Tag Trump administration

WASHINGTON: US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Democrats would pass new legislation to try to reopen parts of the government next week after talks between the Trump administration and Democratic negotiators on Saturday failed to end a two-week partial government shutdown.

President Donald Trump is demanding $5.6 billion to build a wall along the US border with Mexico but Democrats in control of the House of Representatives this week passed a bill to reopen the government without providing additional funding for the wall.

Trump says he will not sign the bill until he gets the money for the wall.

After a meeting aimed at breaking the deadlock failed on Saturday, Pelosi said House Democrats would seek to reopen government agencies next week through piecemeal appropriation bills, starting with the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

“This action is necessary so that the American people can receive their tax refunds on schedule,” she said.

Vice President Mike Pence led the administration’s team in the meeting with Democratic negotiators on Saturday. He said it was “productive” but an aide said there was no in-depth discussion of a possible compromise level of funding for border security.

The two sides agreed to meet again on Sunday.
Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Senior White House Advisor Stephen Miller walk to the West Wing before a meeting with Congressional staffers about ending the partial government shutdown at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 5, 2019. Photo: Reuters

A Democratic aide familiar with the meeting said Democratic staffers urged the administration to reopen the government, arguing that progress on the contentious issue of border security would be difficult while the government was closed.

The aide said the administration instead “doubled down on their partisan proposal that led to the Trump shutdown in the first place.”

With the two sides sticking to their positions, a quarter of the federal government has been closed for two weeks, leaving 800,000 public workers unpaid.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and a senior adviser, also attended the meeting at the White House, along with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

They were negotiating with senior staff for the top Democrats in Congress, Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer.

Pelosi, who took over as House speaker this week following Democratic victories at mid-term elections in November, has said Trump’s proposed wall is “immoral” and a “waste of money.”

A Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed that 50 per cent of the public blame Trump for the shutdown and 7 per cent blame Republican lawmakers, against 32 per cent who blame Democrats.
. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) walks after speaking to the media about the ongoing partial government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington. Photo: Reuters

Still, Trump reiterated his demand for a border wall in a series of tweets on Saturday.

“The Democrats could solve the Shutdown problem in a very short period of time,” Trump said. “All they have to do is approve REAL Border Security (including a Wall), something which everyone, other than drug dealers, human traffickers and criminals, want very badly!”

Trump threatened on Friday to take the step of using emergency powers to build the wall without Congress’ approval. Such a move would almost certainly be met with legal challenges.

The funding bill passed by Democrats on January 3 included $1.3 billion for border fencing and $300 million for other border security items including technology and cameras.

Trump has in recent days backed away from his earlier insistence that it be a concrete wall on the border, saying a steel fence would work just as well, but he has stuck to his demand of $5.6 billion.

WASHINGTON: An eight-year-old migrant from Guatemala died in US government custody on Tuesday, Customs and Border Protection said, the second child fatality in American detention this month.

The boy, who was with his apprehended father, had been transferred to a New Mexico medical centre showing signs of sickness on Monday, the agency said.

Staff diagnosed him with a cold but later discovered a fever. He was released at midday, with prescriptions for ibuprofen and the antibiotic amoxicillin.

The child was later transferred back to the hospital after showing signs of nausea and vomiting, and died just after midnight.

The CBP said it had not established the cause of death but would “ensure an independent and thorough review of the circumstances.”

Guatemala called on US authorities to conduct a “clear” investigation of the death, adding that “medical reports have been requested… to clarify the cause of death of the child.”

The news of the boy´s death triggered outrage on social media.

“Another child dies under this Administration´s watch,” tweeted Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey of Texas. “Such a devastating story to hear on Christmas Day.”

“Heartbroken and sickened by this news,” Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico wrote on Twitter.

“I am urgently demanding more details, but the Trump administration must be held accountable for this child´s death and all the lives they have put in danger with their intentional chaos and disregard for human life,” he tweeted.
´Searching for a dream´

The boy´s death came on the same day that Jakelin Caal, a Guatemalan migrant girl who died in US custody under similar circumstances earlier this month, was buried.

Her body was repatriated on Sunday and after a long journey reached the remote village where her family lives without electricity and other basic services.

“This girl left home happy searching for a dream, but unfortunately died on the way,” community leader Alberto Pop told AFP in the cemetery in the community of Maya Q´eqchi´.

