and continuing to subsidise the world’s cheapest gasoline. When Chávez appointed allies to prominent posts at PDVSA in 2002, dissident members of the military and radicalized leaders of the Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce staged a coup attempt that ultimately failed to oust him. Meanwhile, the government invested too little in the oil industry and mismanaged it. At the same time, it did too little to prepare for the possibility of lower revenue from oil, to boost other exports or to stop depending on the United States as its biggest customer. Following a big decline, Venezuela remained America’s third-largest source of foreign oil as of October 2018. Maduro’s staying power Maduro arrived to power in 2013, after the 58-year-old Chávez died from cancer. By then, Venezuelan oil production had declined, and just one year later global oil prices began to collapse. Maduro’s popularity collapsed too, although he did get re-elected in 2018 in a race without any independent international electoral observers that was marked by boycotts, accusations of repressing the opposition, and vote-rigging. On top of his misfortune to be leading Venezuela during an oil price slump, Maduro has turned out to be even worse at managing the oil industry than Chávez. He installed military cronies as managers, led by Manuel Quevedo, a major general in Venezuela’s National Guard. Since his rise, there have been more purges of PDVSA executives, and many reports that lower-level workers are staying home since they can no longer afford the commute on their wages. Adding even further to the commotion, corruption has run rampant. The increased social and economic upheaval has even led many poor people to withdraw their allegiance to Maduro. Amid the turmoil, the U.S. and many other countries are recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó, as the nation’s legitimate president. Whether or not Guaidó manages to dislodge Maduro’s grip on power, the country’s turbulent history suggests that long-term success will require much more than removing its current embattled leader. Any future leaders must also build the coalitions and institutions necessary to break the resource curse and thus empower Venezuela to finally draw social and economic stability from its oil wealth. (Scott Morgenstern is Professor, University of Pittsburgh; John Polga–Hecimovich is Assistant Professor, United States Naval Academy) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Why Venezuela’s oil money could keep undermining its economy and democracy

The week that was in pictures

Border security talks between Republican and Democratic lawmakers seeking to avert another US&nbsp;government shutdown on Friday have broken down over immigration detention policies, a Republican senator said.

"The talks are stalled right now," Republican Senator Richard Shelby told "Fox News Sunday" after a dispute over immigrant detentions. He said he hoped negotiators would return to the table soon.

Efforts to resolve an impasse over border security funding extended into the weekend as a special congressional negotiating panel aimed to reach a deal by Monday, lawmakers and aides said.

Democratic Senator Jon Tester played down any breakdown in talks. "It is a negotiation. Negotiations seldom go smooth all the way through," he told the Fox program. He said he was hopeful a deal could be reached.

However, no further talks were scheduled, a source told Reuters on Sunday on condition of anonymity.

The group of 17 lawmakers are hoping to reach a deal to allow time for the legislation to pass the US House of Representatives and Senate and get to President Donald Trump by Friday when federal funding is due to expire.

Trump agreed on Jan. 25 to end a 35-day partial US government shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from Congress for a wall along the border with Mexico, handing a political victory to Democrats.

Instead, a three-week spending deal was reached with congressional leaders to give lawmakers time to resolve their disagreements about how to address security along the border.

One sticking point has been Democrats' demands for funding fewer detention beds for people detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) than the Trump administration seeks. Republicans want to increase the number as part of their drive to speed immigrant deportations.

Shelby said talks were suspended over the issue but he hoped negotiators would come back to the table soon.

"I am hoping we can get off the dime later in the day or the morning," he said. "We have some problems with the Democrats dealing with ICE detaining criminals ... They want a cap on them. We don't want a cap on that."

While a number of Republicans in Congress have made it clear they would not embrace another shutdown, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said he could not rule it out.

"You absolutely cannot," Mulvaney, who is also Trump's acting chief of staff, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "Is a shutdown entirely off the table? The answer is no."

Border security talks between Republican and Democratic lawmakers seeking to avert another US government shutdown on Friday have broken down over immigration detention policies, a Republican senator said.

Border security talks between Republican and Democratic lawmakers seeking to avert another US government shutdown on Friday have broken down over immigration detention policies, a Republican senator said. "The talks are stalled right now," Republican Senator Richard Shelby told "Fox News Sunday" after a dispute over immigrant detentions. He said he hoped negotiators would return to the table soon. Efforts to resolve an impasse over border security funding extended into the weekend as a special congressional negotiating panel aimed to reach a deal by Monday, lawmakers and aides said. Democratic Senator Jon Tester played down any breakdown in talks. "It is a negotiation. Negotiations seldom go smooth all the way through," he told the Fox program. He said he was hopeful a deal could be reached. However, no further talks were scheduled, a source told Reuters on Sunday on condition of anonymity. The group of 17 lawmakers are hoping to reach a deal to allow time for the legislation to pass the US House of Representatives and Senate and get to President Donald Trump by Friday when federal funding is due to expire. Trump agreed on Jan. 25 to end a 35-day partial US government shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he had demanded from Congress for a wall along the border with Mexico, handing a political victory to Democrats. Instead, a three-week spending deal was reached with congressional leaders to give lawmakers time to resolve their disagreements about how to address security along the border. One sticking point has been Democrats' demands for funding fewer detention beds for people detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) than the Trump administration seeks. Republicans want to increase the number as part of their drive to speed immigrant deportations. Shelby said talks were suspended over the issue but he hoped negotiators would come back to the table soon. "I am hoping we can get off the dime later in the day or the morning," he said. "We have some problems with the Democrats dealing with ICE detaining criminals ... They want a cap on them. We don't want a cap on that." While a number of Republicans in Congress have made it clear they would not embrace another shutdown, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said he could not rule it out. "You absolutely cannot," Mulvaney, who is also Trump's acting chief of staff, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "Is a shutdown entirely off the table? The answer is no."

Congressional talks to avert shutdown stall over detention policies

Venezuela's most successful financial operations in recent years have not taken place on Wall Street, but in primitive gold-mining camps in the nation's southern reaches.

With the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/humanitarian-aid-is-a-big-lie-venezuelan-vice-president-196432">country's economy in meltdown</a>, an estimated 300,000 fortune hunters have descended on this mineral-rich jungle area to earn a living pulling gold-flecked earth from makeshift mines.

Their picks and shovels are helping to prop up the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Since 2016, his administration has purchased 17 tonnes of the metal worth around $650 million from so-called artisan miners, according to the most recent data from the nation's central bank.

Paid with the country's near-worthless bank notes, these amateurs, in turn, supply the government with hard currency to purchase badly needed imports of food and hygiene products. This gold trade is a blip on international markets. Still, the United States is using sanctions and intimidation in an effort to stop Maduro from using his nation's gold to stay afloat.

The Trump administration is pressuring the United Kingdom not to release $1.2 billion in gold reserves Venezuela has stored in the Bank of England. US&nbsp;officials recently castigated an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm for its Venezuela gold purchases, and have warned other potential foreign buyers to back off.

The existence of Maduro's gold program is well-known. How it functions is not.

To get a glimpse inside, Reuters tracked Venezuela's gold from steamy jungle mines, through the central bank in the capital of Caracas to gold refineries and food exporters abroad, speaking with more than 30 people with knowledge of the trade. They included miners, intermediaries, merchants, academic researchers, diplomats and government officials. Almost all requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, or because they feared retribution from Venezuelan or US&nbsp;authorities.

What emerges is the portrait of a desperate experiment in laissez-faire industrial policy by Venezuela's socialist leaders. <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/venezuela-shifts-oil-ventures-accounts-to-russian-bank-document-and-sources-196318">US&nbsp;sanctions have hammered the nation's oil industry</a> and crippled its ability to borrow. The formal mining sector has been decimated by nationalization. So Maduro has unleashed freelance prospectors to extract the nation's mineral wealth with virtually no regulation or state investment.

The Bolivarian Revolution now leans heavily on ragtag labourers such as Jose Aular, a teenager who says he has contracted malaria five times at a wildcat mine near Venezuela's border with Brazil. Aular works 12 hours daily lugging sacks of the earth to a small mill that uses toxic mercury to extract flecks of precious metal. Mining accidents are common in these ramshackle operations, workers said. So are shootings and robberies.

"The government knows what happens in these mines and it benefits from it," said Aular, 18. "Our gold goes into their hands."

Maduro has also received a crucial assist from Turkish President Recep Erdogan, a fellow strongman who has likewise sparred with the Trump administration.

Venezuela sells most of its gold to Turkish refineries, then uses some of the proceeds to buy that nation's consumer goods, according to people with direct knowledge of the trade. Turkish pasta and powdered milk are now staples in Maduro's subsidized food program. Trade between the two nations grew eightfold last year.

But scrutiny is intensifying as Venezuela's politics reach the boiling point. In recent days, many Western countries have recognized Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American nation's rightful president.

Maduro's adversaries have called on foreign buyers of Venezuela's precious metal to stop doing business with what they say is an illegitimate regime.

"We are going to protect our gold," opposition legislator Carlos Paparoni told Reuters in an interview.

Gold fever

The gold road begins in places like La Culebra, an isolated jungle area in southern Venezuela. Here, hundreds of men labour in crude mining operations that would be at home in the 19th century. They excavate mineral-laden dirt with picks in hand-dug tunnels, hauling it out with pulleys and winches.

Their activity is laying waste to fragile forest ecosystems and spreading mosquito-borne diseases. Miners complain of shakedowns by military forces sent to guard the region, whose homicide rate is seven times the national average. Venezuela's ministries of defence and information did not respond to requests for comment.

Miner Jose Rondon is used to hardship. Now 47, he arrived in 2016 from northeast Venezuela with his two adult sons. His bus driver's salary could not keep pace with Venezuela's hyperinflation, which the International Monetary Fund projects will hit 10 million per cent this year.

The three men net roughly 10 grams of gold monthly from backbreaking work. Still, it is roughly 20 times what they could earn back home.

"Here I do much better," said Rondon, resting in a crude bunkhouse strung with hammocks.

Gold in hand, miners head to the town of El Callao to sell their nuggets. Most buyers are unlicensed, small-scale traders working in cramped shops fitted with alarms and steel doors.

"The state is buying gold, everyone is buying gold, because it's what is doing well," said Jhony Diaz, a licensed wholesaler in Puerto Ordaz, 171 kilometres (106 miles) north of El Callao. Diaz says he buys gold from traders and resells every three days to the central bank.

Because Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, is worthless every hour someone holds it, the state pays a premium over international prices to make it worthwhile for those who could smuggle gold out of the country to exchange for dollars.

Traders who sell to Diaz end up with bricks of cash to carry back to El Callao and other gold-rush towns to pay miners, who use it to buy food, supplies and send whatever is left to their families.

Gold purchased by the government is smelted in the nearby furnaces of Minerven, the state-run mining company, according to a high-ranking employee. It is then transported to the vaults of the central bank in the capital Caracas, 843 kilometres (524 miles) away.

The gold does not stay there long. The central bank's gold reserves have plummeted to their lowest levels in 75 years. Venezuela is selling the artisan metal as well as existing reserves to pay its bills, according to two high-ranking government officials.

The main buyer these days is Turkey, the officials said.

Turkish alliance

Maduro's gold program has developed in tandem with his deepening relationship with Turkey's Erdogan. Both leaders have been criticized internationally for cracking down on political dissent and undermining democratic norms to concentrate power.

A November 1 executive order signed by US&nbsp;President Donald Trump bars US&nbsp;persons and entities from buying gold from Venezuela. It does not apply to foreigners. Ankara has assured the US&nbsp;Treasury that all of Turkey's trade with Venezuela is in accordance with international law.

Venezuela in December 2016 announced a direct flight from Caracas to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The development was surprising given low demand for travel between the two nations.

Trade data show those planes are carrying more than passengers. On New Year's Day, 2018, Venezuela's central bank began shipping gold to Turkey with a $36 million air shipment of the metal to Istanbul. It came just weeks after a visit by Maduro to Turkey.

Shipments last year reached $900 million, according to Turkish government data and trade reports.

Venezuela's central bank has been selling its artisan gold directly to Turkish refiners, according to two senior Venezuelan officials. Proceeds go to the Venezuelan state development bank Bandes to purchase Turkish consumer goods, the officials said.

Gold buyers include Istanbul Gold Refinery, or IGR; and Sardes Kiymetli Mandele, a Turkish trading firm, according to a person who works in Turkey's gold industry as well as a Caracas-based diplomat and the two senior Venezuelan officials.

In an interview with Reuters, IGR CEO Aysan Esen denied the company has been involved in any Venezuelan gold deals. In a written statement, she said she met with Venezuelan and Turkish officials in Istanbul in April to offer her views on compliance with international regulations.

Esen said she advised the Turkish government that working with Venezuela "would not be right for leading institutions or the state."

As for Sardes Kiymetli Mandele, no one at its Istanbul offices responded to inquiries from Reuters.

Turkish consumer products, meanwhile, are making their way to Venezuelan tables. In early December, 54 containers of Turkish powdered milk arrived at the port of La Guaira near Caracas, according to port records seen by Reuters.

The Istanbul-based shipper, Mulberry Proje Yatirim, shares an address with Marilyns Proje Yatirin, a mining company that signed a joint venture with Venezuela's state mining firm Minerven last year, according to filings with a Turkish trade registry gazette in September.

The companies did not respond to a request for comment.

Even Maduro's critics acknowledge he has pulled off a neat trick of alchemy: By compensating hard-pressed citizen miners with inflation-ravaged bolivars and obtaining precious metal in return, he has found a way to spin straw into gold.

