Page 1765 - Politics
On same page with intelligence community, says Trump
A day after advising his top spymasters to go back to school after they differed with him on global threat assessment, US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he and the leadership of country's intelligence community are "on the same page." After meeting with Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, CIA Director Gina Haspel and other top security officials, Trump said they told him their testimony at the Senate hearing had been "mischaracterized" by the news media. Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterised by the media - and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc, Trump said in a tweet. He followed, Their testimony was distorted press... I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday. A false narrative is so bad for our Country. I value our intelligence community. Happily, we had a very good meeting, and we are all on the same ...
Trump to announce date, venue of second meeting with Kim next week
US President Donald Trump has said the date and location of his second meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un have been decided, and will be announced next week.
US envoy Stephen Biegun reveals N.Korea nuclear pledge
North Korea has pledged to destroy all its nuclear material enrichment facilities, the US special envoy has said.
Lebanon forms new government after long delay
Lebanon has agreed a new government of national unity, ending nearly nine months of political wrangling.
JNU writes to VP, LS Speaker expresses distress over MPs participation in protest
Jawaharlal Nehru University Registrar on Thursday wrote to Vice President Vekaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan after a few Members of Parliament (MPs) participated in a protest organised by university's teachers' association at its administrative building.Expressing "considerable distress", the varsity administration in the letter stated that the incident has "violated the order of the honourable high court of Delhi as well as the varsity's rules and regulations".The letter read, "The JNUTA had invited Manoj Jha and Jitendra Choudhury for a protest in the campus, which is their democratic right. However, what is shocking and unexpected is that the JNUTA office-bearers misled the honourable Members of Parliament and brought them to protest at the administration building which has been prohibited by the high court for any kind of protest and dharna."The protest meeting was organised by the JNU Teachers' Association to resist dilution of reservations in public education ...
Bill in US Senate to combat tech specific threats to national security posed by China
A powerful bipartisan group of lawmakers have introduced a bill in the US Senate to combat tech-specific threats to national security posed by foreign actors like China. If passed by the Congress and signed into law by the President, the bipartisan legislation would create an Office of Critical Technologies & Security at the White House responsible for coordinating across federal and state agencies and developing a long-term, whole-of-government strategy to protect against "state-sponsored" technology theft and risks to critical supply chains, a media statement said. "China's theft of critical US technologies and increased efforts to expand into our telecommunications market pose as serious threats to our national security and to consumers, said Senator Susan Collins, who on Thursday cosponsored the legislation authored by Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio. "This bipartisan bill would ensure greater coordination and cooperation between government at the federal and state ...
China says trade talks with U.S. made 'important progress'- Xinhua
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's trade delegation said the latest round of talks with the United States made "important progress" for the current stage, China's official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
LS polls: Congress announces election committees in states, DCC presidents in Delhi
As Lok Sabha elections are inching closer, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday formed various election and campaign committees in different states and appointed two new District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents in Delhi.According to a press release, the Congress president has also appointed election committee, campaign committee, publicity committee, media coordination committee and coordination committee for Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). He has approved the names of AR Joshi and Kailash Jain as presidents of Karawal Nagar DCC and Babarpur DCC, respectively. Senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief minister Siddaramaiah are among some of the prominent party leaders appointed as the members of the campaign committee in Karnataka.While announcing the election management team in Assam, the Gandhi scion appointed former state chief minister Tarun Gogoi as the chairman of the Congress campaign committee while Debabrata Saikia has been declared as .
Trump considering Herman Cain for Fed board seat, official says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is considering former pizza chain executive and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, a senior administration official said on Thursday.
China's Xi wants to meet U.S. halfway on trade deal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump in a letter that he hopes both sides will be able to meet each other halfway to reach a trade agreement before a March 1 deadline.
Anna to file defamation suit against NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Thursday asked his supporters to file a defamation suit against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson Nawab Malik after he accused Hazare of taking money to sit for a hunger strike. Malik had stated that Anna takes money from advocates to protest. Following the controversial statement made by Malik, Hazare refused to meet NCP leaders, who were supposed to meet the social activist on Thursday.The 81-year-old social activist Hazare is protesting since January 30 against the Centre and the Maharashtra government for not setting up a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states."If a senior leader of some political party (Nawab Malik) says that I have taken money from someone to start a hunger strike then he should explain from where I took money. I have asked my workers to file a defamation suit against him," said Hazare while speaking on the second day of his hunger strike as part of 'Jan Andolan Satyagrah' in Maharashtra's Ralegan ...