“You hear that in the United States they pay well, not like the companies here in Guatemala — that´s why people leave,” said Pop, whose 22-year-old son Joaquin left in November in search of the American dream.

“I don´t know if he is alive or dead,” Pop said.

“Unfortunately, these decisions (to migrate) are made because of scarce economic resources,” Jakelin´s cousin Mario Caal said at the funeral.

Jakelin Caal´s December 8 death reignited debate in the United States over immigration policy and the treatment of migrants.

President Donald Trump has made hardline immigration policies a central plank of his presidency, drawing fire from critics who accuse him of demonising migrants for political gain.

He is locked in a battle with Congress over funding for his planned border wall, which he claims will stem migration from Latin American countries plagued by gang violence and poverty.

“Heartbroken to hear of a second child´s death in CBP custody,” tweeted Nydia Velazquez, a Democratic congresswoman from New York.

“We must demand accountability, find answers and put an end to this Administration´s hateful, dangerous anti-immigrant policies.”

WASHINGTON: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will be leaving by the end of the year, US President Donald Trump announced Saturday. That will make him the latest top official to exit the US leader’s circle of close advisers.

Dozens of White House aides — from attorney general Jeff Sessions to press secretary Sean Spicer to chief of staff Reince Priebus — have either left or been sacked from their posts since Trump took office on January 20, 2017.

Zinke, a former Navy SEAL and ex-member of the House of Representatives, was one of the main executors of Trump’s efforts to reduce environmental protections in the United States.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, a former Navy SEAL and ex-member of the House of Representatives, was one of the main executors of Trump’s efforts to reduce environmental protections in the United States

He managed to hold onto his post for some two years despite a series of scandals over expenditures, including reports that his department was spending nearly $139,000 to upgrade three sets of double doors in his office — a cost he later said he negotiated down to $75,000.

Zinke has also faced criticism over costly US Park Police helicopter flights last year that allowed him to return to Washington for a horseback ride with Vice President Mike Pence, and several other flights on non-commercial aircraft.
Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, has been credited with helping restore a degree of order to the often-chaotic Trump White House.

But in the process he clashed with members of the Trump clan, and at times infuriated Democrats with his blunt comments.
Chief of staff John Kelly, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, has been credited with helping restore a degree of order to Donald Trump’s often-chaotic White House

Trump, who once said he wanted his aide to stay with him until the presidential election year of 2020, had made it clear of late that the relationship had chilled.

“At some point he’s going to want to move on,” the president said in mid-November.

Indeed, Kelly, 68, made it known he did not always love the job — one of the most vital in any White House, quipping, “God punished me, I guess.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Sessions, a Republican senator from Alabama, was the first member of the Senate to back Trump’s insurgent bid in 2015 for the Republican presidential nomination.

After winning the presidency, Trump rewarded Sessions by naming him to head the Department of Justice.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was fired by President Donald Trump

But relations between the two quickly soured after Sessions recused himself from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into whether the Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to get him elected.

Trump personally attacked Sessions on several occasions for failing to protect him from the Mueller probe.

“I don’t have an attorney general,” Trump told Hill.TV in an interview in September. “It’s very sad.”
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley

Haley, who announced in October that she would leave the administration at the end of 2018, was a shining star of the administration from the start.

Thrust onto the international stage, she quickly became an astute advocate for Trump’s foreign policy, using forceful language against North Korea, Syria and Iran.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is leaving the Trump administration at the end of the year

The former South Carolina governor was also unafraid to speak her mind, often in fairly undiplomatic language, and built a reputation for standing up to Trump when she felt it was warranted.

Her aggressive criticism of Russia won plaudits, even as she stepped beyond the position held by the White House.

Her resignation announcement last month sparked speculation about her political future, though she denied any plans to challenge Trump in 2020, saying she would remain loyal to the president.
Environment chief Scott Pruitt

Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt’s tenure was beset by scandal, and Trump pushed him out in July.

A former Oklahoma attorney general with ties to fossil fuel industries, Pruitt was accused of using his position to enrich his family’s lifestyle in violation of federal law.

Rex Tillerson was fired by Trump in March, ending a rocky tenure for the former Exxon chief executive as the nation’s top diplomat.