Venezuelan economist Angel Alvarado, an opposition lawmaker, said "dark operations and unusual mechanisms of commercial exchange," are among the few tools Maduro has left.

"There is a desperation to stay in power at all costs," Alvarado said.

Venezuela's most successful financial operations in recent years have not taken place on Wall Street, but in primitive gold-mining camps in the nation's southern reaches.

Venezuela's most successful financial operations in recent years have not taken place on Wall Street, but in primitive gold-mining camps in the nation's southern reaches. With the country's economy in meltdown, an estimated 300,000 fortune hunters have descended on this mineral-rich jungle area to earn a living pulling gold-flecked earth from makeshift mines. Their picks and shovels are helping to prop up the leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. Since 2016, his administration has purchased 17 tonnes of the metal worth around $650 million from so-called artisan miners, according to the most recent data from the nation's central bank. Paid with the country's near-worthless bank notes, these amateurs, in turn, supply the government with hard currency to purchase badly needed imports of food and hygiene products. This gold trade is a blip on international markets. Still, the United States is using sanctions and intimidation in an effort to stop Maduro from using his nation's gold to stay afloat. The Trump administration is pressuring the United Kingdom not to release $1.2 billion in gold reserves Venezuela has stored in the Bank of England. US officials recently castigated an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm for its Venezuela gold purchases, and have warned other potential foreign buyers to back off. The existence of Maduro's gold program is well-known. How it functions is not. To get a glimpse inside, Reuters tracked Venezuela's gold from steamy jungle mines, through the central bank in the capital of Caracas to gold refineries and food exporters abroad, speaking with more than 30 people with knowledge of the trade. They included miners, intermediaries, merchants, academic researchers, diplomats and government officials. Almost all requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, or because they feared retribution from Venezuelan or US authorities. What emerges is the portrait of a desperate experiment in laissez-faire industrial policy by Venezuela's socialist leaders. US sanctions have hammered the nation's oil industry and crippled its ability to borrow. The formal mining sector has been decimated by nationalization. So Maduro has unleashed freelance prospectors to extract the nation's mineral wealth with virtually no regulation or state investment. The Bolivarian Revolution now leans heavily on ragtag labourers such as Jose Aular, a teenager who says he has contracted malaria five times at a wildcat mine near Venezuela's border with Brazil. Aular works 12 hours daily lugging sacks of the earth to a small mill that uses toxic mercury to extract flecks of precious metal. Mining accidents are common in these ramshackle operations, workers said. So are shootings and robberies. "The government knows what happens in these mines and it benefits from it," said Aular, 18. "Our gold goes into their hands." Maduro has also received a crucial assist from Turkish President Recep Erdogan, a fellow strongman who has likewise sparred with the Trump administration. Venezuela sells most of its gold to Turkish refineries, then uses some of the proceeds to buy that nation's consumer goods, according to people with direct knowledge of the trade. Turkish pasta and powdered milk are now staples in Maduro's subsidized food program. Trade between the two nations grew eightfold last year. But scrutiny is intensifying as Venezuela's politics reach the boiling point. In recent days, many Western countries have recognized Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as the South American nation's rightful president. Maduro's adversaries have called on foreign buyers of Venezuela's precious metal to stop doing business with what they say is an illegitimate regime. "We are going to protect our gold," opposition legislator Carlos Paparoni told Reuters in an interview. Gold fever The gold road begins in places like La Culebra, an isolated jungle area in southern Venezuela. Here, hundreds of men labour in crude mining operations that would be at home in the 19th century. They excavate mineral-laden dirt with picks in hand-dug tunnels, hauling it out with pulleys and winches. Their activity is laying waste to fragile forest ecosystems and spreading mosquito-borne diseases. Miners complain of shakedowns by military forces sent to guard the region, whose homicide rate is seven times the national average. Venezuela's ministries of defence and information did not respond to requests for comment. Miner Jose Rondon is used to hardship. Now 47, he arrived in 2016 from northeast Venezuela with his two adult sons. His bus driver's salary could not keep pace with Venezuela's hyperinflation, which the International Monetary Fund projects will hit 10 million per cent this year. The three men net roughly 10 grams of gold monthly from backbreaking work. Still, it is roughly 20 times what they could earn back home. "Here I do much better," said Rondon, resting in a crude bunkhouse strung with hammocks. Gold in hand, miners head to the town of El Callao to sell their nuggets. Most buyers are unlicensed, small-scale traders working in cramped shops fitted with alarms and steel doors. "The state is buying gold, everyone is buying gold, because it's what is doing well," said Jhony Diaz, a licensed wholesaler in Puerto Ordaz, 171 kilometres (106 miles) north of El Callao. Diaz says he buys gold from traders and resells every three days to the central bank. Because Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, is worthless every hour someone holds it, the state pays a premium over international prices to make it worthwhile for those who could smuggle gold out of the country to exchange for dollars. Traders who sell to Diaz end up with bricks of cash to carry back to El Callao and other gold-rush towns to pay miners, who use it to buy food, supplies and send whatever is left to their families. Gold purchased by the government is smelted in the nearby furnaces of Minerven, the state-run mining company, according to a high-ranking employee. It is then transported to the vaults of the central bank in the capital Caracas, 843 kilometres (524 miles) away. The gold does not stay there long. The central bank's gold reserves have plummeted to their lowest levels in 75 years. Venezuela is selling the artisan metal as well as existing reserves to pay its bills, according to two high-ranking government officials. The main buyer these days is Turkey, the officials said. Turkish alliance Maduro's gold program has developed in tandem with his deepening relationship with Turkey's Erdogan. Both leaders have been criticized internationally for cracking down on political dissent and undermining democratic norms to concentrate power. A November 1 executive order signed by US President Donald Trump bars US persons and entities from buying gold from Venezuela. It does not apply to foreigners. Ankara has assured the US Treasury that all of Turkey's trade with Venezuela is in accordance with international law. Venezuela in December 2016 announced a direct flight from Caracas to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines. The development was surprising given low demand for travel between the two nations. Trade data show those planes are carrying more than passengers. On New Year's Day, 2018, Venezuela's central bank began shipping gold to Turkey with a $36 million air shipment of the metal to Istanbul. It came just weeks after a visit by Maduro to Turkey. Shipments last year reached $900 million, according to Turkish government data and trade reports. Venezuela's central bank has been selling its artisan gold directly to Turkish refiners, according to two senior Venezuelan officials. Proceeds go to the Venezuelan state development bank Bandes to purchase Turkish consumer goods, the officials said. Gold buyers include Istanbul Gold Refinery, or IGR; and Sardes Kiymetli Mandele, a Turkish trading firm, according to a person who works in Turkey's gold industry as well as a Caracas-based diplomat and the two senior Venezuelan officials. In an interview with Reuters, IGR CEO Aysan Esen denied the company has been involved in any Venezuelan gold deals. In a written statement, she said she met with Venezuelan and Turkish officials in Istanbul in April to offer her views on compliance with international regulations. Esen said she advised the Turkish government that working with Venezuela "would not be right for leading institutions or the state." As for Sardes Kiymetli Mandele, no one at its Istanbul offices responded to inquiries from Reuters. Turkish consumer products, meanwhile, are making their way to Venezuelan tables. In early December, 54 containers of Turkish powdered milk arrived at the port of La Guaira near Caracas, according to port records seen by Reuters. The Istanbul-based shipper, Mulberry Proje Yatirim, shares an address with Marilyns Proje Yatirin, a mining company that signed a joint venture with Venezuela's state mining firm Minerven last year, according to filings with a Turkish trade registry gazette in September. The companies did not respond to a request for comment. Even Maduro's critics acknowledge he has pulled off a neat trick of alchemy: By compensating hard-pressed citizen miners with inflation-ravaged bolivars and obtaining precious metal in return, he has found a way to spin straw into gold. Venezuelan economist Angel Alvarado, an opposition lawmaker, said "dark operations and unusual mechanisms of commercial exchange," are among the few tools Maduro has left. "There is a desperation to stay in power at all costs," Alvarado said.

How Venezuela turns its useless bank notes into gold

US&nbsp;Senator Amy Klobuchar is expected to enter the 2020 presidential race on Sunday, becoming the first moderate in an increasingly crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump.

Klobuchar, 58, now in her third six-year term as a senator for Minnesota, will seek to position herself as a contrast to Trump, who is expected to be the Republican candidate in the November 2020 election, focusing on both policy differences but also style and tact.

A former prosecutor and corporate attorney, Klobuchar joins a list of Democratic hopefuls that includes fellow Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-senator-warren-formally-launches-2020-campaign-sounds-note-of-economic-equality-196404">Warren heads to Iowa to campaign on Sunday</a> after formally launching her bid on Saturday. Booker is also spending the weekend in the Midwestern farm state.

Klobuchar’s campaign announcement comes amid several news reports that staff in her Senate office were asked to do menial tasks, including some personal in nature like laundry, making it difficult for her to hire high-level campaign strategists.

Klobuchar gained national attention in 2018 when she sparred with Brett Kavanaugh during Senate hearings on his Supreme Court nomination. Her questions earned her recognition in Democratic circles for working to advance the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault.

But the senator will have work to do to build a national profile. She barely registers in early opinion polls of potential Democratic candidates.

Klobuchar hopes her moderate policies and strong electoral record in Minnesota will help her win back states Trump took from Democrats in the 2016 White House contest, including nearby Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania.

Klobuchar has focused her legislative efforts on issues like antitrust oversight, agriculture and voter security. Recently, she pushed for Senate investigations into whether Facebook Inc broke the law when it resisted oversight on how Russians used its platform to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.&nbsp;

She has been measured in her criticism of Trump, attacking the effects of his trade tariffs on farmers but avoiding more explosive issues like immigration and gun control.

Klobuchar won her most recent Senate race in November with more than 60 per cent of the vote. But she raised only about $7.4 million, a relatively small amount compared with Senate candidates in more competitive races. She will need to raise millions more to be a competitive presidential candidate.&nbsp;

Klobuchar is expected to focus her early presidential campaign efforts on Iowa, which borders Minnesota and holds the nation’s first nominating contest.

An aggressive focus on Iowa and a win there in 2008 helped catapult Barack Obama from underdog status to the Democratic Party's nomination and eventual victory in that year's presidential election.

Klobuchar began her foray into Minnesota politics by advocating for better access to healthcare for babies and new mothers after her own daughter was born with health complications, a personal narrative she is likely to use in the debate about the future of the nation’s healthcare system.

Klobuchar has not endorsed universal healthcare, an issue that will be heavily debated during the Democratic nominating race and could distinguish her from more liberal candidates who favour it.

&nbsp;

US Senator Amy Klobuchar is expected to enter the 2020 presidential race on Sunday, becoming the first moderate in an increasingly crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump.

US Senator Amy Klobuchar is expected to enter the 2020 presidential race on Sunday, becoming the first moderate in an increasingly crowded field of Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump. Klobuchar, 58, now in her third six-year term as a senator for Minnesota, will seek to position herself as a contrast to Trump, who is expected to be the Republican candidate in the November 2020 election, focusing on both policy differences but also style and tact. A former prosecutor and corporate attorney, Klobuchar joins a list of Democratic hopefuls that includes fellow Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren heads to Iowa to campaign on Sunday after formally launching her bid on Saturday. Booker is also spending the weekend in the Midwestern farm state. Klobuchar’s campaign announcement comes amid several news reports that staff in her Senate office were asked to do menial tasks, including some personal in nature like laundry, making it difficult for her to hire high-level campaign strategists. Klobuchar gained national attention in 2018 when she sparred with Brett Kavanaugh during Senate hearings on his Supreme Court nomination. Her questions earned her recognition in Democratic circles for working to advance the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault. But the senator will have work to do to build a national profile. She barely registers in early opinion polls of potential Democratic candidates. Klobuchar hopes her moderate policies and strong electoral record in Minnesota will help her win back states Trump took from Democrats in the 2016 White House contest, including nearby Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, Wisconsin, as well as Pennsylvania. Klobuchar has focused her legislative efforts on issues like antitrust oversight, agriculture and voter security. Recently, she pushed for Senate investigations into whether Facebook Inc broke the law when it resisted oversight on how Russians used its platform to meddle in the 2016 presidential election. She has been measured in her criticism of Trump, attacking the effects of his trade tariffs on farmers but avoiding more explosive issues like immigration and gun control. Klobuchar won her most recent Senate race in November with more than 60 per cent of the vote. But she raised only about $7.4 million, a relatively small amount compared with Senate candidates in more competitive races. She will need to raise millions more to be a competitive presidential candidate. Klobuchar is expected to focus her early presidential campaign efforts on Iowa, which borders Minnesota and holds the nation’s first nominating contest. An aggressive focus on Iowa and a win there in 2008 helped catapult Barack Obama from underdog status to the Democratic Party's nomination and eventual victory in that year's presidential election. Klobuchar began her foray into Minnesota politics by advocating for better access to healthcare for babies and new mothers after her own daughter was born with health complications, a personal narrative she is likely to use in the debate about the future of the nation’s healthcare system. Klobuchar has not endorsed universal healthcare, an issue that will be heavily debated during the Democratic nominating race and could distinguish her from more liberal candidates who favour it.

US Senator Amy Klobuchar expected to join widening presidential field

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie on Saturday said that former United States vice president Joe Biden has the best chance of beating President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

“I think the one that the President would be most afraid of if he can stay in his lane is Biden. And the reason why Biden could go to Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan and appeal to white working-class voters. And if he does that, he only has to peel off 7,000-10,000 votes in each one of those states, and he only has to win two of them,” said Christie&nbsp;during HBO's Real Time with Bill Mahar.

