China on Tuesday defended its friend Pakistan against strong criticism by Donald Trump that the country is not doing enough to counter terrorism.

In a major speech outlining US policy on Afghanistan, the American president slammed Islamabad for offering safe haven to &quot;agents of chaos&quot;.

Successive US administrations have criticised Pakistan for links with the Taliban and for harbouring leading jihadists -- like Osama bin Laden.

&quot;We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting,&quot; Trump said, warning that vital aid could be cut.

But Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying took a contrary view, telling reporters that Pakistan &quot;has made great sacrifices and contributions to fighting terrorism&quot;.

&quot;The international community should fully affirm the efforts by Pakistan,&quot; she told a regular press briefing. 
 
Beijing is investing around $50 billion in its South Asian neighbour as part of a plan unveiled in 2015 to link its far-western Xinjiang region to the Pakistani port of Gwadar in Balochistan province with upgraded infrastructure, power lines and transport links.

But fears over safety arose earlier this year when two Chinese workers were abducted in the provincial capital Quetta.

Balochistan is at the heart of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor project but also racked by separatist and Islamist insurgencies.

Pakistan responded by deploying a 15,000-strong military force to protect Chinese working on energy and infrastructure projects in the country.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman said Pakistan 'has made great sacrifices and contributions to fighting terrorism'

China on Tuesday defended its friend Pakistan against strong criticism by Donald Trump that the country is not doing enough to counter terrorism. In a major speech outlining US policy on Afghanistan, the American president slammed Islamabad for offering safe haven to "agents of chaos". Successive US administrations have criticised Pakistan for links with the Taliban and for harbouring leading jihadists -- like Osama bin Laden. "We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting," Trump said, warning that vital aid could be cut. But Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying took a contrary view, telling reporters that Pakistan "has made great sacrifices and contributions to fighting terrorism". "The international community should fully affirm the efforts by Pakistan," she told a regular press briefing. Beijing is investing around $50 billion in its South Asian neighbour as part of a plan unveiled in 2015 to link its far-western Xinjiang region to the Pakistani port of Gwadar in Balochistan province with upgraded infrastructure, power lines and transport links. But fears over safety arose earlier this year when two Chinese workers were abducted in the provincial capital Quetta. Balochistan is at the heart of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor project but also racked by separatist and Islamist insurgencies. Pakistan responded by deploying a 15,000-strong military force to protect Chinese working on energy and infrastructure projects in the country.

China defends Pakistan against Trump criticism

President Donald Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist Steve&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;in the latest White House shake-up, removing a far-right architect of his 2016 election victory and a driving force behind his nationalist and anti-globalisation agenda.

Bannon&#39;s firing, a year and a day after Trump hired him as his campaign chief, put an abrupt end to the rabble-rousing political provocateur&#39;s tumultuous tenure in a White House riven with rivalries and back-stabbing during which he clashed with more-moderate factions.

He was instrumental in some of Trump&#39;s most contentious policy moves including the ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries, abandoning the Paris climate accord, tearing up international trade agreements and cracking down on illegal immigration. He was no friend of the Republican political establishment and was loathed by liberals but was a darling of some of the president&#39;s hard-line conservative supporters.

White House officials said Trump had told new Chief of Staff John Kelly to crack down on the bickering and infighting, and that&nbsp;Bannon&#39;s fate was sealed by comments published on Wednesday in the American Prospect liberal magazine in which he spoke of targeting his adversaries within the administration.

Trump, seven months into his presidency, has become increasingly isolated over his comments following white supremacist violence in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville last Saturday and his attacks on fellow Republicans. Some Republicans had even begun questioning Trump&#39;s capacity to govern.

As Trump came under fire from Republicans including two former presidents, and from business leaders and U.S. allies abroad, he faced mounting calls for&nbsp;Bannon&#39;s ouster. Critics had accusedBannon&nbsp;of harbouring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments.

&quot;White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;have mutually agreed today would be Steve&#39;s last day,&quot; White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Bannon&nbsp;returned to his post as executive chairman of right-wing Breitbart News on Friday afternoon, the website said. Prior to joining the Trump campaign, he had spearheaded Breitbart&#39;s shift into a forum for the &quot;alt-right,&quot; a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites.

Bannon&nbsp;said his departure from the White House signals a major shift for the Trump agenda. &quot;The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over,&quot;&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;told the conservative Weekly Standard.

&quot;I just think his ability to get anything done - particularly the bigger things, like the wall, the bigger, broader things that we fought for, it&#39;s just gonna be that much harder,&quot;&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;said.

He said he would use Breitbart to attack opponents of the populist and nationalist agenda he championed, including establishment Republicans. &quot;I am definitely going to crush the opposition,&quot;Bannon&nbsp;said.

He became the latest key figure to abruptly depart a Trump White House that has been chaotic from its first days and already has lost a chief of staff, a national security adviser, two communications directors and a chief spokesman.

Trump&#39;s presidency also has been dogged by ongoing investigations in Congress and a special counsel named by the Justice Department into potential collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia, something both Trump and Moscow deny.

Bannon, 63, is a former U.S. Navy officer, Goldman Sachs investment banker and Hollywood movie producer.

He had been in a precarious position before but Trump opted to keep him, in part because he had played a major role in Trump&#39;s November 2016 election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton and was backed by many of the president&#39;s most loyal rank-and-file supporters.

Democrats cheered&nbsp;Bannon&#39;s departure.

&quot;Steve&nbsp;Bannon&#39;s firing is welcome news,&quot; said Nancy Pelosi, the top House of Representatives Democrat. &quot;The Trump Administration must not only purge itself of the remaining white supremacists on staff, but abandon the bigoted ideology that clearly governs its decisions.&quot;

Markets react

Wall Street indexes &lt;.SPX&gt; and the U.S. dollar &lt;.DXY&gt; ended a volatile session lower after a week of drama in Washington intensified doubts about Trump&#39;s ability to deliver on policy objectives such as tax cuts. After a late-morning boost following reports of&nbsp;Bannon&#39;s ouster, the dollar and U.S. equities lost ground.

Bannon&nbsp;felt a close ideological connection to Trump&#39;s populist tendencies and &quot;America First&quot; message. Like Trump, he has also expressed deep scepticism concerning ongoing American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision to fire&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;could undermine Trump&#39;s support among far-right voters but might ease tensions within the White House and with party leaders. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress but have been unable to pass major legislative goals including a healthcare overhaul.

Trump ran into trouble after saying anti-racism demonstrators in Charlottesville were as responsible for the violence as the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who instigated the protests, and that there were &quot;very fine people&quot; among both groups.

Those remarks sparked rebukes from fellow Republicans, top corporate executives and some close allies.

Bannon&#39;s departure removes a large source of friction on the White House staff, but does not herald a significant shift by Trump towards the centre on major policy issues, three administration officials said.

&quot;A good deal of what was attributed to&nbsp;Bannon, for example on China trade and restricting immigration, and the border wall, all came before&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;joined the campaign and would have happened without him,&quot; said one White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Bannon&nbsp;has been a hawk on China, urging a tougher line on trade to correct a huge trade imbalance and dismissive of recent efforts to try to elicit Beijing&#39;s help to rein in North Korea. In his comments to American Prospect,&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;said the United States was in an economic war with China.

A second official said the biggest winners from&nbsp;Bannon&rsquo;s departure are national security adviser H.R. McMaster; Gary Cohn, Trump&rsquo;s chief economic adviser; and Trump&rsquo;s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner.

Bannon&#39;s departure cast a cloud over the future of the group of allies he had brought into the White House, such as Sebastian Gorka.

Some conservative activists expressed disappointment in&nbsp;Bannon&#39;s ouster. Republicans were largely quiet, though moderate Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she was glad&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;was out but that the administration &quot;must work to build bridges, not destroy them.&quot;

By the time Trump had hired&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;as campaign manager, the real estate magnate had already vanquished his Republican opponents for the party&#39;s presidential nomination.

Asked about&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;on Tuesday, Trump called him &quot;a friend of mine&quot; but downplayed his contribution to his election victory.

&quot;Mr.&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors and I won all the primaries. Mr.&nbsp;Bannon&nbsp;came on very much later than that. And I like him. He is a good man. He is not a racist,&quot; Trump said.

Far-right chief strategist Steve Bannon's dismissal comes as the White House reels from the fallout over Trump's response to a violent white supremacist rally

President Donald Trump on Friday fired his chief strategist Steve Bannon in the latest White House shake-up, removing a far-right architect of his 2016 election victory and a driving force behind his nationalist and anti-globalisation agenda. Bannon's firing, a year and a day after Trump hired him as his campaign chief, put an abrupt end to the rabble-rousing political provocateur's tumultuous tenure in a White House riven with rivalries and back-stabbing during which he clashed with more-moderate factions. He was instrumental in some of Trump's most contentious policy moves including the ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries, abandoning the Paris climate accord, tearing up international trade agreements and cracking down on illegal immigration. He was no friend of the Republican political establishment and was loathed by liberals but was a darling of some of the president's hard-line conservative supporters. White House officials said Trump had told new Chief of Staff John Kelly to crack down on the bickering and infighting, and that Bannon's fate was sealed by comments published on Wednesday in the American Prospect liberal magazine in which he spoke of targeting his adversaries within the administration. Trump, seven months into his presidency, has become increasingly isolated over his comments following white supremacist violence in the Virginia college town of Charlottesville last Saturday and his attacks on fellow Republicans. Some Republicans had even begun questioning Trump's capacity to govern. As Trump came under fire from Republicans including two former presidents, and from business leaders and U.S. allies abroad, he faced mounting calls for Bannon's ouster. Critics had accusedBannon of harbouring anti-Semitic and white nationalist sentiments. "White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement. Bannon returned to his post as executive chairman of right-wing Breitbart News on Friday afternoon, the website said. Prior to joining the Trump campaign, he had spearheaded Breitbart's shift into a forum for the "alt-right," a loose online confederation of neo-Nazis, white supremacists and anti-Semites. Bannon said his departure from the White House signals a major shift for the Trump agenda. "The Trump presidency that we fought for, and won, is over," Bannon told the conservative Weekly Standard. "I just think his ability to get anything done - particularly the bigger things, like the wall, the bigger, broader things that we fought for, it's just gonna be that much harder," Bannon said. He said he would use Breitbart to attack opponents of the populist and nationalist agenda he championed, including establishment Republicans. "I am definitely going to crush the opposition,"Bannon said. He became the latest key figure to abruptly depart a Trump White House that has been chaotic from its first days and already has lost a chief of staff, a national security adviser, two communications directors and a chief spokesman. Trump's presidency also has been dogged by ongoing investigations in Congress and a special counsel named by the Justice Department into potential collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia, something both Trump and Moscow deny. Bannon, 63, is a former U.S. Navy officer, Goldman Sachs investment banker and Hollywood movie producer. He had been in a precarious position before but Trump opted to keep him, in part because he had played a major role in Trump's November 2016 election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton and was backed by many of the president's most loyal rank-and-file supporters. Democrats cheered Bannon's departure. "Steve Bannon's firing is welcome news," said Nancy Pelosi, the top House of Representatives Democrat. "The Trump Administration must not only purge itself of the remaining white supremacists on staff, but abandon the bigoted ideology that clearly governs its decisions." Markets react Wall Street indexes <.SPX> and the U.S. dollar <.DXY> ended a volatile session lower after a week of drama in Washington intensified doubts about Trump's ability to deliver on policy objectives such as tax cuts. After a late-morning boost following reports of Bannon's ouster, the dollar and U.S. equities lost ground. Bannon felt a close ideological connection to Trump's populist tendencies and "America First" message. Like Trump, he has also expressed deep scepticism concerning ongoing American military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The decision to fire Bannon could undermine Trump's support among far-right voters but might ease tensions within the White House and with party leaders. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress but have been unable to pass major legislative goals including a healthcare overhaul. Trump ran into trouble after saying anti-racism demonstrators in Charlottesville were as responsible for the violence as the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who instigated the protests, and that there were "very fine people" among both groups. Those remarks sparked rebukes from fellow Republicans, top corporate executives and some close allies. Bannon's departure removes a large source of friction on the White House staff, but does not herald a significant shift by Trump towards the centre on major policy issues, three administration officials said. "A good deal of what was attributed to Bannon, for example on China trade and restricting immigration, and the border wall, all came before Bannon joined the campaign and would have happened without him," said one White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Bannon has been a hawk on China, urging a tougher line on trade to correct a huge trade imbalance and dismissive of recent efforts to try to elicit Beijing's help to rein in North Korea. In his comments to American Prospect, Bannon said the United States was in an economic war with China. A second official said the biggest winners from Bannon’s departure are national security adviser H.R. McMaster; Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic adviser; and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner. Bannon's departure cast a cloud over the future of the group of allies he had brought into the White House, such as Sebastian Gorka. Some conservative activists expressed disappointment in Bannon's ouster. Republicans were largely quiet, though moderate Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said she was glad Bannon was out but that the administration "must work to build bridges, not destroy them." By the time Trump had hired Bannon as campaign manager, the real estate magnate had already vanquished his Republican opponents for the party's presidential nomination. Asked about Bannon on Tuesday, Trump called him "a friend of mine" but downplayed his contribution to his election victory. "Mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that. And I like him. He is a good man. He is not a racist," Trump said.

Trump fires far-right chief strategist Steve Bannon

President Donald Trump said Thursday the history and culture of the United States were being &quot;ripped apart&quot; by the removal of statues memorializing the Confederate era.

&quot;Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments,&quot; Trump wrote on Twitter.

&quot;You can&#39;t change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson -- who&#39;s next. Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!&quot;

Trump&#39;s latest tweets pile more fuel on a political firestorm ignited by the president&#39;s attempts to shift blame for deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia to anti-racism counter-protesters.

The &quot;Unite the Right&quot; rally, which drew hundreds of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists marching to anti-Semitic chants, was nominally prompted by plans to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee from a Charlottesville park.

Lee and Jackson, another Confederate commander during the 1861-1865 Civil War, have long been celebrated by many white southerners as icons of a lost cause, and reviled by other Americans as traitorous defenders of a slave-holding south.

&quot;The beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!&quot; Trump said in a third tweet.

Trump is facing a barrage of criticism for his attempt to shift the blame on counter-protesters for the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville

President Donald Trump said Thursday the history and culture of the United States were being "ripped apart" by the removal of statues memorializing the Confederate era. "Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments," Trump wrote on Twitter. "You can't change history, but you can learn from it. Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson -- who's next. Washington, Jefferson? So foolish!" Trump's latest tweets pile more fuel on a political firestorm ignited by the president's attempts to shift blame for deadly violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia to anti-racism counter-protesters. The "Unite the Right" rally, which drew hundreds of neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members and white supremacists marching to anti-Semitic chants, was nominally prompted by plans to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E Lee from a Charlottesville park. Lee and Jackson, another Confederate commander during the 1861-1865 Civil War, have long been celebrated by many white southerners as icons of a lost cause, and reviled by other Americans as traitorous defenders of a slave-holding south. "The beauty that is being taken out of our cities, towns and parks will be greatly missed and never able to be comparably replaced!" Trump said in a third tweet.

US culture and history being 'ripped apart' by removal of Confederate statues: Trump

President Donald Trump disbanded two high-profile business advisory councils on Wednesday after several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks of blaming weekend violence in Virginia not only on white nationalists but also on anti-racism activists who opposed them.

A parade of prominent Republicans and US&nbsp;ally Britain also rebuked Trump, leaving him increasingly isolated after his comments on Tuesday about the bloodshed in the college town of Charlottesville further enveloped his seven-month-old presidency in controversy.

The mayor of Phoenix asked Trump to delay a rally planned for next Tuesday, an appeal the president appeared to reject.

A memorial service was held on Wednesday in Charlottesville for 32-year-old Heather Heyer, killed when a car plowed into anti-racism protesters. A 20-year-old Ohio man said to have harboured Nazi sympathies has been charged with murder.

Trump, a real estate magnate who had never before held public office, was elected president in November touting his experience in the business world and ability to strike deals. But some of the Republican president&#39;s actions and words have alienated many corporate leaders.

Trump said he would dissolve the American Manufacturing Council and the Strategic and Policy Forum after eight executives including Campbell Soup Co CEO&nbsp;Denise Morrison and 3M Co CEO&nbsp;Inge Thulin quit the panels.

Both of the councils were moving to disband on their own when Trump made his announcement on Twitter.

&quot;Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council &amp; Strategy &amp; Policy Forum, I am ending both,&quot; he wrote.

The Strategic and Policy Forum was headed by Blackstone Group&nbsp;CEO Stephen Schwarzman, a close ally of Trump in the business world. Schwarzman organised a call on Wednesday for member executives to voice concerns after Trump&#39;s comments, and an overwhelming majority backed disbanding the council, two sources said.

Schwarzman then called Trump to tell him about the decision to disband.

&quot;Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville,&quot; Morrison said.

JP Morgan Chase &amp; Co&nbsp;CEO Jamie Dimon, a member of one of the panels, said in a statement that &quot;fanning divisiveness is not the answer.&quot;

Dow Chemical Co&nbsp;Chief Executive Andrew Liveris, who headed the manufacturing council, said he told the White House on Wednesday that &quot;in the current environment it was no longer possible to conduct productive discussions.&quot;

The Strategic and Policy Forum was intended to advise Trump on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation, and productivity. The manufacturing Council was designed to promote US&nbsp;job growth.

Along with the snubs from business leaders, Trump was rebuked by a string of Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Senator Lindsey Graham and former US&nbsp;presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

The president needs the support of fellow Republicans as he tries to push his policy agenda, including tax cuts, through a Congress that is controlled by the Republicans.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, said Trump would &quot;enflame emotions and further divide our nation&quot; if he used next week&#39;s rally to pardon Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who was found guilty last month of criminal contempt of court. Arpaio gained a national profile due to his harsh treatment of inmates and outspoken opposition to illegal immigration.

Shortly after Stanton&#39;s statement, Trump urged supporters on Twitter to attend the rally.

Few public figures have voiced support for Trump over his response to the violence. Vice President Mike Pence, who is cutting short a trip to Latin America, told reporters in Chile that &quot;I stand with the president and I stand by those words.&quot; Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke praised Trump&#39;s &quot;honesty and courage.&quot; Richard Spencer, head of a white nationalist group, lauded the president for &quot;speaking the truth.&quot;

US&nbsp;stocks ended slightly firmer but off the day&#39;s highs as investors worried that the backlash to Trump&#39;s remarks could stunt his ability to deliver on pro-business promises.

A former senior Trump administration official raised the prospect that some White House officials could quit because of Trump&#39;s comments.

The demise of the councils raised Wall Street speculation that senior administration figures such as White House economic adviser Gary Cohn or US&nbsp;Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin might step down to avoid the tarnish of being associated with Trump.

Cohn, Mnuchin, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao stood awkwardly by Trump during his remarks at Trump Tower on Tuesday.

&quot;He&#39;s worried about his reputation being trashed, which is much more valuable to him than anything else,&quot; the former administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of Cohn.

McConnell, who last week drew Trump&#39;s ire over the Senate&#39;s failure to pass healthcare legislation, issued a statement saying &quot;messages of hate and bigotry&quot; from white supremacists, should not be welcome in the United States. McConnell&#39;s statement did not mention Trump by name.

The Republican Jewish Coalition, a group whose board includes big party donors including casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, called on Trump to &quot;provide greater moral clarity in rejecting racism, bigotry, and antisemitism.&quot;

There is &quot;simply no place&quot; in American public discourse for &quot;hate and violence&quot; displayed in Charlottesville, US&nbsp;Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said before meeting with Canada&#39;s foreign minister.

Trump&#39;s remarks on Tuesday were a more vehement reprisal of his initial response to the bloodshed. At a heated news conference in New York, he said &quot;there is blame on both sides&quot; of the violence, and that there were &quot;very fine people&quot; on both sides.

In London, British Prime Minister Theresa May offered a rare rebuke of Trump from so close a US&nbsp;ally.

&quot;I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them and I think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn far-right views wherever we hear them,&quot; May told reporters.

Politicians in Germany, which has tough laws against hate speech and any symbols linked to the Nazis who murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust, expressed shock at the images of people in Charlottesville carrying swastikas and chanting anti-Jewish slurs. The country&#39;s justice minister accused Trump of trivializing anti-Semitism and racism.

Senior American military officers usually stay clear of politics, but two more of the US&nbsp;military&#39;s top officers weighed in on Wednesday, without explicitly mentioning Trump.

US&nbsp;Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley wrote on Twitter, &quot;The Army doesn&#39;t tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks. It&#39;s against our Values and everything we&#39;ve stood for since 1775.&quot;

Air Force Chief of Staff General Dave Goldfein&rlm; said on Twitter that &quot;I stand with my fellow service chiefs in saying we&#39;re always stronger together.&quot;

Their comments followed similar ones from the top officers of the Navy and Marine Corps.