Tillerson was frequently at odds with the mercurial president. They notably disagreed on the Iran nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew in May.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired by President Donald Trump after a rocky tenure of less than 14 months

During his brief stay at Foggy Bottom, Tillerson frequently found himself out of the loop and caught unawares by policy shifts announced in Trump tweets.

In one of his first public criticisms of the president since stepping down, Tillerson told a gathering in Texas earlier this month that Trump was undisciplined, did not like to read briefing papers and sometimes asked him to do things that were illegal.

Trump shot back on Twitter that Tillerson was “dumb as a rock.”
Chief strategist Steve Bannon

The architect of Trump’s nationalist-populist campaign and his election victory, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was nicknamed the Prince of Darkness and the Shadow President.

His economic nationalism became the lynchpin of Trump policies, even as many of Bannon’s other ideas were rebuffed by policy rivals.

Bannon’s constant clashes with other advisors became untenable, as did his ties to the extreme right. Bannon left in August 2017.
National Security Advisors Flynn, McMaster

Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general, was being investigated for his contacts with Russians and eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

He lasted only 22 days as national security advisor.

Flynn’s replacement, HR McMaster, also a lieutenant general, lasted barely a year.

He never really clicked with the president, who bristled at McMaster echoing the US intelligence establishment consensus that Russia meddled in the 2016 election.

US officials briefly closed a border crossing in southern California on Sunday after hundreds of migrants, part of the “caravan” condemned by President Donald Trump, tried to breach a fence from the Mexican city of Tijuana, authorities announced.

The dramatic shutdown took place only three days after Trump threatened to close the “whole border” with Mexico if “it gets to a level where we´re going to lose control or people are going to start getting hurt.”

Border officials in San Diego, California, said on Twitter that they had temporarily closed the San Ysidro crossing point — one of the busiest between the two countries — to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

The order was lifted some hours later.

Mexican Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete accused some of the migrants of attempting the Tijuana crossing in a “violent way.”

“We are going to act and proceed to their deportation,” he told the Milenio television network, adding: “Far from helping the caravan, they are hurting it.”

Video clips posted on Twitter showed large numbers of migrants dashing across a shallow concrete waterway toward the border. Several thousand migrants, mostly from Central America, have been gathering in Tijuana in hopes of entering the US.

Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Kirstjen Nielsen later issued a statement accusing the migrants of seeking to harm border patrol personnel “by throwing projectiles at them.”

“As I have continually stated, DHS will not tolerate this type of lawlessness and will not hesitate to shut down ports of entry for security and public safety reasons,” she said, adding the US would “seek to prosecute” offenders.
‘Are we in the US yet?’

At least 500 migrants, including women and children, had been taking part in a peaceful demonstration in Tijuana before dashing toward the border in an attempt to clamber over a first metal barrier there.

“Are we in the United States yet?” some asked in desperate tones.

Several hundred made it over the first barrier and were trying to cross a second — topped with spikes — when US border officers began firing tear gas at them even as US Army helicopters flew low overhead, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.

The migrants tried to protect themselves — covering their faces, with mothers holding their children close. There were cries of pain, desperation and frustration as the crowd swirled over the border line and back.

Some migrants shouted that they only wanted to make their way to a better life.

But amid the stinging gas, several migrants turned back.

Trump has repeatedly warned that the large group of migrants moving through Mexico toward the US included criminals and possibly terrorists, while providing no evidence to support that.
A reported asylum deal

The US president has deployed some 9,000 troops along the border in support of Customs and Border Protection agents.

Approximately 5,000 migrants reached Tijuana over the past week, after an exhausting trip of up to 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) covered in just over a month. Many were fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras in hopes of finding asylum in the US.

To enter the US legally, migrants must formally apply for asylum, but the wait for those requests to be processed can last up to a year.

Trump signed a proclamation earlier this month to prevent anyone filing asylum claims except at legal ports of entry, but a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked the order, pointing to “irreconcilable conflicts” with immigration law.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that the Trump administration had gained the support of Mexico´s incoming government for a plan to require asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their applications to be processed.

But officials in the incoming administration of President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said later — after the Post report was met by stiff criticism in Mexico — that the agreement was not yet final.

US President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that migrants at the US-Mexico border would stay in Mexico until their asylum claims were individually approved in US courts, but Mexico’s incoming government denied they had struck any deal.

Mexico’s incoming interior minister said there was “no agreement of any type between the future government of Mexico and the United States.”