The Republican leader made these remarks while appearing on the HBO's Real Time with Bill Mahar show for the promotion of his recently launched book 'Let Me Speak'.

According to a poll surveying 689 Democratic and independent voters conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University, Obama-era vice president Biden, 76, is now the most popular option to be the next presidential candidate for the Democrats, as fifty-three per cent of voters said they felt excited about Biden running, while only seven per cent expressed the same enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, reported Sputnik.

The former governor also heaped praise on the three-term independent senator Bernie Sanders by saying that Sanders has an outlook. "I think Bernie has a little bit of that. You know, Bernie doesn’t back down to anybody and when Bernie’s got a point of view, he’s gonna say it and he doesn’t really sugarcoat anything. So I think Sanders is one of those people,” he said.

However, Sanders has not yet announced a run for the White House, though he has said he will “probably run” for president in 2020.

When asked about President Trump's "not so good" presidency, the former governor said, "We had a lot of President in the history who had a questionable moral code."&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie on Saturday said that former United States vice president Joe Biden has the best chance of beating President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie on Saturday said that former United States vice president Joe Biden has the best chance of beating President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. “I think the one that the President would be most afraid of if he can stay in his lane is Biden. And the reason why Biden could go to Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and Michigan and appeal to white working-class voters. And if he does that, he only has to peel off 7,000-10,000 votes in each one of those states, and he only has to win two of them,” said Christie during HBO's Real Time with Bill Mahar. The Republican leader made these remarks while appearing on the HBO's Real Time with Bill Mahar show for the promotion of his recently launched book 'Let Me Speak'. According to a poll surveying 689 Democratic and independent voters conducted by USA Today and Suffolk University, Obama-era vice president Biden, 76, is now the most popular option to be the next presidential candidate for the Democrats, as fifty-three per cent of voters said they felt excited about Biden running, while only seven per cent expressed the same enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton, reported Sputnik. The former governor also heaped praise on the three-term independent senator Bernie Sanders by saying that Sanders has an outlook. "I think Bernie has a little bit of that. You know, Bernie doesn’t back down to anybody and when Bernie’s got a point of view, he’s gonna say it and he doesn’t really sugarcoat anything. So I think Sanders is one of those people,” he said. However, Sanders has not yet announced a run for the White House, though he has said he will “probably run” for president in 2020. When asked about President Trump's "not so good" presidency, the former governor said, "We had a lot of President in the history who had a questionable moral code."

US: Republican thinks former Vice President Biden can beat Trump

US&nbsp;Senator Elizabeth Warren, struggling to move past criticism over her claims of Native American heritage, aimed for a fresh start on Saturday with the formal launch of her 2020 presidential campaign, saying that she is fighting for all Americans.

The Massachusetts Democrat, a leader of the party's progressive wing, made her announcement from a historic site in Lawrence, northwest of Boston, that launched the US&nbsp;organized labour movement. Warren, 69, has made worker rights, fair wages and access to health care central to her campaign.

"This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone," Warren said. "And that is why I stand here today: to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America."

Warren is part of an increasingly crowded and diverse field of Democrats vying for the chance to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee. A year before any ballots are cast in a Democratic primary, many of those candidates are spending this weekend talking to voters in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Warren's announcement will be followed on Sunday by US&nbsp;Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has said she will reveal her presidential plans in her home state of Minnesota.

Warren's heritage claims have dogged her since her first campaign for the Senate in 2012, and Trump mockingly refers to her as "Pocahontas." Her ancestry drew fresh scrutiny earlier this week with the discovery that she described her race as American Indian on a form to join the Texas legal bar in the 1980s.

Warren has repeatedly apologized, saying the claim was based on "family lore" and she now understands tribal sovereignty dictates membership.

In addition to being a fierce Trump critic, Warren is an outspoken critic of Wall Street who gained national notoriety for her efforts to create the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate large banks.

Warren is one of four women so far seeking the Democratic nomination, an unprecedented number of female candidates vying to lead a country that has never had a woman chief executive.

Warren and the other women running so far, among whom are Senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, are hoping to build on the success of women candidates who played a significant role in Democrats regaining control of the US&nbsp;House of Representatives in November's congressional elections.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, struggling to move past criticism over her claims of Native American heritage, aimed for a fresh start on Saturday with the formal launch of her 2020 presidential campaign, saying that she is fighting for all Americans.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, struggling to move past criticism over her claims of Native American heritage, aimed for a fresh start on Saturday with the formal launch of her 2020 presidential campaign, saying that she is fighting for all Americans. The Massachusetts Democrat, a leader of the party's progressive wing, made her announcement from a historic site in Lawrence, northwest of Boston, that launched the US organized labour movement. Warren, 69, has made worker rights, fair wages and access to health care central to her campaign. "This is the fight of our lives. The fight to build an America where dreams are possible, an America that works for everyone," Warren said. "And that is why I stand here today: to declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States of America." Warren is part of an increasingly crowded and diverse field of Democrats vying for the chance to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee. A year before any ballots are cast in a Democratic primary, many of those candidates are spending this weekend talking to voters in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Warren's announcement will be followed on Sunday by US Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has said she will reveal her presidential plans in her home state of Minnesota. Warren's heritage claims have dogged her since her first campaign for the Senate in 2012, and Trump mockingly refers to her as "Pocahontas." Her ancestry drew fresh scrutiny earlier this week with the discovery that she described her race as American Indian on a form to join the Texas legal bar in the 1980s. Warren has repeatedly apologized, saying the claim was based on "family lore" and she now understands tribal sovereignty dictates membership. In addition to being a fierce Trump critic, Warren is an outspoken critic of Wall Street who gained national notoriety for her efforts to create the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to regulate large banks. Warren is one of four women so far seeking the Democratic nomination, an unprecedented number of female candidates vying to lead a country that has never had a woman chief executive. Warren and the other women running so far, among whom are Senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, are hoping to build on the success of women candidates who played a significant role in Democrats regaining control of the US House of Representatives in November's congressional elections.

US Senator Warren formally launches 2020 campaign, sounds note of economic equality

Officials signed a short-term agreement on Sunday to boost South Korea's contribution toward the upkeep of US troops on the peninsula after a previous deal lapsed amid US President Donald Trump's call for the South to pay more.

About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea, where the United States has maintained a military presence since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The new deal must still be approved by South Korea's parliament, but it would boost its contribution to 1.03 trillion won ($890 million) from 960 billion won in 2018.

Unlike past agreements, which lasted for five years, this one is scheduled to expire in a year, potentially forcing both sides back to the bargaining table within months.

"It has been a very long process, but ultimately a very successful process," South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said at a meeting before another official from the foreign ministry initialled the agreement.

While acknowledging lingering domestic criticism of the new deal and the need for parliamentary approval, Kang said the response had "been positive so far".

The US State Department senior adviser for security negotiations and agreements, Timothy Betts, met Kang before signing the agreement on behalf of the United States and told her the money represented a small but important part of South Korea's support for the alliance.

"The United States government realises that South Korea does a lot for our alliance and for peace and stability in this region," he said.

The allies had struggled to reach a breakthrough despite 10 rounds of talks since March, amid Trump's repeated calls for a sharp increase in South Korea's contribution.

South Korean officials have said they had sought to limit its burden to $1 trillion won and make the accord valid for at least three years.

A senior South Korean ruling party legislator said last month that negotiations were deadlocked after the United States made a "sudden, unacceptable" demand that Seoul pays more than 1.4 trillion won per year.

But both sides worked to hammer out an agreement to minimise the impact on South Koreans working on US military bases, and focus on nuclear talks ahead of a second US-North Korea summit, Seoul officials said.

The disagreement had raised the prospect that Trump could decide to withdraw at least some troops from South Korea, as he has in other countries like Syria. But on Sunday, South Korean officials told Yonhap news agency that the United States had affirmed it would not be changing its troop presence.

Trump said in his annual State of the Union address to the US Congress on Tuesday that he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 27-28 in Vietnam, following their unprecedented meeting in June in Singapore.

Citing officials at South Korea's presidential Blue House, Yonhap also reported that South Korean President Moon Jae-in would discuss the upcoming summit with Trump "soon," and that American and North Korean officials would be meeting in an unspecified Asian country ahead of the summit.

After the June meeting, Trump announced a halt to joint military exercises with South Korea, saying they were expensive and paid for mostly by the United States.

Major joint exercises have been suspended, but some small-scale drills have continued, earning rebukes from North Korea's state media in recent months.

About 70 per cent of South Korea's contribution covers the salaries of some 8,700 South Korean employees who provide administrative, technical and other services for the US military.

Late last year, the US military had warned Korean workers on its bases they might be put on leave from mid-April if no deal was agreed.

Officials signed a short-term agreement on Sunday to boost South Korea's contribution toward the upkeep of US troops on the peninsula after a previous deal lapsed amid US President Donald Trump's call for the South to pay more.

Officials signed a short-term agreement on Sunday to boost South Korea's contribution toward the upkeep of US troops on the peninsula after a previous deal lapsed amid US President Donald Trump's call for the South to pay more. About 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea, where the United States has maintained a military presence since the 1950-53 Korean War. The new deal must still be approved by South Korea's parliament, but it would boost its contribution to 1.03 trillion won ($890 million) from 960 billion won in 2018. Unlike past agreements, which lasted for five years, this one is scheduled to expire in a year, potentially forcing both sides back to the bargaining table within months. "It has been a very long process, but ultimately a very successful process," South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said at a meeting before another official from the foreign ministry initialled the agreement. While acknowledging lingering domestic criticism of the new deal and the need for parliamentary approval, Kang said the response had "been positive so far". The US State Department senior adviser for security negotiations and agreements, Timothy Betts, met Kang before signing the agreement on behalf of the United States and told her the money represented a small but important part of South Korea's support for the alliance. "The United States government realises that South Korea does a lot for our alliance and for peace and stability in this region," he said. The allies had struggled to reach a breakthrough despite 10 rounds of talks since March, amid Trump's repeated calls for a sharp increase in South Korea's contribution. South Korean officials have said they had sought to limit its burden to $1 trillion won and make the accord valid for at least three years. A senior South Korean ruling party legislator said last month that negotiations were deadlocked after the United States made a "sudden, unacceptable" demand that Seoul pays more than 1.4 trillion won per year. But both sides worked to hammer out an agreement to minimise the impact on South Koreans working on US military bases, and focus on nuclear talks ahead of a second US-North Korea summit, Seoul officials said. The disagreement had raised the prospect that Trump could decide to withdraw at least some troops from South Korea, as he has in other countries like Syria. But on Sunday, South Korean officials told Yonhap news agency that the United States had affirmed it would not be changing its troop presence. Trump said in his annual State of the Union address to the US Congress on Tuesday that he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on February 27-28 in Vietnam, following their unprecedented meeting in June in Singapore. Citing officials at South Korea's presidential Blue House, Yonhap also reported that South Korean President Moon Jae-in would discuss the upcoming summit with Trump "soon," and that American and North Korean officials would be meeting in an unspecified Asian country ahead of the summit. After the June meeting, Trump announced a halt to joint military exercises with South Korea, saying they were expensive and paid for mostly by the United States. Major joint exercises have been suspended, but some small-scale drills have continued, earning rebukes from North Korea's state media in recent months. About 70 per cent of South Korea's contribution covers the salaries of some 8,700 South Korean employees who provide administrative, technical and other services for the US military. Late last year, the US military had warned Korean workers on its bases they might be put on leave from mid-April if no deal was agreed.

South Korea signs deal to pay more for US troops after Trump demand

The <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-envoy-to-hold-talks-in-north-korea-on-wednesday-195180">US State Department</a> announced Friday that the special <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-envoy-back-from-north-korea-after-talks-on-trump-kim-summit-196109">US envoy for North Korea</a> will meet again with Pyongyang officials before a second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un — hours after he returned to Seoul from talks in the North on the summit's agenda.

In a statement, the State Department said talks during Stephen Biegun's three-day trip explored Trump and Kim's "commitments of complete denuclearisation, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula" in preparation for the much-anticipated summit in Vietnam on February 27 and 28.

Biegun landed at Osan US Air Base Friday evening, foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told AFP.

The State Department confirmed Biegun agreed to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol again before the summit.

North Korea has yet to provide any official confirmation of the summit and Kim Jong Un appeared to make no mention of it during a meeting Friday with the top brass of the Korean People’s Army.

As reported by state media, the meeting focused on the need to modernise the military while maintaining party discipline in the ranks.

Biegun is expected to share details of his Pyongyang meetings with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday.

Attention will focus on whether the US team have offered to lift some economic sanctions in return for Pyongyang taking concrete steps towards denuclearisation.

Discussions on declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War could also have been on the table, with Biegun last week saying Trump was "ready to end this war".

The three-year conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war, with the US keeping 28,500 troops in the South.&nbsp;

The US envoy was also likely to have discussed with his counterpart protocol and security matters for the upcoming Trump-Kim summit.

At their landmark summit in Singapore last year, the mercurial US and North Korean leaders produced a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula".

But progress has since stalled, with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Experts say tangible progress on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons will be needed for the second summit if it is to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV". 
&nbsp;&nbsp;

The US State Department announced Friday that the special US envoy for North Korea will meet again with Pyongyang officials before a second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un — hours after he returned to Seoul from talks in the North on the summit's agenda.

