The United States is crafting a plan for a drawdown of staff from the American embassy in Havana in response to still-unexplained incidents that have harmed the health of some U.S. diplomats there, U.S. and congressional officials said on Thursday. The State Department's plan, which was being finalized and could be announced within days, would call for the departure of non-essential staff and diplomats' families, the sources said. But it was unclear whether leaving the island would be voluntary or compulsory, and one U.S. official said some details were still being worked out. U.S. officials say 21 U.S. diplomats and family members have been afflicted by health problems of unknown origin, including hearing loss, dizziness and nausea. Several Canadians have also been affected in Cuba, a Canadian official has said. The Cuban government has denied any role and is conducting an investigation. But it has so far said it has been unable to determine the cause. Proposals for a drawdown have moved forward since U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the case, which has been threatening the already fragile detente between the two former Cold War foes. The State Department is expected to stop short of saying it will close the recently reopened embassy because of the mysterious affair, despite Tillerson having said last week that such a move was under consideration. But a partial evacuation, even one depicted by the Trump administration as a safety measure, would also send a message of U.S. displeasure over Cuba's handling of the matter and deliver another blow to Obama-era engagement policies with Havana. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters Thursday that Tillerson – who is now on his way to Beijing - was reviewing all of his options for "how to best protect our American personnel" in Cuba and that she was not ready to announce any decision. But congressional staffers were briefed on the plan on Thursday, two congressional sources said. Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, a harsh critic of the Cuban government, hinted at the State Department's coming decision. "Any reduction of Americans from @USEmbassyHavana should also require equal number of Castro employees leaving regime's embassy in U.S.," he said in a message on Twitter. The State Department declined comment. McClatchy news service was the first to report this week that the United States would soon begin a major withdrawal of Havana staff. Depending on how many diplomats leave, the Havana embassy – the main point of contact for U.S. citizens visiting the island as well as American companies doing business there – could be left with more of a skeletal staff to handle responsibilities. Though Washington has not cast direct blame on Cuban authorities, the State Department said Tillerson reminded Rodriguez at Tuesday's meeting of Cuba's obligation to protect diplomats and their families. In the highest-level U.S.-Cuba meeting since President Donald Trump took office, Rodriguez warned the United States against taking hasty decisions and urged Washington to cooperate with its ongoing investigation. Washington earlier this year expelled two Cuban diplomats over the alleged incidents. The case has brought simmering tensions between the two countries since Trump took office to the boil. Trump, who in June vowed to partially roll back the detente with Cuba agreed by his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, called the Cuban government "corrupt and destabilizing" in his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week. He said he would not lift the U.S. trade embargo on the Caribbean island until it made "fundamental reforms." Cuba described his comments as "unacceptable and meddling."


Who doesn t love George Takei well, aside from Donald Trump at the moment. The Star Trek actor noticed that The Donald attacked President Obama a man Trump admitted on Friday for the first time to be a legitimate American citizen for campaigning for Hillary Clinton and, well, let s just say Mr. Sulu wasn t willing to let it slide. Why isn t President Obama working instead of campaigning for Hillary Clinton? Trump tweeted Tuesday.On Friday, Takei responded, and not in a way that is likely to get him invited to The Donald s home for dinner. As Commander-in-Chief, he is sworn to protect us from threats both foreign and domestic, Takei wrote. You, sir, are the latter. Trump as a domestic threat is not exactly off-base. In fact, analysts have determined that the 2016 GOP nominee is a global threat. They say that he poses a greater risk than terrorism coincidentally, one of Donald Trump s favorite fear-mongering talking points.It isn t just President Obama s duty to defend us against threats like Trump. It s all of ours., and we have the most powerful weapon available: the ability to vote. The ability to, as a nation, say no to everything Trump represents.Be sure to head to the polls on November 8 the future of our nation depends on it.


John Shearer / Staff  Comedian Patton Oswalt can still recall the details of that horrible day in April where he lost his beloved wife, Michelle McNamara.  The night before, the 46-year-old McNamara, a true crime author, was exhausted from her day and night search for a serial murderer she had dubbed the "Golden State Killer." She was convinced she was closing in on the man she believed killed dozens in the 1970s and '80s.  Oswalt, who was concerned about her health, suggested that she "sleep until you wake up," a common phrase of the parents used, according to a recent interview with The New York Times:  So the weary McNamara took a Xanax and quickly fell into a deep sleep. She would never wake up.  That morning Oswalt took their 7-year-old daughter, Alice, to school and even picked up Michelle's favorite coffee on the way home.  At 9:40 a.m., when Owsalt returned, she was still sound asleep and snoring. Image Credit: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images  By 12:42 that afternoon the paramedics had arrived and McNamara was pronounced dead at the scene.  While no official cause of death was announced at the time, Oswalt seems to know what tragically killed the mother of their child.  He believes it was the Xanax, he told the Times:  "I have a feeling it might have been an overdose. That's what the paramedics there were saying while I was screaming and throwing up."  The dangers of the prescription drug Xanax, a brand of benzodiazepines, or "benzos," cannot be understated. The medication is meant to treat anxiety, but it can easily be abused .  In combination with alcohol, Xanax (and other benzos) can cause users to experience complete "blackouts" for extended periods of time.  It's incredibly addicting and very easy to overdose on. Image Credit: Flickr CC/ Dean812  Even with these very dangerous side effects, Xanax remains one of the most prescribed and best-selling drugs in the United States.  It is very easily accessible to children, teens, and adults.  While the coroner hasn't officially announced what killed Oswalt's wife, he is still working towards living a normal life with his daughter.  He has returned to the stage to continue his first love, stand-up comedy. It has given him a break from the never-ending grief that comes with the territory of losing such a close loved one. Image Credit: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New Yorker  The 47-year-old told The New York Times that going onstage has been:  "...a rebuke to grief, an acceptance of the messiness of life. I'll never be at 100 percent again, but that won't stop me from living this."  For now, Oswalt will continue to grow and live with his daughter. With help from a journalist and a researcher, he's determined to solve the "Golden State Murders" on behalf of his late wife's hard work.


posted by Eddie Millions of people around the world are constantly dealing with skin problems which are difficult to treat. People spend thousands on expensive skin care products, which are not always effective and contain harmful chemicals that can worsen the condition. However, there's a simple natural solution for all your skin problems. Here's how to prepare it: Ingredients 2 teaspoons of lemon juice Preparation Mix both ingredients well, then put the cream in a plastic container and put the container in a bowl of warm water, leaving it in for 2-3 minutes. Afterwards, apply the cream on a clean face and leave it to work for 20 minutes before rinsing with warm water. Apply a quality moisturizer in the end. The mask should be used a couple of times a week. Try it yourself and you will be amazed by the results! From Around the Web Founder of WorldTruth.Tv and WomansVibe.com Eddie ( 8968 Posts )  Eddie L. is the founder and owner of www.WorldTruth.TV. and www.Womansvibe.com. Both website are dedicated to educating and informing people with articles on powerful and concealed information from around the world. I have spent the last 36+ years researching Bible, History, Alternative Health, Secret Societies, Symbolism and many other topics that are not reported by mainstream media.


The U.S. State Department called on Tuesday for the immediate release of two Reuters journalists who have been detained for about a week in Myanmar and whose whereabouts have not been reported to their families. We ve been ... following the cases of the two reporters, the Reuters reporters, very closely. We re deeply concerned about their detention. We do not know their whereabouts. That is of concern also, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told a news briefing. Today I want to make it clear that we re calling for their immediate release.


A former California state senator accused of taking cash bribes and gifts from a businessman and from undercover FBI agents posing as Hollywood filmmakers to steer legislation in their favor has agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud, federal prosecutors said on Monday. Ronald Calderon, 58, a Democrat indicted in February 2014 on two dozen counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and other charges, will enter his guilty plea this week, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said. According to the plea agreement, prosecutors have agreed not to ask for a sentence of more than 70 months, although the statutory maximum for the charge is 20 years. Calderon's attorney, Mark Geragos, could not be reached for comment. The former lawmaker's brother, former state Assemblyman Thomas Calderon, pleaded guilty last week to a federal money-laundering charge in connection with the case. The Calderon brothers were members of a political dynasty going back several decades in California before they were ensnared in the federal investigation. "The Calderons have acknowledged their roles in a bribery scheme in which money for them and their families alone was driving legislation that would have benefited only a few individuals," U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said. The 2014 indictment accused Ronald Calderon of taking bribes from California hospital owner Michael Drobot to preserve a legislative loophole that allowed Drobot to defraud the state's healthcare system out of hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the plea agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Monday, Drobot hired Calderon's son while he was in college, paying him some $30,000 for three summers of work. Drobot has agreed to plead guilty to separate federal charges and is cooperating in the case, prosecutors have said. Calderon was also charged with accepting money from undercover FBI agents, who he thought worked for an independent Hollywood movie studio, in exchange for supporting an expansion of film tax credits in California. According to the plea agreement, Calderon had the undercover agent hire his daughter for $3,000 a month, make a $5,000 payment toward his son's tuition, pay for $12,000 in Las Vegas trips and give $25,000 to a nonprofit group the lawmaker and his brother used to pay themselves. In exchange, Calderon agreed to vote for the film tax legislation and hire the undercover agent's purported girlfriend for his staff, according to the plea agreement.


