Diane is a perfectionist. She enjoys searching the internet for the hottest events from around the world and writing an article about it. The details matter to her, so she makes sure the information is easy to read and understand. She likes traveling and history, especially ancient history. Being a very sociable person she has a blast having barbeque with family and friends.
Venezuela’s government websites have been hacked in an operation targeting the “dictatorship” of President Nicolás Maduro.
Calling itself “The Binary Guardians”, the hacking group posted messages appearing to support the actions of a group of armed civilians who attacked a military base in the central city of Valencia on August 6.
Meanwhile, President Maduro’s supporters marched in the capital Caracas.
They called for an end to months of opposition protests and unrest.
The hacked sites included the Venezuelan government, the National Electoral Council and the Venezuelan navy.
A message on the main government site made reference to “Operation David”, which Venezuelan media had reported was the codename of the attack in Valencia.
“This dictatorship has its days numbered,” the message added.
The government said it had repelled the attack in Valencia, which was carried out by a group of armed civilians led by a military deserter.
A search was under way for 10 men who escaped with weapons after the attack, President Maduro said.
The assault in the north-western city of Valencia was carried out by 20 people, he said. Two were killed, one was injured and seven were arrested.
Earlier, a video posted on social media showed uniformed men saying they were rising against a “murderous tyranny”.
On state TV, Niclas Maduro congratulated the army for its “immediate reaction” in putting down the attack on August 6, saying they had earned his “admiration.”
The president called the incident a “terrorist attack” carried out by “mercenaries”, and said the security forces were actively searching for those who had escaped.
“We’ll get them,” Nicolas Maduro vowed.
The government said that those arrested included a first lieutenant who had deserted. It said the others were civilians wearing uniforms.
President Maduro said the group had been backed by anti-government leaders based in the US and Colombia.
In August 6 video, a rebel leader who identified himself as Juan Caguaripano, said that his group – which he called the 41st Brigade – was taking a stand against the “murderous tyranny of President Nicolás Maduro”.
“This is not a coup but a civic and military action to re-establish constitutional order.”
Violent demonstrations began in April and have spread across Venezuela which, despite being oil-rich, is experiencing severe shortages of food and medicines, as well as inflation in excess of 700%.
The incident in Valencia came the day after the first session of the newly inaugurated Constituent Assembly, seen by the opposition as a way for the left-wing president to cling to power.
Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly said that the new body will bring peace to Venezuela.
The Constituent Assembly has the ability to rewrite the constitution and could override the opposition-controlled parliament, the National Assembly.
The last time a victim was identified was March 2015.
The man’s identity was determined by New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which had been retesting DNA recovered in 2001.
A total of 1,112 people who died (40%) remain unidentified nearly 16 years after the 9/11 attack.
On September 11, 2001, two planes crashed in New York City plus one at the Pentagon in Virginia and another in Pennsylvania, claiming nearly 3,000 lives and injuring thousands more.
North Korea has reacted after the US drafted the UN sanctions over its banned nuclear weapons program.
Pyongyang vowed to retaliate and make “the US pay a price”.
The sanctions, which were unanimously passed by the UN on August 5, were a “violent violation of our sovereignty,” the official KCNA news agency said.
Separately, South Korea says North Korea has rejected an offer to restart talks, dismissing it as insincere.
The sanctions will aim to reduce North Korea’s export revenues by a third.
The UN Security Council decision followed repeated missile tests by North Korea which have escalated tensions on the peninsula.
In its first major response on August 7, North Korea insisted that it would continue to develop its controversial nuclear weapons program.
The state-run KCNA news agency said North Korea would “not put our self-defensive nuclear deterrent on the negotiating table” while it faces threats from the US.
Pyongyang threatened to make the US “pay the price for its crime… thousands of times,” referring to America’s role in drafting the UN sanctions resolution.
Speaking to reporters at a regional forum in the Philippine capital, Manila, North Korean spokesman Bang Kwang Hyuk said: “The worsening situation on the Korean peninsula, as well as the nuclear issues, were caused by the United States.
“We affirm that we’ll never place our nuclear and ballistic missiles program on the negotiating table, and won’t budge an inch on strengthening nuclear armament.”
The remarks come after reports emerged that the North and South Korean foreign ministers had met briefly on August 6 on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila.
South Korean media reported that its Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha shook hands with her North Korean counterpart, Ri Yong Ho, in a brief and unarranged meeting at an official dinner event.
South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Kang Kyung-wha as saying that Ri Yong Ho’s rejection of the talks proposal appeared to be connected to the new sanctions.
“I told him that [the two offers for talks] are an urgent matter that should be carried out immediately with any political agenda put aside and asked him to proactively react,” she was quoted as saying.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told journalists on August 7: “My feeling is that the North did not entirely reject the positive proposals raised by the South.”
Wang Yi added that China also supported South Korea’s initiatives, and was “100%” committed to enforcing the latest round of UN sanctions.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also at the ASEAN forum, where he spoke about North Korea.
Noting Russia and China’s participation in the unanimous vote, Rex Tillerson told journalists it was clear there was now “no daylight among the international community” on their desire for North Korea to stop its tests.
“The best signal that North Korea can give us [is] that they are prepared to talk would be to stop these missile launches,” he added.
Russia and China have previously differed with others on how to handle Pyongyang, but in recent months have joined calls for North Korea to stop its missile tests – while also urging the US and South Korea to halt military drills, and withdraw an anti-missile system from the South.
Venezuela’s chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz says she was dismissed by the new constituent assembly because the government wanted to stop her investigations into alleged corruption and human rights abuses.
Luisa Ortega, a supporter turned critic of President Nicolás Maduro, has rejected her dismissal.
She will face trial for “serious misconduct”, the Supreme Court says.
Meanwhile, one of the opposition leaders, Leopoldo Lopez, has been returned from jail to house arrest.
Leopoldo López was taken from his home on August 1 and spent four days in a military jail.
South American regional bloc Mercosur has suspended Venezuela “indefinitely”, having previously placed it under a temporary ban. It says the country will not be re-admitted until the constituent assembly is scrapped and all political prisoners are released.
Another opponent of the government, Antonio Ledezma, is also back under house arrest after three days in jail last week.
Antinio Ledezma and Leopoldo Lopez had encouraged protests against the constituent assembly, which is dominated by government supporters.
In its first session on August 5, the assembly unanimously voted to remove Luisa Ortega from her post.