The US State Department announced Friday that the special US envoy for North Korea will meet again with Pyongyang officials before a second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un — hours after he returned to Seoul from talks in the North on the summit's agenda. In a statement, the State Department said talks during Stephen Biegun's three-day trip explored Trump and Kim's "commitments of complete denuclearisation, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula" in preparation for the much-anticipated summit in Vietnam on February 27 and 28. Biegun landed at Osan US Air Base Friday evening, foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told AFP. The State Department confirmed Biegun agreed to meet his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol again before the summit. North Korea has yet to provide any official confirmation of the summit and Kim Jong Un appeared to make no mention of it during a meeting Friday with the top brass of the Korean People’s Army. As reported by state media, the meeting focused on the need to modernise the military while maintaining party discipline in the ranks. Biegun is expected to share details of his Pyongyang meetings with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday. Attention will focus on whether the US team have offered to lift some economic sanctions in return for Pyongyang taking concrete steps towards denuclearisation. Discussions on declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War could also have been on the table, with Biegun last week saying Trump was "ready to end this war". The three-year conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war, with the US keeping 28,500 troops in the South. The US envoy was also likely to have discussed with his counterpart protocol and security matters for the upcoming Trump-Kim summit. At their landmark summit in Singapore last year, the mercurial US and North Korean leaders produced a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula". But progress has since stalled, with the two sides disagreeing over what that means. Experts say tangible progress on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons will be needed for the second summit if it is to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV".

US envoy to meet North Korea counterpart again ahead of Trump-Kim summit

Iranians will chant "Death to America" as long as Washington continues its hostile policies, but the slogan is directed at President Donald Trump and US leaders, not the American nation, Iran's supreme leader said on Friday.

"As long as America continues its wickedness, the Iranian nation will not abandon 'Death to America'," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a gathering of Iranian Air Force officers marking the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution, according to his official website.

Trump pulled out of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers last year and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, dealing a blow to the country's economy.

"'Death to America' means death to Trump, (National Security Adviser) John Bolton, and (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo. It means death to American rulers," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

European signatories of the nuclear deal have been trying to save the accord, but Khamenei said they could not be trusted.

"I recommend that one should not trust the Europeans just as the Americans," Khamenei said. "We don't say, don't have contacts with them, but it's an issue of trust."

The European Union has stepped up criticism of Iran's ballistic missiles programme while remaining committed to the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iranians will chant "Death to America" as long as Washington continues its hostile policies, but the slogan is directed at President Donald Trump and US leaders, not the American nation, Iran's supreme leader said on Friday.

Iranians will chant "Death to America" as long as Washington continues its hostile policies, but the slogan is directed at President Donald Trump and US leaders, not the American nation, Iran's supreme leader said on Friday. "As long as America continues its wickedness, the Iranian nation will not abandon 'Death to America'," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a gathering of Iranian Air Force officers marking the 40th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution, according to his official website. Trump pulled out of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers last year and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, dealing a blow to the country's economy. "'Death to America' means death to Trump, (National Security Adviser) John Bolton, and (Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo. It means death to American rulers," Ayatollah Khamenei said. European signatories of the nuclear deal have been trying to save the accord, but Khamenei said they could not be trusted. "I recommend that one should not trust the Europeans just as the Americans," Khamenei said. "We don't say, don't have contacts with them, but it's an issue of trust." The European Union has stepped up criticism of Iran's ballistic missiles programme while remaining committed to the 2015 nuclear deal.

'Death to America' aimed at Trump, not American nation, Iran leader says

President Donald Trump appeared prepared Friday to ignore the US Congress's deadline to determine who ordered the assassination of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-lack-of-transparency-on-khashoggi-concerning-detrimental-to-credibility-erdogan-aide-195998">Jamal Khashoggi</a> amid new revelations that Saudi Arabia's crown prince spoke of going after the journalist "<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-crown-prince-told-aide-he-would-use-a-bullet-on-khashoggi-report-195901">with a bullet</a>."

With pressure mounting in Washington and Riyadh, the US president theoretically had until the end of the day to designate those responsible for the murder of the Washington Post columnist, who was strangled and dismembered by Saudi agents in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

The time limit was imposed by Democratic and Republican senators, who wrote to the president on October 10 calling for an investigation into the killing.

Under a human rights accountability law the letter gives the president 120 days to designate and punish those responsible. But no definitive action was expected Friday from the administration.

"Consistent with the previous administration's position and the constitutional separation of powers, the president maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate," a senior administration official said.

"The US Government will continue to consult with Congress and work to hold accountable those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's killing."

The State Department said Thursday Washington had already taken action, pointing to last year's revocation of visas for nearly two dozen Saudi officials and the freezing of assets of 17 others.

Some members of Congress have publicly stated that they suspect the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was directly responsible for the killing, based on the CIA's conclusions.

Predicting little movement, a bipartisan group of senators on Thursday proposed a bill that would cut off some weapons sales and require sanctions against any Saudis involved in Khashoggi's killing.

"Seeing as the Trump administration has no intention of insisting on full accountability for Mr. Khashoggi's murderers, it is time for Congress to step in and impose real consequences to fundamentally re-examine our relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen," said Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.&nbsp;

The Trump administration claims it has no compelling evidence of the direct involvement of the young and powerful Saudi leader, although the senators -- briefed in private by intelligence leaders -- stressed they remained convinced that the prince known as "MBS" was responsible.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised Khashoggi's killing among other issues during a meeting in Washington Thursday with Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, according to the State Department.

Al-Jubeir reiterated Friday that the prince was not involved in the murder and blaming him would be crossing a "red line."

"For anyone to think that they can dictate what we should do, what our leadership should do, is preposterous," al-Jubeir told reporters.

- New revelations - 
Trump has publicly said he is not concerned whether Prince Mohammed was involved, arguing that the Saudi alliance benefits Washington due to the kingdom's purchases of weapons and its hostility to regional rival Iran.

The deadline coincides with new embarrassing developments for the prince.

The New York Times, citing officials who had seen US intelligence, said Prince Mohammed had warned in an intercepted conversation with an aide in 2017 that he would go after Khashoggi "with a bullet" if he did not return to Saudi Arabia from the United States.

US intelligence understood that the ambitious 33-year-old heir apparent was ready to kill the journalist, although he may not have literally meant to shoot him, according to the newspaper.

Special UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard said Thursday after a visit to Turkey that the killing of Khashoggi, who had written critical pieces on Saudi Arabia in the Post, had been "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials.

In light of the revelations, Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee said Friday she hoped pressure from US lawmakers would encourage the Trump administration to take a tougher stance on the killing.

Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, Hatice Cengiz left the door open to a meeting with Trump if certain conditions were met, a softening of her position in December when she rejected an invitation from the US president.

"A visit to the United States could take place in March," Cengiz said, adding she hoped Trump would have a change of "attitude" about the murder.

President Donald Trump appeared prepared Friday to ignore the US Congress's deadline to determine who ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi amid new revelations that Saudi Arabia's crown prince spoke of going after the journalist "with a bullet.

President Donald Trump appeared prepared Friday to ignore the US Congress's deadline to determine who ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi amid new revelations that Saudi Arabia's crown prince spoke of going after the journalist "with a bullet." With pressure mounting in Washington and Riyadh, the US president theoretically had until the end of the day to designate those responsible for the murder of the Washington Post columnist, who was strangled and dismembered by Saudi agents in the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul on October 2. The time limit was imposed by Democratic and Republican senators, who wrote to the president on October 10 calling for an investigation into the killing. Under a human rights accountability law the letter gives the president 120 days to designate and punish those responsible. But no definitive action was expected Friday from the administration. "Consistent with the previous administration's position and the constitutional separation of powers, the president maintains his discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when appropriate," a senior administration official said. "The US Government will continue to consult with Congress and work to hold accountable those responsible for Jamal Khashoggi's killing." The State Department said Thursday Washington had already taken action, pointing to last year's revocation of visas for nearly two dozen Saudi officials and the freezing of assets of 17 others. Some members of Congress have publicly stated that they suspect the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was directly responsible for the killing, based on the CIA's conclusions. Predicting little movement, a bipartisan group of senators on Thursday proposed a bill that would cut off some weapons sales and require sanctions against any Saudis involved in Khashoggi's killing. "Seeing as the Trump administration has no intention of insisting on full accountability for Mr. Khashoggi's murderers, it is time for Congress to step in and impose real consequences to fundamentally re-examine our relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen," said Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Trump administration claims it has no compelling evidence of the direct involvement of the young and powerful Saudi leader, although the senators -- briefed in private by intelligence leaders -- stressed they remained convinced that the prince known as "MBS" was responsible. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised Khashoggi's killing among other issues during a meeting in Washington Thursday with Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, according to the State Department. Al-Jubeir reiterated Friday that the prince was not involved in the murder and blaming him would be crossing a "red line." "For anyone to think that they can dictate what we should do, what our leadership should do, is preposterous," al-Jubeir told reporters. - New revelations - Trump has publicly said he is not concerned whether Prince Mohammed was involved, arguing that the Saudi alliance benefits Washington due to the kingdom's purchases of weapons and its hostility to regional rival Iran. The deadline coincides with new embarrassing developments for the prince. The New York Times, citing officials who had seen US intelligence, said Prince Mohammed had warned in an intercepted conversation with an aide in 2017 that he would go after Khashoggi "with a bullet" if he did not return to Saudi Arabia from the United States. US intelligence understood that the ambitious 33-year-old heir apparent was ready to kill the journalist, although he may not have literally meant to shoot him, according to the newspaper. Special UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard said Thursday after a visit to Turkey that the killing of Khashoggi, who had written critical pieces on Saudi Arabia in the Post, had been "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials. In light of the revelations, Khashoggi's Turkish fiancee said Friday she hoped pressure from US lawmakers would encourage the Trump administration to take a tougher stance on the killing. Speaking at a news conference in Istanbul, Hatice Cengiz left the door open to a meeting with Trump if certain conditions were met, a softening of her position in December when she rejected an invitation from the US president. "A visit to the United States could take place in March," Cengiz said, adding she hoped Trump would have a change of "attitude" about the murder.

New pressure over Khashoggi death, Trump ignores deadline

President Donald Trump said on Friday that U.S. diplomats had a "very productive meeting" with North Korean officials, and he announced his summit later this month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be held in Vietnam's capital,&nbsp;Hanoi.

"My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong Un. It will take place in&nbsp;Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 &amp; 28," Trump said on Twitter.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong Un. It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 &amp; 28. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim &amp; advancing the cause of peace!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1094031561861881856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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"I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim &amp; advancing the cause of peace!" he said.

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North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse. He may surprise some but he won’t surprise me, because I have gotten to know him &amp; fully understand how capable he is. North Korea will become a different kind of Rocket - an Economic one!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1094035813820784640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Earlier this week, Trump announced the dates for the second summit with Kim and said it would be held in Vietnam, but the city had not been disclosed.

Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, held three days of talks in Pyongyang to prepare for the summit, the State Department said on Friday.

It said Biegun had agreed with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol to meet again ahead of the summit.

In their talks in Pyongyang from Wednesday until Friday Biegun and Kim Hyok Chol "discussed advancing President Trump and Chairman Kim's Singapore summit commitments of complete denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations, and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," the State Department said.Its statement, which referred to North Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, gave no indication of any progress in the talks.

Just weeks ahead of the planned summit to follow on from an unprecedented first meeting between the leaders in Singapore last June, the two sides have appeared far from narrowing differences over US demands for North Korea to give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States.

Biegun said last week his Pyongyang talks would be aimed at seeking progress on commitments made in Singapore and mapping out "a set of concrete deliverables" for the second summit.

He said Washington was willing to discuss "many actions" to improve ties and entice Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and that Trump was ready to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

'Economic powerhouse'

Biegun said Kim Jong Un committed during an October visit by US&nbsp;Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the dismantling and destruction of plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities and that "corresponding measures" demanded by North Korea would be the subject of his talks.

At the same time, he set out an extensive list of demands that North Korea would have to meet eventually, including full disclosure of its nuclear and missile programs, something Pyongyang has rejected for decades.

Trump, eager for a foreign policy win to distract from domestic troubles, has been keen for a second summit despite a lack of significant moves by North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. He and Biegun have stressed the economic benefits to North Korea if it does so.

"North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse," Trump said on Twitter.

"He may surprise some but he won't surprise me, because I have gotten to know him &amp; fully understand how capable he is," Trump said.

Trump announced the plan for his second meeting with Kim in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Trump said much work remained to be done in the push for peace with North Korea, but cited the halt in its nuclear testing and no new missile launches in 15 months as proof of progress.

The Singapore summit yielded a vague commitment by Kim to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, where US&nbsp;troops have been stationed since the Korean War.

While in the US view North Korea has yet to take concrete steps to give up its nuclear weapons, Pyongyang complains that Washington has done little to reciprocate for its freezing of nuclear and missile testing and dismantling of some facilities.

Pyongyang has repeatedly urged a lifting of punishing US-led sanctions, a formal end to the war, and security guarantees.