Several chief executives quit after Trump blamed weekend violence in Virginia not only on white nationalists but also on anti-racism activists

President Donald Trump disbanded two high-profile business advisory councils on Wednesday after several chief executives quit in protest over his remarks of blaming weekend violence in Virginia not only on white nationalists but also on anti-racism activists who opposed them. A parade of prominent Republicans and US ally Britain also rebuked Trump, leaving him increasingly isolated after his comments on Tuesday about the bloodshed in the college town of Charlottesville further enveloped his seven-month-old presidency in controversy. The mayor of Phoenix asked Trump to delay a rally planned for next Tuesday, an appeal the president appeared to reject. A memorial service was held on Wednesday in Charlottesville for 32-year-old Heather Heyer, killed when a car plowed into anti-racism protesters. A 20-year-old Ohio man said to have harboured Nazi sympathies has been charged with murder. Trump, a real estate magnate who had never before held public office, was elected president in November touting his experience in the business world and ability to strike deals. But some of the Republican president's actions and words have alienated many corporate leaders. Trump said he would dissolve the American Manufacturing Council and the Strategic and Policy Forum after eight executives including Campbell Soup Co CEO Denise Morrison and 3M Co CEO Inge Thulin quit the panels. Both of the councils were moving to disband on their own when Trump made his announcement on Twitter. "Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both," he wrote. The Strategic and Policy Forum was headed by Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, a close ally of Trump in the business world. Schwarzman organised a call on Wednesday for member executives to voice concerns after Trump's comments, and an overwhelming majority backed disbanding the council, two sources said. Schwarzman then called Trump to tell him about the decision to disband. "Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville," Morrison said. JP Morgan Chase & Co CEO Jamie Dimon, a member of one of the panels, said in a statement that "fanning divisiveness is not the answer." Dow Chemical Co Chief Executive Andrew Liveris, who headed the manufacturing council, said he told the White House on Wednesday that "in the current environment it was no longer possible to conduct productive discussions." The Strategic and Policy Forum was intended to advise Trump on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation, and productivity. The manufacturing Council was designed to promote US job growth. Along with the snubs from business leaders, Trump was rebuked by a string of Republicans including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Senator Lindsey Graham and former US presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. The president needs the support of fellow Republicans as he tries to push his policy agenda, including tax cuts, through a Congress that is controlled by the Republicans. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, a Democrat, said Trump would "enflame emotions and further divide our nation" if he used next week's rally to pardon Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who was found guilty last month of criminal contempt of court. Arpaio gained a national profile due to his harsh treatment of inmates and outspoken opposition to illegal immigration. Shortly after Stanton's statement, Trump urged supporters on Twitter to attend the rally. Few public figures have voiced support for Trump over his response to the violence. Vice President Mike Pence, who is cutting short a trip to Latin America, told reporters in Chile that "I stand with the president and I stand by those words." Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke praised Trump's "honesty and courage." Richard Spencer, head of a white nationalist group, lauded the president for "speaking the truth." US stocks ended slightly firmer but off the day's highs as investors worried that the backlash to Trump's remarks could stunt his ability to deliver on pro-business promises. A former senior Trump administration official raised the prospect that some White House officials could quit because of Trump's comments. The demise of the councils raised Wall Street speculation that senior administration figures such as White House economic adviser Gary Cohn or US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin might step down to avoid the tarnish of being associated with Trump. Cohn, Mnuchin, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao stood awkwardly by Trump during his remarks at Trump Tower on Tuesday. "He's worried about his reputation being trashed, which is much more valuable to him than anything else," the former administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said of Cohn. McConnell, who last week drew Trump's ire over the Senate's failure to pass healthcare legislation, issued a statement saying "messages of hate and bigotry" from white supremacists, should not be welcome in the United States. McConnell's statement did not mention Trump by name. The Republican Jewish Coalition, a group whose board includes big party donors including casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, called on Trump to "provide greater moral clarity in rejecting racism, bigotry, and antisemitism." There is "simply no place" in American public discourse for "hate and violence" displayed in Charlottesville, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said before meeting with Canada's foreign minister. Trump's remarks on Tuesday were a more vehement reprisal of his initial response to the bloodshed. At a heated news conference in New York, he said "there is blame on both sides" of the violence, and that there were "very fine people" on both sides. In London, British Prime Minister Theresa May offered a rare rebuke of Trump from so close a US ally. "I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them and I think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn far-right views wherever we hear them," May told reporters. Politicians in Germany, which has tough laws against hate speech and any symbols linked to the Nazis who murdered six million Jews in the Holocaust, expressed shock at the images of people in Charlottesville carrying swastikas and chanting anti-Jewish slurs. The country's justice minister accused Trump of trivializing anti-Semitism and racism. Senior American military officers usually stay clear of politics, but two more of the US military's top officers weighed in on Wednesday, without explicitly mentioning Trump. US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley wrote on Twitter, "The Army doesn't tolerate racism, extremism, or hatred in our ranks. It's against our Values and everything we've stood for since 1775." Air Force Chief of Staff General Dave Goldfein‏ said on Twitter that "I stand with my fellow service chiefs in saying we're always stronger together." Their comments followed similar ones from the top officers of the Navy and Marine Corps.

Trump disbands business councils after CEOs quit in protest

US President Donald Trump unabashedly insisted on Tuesday that both left- and right-wing extremists resorted to violence during a weekend rally by white nationalists in Virginia and that some present were peacefully protesting plans to remove a Confederate monument when the upheaval began.

Trump, taking questions from reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, reverted to his initial comments blaming &quot;many sides&quot; for Saturday&#39;s violence in Charlottesville, a day after bowing to pressure to explicitly condemn the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.

&quot;They came at each other with clubs ... it was a horrible thing to watch,&quot; Trump said during what was supposed to be an announcement about his administration&#39;s infrastructure policy. He also said left-wing protesters &quot;came violently attacking the other group.&quot;

Trump has faced a storm of criticism from Democrats and members of his own Republican Party over his response to the deadly violence, which erupted after white nationalists converged in Charlottesville for a &quot;Unite the Right&quot; rally in protest of plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army during the US&nbsp;Civil War.

Many of the rally participants were seen carrying firearms, sticks and shields. Some also wore helmets. Counter-protesters likewise came equipped with sticks, helmets and shields.

The two sides clashed in scattered street brawls before a car plowed into the rally opponents, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. A 20-year-old Ohio man, James Fields, said to have harboured Nazi sympathies, was charged with murder.

Two state police officers also were killed that day in the fiery crash of the helicopter they were flying in as part of crowd-control operations.

Addressing the melee for the first time on Saturday, Trump denounced hatred and violence &quot;on many sides.&quot; The comment drew sharp criticism across the political spectrum for not explicitly condemning the white nationalists whose presence in the Southern college town was widely seen as having provoked the unrest.

Critics said Trump&#39;s remarks then belied his reluctance to alienate extreme right-wing organizations, whose followers constitute a devoted segment of his political base despite his disavowal of them.

Yielding two days later to a mounting political furore over his initial response, Trump delivered a follow-up message expressly referring to the &quot;KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists and other hate groups&quot; as &quot;repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.&quot;

Trump&#39;s detractors dismissed his revised statements as too little too late, but his remarks on Tuesday casting blame on both sides and suggesting that not everyone attending the rally was a white supremacist newly inflamed the controversy.

Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke immediately applauded Trump on Twitter.

&quot;Thank you, President Trump, for your honesty &amp; courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville &amp; condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa,&quot; Duke wrote, referring to Black Lives Matter (BLM) and anti-fascists.

Democrats seized on Trump&#39;s latest words as evidence that Trump sees white nationalists and those protesting against them as morally equivalent.

&quot;By saying he is not taking sides, Donald Trump clearly is,&quot; Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York, said. &quot;When David Duke and white supremacists cheer your remarks, you&#39;re doing it very, very wrong.&quot;

In a similar vein, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said Trump&#39;s characterization of the violence missed the mark.

&ldquo;Neo-Nazis, Klansmen and white supremacists came to Charlottesville heavily armed, spewing hatred and looking for a fight. One of them murdered a young woman in an act of domestic terrorism, and two of our finest officers were killed in a tragic accident while serving to protect this community. This was not &#39;both sides,&#39;&quot; he said.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labour federation representing 12.5 million workers, became the latest member of Trump&#39;s advisory American Manufacturing Council to resign in protest, saying, &quot;We cannot sit on a council for a president who tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism,&quot; Trumka said. &quot;President Trump&#39;s remarks today repudiate his forced remarks yesterday about the KKK and neo-Nazis.&quot;

Three other members of the council - the chief executives of pharmaceutical maker Merck &amp; Co Inc, sportswear company Under Armour Inc and computer chipmaker Intel Corp - resigned on Monday.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Trump also sympathized with protesters seeking to keep Lee&#39;s statue in place but offered no equivalent remarks for those who favoured its removal.

&quot;You had people in that group ... that were there to protest the taking down of a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name,&quot; Trump said.

Trump also grouped former presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, two of the nation&#39;s founding fathers, together with Confederate leaders such as Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson, who fought to separate Southern states from the Union, noting that all were slave owners.

&quot;Was George Washington a slave owner? Will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? ... Because he was a major slave owner,&quot; Trump said.

On Tuesday, Trump explained his initial restrained response by saying: &quot;The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, but you don&#39;t make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts.&quot;

In a sometimes heated exchange with reporters shouting questions, Trump said, &quot;You also had people that were very fine people on both sides.&quot;

He said that while neo-Nazis and white nationalists &quot;should be condemned totally,&quot; Trump said protesters in the other group &quot;also had trouble-makers. And you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You got a lot of bad people in the other group too.&quot;

He insisted that both left- and right-wing extremists resorted to violence during a weekend rally by white nationalists in Virginia

US President Donald Trump unabashedly insisted on Tuesday that both left- and right-wing extremists resorted to violence during a weekend rally by white nationalists in Virginia and that some present were peacefully protesting plans to remove a Confederate monument when the upheaval began. Trump, taking questions from reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, reverted to his initial comments blaming "many sides" for Saturday's violence in Charlottesville, a day after bowing to pressure to explicitly condemn the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups. "They came at each other with clubs ... it was a horrible thing to watch," Trump said during what was supposed to be an announcement about his administration's infrastructure policy. He also said left-wing protesters "came violently attacking the other group." Trump has faced a storm of criticism from Democrats and members of his own Republican Party over his response to the deadly violence, which erupted after white nationalists converged in Charlottesville for a "Unite the Right" rally in protest of plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, commander of the pro-slavery Confederate army during the US Civil War. Many of the rally participants were seen carrying firearms, sticks and shields. Some also wore helmets. Counter-protesters likewise came equipped with sticks, helmets and shields. The two sides clashed in scattered street brawls before a car plowed into the rally opponents, killing one woman and injuring 19 others. A 20-year-old Ohio man, James Fields, said to have harboured Nazi sympathies, was charged with murder. Two state police officers also were killed that day in the fiery crash of the helicopter they were flying in as part of crowd-control operations. Addressing the melee for the first time on Saturday, Trump denounced hatred and violence "on many sides." The comment drew sharp criticism across the political spectrum for not explicitly condemning the white nationalists whose presence in the Southern college town was widely seen as having provoked the unrest. Critics said Trump's remarks then belied his reluctance to alienate extreme right-wing organizations, whose followers constitute a devoted segment of his political base despite his disavowal of them. Yielding two days later to a mounting political furore over his initial response, Trump delivered a follow-up message expressly referring to the "KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists and other hate groups" as "repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans." Trump's detractors dismissed his revised statements as too little too late, but his remarks on Tuesday casting blame on both sides and suggesting that not everyone attending the rally was a white supremacist newly inflamed the controversy. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke immediately applauded Trump on Twitter. "Thank you, President Trump, for your honesty & courage to tell the truth about #Charlottesville & condemn the leftist terrorists in BLM/Antifa," Duke wrote, referring to Black Lives Matter (BLM) and anti-fascists. Democrats seized on Trump's latest words as evidence that Trump sees white nationalists and those protesting against them as morally equivalent. "By saying he is not taking sides, Donald Trump clearly is," Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York, said. "When David Duke and white supremacists cheer your remarks, you're doing it very, very wrong." In a similar vein, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said Trump's characterization of the violence missed the mark. “Neo-Nazis, Klansmen and white supremacists came to Charlottesville heavily armed, spewing hatred and looking for a fight. One of them murdered a young woman in an act of domestic terrorism, and two of our finest officers were killed in a tragic accident while serving to protect this community. This was not 'both sides,'" he said. Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO labour federation representing 12.5 million workers, became the latest member of Trump's advisory American Manufacturing Council to resign in protest, saying, "We cannot sit on a council for a president who tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism," Trumka said. "President Trump's remarks today repudiate his forced remarks yesterday about the KKK and neo-Nazis." Three other members of the council - the chief executives of pharmaceutical maker Merck & Co Inc, sportswear company Under Armour Inc and computer chipmaker Intel Corp - resigned on Monday. In his remarks on Tuesday, Trump also sympathized with protesters seeking to keep Lee's statue in place but offered no equivalent remarks for those who favoured its removal. "You had people in that group ... that were there to protest the taking down of a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name," Trump said. Trump also grouped former presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, two of the nation's founding fathers, together with Confederate leaders such as Lee, Jefferson Davis and Stonewall Jackson, who fought to separate Southern states from the Union, noting that all were slave owners. "Was George Washington a slave owner? Will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? ... Because he was a major slave owner," Trump said. On Tuesday, Trump explained his initial restrained response by saying: "The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts." In a sometimes heated exchange with reporters shouting questions, Trump said, "You also had people that were very fine people on both sides." He said that while neo-Nazis and white nationalists "should be condemned totally," Trump said protesters in the other group "also had trouble-makers. And you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. You got a lot of bad people in the other group too."

Trump says 'both sides' to blame for Virginia violence

Japan was on Saturday deploying its Patriot missile defence system after North Korea threatened to fire ballistic missiles over the country towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, reports said.

Regional tensions are mounting as Washington and Pyongyang ratchet up their war of words, with President Donald Trump warning Pyongyang would &quot;truly regret&quot; any hostile action against the US.

The defence ministry started deploying the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system in Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi in western Japan, which Pyongyang warned could be along its missiles&#39; flight path, public broadcaster NHK said.

It was also to deploy the anti-missile system in neighbouring Ehime, NHK said.

Television footage showed military vehicles carrying launchers and other equipment for the surface-to-air system entering a Japanese base in Kochi before dawn.

While immediate confirmation of the reports was not available, Japan has in the past vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory.

The government hopes to complete deployment of the system in western Japan by Saturday morning, Kyodo News said, quoting defence ministry officials.&nbsp;

Yoshihide Suga, Japan&#39;s chief government spokesman, said earlier this week that Tokyo &quot;can never tolerate&quot; provocations from North Korea and the country&#39;s military, will &quot;take necessary measures.&quot;

In 2009, a North Korean rocket passed over Japanese territory without incident or any attempt to shoot it down.

At the time North Korea said it was launching a telecommunications satellite, but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believed Pyongyang was testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Television footage showed military vehicles carrying launchers and other equipment for the surface-to-air system entering a Japanese base in Kochi before dawn

Japan was on Saturday deploying its Patriot missile defence system after North Korea threatened to fire ballistic missiles over the country towards the US Pacific territory of Guam, reports said. Regional tensions are mounting as Washington and Pyongyang ratchet up their war of words, with President Donald Trump warning Pyongyang would "truly regret" any hostile action against the US. The defence ministry started deploying the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) system in Shimane, Hiroshima and Kochi in western Japan, which Pyongyang warned could be along its missiles' flight path, public broadcaster NHK said. It was also to deploy the anti-missile system in neighbouring Ehime, NHK said. Television footage showed military vehicles carrying launchers and other equipment for the surface-to-air system entering a Japanese base in Kochi before dawn. While immediate confirmation of the reports was not available, Japan has in the past vowed to shoot down North Korean missiles or rockets that threaten to hit its territory. The government hopes to complete deployment of the system in western Japan by Saturday morning, Kyodo News said, quoting defence ministry officials. Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief government spokesman, said earlier this week that Tokyo "can never tolerate" provocations from North Korea and the country's military, will "take necessary measures." In 2009, a North Korean rocket passed over Japanese territory without incident or any attempt to shoot it down. At the time North Korea said it was launching a telecommunications satellite, but Washington, Seoul and Tokyo believed Pyongyang was testing an intercontinental ballistic missile.

Japan deploys missile defence after North Korea threat to Guam: Reports

Gold on Thursday held steady near two-month highs hit the session before, bolstered by safe-haven demand triggered by rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. 
North Korea dismissed on Thursday warnings by US&nbsp;President Donald Trump that it would face &quot;fire and fury&quot; if it threatened the United States as a &quot;load of nonsense&quot;, and outlined detailed plans for a missile strike near the Pacific territory of Guam.

&quot;(Safe-haven demand) has settled down to a certain extent, but the market is still expecting more news to come,&quot; said Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore.

&quot;North Korea doesn&#39;t seem like they&#39;re going to back down and the US&nbsp;has also made a very strong stance this time.&quot;

Geopolitical risk can boost demand for assets seen as safe-havens such as gold.

Spot gold had eased 0.1 per cent to $1,276.40 per ounce at 0322 GMT. The precious metal climbed 1.3 per cent in the previous session, its biggest gain since mid-May, and touched $1,278.66 an ounce, it highest level since June 14. 
 
US&nbsp;gold futures for December delivery rose 0.2 per cent to $1,281.90 per ounce on Thursday.

Asian stocks steadied and US&nbsp;Treasury bond prices fell slightly on Thursday as the risk aversion triggered by tensions between the United States and North Korea began to settle.

&quot;Amid all the sabre-rattling, we expect gold prices to continue to move higher and likely cross the $1,300 an ounce mark in relative short order,&quot; said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir.

The market was also waiting for data that would offer clues about the extent to which the strengthening US&nbsp;labour market is spilling over into inflation.

&quot;Investors tend to be more cautious ahead of economic data, especially when the prices are high. They might take profits first and wait to see what&#39;s going to happen before they move into the market again,&quot; said GoldSilver&#39;s Lan.

In other precious metals, silver was nearly flat at $16.90 per ounce after hitting its highest since June 15 earlier in the session.

Platinum was also almost unchanged at $971.75 per ounce. In the previous session, it marked its highest since April 21 at $980.60. 
Palladium prices were flat at $891.00 per ounce.

The market was also waiting for data that would offer clues about the extent to which the strengthening US labour market is spilling over into inflation.

Gold on Thursday held steady near two-month highs hit the session before, bolstered by safe-haven demand triggered by rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea dismissed on Thursday warnings by US President Donald Trump that it would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States as a "load of nonsense", and outlined detailed plans for a missile strike near the Pacific territory of Guam. "(Safe-haven demand) has settled down to a certain extent, but the market is still expecting more news to come," said Brian Lan, managing director at gold dealer GoldSilver Central in Singapore. "North Korea doesn't seem like they're going to back down and the US has also made a very strong stance this time." Geopolitical risk can boost demand for assets seen as safe-havens such as gold. Spot gold had eased 0.1 per cent to $1,276.40 per ounce at 0322 GMT. The precious metal climbed 1.3 per cent in the previous session, its biggest gain since mid-May, and touched $1,278.66 an ounce, it highest level since June 14. US gold futures for December delivery rose 0.2 per cent to $1,281.90 per ounce on Thursday. Asian stocks steadied and US Treasury bond prices fell slightly on Thursday as the risk aversion triggered by tensions between the United States and North Korea began to settle. "Amid all the sabre-rattling, we expect gold prices to continue to move higher and likely cross the $1,300 an ounce mark in relative short order," said INTL FCStone analyst Edward Meir. The market was also waiting for data that would offer clues about the extent to which the strengthening US labour market is spilling over into inflation. "Investors tend to be more cautious ahead of economic data, especially when the prices are high. They might take profits first and wait to see what's going to happen before they move into the market again," said GoldSilver's Lan. In other precious metals, silver was nearly flat at $16.90 per ounce after hitting its highest since June 15 earlier in the session. Platinum was also almost unchanged at $971.75 per ounce. In the previous session, it marked its highest since April 21 at $980.60. Palladium prices were flat at $891.00 per ounce.

Gold inches down from near-two month high

The United States is speaking out with a unified message on North Korea, the US State Department insisted Wednesday, playing down divergent comments from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

&quot;Whether it&#39;s the White House, the State Department, the Department of Defense, we are speaking with one voice,&quot; said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

&quot;And the world is, in fact, speaking with one voice, and we saw that as it came out of the UN Security Council with the resolution that passed less than a week ago&quot; approving more sanctions against Pyongyang, she said.

She was speaking after Trump warned North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un that he faced &quot;fire and fury&quot; over his weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Trump, enjoying a working holiday at his New Jersey golf course, went on to boast that the US nuclear arsenal was &quot;more powerful than ever.&quot; &nbsp;&nbsp;

As tensions on the Korean peninsula flared, Tillerson took a very different tone, insisting there was &quot;no immediate threat&quot; from North Korea.&nbsp;

Nauert said Trump&#39;s remarks fit into a &quot;pressure campaign&quot; to force North Korea to back off from its nuclear development and further missile tests.&nbsp;

&quot;That campaign is working,&quot; she said, adding that Trump and Tillerson held an hour-long phone conversation after the president&#39;s comments.