At the direction of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Japanese government is preparing "tweetable" financial data for Abe's upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump. ["Executives at three top Japanese companies said officials had been in touch asking for investment numbers. Public investment institutions say the prime minister is also leaning on them to pledge tens of billions of dollars to US infrastructure projects such as rail," reports the Financial Times. Abe is scheduled to arrive in the United States for his meeting with Trump on Friday, with his foreign, finance, and trade ministers in tow. On Saturday, he'll join Trump for a round of golf at the resort in Florida. "You get to know somebody better on a golf course than you will over lunch," Trump explained in a radio interview on Sunday. He did not confirm or deny whether there would be any money riding on the game. There will definitely be a lot of money riding on Abe's visit. The Financial Times has Sadayuki Sakakibara, chairman of the Nippon Keidanren business federation — saluted as the " voice of corporate Japan" by the Japan Times and its chairman regarded as "the prime minister of the business world" — scrambling to assemble data that will help Trump see Japan in a positive light. "The most important thing is to reconfirm the importance of the relationship in politics, economics, and security," Sakakibara said. To that end, he wants Abe to remind Trump that "we're contributing to the expansion of U. S. exports," along with $400 billion of direct investment and 1. 7 million jobs supported by Japanese companies in America. The Financial Times also notes that Toyota has already pledged another $10 billion in U. S. investment over the next five years, with up to 400 jobs added at its Indiana manufacturing plant. Japan's SoftBank tech conglomerate has also pledged $50 billion in American investment over the next four years. Abe will add to this by discussing Japanese investment for Trump's proposed infrastructure plan, possibly including a sales pitch for Japanese rail technology. In 2015, Abe proposed $5 billion in Japanese investment for a maglev train that would have offered travel from D. C. to Baltimore in 15 minutes, with a vision of similar lines connecting New York to Washington, Dallas to Houston, and Los Angeles to San Francisco.


Jake Gyllenhaal is delaying his return to Broadway. A revival of Lanford Wilson's "Burn This," starring Mr. Gyllenhaal, that was scheduled to begin performances in February at a Hudson Theater, is instead being postponed, the producers Stacey Mindich and Jessica R. Jenen said in a brief statement Friday evening. They said the postponement was "due to scheduling conflicts with the show's star," and that "the show is now aiming for its Broadway bow during the season. " Mr. Gyllenhaal, primarily known for his work on film, has appeared on Broadway once before, in "Constellations," a play by Nick Payne, which ran for three months in 2014 and 2015. The Ambassador Theater Group, which is reconverting the Hudson from a hotel event space into a theater, said it plans to announce another production soon. Mr. Gyllenhaal's fans, however, have another opportunity to see him onstage in New York: Next week he is scheduled to star in four concert performances of "Sunday in the Park with George" at New York City Center.


It was just an accident A millionaire property developer accused of raping a teenager while she slept claims he accidentally penetrated her when he fell on top of her, a court has heard.Southwark Crown Court has told Ehsan Abdulaziz allegedly forced himself on the 18-year-old on the sofa of his Maida Vale flat.The 46-year-old met his alleged victim in the Cirque le Soir nightclub in London, where she had been with a friend he had known for several months.He offered both women a lift home in his Aston Martin in August last year, before inviting them into his flat and taking the woman he knew into the bedroom for sex, the court heard.The next thing the alleged victim claims to remember is waking up early in the morning with Abdulazziz on top of her, forcing himself inside her. She woke up with the defendant kissing her and his penis in her vagina, Prosecutor Jonathan Davies told the court, The Times reports. She said: What are you doing? and he said It s fine , indicating that her friend was asleep. She got up to find her friend, tried to wake her but couldn t, she then tried to get out of the flat as quickly as she could.


The United States Embassy in Saudi Arabia warned U.S. citizens to exercise caution in the area around the Peace Palace in Jeddah on Saturday after reports on social media of an attack there. There were several unconfirmed reports that security forces had foiled an attack near the king s palace, leaving the attacker and several guards dead. The Saudi government has not issued an official statement confirming the incident.


Barack Obama and the Democrat Party were laser focused on opening the immigrant floodgates for 8 years. They re the first ones to cry when President Trump mentions budget cuts to schools and programs for the elderly, but what about the enormous burden millions of new immigrants (mostly illegal) have put on the backs of taxpayers? The Democrats were only looking at immigrants as voters, they didn t consider how the massive influx of people on entitlement programs would affect our schools and social programs. The statistics below are stunning:Children of immigrants, many in the United States illegally, make up the bulk of students in 700 of the biggest school areas, a huge and unexpected wave that is changing education and society in America, according to a groundbreaking new report.Using Census Bureau statistics and Google Maps, the Center for Immigration Studies found that in areas including northern Virginia, New York City and Houston, children of immigrants made up to 93 percent of all students. The number of children from immigrant households in schools is now so high in some areas that it raises profound questions about assimilation, said the report provided to Secrets. What s more, immigration has added enormously to the number of public school students who are in poverty and the number who speak a foreign language. This cannot help but to create significant challenges for schools, often in areas already struggling to educate students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, it added.Overall, 23 percent of all public school students were from an immigrant household in 2015. In 1990 it was 11 percent, and in 1980 it was 7 percent.And, said the CIS report, between one-fourth and one-third of public school students from immigrant households were the children of illegal immigrants. Report author Steven Camarota said, Of course, we must educate the children of immigrants. But, added the Center s director of research, the key question moving forward is whether it makes sense to continue to admit 1 million new legal permanent immigrants each year and tolerating illegal immigration without regard to the absorption capacity of our schools in terms of both educating students and assimilating them. On a state level, he found that California has the biggest percentage of immigrant students in public schools, 48 percent, followed by Nevada, 35 percent, New Jersey and New York at 34 percent, and Texas, 31 percent.The bulk have Mexican or El Salvadoran parents.He also found that many immigrant families are poor, which cuts the tax base schools have to tap for funds.


The U.S. power sector's shift toward burning less coal and using more natural gas and renewable energy will not be derailed by the Supreme Court ruling against the Obama administration's limits on carbon emissions, state regulators and utilities said on Wednesday. The U.S. Supreme Court decided 5-4 on Tuesday to block the Environmental Protection Agency's carbon emissions crackdown on coal plants until a legal challenge is resolved. Some states may now slow work on compliance with the EPA's Clean Power Plan. But some experts said they were confident the rule will survive the legal challenge when the D.C. circuit court makes a decision this summer. "In a way we are really just postponing the inevitable," said Vicki Arroyo, executive director of the Georgetown Climate Center. Even in some of the 27 states that sued to block the rule, officials had been working on compliance plans. Most states said they will continue to decarbonize their energy supply. Utilities across the country have already begun a major shift away from coal-fired electricity toward cleaner burning and cheaper natural gas and renewables like wind and solar. "We fully expect that many of these states will continue their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under their own legal authorities," said Bill Becker, director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. States like California, Colorado and New York criticized the high court's decision and vowed to pursue their plans to shift to cleaner energy regardless of the delay in the EPA rule. Meanwhile, states like Montana and North Dakota that joined in the lawsuit against the EPA welcomed the "breathing room" the stay provides. But even these opponents of the rule said they will keep diversifying their power supply. Colorado's Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper said the state will keep working on compliance so it "is not left at a disadvantage if the courts uphold all or part of the Clean Power Plan." Colorado challenged the EPA plan even though the governor supports it. The state's Republican attorney general disagrees about the legality of the rule and its economic impact. Montana Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, opposed the EPA rule. He said the state would put on hold the work of a group to devise compliance options, but added that it still needs "to address climate change and embrace Montana's energy future." He said: "I am committed to ensuring we do so on our own terms." For coal-producing North Dakota, which had one of the highest emission reduction targets to meet under the rule, regulators and utilities will keep working on ways to lower power plant emissions, said state health department chief Dave Glatt. He said the EPA plan did not give the state "a sufficient amount of time to have reasonable solutions." He pledged to "look at reasonable steps forward." For most states, coal-fired electricity has been in decline. In 2015, generators shut over 15,000 megawatts of coal-fired power plants, the most in any year, as low gas prices drove down power costs. It became uneconomical to overhaul older coal plants even to meet existing federal clean air rules. Ohio regulators said Wednesday they were not sure how the state will respond to the court decision, but the state's major utilities are already shifting away from coal. American Electric Power Co Inc (AEP.N) will continue generating more power with natural gas and renewable energy since prices for those have dropped significantly, said spokeswoman Melissa McHenry. She added that the five-year extension of federal renewable energy tax credits has given AEP an incentive to bring more renewable energy into the mix. "It makes sense that we are sticking to our current plans, and will be positioned to respond to the courts' ultimate decision on the future of the Clean Power Plan," she said. Another Ohio utility, FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N), said it already retired a number of older coal plants in 2012. The court decision will have little impact. "The Supreme Court decision does not change the path we are on," said spokeswoman Jennifer Young. "We think it is the right thing to do – this is a complicated issue and this decision will give the states the appropriate amount of time to develop their compliance plans."