South Korea's Yonhap News agency quoted that country's foreign ministry as saying that Biegun arrived back in Seoul from Pyongyang on Friday evening, Seoul time, and would meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday morning to provide her a briefing on the results of his talks.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that U.S. diplomats had a "very productive meeting" with North Korean officials, and he announced his summit later this month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be held in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that U.S. diplomats had a "very productive meeting" with North Korean officials, and he announced his summit later this month with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be held in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. "My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong Un. It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 & 28," Trump said on Twitter. My representatives have just left North Korea after a very productive meeting and an agreed upon time and date for the second Summit with Kim Jong Un. It will take place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27 & 28. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim & advancing the cause of peace! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2019 × "I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim & advancing the cause of peace!" he said. North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse. He may surprise some but he won’t surprise me, because I have gotten to know him & fully understand how capable he is. North Korea will become a different kind of Rocket - an Economic one! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 9, 2019 × Earlier this week, Trump announced the dates for the second summit with Kim and said it would be held in Vietnam, but the city had not been disclosed. Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, held three days of talks in Pyongyang to prepare for the summit, the State Department said on Friday. It said Biegun had agreed with his counterpart Kim Hyok Chol to meet again ahead of the summit. In their talks in Pyongyang from Wednesday until Friday Biegun and Kim Hyok Chol "discussed advancing President Trump and Chairman Kim's Singapore summit commitments of complete denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations, and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula," the State Department said.Its statement, which referred to North Korea by the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, gave no indication of any progress in the talks. Just weeks ahead of the planned summit to follow on from an unprecedented first meeting between the leaders in Singapore last June, the two sides have appeared far from narrowing differences over US demands for North Korea to give up a nuclear weapons program that threatens the United States. Biegun said last week his Pyongyang talks would be aimed at seeking progress on commitments made in Singapore and mapping out "a set of concrete deliverables" for the second summit. He said Washington was willing to discuss "many actions" to improve ties and entice Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and that Trump was ready to end the 1950-53 Korean War, which concluded with an armistice, not a peace treaty. 'Economic powerhouse' Biegun said Kim Jong Un committed during an October visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the dismantling and destruction of plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities and that "corresponding measures" demanded by North Korea would be the subject of his talks. At the same time, he set out an extensive list of demands that North Korea would have to meet eventually, including full disclosure of its nuclear and missile programs, something Pyongyang has rejected for decades. Trump, eager for a foreign policy win to distract from domestic troubles, has been keen for a second summit despite a lack of significant moves by North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program. He and Biegun have stressed the economic benefits to North Korea if it does so. "North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, will become a great Economic Powerhouse," Trump said on Twitter. "He may surprise some but he won't surprise me, because I have gotten to know him & fully understand how capable he is," Trump said. Trump announced the plan for his second meeting with Kim in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday. Trump said much work remained to be done in the push for peace with North Korea, but cited the halt in its nuclear testing and no new missile launches in 15 months as proof of progress. The Singapore summit yielded a vague commitment by Kim to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, where US troops have been stationed since the Korean War. While in the US view North Korea has yet to take concrete steps to give up its nuclear weapons, Pyongyang complains that Washington has done little to reciprocate for its freezing of nuclear and missile testing and dismantling of some facilities. Pyongyang has repeatedly urged a lifting of punishing US-led sanctions, a formal end to the war, and security guarantees. South Korea's Yonhap News agency quoted that country's foreign ministry as saying that Biegun arrived back in Seoul from Pyongyang on Friday evening, Seoul time, and would meet with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday morning to provide her a briefing on the results of his talks.

Trump says summit with Kim to take place in Hanoi

Venezuela's opposition leader<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/what-the-hell-is-going-on-how-a-tiny-cabal-galvanised-venezuelas-opposition-195987"> Juan Guaido</a> refused Friday to rule out authorising US intervention to force President Nicolas Maduro's hand in allowing in humanitarian aid and leaving power.

Guaido launched an audacious bid to oust <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/us-revokes-visas-of-venezuelan-lawmakers-seated-by-maduro-195916">Maduro</a> last month, declaring himself acting president, a move recognized by the United States and some 40 countries, including 20 from the European Union.

National Assembly president Guaido told AFP he would do "everything that is necessary... to save human lives," although he acknowledged that American intervention is "a very controversial subject."

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/opinions/venezuela-crisis-will-the-us-opt-for-military-intervention-196022">Will the US opt for military intervention in Venezuela?</a>

Earlier, Maduro vowed not to let in "fake humanitarian aid" and claimed Venezuela's crisis has been "fabricated by Washington" to justify intervention.

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/opinions/venezuela-france-wests-duplicity-196078">Venezuela, France &amp; West's duplicity</a>

Under Maduro's stewardship, Venezuela's economy has collapsed leaving the country wracked by hyperinflation, recession and shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

Guaido, 35, is trying to bring in aid from the US but the supplies are stuck in warehouses in Colombia because the Venezuelan military has blocked their entry.

"Venezuela won't allow the spectacle of fake humanitarian aid because we're no one's beggars," Maduro said at a press conference in Caracas.

Guaido says 300,000 people could die if desperately-needed aid isn't brought in.

"We're going to do everything that has a lower social cost, which generates governability and stability to deal with the emergency so we can recover public services," he said.

Military dilemma

Venezuela frequently suffers from power cuts, a lack of running water and public transport, while there is also a shortage of doctors and medical supplies in hospitals.

But bringing in humanitarian aid is crucial to Guaido's challenge to Maduro's authority.

Several trucks carrying food and medicine arrived at a collection centre in the Colombian border town of Cucuta on Thursday.

Venezuelan migrants gathered there to see if they could receive some aid.

However, on the other side of the Tienditas border bridge, Venezuelan troops loyal to Maduro had blocked the road, heightening tensions with Washington.

Guaido, who has appealed to the military to back him, said the armed forces "have a dilemma: either they side with the people in need or with the dictatorship."

He has called for another street protest on Tuesday to keep up the pressure on Maduro, who is backed by China, Russia, Turkey and leftist regional allies Cuba and Bolivia.

Maduro, 56, blames shortages of food and medicine on US sanctions, which mostly target regime individuals as well as state oil company PDVSA.

"Liberate the money that has been blocked and sequestered," said Maduro, who has repeatedly accused the US of fomenting a coup.

"This is a macabre game: we squeeze them by the neck and make them ask for crumbs."

Guaido's representative in Cucuta, Lester Toledo, said the provisions already delivered were the "first drops" and promised "a tsunami of humanitarian aid" would follow.

"We're going to open a humanitarian corridor and the doors to freedom," he told journalists.

Early Wednesday, a Venezuelan military boat carrying 100 tons (tonnes) of aid landed in Havana to help Cubans recovering from the wrath of a tornado.

Maduro 'unable to sustain regime'

Guaido is trying to force Maduro from power, aiming to set up a transitional government and hold presidential elections.

He claims his legitimacy from the constitution, but Maduro -- labelled a dictator by the West and his Latin American neighbours -- insists his re-election last year was constitutional.

The US, EU and many Latin American countries branded it a fraud as prominent opposition leaders were unable to stand after being exiled, jailed or barred.

"We'll do everything we have to in a sovereign and autonomous manner to end the usurpation, (establish) the transitional government and (hold) free elections," said Guaido.

Consultants Eurasia Group predicted on Thursday that Maduro "will be unable to sustain his regime."

The socialist leader hit out at European and Latin American ministers who, after meeting in Uruguay on Thursday, urged Maduro to let in aid and called for a new presidential ballot.

The International Contact Group urged "free, transparent and credible presidential elections" in Venezuela "as soon as possible" to find a peaceful solution to the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.

Maduro, who last weekend rejected an EU ultimatum to organize snap presidential elections, fumed: "You don't listen to the truth in Venezuela. You're deaf... They've taken extremist positions."

He did welcome the Contact Group's proposal to send a mission to Venezuela, though.

The Contact Group chided Maduro over the deaths of 40 opposition protesters last month and told him to respect "the country's institutions, particularly the democratically elected National Assembly."

The opposition-controlled legislature has been powerless since 2016 after it was stripped of its powers by the Supreme Court, made up of regime loyalists.

On Friday, the Supreme Court asked the attorney general's office to investigate alleged "criminal" conduct by Guaido and the legislature over the "usurpation of functions" that correspond to Maduro.

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido refused Friday to rule out authorising US intervention to force President Nicolas Maduro's hand in allowing in humanitarian aid and leaving power.

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido refused Friday to rule out authorising US intervention to force President Nicolas Maduro's hand in allowing in humanitarian aid and leaving power. Guaido launched an audacious bid to oust Maduro last month, declaring himself acting president, a move recognized by the United States and some 40 countries, including 20 from the European Union. National Assembly president Guaido told AFP he would do "everything that is necessary... to save human lives," although he acknowledged that American intervention is "a very controversial subject." Also read: Will the US opt for military intervention in Venezuela? Earlier, Maduro vowed not to let in "fake humanitarian aid" and claimed Venezuela's crisis has been "fabricated by Washington" to justify intervention. Also read: Venezuela, France & West's duplicity Under Maduro's stewardship, Venezuela's economy has collapsed leaving the country wracked by hyperinflation, recession and shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. Guaido, 35, is trying to bring in aid from the US but the supplies are stuck in warehouses in Colombia because the Venezuelan military has blocked their entry. "Venezuela won't allow the spectacle of fake humanitarian aid because we're no one's beggars," Maduro said at a press conference in Caracas. Guaido says 300,000 people could die if desperately-needed aid isn't brought in. "We're going to do everything that has a lower social cost, which generates governability and stability to deal with the emergency so we can recover public services," he said. Military dilemma Venezuela frequently suffers from power cuts, a lack of running water and public transport, while there is also a shortage of doctors and medical supplies in hospitals. But bringing in humanitarian aid is crucial to Guaido's challenge to Maduro's authority. Several trucks carrying food and medicine arrived at a collection centre in the Colombian border town of Cucuta on Thursday. Venezuelan migrants gathered there to see if they could receive some aid. However, on the other side of the Tienditas border bridge, Venezuelan troops loyal to Maduro had blocked the road, heightening tensions with Washington. Guaido, who has appealed to the military to back him, said the armed forces "have a dilemma: either they side with the people in need or with the dictatorship." He has called for another street protest on Tuesday to keep up the pressure on Maduro, who is backed by China, Russia, Turkey and leftist regional allies Cuba and Bolivia. Maduro, 56, blames shortages of food and medicine on US sanctions, which mostly target regime individuals as well as state oil company PDVSA. "Liberate the money that has been blocked and sequestered," said Maduro, who has repeatedly accused the US of fomenting a coup. "This is a macabre game: we squeeze them by the neck and make them ask for crumbs." Guaido's representative in Cucuta, Lester Toledo, said the provisions already delivered were the "first drops" and promised "a tsunami of humanitarian aid" would follow. "We're going to open a humanitarian corridor and the doors to freedom," he told journalists. Early Wednesday, a Venezuelan military boat carrying 100 tons (tonnes) of aid landed in Havana to help Cubans recovering from the wrath of a tornado. Maduro 'unable to sustain regime' Guaido is trying to force Maduro from power, aiming to set up a transitional government and hold presidential elections. He claims his legitimacy from the constitution, but Maduro -- labelled a dictator by the West and his Latin American neighbours -- insists his re-election last year was constitutional. The US, EU and many Latin American countries branded it a fraud as prominent opposition leaders were unable to stand after being exiled, jailed or barred. "We'll do everything we have to in a sovereign and autonomous manner to end the usurpation, (establish) the transitional government and (hold) free elections," said Guaido. Consultants Eurasia Group predicted on Thursday that Maduro "will be unable to sustain his regime." The socialist leader hit out at European and Latin American ministers who, after meeting in Uruguay on Thursday, urged Maduro to let in aid and called for a new presidential ballot. The International Contact Group urged "free, transparent and credible presidential elections" in Venezuela "as soon as possible" to find a peaceful solution to the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido. Maduro, who last weekend rejected an EU ultimatum to organize snap presidential elections, fumed: "You don't listen to the truth in Venezuela. You're deaf... They've taken extremist positions." He did welcome the Contact Group's proposal to send a mission to Venezuela, though. The Contact Group chided Maduro over the deaths of 40 opposition protesters last month and told him to respect "the country's institutions, particularly the democratically elected National Assembly." The opposition-controlled legislature has been powerless since 2016 after it was stripped of its powers by the Supreme Court, made up of regime loyalists. On Friday, the Supreme Court asked the attorney general's office to investigate alleged "criminal" conduct by Guaido and the legislature over the "usurpation of functions" that correspond to Maduro.

Venezuela's Guaido won't rule out US intervention to force Maduro's hand

The United States is holding direct communications with members of Venezuela's military urging them to abandon <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/venezuela-military-attache-to-us-urges-army-to-back-maduro-opponent-193034">President Nicolas Maduro</a> and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior White House official said.

The Trump administration expects further military defections from Maduro's side, the official told Reuters in an interview, despite only a few senior officers having done so since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president last month, earning the recognition of the United States and dozens of other countries.

"We believe these to be those first couple pebbles before we start really seeing bigger rocks rolling down the hill," the official said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We're still having conversations with members of the former Maduro regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited."

The official declined to provide details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held, and it was unclear whether such contacts could create cracks in the Venezuelan socialist leader's support from the military, which is pivotal to his grip on power.

With the Venezuelan military still apparently loyal to Maduro, a source in Washington close to the opposition expressed doubts whether the Trump administration has laid enough groundwork to spur a wider mutiny in the ranks where many officers are suspected of benefiting from corruption and drug trafficking.

Members of the South American country's security forces fear they or their families could be targeted by Maduro if they defect, so the US would need to offer them something that could outweigh those concerns, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas think tank in Washington.

"It depends on what they're offering," Farnsworth said. "Are there incentives built into these contacts that will at least cause people to question their loyalty to the regime?"

Guaido says the May 2018 vote in which Maduro won a second term as president was a sham and on January 23 invoked a constitutional provision to declare himself president, promising free and fair elections.

VENEZUELAN ASSETS

The US government also sees European allies as likely to do more to prevent Maduro from transferring or hiding Venezuela government assets held outside the country, the US official said.

