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LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - The backing of a candidate in a by-election last weekend in Pakistan by a political party controlled by an Islamist with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head was in line with a plan put forward by the military last year to mainstream militant groups, according to sources familiar with the proposal. The Milli Muslim League party loyal to Hafiz Saeed - who the United States and India accuse of masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people won 5 percent of the votes in the contest for the seat vacated when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was removed from office by the Supreme Court in July. But the foray into politics by Saeed s Islamist charity appears to be following a blueprint that Sharif himself rejected when the military proposed it in 2016, according to three government officials and a retired former general briefed on the discussions. None of the sources interviewed for this article could say for sure if the MML s founding was the direct result of the military s plan, which was not discussed in meetings after Sharif put it on ice last year. The MML denies its political ambitions were engineered by the military. The official army spokesman did not comment after queries were sent to his office about the mainstreaming plan and what happened to it. Pakistan s powerful military has long been accused of fostering militant groups as proxy fighters opposing neighboring arch-enemy India, a charge the army denies. Three government officials and close Sharif confidants with knowledge of the discussions said the military s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) presented proposals for mainstreaming some militant groups in a meeting last year. They said that Sharif had opposed the mainstreaming plan, which senior military figures and some analysts see as a way of steering ultra-religious groups away from violent jihad. We have to separate those elements who are peaceful from the elements who are picking up weapons, said retired Lieutenant General Amjad Shuaib, adding that such groups should be helped out to create a political structure to come into the mainstream. The plan which Shuaib told Reuters was shared with him by the then-head of the ISI - said those who were willing should be encouraged to come into the mainstream politics of the country . He added that in his capacity as a retired senior military officer he unofficially spoke to Hafiz Saaed and another alleged militant about the plan, and they were receptive. Shuaib later said his comments in the interview were taken out of context and were part of a broader discussion about deradicalization strategies. Writing in a local newspaper on Wednesday he said the report maliciously attributed some statements to me totally out of context, just to suit its own narrative . A spokesperson for Reuters said: We stand by our reporting. Saeed s religious charity launched the Milli Muslim League party within two weeks of the court ousting Sharif over corruption allegations. Yaqoob Sheikh, the Lahore candidate for Milli Muslim League, stood as an independent after the Electoral Commission said the party was not yet legally registered. But Saeed s lieutenants, JUD workers and MML officials ran his campaign and portraits of Saeed adorn every poster promoting Sheikh, who came in fourth place on Sunday with Sharif s wife taking the seat as expected. Another Islamist designated a terrorist by the United States, Fazlur Rehman Khalil, has told Reuters he too plans to soon form his own party to advocate strict Islamic law. God willing, we will come into the mainstream - our country right now needs patriotic people, Khalil said, vowing to turn Pakistan into a state government by strict Islamic law. Saeed s charity and Khalil s Ansar ul-Umma organization are both seen by the United States as fronts for militant groups the army has been accused of sponsoring. The military denies any policy of encouraging radical groups. Still, hundreds of MML supporters, waving posters of Saeed and demanding his release from house arrest, chanted Long live Hafiz Saeed! Long live the Pakistan army! at political rallies during the run-up to the by-election. Anyone who is India s friend is a traitor, a traitor, went another campaign slogan, a reference to Sharif s attempts to improve relations with long-time foe India that was a source of tension with the military. Both Saeed and Khalil are proponents of a strict interpretation of Islam and have a history of supporting violence - each man was reportedly a signatory to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden s 1998 fatwa declaring war on the United States. They have since established religious groups that they say are unconnected to violence, though the United States maintains those groups are fronts for funneling money and fighters to militants targeting India. Analyst Khaled Ahmed, who has researched Saeed s Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity and its connections to the military, says the new political party is clearly an attempt by the generals to pursue an alternative to dismantling its militant proxies. One thing is the army wants these guys to survive, Ahmed said. The other thing is that they want to also balance the politicians who are more and more inclined to normalize relations with India. The ISI began pushing the political mainstreaming plan in 2016, according to retired general Shuaib, a former director of the army s military intelligence wing that is separate from the ISI. He said the proposal was shared with him in writing by the then-ISI chief, adding that he himself had spoken with Khalil as well as Saeed in an unofficial capacity about the plan. Fazlur Rehman Khalil was very positive. Hafiz Saeed was very positive, Shuaib said. My conversation with them was just to confirm those things which I had been told by the ISI and other people. The ISI s main press liaison did not respond to written requests for comment. Saeed has been under house arrest since January at his house in the eastern city of Lahore. The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his conviction over the Mumbai attacks. Then-Prime Minister Sharif, however, was strongly against the military s mainstreaming plan, according to Shuaib and the three members of Sharif s inner circle, including one who was in some of the tense meetings over the issue. Sharif wanted to completely dismantle groups like JuD. Disagreement on what to do about anti-India proxy fighters was a major source of rancor with the military, according to one of the close Sharif confidants. In recent weeks several senior figures from the ruling PML-N party have publicly implied that elements of the military - which has run Pakistan for almost half its modern history and previously ousted Sharif in a 1999 coup - had a hand in the court ouster of Sharif, a charge both the army and the court reject. A representative of the PML-N, which last month replaced him as prime minister with close ally Shahid Khaqi Abbasi, said the party was not aware of any mainstreaming plan being brought to the table.