Prev post Page 1 of 5 Next  Do Doctors Treat Women's Pain Less Seriously Than Men? There is recent evidence showing women treated differently for similar symptoms. The Yentl Syndrome  Sometimes movies can have an impact in ways nobody who wrote or worked on the movie could possibly imagine.  In the 1983 film "Yentl", Barbara Streisand's character plays the role of a male in order to receive the education she wants. Dr. Bernadine Healy used the phrase "Yentl Syndrome" in an academic paper eight years after the film was released. She used it to describe how many women died because they were misdiagnosed because their symptoms were different than men.  Today the term Yentl Syndrome is widely used as a description of how women are more likely to be treated less aggressively than men. This is primarily because medical research has focused on the symptoms of male heart attacks, and many women have different symptoms.  The term Yentl Syndrome has also been used in a wider context of how because women experience pain differently than men, many healthcare providers do not take the pain of a woman as seriously as they do a man. Prove You Are As Sick as a Male Patient  In initial encounters with the health-care system, women are more likely to be treated less aggressively than men until they "prove that they are as sick as male patients", according to a study entitled "The Girl Who Cried Pain,". A contributing factor is that most emergency rooms in the United States do not have an attending OB-GYN.  Women were less likely to receive aggressive treatment when diagnosed, and were more likely to have their pain characterized as "emotional" or "psychogenic" and therefore "not real" according to the study.  These misplaced characterizations can lead to treatment for mental health issues that might not even exist in the patient. Then the situation is further complicated because antidepressants are absorbed differently in women and may have different levels of effectiveness. Prev post Page 1 of 5 Next Be the first to comment Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Comment


Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the European Union should leave the past behind and solve their mutual problems first, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Friday. The EU won t do it for them, he said. Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia are official candidates for EU membership while Bosnia and Kosovo are seeking the same status. But past rivalries are still hurting relations between some of the countries which were embroiled in the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Borissov said that Bulgaria, Austria and Romania, the three countries which will chair the EU presidency over the next two years, were ready to support the accession of these countries into the wealthy bloc but a key for the progress was compromise by their political elites. Nobody can help unless we realize that the past needs to remain in the past and that we need to move forward, Borissov said at a news conference during an official visit to Sarajevo. Unresolved matters must be resolved today along with all political sacrifices that need to be made. This cannot be solved by Europe, which has its problems and fears, Borissov said. The pace of Serbia s integration into the 27-member bloc was made conditional on the progress of a dialogue with its former province of Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. In Bosnia, inter-ethnic tensions have risen after Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats had revived aspirations for greater territorial autonomies within the country they share with Muslim Bosniaks, relying on their wartime allies Serbia and Croatia. Borissov said that radical Islam is a problem but that his Bosnian counterpart Denis Zvizic has assured him that Bosnia was not under the threat of radicalized Muslims. Islam in Bosnia is certainly one of most tolerant forms of Islam practised in the world and any kind of radicalization has not and will not be allowed, Zvizdic said at the same news conference. In September, the EU confirmed its pledge for a credible enlargement perspective for the region, which it sees as important for issues from controlling immigration to countering security threats ranging from alleged interference of Russia to radical Islam. [ID: L5N1LU2GX]


President Trump, smarting from a series of crises, moved his surrogates aside on Thursday and assigned the rescue of his presidency to the only spokesman he's ever really trusted — himself. For days, a frustrated and simmering president fumed inside the West Wing residence about what aides said he saw as his staff's inadequate defense and the ineffectiveness of his own tweets. Over the objections of some top advisers who wanted to steer him away from confrontation, Mr. Trump demanded to face the media, determined to reject the narrative that his administration is sinking into chaos, scandal and incompetence. In a rowdy, news conference hastily staged in the East Room, Mr. Trump attempted to deflect attention from news coverage about Russian intelligence, the resignation of his national security adviser, the defeat of his labor secretary nominee, and deepening questions about his ability to govern. "I turn on the T. V. open the newspapers and I see stories of chaos," Mr. Trump said as he attempted — with little discipline — to read from prepared remarks listing his accomplishments since being inaugurated one month ago. "Chaos. Yet it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a machine. " From there he offered a disjointed and emotional performance in which he appeared to release anger and suspicion about the "dishonest media," Democrats, intelligence officials, "criminal" leakers, Hillary Clinton, environmentalists and judges. Taking a room of reporters and the television audience on a journey through the Trump psyche, the president was at times angry (at the news media) playful ("I love this,") bewildered (by "bias and hatred") occasionally respectful ("It's a great honor to be with you") and needy ("I'm really not a bad person, by the way"). Ever the salesman, Mr. Trump painted his presidency as he wishes it to be: an Electoral College victory so massive it was historic — a falsehood pointed out by a reporter in the room — plus accomplishments in the first four weeks that have outpaced, he said, every other president. For his supporters, the performance was certain to be energizing. Mr. Trump turned sober questions from journalists into, at times, mesmerizing television. He attempted to reassert his command of "dishonest" journalists at a time when the news media is questioning his capacity to lead. It all made the brooding boss feel better, people close to Mr. Trump said. The news conference, they said, was Mr. Trump's best effort at spitting the bit out of his mouth and escaping the bridle of the West Wing, where he views his only way to communicate his side of any argument is his limited Twitter feed. Still, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump's performance will divert much attention from questions about his campaign's relationship with Russia, or reassure wavering Republicans on Capitol Hill that their agenda is on track. Yet Mr. Trump's close allies said he had met his more immediate goal of soothing himself with a sense of control over his own administration. Mr. Trump, who has long required employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, has been unnerved, aides said, by leaks big and small, ranging from disclosures about his evenings spent alone in the White House residence to the details of his calls with global leaders. Now, Mr. Trump finds himself at the mercy of a vast, leaky bureaucracy. "The first thing I thought of when I heard about it is: How does the press get this information that's classified? How do they do it?" Mr. Trump said of the leaks. "The press should be ashamed of themselves. '' The news conference was not without its high points for the embattled president. His initial statement about a surge of optimism in the business world and more jobs was, however fleetingly, a focused message on the issue that helped elect him. And he lured a few reporters into a trap of debating the quality of their reporting as opposed to the merits of their original questions. And after complaining to aides about the dour delivery of his press secretary, Sean Spicer, at the daily televised briefing, Mr. Trump laced his own banter with humor. But he also revealed how crushing he is finding the onslaught of criticism that a president receives, saying that he has long preferred the business media to the political press corps he must now deal with. With the same lack of discipline that his supporters on the campaign trail found refreshing, Mr. Trump lashed out at the news media, which he called "out of control. " He accused The New York Times of publishing what he termed a "discredited" story — evidently a reference to an article this week about current and former American officials who say that phone records and intercepted calls show that members of his campaign had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election. He said The Wall Street Journal had published an article that was "almost as disgraceful. " He mocked Jim Acosta, a CNN correspondent, saying at one point, "Yeah, go ahead, Jimmy. " His exchange with Mr. Acosta — a frequent foil for Mr. Trump in his news conferences on the campaign trail — made it clear that the president believes that the American people are with him, and against the news media. "That's why the public sees it," Mr. Trump said. "They see it. They see it's not fair. The public is smart, they understand it. " Mr. Trump also blamed former President Barack Obama — whom he had often described in glowing terms since his inauguration — for handing him a failing government. "I inherited a mess," Mr. Trump asserted. "It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas, no matter where you look. " At one point, Mr. Trump searched for a new face among the veteran White House reporters who were challenging him and settled on a journalist wearing a skullcap whom he clearly did not recognize, hoping for the best. "Are you a friendly reporter? '' Mr. Trump said. The response of the reporter, Jake Turx of Ami magazine, a Jewish publication, could not be heard in the room. The president's anger then flared when Mr. Turx asked about a rise in incidents around the country. Telling Mr. Turx to sit down and accusing him of lying about asking a "very straight, simple question," Mr. Trump rejected the charge that he is personally — something the reporter had explicitly said he was not asserting. At one point, Mr. Trump predicted how the news media would cover the event — and preemptively rejected that, too. "Tomorrow, they will say, 'Donald Trump rants and raves at the press,'" Mr. Trump said. "I'm not ranting and raving. I'm just telling you. You know, you're dishonest people. But — but I'm not ranting and raving. I love this. I'm having a good time doing it. "


U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said allegations that President Donald Trump released classified information to Russia would be a "slap in the face" to the U.S. intelligence community, if true. "Risking sources & methods is inexcusable, particularly with the Russians," Warner said in a comment on Twitter and distributed by his office, referring to a Washington Post report that Trump disclosed classified information to Russia's foreign minister during a meeting last week.


Austria s conservative People s Party wants children who do not speak sufficient German to take compulsory language classes as a condition for being allowed to attend school, party leader Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday. Tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa have arrived in Austria in the past two years. Their integration has become an important political topic and Kurz, whose party is the junior partner in a coalition government with the Social Democrats, has gained in popularity because of his hard stance on immigration. Though his proposal ostensibly applies to all children, public debate has centered around those from migrant backgrounds, most of whom are currently placed at school according to age. They receive separate language lessons but teachers have said that this is not enough to integrate them. One can only follow the curriculum if one s German is good enough, Kurz said at a news conference in Salzburg, where he presented his party s education program for parliamentary elections on Oct. 15. Who starts at school needs to understand the teaching language, the party chief said, echoing demands from the far-right Freedom Party.


