To deal with Kim Jong-un, Trump must be less like Trump

Donald Trump’s decision to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is in character. The U.S. president loves outlandish plot twists that confound critics and supporters alike.


Agreeing to this meeting was questionable. It’s something previous presidents have refused to do, and with reason: It’s a concession that demanded something valuable from the other side. Trump has not secured that, and he appears to have acted impulsively. This isn’t encouraging -- but the decision has been made and what matters now is to make the best of it.


That will require Trump to be less like Trump.


His administration deserves credit for marshaling a stringent global sanctions regime that’s taking a real toll on North Korea. His intemperate threats have pushed Chinese leaders into adopting harsher sanctions than they might otherwise have done. Yet Kim also has reason to feel emboldened: He’s won a face-to-face meeting with a sitting U.S. president -- a coup neither his father nor grandfather achieved -- without committing to much beyond a pause in nuclear and missile tests. Trump, impressed to a fault with his own accomplishments, shouldn’t assume his adversary has been cowed.

Donald Trump needs unfamiliar tools like patience for North Korea talks

President Donald Trump will need to adopt an unfamiliar set of traits -- patience, persistence, clear goals and conditions -- and be prepared to walk away when he meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, people who have negotiated with Kim’s regime say.


Trump’s apparently impromptu decision to begin setting up talks contrasts with Kim’s situation -- North Korea has prepared deliberately for decades for a meeting with the sitting U.S. president as a major step toward gaining international legitimacy.


Negotiations with the North Korean regime are “very painstaking and, frankly, painful,” said Christopher Hill, who served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea and assistant secretary of state under President George W. Bush. “You think you have an agreement one minute and then you don’t the next minute.”

Trump promised not to impose tariffs on Australian steel: Malcolm Turnbull

Australia has secured an exemption from metals tariffs announced last week by U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the media.


Trump confirmed the exemption in an early Saturday morning call between the two leaders, Turnbull said. He said the conversation also touched on the security alliance between the US and Australia, as well as possible talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.


“I was very pleased the president was able to confirm that he would not have to impose tariffs on Australian steel and aluminum,” Turnbull said. “It was a very good and productive discussion with the president."


Turnbull said the two leaders discussed the importance of a “fair and reciprocal” trade relationship between Australia and the US.

Trump lawyer says pornstar was paid to keep affair secret before Prez polls

President Donald Trump's personal attorney says he paid $130,000 out of his own pocket to a porn actress who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006.

Michael Cohen tells The New York Times he was not reimbursed by the Trump Organization or the Trump campaign for the payment to Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Cohen says, "The payment to Ms. Clifford was lawful, and was not a campaign contribution or a campaign expenditure by anyone." The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Cohen had arranged the $130,000 payment to Clifford in October 2016 to keep her from publicly discussing the alleged sexual encounter during the presidential campaig

Trump on US basketball players: Should have left them in China's prison

Lashing out at the father of one of the three UCLA basketball players freed earlier this month after being arrested in China for theft, US President Donald Trump said that he should have left them in jail.

Trump responded to the father of LiAngelo Ball, who on Friday downplayed the importance of the role Trump played in obtaining the release of the three players after one of them shoplifted a pricey pair of sunglasses from a store near their hotel, Efe news reported.

"Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!" Trump tweeted.

Trump on November 15 claimed credit for the release of the three players, saying that it was thanks to his intervention with Chinese President Xi Jinping that they avoided "10 years in jail" in the Asian nation.

The three players with the UCLA Bruins, arrived back in Los Angeles on November 14, about a week after being arrested and accused of stealing the sunglasses in the city of Hangzhou.

Trump, who returned from his 13-day Asian tour this past week, visited Beijing shortly after the young athletes were arrested and spoke with Xi about the situation.

UCLA has suspended the three players indefinitely.
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Obamacare provisions: Trump robs free birth control from millions of women

US President Donald Trump's administration annulled today an Obamacare provision that obliged employer health plans to pay for contraception, potentially stripping free birth control from millions of women.

The move extends to all commercial enterprises an exemption already given to religious institutions.

Rights groups erupted in anger and the American Civil Liberties Union threatened a lawsuit, but the White House called it a matter of religious freedom.

The ruling expands "exemptions to protect moral convictions for certain entities and individuals whose health plans are subject to a mandate of contraceptive coverage" under Obamacare, a note published by the US Department of Health and Human Services said.

Millions of American women who had the cost of contraception reimbursed could be affected by the Trump administration's decision, which conservative groups had been seeking since Obamacare began.

Challenges to Obamacare had reached the US Supreme Court, which in 2014 ruled that family-owned private companies could choose not to provide contraceptive coverage to female employees on religious grounds.
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California sues Donald Trump over Obamacare birth control mandate rollback

California state has sued President Donald Trump's administration arguing that its rollback of a requirement for employers to provide contraceptive coverage to workers is unconstitutional and unlawfully targets women, the media reported.

The lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California here on Friday, comes hours after the Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule change that allows more employers to opt out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) birth control mandate by claiming religious or moral objections, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.
Prior to this rule change, only houses of worship, religiously affiliated non-profits and some private companies with few shareholders could opt out of providing birth control coverage.

The new rule also allows publicly traded companies and all nonprofits and universities to take a religious exemption.

"...millions of women in California may be left without access to contraceptives and counseling and the state will be shouldering the additional fiscal and administrative burden as women seek access for this coverage through state-funded programmes," The Los Angeles Times quoted the lawsuit as saying.
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At UN, Trump singles out 'rogue' nations North Korea and Iran

Leaders from around the globe took the lectern at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday — a particularly big moment for President Trump, who addressed the gathering for the first time.

In his speech, Mr. Trump vowed to “totally destroy” North Korea if it threatened the United States or its allies. “If the righteous many don’t confront the wicked few, then evil will triumph,” he said.

He also called Iran a “rogue nation” and said the United States was “prepared to take further action” on Venezuela.

President Emmanuel Macron of France countered those remarks in his own address, saying that the nuclear deal with Iran was “essential for peace” and that his country would “not close any door to dialogue” with North Korea.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel agreed with Mr. Trump’s assessment of Iran, however, saying, “Imagine the danger of hundreds of nuclear weapons in the reins of a vast Iranian empire, with the missiles to deliver them anywhere on Earth.”
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With combative style and epithets, Trump takes America first to the UN

President Trump brought the same confrontational style of leadership he has used at home to the world’s most prominent stage on Tuesday as he vowed to “totally destroy North Korea” if it threatened the United States and denounced the nuclear agreement with Iran as “an embarrassment” that he may abandon.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Trump framed the conflicts as a test of the international system. The bombastic flourishes that generate approving roars at political events were met by stony silence, interrupted a few times by a smattering of applause, as Mr. Trump promised to “crush loser terrorists,” mocked North Korea’s leader as “Rocket Man” and declared that parts of the world “are going to hell.”

The president’s tone carried real-world implications for the future of the United Nations and the escalating confrontations with international outliers. In the space of 42 minutes, he upended decades of rhetorical support by the United States for the collective philosophy of the United Nations as he defended his America First policy. He repeatedly extolled “sovereignty” in a setting where the term traditionally has been brandished by nations like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea to deflect criticism.

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Trump's speech at UN: Time to expose nations that finance al-Qaeda, Taliban

Vowing to stop "radical Islamic terrorism," US President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday of strong action against countries that support or finance organisations like the Taliban.

"It is time to expose and hold responsible those countries who support and finance terror groups like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Taliban and the others that slaughter innocent people," he said in his first speech to the the General Assembly.

But he stopped short of naming countries other than Iran unlike in the last month's speech outlining the Afghan strategy when he named Pakistan saying it had much to lose by harbouring terrorists.

Read the full speech below:

Mr Secretary General, Mr. President, world leaders, and distinguished delegates, welcome to New York. It is a profound honor to stand here in my home city as a representative of the American people to address the people of the world. As millions of our citizens continue to suffer the effects of the devastating hurricanes that have struck our country, I want to begin by expressing my appreciation to every leader in this room who has offered assistance and aid. The American people are strong and resilient, and they will emerge from these hardships more determined than ever before.
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Jared Kushner adds 70 assets worth $10 mn to revised financial disclosure

President Donald Trump's son-in- law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has added more than 70 assets worth at least $10.6 million to his revised personal financial disclosure.

According to the disclosure, the additional assets were "inadvertently omitted" from an earlier form. The revised form was certified by the Office of Government Ethics on Thursday and released yesterday.

Kushner's wife, Ivanka Trump, also filed new federal disclosures. She reported assets of at least $66 million and at least $13.5 million in income last year from her various business ventures.

The new forms reflect that Kushner sold his interest in the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey. He also no longer has a stake in a company that had held interest in property in Toledo, Ohio.
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Trump's travel rules for world: Provide data on travellers or face sanction

The US State Department will require all nations to provide extensive data to help it vet visa applicants and determine whether a traveller poses a terrorist threat, according to a cable obtained by Reuters.

Countries that fail to comply with the new protocols or take steps to do so within 50 days could face travel sanctions.

The cable, sent to all US diplomatic posts on Wednesday, is a summary of a worldwide review of vetting procedures that was required under US President Donald Trump’s revised March 6 executive order that temporarily banned US travel by most citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries.

The memo lays out a series of standards the United States will require of other countries, including that they issue, or have active plans to issue, electronic passports and regularly report lost and stolen passports to INTERPOL.