Olga Sanchez Cordero, also the top domestic policy official for president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who takes office on December 1, told Reuters that the incoming government was in talks with the United States but emphasised that they could not make any agreement since they were not yet in government.

Sanchez ruled out that Mexico would be declared a “safe third country” for asylum claimants, following a Washington Post report of a deal with the Trump administration known as “Remain in Mexico,” which quoted her calling it a “short-term solution.”

The plan, according to the newspaper, foresees migrants staying in Mexico while their asylum claims in the United States are being processed, potentially ending a system Trump decries as “catch and release” that has until now often allowed those seeking refuge to wait on safer US soil.

“Migrants at the Southern Border will not be allowed into the United States until their claims are individually approved in court. We only will allow those who come into our Country legally. Other than that our very strong policy is Catch and Detain. No “Releasing” into the US,” Trump said in a tweet late Saturday.

“All will stay in Mexico,” Trump added in second tweet, that also threatened to close the US southern border if necessary.

Jenna Gilbert, managing attorney for the Los Angeles office of Human Rights First, a legal rights organization, said Trump’s plan is “outright illegal, and I’m sure the administration will once more see itself in court.”

Trump has been seeking to block thousands of Central Americans traveling in caravans from entering the United States, and has ordered that immigrants who enter the country illegally from Mexico are ineligible for asylum.

That order has been temporary suspended by a US judge.

Sanchez, who said the situation of migrant caravans was “very delicate,” did not explicitly rule out that Mexico could keep caravan migrants on its soil while their US asylum claims are processed. But she told Reuters that plans to assume “safe third country” status were “ruled out.”

If Mexico were to assume “safe third country” status, asylum seekers would be required to claim refugee status in Mexico rather than the United States.

Migration activists have long argued that Mexico does not have the security conditions to offer safe haven for migrants feeling violence in Central America.

The Washington Post article cited Mexican officials and senior members of Lopez Obrador’s transition team and said the deal would break with long-standing asylum rules and mount a new obstacle to Central American migrants attempting to seek refuge in the United States from poverty and violence.

Alison Leal Parker, US managing director for Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights organisation, said the plan was “a pathetic attempt by the United States to shirk responsibility. Central Americans have faced serious harm in Mexico.”

The effect, Parker said, would likely “push people fleeing for (their) lives into riskier attempts to find safety, including using criminal human smugglers who will gain power under this new policy.”

Mexico’s incoming deputy interior minister Zoe Robledo said details of the “Remain in Mexico” scheme were still being worked out.

“What we’re aiming for is that people leaving their countries due to security issues or violence can find a place to stay in Mexico if that is their decision,” Robledo told Reuters.

Robledo said the incoming government wanted to find jobs for Central American migrants in sectors that are short-staffed, such as maquila assembly plants.

Lopez Obrador has vowed to try to eliminate the causes of migration by creating more jobs and improving living conditions in Mexico and Central America.

In exchange, he hopes Trump and the Canadian government will agree to help spur economic development in the region.

Outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto has also sought to stem the flow of migrants north by offering jobs to them, and has received backing from the private sector in his efforts.

(Net News/ Media 92 News)ISLAMABAD/RIYADH: Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday on a two-day official visit to attend a much-anticipated investment conference that numerous other world leaders and corporates have skipped over the issue of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death.

Khan, who landed in Medina and was welcomed by Governor Faisal bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, paid a visit to the Roza-e-Rasool (PBUH) before departing for Riyadh to attend the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference.

In Riyadh, Governor Faisal bin Bandar Al Saud and Khan Hasham Bin Saddique, the Pakistani Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, welcomed him at the King Khalid International Airport.

“The reason I feel I have to avail myself of this opportunity is because, in a country of 210 million people right now, we have the worst debt crisis in our history,” he mentioned to the Middle East Eye (MEE) in an interview that was published on Monday.

The prime minister is also slated to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who, himself, is surrounded by controversy in what the world is calling Riyadh’s alleged involvement in the orchestration of Khashoggi’s murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Pakistani premier told an interviewer before leaving for Riyadh that despite his concern over Khashoggi’s death, he could not skip the conference as “we’re desperate” for possible Saudi loans to shore up Pakistan’s economy.