The spokesman for the front runner in South Korea's upcoming presidential election said on Friday that the deployment of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile defense system should be "immediately suspended" and await a decision by the next government. "As stressed again, the issue of THAAD deployment should be handed over to the next (South Korean) government," Youn Kwan-suk, a spokesman for Moon Jae-in, said in a statement responding to U.S. President Donald Trump's remarks during an interview with Reuters that South Korea should pay for the system.


A student at Ohio State University intentionally rammed a car into pedestrians on a busy campus sidewalk on Monday morning and then began slashing with a butcher knife, the authorities said, injuring 11 students and faculty and staff members, and setting off panic at one of the nation's largest public universities. A university police officer fatally shot the suspect within about a minute of the attack, but the sprawling campus in Columbus, Ohio, remained on lockdown for about an hour and a half as people ran for cover and barricaded themselves in academic buildings and dorms. Investigators were looking into whether the attack was an act of terrorism and were seeking information on the student, Abdul Artan, a permanent United States resident from Somalia who was studying logistics management at Ohio State. The F. B. I. was investigating comments on Facebook indicating that he may have felt Muslims were being persecuted, an investigator said. Last summer the student newspaper, The Lantern, published an interview with Mr. Artan in which he complained about being afraid to pray in public as a Muslim, because of people's negative perceptions of the religion. "I was kind of scared with everything going on in the media. I'm a Muslim, it's not what media portrays me to be," he told the newspaper. "If people look at me, a Muslim praying, I don't know what they're going to think, what's going to happen. But I don't blame them. It's the media that put that picture in their heads. " The attack began at 9:50 a. m. Monday, when "this car suddenly appeared on the sidewalk," said Angshuman Kapil, a graduate student. "It was in high speed, and it just hit whoever came in front of him. " The car stopped only when it rammed a concrete block, he said. The driver leapt out, the authorities said, and began attacking people with a knife. A campus police officer, Alan Horujko, 28, shot Mr. Artan after he failed to follow orders to drop his weapon, and officials credited the officer with helping to save lives. All of the wounded were expected to survive, university officials said. Six people were hit by the car, and five had stab wounds or lacerations, doctors said. They were being treated at three hospitals. No evidence has emerged that Mr. Artan had any connection or allegiance to radical ideology. Though no terrorist group had claimed responsibility for the attack, the Islamic State was updating its online audiences on the rampage on Monday. Both the and the knife attacks are now established forms of aggression inspired by the Islamic State. An attacker in Nice, France, used a delivery truck to kill dozens of pedestrians in July, and chats between an attacker in Würzburg, Germany, and his Islamic State handler indicate he was initially told to use a car to carry out his assault that same month, before he settled on using an ax because he did not have a driving permit. The authorities in Ohio said that it was too soon to know what had motivated Mr. Artan, but that it was clear the attack had been deliberate. Mr. Artan's Columbus home was surrounded by squad cars, crime scene tape and a bomb squad truck on Monday afternoon, and police officials said they were waiting for a search warrant. "This was done on purpose," said Chief Craig Stone of the Ohio State University police. "To go over the curb and strike pedestrians and then get out and start striking with the knife — that was on purpose. " The attack, initially reported as an "active shooter" by the university, stunned students who were returning to class after Thanksgiving break, leading to a warning and an admonition from campus officials to "Run Hide Fight. " Haylee Gardiner, a sophomore, said she was on her way to a chemistry lab when the attack occurred. "I saw a bunch of people running, and when they were running, they were screaming and yelling," said Ms. Gardiner, who scrambled to a residence hall for shelter. "And then all of a sudden, I heard four or five gunshots. " Sean Cody, 23, from Akron, Ohio, was running late for his philosophy class, and after hearing a loud boom, he sprinted into a building to alert fellow students. "Then there was a bang, a dust cloud, then shouting and screaming, and people just booking it in every direction," Mr. Cody said. "Then, 30 seconds, a minute later, there were gunshots. " During the chaos, students huddled in locked rooms, and some took to Twitter, posting photos from inside barricaded classrooms. Ohio State administrators released little information about Mr. Artan, and parts of his background remained unclear. He was admitted to the United States in June 2014 as the child of a refugee, federal officials said, and was believed to be in his late teens or early 20s. He graduated cum laude from Columbus State Community College with an associate of arts degree, officials there said. He was on the Columbus State dean's list in 2015. Officer Horujko, who joined the university police last year, had also been profiled in The Lantern. An Ohio native and a graduate of the university, he said he had decided to be an officer after working in campus safety as a student. As Ohio State officials took stock of the attack and made plans for classes to resume on Tuesday, they said they were thankful the injuries were not more severe and were optimistic that students would come together even if investigators discovered a link to terrorism. "Our campus community is extremely tolerant," Michael V. Drake, the university president, said in an interview. "The concept of branding a whole community for the act of a few leads to an intolerance that can make the world a more difficult place for all of us. " The episode was reported near Watts Hall, a building at the heart of the campus that houses materials science and engineering programs. Heavily armed SWAT teams swarmed the campus, and at one point could be seen making their way up a stairwell of a nearby parking garage. Monday's violence followed a machete attack in February at a Mediterranean restaurant in Columbus, which also ended with the police killing the suspect. The restaurant's owner told reporters that he believed he had been targeted because of his Israeli heritage. The attack on Monday was the latest episode over the last decade on an American college campus. Shootings at Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University and Oikos University in California, among others, have led colleges nationwide to plan how to respond to an attack. Monday's instruction to "Run Hide Fight" came from a training program used by Ohio State and other groups for reacting to active shootings. "We prepare for situations like this," Dr. Drake said, "but always hope never to have one. " Muslim leaders in Ohio praised the police for their response and urged the public not to make assumptions about the attacker's motives. "We as yet know nothing about the motivation of the attacker, but we do know of his Somali heritage, and that will be enough for some people to falsely link this tragic incident to the faith of Islam and to the Somali and Muslim communities," said Roula Allouch, national board chairwoman of the Council on Relations. "We must not jump to conclusions. It is important to let the investigators do their jobs. " Gov. John Kasich also praised the police response, saying it showed "how much practice, how much training, how much expertise, how much coordination" existed among local law enforcement agencies. "We are a strong, tough, resilient community," he said. Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus said that Monday was "one of those days you're grateful for good training and great people across the board," and urged unity in the days ahead.


U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, shot at a congressional baseball practice last month, underwent surgery on Thursday to treat an infection, a hospital statement said. The hospital said the deep tissue infection was related to bullet wounds. Scalise was in "fair condition, and will require careful monitoring to see if and when further interventions are necessary," according to a statement from MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Scalise, the No. 3 Republican leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, was shot on June 14 during practice for a charity baseball game in suburban Washington.


The president of the American Pastors Network said that many U. S. citizens are in denial over the true nature of Islam by refusing to acknowledge its inherent ties to violent jihad. [Responding to a recent CBS poll that found that the majority of Democrats believe that Islam is no more violent than Christianity, Sam Rohrer said that many Americans are confused about the Muslim faith and the teachings of the Qur'an. "The view for a long time has been that jihadists, wherever they are, are not at all reflective of Islam, and these are only a small number, who don't speak for Islam," Rohrer said in an interview with the Christian Post. "The unfortunate thing about that is that those involved in jihad are the only ones who are really practicing what the Qur'an says," he said. Last week's CBS poll found that only 33 percent of respondents believe that the Muslim religion encourages violence more so than other religions, a view that Rohrer described as a "purposeful denial of facts. " Those who do not recognize that Islam is more prone to terrorism and violence either haven't "done their homework," or are ignoring the truth, he said. Rohrer argued that public opinion on Islam is tied to a religious relativism that assumes that "all people worship the same God, or there is no God, or all gods are equal. " It is a "great mistake" to believe that Islam is first and foremost a religion, like Christianity or Judaism, he suggested. "That is totally wrong, because Islam is primarily a political, legal system. It has religious tenets, but it is a political system accompanied by Sharia law," he said. "By its very commandments," he said, Sharia prohibits Islam from peacefully coexisting with others. Rohrer's remarks echoed statements from the Islamic State terror group itself, which has publicly rejected claims that its war on the West is not religiously motivated. In an issue of its online propaganda magazine, Dabiq, ISIS criticized Pope Francis last summer for his naïveté in clinging to the conviction that Muslims want peace and that acts of Islamic terror are economically rather than religiously motivated. "This is a war between the Muslim nation and the nations of disbelief," the authors stated in an article titled "By the Sword. " The Islamic State attacked Francis for claiming that "authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Quran are opposed to every form of violence. " Pope Francis "has struggled against reality" in his efforts to portray Islam as a religion of peace, the article insists, before going on to urge all Muslims to take up the sword of jihad, the "greatest obligation" of a true Muslim. Last spring, noted Georgetown University scholar Father James V. Schall SJ published an essay arguing that Islam has consistently advocated violence "from its seventh century beginning," and that the purpose of violent jihad is "ultimately, religious and pious. " In his article, Schall contended that Islam has been "violent throughout its entire history," and that the motivation for its violence "is obedience to the Law of Allah. " "What we see now is little different from what has been seen throughout the centuries wherever Islam is found," he wrote. Many Westerners mistakenly assume that Islam is not violent, because all religions should be peaceful by their nature, Schall stated. Yet just because Islam is a "religion," he argued, does not mean that it is therefore not "violent. " Schall said that "while it may be politically incorrect to state these things, they need to be stated and are in fact the truth. " "The designated and determined goal of the conquest of the world for Allah has been reinvigorated again and again in world history from the time of Mohammed in the seventh century," he wrote. "These revivals and expansions, which have only been temporarily halted by superior counterforce, have roots in the Qur'an itself and in its commentaries," he said. Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome