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DUBAI/ISTANBUL/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iran halted flights to and from Kurdish regions in northern Iraq on Sunday in retaliation to a plan by the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to hold a referendum on independence. It also started wargames at the Kurdish border. The air embargo is the first concrete retaliatory measure against Monday s Kurdish referendum which is rejected by the government in Baghdad and by Iraq s powerful neighbors, Iran and Turkey. Iranian authorities stopped air traffic to the international airports of Erbil and Sulaimaniya, in Iraqi Kurdistan, upon a request from Baghdad, Fars News Agency said. Tehran and Ankara fear the spread of separatism to their own Kurds. Iran also supports Shi ite groups who have been ruling or holding key security and government positions in Iraq since the 2003 U.S-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein. Turkey, meanwhile, said on Sunday its aircraft launched strikes against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq s Gara region on Saturday after spotting militants preparing to attack Turkish military outposts on the border. Turkey will never ever tolerate any status change or any new formations on its southern borders, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. The KRG will be primarily responsible for the probable developments after this referendum. The KRG has resisted calls to delay the referendum by the United Nations, the United States and Britain who fear it could further destabilize the region. The vote, expected to result in a comfortable yes to independence, is not binding and is meant to give the KRG a legitimate mandate to negotiate the secession of the autonomous region with Baghdad and the neighboring countries. The KRG says the vote acknowledges the Kurds crucial contribution confronting Islamic State after it overwhelmed the Iraqi army in 2014 and seized control of a third of Iraq. Iranian State broadcaster IRIB said military drills, part of annual events held in Iran to mark the beginning of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, were launched in the Oshnavieh border region. The war games will include artillery, armored and airborne units, it said. Clashes with Iranian Kurdish militant groups based in Iraq are fairly common in the border area. On Saturday, Turkish warplanes destroyed gun positions, caves and shelters used by PKK militants, a military statement from Ankara said. Turkey s air force frequently carries out such air strikes against the PKK in northern Iraq, where its commanders are based. Turkey s parliament voted on Saturday to extend by a year a mandate authorizing the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria. The PKK launched an insurgency in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict. It is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The U.S. embassy in Iraq cautioned its citizens that there may be unrest during a referendum, especially in territories disputed between the KRG and the central government like the multi-ethnic oil-rich region of Kirkuk. Three Kurdish Peshmerga fighters were killed and five wounded on Saturday when an explosive device blew up near their vehicle south Kirkuk, security sources said. The explosion happened in Daquq, a region bordering Islamic State-held areas, the sources said. Islamic State s caliphate effectively collapsed in July, when a U.S.-backed Iraqi offensive, in which the Peshmerga took part, captured their stronghold Mosul, in northern Iraq. The group continues to control a pocket west of Kirkuk and a stretch alongside the Syrian border and inside Syria.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Monday blocked Democratic legislation aimed at stopping sales of firearms to people on “terrorism watch lists.” The Senate fell 13 votes short of clearing the measure for approval, as the chamber also defeated three other gun control measures stemming from the June 12 shootings in Orlando that killed 49 people and wounded 53 others.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court sentenced a 27-year-old German supporter of Islamic State to three years and three months in prison on Monday for plotting to lure police or soldiers into a trap and kill them with a home-made bomb. The ruling came with German authorities on high alert ahead of Tuesday s anniversary of an attack last year in which a failed Tunisian asylum-seeker plowed a truck into crowds at an outdoor Christmas market and killed 12 people. Prosecutors said the suspect, identified only as Sascha L., had carried out two successful tests of a home-made explosive device in his hometown in January. An inquiry found two videos of the accused pledging allegiance to Islamic State s leader. However, the court ruled on Monday that there was no evidence that the man had a personal connection with the Islamist militia or that he was financially supported by the militia, German broadcaster NDR reported. NDR said the court granted him leniency since he cooperated with authorities after his arrest and confessed his plans. German magazine Der Spiegel had reported that the man was part of the far-right scene in the past before converting to Salafism, an ultra-conservative Islamist creed. The man, who was arrested in February, admitted planning an attack. Chemicals that could be used to make explosive devices were found during a search of his home in the town of Northeim in central Germany. Three men charged as accomplices of the convicted man also appeared before the court. Two were convicted, with one sentenced to three years probation and the other to 100 hours of community service. The third person was acquitted. Last week, German police raided nine locations in Berlin and the eastern state of Saxony Anhalt in an investigation of four people suspected of planning an Islamist-motivated attack.