She was prevented from entering her office in Caracas by dozens of National Guard officers in riot gear, and left on a motorbike amid chaotic scenes.
In a statement released by the public prosecutor’s office, Luisa Ortega said President Maduro’s government was leading a “coup against the constitution”.
“I do not recognize the decision,” she said of her dismissal.
“[This is] just a tiny example of what’s coming for everyone that dares to oppose this totalitarian form of ruling.”
Venezuela’s Supreme Court, loyal to Nicolas Maduro, did not give details of the accusations against Luisa Ortega.
Luisa Ortega, who broke ranks with the government in March, had opposed the assembly’s inauguration on August 4, citing allegations of voting fraud.
Tarek William Saab, a supporter of President Nicolas Maduro, has been sworn in as her replacement.
Luisa Ortega’s removal was widely expected but the fact that it was decided on the first working day of the assembly suggested that the new body could take aggressive measures against President Maduro’s critics, correspondents say.
Mexico, Peru and Colombia have condemned Luisa Ortega’s dismissal.
President Maduro says the constituent assembly is needed to bring peace after months of protests sparked by severe economic hardship.
However, the opposition says it is a way for the president to cling to power.
The constituent assembly has the ability to rewrite the constitution, and could override the opposition-controlled parliament, the National Assembly.
Julio Borges, speaker of the National Assembly, said Luisa Ortega’s removal was illegal and showed that the country’s institutions had been “taken hostage by only one hand, only one political party” through “an undemocratic mechanism that is utterly dictatorial.”
Despite being oil-rich, Venezuela is experiencing severe shortages of food and medicines, as well as inflation in excess of 700%. Violent demonstrations since April have left more than 100 people dead.
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli has been found guilty of three counts of securities fraud.
A New York City jury cleared Martin Shkreli on five other counts after five days of deliberations.
Martin Shkreli, 34, was on trial in relation to a drug company he previously headed, Retrophin, and a hedge fund he managed.
He was branded “the most hated man in America” in 2015 when his company hiked the price of a medication used by AIDS patients.
Despite facing prison after being convicted of two counts of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, Martin Shkreli professed himself pleased with the outcome.
Standing outside the court in Brooklyn, he said: “This was a witch hunt of epic proportions.
“And maybe they found one or two broomsticks but at the end of the day we’ve been acquitted of the most important charges in this case and I’m delighted to report that.”
Martin Shkreli, who attracted the nickname “Pharma Bro” and accusations of price gouging, is on trial in the US this week.
However, his case has little to do with the actions that won him notoriety.
Prosecutors allege Martin Shkreli committed fraud. They say he lied to investors and misused money to cover losses at different companies.
However, the much-hated drug price rise Martin Shkreli enacted as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals was legal – and looks likely to remain that way, despite a push in the US for sweeping healthcare changes.
Martin Shkreli became a symbol of pharmaceutical greed in 2015 when his company raised the price of Daraprim, a treatment for parasite infection that had been around for more than 60 years, from $13.50 a tablet to $750.
The move drew widespread criticism, including from President Donald Trump, who called Martin Shkreli “a spoiled brat” and said the industry was “getting away with murder”.
President Trump later told Congress that a goal guiding healthcare reform should be changes to bring down the “artificially high” cost of drugs.
Alarmed at the mounting pressure, several major drug companies earlier this year pledged to limit price increases to less than 10%.
However, healthcare shares rallied last week, as Senate and White House proposals for healthcare and prescription drugs came into focus without signs of a crackdown.
Those watching the political debates unfolding in Washington say they do not expect changes to address prescription drug costs this year.
“I don’t expect any dramatic action in the near term,” said John Rother, chief executive of the National Coalition on Health Care, which started a campaign against rising prescription drug prices two and a half years ago.
Turing’s pricing moves were extreme – but they were not isolated.
While overall generic drug prices declined between 2010 and 2015, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of prices paid through the US’s Medicare government program – the cost of over 300 established generic drugs saw prices rises of 100% or more.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), net spending on prescription drugs increased nearly 20% in the US between 2013 and 2015.
Elsewhere, in Britain, Australia, France and Germany, the government regulates prices.
However, in the US, where pharmaceutical companies are a powerful political force, companies set the cost, which subsequently gets renegotiated with insurers, suppliers and hospitals.
The US has issued the first written notification that it intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
However, in the notice to the UN, the US State Department said Washington would remain in the talks process.
President Donald Trump drew international condemnation in June when he first announced the US intention to withdraw.
Donald Trump said the deal “punished” the US and would cost millions of American jobs.
August 4 announcement is seen as largely symbolic as no nation seeking to leave the pact can officially announce an intention to withdraw until November 4, 2019.
The process of leaving then takes another year, meaning it would not be complete until just weeks after the US presidential election in 2020.
Any new US president could then decide to rejoin the agreement.
Image source Wikipedia
The US statement read: “Today, the United States submitted a communication to the United Nations in its capacity as depositary for the Paris Agreement regarding the US intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement as soon as it is eligible to do so.
“The United States will continue to participate in international climate change negotiations and meetings… to protect US interests and ensure all future policy options remain open to the administration.”
Two months ago, President Trump indicated he was open to another climate deal “on terms that are fair to the United States”.
However, key signatories to the accord quickly ruled that out. The Paris Agreement took decades to finalize.
The US stance on climate change also caused divisions at the G20 summit in Germany in July.
A joint summit statement said it “took note of the decision of the United States of America to withdraw from the Paris Agreement”.
However, leaders of the other G20 members agreed the accord was “irreversible”.
Climate change, or global warming, refers to the damaging effect of gases, or emissions, released from industry, transportation, agriculture and other areas into the atmosphere.
The Paris Agreement aims to limit the global rise in temperature attributed to emissions. Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up.
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies says the world’s average temperature has risen by about 0.8C since 1880, two-thirds of that since 1975.
US think tank Climate Interactive predicts that if all nations fully achieve their Paris pledges, the average global surface temperature rise by 2100 will be 3.3C, or 3.6C without the US.
The Statue of Liberty was caught in an exchange between White House adviser Stephen Miller and a CNN reporter after President Donald Trump backed an immigration policy favoring the better-educated.
“The Statue of Liberty says, <Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free>,” CNN’s Jim Acosta told Stephen Miller.
“It doesn’t say anything about speaking English,” Jim Acosta added.
Stephen Miller said the poem on the iconic American statue was “added later”.