&quot;Let&#39;s consider what is alarming,&quot; she said. &quot;What is alarming, two ICBM tests in less than a month, two nuclear tests that took place last year.&quot;

Trump, enjoying a working holiday at his New Jersey golf course, went on to boast that the US nuclear arsenal was 'more powerful than ever'

The United States is speaking out with a unified message on North Korea, the US State Department insisted Wednesday, playing down divergent comments from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "Whether it's the White House, the State Department, the Department of Defense, we are speaking with one voice," said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. "And the world is, in fact, speaking with one voice, and we saw that as it came out of the UN Security Council with the resolution that passed less than a week ago" approving more sanctions against Pyongyang, she said. She was speaking after Trump warned North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un that he faced "fire and fury" over his weapons and ballistic missile programs. Trump, enjoying a working holiday at his New Jersey golf course, went on to boast that the US nuclear arsenal was "more powerful than ever." As tensions on the Korean peninsula flared, Tillerson took a very different tone, insisting there was "no immediate threat" from North Korea. Nauert said Trump's remarks fit into a "pressure campaign" to force North Korea to back off from its nuclear development and further missile tests. "That campaign is working," she said, adding that Trump and Tillerson held an hour-long phone conversation after the president's comments. "Let's consider what is alarming," she said. "What is alarming, two ICBM tests in less than a month, two nuclear tests that took place last year."

US on North Korea: 'speaking with one voice'

By -&nbsp;<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ronald-r-krebs-386820">Ronald R. Krebs</a>&nbsp;and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/robert-ralston-391554">Robert Ralston</a>

Six months have passed since Donald Trump entered the Oval Office.

His administration remains <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/help-wanted-why-republicans-wont-work-for-the-trump-administration/2017/06/17/61e3d33e-506a-11e7-b064-828ba60fbb98_story.html?utm_term=.2025795c2578">deeply understaffed</a>. His legislative agenda is stymied. He has been <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/04/28/trumps-executive-orders-are-mostly-theater-215081">active in issuing executive orders</a>, but many are toothless, others are only in the early stages of undoing Obama policies and some are tied up in the courts. So far, Trump&rsquo;s leadership has mostly been defined by his rhetoric.

And his rhetoric, <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/what-language-experts-find-so-strange-about-donald-trump-2f067c20156e/">the conventional wisdom</a> holds, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/inauguration-2017/analysis-contrast-between-obama-trump-unprecedented-n708456">could not be more different from his predecessor&rsquo;s</a>.

Barack Obama was, as president, eloquent. His language was sophisticated. He spoke in measured tones and advanced informed, reasoned dialogue.

Donald Trump is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/13/donald-trumps-rhetoric-how-being-inarticulate-is-seen-as-authentic">inarticulate and brusque</a>. His language is <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/donald-trump-talks-like-a-third-grader-121340">simplistic</a>. He dishes out invective. He shows <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims/?tid=a_inl&amp;utm_term=.32c29849b1a0">so little regard for the facts</a> that some say he&rsquo;s the exemplar of a &ldquo;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-unbearable-stench-of-trumps-bs/2016/08/04/aa5d2798-5a6e-11e6-831d-0324760ca856_story.html?utm_term=.b6d1ff833645">bullshit artist</a>.&rdquo; And he promotes a dialogue of the deaf.

The differences between Trump&rsquo;s and Obama&rsquo;s rhetorical styles seem stark. Yet, when we set aside the presidents&rsquo; speaking styles and looked more carefully at the specific words Trump employed in his first months in office, we were surprised to discover that, in certain ways, these two presidents are remarkably like each other and unlike their predecessors. Here&rsquo;s what we found &ndash; and why Obama and Trump have more in common than you would think.

How we did our research

Our analysis is based on Trump&rsquo;s more substantial speeches &ndash; which we somewhat arbitrarily define as those longer than 500 words &ndash; which were directed primarily at domestic audiences. We scraped from the website of the <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/">American Presidency Project</a> all of Trump&rsquo;s campaign speeches and presidential addresses through July 1 that met these criteria. We ended up with 74 campaign speeches, representing more than 230,000 words, and 56 presidential addresses, which included more than 122,000 words. We compared these bodies of speech to each other and to a separate database of post-war presidential speech that one of us had collected, using these same criteria, for <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/politics-international-relations/international-relations-and-international-organisations/narrative-and-making-us-national-security?format=PB#crJovch3AZvu6GKd.97">a recently published book</a>.

We ran these speeches through a specialized computerized content analysis program called <a href="http://www.dictionsoftware.com/">Diction</a>. Diction contains 33 separate dictionaries tailored to political speech. It searches texts for the words contained in the designated dictionaries and then calculates the number of words from each dictionary that would be present in a typical 500-word sample.

Obama and Trump vs. everyone else

On two key dimensions, Obama and Trump look similar &ndash; and stand in marked contrast to all other presidents.

First, their rhetoric is much more self-referential, meaning it uses more first-person pronouns. Obama&rsquo;s rhetoric is 69 per cent more self-referential than the presidential average, and Trump exceeds Obama by another 20 per cent.

Trump employs almost 50 per cent more first-person pronouns than the second most heavily self-referential president after Obama, Gerald Ford. Trump&rsquo;s rhetoric is twice as self-referential as the postwar presidential average.

<iframe class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" frameborder="0" height="400px" id="3lX9O" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3lX9O/5/" style="border: none" width="100%"></iframe>

Second, both Trump and Obama rank very high on measures of &ldquo;tenacity.&rdquo; This dictionary includes a series of words such as &ldquo;must&rdquo; and &ldquo;need&rdquo; that call for action and that &ldquo;<a href="http://www.dictionsoftware.com/download.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DICTION-7.1Manual.pdf">connote confidence and totality</a>.&rdquo; Obama&rsquo;s rhetoric is around 45 per cent more tenacious than the presidential average. Trump&rsquo;s rhetoric is a bit more tenacious than even Obama&rsquo;s. They are the only two presidents who substantially exceed the average.

<iframe class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" frameborder="0" height="400px" id="daCou" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/daCou/5/" style="border: none" width="100%"></iframe>

Obama and Trump&rsquo;s rhetoric suggests that the prime mover of government is not separation of powers, political parties or the bureaucracy &ndash; but the will of the president. It&#39;s self-referentialism projects an image of strong leadership and of the president as the central pivot of action. Its tenacity expresses confidence that the president will triumph over the many obstacles in his way.

For all their differences, both Obama and Trump consistently presented themselves as the solution to the nation&rsquo;s problems. Accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention, <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=117935">Trump assured Americans</a>, &ldquo;Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.&rdquo; He regularly cited his own biography as the reason that Americans should &ldquo;trust&rdquo; him. The irony is that the predecessor who, on this dimension, most resembles Trump is the very one whom Trump cast as an utter failure and weak leader and as his chief foil. Obama too <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2016/12/15/the-self-referential-presidency-of-barack-obama/?utm_term=.6c6681297ce0">regularly invoked his unique personal story</a> as the reason that Americans should place their faith in him. Minus Trump&rsquo;s boastfulness, Obama too portrayed himself as the key agent of national transformation: &ldquo;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/17/AR2009011702690_2.html?tid=a_inl&amp;sid=ST2009011703024">I&rsquo;m the one who brings change. It is my vision. It is my agenda</a>,&rdquo; he told The Washington Post in January 2009. He saw other government officials as just &ldquo;good mechanics.&rdquo;

Yearning for a strong leader

The computerized content analysis of presidential rhetoric sets out a pattern, it does not explain it. However, we believe it likely that Obama and Trump adopted the same rhetorical tack for the same reason: Audiences across the political spectrum have craved a strong leader who will overcome Washington&rsquo;s paralysis and address the nation&rsquo;s challenges.

Especially since 9/11, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/06/22/key-facts-partisanship/">American politics has grown more partisan</a> and polarized, even as <a href="https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/publications/culture-war-myth-polarized-america-3rd-edition">Americans&rsquo; values</a> <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115909">have converged</a>. That <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/america-really-is-more-divided-than-ever/2016/07/17/fbfebee6-49d8-11e6-90a8-fb84201e0645_story.html?utm_term=.37a37dac7de8">partisan divide</a> has produced gridlock in the halls of power, and Congress has become a site of minority party obstruction. As a result, <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/163031/gridlock-top-reason-americans-critical-congress.aspx">Americans have become frustrated</a> <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/1600/congress-public.aspx">with Congress</a>, and <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/5392/trust-government.aspx">their trust in government has plummeted</a>. They have increasingly looked to the president to seize the initiative, conquer Washington&rsquo;s dysfunction and <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107083134">persuade Congress to act</a>.

In 2007, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/27085/wanted-next-president-honesty-strong-leadership.aspx">honesty</a>&rdquo; mattered most to Americans in selecting the nation&rsquo;s next president, with &ldquo;leadership/strength&rdquo; a distant second. In 2012, American voters said that &ldquo;<a href="https://morningconsult.com/2016/11/08/voters-want-strong-leader-anything-else-exit-poll-shows/">shares my values</a>&rdquo; was their top consideration in electing a president. By 2016, having a president who was a &ldquo;strong leader&rdquo; had easily taken the top spot, across voters of all parties, and was twice as important to them as it had been four years before.

Obama and Trump&rsquo;s self-referential and tenacious rhetoric &ndash; one might even call it authoritarian &ndash; seems designed to satisfy that demand for strong leadership centered in the presidency. It is not accidental that their rhetoric, <a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7U5Wc80jx5leUhYRXFYemlWc3c">as the linked charts show</a>, also reflects a continued, long-term decline in &ldquo;cooperative&rdquo; and &ldquo;accomplishment&rdquo; language, as collaboration across party lines has been rare and as there have been few achievements. Ironically, &ldquo;satisfaction&rdquo; rhetoric has experienced a corresponding rise &ndash; perhaps because there has been less to celebrate and therefore more reason for presidents to proclaim that all is well.

Of course, some of this may be Donald Trump&rsquo;s inimitable rhetorical style. The figures above reveal that Trump&nbsp;the candidate was somewhat less self-referential and less tenacious than Trump the president has been. Perhaps he was simply restraining himself during the campaign. Once ensconced in the White House, he could become more himself. Trump the president may be Trump unleashed.

But the data suggest that Trump is also a manifestation &ndash; albeit an extreme manifestation &ndash; of our political age. Obama&rsquo;s self-centered, self-confident but soaring speeches gave way to his successor&rsquo;s self-centered, overconfident and vain tweets. Karl Marx knew what he was talking about: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eighteenth_Brumaire_of_Louis_Napoleon#.22History_repeats_..._first_as_tragedy.2C_then_as_farce.22">History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce</a>.

Nevertheless, we&rsquo;d better get used to authoritarian rhetoric. It appears to be here to stay.

&nbsp;

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-and-obama-have-one-surprising-thing-in-common-the-words-they-use-81309">original article</a>.

&nbsp;

Obama?s self-centered, self-confident but soaring speeches gave way to his successor?s self-centered, overconfident and vain tweets.

By - Ronald R. Krebs and Robert Ralston Six months have passed since Donald Trump entered the Oval Office. His administration remains deeply understaffed. His legislative agenda is stymied. He has been active in issuing executive orders, but many are toothless, others are only in the early stages of undoing Obama policies and some are tied up in the courts. So far, Trump’s leadership has mostly been defined by his rhetoric. And his rhetoric, the conventional wisdom holds, could not be more different from his predecessor’s. Barack Obama was, as president, eloquent. His language was sophisticated. He spoke in measured tones and advanced informed, reasoned dialogue. Donald Trump is inarticulate and brusque. His language is simplistic. He dishes out invective. He shows so little regard for the facts that some say he’s the exemplar of a “bullshit artist.” And he promotes a dialogue of the deaf. The differences between Trump’s and Obama’s rhetorical styles seem stark. Yet, when we set aside the presidents’ speaking styles and looked more carefully at the specific words Trump employed in his first months in office, we were surprised to discover that, in certain ways, these two presidents are remarkably like each other and unlike their predecessors. Here’s what we found – and why Obama and Trump have more in common than you would think. How we did our research Our analysis is based on Trump’s more substantial speeches – which we somewhat arbitrarily define as those longer than 500 words – which were directed primarily at domestic audiences. We scraped from the website of the American Presidency Project all of Trump’s campaign speeches and presidential addresses through July 1 that met these criteria. We ended up with 74 campaign speeches, representing more than 230,000 words, and 56 presidential addresses, which included more than 122,000 words. We compared these bodies of speech to each other and to a separate database of post-war presidential speech that one of us had collected, using these same criteria, for a recently published book. We ran these speeches through a specialized computerized content analysis program called Diction. Diction contains 33 separate dictionaries tailored to political speech. It searches texts for the words contained in the designated dictionaries and then calculates the number of words from each dictionary that would be present in a typical 500-word sample. Obama and Trump vs. everyone else On two key dimensions, Obama and Trump look similar – and stand in marked contrast to all other presidents. First, their rhetoric is much more self-referential, meaning it uses more first-person pronouns. Obama’s rhetoric is 69 per cent more self-referential than the presidential average, and Trump exceeds Obama by another 20 per cent. Trump employs almost 50 per cent more first-person pronouns than the second most heavily self-referential president after Obama, Gerald Ford. Trump’s rhetoric is twice as self-referential as the postwar presidential average. Second, both Trump and Obama rank very high on measures of “tenacity.” This dictionary includes a series of words such as “must” and “need” that call for action and that “connote confidence and totality.” Obama’s rhetoric is around 45 per cent more tenacious than the presidential average. Trump’s rhetoric is a bit more tenacious than even Obama’s. They are the only two presidents who substantially exceed the average. Obama and Trump’s rhetoric suggests that the prime mover of government is not separation of powers, political parties or the bureaucracy – but the will of the president. It's self-referentialism projects an image of strong leadership and of the president as the central pivot of action. Its tenacity expresses confidence that the president will triumph over the many obstacles in his way. For all their differences, both Obama and Trump consistently presented themselves as the solution to the nation’s problems. Accepting the nomination at the Republican National Convention, Trump assured Americans, “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” He regularly cited his own biography as the reason that Americans should “trust” him. The irony is that the predecessor who, on this dimension, most resembles Trump is the very one whom Trump cast as an utter failure and weak leader and as his chief foil. Obama too regularly invoked his unique personal story as the reason that Americans should place their faith in him. Minus Trump’s boastfulness, Obama too portrayed himself as the key agent of national transformation: “I’m the one who brings change. It is my vision. It is my agenda,” he told The Washington Post in January 2009. He saw other government officials as just “good mechanics.” Yearning for a strong leader The computerized content analysis of presidential rhetoric sets out a pattern, it does not explain it. However, we believe it likely that Obama and Trump adopted the same rhetorical tack for the same reason: Audiences across the political spectrum have craved a strong leader who will overcome Washington’s paralysis and address the nation’s challenges. Especially since 9/11, American politics has grown more partisan and polarized, even as Americans’ values have converged. That partisan divide has produced gridlock in the halls of power, and Congress has become a site of minority party obstruction. As a result, Americans have become frustrated with Congress, and their trust in government has plummeted. They have increasingly looked to the president to seize the initiative, conquer Washington’s dysfunction and persuade Congress to act. In 2007, “honesty” mattered most to Americans in selecting the nation’s next president, with “leadership/strength” a distant second. In 2012, American voters said that “shares my values” was their top consideration in electing a president. By 2016, having a president who was a “strong leader” had easily taken the top spot, across voters of all parties, and was twice as important to them as it had been four years before. Obama and Trump’s self-referential and tenacious rhetoric – one might even call it authoritarian – seems designed to satisfy that demand for strong leadership centered in the presidency. It is not accidental that their rhetoric, as the linked charts show, also reflects a continued, long-term decline in “cooperative” and “accomplishment” language, as collaboration across party lines has been rare and as there have been few achievements. Ironically, “satisfaction” rhetoric has experienced a corresponding rise – perhaps because there has been less to celebrate and therefore more reason for presidents to proclaim that all is well. Of course, some of this may be Donald Trump’s inimitable rhetorical style. The figures above reveal that Trump the candidate was somewhat less self-referential and less tenacious than Trump the president has been. Perhaps he was simply restraining himself during the campaign. Once ensconced in the White House, he could become more himself. Trump the president may be Trump unleashed. But the data suggest that Trump is also a manifestation – albeit an extreme manifestation – of our political age. Obama’s self-centered, self-confident but soaring speeches gave way to his successor’s self-centered, overconfident and vain tweets. Karl Marx knew what he was talking about: History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. Nevertheless, we’d better get used to authoritarian rhetoric. It appears to be here to stay. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

One surprising thing in common between Trump and Obama

The federal probe into the Russian meddling in the US elections led by special counsel &nbsp;Robert Mueller is gathering pace with the naming of a grand jury to examine the veracity of the evidence against the Trump campaign officials being in touch with Russia to favour a Trump victory.

According to US media reports, the grand jury has issued subpoenas related to a meeting that Donald Trump&#39;s son Trump Jr and son-in-law <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/jared-kushner-sought-secret-communications-line-with-russia-report-16095">Jared Kushner held last year with a Russian attorney</a> who had promised incriminating material&nbsp;against Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump has lashed out at the move saying that the 2016 <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/russia-probe-greatest-witch-hunt-in-american-political-history-trump-15753">Russian interference story is a &quot;total fabrication&quot;</a>.

&quot;We didn&#39;t win because of Russia. We won because of you,&quot; Trump said at a campaign-style rally in West Virginia.

The setting up of a grand jury is a significant development in the probe as it could lead to criminal indictments.

&quot;It&#39;s a significant escalation of the process,&quot; national security attorney Bradley Moss told AFP.&nbsp;

&quot;You don&#39;t impanel a grand jury unless your investigation has discovered enough evidence that you feel reflects a violation of at least one, if not more, criminal provisions,&quot; he said.&nbsp;

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was not likely the subject of the investigation, AFP reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

Donald Trump has lashed out at the move saying that the 2016 Russian interference story is a 'total fabrication'

The federal probe into the Russian meddling in the US elections led by special counsel Robert Mueller is gathering pace with the naming of a grand jury to examine the veracity of the evidence against the Trump campaign officials being in touch with Russia to favour a Trump victory. According to US media reports, the grand jury has issued subpoenas related to a meeting that Donald Trump's son Trump Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner held last year with a Russian attorney who had promised incriminating material against Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump has lashed out at the move saying that the 2016 Russian interference story is a "total fabrication". "We didn't win because of Russia. We won because of you," Trump said at a campaign-style rally in West Virginia. The setting up of a grand jury is a significant development in the probe as it could lead to criminal indictments. "It's a significant escalation of the process," national security attorney Bradley Moss told AFP. "You don't impanel a grand jury unless your investigation has discovered enough evidence that you feel reflects a violation of at least one, if not more, criminal provisions," he said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president was not likely the subject of the investigation, AFP reported. (With inputs from agencies)

Trump-Russia probe: Grand jury set up, subpoenas issued

US President Donald Trump said relations with Russia had hit an all-time and &quot;very dangerous&quot; low Thursday, putting the blame on Congress after he reluctantly approved sanctions against Moscow. 
 
&quot;Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time &amp; very dangerous low,&quot; Trump wrote on Twitter.

&quot;You can thank Congress, the same people that can&#39;t even give us HCare!&quot;, he added in reference to a recent defeat in the Senate on his health care reform plans.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time &amp; very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can&#39;t even give us HCare!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/893083735633129472">August 3, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Trump&#39;s outburst came the day after he grudgingly signed off on a sanctions bill that had been passed by Congress, calling the legislation &quot;significantly flawed&quot; and arguing that some of its provisions were unconstitutional. 
 
The legislation -- which also includes measures against North Korea and Iran -- targets the Russian energy sector, giving Washington the ability to sanction companies involved in developing Russian pipelines, and placing curbs on some Russian weapons exporters. 
 
It also constrains Trump`s ability to waive the penalties, a statement of mistrust from the Republican-controlled Congress. 
 
Moscow has reacted furiously to the sanctions, with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev saying they amounted to a &quot;full-fledged economic war&quot; and that they had demonstrated Trump`s &quot;total weakness.&quot; 
 
Trump&#39;s presidency has been overshadowed by allegations that his campaign team colluded with Moscow during last year`s US presidential campaign in which he defeated Hillary Clinton.

 
&nbsp;

Trump's outburst came the day after he grudgingly signed off on a sanctions bill that had been passed by Congress

US President Donald Trump said relations with Russia had hit an all-time and "very dangerous" low Thursday, putting the blame on Congress after he reluctantly approved sanctions against Moscow. "Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low," Trump wrote on Twitter. "You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare!", he added in reference to a recent defeat in the Senate on his health care reform plans. Our relationship with Russia is at an all-time & very dangerous low. You can thank Congress, the same people that can't even give us HCare! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2017 × Trump's outburst came the day after he grudgingly signed off on a sanctions bill that had been passed by Congress, calling the legislation "significantly flawed" and arguing that some of its provisions were unconstitutional. The legislation -- which also includes measures against North Korea and Iran -- targets the Russian energy sector, giving Washington the ability to sanction companies involved in developing Russian pipelines, and placing curbs on some Russian weapons exporters. It also constrains Trump`s ability to waive the penalties, a statement of mistrust from the Republican-controlled Congress. Moscow has reacted furiously to the sanctions, with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev saying they amounted to a "full-fledged economic war" and that they had demonstrated Trump`s "total weakness." Trump's presidency has been overshadowed by allegations that his campaign team colluded with Moscow during last year`s US presidential campaign in which he defeated Hillary Clinton.