Major European countries have joined the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/opinions/venezuela-france-wests-duplicity-196078">United States in backing Guaido </a>but they have stopped short of the sweeping oil sanctions and financial measures that Washington has imposed.

At the same time, the Trump administration is readying further possible sanctions on Venezuela, the official said.

Previous rounds have targeted dozens of Venezuelan military and government officials, including Maduro himself, and last month finally hit the OPEC member's vital oil sector. But the administration has stopped short of imposing so-called "secondary" sanctions, which would punish non-US companies for doing business with the Venezuela government or the state oil monopoly PDVSA.

The US official said that Washington had every tool available to apply pressure on Maduro and his associates "to accept a legitimate democratic transition."

The US government is also weighing possible sanctions on Cuban military and intelligence officials whom it says are helping Maduro remain in power, a second US official and person familiar with the deliberations have told Reuters.

Maduro's government has accused Guaido, who has galvanized Venezuela's opposition, of attempting to stage a US-directed coup.

General Francisco Yanez of the air force's high command became the first active Venezuelan general to recognise Guaido, but he is one of about 2,000 generals. Venezuela's chief military attache to the United States also said he was defecting late last month.

Guaido has actively courted members of the military with promises of amnesty and preferential legal treatment if they disavow Maduro and disobey his orders, and Washington this week raised the prospect of dropping sanctions on senior Venezuelan officers if they recognise Guaido.

Maduro still has the support of the military high command, and now routinely appears in pre-recorded events at military bases where officers stand behind him and chant triumphal slogans such as "Loyal always, traitors never."

The United States is holding direct communications with members of Venezuela's military urging them to abandon President Nicolas Maduro and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior White House official said.

The United States is holding direct communications with members of Venezuela's military urging them to abandon President Nicolas Maduro and is also preparing new sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on him, a senior White House official said. The Trump administration expects further military defections from Maduro's side, the official told Reuters in an interview, despite only a few senior officers having done so since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president last month, earning the recognition of the United States and dozens of other countries. "We believe these to be those first couple pebbles before we start really seeing bigger rocks rolling down the hill," the official said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We're still having conversations with members of the former Maduro regime, with military members, although those conversations are very, very limited." The official declined to provide details on the discussions or the level at which they are being held, and it was unclear whether such contacts could create cracks in the Venezuelan socialist leader's support from the military, which is pivotal to his grip on power. With the Venezuelan military still apparently loyal to Maduro, a source in Washington close to the opposition expressed doubts whether the Trump administration has laid enough groundwork to spur a wider mutiny in the ranks where many officers are suspected of benefiting from corruption and drug trafficking. Members of the South American country's security forces fear they or their families could be targeted by Maduro if they defect, so the US would need to offer them something that could outweigh those concerns, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas think tank in Washington. "It depends on what they're offering," Farnsworth said. "Are there incentives built into these contacts that will at least cause people to question their loyalty to the regime?" Guaido says the May 2018 vote in which Maduro won a second term as president was a sham and on January 23 invoked a constitutional provision to declare himself president, promising free and fair elections. VENEZUELAN ASSETS The US government also sees European allies as likely to do more to prevent Maduro from transferring or hiding Venezuela government assets held outside the country, the US official said. Major European countries have joined the United States in backing Guaido but they have stopped short of the sweeping oil sanctions and financial measures that Washington has imposed. At the same time, the Trump administration is readying further possible sanctions on Venezuela, the official said. Previous rounds have targeted dozens of Venezuelan military and government officials, including Maduro himself, and last month finally hit the OPEC member's vital oil sector. But the administration has stopped short of imposing so-called "secondary" sanctions, which would punish non-US companies for doing business with the Venezuela government or the state oil monopoly PDVSA. The US official said that Washington had every tool available to apply pressure on Maduro and his associates "to accept a legitimate democratic transition." The US government is also weighing possible sanctions on Cuban military and intelligence officials whom it says are helping Maduro remain in power, a second US official and person familiar with the deliberations have told Reuters. Maduro's government has accused Guaido, who has galvanized Venezuela's opposition, of attempting to stage a US-directed coup. General Francisco Yanez of the air force's high command became the first active Venezuelan general to recognise Guaido, but he is one of about 2,000 generals. Venezuela's chief military attache to the United States also said he was defecting late last month. Guaido has actively courted members of the military with promises of amnesty and preferential legal treatment if they disavow Maduro and disobey his orders, and Washington this week raised the prospect of dropping sanctions on senior Venezuelan officers if they recognise Guaido. Maduro still has the support of the military high command, and now routinely appears in pre-recorded events at military bases where officers stand behind him and chant triumphal slogans such as "Loyal always, traitors never."

US in direct contact with Venezuelan military, urging defections: Report

By Scott Lucas

The State of the Union headline was not in Donald Trump’s script, which initially leashed him to a teleprompter before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

The White House had trailed that the speech, given a week late because of the shutdown of the federal government, would emphasise a bipartisan approach to politics. So Trump – more like a newcomer carefully reading through an audition than the flamboyant actor at his rallies and impromptu press conferences – ticked off lines that could have been given by any of his predecessors.

“Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us, gathered in this great chamber, hoping we will govern not as two parties, but as one nation,” he opened. “Victory is winning for our country,” followed. And “Make America Great Again” was reworked as “Tonight I ask you to choose greatness”.

Trump sheltered in the safety of introducing various invited guests, from World War II veterans to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. He warmed up and loosened up a bit as he claimed credit for everything from the American economy to the release of former inmates Alice Johnson and Matthew Charles through clemency, who were also in the audience.

The woman behind

The story of the day had been off-script Trump. Before feigning the bipartisan in his speech, Trump spent a lunch with reporters assailing Democrats. There, he apparently dismissed former vice-president and possible presidential candidate Joe Biden as “dumb”, while Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, was a “son of a b****”.

But the story of the night was the woman behind Trump on the podium. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the legislator who uninvited and re-invited Trump to give the State of the Union address, silently exercised her new authority as leader of the Democrat-controlled chamber.

Pelosi gave courteous applause at points during the performance. But for much of it, she monitored Trump like an instructor watching a borderline student. She quietly marked Trump’s 15-minute peroration on immigration, filled with his boilerplate distortions about the “tremendous onslaught” of “large, organised caravans” arriving at the US border.&nbsp;

She gave a small shake of the head as he recited hyperbole about his immigrant straw man, “the savage gang MS-13”. She never broke into a gaze of disbelief as the claims got bigger and wilder, as he introduced three women whose relative was killed by an “illegal alien”. She just continued the silent marking of the man in front of her.

The women in front

The women of Congress were the story in front of Trump, and many of them were taking seats for the first time this January. They came dressed in white in tribute to the women’s suffrage movement.

As he got into his script, with more swagger and jabs in the words, Trump played to the Republicans who rallied to their cues. They backed him in his biggest swing of the night, when he attacked “ridiculous partisan investigations” as disruptive to the “economic miracle” taking place in the nation.

When they offered an impromptu opportunity by chanting “USA, USA”, Trump seized it. “That sounds so good”, he told them. Buoyed, he gave a finger jab at the Democrats as he claimed the achievement of making the US a “net exporter of energy”.

But the cameras were often on the 131 women sworn into the 116th Congress. Like the woman behind Trump, they monitored the chief executive rather than deferred to him. They stood in their own tribute to “greatness” but remained in their seats during Trump’s more frequent invocations of division and confrontation, including over his wall with Mexico.

And then they seized the evening

Trump, with his chequered personal and political record over women, again reached for self-congratulation: “No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 per cent of the new jobs created in the last year.”

The 131 women leapt to their feet. They whooped, danced, and high-fived each other. They celebrated.

Appearing surprised and unsettled, Trump exclaimed: “You were not supposed to do that.” He tried to regain attention to himself: “All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before.”

The dancing surged. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York gave a hip shake.

Trump tried one more time: “We also have more women serving in Congress than ever before.” Every eye on them rather than the president, the women hugged each other, waved, and danced some more.

Facing the wave, the Republicans pushed it with the chant, “USA, USA, USA”. But rather than giving way, the women took up the chant. Rather than letting the Republicans claim to represent the nation with their mantra, they shouted it, too – they danced to it.

Trump continued through his script. He announced another summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, in Vietnam at the end of this month. He introduced a ten-year-old girl who defeated brain cancer. He spoke about “babies ripped from their mother’s womb, moments from birth”. But his State of the Union was done for the night.

And his rule of the state might be done for good. Behind him was a new political reality: one woman with her own control. In front of him, the many others not just blocking his path – likely to be a troubled one in 2019 – but forging their own.

(Scott Lucas is Professor of International Politics, University of Birmingham)

(This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/state-of-the-union-the-women-in-white-stole-trumps-night-and-will-haunt-him-for-the-rest-of-the-year-111276">original article</a>)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

By Scott Lucas The State of the Union headline was not in Donald Trump’s script, which initially leashed him to a teleprompter before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night.

By Scott Lucas The State of the Union headline was not in Donald Trump’s script, which initially leashed him to a teleprompter before a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night. The White House had trailed that the speech, given a week late because of the shutdown of the federal government, would emphasise a bipartisan approach to politics. So Trump – more like a newcomer carefully reading through an audition than the flamboyant actor at his rallies and impromptu press conferences – ticked off lines that could have been given by any of his predecessors. “Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us, gathered in this great chamber, hoping we will govern not as two parties, but as one nation,” he opened. “Victory is winning for our country,” followed. And “Make America Great Again” was reworked as “Tonight I ask you to choose greatness”. Trump sheltered in the safety of introducing various invited guests, from World War II veterans to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin. He warmed up and loosened up a bit as he claimed credit for everything from the American economy to the release of former inmates Alice Johnson and Matthew Charles through clemency, who were also in the audience. The woman behind The story of the day had been off-script Trump. Before feigning the bipartisan in his speech, Trump spent a lunch with reporters assailing Democrats. There, he apparently dismissed former vice-president and possible presidential candidate Joe Biden as “dumb”, while Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, was a “son of a b****”. But the story of the night was the woman behind Trump on the podium. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the legislator who uninvited and re-invited Trump to give the State of the Union address, silently exercised her new authority as leader of the Democrat-controlled chamber. Pelosi gave courteous applause at points during the performance. But for much of it, she monitored Trump like an instructor watching a borderline student. She quietly marked Trump’s 15-minute peroration on immigration, filled with his boilerplate distortions about the “tremendous onslaught” of “large, organised caravans” arriving at the US border. She gave a small shake of the head as he recited hyperbole about his immigrant straw man, “the savage gang MS-13”. She never broke into a gaze of disbelief as the claims got bigger and wilder, as he introduced three women whose relative was killed by an “illegal alien”. She just continued the silent marking of the man in front of her. The women in front The women of Congress were the story in front of Trump, and many of them were taking seats for the first time this January. They came dressed in white in tribute to the women’s suffrage movement. As he got into his script, with more swagger and jabs in the words, Trump played to the Republicans who rallied to their cues. They backed him in his biggest swing of the night, when he attacked “ridiculous partisan investigations” as disruptive to the “economic miracle” taking place in the nation. When they offered an impromptu opportunity by chanting “USA, USA”, Trump seized it. “That sounds so good”, he told them. Buoyed, he gave a finger jab at the Democrats as he claimed the achievement of making the US a “net exporter of energy”. But the cameras were often on the 131 women sworn into the 116th Congress. Like the woman behind Trump, they monitored the chief executive rather than deferred to him. They stood in their own tribute to “greatness” but remained in their seats during Trump’s more frequent invocations of division and confrontation, including over his wall with Mexico. And then they seized the evening Trump, with his chequered personal and political record over women, again reached for self-congratulation: “No one has benefited more from our thriving economy than women, who have filled 58 per cent of the new jobs created in the last year.” The 131 women leapt to their feet. They whooped, danced, and high-fived each other. They celebrated. Appearing surprised and unsettled, Trump exclaimed: “You were not supposed to do that.” He tried to regain attention to himself: “All Americans can be proud that we have more women in the workforce than ever before.” The dancing surged. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York gave a hip shake. Trump tried one more time: “We also have more women serving in Congress than ever before.” Every eye on them rather than the president, the women hugged each other, waved, and danced some more. Facing the wave, the Republicans pushed it with the chant, “USA, USA, USA”. But rather than giving way, the women took up the chant. Rather than letting the Republicans claim to represent the nation with their mantra, they shouted it, too – they danced to it. Trump continued through his script. He announced another summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, in Vietnam at the end of this month. He introduced a ten-year-old girl who defeated brain cancer. He spoke about “babies ripped from their mother’s womb, moments from birth”. But his State of the Union was done for the night. And his rule of the state might be done for good. Behind him was a new political reality: one woman with her own control. In front of him, the many others not just blocking his path – likely to be a troubled one in 2019 – but forging their own. (Scott Lucas is Professor of International Politics, University of Birmingham) (This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article) (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

State of the Union: The women in white stole Trump’s night

Acting US&nbsp;Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Friday (February 8) said he has not spoken with President Donald Trump or any senior White House officials about the US&nbsp;special counsel's probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

"I have not talked to the president of the United States about the special counsel's investigation," Whitaker told a US&nbsp;House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, adding that he has not taken any action in the probe or interfered "in any way."

"We have followed the special counsel regulations to a T," said Whitaker, a Trump appointee. "There has been no event...that has required me to take any action, and I have not interfered in any way" with Mueller's probe.

Democrats, who took control of the House last month and are increasing oversight of the Trump administration, want to shine a light on any actions Whitaker took regarding Mueller's probe, including possible communications with the White House and the firing of Jeff Sessions as attorney general in November.