Britain, France, Germany unveil mechanism for trade with Iran
Britain, France and Germany have announced the creation of a new mechanism for facilitating trade with Iran in order to preserve the Iran nuclear deal.
White House says March 1 is hard deadline for China trade deal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump sees March 1 as a hard deadline to reach a trade deal with China, the White House said on Thursday, saying U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will be hiked if an agreement is not reached by then.
As Democrats target Trump's tax returns, audit claims loom large
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional Democrats exploring ways to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns may target the adequacy of the Internal Revenue Service audit that Trump often cites as his reason for not making the returns public, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Correction: China's Xi wants to meet U.S. halfway on trade deal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - (In 2nd paragraph, corrects to show that letter was read during a White House meeting, not that Trump read from the letter to reporters)
US strike kills 24 jihadists in Somalia: Pentagon
US forces have conducted an air strike in Somalia that killed 24 Al-Shabaab militants, officials said Thursday, adding to a spate of such strikes against the Al-Qaeda affiliate. The strike a day earlier was near a "terrorist encampment location" in the Hiran region of central Somalia, US Africa Command said in a statement. The action came as part of an ongoing mission in which US forces work with African Union and Somali national security forces to fight the Shabaab jihadist movement. Such "strikes continue to help our partners make progress in their fight against the transnational terrorists who oppose peace in Somalia and in the region," said Major General Gregg Olson, Africa Command director of operations. The Pentagon has increased the rate of strikes in Somalia in recent years, partly because President Donald Trump loosened constraints on when the US military can take action against alleged terrorists. Although the military did not specify in its latest statement, such air ...
'Tremendous' progress in US-China trade talks: Trump
President Donald Trump hailed "tremendous progress" in US-China trade negotiations Thursday and Chinese leader Xi Jinping said that their relations were at a "critical" stage, with one month left to settle their tariff dispute. "You will be going early February with your group to China," Trump said in the White House to negotiators after they spent a second day of talks with Chinese counterparts. In a letter from Xi to Trump that was read out by the Chinese delegation, Xi said relations were at a "critical" stage and that he hoped "our two sides will continue to work with mutual respect." The Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He was in Washington for the complex talks on resolving a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. Washington has set a deadline of March 1 for China to agree to deep reforms ending what the White House says are unfair trade practices, including protectionism and systematic intellectual property theft. Trump said relations between the two ...
US urges Venezuela's Maduro to accept amnesty
The United States on Thursday urged Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro to accept an amnesty offer from opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom Washington has recognized as president. "I wish Nicolas Maduro and his top advisors a long, quiet retirement, living on a nice beach somewhere far from Venezuela," national security advisor John Bolton tweeted. "They should take advantage of President Guaido's amnesty and move on. The sooner the better," he said. Guaido last week declared himself the interim president and was swiftly recognized by the United States and key Latin American nations amid a spiralling economic crisis under Maduro's leftist regime. With the military leadership still backing Maduro, Guaido offered amnesty for anyone who disavows the president and has suggested a similar offer for Maduro himself. Maduro has said he is willing to negotiate with the opposition and even offered to bring forward legislative elections. But he has dismissed the idea of a new presidential poll. His own ..
Forces detain German jihadist in Syria: wives
US-backed Kurdish-led forces have detained German jihadist Martin Lemke after he fled the last pocket held by the Islamic State group in Syria, two of his wives said Thursday. His third wife, a German national who gave her name as Leonora, told AFP at a screening centre in the province of Deir Ezzor that Lemke, his second wife and herself fled the fighting together. "We gave up together," the 19-year-old said in English, adding that Lemke arrived with her at the centre run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-Arab outfit that has spearheaded the fight against IS. The jihadist group is only hanging on to a tiny rump of its once sprawling "caliphate" and many of its residents are fleeing and turning themselves in before a final offensive. The SDF separate civilians from suspected active IS members during the screening. Leonora said Lemke had a health problem which meant he could not fight and claimed he had worked mostly as a technician for IS. However investigations published ..
China's Xi wants to meet U.S. half way on trade deal, Trump says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's leader Xi Jinping told U.S. President Donald Trump in a letter that he hopes both sides will be able to meet each other halfway to reach a trade agreement before a March 1 deadline, Trump said on Thursday.