Russia ties at all-time and 'very dangerous low', laments President Trump

US&nbsp;Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump disagree over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and said the two men discuss how to use the international agreement to advance administration policies.

Trump at times vowed during the 2016 presidential election campaign to withdraw from the agreement, which was signed by the United States, Russia, China and three European powers to curb Iran&#39;s nuclear program in return for lifting most Western sanctions.

Trump has preserved the deal for now, although he has made clear he did so reluctantly after being advised to do so by Tillerson.

&quot;He and I have differences of views on things like JCPOA, and how we should use it,&quot; Tillerson said at a State Department briefing, using the acronym for the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Tillerson said that Washington could &quot;tear it up and walk away&quot; or stay in the deal and hold Iran accountable to its terms, which he said would require Iran to act as a &quot;good neighbor.&quot;

Critics say the deal falls short in addressing Iran&#39;s support for foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, arms shipments around the Middle East and ballistic missile tests.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tillerson&#39;s remarks.

Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month that he predicts Iran will be judged &quot;noncompliant&quot; with the Iran deal at the next deadline in October, and that he would have preferred to do so months ago.

Tillerson expressed a more nuanced view of the deal&#39;s potential benefits on Tuesday.

&quot;There are a lot of alternative means with which we use the agreement to advance our policies and the relationship with Iran, and that&#39;s what the conversation generally is around with the president as well,&quot; Tillerson said.

European officials would likely be reluctant to reimpose sanctions, especially the broader measures that helped drive Iran to negotiate over its nuclear program in the first place.

New US&nbsp;sanctions on Iran in July were a breach of the nuclear deal and Tehran had lodged a complaint with the body that oversees the pact&#39;s implementation, a senior Iranian politician said.

Tillerson acknowledged that the United States is limited in how much it can pressure Iran on its own and said it was important to coordinate with the other parties to the agreement.

&quot;The greatest pressure we can put to bear on Iran to change the behavior is a collective pressure,&quot; he said.

'He and I have differences of views on things like JCPOA, and how we should use it,' Tillerson said at a State Department briefing, using the acronym for the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged on Tuesday that he and President Donald Trump disagree over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and said the two men discuss how to use the international agreement to advance administration policies. Trump at times vowed during the 2016 presidential election campaign to withdraw from the agreement, which was signed by the United States, Russia, China and three European powers to curb Iran's nuclear program in return for lifting most Western sanctions. Trump has preserved the deal for now, although he has made clear he did so reluctantly after being advised to do so by Tillerson. "He and I have differences of views on things like JCPOA, and how we should use it," Tillerson said at a State Department briefing, using the acronym for the deal, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Tillerson said that Washington could "tear it up and walk away" or stay in the deal and hold Iran accountable to its terms, which he said would require Iran to act as a "good neighbor." Critics say the deal falls short in addressing Iran's support for foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria, arms shipments around the Middle East and ballistic missile tests. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tillerson's remarks. Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last month that he predicts Iran will be judged "noncompliant" with the Iran deal at the next deadline in October, and that he would have preferred to do so months ago. Tillerson expressed a more nuanced view of the deal's potential benefits on Tuesday. "There are a lot of alternative means with which we use the agreement to advance our policies and the relationship with Iran, and that's what the conversation generally is around with the president as well," Tillerson said. European officials would likely be reluctant to reimpose sanctions, especially the broader measures that helped drive Iran to negotiate over its nuclear program in the first place. New US sanctions on Iran in July were a breach of the nuclear deal and Tehran had lodged a complaint with the body that oversees the pact's implementation, a senior Iranian politician said. Tillerson acknowledged that the United States is limited in how much it can pressure Iran on its own and said it was important to coordinate with the other parties to the agreement. "The greatest pressure we can put to bear on Iran to change the behavior is a collective pressure," he said.

Trump and I disagree on Iran nuclear deal: Tillerson

A Republican senator said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump has told him he would go to war to destroy North Korea rather than allow it to develop a long-range nuclear-armed missile.

Influential lawmaker Lindsey Graham, a foreign policy hawk, told NBC&#39;s Today Show: &quot;There is a military option: To destroy North Korea&#39;s program and North Korea itself.&quot;

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that his country could now strike any target in the United States after carrying out its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.

World powers have been trying to stifle Pyongyang&#39;s weapons program through United Nations-backed sanctions, but have failed to daunt the regime and Washington is growing frustrated.

Graham said that if diplomacy, and in particular pressure from the North&#39;s neighbor China, fails to halt the program then the United States will have no choice but to take devastating military action.

&quot;They&#39;ve kicked the can down the road for 20 years. There will be a war with North Korea over the missile program if they continue to try to hit America with an ICBM,&quot; he said, describing his discussions with Trump.&nbsp;

&quot;He&#39;s told me that. I believe him. If I were China, I would believe him, too, and do something about it. You can stop North Korea, militarily or diplomatically.&nbsp;

&quot;I prefer the diplomatic approach. But they will not be allowed to have a missile to hit America with a nuclear weapon on top.&quot;

Influential lawmaker Lindsey Graham, a foreign policy hawk said that Donald Trump has told him he would go to war to destroy North Korea rather than allow it to develop a long-range nuclear-armed missile

A Republican senator said Tuesday that US President Donald Trump has told him he would go to war to destroy North Korea rather than allow it to develop a long-range nuclear-armed missile. Influential lawmaker Lindsey Graham, a foreign policy hawk, told NBC's Today Show: "There is a military option: To destroy North Korea's program and North Korea itself." Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un boasted that his country could now strike any target in the United States after carrying out its latest intercontinental ballistic missile test. World powers have been trying to stifle Pyongyang's weapons program through United Nations-backed sanctions, but have failed to daunt the regime and Washington is growing frustrated. Graham said that if diplomacy, and in particular pressure from the North's neighbor China, fails to halt the program then the United States will have no choice but to take devastating military action. "They've kicked the can down the road for 20 years. There will be a war with North Korea over the missile program if they continue to try to hit America with an ICBM," he said, describing his discussions with Trump. "He's told me that. I believe him. If I were China, I would believe him, too, and do something about it. You can stop North Korea, militarily or diplomatically. "I prefer the diplomatic approach. But they will not be allowed to have a missile to hit America with a nuclear weapon on top."

US senator says Trump ready for war with North Korea

If President Donald Trump, who refers to the media as &quot;fake news,&quot; wants his staff to use a more conciliatory approach with journalists, new communications director Anthony Scaramucci may be implementing such a shift - for now.

The Wall Street financier and Republican fundraiser walked into the White House briefing room on Friday and immediately did what Sean Spicer, the outgoing press secretary, did not do on his first day in January: engage, in a friendly manner, with reporters.

Wearing a blue tie and an American flag pin on a dark suit, Scaramucci bantered with correspondents, pledged to be transparent and even made respectful remarks about CNN, the cable network with which Trump and Spicer have sparred repeatedly.

He made fun of himself, joking about his short stature and apologising to Trump from the podium for having called the New York businessman a hack politician in 2015.

&quot;He brings it up every 15 seconds, all right?&quot; Scaramucci said to laughter, referring to the president. &quot;I should have never said that about him. So, Mr. President, if you&#39;re listening, I personally apologise for the 50th time for saying that.&quot;

Trump was probably listening.

Reporters peppered Scaramucci with questions on press-related issues that have dogged the relationship between the Trump presidency and the journalists that cover it.

Did he support having briefings televised? &quot;I obviously am committed to being transparent because I&rsquo;m standing here. But I&rsquo;d like to talk that over with the president,&quot; he said.

He noted that CNN had apologised when it reported something false about him and that he had accepted the apology.

&quot;There feels like there&rsquo;s a little bit of media bias, and so what we hope we can do is de-escalate that and turn that around. And let&#39;s let the message from the president get out there to the American people,&quot; he said.

He announced the new press secretary to take over from Spicer, who resigned earlier on Friday, would be Sarah Sanders.

Spicer&#39;s debut at the White House podium in January featured a long scolding of reporters for their portrayal of Trump&#39;s Inauguration Day crowd numbers.

Asked on Friday whether he agreed with Trump&#39;s contention, for which there is no evidence, that 3 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election, Scaramucci answered carefully.

&quot;So if the president says it, let me do more research on it, but my guess is that there&rsquo;s probably some level of truth to that,&quot; he said.

&quot;I think what we have found sometimes the president says stuff, some of you guys in the media think it&rsquo;s not true or it isn&rsquo;t true, and it turns out it&rsquo;s closer to the truth than people think.&quot;

Trump's new communications director apologised to Trump from the podium for having called the New York businessman a hack politician in 2015

If President Donald Trump, who refers to the media as "fake news," wants his staff to use a more conciliatory approach with journalists, new communications director Anthony Scaramucci may be implementing such a shift - for now. The Wall Street financier and Republican fundraiser walked into the White House briefing room on Friday and immediately did what Sean Spicer, the outgoing press secretary, did not do on his first day in January: engage, in a friendly manner, with reporters. Wearing a blue tie and an American flag pin on a dark suit, Scaramucci bantered with correspondents, pledged to be transparent and even made respectful remarks about CNN, the cable network with which Trump and Spicer have sparred repeatedly. He made fun of himself, joking about his short stature and apologising to Trump from the podium for having called the New York businessman a hack politician in 2015. "He brings it up every 15 seconds, all right?" Scaramucci said to laughter, referring to the president. "I should have never said that about him. So, Mr. President, if you're listening, I personally apologise for the 50th time for saying that." Trump was probably listening. Reporters peppered Scaramucci with questions on press-related issues that have dogged the relationship between the Trump presidency and the journalists that cover it. Did he support having briefings televised? "I obviously am committed to being transparent because I’m standing here. But I’d like to talk that over with the president," he said. He noted that CNN had apologised when it reported something false about him and that he had accepted the apology. "There feels like there’s a little bit of media bias, and so what we hope we can do is de-escalate that and turn that around. And let's let the message from the president get out there to the American people," he said. He announced the new press secretary to take over from Spicer, who resigned earlier on Friday, would be Sarah Sanders. Spicer's debut at the White House podium in January featured a long scolding of reporters for their portrayal of Trump's Inauguration Day crowd numbers. Asked on Friday whether he agreed with Trump's contention, for which there is no evidence, that 3 million people voted illegally in the 2016 election, Scaramucci answered carefully. "So if the president says it, let me do more research on it, but my guess is that there’s probably some level of truth to that," he said. "I think what we have found sometimes the president says stuff, some of you guys in the media think it’s not true or it isn’t true, and it turns out it’s closer to the truth than people think."

Trump's new hire Scaramucci apologises for calling him 'hack politician'

As news of Donald Trump&rsquo;s victory in last November&rsquo;s US presidential election&nbsp;spread around the world, delegates at the Marrakech Climate Change Conference were meeting to discuss implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement.&nbsp;The man widely credited with playing a pivotal role in securing that landmark deal in the French capital was US President Barack Obama.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
&ldquo;It was a combination of the United States and China that ultimately got that deal through. You had to get 200 countries to go along with this agreement, and the approach the US came up with was the one that was ultimately successful,&rdquo; said Ken Berlin, CEO of the Climate Reality Project, an environmental NGO based in Washington, DC.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
The outgoing president&rsquo;s commitment to fighting climate change has formed a key part of his domestic agenda and will undoubtedly shape his legacy.&nbsp;According to figures from the White House, Obama&rsquo;s administration has cut US carbon emissions by 9 per cent&nbsp;since he took office in 2009. In the same period, the US economy grew by more than 10 per cent.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
But many Democrat supporters and environmentalists now fear Obama&rsquo;s work could be torpedoed by his successor.&nbsp;During the presidential campaign, a tweet expressing scepticism over climate change surfaced on Donald Trump&rsquo;s official Twitter account.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
&ldquo;The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive,&rdquo; Trump tweeted in November 2012.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Recently, the UK&rsquo;s climate change minister, Nick Hurd, called the US President-elect a &ldquo;very big challenge&rdquo; to efforts to control global temperature rises.&nbsp;Senior members of Trump&rsquo;s team like Jeff Sessions and Ben Carson are also openly sceptical about climate change.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
&ldquo;I know there are a lot of people who say &lsquo;overwhelming science&rsquo;, but then when you ask them to show the overwhelming science, they never can show it,&rdquo; Mr Carson, the President-elect&rsquo;s pick for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Although fearful about Trump&rsquo;s future climate change policy, environmentalists say the new administration&rsquo;s impact on falling carbon emissions in the US could be limited in the short term.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
&ldquo;Overall, if you take into account federal, state and local governments and business, we will still continue to make progress in reducing carbon emissions in the United States. It will be a slower pace than if Hillary Clinton had won, but the environmental community here is gearing up for what might be the fight of our lives,&rdquo; said Mr Berlin.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Even if Trump does not do what many fear and pull out of the Paris deal immediately, what he does in 2020 could be just as crucial. Under the terms of the Paris climate change deal, countries must set five-year targets or &ldquo;national determined contributions&rdquo;. By 2020, the US will need to ramp up its efforts to cut emissions once again in order to meet its commitments.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
While Obama has been a leader on climate change policy across the world, a Trump White House could stall the Paris deal in its delicate early years.&nbsp;In the environmental community, the latest US election was billed as a showdown between Hillary Clinton&rsquo;s green credentials and Donald Trump&rsquo;s climate scepticism. &nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
Scepticism prevailed in 2016. But environmentalists say the next time US voters go to the polls in 2020 could be the defining moment in the global battle against climate change.&nbsp; 
&nbsp; 
(WION)

US environmentalists highlight Obama?s climate change legacy, but fear a Trump presidency

As news of Donald Trump’s victory in last November’s US presidential election spread around the world, delegates at the Marrakech Climate Change Conference were meeting to discuss implementation of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The man widely credited with playing a pivotal role in securing that landmark deal in the French capital was US President Barack Obama. “It was a combination of the United States and China that ultimately got that deal through. You had to get 200 countries to go along with this agreement, and the approach the US came up with was the one that was ultimately successful,” said Ken Berlin, CEO of the Climate Reality Project, an environmental NGO based in Washington, DC. The outgoing president’s commitment to fighting climate change has formed a key part of his domestic agenda and will undoubtedly shape his legacy. According to figures from the White House, Obama’s administration has cut US carbon emissions by 9 per cent since he took office in 2009. In the same period, the US economy grew by more than 10 per cent. But many Democrat supporters and environmentalists now fear Obama’s work could be torpedoed by his successor. During the presidential campaign, a tweet expressing scepticism over climate change surfaced on Donald Trump’s official Twitter account. “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive,” Trump tweeted in November 2012. Recently, the UK’s climate change minister, Nick Hurd, called the US President-elect a “very big challenge” to efforts to control global temperature rises. Senior members of Trump’s team like Jeff Sessions and Ben Carson are also openly sceptical about climate change. “I know there are a lot of people who say ‘overwhelming science’, but then when you ask them to show the overwhelming science, they never can show it,” Mr Carson, the President-elect’s pick for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2015. Although fearful about Trump’s future climate change policy, environmentalists say the new administration’s impact on falling carbon emissions in the US could be limited in the short term. “Overall, if you take into account federal, state and local governments and business, we will still continue to make progress in reducing carbon emissions in the United States. It will be a slower pace than if Hillary Clinton had won, but the environmental community here is gearing up for what might be the fight of our lives,” said Mr Berlin. Even if Trump does not do what many fear and pull out of the Paris deal immediately, what he does in 2020 could be just as crucial. Under the terms of the Paris climate change deal, countries must set five-year targets or “national determined contributions”. By 2020, the US will need to ramp up its efforts to cut emissions once again in order to meet its commitments. While Obama has been a leader on climate change policy across the world, a Trump White House could stall the Paris deal in its delicate early years. In the environmental community, the latest US election was billed as a showdown between Hillary Clinton’s green credentials and Donald Trump’s climate scepticism. Scepticism prevailed in 2016. But environmentalists say the next time US voters go to the polls in 2020 could be the defining moment in the global battle against climate change. (WION)

Political climate change

Nobody thought that the Trump White House was going to have an easy-going relationship with the press.

The media had exposed scandal after scandal during Trump&rsquo;s controversial but successful run for office. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly railed against his treatment in the &ldquo;mainstream media.&rdquo;

&ldquo;You are fake news,&rdquo; he said to CNN&rsquo;s Jim Acosta during a heated exchange in his final press conference as President-Elect.

But what unfolded in the first statement by Trump&rsquo;s new Press Secretary last Saturday would have astonished even the most seasoned White House correspondents.

Sean Spicer, the man tasked with briefing journalists for the new US President, hit out at what he called &ldquo;deliberately false reporting&rdquo; about the crowd size at the presidential inauguration.

&ldquo;We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama&#39;s last inaugural,&rdquo; said Spicer. He left the room after refusing to take any questions from the gathered reporters.

But these &ldquo;facts&rdquo; that the White House Press Secretary had used to defend the crowd sizes at the inauguration soon dissolved under scrutiny.

The official figures put ridership at around 570,000 for Trump and 782,000 for Obama&rsquo;s second swearing-in in 2013.

As the row intensified, Kellyanne Conway, Trump&rsquo;s senior counsellor, then refused to criticise Spicer&rsquo;s actions in a television interview the next morning.

&ldquo;Sean Spicer, our Press Secretary, gave alternative facts,&rdquo; said Conway in an interview with the US network, NBC.

The phrase sent Twitter into meltdown, with media watchers competing to come up with the best &ldquo;alternative fact.&rdquo;

&ldquo;&rsquo;It is not Monday. It is still the weekend. Period.&rsquo; #mondaymotivation #alternativefacts,&rdquo; tweeted one user.

But there is also a serious side to the Trump administration existing in a twilight zone where fact starts to blur with fiction.

At best, the brand new White House Press Secretary unknowingly briefed reporters with incorrect information.

The worst-case scenario could have serious consequences for Spicer&rsquo;s credibility, and by extension, that of his boss in the Oval Office.

Appearing in front of the press corps once again on Monday, Spicer admitted that &ldquo;the information available wasn&rsquo;t complete.&rdquo;

But the combative tone of the first briefing was still there: &ldquo;I think that over and over again, there is this attempt to go after this president and say, well, that can&rsquo;t be true and that&rsquo;s not right and the numbers weren&rsquo;t there. And there&rsquo;s a rush to judgement every time,&rdquo; he added.

And the row is showing no signs of going away. On Tuesday, Spicer confirmed that Trump believes 3 to 5 million voters took part illegally in the US election last November.

But Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan says he&rsquo;s seen &ldquo;no evidence&rdquo; to back up the claim.

Trump&rsquo;s team accuse the press corps of rushing to judgement too fast. But after a rocky start, journalists won&rsquo;t be rushing to make any decisions based on information provided by the new White House Press Secretary any time soon.&nbsp;

(This is the first of a weekly dispatch about Giles&#39; experiences reporting on the first 100 days of President Trump)

WION's Washington correspondent Giles Gibson describes the already tense relations between the press and the new administration

Nobody thought that the Trump White House was going to have an easy-going relationship with the press. The media had exposed scandal after scandal during Trump’s controversial but successful run for office. During his campaign, Trump repeatedly railed against his treatment in the “mainstream media.” “You are fake news,” he said to CNN’s Jim Acosta during a heated exchange in his final press conference as President-Elect. But what unfolded in the first statement by Trump’s new Press Secretary last Saturday would have astonished even the most seasoned White House correspondents. Sean Spicer, the man tasked with briefing journalists for the new US President, hit out at what he called “deliberately false reporting” about the crowd size at the presidential inauguration. “We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama's last inaugural,” said Spicer. He left the room after refusing to take any questions from the gathered reporters. But these “facts” that the White House Press Secretary had used to defend the crowd sizes at the inauguration soon dissolved under scrutiny. The official figures put ridership at around 570,000 for Trump and 782,000 for Obama’s second swearing-in in 2013. As the row intensified, Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior counsellor, then refused to criticise Spicer’s actions in a television interview the next morning. “Sean Spicer, our Press Secretary, gave alternative facts,” said Conway in an interview with the US network, NBC. The phrase sent Twitter into meltdown, with media watchers competing to come up with the best “alternative fact.” “’It is not Monday. It is still the weekend. Period.’ #mondaymotivation #alternativefacts,” tweeted one user. But there is also a serious side to the Trump administration existing in a twilight zone where fact starts to blur with fiction. At best, the brand new White House Press Secretary unknowingly briefed reporters with incorrect information. The worst-case scenario could have serious consequences for Spicer’s credibility, and by extension, that of his boss in the Oval Office. Appearing in front of the press corps once again on Monday, Spicer admitted that “the information available wasn’t complete.” But the combative tone of the first briefing was still there: “I think that over and over again, there is this attempt to go after this president and say, well, that can’t be true and that’s not right and the numbers weren’t there. And there’s a rush to judgement every time,” he added. And the row is showing no signs of going away. On Tuesday, Spicer confirmed that Trump believes 3 to 5 million voters took part illegally in the US election last November. But Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan says he’s seen “no evidence” to back up the claim. Trump’s team accuse the press corps of rushing to judgement too fast. But after a rocky start, journalists won’t be rushing to make any decisions based on information provided by the new White House Press Secretary any time soon. (This is the first of a weekly dispatch about Giles' experiences reporting on the first 100 days of President Trump)

Truth in the Trump era

An angry President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against dissenters in his party who dashed his months-long effort to dismantle Barack Obama&#39;s landmark health care law.