The immigration overhaul, backed by President Trump on August 2, would curb the number of permanent, legal migrants allowed in the US each year and prioritize those who can speak English or are highly skilled.
President Trump’s senior policy adviser at the White House, Stephen Miller, said at a press briefing that the policy was “compassionate”.
The question-and-answer session turned into a fiery row as Stephen Miller and Jim Acosta clashed on the issue.
They verbally sparred over the Statue of Liberty as a symbol of freedom and what it represents in relation to US immigration policy.
In response to Jim Acosta’s point about the famous poem, Stephen Miller countered by saying that it was “not actually part of the original Statue of Liberty”.
“The poem that you’re referring to was added later,” he told Jim Acosta.
However, Jim Acosta, visibly unsatisfied with this response, used the daily briefing to accuse the Trump administration of “trying to engineer the racial and ethnic flow and people into this country”.
Stephen Miller said the accusation was “outrageous”, describing the policy as “pro-American immigration reform” that enjoyed “immense” support among the public.
“Jim, that is one of the most outrageous, insulting, ignorant and foolish things you have ever said,” Stephen Miller said.
“The notion that you think this is a racist bill is so wrong and so insulting.”
Stephen Miller said the bill, which also proposes to limit family-based migration to spouses and children, was a step towards realizing the administration’s plan to introduce an Australian-style, points-based immigration system.
The bill still has a long way to go before becoming law and would be likely to face resistance in Congress from members of both parties.
It is not the first time that CNN’s Jim Acosta has raised hackles at the White House. In January he was warned by then incoming press secretary Sean Spicer that he would be banned from future press conferences if he continued to “argue” with President Trump.
President Donald Trump has warned that the US holds Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “personally responsible” for the safety of the seized opposition leaders Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma.
In a statement, President Trump also called for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.
Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma, who had been under house arrest, were taken to a military prison on August 1.
This came after July 30 controversial vote for a constitutional assembly.
At least 10 people were killed, as the opposition boycotted the election.
President Nicolas Maduro said the poll was a “vote for the revolution”, arguing that the move would create peace and foster dialogue by bringing together different sectors of Venezuela’s polarized society.
The opposition said on August 1 that it had decided to hold a demonstration against the new assembly on August 3.
Opposition lawmaker Freddy Guevara tweeted the rally would be held on “the day the dictatorship plans to install the fraudulent assembly”.
It had originally been thought that the government would open the constituent assembly on Wednesday, thereby evicting the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
In his statement, President Trump said the US condemned the actions of the “Maduro dictatorship”.
Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma were “political prisoners being held illegally by the regime”, he added.
“The United States holds Maduro – who publicly announced just hours earlier that he would move against his political opposition – personally responsible for the health and safety of Mr. López, Mr. Ledezma and any others seized.”
Earlier, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson described the re-arrest of Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma as “very alarming”.
“The situation from a humanitarian standpoint is already becoming dire,” he said.
“We are evaluating all of our policy options as to what can we do to create a change of conditions, where either Maduro decides he doesn’t have a future and wants to leave of his own accord, or we can return the government processes back to their constitution.”
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced on July 31 that the US had imposed sanctions on President Maduro.
Leopoldo López was taken from his home at 12:27 local time on August 1, his wife, Lilian Tintori, wrote on Twitter.
A video posted showed Leopoldo López being taken away by members of the Venezuelan intelligence service, Sebin.
The daughter of Antonio Ledezma, Vanessa Ledezma, also posted a video of her father, wearing pajamas, being taken away by the Sebin.
Both Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma were key figures in the wave of protests which swept through Venezuela in 2014 in which 43 people from both sides of the political divide were killed.
They have played a less prominent role in the most recent protests because they have been under house arrest but their video messages still get reported and shared widely on opposition websites.
Venezuelan opposition leaders Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma have been re-arrested in a move condemned internationally.
Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma were under house arrest after accusations of inciting violence during anti-government protests in 2014.
They have been taken to Ramo Verde military jail, family members say.
The Supreme Court, which critics say is dominated by government loyalists, said it had received intelligence reports alleging the two were trying to flee.
The court also said that it had revoked Antonio Ledezma’s and Leopoldo López’s house arrest because they had made political statements.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said he was “deeply concerned” that the pair had been taken back into custody.
The move comes just two days after a controversial vote for a constitutional assembly saw violence on the streets, with at least 10 people killed.
President Nicolás Maduro convened the assembly to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution amid spiraling anti-government protests on May 1.
He argued that the move would create peace and foster dialogue by bringing together different sectors of Venezuela’s polarized society.
However, the opposition accused the president of trying to rewrite the constitution in order to maximize his power and sideline the opposition-controlled legislature.
They boycotted the vote and called on Venezuelans to take to the streets in protest. The election was condemned by Latin American leaders, the EU and the US.
The day of the election was the deadliest so far since the current wave of protest began.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced on July 31 that the US had imposed sanctions on President Nicolas Maduro and called him a “dictator who disregards the will of the Venezuelan people”.
Leopoldo López was taken from his home at 12:27 local time on August 1, his wife, Lilian Tintori, wrote on Twitter.
A video posted showed Leopoldo López being taken away by members of the Venezuelan intelligence service, Sebin.
Lilian Tintori wrote that she would hold President Nicolás Maduro responsible if something were to happen to her husband.
The daughter of Antonio Ledezma, Vanessa Ledezma, also posted a video of her father, wearing pyjamas, being taken away by the Sebin.
A woman can be heard shouting: “They’re taking Ledezma, they’re taking Ledezma, dictatorship!”
The EU criticized the detentions as a step in the wrong direction and Chile’s foreign minister said they “sent an abysmal signal”.
The US also condemned the arrests. Republican Senator Marco Rubio noted that VP Mike Pence has spoken to Leopoldo López on July 28, and characterized the arrests as a response to the sanctions placed on President Maduro.
Both Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo López were key figures in the wave of protests which swept through Venezuela in 2014 in which 43 people from both sides of the political divide were killed.
Leopoldo López and Antonio Ledezma have played a less prominent role in the most recent protests because they have been under house arrest but their video messages still get reported and shared widely on opposition websites.
His spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said the president thought Anthony Scaramucci’s comments to the reporter “were inappropriate for a person in that position”.
Anthony Scaramucci has not been moved to another White House role, she added.
President Trump had tweeted in the morning about job and wage figures, and insisted there is “No WH chaos”, referring to reports about fighting among White House staff.
