US will receive more 'gift packages,' warns North Korea after nuclear test

A top North Korean diplomat on Tuesday warned that his country is ready to send “more gift packages” to the United States as world powers struggled for a response to Pyongyang’s latest nuclear weapons test.

Han Tae Song, ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, confirmed that North Korea had successfully conducted its sixth and largest nuclear bomb test on Sunday.

”The recent self-defence measures by my country, DPRK, are a gift package addressed to none other than the US,” Han told a disarmament conference, using the acronym for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s formal name.

“The US will receive more ‘gift packages’ ... as long as it relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK,” he added without elaborating.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Monday accused North Korean leader Kim Jong Un of “begging for war” with a series of nuclear bomb and missile tests, and urged the 15-member Security Council to impose the “strongest possible” sanctions to deter him and shut down his trading partners.

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US House to vote on Bill imposing sanctions on Russia, Iran, North Korea

The United States (US) House will vote on the bill agreed by Congressional Republicans and Democrats, that includes a package of sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, thus making it harder for President Donald Trump to lift sanctions on Moscow.

The House will vote on the bill on Tuesday and the Senate is likely to take it up after that. The bipartisan agreement could send the new bill to President Trump by the end of the month. It was not immediately clear whether Trump would veto the bill, an action that would spark an outcry from both parties and risk a potential override with a two-thirds vote.

Democrats and some Republicans have expressed concerns that the US President is considering giving Russia back two compounds in Maryland and New York that were seized by the Obama administration in December.

The House is scheduled to leave for its August recess at the end of next week.

The bill limits Trump's power of easing sanctions on Russia, as it gives Congress power to veto any decision made by the President that would "significantly alter" US foreign policy in connection with Russia, Fox news reported.

The White House had objected to a key section of the bill that would mandate a congressional review if Trump attempted to ease or end the sanctions against Moscow.

"The legislation ensures that both the majority and minority are able to exercise our oversight role over the administration's implementation of sanctions," said Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the No. 2 House Democrat.
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Donald Trump announces new Cuba policy to counter Obama's 'one-sided' deal

US President Donald Trump today vowed to roll back his predecessor Barack Obama's signature Cuba policy, saying it was "one-sided" and his administration will seek a "much better" deal for the Cuban people and America.

"Effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba. I am announcing today a new policy just as I promised during the campaign. And I will be signing that contract right at that table in just a moment," Trump told a cheering crowd of Cuban Americans in Miami, Florida.

"Our policy will seek a much better deal for the Cuban people and for the United States of America. We do not want US dollars to prop up a military monopoly that exploits and abuses the citizens of Cuba. Our new policy begins with strictly enforcing US law," he said.

Trump said he will not lift sanctions on Cuba unless it releases all political prisoners and respects freedoms.

"We will not lift sanctions on the Cuban regime until all political prisoners are freed, freedoms of assembly and expression are respected, all political parties are legalised and free and internationally supervised elections are scheduled elections," Trump said.

"We will very strongly restrict American dollars flowing to the military, security, and intelligence services that are the core of the Castro regime. They will be restricted. We will enforce the ban on tourism. We will enforce the embargo," he said.

"We will take concrete steps to ensure that investments flow directly to the people so they can open private businesses and begin to build their country's great, great future, a country of great potential," he said amidst a loud applause from the audience.
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