Trump fired off a series of early morning tweets complaining about how he was &quot;let down&quot; by Democrats &quot;and a few Republicans,&quot; who announced their opposition the previous night to the latest leadership plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

With four Republicans now lined up against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell&#39;s health overhaul, the plan has flatlined in the 100-member chamber, where the party could afford only two defectors in order to get the measure passed.&nbsp;

The dramatic implosion effectively means Trump, who marks his first six months in office later this week, has no major legislative victory under his belt, squandering months of political capital.

Trump had campaigned relentlessly on a pledge to abolish most of the Affordable Care Act, proclaiming at an October campaign rally that it would be &quot;so easy&quot; to immediately repeal and replace the law.

But on Monday night he ran into the uncompromising reality of American politics: even with a president&#39;s party enjoying a majority in both chambers, crafting and passing landmark legislation can be difficult in the US Congress.

The failure suggests an inability by Trump -- a political neophyte who often highlighted his lack of connections to establishment Washington -- to get members of his own party to fall into line.

Nevertheless Trump put on a brave face, insisting on Twitter that &quot;we will return!&quot;

&quot;As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned,&quot; he added.

&nbsp;

&#39;Time to start over&#39;

McConnell was by no means giving up. He told colleagues Tuesday that despite &quot;regret&quot; that&nbsp;the effort failed, &quot;I believe we must continue to push forward now&quot;.

In the coming days, McConnell will introduce a bill that repeals Obamacare outright, but with a two-year delay of implementation, in order to allow Congress time to craft a replacement.

A straight repeal bill passed Congress in 2015. But that was during Obama&#39;s presidency, and Republicans knew they would pay no political price for their votes, as Obama vetoed the measure.

Trump would likely sign such legislation, putting Republicans on the hook for any ensuing disruption to the health care system.

Two years ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that simply repealing Obamacare would essentially kick 18 million people off health care in the first year compared to current law, a figure that would balloon to 32 million by 2026. That is far above the 22 million that CBO forecast would lose coverage under the latest repeal-and-replace legislation.

Nevertheless, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he and Trump &quot;fully support&quot; McConnell&#39;s decision to move ahead with an Obamacare repeal.

But with a number of Senate Republican moderates voicing concern about how the latest bill could adversely impact millions of people insured through Medicaid, the health coverage program for the poor and the disabled, it appeared unlikely that McConnell&#39;s repeal bid would win enough support.

&quot;I can not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians,&quot; Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose chamber passed its own health reform bill in May, appeared to recognise the quandary the Senate was in, but stressed the commitment Republicans have made to voters over the past seven years. &quot;We&#39;ve got a promise to keep,&quot; he told reporters.

But Ryan hesitated to map out the way forward, because it remained unclear what repeal effort, if any, could pass the Senate.&nbsp;

While Democrats celebrated, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer extended an olive branch to his Republican rivals. &quot;It&#39;s time to move on. It&#39;s time to start over&quot; on health care, he said.

Schumer called on Republicans to &quot;work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides longterm stability to the markets and improve our health care system.&quot;

 
&nbsp;

Trump complained about how he was 'let down' by Democrats 'and a few Republicans' who opposed the latest Republican effort to repeal Obamacare

An angry President Donald Trump railed Tuesday against dissenters in his party who dashed his months-long effort to dismantle Barack Obama's landmark health care law. Trump fired off a series of early morning tweets complaining about how he was "let down" by Democrats "and a few Republicans," who announced their opposition the previous night to the latest leadership plan to repeal and replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. With four Republicans now lined up against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's health overhaul, the plan has flatlined in the 100-member chamber, where the party could afford only two defectors in order to get the measure passed. The dramatic implosion effectively means Trump, who marks his first six months in office later this week, has no major legislative victory under his belt, squandering months of political capital. Trump had campaigned relentlessly on a pledge to abolish most of the Affordable Care Act, proclaiming at an October campaign rally that it would be "so easy" to immediately repeal and replace the law. But on Monday night he ran into the uncompromising reality of American politics: even with a president's party enjoying a majority in both chambers, crafting and passing landmark legislation can be difficult in the US Congress. The failure suggests an inability by Trump -- a political neophyte who often highlighted his lack of connections to establishment Washington -- to get members of his own party to fall into line. Nevertheless Trump put on a brave face, insisting on Twitter that "we will return!" "As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned," he added. 'Time to start over' McConnell was by no means giving up. He told colleagues Tuesday that despite "regret" that the effort failed, "I believe we must continue to push forward now". In the coming days, McConnell will introduce a bill that repeals Obamacare outright, but with a two-year delay of implementation, in order to allow Congress time to craft a replacement. A straight repeal bill passed Congress in 2015. But that was during Obama's presidency, and Republicans knew they would pay no political price for their votes, as Obama vetoed the measure. Trump would likely sign such legislation, putting Republicans on the hook for any ensuing disruption to the health care system. Two years ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office warned that simply repealing Obamacare would essentially kick 18 million people off health care in the first year compared to current law, a figure that would balloon to 32 million by 2026. That is far above the 22 million that CBO forecast would lose coverage under the latest repeal-and-replace legislation. Nevertheless, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday he and Trump "fully support" McConnell's decision to move ahead with an Obamacare repeal. But with a number of Senate Republican moderates voicing concern about how the latest bill could adversely impact millions of people insured through Medicaid, the health coverage program for the poor and the disabled, it appeared unlikely that McConnell's repeal bid would win enough support. "I can not vote to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians," Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito said in a statement. House Speaker Paul Ryan, whose chamber passed its own health reform bill in May, appeared to recognise the quandary the Senate was in, but stressed the commitment Republicans have made to voters over the past seven years. "We've got a promise to keep," he told reporters. But Ryan hesitated to map out the way forward, because it remained unclear what repeal effort, if any, could pass the Senate. While Democrats celebrated, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer extended an olive branch to his Republican rivals. "It's time to move on. It's time to start over" on health care, he said. Schumer called on Republicans to "work with Democrats on a bill that lowers premiums, provides longterm stability to the markets and improve our health care system."

'Let ObamaCare fail,' Trump fumes as health bill collapses

The US government cleared the way on Monday for thousands more foreign workers to enter the country under temporary seasonal visas,&nbsp;just as President Donald Trump declared this &quot;Made In America&quot; week and pledged to stand up for US workers.

Advocates of stricter limits on immigration criticised the additional visas,&nbsp;saying American workers should get job openings.

Trump,&nbsp;a former New York real estate magnate who has relied on seasonal workers at his hotels and resorts, campaigned on promises to restore American jobs. On Monday, he showcased &quot;Made in America&quot; products at the White House and made an impassioned defence of America First policies.

&quot;We&#39;re going to stand up for our companies and maybe most importantly for our workers,&quot; the Republican president said. &quot;Clearly it&#39;s time for a new policy, one defined by two simple rules: We will buy American. And we will hire American.&quot;

Federal officials said there were not enough qualified and willing American workers available to perform certain types of temporary nonagricultural work.

As a result, the government will allow 15,000 additional visas for temporary seasonal workers, meant to help American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm because of a shortage of such labour, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

&quot;As a demonstration of the administration&#39;s commitment to supporting American businesses, DHS is providing this one-time increase to the congressionally set annual cap,&quot; Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said in a statement.

Many seasonal businesses such as resorts, landscaping companies and seafood harvesters and processors had sought permission to temporarily hire more immigrants.&nbsp;

Congress originally set the cap at 66,000 workers for the fiscal year ending September 30. In May, lawmakers gave Kelly authority to approve up to an additional 70,000 temporary visas and pleaded with him to use his authority to issue as many of them as he thought appropriate.

Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a group that supports immigration controls, said in a statement the decision &quot;threatens to reverse the trend of reports emerging around the country of employers working harder and raising pay to successfully recruit more unemployed Americans for lower-skilled jobs.&quot;

Beck said it was &quot;yet another example of the administration and Congress failing to keep the Trump campaign promise of putting American workers first.&quot;

Minimal relief granted

Trump campaigned on an &quot;America First&quot; platform of favouring Americans for hiring. Trump&#39;s golf resorts in Florida have used the visas, however, to hire temporary guest workers.

The clothing line of the president&#39;s older daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, uses foreign factories employing low-wage workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China, a recent Washington Post report showed.

A group of US companies that use the visas, called the &quot;the H-2B Workforce Coalition,&quot; praised the &quot;minimal relief granted.&quot;

It said: &quot;From landscapers in Colorado to innkeepers in Maine to seafood processors along the Gulf Coast to carnivals nationwide, we hope the visa expansion will help some businesses avoid substantial financial loss, and in some cases, prevent early business closures during their peak season.&quot;

A report on Monday by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, found, however, there was little evidence of worker shortages in H-2B jobs at the national level.

&ldquo;Expanding the H-2B programme without reforming it to improve protections and increase wages for migrant workers will essentially allow unscrupulous employers to carve out an even larger rights-free zone in the low-wage labour market,&rdquo; said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the institute.

Kelly has acknowledged that many temporary workers &quot;are victimised when they come up here, in terms of what they&rsquo;re paid.&quot;

DHS said the government had created a tip line to report any abuse of the visas or employer violations.

Advocates of stricter limits on immigration criticised the additional visas,?saying American workers should get job openings

The US government cleared the way on Monday for thousands more foreign workers to enter the country under temporary seasonal visas, just as President Donald Trump declared this "Made In America" week and pledged to stand up for US workers. Advocates of stricter limits on immigration criticised the additional visas, saying American workers should get job openings. Trump, a former New York real estate magnate who has relied on seasonal workers at his hotels and resorts, campaigned on promises to restore American jobs. On Monday, he showcased "Made in America" products at the White House and made an impassioned defence of America First policies. "We're going to stand up for our companies and maybe most importantly for our workers," the Republican president said. "Clearly it's time for a new policy, one defined by two simple rules: We will buy American. And we will hire American." Federal officials said there were not enough qualified and willing American workers available to perform certain types of temporary nonagricultural work. As a result, the government will allow 15,000 additional visas for temporary seasonal workers, meant to help American businesses in danger of suffering irreparable harm because of a shortage of such labour, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. "As a demonstration of the administration's commitment to supporting American businesses, DHS is providing this one-time increase to the congressionally set annual cap," Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said in a statement. Many seasonal businesses such as resorts, landscaping companies and seafood harvesters and processors had sought permission to temporarily hire more immigrants. Congress originally set the cap at 66,000 workers for the fiscal year ending September 30. In May, lawmakers gave Kelly authority to approve up to an additional 70,000 temporary visas and pleaded with him to use his authority to issue as many of them as he thought appropriate. Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a group that supports immigration controls, said in a statement the decision "threatens to reverse the trend of reports emerging around the country of employers working harder and raising pay to successfully recruit more unemployed Americans for lower-skilled jobs." Beck said it was "yet another example of the administration and Congress failing to keep the Trump campaign promise of putting American workers first." Minimal relief granted Trump campaigned on an "America First" platform of favouring Americans for hiring. Trump's golf resorts in Florida have used the visas, however, to hire temporary guest workers. The clothing line of the president's older daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, uses foreign factories employing low-wage workers in countries such as Bangladesh, Indonesia and China, a recent Washington Post report showed. A group of US companies that use the visas, called the "the H-2B Workforce Coalition," praised the "minimal relief granted." It said: "From landscapers in Colorado to innkeepers in Maine to seafood processors along the Gulf Coast to carnivals nationwide, we hope the visa expansion will help some businesses avoid substantial financial loss, and in some cases, prevent early business closures during their peak season." A report on Monday by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, found, however, there was little evidence of worker shortages in H-2B jobs at the national level. “Expanding the H-2B programme without reforming it to improve protections and increase wages for migrant workers will essentially allow unscrupulous employers to carve out an even larger rights-free zone in the low-wage labour market,” said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research at the institute. Kelly has acknowledged that many temporary workers "are victimised when they come up here, in terms of what they’re paid." DHS said the government had created a tip line to report any abuse of the visas or employer violations.

US allows more seasonal low-wage foreign workers as Trump pushes 'hire American'

The US&nbsp;Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump&#39;s personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president&#39;s son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump Jr&nbsp;has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father&#39;s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

&quot;Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me,&quot; Jay Sekulow, a member of the president&#39;s legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program &quot;This Week&quot;.

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<h5>According to emails released by Trump Jr&nbsp;last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=According to emails released by Trump Jr?last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow&#39;s comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump&#39;s son and two senior campaign officials.

&quot;Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time,&quot; the statement said.

According to emails released by Trump Jr&nbsp;last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties.

On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump&#39;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president&#39;s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.

The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump&#39;s election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel.

Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr&nbsp;have denied any collusion.

&nbsp;

&quot;Under the bus&quot;

Sekulow&#39;s comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W&nbsp;Bush on homeland security.

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Ok let&#39;s try to deflect blame &amp; throw those in <a href="https://twitter.com/SecretService">@SecretService</a> who protect <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS">@POTUS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FLOTUS">@FLOTUS</a> &amp; family under the bus ???????? <a href="https://t.co/HZBAv5HF9K">https://t.co/HZBAv5HF9K</a>
&mdash; Frances Townsend (@FranTownsend) <a href="https://twitter.com/FranTownsend/status/886581985195556864">July 16, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&quot;Ok let&#39;s try to deflect blame &amp; throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS &amp; family under the bus,&quot; she said on Twitter.

The Secret Service&#39;s mission is to provide physical protection for the US&nbsp;president. The agency also protects major presidential candidates. But its role in vetting people who meet with a US&nbsp;president or candidates is limited to ensuring physical safety.

&nbsp;

Lawyer: Trump unaware of meeting

Trump himself has said he was unaware of the meeting between his son and the Russian lawyer until a few days ago.

&quot;The president was not aware about this meeting, did not participate in this meeting,&quot; Sekulow told the CBS program &quot;Face the Nation.&quot;

Sekulow added that Trump was not aware of any meetings between his campaign staff and Russians.

A federal special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations by US&nbsp;intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. They are also investigating potential connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on one of the panels investigating the matter, the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN: &quot;The level of credibility from the senior level of this administration really is suspect.&quot;

Warner said he wanted to hear from everyone who attended the June 2016 meeting.

&quot;Whether we will be able to get the Russian nationals to come over and testify is an open question, (but) those people that our committee has jurisdiction over, the Americans, I sure as heck want to talk to all of them,&quot; Warner said.

'Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time'

The US Secret Service on Sunday denied a suggestion from President Donald Trump's personal lawyer that it had vetted a meeting between the president's son and Russian nationals during the 2016 campaign. Donald Trump Jr has acknowledged that he met in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya after he was told she might have damaging information about his father's rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. "Well, I wonder why the Secret Service, if this was nefarious, why the Secret Service allowed these people in. The president had Secret Service protection at that point, and that raised a question with me," Jay Sekulow, a member of the president's legal team, said on Sunday on the ABC news program "This Week". According to emails released by Trump Jr last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer × In an emailed response to questions about Sekulow's comments, Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said the younger Trump was not under Secret Service protection at the time of the meeting, which included Trump's son and two senior campaign officials. "Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time," the statement said. According to emails released by Trump Jr last week, he eagerly agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, who he was told was a Russian government lawyer. Veselnitskaya has said she is a private lawyer and denies having Kremlin ties. On Friday, NBC News reported that a lobbyist who was once a Soviet counter-intelligence officer participated in the meeting, which was also attended by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the president's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. The meeting appears to be the most tangible evidence of a connection between Trump's election campaign and Russia, a subject that has prompted investigations by congressional committees and a federal special counsel. Moscow has denied any interference and the president and Trump Jr have denied any collusion. "Under the bus" Sekulow's comments about the Secret Service drew quick criticism, including from Frances Townsend, who advised former Republican President George W Bush on homeland security. Ok let's try to deflect blame & throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS & family under the bus ???????? https://t.co/HZBAv5HF9K — Frances Townsend (@FranTownsend) July 16, 2017 × "Ok let's try to deflect blame & throw those in @SecretService who protect @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @FLOTUS & family under the bus," she said on Twitter. The Secret Service's mission is to provide physical protection for the US president. The agency also protects major presidential candidates. But its role in vetting people who meet with a US president or candidates is limited to ensuring physical safety. Lawyer: Trump unaware of meeting Trump himself has said he was unaware of the meeting between his son and the Russian lawyer until a few days ago. "The president was not aware about this meeting, did not participate in this meeting," Sekulow told the CBS program "Face the Nation." Sekulow added that Trump was not aware of any meetings between his campaign staff and Russians. A federal special counsel and several congressional panels are investigating allegations by US intelligence agencies that Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election to hurt Clinton and help Trump. They are also investigating potential connections between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on one of the panels investigating the matter, the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN: "The level of credibility from the senior level of this administration really is suspect." Warner said he wanted to hear from everyone who attended the June 2016 meeting. "Whether we will be able to get the Russian nationals to come over and testify is an open question, (but) those people that our committee has jurisdiction over, the Americans, I sure as heck want to talk to all of them," Warner said.

US Secret Service rejects suggestion it vetted Russians at Trump son's meeting

President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Friday on fellow Republicans in the US Senate to pass a bill dismantling the Obamacare law, but with their retooled&nbsp;healthcare&nbsp;plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned for a vote next week on revised legislation, unveiled on Thursday, and he has his work cut out for him in the coming days to get the 50 &quot;yes&quot; votes needed for passage. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin and cannot afford to lose more than two from within their ranks because of united Democratic opposition, but two Republican senators already have declared opposition.

&quot;After all of these years of suffering thru Obamacare, Republican Senators must come through as they have promised,&quot; Trump, who made gutting Obamacare one of his central campaign promises last year, wrote on Twitter from Paris, where he attended Bastille Day celebrations.

The top US doctors&#39; group, the American Medical Association, on Friday called the new bill inadequate and said more bipartisan collaboration is needed in the months ahead to improve the delivery and financing of&nbsp;healthcare. Hospital and medical advocacy groups also have criticised&nbsp;the bill.

&quot;The revised bill does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients regarding proposed Medicaid cuts and inadequate subsidies that will result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage,&quot; AMA president Dr David Barbe said, referring to the government insurance program for the poor and disabled.

A major test for McConnell&#39;s legislation expected early next week is an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which last month forecast that the prior version of the bill would have resulted in 22 million Americans losing insurance over the next decade.

A day after that CBO analysis was issued, McConnell postponed a planned vote on the legislation because of a revolt within his own party, including moderates and hard-line conservatives.

While the bill&#39;s prospects may look precarious, the same could have been said of&nbsp;health care legislation that ultimately was passed by the House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan called off a vote in March in the face of a rebellion involving the disparate factions of the party but managed to coax enough lawmakers to back it and engineered narrow approval on May 4.

Pence seeks support

Vice president Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation&#39;s governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio&#39;s John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilise the insurance market.

Kasich&#39;s opposition could put pressure on Rob Portman, a Republican senator from Ohio, who has not yet taken a position on the bill.

If the current Senate legislation collapses, some lawmakers have raised the possibility of seeking bipartisan legislation to fix parts of Obamacare but leaving intact the structure of the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama&#39;s signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare.

&quot;There are changes that need to be made to the law,&quot; Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told MSNBC, citing &quot;a bipartisan appetite to tackle this issue.&quot;

Moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul already oppose the revised Senate bill. Other Republican senators have either expressed concern or remained noncommittal, including Portman, Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, John McCain, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Cory Gardner, Todd Young and Thom Tillis. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy floated an alternative plan.

The new version was crafted to satisfy the Republican Party&#39;s various elements, including moderates worried about Americans who would be left without medical coverage and hard-line conservatives who demand less government regulation of health insurance.

A provision championed by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and aimed at attracting conservatives would let insurers sell cheap, bare-bones insurance policies that would not have to cover broad benefits mandated under Obamacare.

But two major health insurance groups, America&#39;s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, called on McConnell to drop the Cruz proposal, saying it would undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions, raise insurance premiums and destabilise the individual insurance market.

The bill retained certain Obamacare taxes on the wealthy that the earlier version would have eliminated, a step moderates could embrace. But it kept the core of the earlier bill, including ending the expansion of Medicaid that was instrumental in enabling Obamacare to expand coverage to 20 million people, and restructuring that social safety-net program.

John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said in order to complete work on the bill by the end of next week, Senate leaders would have to try to formally begin debate on Tuesday or Wednesday, a move that requires a majority vote.