Anthony Scaramucci, The Mooch, as he is widely known, had boasted of reporting directly to the president, rather than to his chief of staff.
Gen. John Kelly, who had formerly served as secretary of homeland security, was sworn in on July 31at the White House.
The resignation of Reince Priebus came on July 28 after Anthony Scaramucci posted and then deleted a tweet which many interpreted as an accusation and a threat against Priebus.
Anthony Scaramucci also called a reporter to attack Reince Priebus as a “paranoid schizophrenic” and accuse him of leaking information to the media.
During the on-the-record phone call, he also made vulgar statements about chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Anthony Scaramucci also pledged to fire every member of the communications team, as part of his crusade against “leakers”.
According to Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), the turnout in the controversial election for a constituent assembly was 41.5%, a figure disputed by the opposition.
The opposition coalition said 88% of voters abstained and it refused to recognize the election. It also called for more protests on July 31.
July 30 election was marred by violence, with widespread protests and at least 10 people killed.
President Nicolás Maduro hailed the poll as a “vote for the revolution”.
Venezuelans were asked to choose the more than 500 representatives who will make up a constituent assembly.
The constituent assembly was convened by Nicolas Maduro to rewrite the existing constitution, which was drafted and passed in 1999 when his mentor, President Hugo Chávez, was in office.
On July 31, the head of the CNE, Tibisay Lucena, announced that there had been an “extraordinary turnout” of more than eight million voters.
She also announced that President Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, was among those elected as representatives, as well as the president’s close allies Diosdado Cabello, Iris Varela and Delcy Rodríguez.
Image source Wikipedia
The announcement was met with outrage and derision by the opposition, who boycotted the vote.
Opposition politician Henry Ramos Allup said their figures suggested fewer than 2.5 million Venezuelans had turned out to vote.
With the opposition boycotting the election from the start and not fielding any candidates, it was always less about who would be elected and more about how many Venezuelans would take part in the voting.
The opposition held an unofficial referendum two weeks before the election asking Venezuelans whether they wanted a constituent assembly at all. According to opposition figures, more than seven million Venezuelans rejected the constituent assembly in that vote.
The opposition urged Venezuelans to stay at home and even some Chavistas (supporters of the socialist movement created by President Hugo Chávez and of which Nicolas Maduro is a part) said they objected to the constituent assembly and would not vote.
There were widespread reports of public sector workers being told by their bosses to go and vote or face being sacked.
How many people turned out was therefore seen as a key indicator of support for the government.
The opposition claims that the figures are unverifiable because a number of procedures which have been in place at previous elections were not followed.
For example, voters’ little fingers were not marked with indelible ink to prevent them from trying to vote multiple times.
There were also no independent observers.
However, Tibisay Lucena said voting had proceeded “normally” and that violent outbreaks at a small number of polling stations had been controlled.
Nicolas Maduro convened the constituent assembly on 1 May amid fierce anti-government protests.
The president argued the constituent assembly would promote “reconciliation and peace”, however he did not give details of exactly how rewriting the constitution would achieve such broad aims.
Government critics fear that President Maduro wants to use the constituent assembly to maximize his power and cling on to it for longer.
As the constituent assembly will be drawing up a new constitution it has the potential to fundamentally change how Venezuela is run.
The last time a constituent assembly met in 1999, the legislature was suspended while the constitution was debated.
The opposition has called for fresh protests on July 31.
On July 30, at least 10 people were killed in protests across the country, prompting opposition leader Henrique Capriles to speak of a “massacre”.
Despite a government ban on protests and the threat of jail terms of up to 10 years for anyone disrupting the electoral process, streets were barricaded and a number of polling stations attacked ahead of the vote.
Tensions are likely to increase further on July 31 and ahead of the swearing-in of the constituent assembly members on August 2.
A candidate in Venezuela’s assembly elections and an opposition activist have been killed on July 30.
The killings took place before voting started to elect a new assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution.
The opposition says it is a power grab by President Nicolás Maduro and is boycotting the vote.
Venezeula’s government says the constituent assembly is the only way to bring peace back to the country after months of violent protests.
José Felix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer running in the election, was shot in his home on the night before the election day, a senior Venezuelan minister said.
Ricardo Campos, a youth secretary with the opposition Acción Democrática party, was shot dead during a protest, the head of the national assembly said.
A soldier in the National Guard was also killed in protests in the western town of La Grita, officials and media reports said.
The El Nacional newspaper said 13 people had been killed across Venezuela in the past 24 hours.
Protests have continued in defiance of a ban on them taking place. An explosion near one demonstration in Caracas injured several police officers and set a number of their motorbikes on fire.
The security forces have used armored vehicles to dispel protesters in the Caracas district of El Paraíso amid the sound of gunfire, AFP says, citing local reports.
President Maduro cast his own ballot shortly after polling stations opened at 06:00.
In a TV speech, the president predicted a “big victory”, calling the vote “the most important election held in Venezuela’s political system”.
However, electoral council chief Tibisay Lucena acknowledged that some voting machines had been attacked and burned in parts of Venezuela.
Four months of protests against President Maduro and his plans for the assembly have left more than 100 people dead.
The election has been heavily criticized by other Latin American countries as well as the EU and the US, which last week imposed new sanctions on members of President Maduro’s government.
Venezuela, a major oil producer, is gripped by a political crisis, with soaring inflation and daily food shortages.
Many residents in Caracas were stocking up on essential items on July 29 in case unrest left shops closed into July 31, correspondents said.
President Donald Trump has announced that the government will not accept or allow transgender people to serve in the US military.
The White House has not yet decided how it will implement the ban.
President Trump’s surprise Twitter announcement on July 26 has been met with criticism from rights groups.
Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the administration would work alongside the Pentagon to decide how to proceed.
It is not yet clear how the announcement will affect current transgender service personnel.
“The United States government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military,” President Trump tweeted.
“Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail.”
Asked at a press briefing if troops on battlefields would be immediately sent back, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the policy had yet to be worked out.
She said: “The decision is based on a military decision. It’s not meant to be anything more than that.”
However, some media outlets questioned the spending justification. The Washington Post drew attention to an analysis that the US military spends almost $42 million a year on the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra – several times the total estimated cost of transgender medical support.
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the move was prompted by threats from Republican hardliners over a spending bill which would provide funding for President Trump’s promised military spending and border wall plans.
One Republican lawmaker had already tabled an amendment to the spending bill to prevent the military paying for transgender surgical procedures.