Trump's decision to name Whitaker acting attorney general sparked controversy given that he now directly oversees Mueller's probe, which he has publicly criticized in the past.

Russia has denied any meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia and has called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt.

Whitaker on Friday repeatedly declined to answer questions about when and how many time he was briefed on Mueller's probe, prompting Nadler to threaten to call him back for a deposition.

The hearing room erupted in gasps when Whitaker pushed back strongly against a question from Nadler about whether he had ever been asked to approve any action requested by Mueller. "Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up," Whitaker said curtly.

Earlier, Whitaker said he would invoke executive privilege in declining to discuss "the contents of deliberations or conversations with the president."

In a political drama that enfolded on Thursday, Whitaker had threatened not to appear at the hearing after Democrats threatened to use a subpoena to compel him to answer certain questions. Later, Nadler agreed to drop the threat, paving the way for Whitaker's appearance before the panel.

Acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Friday (February 8) said he has not spoken with President Donald Trump or any senior White House officials about the US special counsel's probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Acting US Attorney General Matthew Whitaker on Friday (February 8) said he has not spoken with President Donald Trump or any senior White House officials about the US special counsel's probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. "I have not talked to the president of the United States about the special counsel's investigation," Whitaker told a US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, adding that he has not taken any action in the probe or interfered "in any way." "We have followed the special counsel regulations to a T," said Whitaker, a Trump appointee. "There has been no event...that has required me to take any action, and I have not interfered in any way" with Mueller's probe. Democrats, who took control of the House last month and are increasing oversight of the Trump administration, want to shine a light on any actions Whitaker took regarding Mueller's probe, including possible communications with the White House and the firing of Jeff Sessions as attorney general in November. Trump's decision to name Whitaker acting attorney general sparked controversy given that he now directly oversees Mueller's probe, which he has publicly criticized in the past. Russia has denied any meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has repeatedly said there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia and has called Mueller's investigation a witch hunt. Whitaker on Friday repeatedly declined to answer questions about when and how many time he was briefed on Mueller's probe, prompting Nadler to threaten to call him back for a deposition. The hearing room erupted in gasps when Whitaker pushed back strongly against a question from Nadler about whether he had ever been asked to approve any action requested by Mueller. "Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up," Whitaker said curtly. Earlier, Whitaker said he would invoke executive privilege in declining to discuss "the contents of deliberations or conversations with the president." In a political drama that enfolded on Thursday, Whitaker had threatened not to appear at the hearing after Democrats threatened to use a subpoena to compel him to answer certain questions. Later, Nadler agreed to drop the threat, paving the way for Whitaker's appearance before the panel.

No Russia probe talks with Trump, White House: Acting US attorney general

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on Friday told members of US-based media that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order the killing of the Washington Post's Jamal Khashoggi but declined to comment on a New York Times story <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-crown-prince-told-aide-he-would-use-a-bullet-on-khashoggi-report-195901">the prince would use "a bullet" on the journalist</a>.

"We know that this was not an authorized operation. There was no order given to conduct this operation," al-Jubeir said.

Khashoggi's fiancée seeks change in US approach

The fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Friday she would welcome a change in Donald Trump's approach to the killing, and may visit the United States in March, having previously rejected an invitation from the president.

Khashoggi, a royal insider who became a critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of Saudi operatives on October&nbsp;2, provoking international revulsion.

Trump has resisted efforts in the US&nbsp;Congress to rebuke the Saudis, pointing to weapons sales as an important source of US&nbsp;jobs. His administration is also reluctant to disturb the strategic relationship with the kingdom, seen as an important regional counterbalance to Iran, arch-rival of US&nbsp;ally Israel.

"I might visit America in March," Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz told a news conference to mark the release of her book on Khashoggi. "I would welcome it if he (Trump) has a new approach on following this issue closely, or new actions to take."

Trump previously invited Cengiz to the United States but she said she had rejected the invitation as she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his own favour.

Earlier on Friday, an aide to President Tayyip Erdogan said Saudi officials' "complete lack of transparency" on the murder investigation is deeply concerning and detrimental to their credibility.

"Over the past four months, the Saudi authorities have been less than forthcoming in their dealings with their Turkish counterparts and the international community," said Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan's communications director.

"Saudi authorities must extradite Mr. Khashoggi's killers to Turkey, where they committed a premeditated murder, as proof of their willingness to serve the cause of justice," he said in a written statement to Reuters.

After making numerous contradictory statements about Khashoggi's fate, Riyadh said he had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed.

US&nbsp;lawmakers seek penalties

Republican and Democratic US&nbsp;lawmakers renewed their push on Thursday to penalize Saudi Arabia for the murder ahead of Friday's deadline for Trump's administration to submit a report on whether the crown prince ordered the killing.

"The Congress is renewed, the members are changed. I am hopeful. There is still hope. I believe the new Congress would follow this issue closer," Cengiz said. Democrats now control the US&nbsp;House of Representatives.

Cengiz, a Turkish researcher, had waited outside the Istanbul consulate for hours on the day Khashoggi was killed and alerted the authorities and media when he did not leave.

Saudi Arabia has previously denied Turkey's extradition request for the 11 suspects, five of whom are facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

Erdogan has said Khashoggi's killing was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership. Riyadh has rejected accusations that the crown prince was involved.

On Thursday, a United Nations-led inquiry into the murder said evidence pointed to a brutal crime "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials, adding that Saudi officials had "seriously undermined" and delayed Turkey's investigation.

"I wish this report will accelerate the process so that more concrete things will be done on this situation," Cengiz said. "I believe the UN&nbsp;report would have an international impact.

Altun said Turkey's findings on the case were in line with those of the UN-led inquiry, adding that Ankara was committed to cooperating in a potential UN&nbsp;investigation into the case.

Despite Turkey's joint investigation with Saudi officials looking at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, the consul's residence and several other locations, the whereabouts of Khashoggi's remains are still unknown.

Khashoggi's killing has severely strained ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, although Erdogan has good ties with the Saudi monarch, King Salman.

In an interview with Turkey's state broadcaster on Sunday, Erdogan said both the crown prince and Saudi's Adel al-Jubeir had lied about the case and pressure from Turkey had led to Jubeir being removed from his post as foreign minister in December.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on Friday told members of US-based media that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order the killing of the Washington Post's Jamal Khashoggi but declined to comment on a New York Times story the prince would use "a bullet" on the journalist.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir on Friday told members of US-based media that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order the killing of the Washington Post's Jamal Khashoggi but declined to comment on a New York Times story the prince would use "a bullet" on the journalist. "We know that this was not an authorized operation. There was no order given to conduct this operation," al-Jubeir said. Khashoggi's fiancée seeks change in US approach The fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Friday she would welcome a change in Donald Trump's approach to the killing, and may visit the United States in March, having previously rejected an invitation from the president. Khashoggi, a royal insider who became a critic of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by a team of Saudi operatives on October 2, provoking international revulsion. Trump has resisted efforts in the US Congress to rebuke the Saudis, pointing to weapons sales as an important source of US jobs. His administration is also reluctant to disturb the strategic relationship with the kingdom, seen as an important regional counterbalance to Iran, arch-rival of US ally Israel. "I might visit America in March," Khashoggi's fiancée Hatice Cengiz told a news conference to mark the release of her book on Khashoggi. "I would welcome it if he (Trump) has a new approach on following this issue closely, or new actions to take." Trump previously invited Cengiz to the United States but she said she had rejected the invitation as she thought it was aimed at influencing public opinion in his own favour. Earlier on Friday, an aide to President Tayyip Erdogan said Saudi officials' "complete lack of transparency" on the murder investigation is deeply concerning and detrimental to their credibility. "Over the past four months, the Saudi authorities have been less than forthcoming in their dealings with their Turkish counterparts and the international community," said Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan's communications director. "Saudi authorities must extradite Mr. Khashoggi's killers to Turkey, where they committed a premeditated murder, as proof of their willingness to serve the cause of justice," he said in a written statement to Reuters. After making numerous contradictory statements about Khashoggi's fate, Riyadh said he had been killed and his body dismembered when negotiations to persuade him to return to Saudi Arabia failed. US lawmakers seek penalties Republican and Democratic US lawmakers renewed their push on Thursday to penalize Saudi Arabia for the murder ahead of Friday's deadline for Trump's administration to submit a report on whether the crown prince ordered the killing. "The Congress is renewed, the members are changed. I am hopeful. There is still hope. I believe the new Congress would follow this issue closer," Cengiz said. Democrats now control the US House of Representatives. Cengiz, a Turkish researcher, had waited outside the Istanbul consulate for hours on the day Khashoggi was killed and alerted the authorities and media when he did not leave. Saudi Arabia has previously denied Turkey's extradition request for the 11 suspects, five of whom are facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia. Erdogan has said Khashoggi's killing was ordered by the highest level of Saudi leadership. Riyadh has rejected accusations that the crown prince was involved. On Thursday, a United Nations-led inquiry into the murder said evidence pointed to a brutal crime "planned and perpetrated" by Saudi officials, adding that Saudi officials had "seriously undermined" and delayed Turkey's investigation. "I wish this report will accelerate the process so that more concrete things will be done on this situation," Cengiz said. "I believe the UN report would have an international impact. Altun said Turkey's findings on the case were in line with those of the UN-led inquiry, adding that Ankara was committed to cooperating in a potential UN investigation into the case. Despite Turkey's joint investigation with Saudi officials looking at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, the consul's residence and several other locations, the whereabouts of Khashoggi's remains are still unknown. Khashoggi's killing has severely strained ties between Turkey and Saudi Arabia, although Erdogan has good ties with the Saudi monarch, King Salman. In an interview with Turkey's state broadcaster on Sunday, Erdogan said both the crown prince and Saudi's Adel al-Jubeir had lied about the case and pressure from Turkey had led to Jubeir being removed from his post as foreign minister in December.

Crown prince did not order Khashoggi killing: Saudi minister for foreign affairs

The special US envoy for North Korea returned to Seoul on Friday after talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang to set up the agenda for the second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Stephen Biegun's three-day trip was expected to have explored a wide range of denuclearisation issues in preparation for the much-anticipated summit in Vietnam on February 27 and 28.

Biegun landed at Osan US Air Base Friday evening, foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told AFP.

It is not yet known whether Biegun met with Kim, with North Korean media silent on his visit. He is expected to share details of his Pyongyang meetings with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday.

Attention will be on whether the US team have offered to lift some economic sanctions in return for Pyongyang taking concrete steps towards denuclearisation.

Discussions on declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War could also have been on the table, with Biegun last week saying Trump was "ready to end this war".

The three-year conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war, with the US keeping 28,500 troops in the South.&nbsp;

The US envoy was also likely to have discussed protocol and security matters for the upcoming Trump-Kim summit with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol.

Ahead of his trip, the State Department said Biegun's meetings with Kim Hyok Chol would "advance further progress on the commitments the president and Chairman Kim made in Singapore: complete denuclearisation, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula".

At their landmark summit in Singapore last year, the mercurial US and North Korean leaders produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula."

But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what that means.

Experts say tangible progress on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons will be needed for the second summit if it is to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV".&nbsp;

The special US envoy for North Korea returned to Seoul on Friday after talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang to set up the agenda for the second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The special US envoy for North Korea returned to Seoul on Friday after talks with North Korean officials in Pyongyang to set up the agenda for the second summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Stephen Biegun's three-day trip was expected to have explored a wide range of denuclearisation issues in preparation for the much-anticipated summit in Vietnam on February 27 and 28. Biegun landed at Osan US Air Base Friday evening, foreign ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk told AFP. It is not yet known whether Biegun met with Kim, with North Korean media silent on his visit. He is expected to share details of his Pyongyang meetings with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon and Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Saturday. Attention will be on whether the US team have offered to lift some economic sanctions in return for Pyongyang taking concrete steps towards denuclearisation. Discussions on declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War could also have been on the table, with Biegun last week saying Trump was "ready to end this war". The three-year conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war, with the US keeping 28,500 troops in the South. The US envoy was also likely to have discussed protocol and security matters for the upcoming Trump-Kim summit with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol. Ahead of his trip, the State Department said Biegun's meetings with Kim Hyok Chol would "advance further progress on the commitments the president and Chairman Kim made in Singapore: complete denuclearisation, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula". At their landmark summit in Singapore last year, the mercurial US and North Korean leaders produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula." But progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what that means. Experts say tangible progress on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons will be needed for the second summit if it is to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV".

US envoy back from North Korea after talks on Trump-Kim summit

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/photos/democrats-capture-us-house-majority-in-rebuke-to-donald-trump-176019#us-midterm-polls-2018-176011">Democrats in Congress </a>raised questions on Thursday about the Internal Revenue Service's ability to effectively audit President <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/presidential-harassment-screams-trump-as-democrats-investigate-him-195874">Donald Trump</a>'s tax returns, as they began hearings intended to result in obtaining the documents and making them public.

A tax oversight panel in the House of Representatives heard testimony from expert witnesses as it considered a Democratic measure that would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns, codifying a voluntary practice that existed for decades until Trump ran for president in 2016.

The legislation is unlikely to become law. But a separate Democratic plan to request Trump's tax returns from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin under federal law in coming months is fast becoming a political lightning rod for Democrats and Republicans.

Trump has cited IRS audits of his personal tax returns as a reason not to release them to the public. He has also retained ownership of extensive hotel interests and other business ventures as president, raising questions about potential ties with Russia and other possible conflicts of interest.

Democrats need to decide how to justify seeking Trump's returns, and some lawmaker comments on Thursday appeared to bolster an option being considered that would place such action within established congressional authority to oversee the IRS.