Dr. Linda Liau works with the precision of a master, peering into a patient's head with magnifying loupes as she removes a brain tumor. When Liau was called into an emergency room as a surgeon more than 20 years ago to help treat a car crash victim, another member of the medical team assumed she was a nurse. Even today, the 49-year-old neurosurgeon sometimes gets a surprised reaction from new patients who were expecting a man. Such an assumption is common in career fields dominated by men. Neurosurgery, welding, venture capitalism, construction, film directing and the electrical trade - these are six jobs where U.S. women have made inroads but are still vastly outnumbered. And one position, U.S. president, has never been filled by a woman. With presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton seeking to become the first to break that barrier, several women in career fields made up mostly of men told Reuters that they saw her candidacy as significant. "I think ultimately the goal would be to be gender-blind completely, so the fact that we're even talking about having a female president as a novelty is, in a way, sad," Liau said. On a construction site, Joundi White, 31, has often been reminded of her gender. Early in her career, the reminders were pet names such as "sweetheart" and "honey." Now, she can rarely shake the sense that she is outnumbered. "I eat lunch alone," White said. "I don't have people to relate to at work. "Don't get me wrong, I identify more with the guys, but to them, ultimately, I'm just a girl." Wearing a hard hat, White passes under heavy steel beams, walking along the commuter train tracks she is helping build in her working-class neighborhood in southern Los Angeles. Welder Darlene Thompson, 45, is also no stranger to the construction site, or to the hostility that she says women often encounter in the field. These days, she teaches others as an instructor at Los Angeles Trade Technical College. In a heavy coat and blue gloves, she looks from under her helmet at the white-hot flame of a welding torch. It was a fight to learn these skills. More than a decade ago, when she began receiving job training as a welfare recipient, Thompson had to argue for the chance to study welding. Public assistance administrators wanted to push her toward cosmetology or culinary arts, she said. Thompson did not say how she would cast her ballot in November but said she would not vote for Clinton just because the candidate is a woman. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's slogan has resonated with her. "When they talk about 'Let's make America great again,'" Thompson said, "what I think of is the companies in Detroit, the automotive industry going back to Detroit and giving back jobs." A well-paid job as an electrician has opened up opportunities for Hannah Cooper, 28. For one thing, she was able to buy a house in the expensive Los Angeles real estate market. Sometimes, she will encounter someone on a construction site who knows her mother, Kelly Cooper, who also was an electrician. "Everyone remembers her because there's only a few women," Cooper said. Kelly Cooper began as an apprentice in 1975. "You have to have thick skin to be anyone in the trade,"she said. "To be a woman in the trade, you have to have a particularly thick skin." She is now director of construction for the Los Angeles Department of General Services. Eva Ho, 44, is a woman working in the technology field, which is unusual enough. But she is also a venture capitalist, which is rarer still. "In some ways the V.C. career has really been an old boys club, and it's been dominated by white men for the last three or four decades," Ho said. A graduate of Harvard and Cornell, Ho said she was drawn to work in technology because of its ability to drive social change. But she came late to it, never having used a computer until college. For the Burtons, who work together as filmmakers through their company Five Sisters Productions, their career had its seeds in their childhood as the daughters of a writer and a former professional musician. Both parents were feminists who thought their five daughters could do anything, said Ursula Burton, a director, producer and actor. Now the possibility of a female president could help create more opportunities for women, she said. "Having a woman president opens up the presidency for girls," Burton said, "and it will shift the perception for boys of what girls can do."


The new year is almost here and it's often a time when we all start to think about what we want to change for the next year. I've never been much a fan of the whole cliche of changing because of the new year, but why not embrace it as a time where we can make change? Do a quick reflection right now. Do you feel like you have followed your dreams and passions this past year? Do you feel you got caught up in the stresses of life quite often? Did you feel judgement, negative self talk and anger were a big part of your days? Reflecting on how you've felt over your year and being honest with yourself about it gives you the chance to know how to adjust and move forward from this moment forward whether it be the new year or not. I've found in my own life that if I don't pay attention to how I feel, what I create, what's playing out in my life and take responsibility for it, it doesn't change. It stays the same, I experience the same emotions or stagnant feelings, and I don't move forward. But the moment I decide to take it into my own hands, I see how much I'm not a victim to what happens. 11 Things To Let Go of Before the New year 1. Stop all the negative self talk – It's first because it's probably one of the most important. The more we talk poorly about ourselves to ourselves or others, the more we disempower ourselves and empower all the things we wish to adjust about ourselves. Observe it, take note of it, and kick it. It's not helping you. 2. Choose one bad eating habit and kick it! – Taking care of and fuelling your vessel is one of the most important things we can do in life to stay mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. Pick one of your worst eating habits and aim to cut it out completely in 3 months. Whatever it might be, be honest with yourself and make it happen. Then take on the next bad eating habit in 3 months. 3. Let go of chasing 'success'– So often we put up goals or plans for ourselves yet have this tiny limited scope of what success is. Next thing you know we bring stress, worry and fear into the equation throughout the whole journey because we may not be totally in line to hit this pin prick point of what success looks like to us. Instead, do your best to take the steps needed to get to where you want to go, but let go of the lure of success and what it looks like and means. There's no such thing as failure. (more) 4. Kick the idea that you cannot achieve or follow your dreams – So often we have our ideas of what we are excited or passionate about, but let it go because we think we can't do it or because it's unrealistic. Instead of believing every word of that, take ONE step. One step towards making your passion or your dreams happen. The one step will lead to the next and the next, but you have to take the first one. Plan out that first step and take it! 5. Let go of the idea that you should run from your problems – We often get into this mentality that we just need to "get over it." In theory this sounds sorta good, you move on from things that happen in the past or something to that effect. But by just forgetting about it, did we really move on? No, it gets triggered again later or lies dormant as a resented event etc. Instead, let's face our problems and truly move past them. Journal about it, talk to someone else about it. Put the cards on the table to someone who cares about you and who can help you move past it. Pick someone who will see the bigger picture and be honest with you. You have all it takes to move past what challenges you. 6. Stop comparing yourself to others – This is a big one. So often we are looking at others and using what they have, do or are to compare it against us and make up a story. This whole game can make us sad or feel down about ourselves or it can feed our ego in a big way. Let it go, respect everyone's journey, including your own and stop the need to compare yourself to others. 7. Stop judging others – Judging other people can become a habit and an addiction. It's like something we can't stop doing sometimes! Take a moment the next time you judge someone and observe it. Ask yourself why you did it, how did it make you feel? Etc. Make a conscious effort to stop. (more) 8. Stop the blame game – Blaming and pointing fingers when it comes to our challenges or what happens to us doesn't allow us to look at and observe how we might have created or aligned with an experience to help make it happen. I'm not saying there's no such things others can do to hurt you, I'm simply saying take responsibility for how you feel and don't even point blame, it doesn't help us. 9. Stop worrying and trying so hard to fit in and be accepted – This is something far too many of us do just to save face and not be "the weird one." The reality is, it's more 'weird' to be a version of yourself that isn't genuine or real simply because you want to be accepted by others. It's a choice you can't maintain forever and the longer it goes the more uncomfortable you will feel. Be you, accept yourself, be genuine and don't try to make others do the same when. Let it happen. Trust. 10. Let go of the need to control everything – Sometimes we can't take a step forward in anything because we don't know all the answers or all the variables. This is our obsession with control sometimes. Yes, observe a situation and make the best choices available to you, but don't worry so much about needing to control or know every detail about it. Learn to leave things up to trust and knowing that things will work out as they need to. This doesn't mean be reckless, just that you don't need to control every thing, person and detail. 11. Stop procrastinating – This one goes with everything on the list. Stop putting it all off. Whatever it may be. The changes listed above, the hobby you want to, the career you want to explore, or the thing you want to tell to someone important to you. Stop putting it off and just do it!