Vice president Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation's governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio's John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilise the insurance market

President Donald Trump turned up the heat on Friday on fellow Republicans in the US Senate to pass a bill dismantling the Obamacare law, but with their retooled healthcare plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned for a vote next week on revised legislation, unveiled on Thursday, and he has his work cut out for him in the coming days to get the 50 "yes" votes needed for passage. Republicans control the Senate by a 52-48 margin and cannot afford to lose more than two from within their ranks because of united Democratic opposition, but two Republican senators already have declared opposition. "After all of these years of suffering thru Obamacare, Republican Senators must come through as they have promised," Trump, who made gutting Obamacare one of his central campaign promises last year, wrote on Twitter from Paris, where he attended Bastille Day celebrations. The top US doctors' group, the American Medical Association, on Friday called the new bill inadequate and said more bipartisan collaboration is needed in the months ahead to improve the delivery and financing of healthcare. Hospital and medical advocacy groups also have criticised the bill. "The revised bill does not address the key concerns of physicians and patients regarding proposed Medicaid cuts and inadequate subsidies that will result in millions of Americans losing health insurance coverage," AMA president Dr David Barbe said, referring to the government insurance program for the poor and disabled. A major test for McConnell's legislation expected early next week is an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which last month forecast that the prior version of the bill would have resulted in 22 million Americans losing insurance over the next decade. A day after that CBO analysis was issued, McConnell postponed a planned vote on the legislation because of a revolt within his own party, including moderates and hard-line conservatives. While the bill's prospects may look precarious, the same could have been said of health care legislation that ultimately was passed by the House of Representatives. Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan called off a vote in March in the face of a rebellion involving the disparate factions of the party but managed to coax enough lawmakers to back it and engineered narrow approval on May 4. Pence seeks support Vice president Mike Pence sought to shore up support among the nation's governors at a meeting in Rhode Island, but a key Republican governor, Ohio's John Kasich, came out strongly against the revised bill, saying its Medicaid cuts were too deep and it does too little to stabilise the insurance market. Kasich's opposition could put pressure on Rob Portman, a Republican senator from Ohio, who has not yet taken a position on the bill. If the current Senate legislation collapses, some lawmakers have raised the possibility of seeking bipartisan legislation to fix parts of Obamacare but leaving intact the structure of the Affordable Care Act, Democratic former President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement, commonly known as Obamacare. "There are changes that need to be made to the law," Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told MSNBC, citing "a bipartisan appetite to tackle this issue." Moderate Susan Collins and conservative Rand Paul already oppose the revised Senate bill. Other Republican senators have either expressed concern or remained noncommittal, including Portman, Mike Lee, Shelley Moore Capito, John McCain, Dean Heller, John Hoeven, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, Cory Gardner, Todd Young and Thom Tillis. Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy floated an alternative plan. The new version was crafted to satisfy the Republican Party's various elements, including moderates worried about Americans who would be left without medical coverage and hard-line conservatives who demand less government regulation of health insurance. A provision championed by Republican Senator Ted Cruz and aimed at attracting conservatives would let insurers sell cheap, bare-bones insurance policies that would not have to cover broad benefits mandated under Obamacare. But two major health insurance groups, America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, called on McConnell to drop the Cruz proposal, saying it would undermine protections for pre-existing medical conditions, raise insurance premiums and destabilise the individual insurance market. The bill retained certain Obamacare taxes on the wealthy that the earlier version would have eliminated, a step moderates could embrace. But it kept the core of the earlier bill, including ending the expansion of Medicaid that was instrumental in enabling Obamacare to expand coverage to 20 million people, and restructuring that social safety-net program. John Thune, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, said in order to complete work on the bill by the end of next week, Senate leaders would have to try to formally begin debate on Tuesday or Wednesday, a move that requires a majority vote.

Another Republican defection would doom Senate healthcare bill

President Donald Trump held the door open to a reversal of his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord on Thursday, but did not say what he would need in return to persuade him to do so.

Trump,&nbsp;who has made few friends in Europe with his rejection of the 2015 Paris agreement and his &quot;America First&quot; trade stance,&nbsp;met with French President Emmanuel Macron as both leaders sought common ground to reset an awkward relationship.

&quot;Something could happen with respect to the Paris accords, let&#39;s see what happens,&quot; Trump told a news conference. &quot;If it happens, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn&#39;t, that&#39;ll be OK too.&quot;

Trump has said the Paris accord is soft on leading polluters like China and India, putting US industry at risk.

&quot;I respect the wish to preserve jobs, I think that&#39;s compatible with the Paris accord,&quot; Macron said at the joint conference.

&quot;There is no sudden and unexpected change today, otherwise we would have announced it, but there is the shared intention to continue discussing these issues,&quot; the French president added.&nbsp; 
 
Trump and Macron&#39;s relationship got off to a bumpy start,&nbsp;but both have an incentive to improve relations - Macron hopes to elevate France&#39;s role in global affairs,&nbsp;and Trump, seemingly isolated among world leaders,&nbsp;needs a friend overseas.

Trump came to France beset by allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US&nbsp;election, with emails released on Tuesday suggesting his eldest son welcomed an offer of Russian help against his father&#39;s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Weeks after Macron hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Palace of Versailles,&nbsp;Trump will bask in the trappings of the Bastille Day military parade on Friday and commemorations of the entry 100 years ago of US&nbsp;troops into World War One.&nbsp;

Macron welcomed Trump with a warm handshake and smiles, a contrast to the clenched-jaw greeting they shared at their first encounter in May.

&quot;Emmanuel, nice to see you. This is so beautiful,&quot; the US president told Macron as they met at the Hotel des Invalides where Napoleon Bonaparte and other French war heroes are buried.

Syria cooperation

For the 39-year-old Macron, France&#39;s youngest leader since Napoleon two centuries ago,&nbsp;the visit is a chance to use soft diplomacy to win Trump&#39;s confidence and set about influencing US foreign policy,&nbsp;which European leaders say lacks direction.

Macron views it as counter-productive to isolate the United States on the world stage,&nbsp;and said he and Trump had asked diplomats to draw up in the coming weeks a concrete initiative aimed at preparing the future of Syria.

&quot;On the Iraq-Syria situation, we have agreed to continue working together, in particular on the building of a roadmap for the post-war period,&quot; Macron said.

Trump said work was underway to negotiate a ceasefire in a second region of Syria.

On Friday,&nbsp;Trump will be guest of honour at France&#39;s July 14 celebrations, a year after a Tunisian man loyal to Islamic State ploughed a truck through revellers on a seafront promenade in Nice, killing more than 80.

During the US election campaign,&nbsp;Trump said a wave of militant attacks showed &quot;France is no longer France&quot;, and reprimanded the then-Socialist government for allegedly bowing its head to jihadists.

In bringing Trump to Paris, Macron has stolen a march on Britain`s embattled Prime Minister Theresa May.

London&#39;s offer of a state visit for Trump met fierce domestic criticism and warnings that he would be greeted by mass protests.

An Elabe poll showed that 59 per cent of French people approved of Macron&#39;s decision to invite Trump. 
&nbsp;

The US President said 'something could happen' with respect to the 2015 Paris accord

President Donald Trump held the door open to a reversal of his decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord on Thursday, but did not say what he would need in return to persuade him to do so. Trump, who has made few friends in Europe with his rejection of the 2015 Paris agreement and his "America First" trade stance, met with French President Emmanuel Macron as both leaders sought common ground to reset an awkward relationship. "Something could happen with respect to the Paris accords, let's see what happens," Trump told a news conference. "If it happens, that will be wonderful, and if it doesn't, that'll be OK too." Trump has said the Paris accord is soft on leading polluters like China and India, putting US industry at risk. "I respect the wish to preserve jobs, I think that's compatible with the Paris accord," Macron said at the joint conference. "There is no sudden and unexpected change today, otherwise we would have announced it, but there is the shared intention to continue discussing these issues," the French president added. Trump and Macron's relationship got off to a bumpy start, but both have an incentive to improve relations - Macron hopes to elevate France's role in global affairs, and Trump, seemingly isolated among world leaders, needs a friend overseas. Trump came to France beset by allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, with emails released on Tuesday suggesting his eldest son welcomed an offer of Russian help against his father's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Weeks after Macron hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Palace of Versailles, Trump will bask in the trappings of the Bastille Day military parade on Friday and commemorations of the entry 100 years ago of US troops into World War One. Macron welcomed Trump with a warm handshake and smiles, a contrast to the clenched-jaw greeting they shared at their first encounter in May. "Emmanuel, nice to see you. This is so beautiful," the US president told Macron as they met at the Hotel des Invalides where Napoleon Bonaparte and other French war heroes are buried. Syria cooperation For the 39-year-old Macron, France's youngest leader since Napoleon two centuries ago, the visit is a chance to use soft diplomacy to win Trump's confidence and set about influencing US foreign policy, which European leaders say lacks direction. Macron views it as counter-productive to isolate the United States on the world stage, and said he and Trump had asked diplomats to draw up in the coming weeks a concrete initiative aimed at preparing the future of Syria. "On the Iraq-Syria situation, we have agreed to continue working together, in particular on the building of a roadmap for the post-war period," Macron said. Trump said work was underway to negotiate a ceasefire in a second region of Syria. On Friday, Trump will be guest of honour at France's July 14 celebrations, a year after a Tunisian man loyal to Islamic State ploughed a truck through revellers on a seafront promenade in Nice, killing more than 80. During the US election campaign, Trump said a wave of militant attacks showed "France is no longer France", and reprimanded the then-Socialist government for allegedly bowing its head to jihadists. In bringing Trump to Paris, Macron has stolen a march on Britain`s embattled Prime Minister Theresa May. London's offer of a state visit for Trump met fierce domestic criticism and warnings that he would be greeted by mass protests. An Elabe poll showed that 59 per cent of French people approved of Macron's decision to invite Trump.

Trump hints he could change position on climate pact

The United States, Russia and Jordan have reached a crucial ceasefire and &quot;de-escalation agreement&quot;&nbsp;in southwestern Syria, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said on Friday.

Tillerson announced the deal after a meeting&nbsp;between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg.&nbsp;

The ceasefire&nbsp;goes into effect on Sunday,&nbsp;Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who was also present at the meeting, said.&nbsp;

Tillerson said the area covered by the ceasefire affects Jordan&rsquo;s security and is a &ldquo;very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield&rdquo;.

&ldquo;It is (a) well-defined agreement on who will secure this area,&rdquo; he told the media,&nbsp;

Prior to leaving for the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Tillerson had said the US was prepared to discuss joint&nbsp;efforts with Russia in order to stabilise the situation in Syria,&nbsp;

(with inputs from Reuters)

&nbsp;

The United States, Russia and Jordan have brokered a crucial ceasefire deal in southwest Syria that goes into effect on Sunday

The United States, Russia and Jordan have reached a crucial ceasefire and "de-escalation agreement" in southwestern Syria, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said on Friday. Tillerson announced the deal after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg. The ceasefire goes into effect on Sunday, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, who was also present at the meeting, said. Tillerson said the area covered by the ceasefire affects Jordan’s security and is a “very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield”. “It is (a) well-defined agreement on who will secure this area,” he told the media, Prior to leaving for the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, Tillerson had said the US was prepared to discuss joint efforts with Russia in order to stabilise the situation in Syria, (with inputs from Reuters)

US, Russia and Jordan reach ceasefire deal for southwest Syria

A draft of an official announcement to be made at the G-20 shows world leaders have isolated US President Donald Trump over his climate sceptic stance at the G-20 summit on Friday.

While taking note of President Trump&#39;s decision to quit the Paris Climate Accord, the latest draft communique accessed by AFP underlines that the 2015 agreement is &quot;irreversible&quot; and affirms that other G-20 nations are committed to the deal.

The draft communique, however, removes a reference to a &quot;global approach&quot; mentioned in an earlier version that some countries felt could suggest there was a parallel track to Paris.

It also includes a new paragraph which says the United States will &quot;work closely with other partners to help their access to and use of fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently&quot;, AFP reported.

Some experts were sceptical whether leaders would approve the reference to fossil fuels, which would be a clear nod to Washington.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is hosting the G-20 Summit, urged her counterparts to compromise at the start of talks on climate and trade.

&quot;We all know the big global challenges and we know that time is pressing,&quot; Merkel said in her address to G-20 leaders in a hall at the Hamburg convention centre.

&quot;And so solutions can only be found if we are ready for compromise and move towards each other, but without - and I stress this - bending too much, because of course we can also state clearly when there are differences.&quot;

Merkel, who is gearing up for a parliamentary election in September, faces the daunting task of steering the G-20 towards a consensus on trade, climate change and migration - all issues that have become more contentious since Trump entered the White House half a year ago promising an &quot;America First&quot; approach.

President Trump pulled the US out of the landmark agreement aimed at combating climate change last month.&nbsp;

Envoys have been working for weeks to bridge differences, and trying to come up with new language on the climate issue which would be put to the leaders for approval.

Earlier, leaders of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - called on the G-20 to push for implementation of the Paris climate deal despite Trump&#39;s decision to pull out.

The draft statement affirms that other G-20 nations are committed to the deal while taking note of Washington's decision to quit the agreement

A draft of an official announcement to be made at the G-20 shows world leaders have isolated US President Donald Trump over his climate sceptic stance at the G-20 summit on Friday. While taking note of President Trump's decision to quit the Paris Climate Accord, the latest draft communique accessed by AFP underlines that the 2015 agreement is "irreversible" and affirms that other G-20 nations are committed to the deal. The draft communique, however, removes a reference to a "global approach" mentioned in an earlier version that some countries felt could suggest there was a parallel track to Paris. It also includes a new paragraph which says the United States will "work closely with other partners to help their access to and use of fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently", AFP reported. Some experts were sceptical whether leaders would approve the reference to fossil fuels, which would be a clear nod to Washington. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is hosting the G-20 Summit, urged her counterparts to compromise at the start of talks on climate and trade. "We all know the big global challenges and we know that time is pressing," Merkel said in her address to G-20 leaders in a hall at the Hamburg convention centre. "And so solutions can only be found if we are ready for compromise and move towards each other, but without - and I stress this - bending too much, because of course we can also state clearly when there are differences." Merkel, who is gearing up for a parliamentary election in September, faces the daunting task of steering the G-20 towards a consensus on trade, climate change and migration - all issues that have become more contentious since Trump entered the White House half a year ago promising an "America First" approach. President Trump pulled the US out of the landmark agreement aimed at combating climate change last month. Envoys have been working for weeks to bridge differences, and trying to come up with new language on the climate issue which would be put to the leaders for approval. Earlier, leaders of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - called on the G-20 to push for implementation of the Paris climate deal despite Trump's decision to pull out.

G-20 leaders isolate Trump on climate, say Paris accord 'irreversible'

US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin shook hands as they met for the first time Friday at a G-20 summit marred by violent protests and a rift between America and its Western allies over climate change and trade.

The handshake in Hamburg came hours before the brash property tycoon and the ice-cool ex-KGB agent were due to hold a blockbuster bilateral that promises to be dissected frame by frame for any sign of rapprochement or estrangement.

&quot;I look forward to all meetings today with world leaders, including my meeting with Vladimir Putin. Much to discuss,&quot; Trump wrote on Twitter.

Asked if Putin felt the same about the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: &quot;Affirmative&quot;.

Their meeting, say analysts, is of vital importance for issues ranging from the North Korean crisis and conflicts in Syria and Ukraine to US-Russian disarmament treaties, world trade and global warming.

&quot;While Trump&#39;s pro-wrestling approach is showy, bombastic and impulsive, Putin thrives on judo&#39;s discipline and mental toughness, where a core technique is to keep an opponent off-balance and exploit his weakness,&quot; noted Derek Chollet from think-tank German Marshall Fund.&nbsp;

&quot;How these contrasting styles of machismo interact... will likely be the defining feature of their relationship.&quot;

Their meeting comes on the sidelines of what is expected to be the most fraught G-20 summit in years.

Trump&#39;s &quot;America First&quot; approach on trade and climate-sceptic stance are testing the relationship with longstanding allies, especially in Europe.

And his tough response to North Korea&#39;s missile programme -- an issue where Russia and China are urging calm -- throws a further volatile ingredient into the mix.

End &#39;destabilising&#39; action

On the presidential election campaign trail last year, Trump said he hoped relations with Putin could be rebuilt after Russia&#39;s acrimonious ties with his predecessor Barack Obama.

But Moscow faces mounting accusations that it interfered in the election to help propel Trump into the White House. As a result, Trump faces pressure at home and from US allies to take a combative tone.

In a key speech in Warsaw on Thursday, Trump fired a rare salvo of criticism at Russia, but did not name Putin specifically.

&quot;We urge Russia to cease its destabilising activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, and its support for hostile regimes -- including Syria and Iran -- and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defence of civilisation itself,&quot; he told a cheering crowd of about 10,000 people.

A White House source confirmed to AFP that Trump will be joined at the meeting only by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a translator, an extraordinarily small cast list that raised concerns among experts.

&quot;Neither Tillerson or Trump have any experience of foreign policy. That is one reason why they need pros in the room when meeting Putin,&quot; said Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution.

Storm over climate

North Korea&#39;s successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week also casts a dark shadow over the US leader&#39;s first G20 summit.

Trump had warned Thursday that Pyongyang&#39;s military sabre-rattling would bear &quot;consequences&quot;, saying he was considering a &quot;severe&quot; response to its &quot;very, very bad behaviour&quot;.

After repeatedly urging Beijing to ratchet up the economic pressure on North Korea, Trump will hold what promises to be a testy meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the G20&#39;s sidelines.

Beyond the complex diplomatic waltz, the US leader also faces tough talks in the main G20 conference room, where a united front is forming against his dismissive attitude to global warming.&nbsp;

Trump may have vowed to pull the US out of the 2015 Paris climate protection accord, but G20 host German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that &quot;many many other countries want to go on implementing&quot; it.

&quot;We are not going to paper over the differences but rather, we will call discord discord,&quot; said Merkel.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said world leaders will redouble efforts over the two-day summit to persuade Trump to rejoin the Paris deal.

&quot;I believe the collective message that will be given to President Trump around this table will be the importance of America coming back into that agreement, and I hope we will be able to work to ensure that can happen,&quot; she told the BBC.

But the timing of Trump&#39;s meeting with Putin -- expected to begin 15 minutes after G20 leaders start their afternoon session on climate change -- has been viewed as a sign of the US leader snubbing the issue.

Cars torched 
 
Outside the heavily-guarded conference hall, tensions were also high with police clashing with demonstrators again early Friday following a night of running battles that left more than 100 police officers injured.

Beginning early Friday, activists torched more cars, smashed shop windows, fired flares at the police helicopters and even slashed tyres on vehicles belonging to the Canadian delegation.&nbsp;

Small groups played cat-and-mouse with the 20,000 police on duty to try and stop the leaders even getting to the summit venue.

&quot;It&#39;s a total catastrophe that a minority can just riot like this,&quot; local resident Munch told AFP &quot;These idiots have nothing better to do than to demonstrate. They have to be moved out.&quot;

Their meeting, say analysts, is of vital importance for issues ranging from the North Korean crisis and conflicts in Syria and Ukraine to US-Russian disarmament treaties, world trade and global warming

US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin shook hands as they met for the first time Friday at a G-20 summit marred by violent protests and a rift between America and its Western allies over climate change and trade. The handshake in Hamburg came hours before the brash property tycoon and the ice-cool ex-KGB agent were due to hold a blockbuster bilateral that promises to be dissected frame by frame for any sign of rapprochement or estrangement. "I look forward to all meetings today with world leaders, including my meeting with Vladimir Putin. Much to discuss," Trump wrote on Twitter. Asked if Putin felt the same about the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Affirmative". Their meeting, say analysts, is of vital importance for issues ranging from the North Korean crisis and conflicts in Syria and Ukraine to US-Russian disarmament treaties, world trade and global warming. "While Trump's pro-wrestling approach is showy, bombastic and impulsive, Putin thrives on judo's discipline and mental toughness, where a core technique is to keep an opponent off-balance and exploit his weakness," noted Derek Chollet from think-tank German Marshall Fund. "How these contrasting styles of machismo interact... will likely be the defining feature of their relationship." Their meeting comes on the sidelines of what is expected to be the most fraught G-20 summit in years. Trump's "America First" approach on trade and climate-sceptic stance are testing the relationship with longstanding allies, especially in Europe. And his tough response to North Korea's missile programme -- an issue where Russia and China are urging calm -- throws a further volatile ingredient into the mix. End 'destabilising' action On the presidential election campaign trail last year, Trump said he hoped relations with Putin could be rebuilt after Russia's acrimonious ties with his predecessor Barack Obama. But Moscow faces mounting accusations that it interfered in the election to help propel Trump into the White House. As a result, Trump faces pressure at home and from US allies to take a combative tone. In a key speech in Warsaw on Thursday, Trump fired a rare salvo of criticism at Russia, but did not name Putin specifically. "We urge Russia to cease its destabilising activities in Ukraine and elsewhere, and its support for hostile regimes -- including Syria and Iran -- and to instead join the community of responsible nations in our fight against common enemies and in defence of civilisation itself," he told a cheering crowd of about 10,000 people. A White House source confirmed to AFP that Trump will be joined at the meeting only by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and a translator, an extraordinarily small cast list that raised concerns among experts. "Neither Tillerson or Trump have any experience of foreign policy. That is one reason why they need pros in the room when meeting Putin," said Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution. Storm over climate North Korea's successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile this week also casts a dark shadow over the US leader's first G20 summit. Trump had warned Thursday that Pyongyang's military sabre-rattling would bear "consequences", saying he was considering a "severe" response to its "very, very bad behaviour". After repeatedly urging Beijing to ratchet up the economic pressure on North Korea, Trump will hold what promises to be a testy meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the G20's sidelines. Beyond the complex diplomatic waltz, the US leader also faces tough talks in the main G20 conference room, where a united front is forming against his dismissive attitude to global warming. Trump may have vowed to pull the US out of the 2015 Paris climate protection accord, but G20 host German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that "many many other countries want to go on implementing" it. "We are not going to paper over the differences but rather, we will call discord discord," said Merkel. British Prime Minister Theresa May said world leaders will redouble efforts over the two-day summit to persuade Trump to rejoin the Paris deal. "I believe the collective message that will be given to President Trump around this table will be the importance of America coming back into that agreement, and I hope we will be able to work to ensure that can happen," she told the BBC. But the timing of Trump's meeting with Putin -- expected to begin 15 minutes after G20 leaders start their afternoon session on climate change -- has been viewed as a sign of the US leader snubbing the issue. Cars torched Outside the heavily-guarded conference hall, tensions were also high with police clashing with demonstrators again early Friday following a night of running battles that left more than 100 police officers injured. Beginning early Friday, activists torched more cars, smashed shop windows, fired flares at the police helicopters and even slashed tyres on vehicles belonging to the Canadian delegation. Small groups played cat-and-mouse with the 20,000 police on duty to try and stop the leaders even getting to the summit venue. "It's a total catastrophe that a minority can just riot like this," local resident Munch told AFP "These idiots have nothing better to do than to demonstrate. They have to be moved out."