Republicans rejected the need to obtain Trump's tax returns, saying a required annual IRS audit of presidential tax records should provide adequate safeguards without threatening the privacy normally afforded to individual tax data.

"But I'm concerned that the IRS may not have the ability to accurately and fairly carry this out, free from political pressure," Democratic Representative Suzan DelBene said.

Representative John Lewis, Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, drew a parallel with the Watergate era, citing an IRS audit of former President Richard Nixon that congressional investigators later discovered had missed nearly $480,000 in owed taxes and interest.

"Should the public know whether the person who is running for the office or who is currently leading our nation paid the correct amount of tax? In the case of Nixon, the answer was yes," Lewis said.

"Is it fair to expect the IRS to enforce federal tax law against the president?" he added. "In the case of Nixon, the answer was no."

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal is under growing pressure from Democratic liberal progressives to move quickly on Trump's taxes. Some committee Democrats said a request could be two to three months away.

Republicans say Democrats would overstep their authority and set a dangerous precedent.

"In reality, this is all about weaponizing our tax laws to target a political foe," said Republican Representative Jackie Walorski. "Privacy and civil liberties should still matter in this country."

Democrats in Congress raised questions on Thursday about the Internal Revenue Service's ability to effectively audit President Donald Trump's tax returns, as they began hearings intended to result in obtaining the documents and making them public.

Democrats in Congress raised questions on Thursday about the Internal Revenue Service's ability to effectively audit President Donald Trump's tax returns, as they began hearings intended to result in obtaining the documents and making them public. A tax oversight panel in the House of Representatives heard testimony from expert witnesses as it considered a Democratic measure that would require presidential candidates to release their tax returns, codifying a voluntary practice that existed for decades until Trump ran for president in 2016. The legislation is unlikely to become law. But a separate Democratic plan to request Trump's tax returns from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin under federal law in coming months is fast becoming a political lightning rod for Democrats and Republicans. Trump has cited IRS audits of his personal tax returns as a reason not to release them to the public. He has also retained ownership of extensive hotel interests and other business ventures as president, raising questions about potential ties with Russia and other possible conflicts of interest. Democrats need to decide how to justify seeking Trump's returns, and some lawmaker comments on Thursday appeared to bolster an option being considered that would place such action within established congressional authority to oversee the IRS. Republicans rejected the need to obtain Trump's tax returns, saying a required annual IRS audit of presidential tax records should provide adequate safeguards without threatening the privacy normally afforded to individual tax data. "But I'm concerned that the IRS may not have the ability to accurately and fairly carry this out, free from political pressure," Democratic Representative Suzan DelBene said. Representative John Lewis, Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, drew a parallel with the Watergate era, citing an IRS audit of former President Richard Nixon that congressional investigators later discovered had missed nearly $480,000 in owed taxes and interest. "Should the public know whether the person who is running for the office or who is currently leading our nation paid the correct amount of tax? In the case of Nixon, the answer was yes," Lewis said. "Is it fair to expect the IRS to enforce federal tax law against the president?" he added. "In the case of Nixon, the answer was no." House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal is under growing pressure from Democratic liberal progressives to move quickly on Trump's taxes. Some committee Democrats said a request could be two to three months away. Republicans say Democrats would overstep their authority and set a dangerous precedent. "In reality, this is all about weaponizing our tax laws to target a political foe," said Republican Representative Jackie Walorski. "Privacy and civil liberties should still matter in this country."

US House Democrats question IRS audits of Trump taxes

Amazon CEO <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/jeff-bezoss-blue-origin-rocket-makes-10th-flight-test-192329">Jeff Bezos</a> on Thursday accused the publisher of the National Enquirer of "blackmail" after it threatened to publish intimate photographs sent by the billionaire to <a href="http://www.wionews.com/entertainment/jeff-lauren-secret-romantic-texts-leaked-just-after-divorce-announcement-189627">Lauren Sanchez</a>, whom he was said to be dating.

It comes after the tabloid last month reported Bezos was in a relationship with former news anchor and entertainment reporter Lauren Sanchez -- having accessed private text messages.

In a post on blogging platform Medium Thursday, Bezos said Enquirer publisher American Media Inc (AMI), led by David Pecker, approached him with a threat to publish the photos if he did not halt an investigation into the motives behind that leak.

He added the publication demanded he and security consultant Gavin de Becker, who is leading the probe, publically state they had "no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces."

De Becker mentioned in a recent Daily Beast recent that "strong leads point to political motives." Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, is a consistent subject of criticism by US President Donald Trump.

"Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten," Bezos wrote in the post, which was entitled "No thank you, Mr Pecker" and included copies of emails from AMI.

"Be assured, no real journalists ever propose anything like what is happening here," he added.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday accused the publisher of the National Enquirer of "blackmail" after it threatened to publish intimate photographs sent by the billionaire to Lauren Sanchez, whom he was said to be dating.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Thursday accused the publisher of the National Enquirer of "blackmail" after it threatened to publish intimate photographs sent by the billionaire to Lauren Sanchez, whom he was said to be dating. It comes after the tabloid last month reported Bezos was in a relationship with former news anchor and entertainment reporter Lauren Sanchez -- having accessed private text messages. In a post on blogging platform Medium Thursday, Bezos said Enquirer publisher American Media Inc (AMI), led by David Pecker, approached him with a threat to publish the photos if he did not halt an investigation into the motives behind that leak. He added the publication demanded he and security consultant Gavin de Becker, who is leading the probe, publically state they had "no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces." De Becker mentioned in a recent Daily Beast recent that "strong leads point to political motives." Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, is a consistent subject of criticism by US President Donald Trump. "Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I've decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten," Bezos wrote in the post, which was entitled "No thank you, Mr Pecker" and included copies of emails from AMI. "Be assured, no real journalists ever propose anything like what is happening here," he added.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos accuses National Enquirer of 'blackmail' over intimate photos

India could lose a vital US&nbsp;trade concession, under which it enjoys zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States, amid a widening dispute over its trade and investment policies, people with close knowledge of the matter said.

A move to withdraw the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) from India, the world’s largest beneficiary of a scheme that has been in force since the 1970s, would be the strongest punitive action since President Donald Trump took office in 2017 vowing to reduce the US&nbsp;deficit with large economies.

Trump has repeatedly called out India for its high tariffs.&nbsp;

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has courted foreign investment as part of his Make-in-India campaign to turn India into a manufacturing hub and deliver jobs to the millions of youth entering the workforce.

Trump, for his part, has pushed for US&nbsp;manufacturing to return home as part of his Make America Great Again campaign.

The trigger for the latest downturn in trade ties was India’s new rules on e-commerce that restrict the way Amazon.com Inc and Walmart-backed Flipkart do business in a rapidly growing online market set to touch $200 billion by 2027.

That, coming on top of a drive to force global card payments companies such as Mastercard and Visa to move their data to India and the imposition of higher tariffs on electronic products and smartphones, left a broader trade package the two sides were working on through last year in tatters.&nbsp;

The GSP was tied to the trade package and since that deal had slipped further away, the United States was considering withdrawing or scaling back the preferential arrangement, two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The US&nbsp;Trade Representative (USTR) was completing a review of India’s status as a GSP beneficiary and an announcement was expected over the next two weeks, the sources said.

“(The two sides) were trying to sort out the trade package, but were not able to actually finish the deal. In the meantime these other things, data localisation and e-commerce, have come along,” one of the sources said. “In a sense it’s like someone has rained on the parade.”

India and the United States have developed close political and security ties. But bilateral trade, which stood at $126 billion in 2017, is widely seen to be performing at nearly a quarter of its potential.

US&nbsp;Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is due in New Delhi next week where he is expected to raise concerns about the e-commerce policy and data localisation, officials said.

Various new policies

New Indian rules announced in December for the e-commerce sector banned companies such as Amazon and Flipkart from striking exclusive deals with sellers, restricted their ability to offer discounts and barred them from selling products via vendors in which they have an equity interest.

The move disrupted product listings on Amazon’s India website and forced it to change its business structures. Amazon and Walmart, as well as the US&nbsp;government, had lobbied against the move, Reuters reported earlier.

The new rules, coming ahead of a general election, were seen as a bid by Modi to placate small traders, who had for years complained about business practices of large e-commerce players.

They form a key voter base for Modi who is facing a tightening election in the next few months.

The idea of the policy was to foster healthy competition and promote India’s e-commerce, an Indian government official involved in trade issues said, defending the curbs on the big firms.

But companies disagree and decry such sudden policy changes.

“These types of actions can really put a negative view on India as an investment destination,” one of the sources said.

India last year also announced proposals to force foreign companies to store more of their user data locally, in a bid to better conduct legal investigations. US&nbsp;lobby groups had voiced concerns about those proposals too, saying they made it difficult for companies to do business in the country.

Possible India setback

If the United States eliminates duty-free access for about 2,000 Indian product lines, it will mostly hurt small businesses such as jewellery, said one of the sources. The number of goods qualifying for preferential treatment could be reduced, or the whole programme could be withdrawn.

There was no response to a request for comment from the USTR or the US&nbsp;Embassy. India’s trade ministry also did not answer questions emailed to them about trade differences with the United States.

But an Indian government official briefed on the trade discussions said the trade package under which the two sides were negotiating better access to each other’s farm and dairy markets was unlikely until the elections in India this spring.

Talks on US&nbsp;demands to relax India’s decision to cap prices of medical devices made in the United States had also got stuck, the official said.

“The list of grievances is getting bigger, now with e-commerce added in,” he said.

India fears Trump may demand a free trade agreement if both sides fail to reach a compromise on the trade package. Such a pact would mean zero tariffs for US&nbsp;goods arriving in India, further threatening local industry.

India could lose a vital US trade concession, under which it enjoys zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States, amid a widening dispute over its trade and investment policies, people with close knowledge of the matter said.

India could lose a vital US trade concession, under which it enjoys zero tariffs on $5.6 billion of exports to the United States, amid a widening dispute over its trade and investment policies, people with close knowledge of the matter said. A move to withdraw the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) from India, the world’s largest beneficiary of a scheme that has been in force since the 1970s, would be the strongest punitive action since President Donald Trump took office in 2017 vowing to reduce the US deficit with large economies. Trump has repeatedly called out India for its high tariffs. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has courted foreign investment as part of his Make-in-India campaign to turn India into a manufacturing hub and deliver jobs to the millions of youth entering the workforce. Trump, for his part, has pushed for US manufacturing to return home as part of his Make America Great Again campaign. The trigger for the latest downturn in trade ties was India’s new rules on e-commerce that restrict the way Amazon.com Inc and Walmart-backed Flipkart do business in a rapidly growing online market set to touch $200 billion by 2027. That, coming on top of a drive to force global card payments companies such as Mastercard and Visa to move their data to India and the imposition of higher tariffs on electronic products and smartphones, left a broader trade package the two sides were working on through last year in tatters. The GSP was tied to the trade package and since that deal had slipped further away, the United States was considering withdrawing or scaling back the preferential arrangement, two sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The US Trade Representative (USTR) was completing a review of India’s status as a GSP beneficiary and an announcement was expected over the next two weeks, the sources said. “(The two sides) were trying to sort out the trade package, but were not able to actually finish the deal. In the meantime these other things, data localisation and e-commerce, have come along,” one of the sources said. “In a sense it’s like someone has rained on the parade.” India and the United States have developed close political and security ties. But bilateral trade, which stood at $126 billion in 2017, is widely seen to be performing at nearly a quarter of its potential. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is due in New Delhi next week where he is expected to raise concerns about the e-commerce policy and data localisation, officials said. Various new policies New Indian rules announced in December for the e-commerce sector banned companies such as Amazon and Flipkart from striking exclusive deals with sellers, restricted their ability to offer discounts and barred them from selling products via vendors in which they have an equity interest. The move disrupted product listings on Amazon’s India website and forced it to change its business structures. Amazon and Walmart, as well as the US government, had lobbied against the move, Reuters reported earlier. The new rules, coming ahead of a general election, were seen as a bid by Modi to placate small traders, who had for years complained about business practices of large e-commerce players. They form a key voter base for Modi who is facing a tightening election in the next few months. The idea of the policy was to foster healthy competition and promote India’s e-commerce, an Indian government official involved in trade issues said, defending the curbs on the big firms. But companies disagree and decry such sudden policy changes. “These types of actions can really put a negative view on India as an investment destination,” one of the sources said. India last year also announced proposals to force foreign companies to store more of their user data locally, in a bid to better conduct legal investigations. US lobby groups had voiced concerns about those proposals too, saying they made it difficult for companies to do business in the country. Possible India setback If the United States eliminates duty-free access for about 2,000 Indian product lines, it will mostly hurt small businesses such as jewellery, said one of the sources. The number of goods qualifying for preferential treatment could be reduced, or the whole programme could be withdrawn. There was no response to a request for comment from the USTR or the US Embassy. India’s trade ministry also did not answer questions emailed to them about trade differences with the United States. But an Indian government official briefed on the trade discussions said the trade package under which the two sides were negotiating better access to each other’s farm and dairy markets was unlikely until the elections in India this spring. Talks on US demands to relax India’s decision to cap prices of medical devices made in the United States had also got stuck, the official said. “The list of grievances is getting bigger, now with e-commerce added in,” he said. India fears Trump may demand a free trade agreement if both sides fail to reach a compromise on the trade package. Such a pact would mean zero tariffs for US goods arriving in India, further threatening local industry.

India could lose vital US trade concession as Trump considers withdrawal of zero tariffs

What Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in blog post on National Enquirer 'blackmail'

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