Donald John Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday night with an unusually vehement appeal to Americans who feel that their country is spiraling out of control and yearn for a leader who will take aggressive, even extreme, actions to protect them. Mr. Trump, 70, a New York real estate developer and reality television star who leveraged his fame and forceful persona to become the rare political outsider to lead the ticket of a major party, drew exuberant cheers from Republican convention delegates as he strode onto the stage of the Quicken Loans Arena and delivered a speech as fiery as his candidacy. With dark imagery and an almost angry tone, Mr. Trump portrayed the United States as a diminished and even humiliated nation, and offered himself as an savior who could resurrect the country's standing in the eyes of both enemies and Americans. "Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation," an Mr. Trump said, standing against a backdrop of American flags. "The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country. " Mr. Trump nearly shouted the names of states where police officers had been killed recently, as the crowd erupted in applause, and returned repeatedly to the major theme of the speech: "Law and order," he said four times, each time drawing out the syllables. Evoking the tumult of the 1960s and the uncertainty that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Trump made a sharp departure from the optimistic talk about American possibility that has characterized Republican presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan redefined the party over 30 years ago. In promoting his views on crime, immigration and hostile nations, Mr. Trump was wagering that voters would embrace his style of populism and his promises of safety if they feel even less secure by Election Day. But his speech — the longest, at an hour and 15 minutes, since at least 1972 — had relatively little new to offer women, Hispanics, blacks and others who have been turned off by Mr. Trump's incendiary brand of politics. He did sound like a different sort of Republican at times, though, making no mention of abortion — a core issue for many Republicans — and saying of his support among evangelical voters, "I'm not sure I totally deserve it. " Mr. Trump also challenged Republican orthodoxy as he promised to end multilateral trade deals and limit American intervention in global crises. He denounced "15 years of wars in the Middle East" — a rebuke of his party's last president, George W. Bush — and pledged to help union members, coal miners and other Americans who have historically supported Democrats. "These are the forgotten men and women of our country," said Mr. Trump, a billionaire with a mixed record of job creation and layoffs. "People who work hard but no longer have a voice — I am your voice. " He even vowed "to do everything in my power to protect our L. G. B. T. Q. citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology. '' As the audience applauded, Mr. Trump made a deviation from his prepared text, observing: "I have to say, that as a Republican, it is so nice to hear you cheering for what I just said. "' Facing a restive party on the final night of a convention that has been unusually turbulent and divided, Mr. Trump seemed to make headway in galvanizing and unifying at least those Republicans gathered in the hall. The nearly full arena was rapt as Mr. Trump spoke, and when he began discussing illegal immigration, a familiar chant quickly broke out in the arena: "Build the wall, build the wall!" And when he vowed to tell the truth "plainly and honestly," a delegate cried from the floor: "Bring it, Donald!" Mr. Trump dwelled at length on illegal immigrants and lawless Americans, saying they are as dangerous for the nation's security as the Islamic State and Syrian refugees. In doing so, Trump advisers said, he sought to win over undecided voters who are sickened by the recent violence against police officers and worried about safety yet are unsure if Mr. Trump has the temperament and abilities to be commander in chief. "I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets and the safety of our police: When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order to our country. " While nomination speeches are traditionally optimistic and personal, full of hope and revelations that cast candidates in the best possible light for voters, Mr. Trump sounded like a wartime president, using the word "threat" seven times and promising to "defeat the barbarians of ISIS. " He also recited homicide rates in American cities and the thousands of illegal immigrants with criminal records, promising to control violence at home and abroad. "It is time to show the whole world that America is back — bigger, and better and stronger than ever before," Mr. Trump said. He was blistering about Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, and her tenure as secretary of state, arguing that her diplomatic strategy in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya and other countries had led to civil unrest and political chaos and rendered her unfit to be president. "America is far less safe — and the world is far less stable — than when Obama made the decision to put Hillary Clinton in charge of America's foreign policy," Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump said Americans had "lived through one international humiliation after another" under President Obama: the Navy sailors "being forced to their knees" by Iranian captors in January the destruction of the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya and Mr. Obama's decision not to defend his "red line" on Syria. Mrs. Clinton shared the blame, too, he added. "This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism, and weakness," Mr. Trump said. In a bid to appeal to Democrats unhappy with their party's embrace of Mrs. Clinton, he invoked the political message of her chief rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, and suggested that Mr. Sanders shared Republicans' critique of her record. Mr. Trump's elder daughter, Ivanka, also sought to reach out to Democrats and moderates, extolling him as a champion of women in the workplace, and a leader who would "take on the bold and worthy fights, who will be unafraid to set lofty goals and relentless in his determination to achieve them. " This week's convention, which typically would have been choreographed carefully, was itself a departure from the norm. But if Mr. Trump injected drama and even spontaneity back into the formulaic gathering, he also tested the limits of improvisation over the last week. The operatic quality of the first three days of the convention worried some Republicans. Presidential candidates have two major issues to deal with over the summer, their selection and their convention, and they felt he had bungled both. Mr. Trump chose his running mate haphazardly and then overshadowed the announcement of Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana by indulging in a rambling speech that revived questions about his seriousness. The party staged a convention that reflected just how fractured it is. There were, to be sure, effective attacks on the character and record of Mrs. Clinton, whose unpopularity among modern presidential nominees is exceeded only by Mr. Trump's. But some of the language spilled into ugliness and catcalls. The party at times seemed unified only around a shared determination to imprison the former secretary of state. But the speeches dedicated to promoting Mr. Trump and the party's governing vision were hazy and at times collided with the candidate's own beliefs. Many of the elected officials who spoke extolled a traditional conservative platform that bears little relation to the nationalist agenda on which Mr. Trump is basing his campaign. For example, just hours before Mr. Pence, a committed internationalist, assured delegates and millions of voters that America would defend its allies, Mr. Trump gave an interview in which he balked at defending NATO countries, a policy that has been the cornerstone of the alliance for 70 years. Even as Republicans prepared to leave Cleveland, they were still straining to come to terms with the views and personality of their newly minted nominee. "I'm going to vote for Mike Pence," said Gov. Gary Herbert of Utah, pausing for effect: "And Donald Trump comes along with the package. " Candidates who are trailing — as Mr. Trump is, according to national polling averages — must maximize the bump they typically enjoy in the polls after their conventions. Mr. Trump may see his standing improve after he leaves Cleveland on Friday, even though he did not fully seize the opportunity he was afforded after Mrs. Clinton was upbraided by the F. B. I. director over her private email server. In many ways, the convention's formality was an awkward fit for Mr. Trump, who soared in the primaries by energizing voters at freewheeling rallies with his and frequently entertaining remarks. Instead, for Thursday night, he relied on a teleprompter and a speech heavy with familiar Republican themes like cutting taxes, creating jobs, and pushing for education reforms to give parents more choice in schools for their children. Yet he also made more personal promises as well, like being the ultimate safeguard for the younger generations of Americans. "To every parent who dreams for their child, and every child who dreams for their future, I say these words to you tonight: I'm with you, I will fight for you, and I will win for you," Mr. Trump said.


The head of the European Parliament s biggest group, the center-right European People s Party, said British Prime Minister Theresa May s speech on Brexit on Thursday did not clarify London s position and had left him more concerned than before. In substance PM May is bringing no more clarity to London s positions. I am even more concerned now, Manfred Weber said on Twitter. Prime Minister Theresa May called on Friday for Britain to stay in the European Union s single market during a roughly two-year transition out of the EU as she appealed for a revival of Brexit negotiations.


Rupert Murdoch s British newspaper group said on Friday one of its titles had hacked the computer of a former intelligence officer, an admission which critics said showed why his takeover of European broadcaster Sky should be blocked. In a hearing at London s High Court, Murdoch s News Group Newspapers admitted vicarious liability for the hacking of computers belonging to Ian Hurst, who worked for British military intelligence. The case comes a month after Britain s media minister said regulators should scrutinize Murdoch s planned $15 billion takeover of Sky over concerns about broadcasting standards and its impact on media plurality. Hurst s lawyer Jeremy Reed said in a court statement the Irish edition of the News of the World newspaper had hired a private investigator to intercept his client s emails in 2006. Hurst had served in Northern Ireland and later wrote a book about his experiences, including details of Britain s top spy in the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Alfredo Scappaticci, known by the codename Stakeknife . Reed said it was likely he was targeted because an employee of the newspaper wanted to trace Scappaticci. I confirm that News Group Newspapers ... accepts vicarious liability for the wrongful acts of computer interception, said Anthony Hudson, the lawyer for the newspaper group, adding it had paid substantial damages to Hurst and his family. News Group Newspapers accepts that such activity happened, accepts that it should never have happened, and has undertaken to the court that it will never happen again. Opponents of Murdoch s takeover said the case was evidence the deal should not be allowed to go through and they would send a dossier to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) which is examining the proposed deal. It s vital that the CMA is able to take this new evidence of criminality and corporate failure into account as it assesses the Murdochs bid to take over Sky, said Tom Watson, deputy leader of Britain s opposition Labour Party. Murdoch shut the News of the World in 2011 after its journalists were found to have been involved in widespread phone-hacking. His original attempt to buy full control of Sky was ditched in the wake of the scandal. Since then the company has been split in two, separating the newspapers from entertainment assets to help to smooth the deal s passage. Last month Murdoch s son James said he was confident regulators would assess the deal on its merits and not be swayed by those with grievances against his father s newspapers, saying the company had dealt effectively with past problems.