“Unless we get loans from friendly countries or the IMF [International Monetary Fund], we actually won’t have, in another two or three months, enough foreign exchange to service our debts or to pay for our imports. So we’re desperate at the moment.”
This marks Khan’s second visit to Saudi Arabia in just over a month, but he has not succeeded in securing significant financial assistance to stave off a looming balance of payments crisis. He could not pass up the invitation to meet Saudi leaders again, he told the MEE.

The prime minister last toured Saudi Arabia on September 18.

Khan is accompanied by Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, and Fawad Chaudhry, the ministers of foreign affairs, finance, and information, respectively, as well as Pakistan Board of Investment Chairperson Haroon Sharif and renowned economist Abdul Razak Dawood, the advisor to Khan on commerce, textiles, industries production, and investment.

Noting the presence of Umar and Dawood, a statement from Khan’s office on Monday said the visit would “give a chance to connect with those people who are interested in investing in Pakistan”.

Islamabad has already asked the IMF to open negotiations for the country’s second potential bailout in five years while Khan, who took office in July, seeks alternatives to the tough conditions the international financial body is likely to impose for loans, limiting his vision of an Islamic welfare state.

The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign reserves dropped this month to $8.1 billion, a four-year low and barely enough to cover sovereign debt payments due through the end of the year. The current account deficit has swelled to about $18 billion.

Khan has blamed the previous government’s policies for the ballooning current account deficit.

In response to a question, he told the MEE that he was concerned over the “shocking” death of Khashoggi — a US resident and Washington Post columnist — after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

“The Saudi government will have to come up with an answer… We wait for whatever the Saudi explanation is,” he was quoted as saying. “We hope there is an explanation that satisfies people and those responsible are punished.”

Dubbed as “Davos in the Desert,” the conference was scheduled host leading businesspersons, investors, corporate giants, representatives of hi-tech industry, and major media outlets at one platform, the Foreign Office of Pakistan said in a press statement earlier.

Khan’s participation on the first day of the conference, which provides an opportunity to interact with important business leaders who are interested in investing in Pakistan, is aimed to projecting the country’s economic and investment potential as well as its vision for the next five years, the statement added.

The FII conference is now an annual feature in Saudi Arabia, with its first iteration being held last year, wherein some 3,800 people from 90 countries participated. This year’s conference is also likely to attract participation from a large number of leading figures.

Khan’s presence “signifies our solidarity with the Kingdom in its efforts to become an emerging hub of international business and investment”, the FO said further.

On the other hand, dozens of the confirmed participants had earlier dropped out in order to boycott Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi’s death.

Separately, the premier’s schedule also includes calling on King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and meeting the Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, with whom he would discuss matters of mutual interest.

In response to a question, Khan also called on the US to abandon its push for new sanctions against Iran, saying the move could lead to wider conflict. “The last thing the Muslim world needs is another conflict.

“The Trump administration is moving towards one,” he told the newspaper.

Regardless, he said, Pakistan was in a position where it can play a role in trying to eliminate the tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. To another question regarding the South Asian region, he said the Taliban and the Afghan government would very likely soon come to a joint solution.

President Donald Trump confirmed Saturday that the United States plans to leave a Cold War-era nuclear weapons treaty with Russia, which criticized the move as Washington’s latest effort to be the sole global superpower.

Trump claims Russia has long violated the three-decade-old Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, known as the INF, was signed in 1987 by president Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

But a foreign ministry source told the RIA Novosti state news agency that Washington’s “main motive is a dream of a unipolar world,” one that won’t be realized.

“We’re the ones who have stayed in the agreement and we’ve honored the agreement, but Russia has not unfortunately honored the agreement, so we’re going to terminate the agreement and we’re going to pull out,” Trump told reporters in Elko, Nevada.

“Russia has violated the agreement. They’ve been violating it for many years. I don’t know why president (Barack) Obama didn’t negotiate or pull out. And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons (while) we’re not allowed to.”

Trump spoke as his National Security Advisor John Bolton was set to meet next week with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, ahead of what is expected to be a second summit between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this year.

Bolton was also set to meet with Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Putin aide Yuri Ushakov. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a “possible meeting” was being prepared between Putin and Bolton.

The Trump administration has complained of Moscow’s deployment of 9M729 missiles, which Washington says cam travel more than 310 miles (500 kilometers), and thus violate the INF treaty.