It also directs nations to provide "any other identity information" requested by Washington for US visa applicants, including biometric or biographic details.

The cable sets out requirements for countries to provide data on individuals it knows or has grounds to believe are terrorists as well as criminal record information.

Further, countries are asked not to block the transfer of information about US-bound travellers to the US government and not to designate people for travel watchlists based solely on their political or religious beliefs.
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Trump's travel ban takes effect, doesn't consider grandparents as close family

The Trump administration is all set to partially implement its travel ban against people coming from six Muslim majority nations.

Being enforced from tonight 8 pm (5:30 am IST), officials said the travel ban is being rolled out across the country as part of its effort to prevent people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen from entering the US.

The move comes after the US Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the vast majority of the US President's March 6 'Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States' could go into effect.

"As recent events have shown, we are living in a very dangerous time, and the US government needs every available tool to prevent terrorists from entering the country and committing acts of bloodshed and violence. And as the President reiterated following Monday's ruling, his number one responsibility as Commander-in-Chief is to keep the American people safe," said a senior administration official.

Ahead of its implementation, officials hoped to have business as usual at the airports.

"We expect business as usual at the ports of entry starting at 8:00 pm tonight. There have been reports of people who have already indicated that they would like to be there to either cause chaos or to protest. Lawyers have indicated they would like to be at the ports of entry to assist people," a senior administration official said.
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With Modi in Washington, China and India 'jostle' on their border

As Indians savored Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effusive welcome in the White House Rose Garden this week, another, less friendly image kept stubbornly interfering.

High in the hills of the Himalayas, Indian troops had halted a Chinese road-building project in a disputed border area, and Beijing was angry. News channels kept cutting to old video of troops bumping torsos, trying to force one another backward without escalating to slaps or punches, a tactic often described here as “jostling.”

Beijing released a complaint against India on Monday, just as Mr. Modi walked into a meeting in Washington with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. On Tuesday, Global Times, a state-run nationalist tabloid, warned India to back down in a harshly worded editorial, saying that its “capacity is nowhere near China’s, and the so-called strategic support from the United States is empty, too, so it won’t be of any help when it is needed.”

The interruption of diplomatic ceremonies by border flare-ups is a regular feature of the Indian-Chinese relationship. To Indian analysts, the outburst conveyed Beijing’s dissatisfaction with President Trump’s plans to carry forward the United States-India strategic maritime partnership begun under President Barack Obama.

“They look at India as a critical swing state in Asia, and they see India now moving inexorably toward the U.S., which makes it very difficult for China to carve out a Sinocentric Asia,” said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst affiliated with the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

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Trump, his policies are unpopular worldwide, American image suffers: Survey

President Donald Trump and many of his key policies are broadly unpopular around the globe, and ratings for the US have also declined steeply in many nations, a new survey has revealed.

The survey spanning 37 nations by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre issued late Monday showed a median of just 22 per cent has confidence in Trump to do the right thing when it comes to international affairs.

This stands in contrast to the final years of Barack Obama's presidency when a median of 64 per cent expressed confidence in Trump's predecessor to direct America's role in the world.

The sharp decline in how much global citizens trust the US President is especially pronounced among some of America's closest allies in Europe and Asia, as well as neighbouring Mexico and Canada.

Across the 37 nations polled, Trump gets higher marks than Obama in only two countries: Russia and Israel, the survey said.

According to the survey, globally 65 per cent think Trump is intolerant and 62 per cent that he is dangerous.

In countries where confidence in Trump declined most, the US' overall image also tended to suffer more.

In the closing years of Obama's term, a median of 64 per cent had a positive view of the US, while now, just 49 per cent are favourably inclined toward America.
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Ariana Grande does what Donald Trump can't

For a few hours on Sunday, Ariana Grande, a 23-year-old pop star from Boca Raton, Florida, was the leader of the free world. The position has been open for months. Contestants ranging from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to, improbably, Chinese President Xi Jinping have been auditioning for the job.

Two weeks after 22 people were killed and more than 60 injured in a terrorist attack at her “Dangerous Woman” concert in Manchester in the UK, Grande returned to the city to hallow the ground and soothe the survivors. In the process, she rededicated her generation to the proposition that all men — and women, most definitely women — are created equal.

While US President Donald Trump gutter-tweeted argle-bargle and played another round of golf, Grande delivered what will likely stand as the official American response to the bombing in Manchester and to another terrorist attack, the night before the concert, in London.

Her hastily organised “One Love Manchester” benefit concert rejected fear and bitterness. Time and place, along with a leavening of goodwill, were sufficient to elevate sugary pop songs to public anthems. Watching the concert streaming online, it was obviously more than a good time. Tears flowed. So did joy. Yet it might also be that a good time is among the most powerful collective responses to jihadist nihilism.