The decision to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military was made by the Obama administration in 2016, with a one-year review period allowed for its implementation.
The policy included a provision for the military to provide medical help for service members wanting to change gender.
However, last month, Defense Secretary James Mattis agreed to a further six-month delay.
In 2016, the independent Rand Corporation estimated that about 4,000 US active-duty and reserve service members are transgender, although some campaigners put the figure higher than 10,000.
Rand Corporation also predicted that the inclusion of transgender people in the military would lead to a 0.13% increase in healthcare spending (approximately $8.4 million).
President Trump said his decision was based on consultation with his generals, but there has been a mixed reaction.
The House has voted to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, despite President Donald Trump objecting to the legislation.
Senior Russian officials will be targeted in retaliation for alleged Moscow interference in the US 2016 election.
The bill is likely to complicate President Trump’s hopes of improving relations with Russia.
Russia said the vote could destroy the possibility of “normalizing relations” between the two countries.
The bill needs to be passed through the Senate before it can be sent on to President Trump to be signed.
The White House says it is reviewing the bill, and it is unclear whether President Trump will veto it.
“While the president supports tough sanctions on North Korea, Iran and Russia, the White House is reviewing the House legislation and awaits a final legislative package for the president’s desk,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Russia’s relationship with President Trump has dogged his first six months in office, amid allegations Moscow interfered to help him get elected.
Donald Trump has also piled pressure on his attorney general over the Russia inquiry. He has publicly labeled Jeff Sessions “weak” and said he was “disappointed” in Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the investigation.
Image NBC News
The legislation, which passed by 419 to three, was described by House Speaker Paul Ryan as a sanctions package that “tightens the screws on our most dangerous adversaries in order to keep Americans safe”.
The sanctions on Russia were drawn up in part to further punish its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. If passed, they would:
Penalize companies, including those in Europe, that contribute to Russian energy development, affecting companies involved the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany;
Shorten the duration of loans to Russian banks and Russian oil and gas companies;
Freeze assets of state-owned mining and railway companies;
Codify existing sanctions to make them more difficult to lift in the future;
Stop President Donald Trump being able to singlehandedly ease the sanctions.
The US already has a range of sanctions in place against Russian individuals and companies over Crimea.
The bill will also see fresh sanctions against North Korea and Iran over ballistic missile tests.
However, the new measures against Russia have been criticized in Europe. On July 26, a spokesman for the Germany foreign ministry expressed concern, saying US politicians were conducting industrial policy under the guise of sanctions, according to Reuters.
This version of the legislation still needs to be approved by the Senate, but it is not yet clear when it will consider the bill.
However, if it passes through the Senate mostly intact, the bill would provide a headache for President Trump, who has signaled a more conciliatory approach towards Moscow.
If the two chambers pass similar but slightly different bills, a committee will draw up a compromise version for approval.
Once both House and Senate have approved a bill, it goes to the president to be signed into law.
President Trump could veto the bill, but in doing so would fuel suspicion that he is too supportive of the Kremlin, correspondents say.
The bill has widespread support from both major parties in both Houses – making a veto a potentially unpopular political move.
Additionally, a presidential veto can be ignored if two thirds of both the House and Senate vote to override the president.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Trump is “going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like.”
The Kremlin continues to insist it did not interfere in the US elections. One Russian newspaper has described the latest sanctions as “punishment, without a crime”.
In a major step forward for President Donald Trump’s attempts to repeal ObamaCare, the Senate has voted to start debating a new Republican healthcare bill.
In a tight vote, several Republicans previously opposed to aspects of the plan changed their minds.
Prior attempts to replace ObamaCare have collapsed in recent weeks due to divisions in the GOP.
President Donald Trump had made scrapping the policy a key campaign pledge.
On July 25, the Senate began the debate-and-vote process which is expected to last a number of days. Nine Republicans voted against the first amendment – to repeal and replace ObamaCare – and it failed to pass.
Earlier, President Trump had warned GOP’s senators of the repercussions of not pushing through the measures to repeal and replace ObamaCare, known formally as the Affordable Care Act.
The GOP, which needed a majority for the motion to go ahead, secured 51 votes after Vice-President Mike Pence cast a tie-breaker in support of the legislation.
Senator John McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor, received a standing ovation as he returned to Congress to cast his “Yes” vote.
Donald Trump tweeted his thanks to the Arizona senator for playing “such a vital role” in the vote: “Congrats to all Rep. We can now deliver grt [great] healthcare to all Americans.”
It remains unclear what measure senators will now debate and vote on.
There appear to be two choices – either a repeal-and-replace bill that has already struggled to win support across the party, or a bill that enacts repeal with a two-year delay, in the hope of finding agreement before that time elapses.
However, senators have also considered a “skinny bill”, a far narrower measure that would scale back some of the more controversial elements in an effort to get a wider consensus.
Republicans have long railed against ObamaCare as government overreach, criticizing the system for introducing government-run marketplaces, where premiums have risen sharply for some people.
The GOP’s proposed alternative includes steep cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare program for the poor and disabled.
It removes ObamaCare’s individual mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.
About 20 million people gained health insurance under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
If Republican senators elect to repeal key provisions of ObamaCare without immediately replacing it, the CBO estimates about 32 million consumers would lose insurance over the next 10 years.
In a rare healthcare speech, President Donald Trump has issued a challenge to Republican senators to rally behind their bill, on the eve of a crucial vote.
“Now is the time for action,” he said.
A procedural vote is due on July 25 as Republicans push forward in their attempt to repeal ObamaCare, President Barack Obama’s signature law.
However, among Republicans there is confusion about the bill and it is unclear whether the healthcare will pass.
Senator Ron Johnson told reporters: “I don’t have a clue what we’re going to be voting on.”
Senators will vote on a procedural motion to start debate on a health care bill.
Republicans have a majority in the Senate but there are deep divisions in their party on the issue.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor: “Many of us have waited literally years for this moment to arrive and, at long last, it finally has.”
However, several senators have expressed unhappiness over the process, because it is not clear what they will vote on if the procedure vote passes.
There appear to be two choices – either a repeal-and-replace bill that has already struggled to win support across the party, or a bill that enacts repeal with a two-year delay, in the hope of finding agreement before that time elapses.
Image source Flickr
Senator John McCain, recently diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor, will return to Congress to cast his vote.
President Trump increased the pressure on his party by warning them they had a duty to adhere to seven years of promises.