The treaty, which banned missiles that could travel 310 to 3,400 miles, put a term to a crisis that began in the 1980s with the deployment of Soviet SS-20 nuclear-tipped, intermediate-range ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals.
US or Russia at fault?

The Russian foreign ministry official accused Washington of implementing policy “toward dismantling the nuclear deal.”

Washington “has approached this step over the course of many years by deliberately and step by step destroying the basis for the agreement,” the official said, quoted by Russia’s three main news agencies.
US President Ronald Reagan with Mikhaïl Gorbatchev in Washington in 1987. Photo; AFP

“This decision is part of the US policy course to withdraw from those international legal agreements that place equal responsibilities on it and its partners and make vulnerable its concept of its own ‘exceptionalism,'” the official said.

Russian senator Alexei Pushkov wrote on Twitter that the move was “the second powerful blow against the whole system of strategic stability in the world” with the first being Washington’s 2001 withdrawal from the Anti- Ballistic Missile treaty.”

“And again the initiator of the dissolution of the agreement is the US,” Pushkov wrote.

Bolton himself is pressuring Trump to leave the INF and has blocked any negotiations to extend the New Start treaty on strategic missiles set to expire in 2021, according to The Guardian newspaper.

A US withdrawal from the INF could also target China. As a non-signatory, Beijing can develop without constraints intermediate-range nuclear weapons.

US-Russia ties are under deep strain over accusations that Moscow meddled in the 2016 presidential election, as well as tension over Russian support for the Syrian government in the country’s civil war, and the conflict in Ukraine.

On Friday, the finance chief of Russia’s leading troll farm was indicted in the US for interfering with US elections, the first person to face charges involving the 2018 congressional midterm vote.

Russia accused the US of fabricating the charges.

Washington is, however, looking for support from Moscow in finding resolutions to the Syria war and putting pressure on both Iran and North Korea.

No new summit between Trump and Putin has been announced, but one is expected in the near future.

The two leaders will be in Paris on November 11 to attend commemorations marking the end of World War I.

A senior Trump administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said another potential date would be when the presidents both attend the Group of 20 meeting on November 30 to December 1.

WASHINGTON:(Net News/ Media 92 News) US President Donald Trump’s administration would continue to apply pressure until Pakistan changes it changes its policy towards regional peace and stability in Afghanistan, an official of the Department of State said on Wednesday night.

Speaking during an event here at the Wilson Centre, Henry Ensher, the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Pakistan for the State Department, said efforts to bring peace and stability in Afghanistan were of primary importance and a major area of policy divergence, at the moment, with Pakistan despite the important bilateral linkage having many common interests.

“As long as that continues, we will continue to colour and take centre stage in [the] bilateral relationship,” Ensher said.

“In reality, we have seen some action but we have not seen the decisive steps from Pakistan that could demonstrate commitment, ensuring their territory cannot be used by the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, and other groups that were so violent and bring instability in the region,” he added.

The State Department official argued that Trump’s strategy for South Asia and the suspension of security assistance and coalition support fund (CSF) payments to Pakistan reflect Washington’s concerns over Islamabad’s continuing counter-productive policies.

He added, however, that Pakistan’s new civilian government, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, has the opportunity to fix bilateral relations and be “our partner in bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan and peace and security in Pakistan.

“Doing so will enable more mutually beneficial relationship,” he noted, stressing that the US has signalled its commitment but opportunities could not be merely discussed until an action is taken.

“A future course of our relationship, and indeed the trajectory of Pakistan’s development, rest in the hands of Pakistani leaders,” he said.

Ensher pointed out that there were two criticisms of US policies that he comes across frequently. First, the US-Pakistan relations were too Afghan-centric, and the second being disagreements with the use of pressure to try to induce a shift in Pakistan’s own regional policies.

He reasoned that the US has been engaged in the conflict for 17 years. It has more than 15,000 troops on the ground, spent more than $900 billion so far, and endured more than 2200 deaths.

The official agreed that the Trump administration was more willing to applying pressure to advance US national interests.

“We will continue to do so in South Asia as well as elsewhere, but it should not disguise the fact that we genuinely believe that a shift in Pakistan policy in aligning with our strategy is very much in Pakistan’s own interests as well.”

Addressing the audience, he warned that Pakistan’s status quo in Kabul does not serve its own interests, as Daesh remains a threat to Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the regional nations, as well as the fact that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) could use Afghan territory as a platform for attacks in Pakistan.