Grande didn’t just replace Trump on the world stage for the day, she subtly refuted him, offering a face that was brave and kind in the wake of terror while accomplishing several useful goals — raising money for victims, bolstering courage and making the attacks look both puny and pointless. Whatever the terrorists had hoped to produce in Manchester, it certainly wasn’t this party.

Benefit concerts have a long pedigree. History tells us something. The original, the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York, was organised by George Harrison in 1971. The performers were all male. Grande’s concert, taking place on the same weekend that the female-directed Wonder Woman broke the $100-million barrier at the box office, was a potent showcase for young women.
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Trump ditches climate deal: Be happy! Now we can blame US, says Putin

While other world leaders have strongly condemned President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the Paris climate accord, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he won't judge.

"Don't worry, be happy!" Putin quipped yesterday after being asked for his reaction at an economic forum in St Petersburg, Russia. He said the climate deal doesn't formally go into effect until 2021, giving nations years to come up with a constructive solution to combating global warming.

For Putin, leader of the world's biggest crude oil producer and fifth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, there was plenty to cheer in Trump's rejection of the agreement painstakingly negotiated by the Obama administration and signed by 195 countries.

Trump's move drives another wedge between the United States and its traditional European allies, while aligning its stance closer to Russia in boosting fossil fuels while deferring action to curb climate change.

While Putin's government signed the 2015 Paris accord, he has delayed formally ratifying the agreement for at least two more years. Russia's voluntary reduction goals under the deal are among the weakest submitted by any country, potentially allowing it to spew more planet-warming emissions in future years, not less.

Russia pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 25 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030. That gives Putin lots of wiggle room because the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s triggered the collapse of the country's centrally planned economy, greatly reducing carbon emissions in subsequent years.

Russia also insisted in its Paris submission that it be given the maximum potential credit for carbon adsorbed out of the atmosphere by Siberia's vast undeveloped forests. Under current projections, Russia could step up its carbon emissions and still claim to meet its 2030 goals.

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Trump to Russians: Ex-FBI Director James Comey was a 'real nut job, crazy'

US President Donald Trump told Russian officials at an Oval Office meeting last week that firing FBI Director James Comey eased pressure on him as he was a "real nut job" and "crazy", a media report claimed today.

"I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump told Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov and the country's Ambassador to the US, the Times reported, citing minutes of the meeting between Trump and the Russians.

According to the US daily, the quotes and other excerpts from the minutes was readout to its correspondent by a Trump administration official.

Another on the condition of anonymity confirmed the quotes from the said document.

"I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off...I am not under investigation," he was quoted as saying by said the daily.

The White House did not comment on the authenticity of Trump's conversation with the Russian officials in the Oval Office on May 9.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told The New York Times in a statement that Comey had behaved politically and put unnecessary pressure on the president's ability to conduct diplomacy with Russia on matters such as Syria, Ukraine and the Islamic State.

"By grandstanding and politicising the investigation into Russia's actions, James Comey created unnecessary pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia," Spicer said.

He said the investigation would have always continued, and the termination of Comey would not have ended it.

"Once again, the real story is that our national security has been undermined by the leaking of private and highly classified conversations," he added.
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In a major setback for Donald Trump, push to repeal health law fails

House Republican leaders, facing a revolt among conservatives and moderates in their ranks, pulled legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act from consideration on the House floor Friday in a major defeat for President Trump on the first legislative showdown of his presidency.

“We’re going to be living with Obamacare for the foreseeable future,” the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, conceded.

The failure of the Republicans’ three-month blitz to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement exposed deep divisions in the Republican Party that the election of a Republican president could not mask. It cast a long shadow over the ambitious agenda that Mr. Trump and Republican leaders had promised to enact once their party assumed power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

And it was the biggest defeat of Mr. Trump’s young presidency, which has suffered many. His travel ban has been blocked by the courts. Allegations of questionable ties to the Russian government forced out his national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn. Tensions with key allies such as Germany, Britain and Australia are high, and Mr. Trump’s approval ratings are at historic lows.

Republican leaders were willing to tolerate Mr. Trump’s foibles with the promise that he would sign into law their conservative agenda. The collective defeat of the health care effort could strain that tolerance. (READ MORE)

Ivanka Trump not just an 'employee' at White House

President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump will have security clearance, a West Wing office and the ear of her father on important policy matters. But don't call her an employee.

When it comes to government work, "employee" is more than just a word. That designation triggers transparency and ethical provisions, including a law prohibiting conflicts of interest.

Government watchdogs have written a letter to White House counsel Don McGahn expressing concern that she's not been deemed an employee. They are worried that it gives her a loophole if she improperly mingles her government policy roles with her business and financial interests.

The White House insists Ivanka Trump will voluntarily follow employee rules and has already taken steps to separate from her fashion and lifestyle brand. She retains ownership of it. (READ MORE)