Trump, Putin in first showdown at fractious G-20

Donald Trump has launched yet another tirade on a respected female journalist after she brought into focus the president&#39;s &quot;not normal behaviour&quot;.

The US president&#39;s Twitter outburst against TV anchor&nbsp;Mika Brzezinski has been widely condemned.

Reacting to&nbsp;Brzezinski&#39;s comments&nbsp;during the MSNBC morning show she co-hosts with her fiancee Joe Scarborough,&nbsp;54,&nbsp;a Republican former congressman who represented a Florida district in the 1990s.

Trump tweeted: &quot;I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don`t watch anymore).&quot;&nbsp;

&quot;Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year`s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!&quot;

&nbsp;

Response

Brzezinski reacted by putting up a photo of a young child reaching for cereals.

&quot;Made for little hands,&quot; the picture caption read -- again hitting at a theme that has caricatured&nbsp;image-conscious Trump&nbsp;since the days of his candidacy.

The latest tirade comes after the TV show host questioned Trump&#39;s management style.

&quot;Everybody in Washington, in the administration, needs to look at this from... a point of view where they&#39;re not lobotomized because you&#39;re sitting in there and you&#39;re so scared of him, and you think you need to suck up to the president.&quot;

&quot;It&#39;s just not normal behavior,&quot; she said. &quot;In fact, there would be concerns that the person who runs the company is out of his mind.&quot;

Cable TV network MSNBC also released a scathing statement against Trump. &quot;It&#39;s a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job.&quot;

Fiance Scarborough also attacked the president for his seemingly below-the-belt tweets:&nbsp;&quot;Never imagined a day when I would think to myself, &#39;it is beneath my dignity to respond to the President of the United States&#39;.&quot;

The Trump-Brzezinski war of words has lit up the internet, and people have tweeted in hordes to assail the current president.

Here is the former&nbsp;Florida governor and presidential candidate&nbsp;Jeb Bush&#39;s response:

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Inappropriate. Undignified. Unpresidential. <a href="https://t.co/6iZFIfA5Hn">https://t.co/6iZFIfA5Hn</a>
&mdash; Jeb Bush (@JebBush) <a href="https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/880478849909305344">June 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Nor does Trump appear to regret his words.&nbsp;

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I asked POTUS - twice - if he regrets his morning tweets. He heard &amp; did not respond.
&mdash; Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) <a href="https://twitter.com/KFaulders/status/880551547565776896">June 29, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Some have also alluded to Trump&#39;s denigatory attack last August on&nbsp;Fox reporter Megyn Kelly, who he said had &quot;blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever&quot; after she challenged him in a campaign debate.

Brzezinski, 50, is the daughter of the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was president Jimmy Carter&#39;s national security advisor.

(With inputs from AFP)

Donald Trump's personal attack on an MSNBC host comes after the latter criticised his management style

Donald Trump has launched yet another tirade on a respected female journalist after she brought into focus the president's "not normal behaviour". The US president's Twitter outburst against TV anchor Mika Brzezinski has been widely condemned. Reacting to Brzezinski's comments during the MSNBC morning show she co-hosts with her fiancee Joe Scarborough, 54, a Republican former congressman who represented a Florida district in the 1990s. Trump tweeted: "I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don`t watch anymore)." "Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year`s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!" Response Brzezinski reacted by putting up a photo of a young child reaching for cereals. "Made for little hands," the picture caption read -- again hitting at a theme that has caricatured image-conscious Trump since the days of his candidacy. The latest tirade comes after the TV show host questioned Trump's management style. "Everybody in Washington, in the administration, needs to look at this from... a point of view where they're not lobotomized because you're sitting in there and you're so scared of him, and you think you need to suck up to the president." "It's just not normal behavior," she said. "In fact, there would be concerns that the person who runs the company is out of his mind." Cable TV network MSNBC also released a scathing statement against Trump. "It's a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job." Fiance Scarborough also attacked the president for his seemingly below-the-belt tweets: "Never imagined a day when I would think to myself, 'it is beneath my dignity to respond to the President of the United States'." The Trump-Brzezinski war of words has lit up the internet, and people have tweeted in hordes to assail the current president. Here is the former Florida governor and presidential candidate Jeb Bush's response: Inappropriate. Undignified. Unpresidential. https://t.co/6iZFIfA5Hn — Jeb Bush (@JebBush) June 29, 2017 × Nor does Trump appear to regret his words. I asked POTUS - twice - if he regrets his morning tweets. He heard & did not respond. — Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) June 29, 2017 × Some have also alluded to Trump's denigatory attack last August on Fox reporter Megyn Kelly, who he said had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever" after she challenged him in a campaign debate. Brzezinski, 50, is the daughter of the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was president Jimmy Carter's national security advisor. (With inputs from AFP)

Outrage over Trump's 'facelift' jibe at TV show host

Last night Prime Minister Modi arrived in the U.S. Capitol on his three-day visit to the U.S. during which he would meet with President Trump at the White House for the first time. Deliberations on energy cooperation would hold the key in the Modi-Trump Summit. According to the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, &ldquo;The President and the Prime Minister will discuss ongoing cooperation, including counterterrorism, defence partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, global cooperation, burden-sharing, trade, law enforcement, and energy. I think it&#39;s going to be a very robust discussion&rdquo;.

While the U.S. lawmakers have already urged President Trump to raise the issue of growing trade deficit with India due to its failure to enact market-based reforms, Indians in the U.S. expects Modi to voice their concerns H-1B visa issue with Trump.

Besides these concerns, energy would be the key to any discussions on Indo-U.S. strategic ties. This is inevitable considering how well the U.S. fits into India&rsquo;s Energy Security goals. Both the countries have established their energy relationship with the launch of India-U.S. Energy Dialogue in May 2005. Ever since then India and the U.S. has closely worked with each other on a vast expanse of energy-related issues, including trade and investments in hydrocarbons, electricity generation, cooperation in clean energy technologies, promoting energy-efficiency and renewable energy resources.&nbsp;

However, India-U.S. civil nuclear deal which formed the basis of India-U.S. Strategic Partnership continues to be a non-starter because of the recent bankruptcy of Westinghouse and the absence of a functional reference atomic plant.

In the current Modi-Trump summit too, signing of a nuclear reactor pact is unlikely, but a discussion would surely be on the current impasse. Another area of India-U.S. energy cooperation is natural gas imports from the U.S. to India, which can significantly address the trade deficit concerns of the U.S.

Persistently low global oil prices have resulted in a glut in the supply of LNG (Liquefied natural gas) in the international market. The U.S. which is expecting to become a net gas exporter in 2018, would like to see LNG as a means to address bilateral trade deficit. According to Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman, IHS&nbsp;Markit, &ldquo;The Obama administration was generally supportive of the development and export of LNG but did not see it as a crucial element in trade strategy&hellip;. The Trump administration, with its focus on bilateral trade deficits, sees LNG as a way to address them.&rdquo;

Daniel Yergin, one of the delegations in a group of CEOs of top 20 American firms, who had a round table interaction with PM Modi, &nbsp;has already discussed matters related to the need for increasing LNG exports to India with Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan during his Houston trip for the CERA Week. Moreover, Dharmendra Pradhan met with his counterpart Rick Perry to explore investment propositions in LNG and shale gas and should be seen as a groundwork to Modi-Tump Summit.

Earlier this month, as noted by Sean Spicer, Trump is expected to make U.S. produced LNG one of the key talking points when he meets Modi. According to Spicer, &ldquo;U.S. energy and technologies, including natural gas, are helping to build Prime Minister Modi&#39;s vision for a new India in creating thousands of U.S. jobs in the process.&rdquo;

From March 2018, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is gearing up for its first LNG imports from the U.S. For the purpose, the Company is tying up for 2.3 million ton LNG supplies over 20 years from Cove Point in 2013. It has also signed a contract for 3.5 million ton of LNG with Cheniere Energy Inc&#39;s Sabine Pass project in Louisiana, US, the supplies from which will begin in December 2018.

LNG is the main component of India&rsquo;s gas-based economic vision. The Indian government plans to increase the share of natural gas from 7 per cent at present to 15 per cent by 2030, the U.S. can emerge as a significant player to meet India&rsquo;s natural gas demand. India is already one of the biggest drivers of global LNG demand and with flexible floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) coming up, the supply of LNG from the U.S. will provide flexibility on the supply side. This can be a beneficial solution for both the countries. Development of an integrated LNG market is key for unlocking the gas potential for India, and U.S. can work closely with India in this regard. India would like to take a clue from recently concluded LNG deal between the U.S. and China, wherein China would receive more LNG from the U.S., while jointly developing liquefied natural gas facilities and gas transport.

According to the Congressional Research Service report of the U.S., some members of the U.S. Congress are looking forward to bills related to India-U.S. energy cooperation but these bills were not enacted into laws as yet. The issues that are to excite the US Congress include prospects, such as natural gas exports from the U.S., U.S. energy companies&rsquo; investments in India and Indian investment in the U.S. energy sector. Both Modi and Trump would like to deliberate on some of these issues to deepen India-U.S. energy ties.

However, Trump&rsquo;s pulling out from Paris Climate agreement would neither impact India&rsquo;s march towards cleaner source of energy nor it has much impact on the U.S. India bilateral energy relationship. That the Paris agreement will be inconsequential for the bilateral relationship is clear from the announcement of $7.5 million financial aid from the Trump administration ahead of Modi&rsquo;s visit to the U.S. The aid, as part of US-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), is meant to help advance India&#39;s power grid. It will deepen the collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and India. Moreover, according to the DoE, the US-India collaboration for a smart distribution system with storage was selected as the new consortia for Smart Grid and Energy Storage under the US-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center. This underlines the significant role that clean energy will play between India and the U.S. in future diplomatic relations.

Thus, Trump-Modi Summit would look forward to expanding the scope of energy cooperation with more deliverables and outcomes.

Energy sector is crucial in overcoming US's trade deficit as well as help build PM Modi's vision for a new India

Last night Prime Minister Modi arrived in the U.S. Capitol on his three-day visit to the U.S. during which he would meet with President Trump at the White House for the first time. Deliberations on energy cooperation would hold the key in the Modi-Trump Summit. According to the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, “The President and the Prime Minister will discuss ongoing cooperation, including counterterrorism, defence partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, global cooperation, burden-sharing, trade, law enforcement, and energy. I think it's going to be a very robust discussion”. While the U.S. lawmakers have already urged President Trump to raise the issue of growing trade deficit with India due to its failure to enact market-based reforms, Indians in the U.S. expects Modi to voice their concerns H-1B visa issue with Trump. Besides these concerns, energy would be the key to any discussions on Indo-U.S. strategic ties. This is inevitable considering how well the U.S. fits into India’s Energy Security goals. Both the countries have established their energy relationship with the launch of India-U.S. Energy Dialogue in May 2005. Ever since then India and the U.S. has closely worked with each other on a vast expanse of energy-related issues, including trade and investments in hydrocarbons, electricity generation, cooperation in clean energy technologies, promoting energy-efficiency and renewable energy resources. However, India-U.S. civil nuclear deal which formed the basis of India-U.S. Strategic Partnership continues to be a non-starter because of the recent bankruptcy of Westinghouse and the absence of a functional reference atomic plant. In the current Modi-Trump summit too, signing of a nuclear reactor pact is unlikely, but a discussion would surely be on the current impasse. Another area of India-U.S. energy cooperation is natural gas imports from the U.S. to India, which can significantly address the trade deficit concerns of the U.S. Persistently low global oil prices have resulted in a glut in the supply of LNG (Liquefied natural gas) in the international market. The U.S. which is expecting to become a net gas exporter in 2018, would like to see LNG as a means to address bilateral trade deficit. According to Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman, IHS Markit, “The Obama administration was generally supportive of the development and export of LNG but did not see it as a crucial element in trade strategy…. The Trump administration, with its focus on bilateral trade deficits, sees LNG as a way to address them.” Daniel Yergin, one of the delegations in a group of CEOs of top 20 American firms, who had a round table interaction with PM Modi, has already discussed matters related to the need for increasing LNG exports to India with Indian Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan during his Houston trip for the CERA Week. Moreover, Dharmendra Pradhan met with his counterpart Rick Perry to explore investment propositions in LNG and shale gas and should be seen as a groundwork to Modi-Tump Summit. Earlier this month, as noted by Sean Spicer, Trump is expected to make U.S. produced LNG one of the key talking points when he meets Modi. According to Spicer, “U.S. energy and technologies, including natural gas, are helping to build Prime Minister Modi's vision for a new India in creating thousands of U.S. jobs in the process.” From March 2018, the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is gearing up for its first LNG imports from the U.S. For the purpose, the Company is tying up for 2.3 million ton LNG supplies over 20 years from Cove Point in 2013. It has also signed a contract for 3.5 million ton of LNG with Cheniere Energy Inc's Sabine Pass project in Louisiana, US, the supplies from which will begin in December 2018. LNG is the main component of India’s gas-based economic vision. The Indian government plans to increase the share of natural gas from 7 per cent at present to 15 per cent by 2030, the U.S. can emerge as a significant player to meet India’s natural gas demand. India is already one of the biggest drivers of global LNG demand and with flexible floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) coming up, the supply of LNG from the U.S. will provide flexibility on the supply side. This can be a beneficial solution for both the countries. Development of an integrated LNG market is key for unlocking the gas potential for India, and U.S. can work closely with India in this regard. India would like to take a clue from recently concluded LNG deal between the U.S. and China, wherein China would receive more LNG from the U.S., while jointly developing liquefied natural gas facilities and gas transport. According to the Congressional Research Service report of the U.S., some members of the U.S. Congress are looking forward to bills related to India-U.S. energy cooperation but these bills were not enacted into laws as yet. The issues that are to excite the US Congress include prospects, such as natural gas exports from the U.S., U.S. energy companies’ investments in India and Indian investment in the U.S. energy sector. Both Modi and Trump would like to deliberate on some of these issues to deepen India-U.S. energy ties. However, Trump’s pulling out from Paris Climate agreement would neither impact India’s march towards cleaner source of energy nor it has much impact on the U.S. India bilateral energy relationship. That the Paris agreement will be inconsequential for the bilateral relationship is clear from the announcement of $7.5 million financial aid from the Trump administration ahead of Modi’s visit to the U.S. The aid, as part of US-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE), is meant to help advance India's power grid. It will deepen the collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) and India. Moreover, according to the DoE, the US-India collaboration for a smart distribution system with storage was selected as the new consortia for Smart Grid and Energy Storage under the US-India Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Center. This underlines the significant role that clean energy will play between India and the U.S. in future diplomatic relations. Thus, Trump-Modi Summit would look forward to expanding the scope of energy cooperation with more deliverables and outcomes.

Building an energy partnership is key to PM Modi's visit to the US

In a break from tradition, US President Donald Trump did not host&nbsp;Eid celebrations at the White House this year.

The White House has traditionally hosted an Eid al-Fitr feast every year since Bill Clinton&#39;s presidency.

President Trump said in a statement, &quot;On behalf of the American people, Melania and I send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Muslims in the United States joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramzan to focus on acts of faith and charity. During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion, and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honor these values. Eid Mubarak.&quot;

In a brief statement, Rex Tillerson sent his &quot;best wishes to all Muslims celebrating Eid al-Fitr&quot;.

In May, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson turned down a request from the State Department&#39;s Office of Religion and Global Affairs to host an Eid al-Fitr reception, Reuters reported quoting two US officials.

An April 6 memo seen by Reuters, the state department recommended that Tillerson hold an Eid al-Fitr reception.

Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have almost always hosted either an iftar dinner to break the day&#39;s fast during Ramzan or a reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the month, at the State Department. The event is usually attended by members of Congress, Muslim civil society and community leaders, diplomats from Muslim countries and senior US officials usually attend the State Department Ramzan&nbsp;event.

The first presidential Iftar dinner was hosted by Thomas Jefferson in 1805 for a Tunisian envoy.

It became an annual tradition ever since then first lady Hillary Clinton revived the idea of hosting the dinner in 1996.

President Donald Trump&#39;s administration is accused of having an unfriendly attitude toward Islam, especially after his travel ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority countries forbidding Muslim citizens from entering the country. The ban has been stayed by US courts.

The Trump administration maintains that while it strongly opposes Islamist militants, it has no quarrel with Islam. As evidence, his aides have drawn attention to Trump&#39;s May visit to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam where he addressed the leaders of more than 50 Muslim countries.

The White House has traditionally hosted an Eid al-Fitr feast every year since Bill Clinton's presidency.

In a break from tradition, US President Donald Trump did not host Eid celebrations at the White House this year. The White House has traditionally hosted an Eid al-Fitr feast every year since Bill Clinton's presidency. President Trump said in a statement, "On behalf of the American people, Melania and I send our warm greetings to Muslims as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr. Muslims in the United States joined those around the world during the holy month of Ramzan to focus on acts of faith and charity. During this holiday, we are reminded of the importance of mercy, compassion, and goodwill. With Muslims around the world, the United States renews our commitment to honor these values. Eid Mubarak." In a brief statement, Rex Tillerson sent his "best wishes to all Muslims celebrating Eid al-Fitr". In May, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson turned down a request from the State Department's Office of Religion and Global Affairs to host an Eid al-Fitr reception, Reuters reported quoting two US officials. An April 6 memo seen by Reuters, the state department recommended that Tillerson hold an Eid al-Fitr reception. Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have almost always hosted either an iftar dinner to break the day's fast during Ramzan or a reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of the month, at the State Department. The event is usually attended by members of Congress, Muslim civil society and community leaders, diplomats from Muslim countries and senior US officials usually attend the State Department Ramzan event. The first presidential Iftar dinner was hosted by Thomas Jefferson in 1805 for a Tunisian envoy. It became an annual tradition ever since then first lady Hillary Clinton revived the idea of hosting the dinner in 1996. President Donald Trump's administration is accused of having an unfriendly attitude toward Islam, especially after his travel ban on citizens of six Muslim-majority countries forbidding Muslim citizens from entering the country. The ban has been stayed by US courts. The Trump administration maintains that while it strongly opposes Islamist militants, it has no quarrel with Islam. As evidence, his aides have drawn attention to Trump's May visit to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam where he addressed the leaders of more than 50 Muslim countries.

Donald Trump breaks tradition, skips Eid celebrations at White House

The most expensive congressional race in US&nbsp;history was won by the Republican contestant, Karen Handel, as voters in suburban Atlanta cast ballots in an election that was seen by many as a referendum on President Donald Trump.

Opinion polls showed a narrow lead for Democrat Jon Ossoff, a political newcomer who is hoping to win a district that has been held by Republicans since the 1970s. He was originally considered a longshot to win. Many Democrats said the fact that the race was so close at all was a kind of win.

Ossoff addressed supporters after his defeat.

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Jon Ossoff to supporters: &quot;As darkness has crept across this planet, [you] have provided a beacon of hope for people here in Georgia.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/28KjpERxbL">pic.twitter.com/28KjpERxbL</a>
&mdash; Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) <a href="https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/877357474579349504">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, enlisted many of the state&#39;s top elected officials to keep Georgia&#39;s Sixth District in Republican hands. She avoided talk of Trump, instead focusing on her track record.

&quot;The people of the Sixth District are going to be looking for someone who&#39;s been part of this community for nearly 25 years,&quot; she told reporters after casting her ballot on Tuesday morning, as several dozen nearby Ossoff supporters chanted &quot;Flip the Sixth&quot;.

After she won, the president congratulated her on Twitter.

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Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!
&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/877355739383287808">June 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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The outcome will not be pivotal to the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but an Ossoff victory could have helped Democrats raise money and recruit candidates as they try to win back the House of Representatives in 2018. It also could have encouraged Republican lawmakers to distance themselves from Trump, making it harder to deliver on promised health and tax overhauls.