He appreciated Pakistan’s support for ending the conflict through a negotiated settlement by bringing the Taliban to table.

“We know that Pakistan can’t deliver a deal by itself, but Pakistan can play constructive role. We welcome additional measures that Pakistan government could take to increase the willingness of the Taliban leadership to negotiate,” he said.

He reminded that the long-standing proxy policies and unresolved regional tensions have had a steep cost for Pakistan in numerous ways.

Pakistan has a potential to be a leader in the region — economically and politically — but its policies have instead fed instability and division both in South Asia as well as in the country itself, he said.

Washington also encouraged bilateral discussion between Pakistan and India to reduce the tensions and lead to an improvement in the relations, he said, adding that the presence of terrorist groups on Pakistani soil would limit the potential for a positive outcome from such a dialogue.

Ensher said the US encouraged Pakistan to address these issues so that the regional tensions were resolved and regional connectivity could improve, helping the Indo-Pak trade, as per World Bank’s estimates, jump from the current $2 billion to $37 billion.

WASHINGTON: Melania Trump dismissed Friday the widespread talk about her husband President Donald Trump’s alleged affairs with a porn star and others, saying she has “more important things to think about”.

In an interview with ABC News, excerpts of which were broadcast early Friday, the US first lady did not deny her husband’s alleged history of philandering.

But Melania Trump insisted she doesn’t dwell on it.

“It is not a concern and focus of mine,” she said in the interview. “I’m a mother and a first lady, and I have much more important things to think about and to do.”

“I know people like to speculate and media like to speculate about our marriage,” she added.

“It’s not always pleasant, of course, but I know what is right and what is wrong and what is true and not true.”

Asked whether she loved her husband, she answered: “Yes, we are fine. It’s what media speculate, and it’s gossip. It’s not always correct stuff.”
‘Most bullied person’

ABC conducted the rare interview of the Slovenia-born 48-year-old former model and the president’s third wife while she was in Africa last week.

After living in the White House for nearly two years in the shadow of one of the most controversial and scandal-tarred presidents of modern times, she appeared confident but also controlled, keeping her answers to difficult questions short.

The interview came just over three weeks before the midterm congressional elections, in which Trump’s record is expected to play a big part in how voters cast their ballots.

Sitting in stretch jodhpurs with a safari pith helmet at her side, Trump gave a wry smile when asked about comments about her marriage from the president’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani had said in June that the first believes her husband’s denials about an affair a decade ago with stripper and porn movie star Stormy Daniels, and “knows it’s untrue”.

“I never talked to Mr Giuliani,” the first lady said.

ABC said the full interview will air later Friday, with Trump discussing her trip to Africa, her campaign against bullying and the controversies swirling around the president.

She gave a surprise answer to why she chose to fight against cyber-bullying with her “Be Best” campaign.

“I could say I’m the most bullied person in the world,” she said, or “one of them, if you really see what people are saying about me.”
First lady tribulations

Trump has predecessor who as American first ladies suffered gossip about their husbands’ alleged affairs.

Hillary Clinton endured husband Bill Clinton being impeached in 1998 for lying about his extramarital sex.

John F. Kennedy, president from 1961-63, was another serial cheater on wife Jackie, though his affairs were kept out of the news by a compliant media.

But talk of President Trump’s alleged history of sleeping with and then paying hush money to models and porn stars has been non-stop since he took office.

Mysterious and impenetrable, Melania is constantly scrutinised for her reaction: Is she holding his hand? Why aren’t they together much? Will she move back to New York with their son Barron?

She scoffed at such talk in the ABC interview. “I am enjoying it. I really love to live in Washington and the White House,” she said.

Trump has not given such a long interview since arriving in the US capital.

Katherine Jellison, an Ohio University historian, noted the timing of the interview coincides with intense scrutiny of men amid the #Metoo movement.

“The Trump administration has been under a lot of scrutiny on gender issues,” Jellison told AFP.

“So maybe she thought the timing was right to assert herself as a strong, independent woman, at a time when there was much negative press about the treatment of women in Trump’s America.”

Like past first ladies, Melania also faces criticism of her fashion choices, which lean toward well-cut, refined but not flashy clothes from Ralph Lauren and French-American designer Herve Pierre.