Larry Colburn, who became an American hero when he intervened with two comrades to halt the massacre of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by United States soldiers in 1968, elevating an innocuous hamlet named My Lai into a watchword for the horrors of war, died on Tuesday at his home in Canton, Ga. He was 67. The cause was liver cancer, his wife, Lisa, said. Mr. Colburn was the last surviving member of a helicopter crew that was assigned to hover over My Lai on Saturday morning, March 16, 1968, to identify enemy positions by drawing Vietcong fire. Instead, the men encountered an eerie quiet and a macabre landscape of dead, wounded and weaponless women and children as a platoon of American soldiers, ostensibly hunting elusive Vietcong guerrillas, marauded among defenseless noncombatants. The crew dropped smoke flares to mark the wounded, "thinking the men on the ground would come assist them," Mr. Colburn told Vietnam Magazine in 2011. "When we would come back to those we marked," he said, "we'd find they were now dead. " Audaciously and on his own initiative, the pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr. swooped down and landed the copter. "Mr. Thompson was just beside himself," Mr. Colburn recalled in an interview in 2010 for the PBS program "The American Experience. " "He got on the radio and just said, 'This isn't right, these are civilians, there's people killing civilians down here.' And that's when he decided to intervene. He said, 'We've got to do something about this, are you with me?' And we said, 'Yes.' " Mr. Thompson confronted the officer in command of the rampaging platoon, Lt. William L. Calley, but was rebuffed. He then positioned the helicopter between the troops and the surviving villagers and faced off against another lieutenant. Mr. Thompson ordered Mr. Colburn to fire his machine gun at any soldiers who tried to inflict further harm. "Y'all cover me!" Mr. Thompson was quoted as saying. "If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!" "You got it boss," Mr. Colburn replied. "Consider it done. " Mr. Thompson, Mr. Colburn and Glenn Andreotta, the copter's crew chief, found about 10 villagers cowering in a makeshift bomb shelter and coaxed them out, then had them flown to safety by two Huey gunships. They found an boy clinging to his mother's corpse in an irrigation ditch and plucked him by the back of his shirt and delivered him to a nun in a nearby hospital. Crucially, they reported what they had witnessed to headquarters, which ordered a . By then, as many as 500 villagers had been killed. Would Mr. Colburn have fired at his fellow Americans? "How could I ever be prepared for something like that?" he replied years later. "Would I have? I guess that's the $64, 000 question, isn't it?" Seymour M. Hersh, the independent journalist who later uncovered the My Lai massacre, said of Mr. Colburn in a phone interview on Friday that "for a door gunner in Vietnam to point his machine gun at an American officer" under those circumstances "was in the greatest tradition of American integrity. " Lawrence Manley Colburn was born on July 6, 1949, in Coulee Dam, Wash. His father, Harry, a World War II veteran, was a civil engineer who had helped build the Grand Coulee Dam. His mother, the former Catherine Manley, was a homemaker. His father died when Larry was 15. An altar boy, he attended Roman Catholic elementary and junior high schools and a public high school, where, after an altercation with an assistant principal, he was suspended for two weeks. Rather than return to school, he joined the Army. Because he was 17, he needed his mother's permission. He earned his high school equivalency diploma in the Army before being shipped to Vietnam in December 1967. The full extent of the gang rapes, massacre and mutilations by Charlie Company in My Lai and another hamlet, on the South Central Coast, was not exposed until two months after Mr. Colburn was discharged. A Pulitzer report by Mr. Hersh for The Dispatch News Service in November 1969 provoked international outrage and eventually resulted in charges against more than a dozen officers. Only one, however, was convicted: Lieutenant Calley, for the murder of 22 civilians. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but ended up serving only three and a half years under house arrest at Fort Benning, Ga. Mr. Colburn entered Green River College in Auburn, Wash. on the G. I. Bill but struggled academically and financially and quit before graduating to become a commercial fisherman in Alaska. He later moved to Oregon, where he met Lisa Cale, a student at Eastern Oregon State College. They married in 1985 and moved to Atlanta, where he sold orthopedic rehabilitation equipment. She survives him, along with their son, Connor, and his sisters, Sheila Beal, Mary Jones and Colleen Capestany. My Lai became a paradigm for unbridled brutality and an object lesson in battlefield ethics, but the crewmen whose audacious intervention prevented even more bloodshed were largely forgotten. Their heroism was acknowledged with Bronze Stars, which they considered inappropriate recognition: The Bronze Star is awarded for bravery under enemy assault, they reasoned, and they had demonstrated courage in the face of friendly fire. After the investigations and trial, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn received something else, too: hate mail. "One of the most infuriating things is being called a as if we went and ratted someone out," Mr. Colburn told Vietnam Magazine. "That is completely false there was no going on. We were right in their face at My Lai. We were ready to confront those people then and there. And we did, the best we could. " In the late 1980s, after seeing Mr. Thompson interviewed on a television documentary, David Egan, a professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, began a crusade to recognize, belatedly, the crew's actions. Trent Angers, the author of "The Forgotten Hero of My Lai: The Hugh Thompson Story" (1999) told The Associated Press that Mr. Colburn had "stood up, shoulder to shoulder with Hugh and Glenn, to oppose and stand down against those who were committing crimes against humanity. " "Without his assistance," he added, "Hugh might not have done what he did. " In 1998, 30 years after the massacre, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn were awarded the Soldier's Medal, which is granted for lifesaving bravery not involving direct contact with an enemy. "It is my solemn wish that we all never forget the tragedy and brutality of war," Mr. Colburn said at the ceremony, held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. "I would like to quote Gen. Douglas MacArthur: 'The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and the unarmed.' " Mr. Thompson and Mr. Colburn walked the short distance to the memorial, where they made a rubbing of the inscribed name of Mr. Andreotta, who was killed in Vietnam three weeks after the massacre. He was awarded the Soldier's Medal posthumously. The two men returned to My Lai that year, meeting some of the villagers they had rescued and dedicating an elementary school. On the flight home, Mr. Colburn recalled, he turned to Mr. Thompson and said, "It was so good to see all those little kids smiling again, not having to worry about being blown up, not having to be looking over their shoulders all the time, just being able to be kids. " Mr. Thompson died of cancer in 2006 at 62. Two years later, on the 40th anniversary of the massacre, Mr. Colburn returned to Vietnam and was reunited with Do Ba, who as a boy had been rescued by Mr. Colburn from an irrigation ditch.


The European Union and Canada signed a trade agreement on Sunday that commits them to opening their markets to greater competition, after overcoming a political obstacle that reflected the growing skepticism toward globalization in much of the developed world. Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had been forced to call off an earlier trip to sign the deal after Wallonia, the region of Belgium, used its veto to withhold Belgium's approval of the deal. The pact required the support of all 28 European Union countries. On Friday, Wallonia, which has been hit hard by deindustrialization and feared greater agricultural competition, withdrew its veto after concessions were made by the Belgian government, including promises to protect farmers. Hours later, the European Union announced that the deal was back on track. Mr. Trudeau signed the pact on Sunday, joined by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, which represents the leaders of the member states Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, which holds the rotating presidency of the body that runs the bloc's ministerial meetings and Juncker, the president of the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm. The deal will help to demonstrate that "trade is good for the middle class and those working hard to join it," Mr. Trudeau said at a news conference in Brussels. Mr. Trudeau said he wanted to "make sure that everyone gets that this is a good thing for our economies but it's also a good example to the world. " But the Walloon intransigence has underlined the extent to which trade has become politically radioactive as citizens increasingly blame globalization for growing disparities in wealth and living standards. Across Europe and the United States, opposition to trade has become a rallying point for populist movements on the left and the right, threatening to upend the established political order. A compromise among the regions of Belgium, which persuaded Wallonia to drop its veto, called for language to clarify the handling of trade complaints brought by Canadian or European companies. Belgium pledged to refer the arbitration system to the Court of Justice of the European Union, where judges can assess its legality. Nonetheless, several dozen activists held a rowdy protest on Sunday outside the building where Mr. Trudeau signed the pact, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. The protesters splashed red paint on the forecourt of the building and condemned a planned Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between Europe and the United States. That much larger deal, known as T. T. I. P. has already stalled amid opposition from large numbers of Europeans, including many Germans and Austrians. The protesters see the Canadian deal as a for a much larger battle. The spectacle of tiny Wallonia, with just 3. 6 million people, holding up a deal that affects more than 500 million Europeans and 35 million Canadians and prompting European Union leaders to delay a summit meeting has rattled Western leaders. "In the end, people who favor free trade survived to fight another day," said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "Now that we see the Canadian deal has made it over the finish line, the Atlantic trade deal still has a fighting chance," he said. "But it won't be easy. T. T. I. P. could similarly threaten traditional farming interests and arouse European suspicions about common health and environmental standards. " As a legal matter, the member states' legislatures still need to ratify the Canadian agreement. That could mean more hiccups before it goes into effect. Mr. Tusk, of the European Council, said he was cautiously optimistic that the deal would survive the ratification process and could send a positive message about globalization. "Today's decisions demonstrate that the disintegration of the Western community does not need to become a lasting trend," Mr. Tusk said. "Free trade and globalization have protected hundreds of millions of people from poverty and hunger. The problem is that few people believe this. " "The European Union is not yet in the group of hard protectionist and economies like China or Russia," said Hosuk the director of the European Center for International Political Economy, a research organization in Brussels. "Instead, the E. U. is carving out a new middle ground between those two countries and the United States. " Europe, Mr. said, is pivoting to a position as "neither an ally of East nor West. " Once ratified, the Canadian deal would cut many tariffs on industrial goods and on farm and food items, according to the European Commission. The deal also would open up the services sector in areas like cargo shipping, maritime services and finance to European firms, the commission said. The Canadian deal is also regarded by trade advocates as a template for advanced, industrial economies by making it easier for their regulators to recognize one another's rules, and by updating the rules on how companies can make sure governments protect their investments. If the Obama administration has its way, the next major regional trade accord to make it over the finish line will be the Partnership, which includes the United States, Canada, Japan and Vietnam. The Pacific deal — largely because it involves a number of emerging economies — is a more traditional trade accord aimed mainly at cutting tariffs and knocking down impediments to trade. But like the Europeans, many Americans do not want to make concessions that would lower wages or threaten jobs at home. The deal has become a hot issue in the United States presidential election both nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump, oppose it. Mr. Funk Kirkegaard, the senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, said he gave the Pacific deal about a 30 percent chance of being concluded while President Obama is still in office. "Beyond January," he said, "it's all dependent on the results of the election and who's the next president. "