&nbsp;

Trump

Handel&#39;s decision to not mention the president did not stop Trump from weighing in on Twitter a day earlier, calling Ossoff &quot;weak on crime and security&quot; and telling voters that Handel is &quot;a hard worker who will never give up!&quot;

Republican officials and voters said Trump is a divisive figure in this educated, affluent and increasingly diverse district. &quot;Do I agree 100 per cent with what he does? God, no. But I believe he has the country&#39;s best interests at heart,&quot; said Jessica Podalsky, who voted for Handel on Tuesday morning.

Ossoff initially campaigned on a promise to &quot;make Trump furious,&quot; but more recently avoided taking on the president as he tried to win over centrist voters. He emphasised local concerns and enlisted few prominent Democrats to campaign on his behalf.

&quot;There&#39;s a lot of national interest, but it&#39;s about voters in the Sixth District who want to see representation that can grow our local economy, improve access to health care and bring accountability to Washington,&quot; he told reporters on Monday.

Trump won the district by just 1 percentage point in last year&#39;s presidential election, giving Democrats a new sense of hope. &quot;There are more of us than we thought,&quot; said Tricia Gephardt, an Ossoff volunteer.

The seat has been vacant since Trump tapped Republican Tom Price to serve as his health secretary.

Democrats are under pressure to win after steadily losing seats in Congress and at the state level in recent years. They fell short in other special congressional elections earlier this year in Kansas and Montana, and are expected to lose another race on Tuesday in South Carolina.

(With inputs from Reuters)

The race was seen by many as a referendum on US President Donald Trump

The most expensive congressional race in US history was won by the Republican contestant, Karen Handel, as voters in suburban Atlanta cast ballots in an election that was seen by many as a referendum on President Donald Trump. Opinion polls showed a narrow lead for Democrat Jon Ossoff, a political newcomer who is hoping to win a district that has been held by Republicans since the 1970s. He was originally considered a longshot to win. Many Democrats said the fact that the race was so close at all was a kind of win. Ossoff addressed supporters after his defeat. Jon Ossoff to supporters: "As darkness has crept across this planet, [you] have provided a beacon of hope for people here in Georgia." pic.twitter.com/28KjpERxbL — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) June 21, 2017 × Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, enlisted many of the state's top elected officials to keep Georgia's Sixth District in Republican hands. She avoided talk of Trump, instead focusing on her track record. "The people of the Sixth District are going to be looking for someone who's been part of this community for nearly 25 years," she told reporters after casting her ballot on Tuesday morning, as several dozen nearby Ossoff supporters chanted "Flip the Sixth". After she won, the president congratulated her on Twitter. Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2017 × The outcome will not be pivotal to the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but an Ossoff victory could have helped Democrats raise money and recruit candidates as they try to win back the House of Representatives in 2018. It also could have encouraged Republican lawmakers to distance themselves from Trump, making it harder to deliver on promised health and tax overhauls. Trump Handel's decision to not mention the president did not stop Trump from weighing in on Twitter a day earlier, calling Ossoff "weak on crime and security" and telling voters that Handel is "a hard worker who will never give up!" Republican officials and voters said Trump is a divisive figure in this educated, affluent and increasingly diverse district. "Do I agree 100 per cent with what he does? God, no. But I believe he has the country's best interests at heart," said Jessica Podalsky, who voted for Handel on Tuesday morning. Ossoff initially campaigned on a promise to "make Trump furious," but more recently avoided taking on the president as he tried to win over centrist voters. He emphasised local concerns and enlisted few prominent Democrats to campaign on his behalf. "There's a lot of national interest, but it's about voters in the Sixth District who want to see representation that can grow our local economy, improve access to health care and bring accountability to Washington," he told reporters on Monday. Trump won the district by just 1 percentage point in last year's presidential election, giving Democrats a new sense of hope. "There are more of us than we thought," said Tricia Gephardt, an Ossoff volunteer. The seat has been vacant since Trump tapped Republican Tom Price to serve as his health secretary. Democrats are under pressure to win after steadily losing seats in Congress and at the state level in recent years. They fell short in other special congressional elections earlier this year in Kansas and Montana, and are expected to lose another race on Tuesday in South Carolina. (With inputs from Reuters)

Handel, Republicans beat Democrat Ossoff in most expensive House race ever

US Democrats furious with Republican secrecy brought Senate business to a standstill Monday, launching an hours-long protest against President Donald Trump&#39;s party crafting a back-room Obamacare repeal plan and refusing to hold public hearings about it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he wants the legislation passed by June 30. Democrats fear he is purposely keeping the bill under wraps until the last minute so he can jam the controversial plan through with just a few hours of floor debate.

The strategy is a 180-degree shift from the Republican position during the 2009-2010 debate on Barack Obama&#39;s health care reforms, when conservatives demanded transparency and dozens of public hearings in a months-long process.

In the six weeks since the House of Representatives passed its Obamacare repeal legislation, Senate Republicans have insisted they will craft their own bill, but few details have emerged.

With just 10 legislative days before McConnell&#39;s deadline, all that most lawmakers and the public have to work on is the House bill, which a non-partisan congressional review predicted would leave 23 million fewer people insured over the next decade.

&quot;Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because they&#39;re ashamed of it, plain and simple,&quot; said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, shortly before Democrats took to the Senate floor in anger.

Republicans argue that Obamacare has failed to prevent premiums and other health costs from skyrocketing. Democrats warn that Trump&#39;s delay of government subsidy payments is leading to instability and causing costs to rise.

Senator Cory Booker called the Republican strategy &quot;tragic&quot; and broken.

&quot;People (are) working in secret on a bill that they&#39;re going to try to force through Congress with no public input, no hearings, no meetings, no markups, no debate, no public accountability,&quot; he said in the talk-a-thon, which dragged into a fifth hour.

Even as McConnell downplays the secrecy, few Republicans appear to know what will be in the legislation. Some have begun speaking out.

&quot;If it is an effort to rush it from a small group of people, straight to the floor in an up or down vote, that would be a problem,&quot; Senator Marco Rubio told CNN Sunday.

&nbsp;

&#39;Afraid&#39; of debate?

Republicans have signaled one of the main internal debates focuses on reforms to Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people.

Critics have estimated that the House bill would curtail Medicaid by some $800 billion, and some Republican senators from states where Medicaid was expanded under Obama have expressed concern about passing legislation that slashes aid to thousands of constituents.&nbsp;

The Senate version is expected to end the Medicaid expansion more slowly than the House bill would, and it could include larger tax credits to help older Americans purchase health insurance.

But with no text finalised, it remains a guessing game.

&quot;Most Republicans don&#39;t have a clue as to what&#39;s in this legislation, let alone Democrats, let alone the average American,&quot; fumed Senator Bernie Sanders. &nbsp;&quot;So I say to the Republican leadership: what are you afraid of? Bring that bill out.&quot;

White House spokesman Sean Spicer pointed to &quot;very good&quot; progress on the bill, but he declined to say whether White House aides had even seen a draft.

An exchange on the Senate floor late Monday highlighted the tension. Schumer asked McConnell whether there would be sufficient time to review and debate the legislation.

&quot;I think we&#39;ll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill,&quot; McConnell said curtly.

(AFP)

This is a 180-degree turn from when conservatives demanded transparency and dozens of public hearings in a months-long process

US Democrats furious with Republican secrecy brought Senate business to a standstill Monday, launching an hours-long protest against President Donald Trump's party crafting a back-room Obamacare repeal plan and refusing to hold public hearings about it. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he wants the legislation passed by June 30. Democrats fear he is purposely keeping the bill under wraps until the last minute so he can jam the controversial plan through with just a few hours of floor debate. The strategy is a 180-degree shift from the Republican position during the 2009-2010 debate on Barack Obama's health care reforms, when conservatives demanded transparency and dozens of public hearings in a months-long process. In the six weeks since the House of Representatives passed its Obamacare repeal legislation, Senate Republicans have insisted they will craft their own bill, but few details have emerged. With just 10 legislative days before McConnell's deadline, all that most lawmakers and the public have to work on is the House bill, which a non-partisan congressional review predicted would leave 23 million fewer people insured over the next decade. "Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because they're ashamed of it, plain and simple," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, shortly before Democrats took to the Senate floor in anger. Republicans argue that Obamacare has failed to prevent premiums and other health costs from skyrocketing. Democrats warn that Trump's delay of government subsidy payments is leading to instability and causing costs to rise. Senator Cory Booker called the Republican strategy "tragic" and broken. "People (are) working in secret on a bill that they're going to try to force through Congress with no public input, no hearings, no meetings, no markups, no debate, no public accountability," he said in the talk-a-thon, which dragged into a fifth hour. Even as McConnell downplays the secrecy, few Republicans appear to know what will be in the legislation. Some have begun speaking out. "If it is an effort to rush it from a small group of people, straight to the floor in an up or down vote, that would be a problem," Senator Marco Rubio told CNN Sunday. 'Afraid' of debate? Republicans have signaled one of the main internal debates focuses on reforms to Medicaid, the health care program for low-income people. Critics have estimated that the House bill would curtail Medicaid by some $800 billion, and some Republican senators from states where Medicaid was expanded under Obama have expressed concern about passing legislation that slashes aid to thousands of constituents. The Senate version is expected to end the Medicaid expansion more slowly than the House bill would, and it could include larger tax credits to help older Americans purchase health insurance. But with no text finalised, it remains a guessing game. "Most Republicans don't have a clue as to what's in this legislation, let alone Democrats, let alone the average American," fumed Senator Bernie Sanders. "So I say to the Republican leadership: what are you afraid of? Bring that bill out." White House spokesman Sean Spicer pointed to "very good" progress on the bill, but he declined to say whether White House aides had even seen a draft. An exchange on the Senate floor late Monday highlighted the tension. Schumer asked McConnell whether there would be sufficient time to review and debate the legislation. "I think we'll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill," McConnell said curtly. (AFP)

US Democrats fume over secret Republican health plan

The founder of Sulabh International, Bindeshwar&nbsp;Pathak, has announced that an open defecation-free village in Mewat in Haryana will be named after US President Donald Trump.

Pathak, who made his announcement in the US, said the move would help build good relations with the&nbsp;United States, ANI reported.

Pathak added that the move would draw the attention of the world towards India &#39;s cleanliness campaign &#39;Swacch Bharat Abhiyan&#39;.

One of Sulabh&#39;s -- which is a not-for-profit -- aims is to provide people with toilets.

Sulabh, ANI reported, is currently working in some villages of Mewat to make them open defecation-free.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The move is aimed at helping build good relations with the United States

The founder of Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak, has announced that an open defecation-free village in Mewat in Haryana will be named after US President Donald Trump. Pathak, who made his announcement in the US, said the move would help build good relations with the United States, ANI reported. Pathak added that the move would draw the attention of the world towards India 's cleanliness campaign 'Swacch Bharat Abhiyan'. One of Sulabh's -- which is a not-for-profit -- aims is to provide people with toilets. Sulabh, ANI reported, is currently working in some villages of Mewat to make them open defecation-free.

Cleaning India? Sulabh names Haryana village after Trump

Listen to these pundits. Apparently, earlier we were living in some kind of a truth-utopia. There was free flow of information based on truth and facts. We were living in a free and democratic society.&nbsp;

Today we are living in a post-truth era where <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jul/12/how-technology-disrupted-the-truth">&#39;technology has disrupted truth&#39; </a>(The Guardian, 12 July 2016). They point to Facebook&#39;s newsfeed: any critical counter-facts are expunged and we get only what we want to hear or believe in. You end up living in your self-validating bubble, since counter-facts are filtered out. They call this a &#39;filter bubble&#39;. Apparently, all of the internet and media, academia and FM radio, are like this today.&nbsp;

How is life in this (filter) bubble? Well, like a rock falling straight down to the bottom of the ocean, you will, without these critical counter-facts, fall straight into the hands, the cold embrace, of dictators and fascists! Welcome to post-truth society!&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1 blockquote-content quoteshare">
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<h5>It is like you are hearing the story as already the collective voice of the nation, not the reportage of that news channel</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It is like you are hearing the story as already the collective voice of the nation, not the reportage of that news channel" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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&nbsp;

These days I hear a new addition to this post-truth apparatus: immersive TV. But let us immerse, I say. It won&#39;t be an immersion into a beautiful, paradisiacal French &#39;reverie&#39; - but still. Are you, after knowing about things like the filter bubble, scared to immerse? Are you scared to immerse in a way that you will soon lose sense of what is a fact and what is not? Do you dare? Each story will have an &#39;impact&#39;. The number of tweets and retweets on the story are flashed in bold even as the story is just reaching you - it is like you are hearing the story as already the collective voice of the nation, not the reportage of that news channel. Hence you better just believe in it, or else you will be left out in the cold!&nbsp;

You better act, and yell, as though you actually believe in it. It is retroactive: since you start acting as though you believe in it, you must actually be believing in it. If you kneel down in church and say your prayers everyday then you must be truly &#39;believing&#39;, you must be a &#39;believer&#39;. So long as you carry out these ritual practices and karamkand, whether or not you actually &#39;believe&#39; is a futile question. &nbsp;

Do the stone-pelters in Kashmir actually believe in azadi? What explains the fact that the very next day some of them would be lining up to join the police, the same police whom they are pelting stones at? I mean, as long as you are pelting stones at the right target, that is fine, the pelters are &#39;genuine&#39;. The thing must be looked at in momentary and ephemeral terms. So long as you are howling against the &#39;azadi brigade&#39;, or calling for the murder of more Pehlu Khans and trolling Gurmehar Kaur - that is good enough. You might be a &#39;bad Hindu&#39; but so long as you participate in trolling &#39;Pakistani agents&#39; and tweet your love for the Indian army, you are a votary of &#39;Hindu rashtra&#39;, or of a &#39;strong India&#39;. After a long day&#39;s work, you want to shoot down a few of those &#39;anti-nationals&#39; because of whom your life is shitty, or miserable, even though you are &#39;a rich and successful man&#39;!&nbsp;

&nbsp;

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<h5>Trump is then not lying or misleading when he utters what are factually untrue things - he is just bullshitting</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-1 blockquote-content">
<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text= Trump is then not lying or misleading when he utters what are factually untrue things - he is just bullshitting" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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&nbsp;

So does Trump actually believe that Mexicans are rapists? Does he actually believe that Muslims are terrorists? He has a lot of investment in Muslim countries, and he hangs out with very &#39;peaceful&#39;, business-minded filthy-rich Arab sheikhs. Trump is then not lying or misleading when he utters what are factually untrue things - he is just bullshitting, as we know from reading Harry Frankfurt, the writer of the 1986 essay On Bullshit. Just see how Trump another moment can say just the opposite. No fidelity to the lie. Lying means concealing the truth - Trump might simply not &#39;know&#39; or care about the truth. &nbsp;

Lying would be more like what Congress leaders involved in the 1984 Sikh riots or BJP leaders involved in riots would be doing. That explains why they speak in measured, restrained terms, as Modi does, while someone like Trump is babbling away.&nbsp;

There is no prior belief in anything, any kind of fidelity to reality, necessary. This means the kneeling down and saying the prayers is enough: the question of real belief in God is redundant. Such is the teaching of Louis Althusser the French theorist: you do not need to believe in capitalism for capitalism to be able to reproduce itself with your full cooperation. You are free to be a diehard cynic. Do not believe in anything - just keep bullshitting.&nbsp;

So: the pundits have no clue. Life is fun inside the filter bubble. Life is exciting inside the &#39;troll cesspool&#39; - and busy, as you have to keep repeating the rituals of collective howling, racist abuses, stereotypes, sexual innuendoes, nationalist hyperventilation and so on. This is how the dominant narrative is set - &#39;narrative&#39; sounds too decent a word here. And this narrative (or hollering) is so set that no amount of counter-facts or &#39;the truth&#39; can expose it. For, the lying being mostly bullshitting was not based on denial of truth in the first place. Truth is not a casualty, truth is simply not a critical idea here. &nbsp;

Truth is irrelevant. Just as you couldn&#39;t defeat Trump with Hillary Clinton, or the BJP with Congress, since they were actually not lesser but perhaps the bigger evil, similarly you cannot counter this post-truth rush to the gutter by resort to truth. Those like Trump and Modi thrive in spite of all kinds of fact-checker media publications, like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/16/now-you-can-fact-check-trumps-tweets-in-the-tweets-themselves/?utm_term=.d82d366b9d7b">The Washington Post&#39;s fact-checker on Trump&#39;s tweets</a>.&nbsp;

Truth is lifeless and asinine in the hands of the so-called progressive media. Truth is a vested interest, creating the illusion of a pre-post truth free society. Truth is not just dead, you don&#39;t want it back.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

In this exciting post-truth world, we do not 'know' or care about the truth

Listen to these pundits. Apparently, earlier we were living in some kind of a truth-utopia. There was free flow of information based on truth and facts. We were living in a free and democratic society. Today we are living in a post-truth era where 'technology has disrupted truth' (The Guardian, 12 July 2016). They point to Facebook's newsfeed: any critical counter-facts are expunged and we get only what we want to hear or believe in. You end up living in your self-validating bubble, since counter-facts are filtered out. They call this a 'filter bubble'. Apparently, all of the internet and media, academia and FM radio, are like this today. How is life in this (filter) bubble? Well, like a rock falling straight down to the bottom of the ocean, you will, without these critical counter-facts, fall straight into the hands, the cold embrace, of dictators and fascists! Welcome to post-truth society! It is like you are hearing the story as already the collective voice of the nation, not the reportage of that news channel × These days I hear a new addition to this post-truth apparatus: immersive TV. But let us immerse, I say. It won't be an immersion into a beautiful, paradisiacal French 'reverie' - but still. Are you, after knowing about things like the filter bubble, scared to immerse? Are you scared to immerse in a way that you will soon lose sense of what is a fact and what is not? Do you dare? Each story will have an 'impact'. The number of tweets and retweets on the story are flashed in bold even as the story is just reaching you - it is like you are hearing the story as already the collective voice of the nation, not the reportage of that news channel. Hence you better just believe in it, or else you will be left out in the cold! You better act, and yell, as though you actually believe in it. It is retroactive: since you start acting as though you believe in it, you must actually be believing in it. If you kneel down in church and say your prayers everyday then you must be truly 'believing', you must be a 'believer'. So long as you carry out these ritual practices and karamkand, whether or not you actually 'believe' is a futile question. Do the stone-pelters in Kashmir actually believe in azadi? What explains the fact that the very next day some of them would be lining up to join the police, the same police whom they are pelting stones at? I mean, as long as you are pelting stones at the right target, that is fine, the pelters are 'genuine'. The thing must be looked at in momentary and ephemeral terms. So long as you are howling against the 'azadi brigade', or calling for the murder of more Pehlu Khans and trolling Gurmehar Kaur - that is good enough. You might be a 'bad Hindu' but so long as you participate in trolling 'Pakistani agents' and tweet your love for the Indian army, you are a votary of 'Hindu rashtra', or of a 'strong India'. After a long day's work, you want to shoot down a few of those 'anti-nationals' because of whom your life is shitty, or miserable, even though you are 'a rich and successful man'! Trump is then not lying or misleading when he utters what are factually untrue things - he is just bullshitting × So does Trump actually believe that Mexicans are rapists? Does he actually believe that Muslims are terrorists? He has a lot of investment in Muslim countries, and he hangs out with very 'peaceful', business-minded filthy-rich Arab sheikhs. Trump is then not lying or misleading when he utters what are factually untrue things - he is just bullshitting, as we know from reading Harry Frankfurt, the writer of the 1986 essay On Bullshit. Just see how Trump another moment can say just the opposite. No fidelity to the lie. Lying means concealing the truth - Trump might simply not 'know' or care about the truth. Lying would be more like what Congress leaders involved in the 1984 Sikh riots or BJP leaders involved in riots would be doing. That explains why they speak in measured, restrained terms, as Modi does, while someone like Trump is babbling away. There is no prior belief in anything, any kind of fidelity to reality, necessary. This means the kneeling down and saying the prayers is enough: the question of real belief in God is redundant. Such is the teaching of Louis Althusser the French theorist: you do not need to believe in capitalism for capitalism to be able to reproduce itself with your full cooperation. You are free to be a diehard cynic. Do not believe in anything - just keep bullshitting. So: the pundits have no clue. Life is fun inside the filter bubble. Life is exciting inside the 'troll cesspool' - and busy, as you have to keep repeating the rituals of collective howling, racist abuses, stereotypes, sexual innuendoes, nationalist hyperventilation and so on. This is how the dominant narrative is set - 'narrative' sounds too decent a word here. And this narrative (or hollering) is so set that no amount of counter-facts or 'the truth' can expose it. For, the lying being mostly bullshitting was not based on denial of truth in the first place. Truth is not a casualty, truth is simply not a critical idea here. Truth is irrelevant. Just as you couldn't defeat Trump with Hillary Clinton, or the BJP with Congress, since they were actually not lesser but perhaps the bigger evil, similarly you cannot counter this post-truth rush to the gutter by resort to truth. Those like Trump and Modi thrive in spite of all kinds of fact-checker media publications, like The Washington Post's fact-checker on Trump's tweets. Truth is lifeless and asinine in the hands of the so-called progressive media. Truth is a vested interest, creating the illusion of a pre-post truth free society. Truth is not just dead, you don't want it back.

Keep on bullsh...ing, after all it is a post-truth society

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