She took heavy flack in June when she wore a $39 Zara jacket that had “I really don’t care, do u?” written on the back, as she embarked on a trip to the Mexican border to see immigrant children who had been separated from their parents under her husband’s much-criticised policy.

It was unclear who was the target of that message.

Donning a pith helmet during her Nairobi stop last week, and then an Indiana Jones-style Panama hat while in Egypt, Melania Trump also drew fashion maven reprimands as “insensitive” to the continent’s colonial history.

Reporters should “talk about my trip and not what I wear,” she scolded during the journey.

The US First Lady on Tuesday pulled faces at babies and handed out teddy bears as she kicked off her maiden solo trip to Africa, offering a softer side to the Trump administration after another turbulent week in Washington.

Melania Trump left the sanctuary of the East Wing of the White House for a continent her husband once reportedly said contained “shithole” countries, making her visit as much about mending fences as carving her own diplomatic path.

The contrast with last week’s high drama over Donald Trump’s nomination to the Supreme Court was telling, as a relaxed-looking first lady visited a hospital in Ghana’s capital, Accra, to meet mothers and their newborns.

The former model did not make a speech but those who met her said afterwards that unlike her mysterious public image she was “warm” and “gentle” in the flesh.

“She’s very friendly, easy-going and interactive,” said Rabiu Fauziya, a 28-year-old paediatric nurse who helped show Trump the neonatal room in the hospital.

From there, she met her Ghanaian counterpart, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, at the presidential residence, Jubilee House, where the pair exchanged gifts of an silver Chippendale tray engraved with an image of the White House and Ghanaian kente cloth.

The women met for the first time at the UN General Assembly last month at which President Trump railed against globalism, earning him stern rebukes from world leaders.
‘Showcase’ for US aid

On her four-country, week-long tour of Africa, Trump is aiming to cast a more positive light on her embattled husband’s administration and its “America First” agenda.

The 48-year-old is promoting her Be Best initiative, her official agenda unveiled in May designed to improve children’s well-being.
Those who met the first lady later described her as ‘warm’ and ‘gentle’. Photo: AFP

Her office has described the trip as a “showcase” for the work of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), even at a time when her husband’s government is looking to slash US aid across the world.

The president has equally promised to only provide aid to friendly countries.

But unlike her predecessors, Melania Trump’s tour will be followed closely to see if she can build bridges after her husband’s apparent disparaging comments.

In addition to Ghana, the first lady is due to visit Malawi, Kenya and Egypt before returning to Washington early on October 7.
‘Rorschach test in Louboutins’

Trump has typically stayed out of the spotlight since her husband became president yet she has made headlines for rare public appearances.

In June, she made a surprise visit to Texas to visit detained children at the Mexican border, wearing a jacket emblazoned with the words “I really don’t care. Do U?”

No one knew who the message was intended for, leaving it — and her — up for interpretation.

This ambiguity has led some pundits to describe her as a “Rorschach test in Louboutins” after the interpretative ink blots used in psychoanalysis and the luxury shoes.
Trump was welcomed by a troupe of traditional drummers and dancers. Photo: AFP

But as she attempts to step out of her husband’s shadow, the Africa trip has been seen as an attempt for her to carve her own diplomatic path.

She has previously travelled alone to Canada and joined her husband on several foreign visits.

Spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said the Africa tour is close to her heart. “This is her trip, her initiative,” she said.

That has not stopped Donald Trump from weighing in last week, when he told journalists that his wife was “making a big trip to Africa”.

“We both love Africa. Africa is so beautiful, the most beautiful part of the world, in many ways,” he added.

The US president has yet to travel to Africa since taking office.
Muted response

Trump’s visit to Ghana has inevitably drawn comparisons to that of former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle in 2009.

During that visit, Barack Obama gave a speech to parliament saying “Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions”.

He also toured the Cape Coast Castle, a former slavery outpost, with his family.

Ghana is seen as a haven of stability in an often turbulent region but despite the interest back home, the first lady’s visit did not appear to have generated similar fervour locally.

Unlike the Obamas’ visit, the roads from the airport were not packed with onlookers while there was little fanfare in the local media, according to an AFP reporter on the ground.

“We in Africa, we like the other administration that came before this one,” said Yaw Cobblah, a 46-year-old taxi driver in the capital.