Donald Trump raised $1.7 million from donors and loaned his White House campaign $7.5 million in April as he moved closer to becoming the Republican nominee for president, according to documents filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Friday. The New York businessman had loaned his campaign a total of $43.5 million as of the end of April, the filings showed. More recently, he has made moves to build up his fundraising operation with an eye toward the Nov. 8 general election. Trump became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee in early May, when both of his rivals dropped out of the race. Trump self-funded much of his primary run, but he has said he will not rely as heavily on his own money for the general election, when he will face the Democratic nominee. Both people seeking the Democratic nomination have raised more than Trump. Hillary Clinton, the party's front-runner, brought in $26.4 million in April, including funds from a joint fundraising effort with the Democratic Party. An outside Super PAC supporting her campaign raised $8.6 million. A Super PAC is a fund-raising group that must operate separate from political campaigns but can raise unlimited sums. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton's rival for the Democratic nomination, raised $26.9 million in April. He has disavowed Super PACs. Trump has criticized them too, though a long-time Republican operative in May joined one Super PAC backing the real estate mogul. In May, Trump hired investor Steven Mnuchin as his national finance chairman and entered a joint fundraising deal with the Republican National Committee that will allow donors to write much bigger checks. Friday's FEC filings do not reflect these moves, but they show that Trump's fundraising dipped in April, after he brought in about $3 million and loaned himself $11.5 million in March. He also spent less in April, $9.4 million compared with $13.8 million a month earlier, when more states held nominating contests. Trump spent $2.6 million on advertising in April, less than half the $6.3 million he spent in March. By comparison, Sanders spent $17.3 million and Clinton spent $9.3 million on advertising in April. Trump's consulting and payroll spending also dropped about 30 percent to a total $1.7 million in April, even as he added experienced political staff. At the end of March, he hired veteran Republican strategist Paul Manafort. Trump ended April with $2.4 million on hand, after starting the month with $2.1 million at the ready.


Print  The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Citizens gathered outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia during the proceedings, attempting to learn what sort of government had been agreed upon behind closed doors. As he exited the Hall, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?"  Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."  It's important to note that Franklin did not include the word democracy because the difference between a republic and a democracy is fundamental. The word republic comes from the Romans' word in Latin res publica — which means "the public thing." "Democracy," on the other hand, invented by the Greeks, comes from their words demos and kratein , which means "the peoples' rule." Greek democracy meant majority rule. Yet, even during its first few decades of existence, the great Greek thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle rejected democracy as a bad form of governance, labeling it "mob rule."  So we can confer on Franklin's response to that inquiring woman that he believed, in the wake of Britain's capitulation to Washington's revolutionary army, the Continental Congress had created a constitutional republic fashioned much more closely to the Roman representative Republic than the Athenian Democracy.  But now, 230 years later, we must countenance the specter of a woman who has trafficked in national security secrets and is guilty of numerous felonies becoming the president of the United States. This has made me wondering if it might not be possible for the House of Representatives to begin impeachment proceedings against a President Clinton shortly after her election. So I resolved to contact various members of Congress to ask them if they wouldn't attempt impeachment as a means to fulfill their oaths of office to preserve and protect the constitution.  I first made contact with Congressman Tom McClintock of the 4 th District of Northern California. What follows is our interview:  Kelley: Do you agree with my contention that a Hillary presidency would mean that we would be a post constitutional republic?  McClintock: I'm afraid we may already have entered the post-constitutional phase of American history. The fundamental architecture of the American Republic – the separation of powers and the Bill of Rights – is already breaking down. The question now is whether we will enter the restoration period or the decline period of our free government. I think a Hillary Clinton presidency has the potential of taking us past a tipping point that makes restoration of the Constitution much more difficult and unlikely.  K: What do you think the ramifications of her election would be?  If the current justices all serve until their actuarial age, the next President will make four appointments to the Supreme Court. Clinton and Justice Ginsburg have made it very clear that once a lock-step leftist majority is cemented into that court, their first two objectives are reversing Citizens United and Heller, which would have dire implications to our First and Second Amendment rights. I would expect that due process protections will begin falling quickly thereafter to enable, among other things, the prosecution of dissenters from leftist global warming orthodoxy. And even if the election of 2020 produced a Republican president with overwhelming Republican congressional majorities, any serious reform legislation could be expected to be struck down by a court whose majority will view its role as policy-making rather than upholding the Constitution. I could add the catastrophic impact of her "open borders" program that has devastated Europe and her intention to further increase taxes and regulatory burdens that could deal a knock-out blow to our faltering economy.  K: What do you think the likelihood would be of her immediate impeachment?  M: Zero. Impeachment requires 2/3 of the Senate, which would be a political impossibility.  K: If it cannot remove a known felonious president who, as Secretary of State, compromised national security, has Congress lost its power to be a check on the executive branch?  M: The Constitution was written to be self-enforcing. But that only works as long as its powers are evenly divided; which, in turn, only works if the officials who exercise its powers are obedient to that Constitution; which, in turn, only works if "we, the people," through our votes, insist on it. When we stop insisting on it, we forfeit our Constitution and the freedoms it protects. Lincoln was right: "If destruction be our lot, we must, ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free men, we are destined to live for all time, or die by suicide."  K: But even if there were no chance she could be removed, wouldn't simply the filing of impeachment articles be a historic way for those who wish to remain obedient to the Constitution to voice a powerful rejection of her lawlessness?  M: Larry, you're dreaming. There's no do-over for this election. (End of Interview).  As a nation, we've had a pretty good two-hundred-year run. But as Ben Franklin warned and Congressman McClintock fears, we may now have not kept or constitutional republic.  Article reposted with permission from LarryKelley.com shares


Turkey's foreign minister called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's immediate removal on Friday, saying a transitional government must be established and voicing support for a U.S. missile strike overnight on one of his air bases. "It is necessary to oust this regime as soon as possible from the leadership of Syria," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in the southern town of Alanya in comments broadcast live. "If he doesn't want to go, if there is no transition government, and if he continues committing humanitarian crimes, the necessary steps to oust him should be taken," he said. Cavusoglu said safe zones for civilians in Syria were now more important than ever. He said the coalition had been informed of the U.S. missile strike and that he had spoken by phone with the French and German foreign ministers, although he did not say when. He also said contacts had been initiated with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.


Taiwan has assured the United States it has no intention of causing trouble in the Taiwan Strait, the self-ruled island s envoy to a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders said on Monday. The comments by James Soong came after he told reporters in the Vietnamese city of Danang at the weekend that he had good exchanges with both U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during informal moments between summit events. We don t want to create trouble in the Taiwan Strait, and lead the U.S., China and Japan, and all observers, to think we are a troublemaker. The whole world doesn t hope for Taiwan to be a troublemaker, Soong said in response to a question on his interactions with Trump and Tillerson. We hope to use peaceful means to solve relevant problems. Soong also said he had a natural interaction with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Relations between Beijing and Taipei have nosedived since President Tsai Ing-wen was elected last year. China believes she wants formal independence for Taiwan, a red line for Beijing. For her part, Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China but will defend Taiwan s democracy and security. China has suspended a regular dialogue mechanism with Taiwan since Tsai came to power and stepped up military exercises around the island. It has also increased diplomatic pressure by winning over another two of the island s dwindling number of diplomatic allies. Soong, who is chairman of the China-friendly People First Party, emphasized at the summit that Tsai had repeatedly talked about seeking peaceful relations and stability with China. This month, Xi told Trump in Beijing that Taiwan was the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-U.S. ties.


New Zealand Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern said the ruling National Party had taken the largest number of votes in Saturday s general election, but the race was not over yet. The National Party had 46.1 percent of the votes with over 97 percent of results counted, while Labour had 35.7 percent of the votes, according to the Electoral Commission. New Zealand First had 7.5 percent of the votes, putting it position to hold the balance of power in the German-style proportional representation system. Ardern said the expectation was to speak to New Zealand First as quickly as they could.