In a White House speech laced with frustration, he said: “To every member of the Senate I say this: The American people have waited long enough.
“There’s been enough talk, and no action. Now is the time for action.”
The president lambasted his predecessor’s overhaul of healthcare and stood alongside people he said were “victims” of the 2010 law.
ObamaCare extended healthcare insurance to about 20 million people but Republicans hate the way it introduced government-run marketplaces, where premiums have risen sharply for some people.
The GOP’s proposed alternative includes steep cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare program for the poor and disabled.
It removes ObamaCare’s individual mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty.
The non-partisan Congressional Budgetary Office (CBO) found the bill would strip 22 million Americans of health insurance over the next decade.
However, if the bill gets to the floor of the Senate, amendments could be added to change the various provisions.
A Republican politician has blamed “female senators” for the spluttering efforts by his party to pass a healthcare bill.
Blake Farenthold, a congressman from Texas, told a local radio station if a man from his state was responsible, he would challenge him to a duel.
“Some of the people that are opposed to this, they’re some female senators from the North East.”
If it was “a guy from south Texas” who was generating so much discord in the party, he said, he would ask them to settle their differences in a gun fight.
Susan Collins of Maine was one of three female Republicans who said they could not back the Senate’s last healthcare plan, a repeal with two-year delay, which hit the buffers last week.
She has been strongly opposed to the Republican bill from the start over the cuts to Medicaid.
Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia also came out against the bill, expressing concerns over plans to weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions and affordability.
There was an outcry when Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell drafted the first healthcare bill in private among a group of 13 that did not include any women.
Seventeen employees of Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet are about to go on trial on charges of aiding a terrorist organization.
If found guilty, their sentence could be up to 43 years in jail.
A dozen of Cumhuriyet‘s journalists and managers are behind bars in pre-trial detention. Ten of them have been imprisoned for almost nine months.
On July 15, Turkey marked the first anniversary of a failed coup. There were massive commemorations held by thousands of jubilant people, hailing the day as the triumph of democracy.
However, critics argue that day – and the introduction of the state of emergency soon after – were actually the beginning of a massive crackdown, with more than 50,000 people arrested in the last year.
Image source Wikimedia
Press freedom groups say Turkish media has been particularly hard hit during this period, as about 150 media outlets have been shut down.
Turkey is currently listed as the country with the biggest number of imprisoned journalists. Journalism organizations say more than 150 journalists are behind bars, most of them accused of terror charges.
Can Dundar, the previous editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, is the number one suspect in the case starting on July 24.
He was give a three-month jail term last year for espionage in another case but was released on bail. He now lives in exile in Germany.
He too gives the figure of imprisoned journalists as more than 150.
In the indictment against Cumhuriyet, there are accusations such as “changing the paper’s editorial policy”, preparing “violent and divisive news” and “interviewing leaders of terrorist organizations”.
“This is an oddity, it is absurd,” says defense lawyer Adil Demirci.
“This is obviously a political case. They are targeting Cumhuriyet because it is an opposition paper.”
The head of media organization PEN Turkey, Zeynep Oral, believes the state of press freedom in the country is the worst it has been for decades.
“You never know what will happen tomorrow,” she says.
“Anybody can put anybody into jail these days. But even if a single journalist is behind bars for no reason, no-one will ever be free in this country.”
Journalists and press freedom activists all over the world will be watching the Cumhuriyet trial very closely. The hearings are expected to last all week.
Amid reports President Donald Trump is considering presidential pardons for family members, aides and even himself, he has insisted he has the “complete power” to pardon people.
Democratic Party spokesman Mark Warner has called the reports “extremely disturbing”.
The US authorities are probing possible collusion between the Trump team and Russia. Intelligence agencies think Russia tried to help Donald Trump to power.
Moscow denies this, and President Trump says there was no collusion.
The Washington Post reported on July 20 that Donald Trump and his team were looking at ways to pardon people close to him.
Presidents can pardon people before guilt is established or even before the person is charged with a crime.
Describing the reports as disturbing, Senator Mark Warner, who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said “pardoning any individuals who may have been involved would be crossing a fundamental line”.
Image source Wikipedia
On July 22, President Trump tweeted: “While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us. FAKE NEWS.”
Donald Trump also attacked “illegal leaks” following reports his attorney general discussed campaign-related matters with a Russian envoy.
The Washington Post gave an account of meetings Attorney General Jeff Sessions held with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak. The newspaper quoted current and former US officials who cited intelligence intercepts of Sergey Kislyak’s version of the encounter to his superiors.
One of those quoted said Ambassador Kislyak spoke to Jeff Sessions about key campaign issues, including Donald Trump’s positions on policies significant to Russia.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Jeff Sessions said he had no contact with Russians during the election campaign. When it later emerged he had, he said the campaign was not discussed at the meetings.
An official confirmed to Reuters the detail of the intercepts, but there has been no independent corroboration.
The officials spoken to by the Post said that Sergey Kislyak could have exaggerated the account, and cited a Justice Department spokesperson who repeated that Jeff Sessions did not discuss interference in the election.
However, the Post‘s story was the focus of one of many tweets President Trump fired off on July 22.
“A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions. These illegal leaks, like Comey’s, must stop!” the president said.
The Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who has been an occasional sparring partner for Donald Trump. “Comey” refers to James Comey, the former FBI director President Trump fired.
Earlier this week, President Trump told the New York Times he regretted hiring Jeff Sessions because he had stepped away from overseeing an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
Jeff Sessions recused himself in March amid pressure over his meetings with Sergey Kislyak. He says he plans to continue in his role as attorney general.
Several other regular targets for Donald Trump featured in his series of tweets.
The president accused the “failing” New York Times of foiling an attempt to assassinate ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
It is not clear what President Trump was referring to, but on July 22 a US general complained on Fox News that a “good lead” on Anu Nakr al-Baghdadi was leaked to a national newspaper in 2015.
A New York Times report at the time revealed that valuable information had been extracted from a raid, but the paper stressed on July 22 that no-one had taken issue with their reporting until now.
Donald Trump again urged Republicans to “step up to the plate” and repeal and replace President Obama’s healthcare reforms, a key campaign pledge of his that has collapsed in Congress.
Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer wants to minimize talk of divisions within the Trump administration after announcing his resignation.
Sean Spicer is reportedly stepping down because he is unhappy with President Donald Trump’s appointment of a new communications director.
However, he told Fox News he had “no regrets” about his six-month stint.
Wall Street financier Anthony Scaramucci has been picked for the role that Sean Spicer had partially filled.
The shake-up at the White House comes amid several investigations into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s presidential election and whether Donald Trump’s campaign team colluded with Moscow.
“The president obviously wanted to add to the team, more than anything,” Sean Spicer told interviewer Sean Hannity.
“I just thought it was in the best interest of our communications department, of our press organization, to not have too many cooks in the kitchen.
“Without me in the way, they have a fresh start, so that I’m not lurking over them.”
Sean Spicer, 45, defended President Trump’s agenda, saying it was an honor and a privilege to serve him, and hit out at what he termed “media bias”.
He said: “I was increasingly disappointed about the way the media here do their job – or don’t do their job.”
Sean Spicer also said he had told President Trump he “would stay on for a few weeks to achieve a smooth transition”, and was looking forward to spending more time with his family.
Meanwhile, President Trump wrote on Twitter: “Sean Spicer is a wonderful person who took tremendous abuse from the Fake News Media – but his future is bright!”
The New York Times reported that Sean Spicer had “vehemently” disagreed with the appointment of Anthony Scaramucci, which he believed to be a “major mistake”.
Sean Spicer’s often chaotic press briefings over the past six months were a cable news hit, but in recent weeks he had withdrawn from appearances in front of the camera.
In an assured debut, Sean Spicer attended Friday afternoon’s news conference to announce that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, formerly his deputy, would step into his shoes.
“I love the president and it’s an honor to be here,” Anthony Scaramucci said, adding: “He is genuinely a wonderful human being.”
Anthony Scaramucci, who has no previous experience in communications roles, paid tribute to Sean Spicer as “a true American patriot” and “incredibly gracious”.
“I hope he goes on to make a tremendous amount of money,” he added.
Anthony Scaramucci also apologized and said he had been “unexperienced” as he explained his previous criticism of Donald Trump.
In an August 2015 interview with Fox Business, Anthony Scaramucci dismissed Donald Trump as a “hack” and “an inherited money dude” with “a big mouth”.
Anthony Scaramucci is currently senior vice-president of the Export-Import Bank, a government agency which guarantees loans for foreign buyers of American exports.
Venezuela’s National Assembly has appointed 33 judges to the Supreme Court, prompting accusations of an attempted power grab.
The assembly, which is controlled by the opposition, says it has the right to name and fire justices under Venezuela’s constitution.
However, the Supreme Court, which is largely made up of pro-government members, has described the move as illegal.
The opposition is stepping up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro to call early elections.
President Maduro has refused and is instead going ahead with plans to form a constituent assembly which would have the power to rewrite the constitution and bypass the National Assembly.
The impasse has left the country in a political crisis and scores of people have died in months of anti-government protests.
Following the National Assembly’s announcement, the government said it would not allow serving judges to be unseated.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ordered “civil and military authorities” to carry out “coercive actions” in response to the appointments, but it is unclear what that will entail.
Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Unity coalition (MUD) has called for protest marches on July 22 from seven points in the capital Caracas to the Supreme Court headquarters.
The opposition says the current justices are illegitimate, having been rushed into their positions shortly before the governing party lost its majority in 2015.
Since the opposition took over the National Assembly last year the court has consistently blocked all bills passed by Congress.
The opposition announced last week that it would appoint new judges and that it would also take the first steps to set up a national unity government. Analysts say such proposals raise the possibility of a parallel state structure.
On July 20, millions of Venezuelans joined a general strike called by the opposition.
At least three people were killed in clashes between police and protesters and there were more than 300 arrests.
Protesters barricaded roads in Caracas and other cities with rubbish and furniture.
The opposition said that 85% of the country joined the strike but President Maduro said its effect was minimal and that its leaders would be arrested.
Meanwhile, Colombia, France, Spain, the US and the EU have urged the Venezuelan government to cancel the vote for a new constituent assembly on July 30.
However, President Nicolas Maduro has rejected the calls.
The two deceased have not been named but police said that both victims were tourists – a 22-year-old from Sweden and a 39-year-old from Turkey.
They died after they were crushed by debris from either a collapsed wall or an old building, police said.
Dozens more were injured when buildings collapsed, some of them suffering broken bones with a number in serious condition, Kos regional government official Giorgos Halkidios said.
The Greek army is supporting the emergency services with the rescue operation, he added.
Image source Wikimedia
Kos was nearest to the epicenter of the quake and appeared to be the worst hit, with damage caused to a number of older buildings, including cracked walls and smashed windows.
The mayor said the buildings that suffered the most damage were built before “earthquake building codes” were introduced.
“The rest of the island has no problem. It’s only the main town that has a problem,” Mayor Giorgos Kyritsis said.
The roof of a bar on the island also collapsed, and a ferry was unable to dock due to damage at the harbor, Greek police said.
Tourists later gathered outside terminal buildings at Kos airport having left their hotels and apartments.
In Turkey, pictures shared on social media showed people in the city of Bodrum walking with water lapping their ankles and localized flooding, and about 80 people sought hospital treatment for minor injuries.
Others described waking in the night after being violently shaken in their beds.
Residents fled their homes and tourists ran from holiday apartments with pillows and blankets. Some sustained injuries after jumping from windows in panic, Turkish broadcaster NTV said.
At a hospital in Bodrum, the wounded were being treated in the garden as a precaution after the quake caused slight damage to parts of the hospital ceiling, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
The earthquake also triggered high waves off Gumbet, a resort town near Bodrum, which flooded roads and left parked cars stranded, Turkish media report. There were no reports of casualties.
Turkey and Greece sit on significant fault lines and are regularly hit by earthquakes.
One of the deadliest in recent years hit the heavily populated northwest of Turkey, in 1999, killing some 17,000 people.
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services John McCain has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is reviewing treatment options, his office said.
According to the veteran Republican’s doctors, the options may include chemotherapy and radiation.
John McCain, 80, is in “good spirits” recovering at home.
The brain tumor was discovered during a surgery to remove a blood clot from above his left eye last week.
A Vietnam veteran, John McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war.
On July 14, the six-term senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate underwent surgery at a clinic in Phoenix, Arizona.
Image source Flickr
Tissue analysis revealed that a primary brain tumor known as glioblastoma was associated with the clot, a statement from the Mayo Clinic said.
“The senator’s doctors say he is recovering from his surgery <amazingly well> and his underlying health is excellent,” the statement added.
“Treatment options may include a combination of chemotherapy and radiation.”
Glioblastoma is a particularly aggressive brain tumor, and increases in frequency with age, affecting more men than women.
John McCain was in “good spirits as he continues to recover at home with his family”, his office said.
The senator’s family reacted with “shock” to the news, his 32-year-old daughter Meghan said.
She tweeted: “It won’t surprise you to learn that in all of this, the one of us who is most confident and calm is my father.
“So he is meeting this challenge as he has every other. Cancer may afflict him in many ways: but it will not make him surrender. Nothing ever has.”
President Trump said John McCain has “always been a fighter” and, in a statement, said: “Get well soon.”
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said John McCain was a “hero to our country”.
Former President Barack Obama said on Twitter: “John McCain is an American hero and one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.”
Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had another, previously undisclosed conversation at the G20 summit in Hamburg, the White House has confirmed.
The president and his Russian counterpart spoke towards the end of a formal dinner but the White House has not revealed what was discussed.
Donald Trump has condemned media revelations of the talks as “sick”.
The two leaders’ relationship is under scrutiny amid allegations of Russian interference in the US election.
US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to tip the election in Donald Trump’s favor, something denied by the Kremlin. Donald Trump has rejected allegations of any collusion.
The extra conversation happened during a private meal of heads of state at the G20 summit earlier in the month.
President Trump left his seat and headed to Vladimir Putin, who had been sitting next to Melania Trump, media said. The president was alone with Vladimir Putin, apart from the attendance of the Russian president’s official interpreter.
Donald Trump had been seated next to Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s wife, so the US interpreter at the dinner spoke Japanese, not Russian. No media were in attendance.
The length of the talks has been disputed.
Ian Bremmer, president of the US-based Eurasia Group, who first reported them in a newsletter to clients, said: “Donald Trump got up from the table and sat down with Putin for about an hour. It was very animated and very friendly.”
No-one else was nearby, so the topics of discussion were not known, he said.
Image NBC News
Ian Bremmer had not been at the dinner but said details were given to him by unnamed attendees who, he said, were “flummoxed, confused and startled” by the turn of events.
He told Bloomberg he had never before seen “two major countries with a constellation of national interests that are as dissident while the two leaders seem to be doing everything possible to make nice-nice and be close to each other”.
In a statement, a senior White House official said there was no “second meeting”, just a brief conversation after dinner.
The official said: “The insinuation that the White House has tried to <hide> a second meeting is false, malicious and absurd. It is not merely perfectly normal, it is part of a president’s duties, to interact with world leaders.”
National Security Council spokesman Michael Anton said it was not a meeting but a “pull aside”, adding: “A conversation over dessert should not be characterized as a meeting.”
President Trump later said on Twitter: “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is <sick>. All G20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!”
The dinner and its attendees have always been known. Only the Trump-Putin discussion had not been reported before.
At the earlier, formal meeting, their first face-to-face encounter, President Trump said he had repeatedly pressed President Putin about the allegations of interference in the US vote.
“I said, <Did you do it?> He said, <No, I did not, absolutely not>. I then asked him a second time, in a totally different way. He said, <Absolutely not>.”
There are congressional investigations, and one by a special counsel, into the allegations of Russian interference in the US election and possible collusion with the Trump team.
On July 18, the Senate intelligence committee said it wanted to interview Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr., and other members of the Trump team, over a meeting they had with a Russian lawyer in June 2016.
Donald Trump Jr. said he had attended the meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya as he was promised damaging material on Hillary Clinton, but it did not materialize.
On July 19, Natalia Veselnitskaya told Russia’s RT TV channel she would be willing to testify before the Senate on the matter.
Meanwhile, the White House said President Trump would nominate former Utah governor Jon Huntsman as ambassador to Russia, a key post for a president who promised to improve relations with Moscow.
Jon Huntsman, who served as ambassador to China and Singapore, needs to have his name confirmed by the Senate.
The suspicions over Russian interference are likely to play a significant factor in his confirmation process, correspondents say.
He said on July 18: “He is actively, actively trying to undermine the healthcare system in this country using millions of Americans as political pawns in a cynical game.”
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said the chamber would vote early next week on a motion for repealing ObamaCare only.
However, with at least three Republicans against the plan B, it is probably doomed, too.
Donald Trump backed the just-repeal-it plan on July 17 but changed his tune on the next day by proposing to simply let ObamaCare – which has failed to curb rising costs as insurance options dwindle – die on its own.
“As I have always said, let ObamaCare fail and then come together and do a great healthcare plan. Stay tuned!” the president tweeted.
Donald Trump has invited all Republican senators to discuss healthcare over lunch at the White House on July 19.
Without a replacement bill, analysts have estimated that millions of people would lose health insurance.
The GOP’s proposed alternative includes steep cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare program for the poor and disabled, removed the individual mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty and implemented a six-month lockout period for anyone who lets their health coverage lapse for more than two months.
The House of Representatives passed a similar version of the Senate bill, but slashed taxes on the wealthy used to pay for the health scheme. The Senate proposed a similar provision but was forced to ditch it amid opposition.
That task falls to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Mitch McConnell said: “Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of ObamaCare will not be successful.”
Republicans view the 2010 legislation as an overreach of the federal government and say patients have less choice and higher premiums.
The GOP’s proposed alternative had kept key ObamaCare taxes on the wealthy, while imposing sharp cuts to healthcare for the poor and allowing insurers to offer less coverage.
Two Republican senators, Mike Lee and Jerry Moran, said the new legislation did not go far enough in repealing ObamaCare.
Jerry Moran said “we should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy” while for Mike Lee, “in addition to not repealing all of the ObamaCare taxes [the bill] doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly ObamaCare regulations”.
Two senators – Rand Paul and Susan Collins – had already opposed the bill.
Rand Paul said the bill kept too much of the “ObamaCare taxes”, while Susan Collins expressed concerns about cuts to Medicaid.
With the two new opponents, Republicans – who hold 52 seats – no longer have enough votes to pass the bill in the 100-member Senate.
Moderate Republicans had also said the bill would have harmed some of their vulnerable constituents.
The non-partisan Congressional Budgetary Office (CBO) found the bill would have stripped 22 million Americans of health insurance over the next decade.
On top of that, polls had shown ObamaCare remained popular among Americans – a survey by the Washington Post and ABC News on July 17 found more than twice as many people preferred Barrack Obama’s program to the proposed alternative.
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