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seven Democratic senators urged the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday to block two mergers of major health insurance companies, saying that the proposed deals would mean higher premiums and lower-quality healthcare for consumers. The department is reviewing Aetna Inc’s $33 billion plan to buy Humana Inc and Anthem Inc’s $48 billion proposal to buy Cigna Corp. If approved, the deals, both of which were announced last July, would reduce the number of national health insurance carriers from five to three. “We urge the DOJ (Justice Department) to challenge these mergers from proceeding and to prevent the damage they would cause to competition and consumers,” wrote Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Al Franken of Minnesota, Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Dianne Feinstein of California and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii. The letter was dated Wednesday and addressed to Renata Hesse, who heads the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. In the letter, the lawmakers said they were skeptical of the idea that the proposed deals would be good for consumers because the companies could use their larger size to hammer out better deals for patients. “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that few if any cost savings secured by the merging firms through the exercise of market power will be passed on to consumers,” they wrote. The lawmakers also disagreed with the notion that the sale of carefully chosen assets to a competitor could resolve antitrust issues, and pointed to past instances where mergers with divestitures led to higher premiums or where competitors bought divested assets, but then did not use them. “We are not convinced that any divestitures required of the merging parties will succeed today, given that they have so clearly failed in the recent past,” the lawmakers wrote. Capitol Hill does not have a say in whether the Justice Department sues to stop deals. Aetna spokesman T.J. Crawford said that the company planned to close the merger with Humana in the second half of this year. “We believe a combined company is in the best interest of consumers. We continue to cooperate with the Department of Justice on its thorough review of the transaction,” Crawford said. Representatives of Anthem could not immediately be reached for comment.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders returned to Washington for meetings on Thursday with President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid as Democrats pressured him to end his presidential campaign and support Hillary Clinton after a hard-fought primary race. Clinton, a former secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady, secured enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination this week and become the first woman to lead a major U.S. party as its presidential nominee. Despite Clinton’s commanding victories in California and New Jersey in presidential contests on Tuesday, Sanders vowed to carry his populist campaign to the Democratic National Convention in July, when the party’s nominee is formally chosen. Obama, who is expected to endorse Clinton soon, was scheduled to meet with Sanders at the White House on Thursday at 11:15 a.m. (1515 GMT). Sanders will meet with Reid, his Senate colleague, in the afternoon. The Sanders campaign, which waged an unexpectedly strong challenge to a better-known and better-funded Democrat, has decried what it called Clinton’s anointment by the party establishment and the media. In an interview taped on Wednesday for broadcast on the NBC’s “Tonight” show on Thursday, Obama said he hoped that divisions between Democrats would start to heal in coming weeks now that Clinton has clinched the party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election. At a fund-raiser in New York City on Wednesday, Obama said he was not too worried about bruised feelings after the primary and said “it was a healthy thing for the Democratic Party to have a contested primary.” Obama praised Sanders, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont, for bringing new energy and ideas to the party. “He pushed the party and challenged them,” he said. “I thought it made Hillary a better candidate.” Democrats are striking a delicate balance between the need to unite behind Clinton in the looming battle against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and not alienating Sanders and his supporters. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, herself a progressive known as a fiery critic of Wall Street, is preparing to endorse Clinton in the coming weeks after staying neutral in the Democratic primary, people familiar with her thinking told Reuters.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The No. 2 U.S. diplomat on Tuesday sought to allay concerns among the State Department’s rank-and-file employees over possible layoffs and perceptions of a lack of firm direction under the administration of President Donald Trump. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, formerly chief executive of Exxon Mobil and new to government, has initiated a top-to-bottom re-organization of the agency, saying it will improve diplomats’ experience and help the department better meet 21st-century challenges. “Re-design is not a synonym for layoffs,” Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan was quoted as saying by two officials who listened to his remarks to around 450 employees at a town hall-style event that was closed to journalists. Diplomats have fretted over a hiring freeze that has hampered their ability to switch jobs, the slow pace of appointments to senior positions, and a proposed 28 percent cut in State Department funding. Sullivan acknowledged in remarks to a small group of reporters after the event that the pace of senior job hires had been frustrating. Tillerson is not directing any specific outcome from the re-design, which is being led by senior career officials, other than a better-running and more efficient department, Sullivan said. According to the Partnership for Public Service, which tracks political appointments, the Trump administration has not yet put forward a nominee for 86 of 131 Senate-confirmed positions at the department, including posts leading diplomacy on the Middle East and East Asia, where there are several potential crises. “No one here would say that we’re pleased by the fact that we don’t have more of our undersecretary and assistant secretary slots filled, but we’re working hard to do that,” Sullivan told reporters. Sullivan said media portrayals of a listless bureaucracy and “a hollowed-out State Department that is not effective” were wrong. He said work was being done on major issues such as the North Korea nuclear and missile programs, a rift between Gulf nations and Qatar and Ukraine. State Department officials said the tone of the town hall event was professional, with pointed exchanges of views at times. One said that Sullivan’s public appreciation for career diplomats “has been desperately needed.” Sullivan’s uncle was William H. Sullivan, the last U.S. ambassador to Iran, who left in 1979 when Iran’s monarchy was overthrown and replaced with an Islamic theocracy. In response to a question from an employee about State Department efforts for gay and lesbian couples posted abroad, Sullivan told employees he would do everything he can to make sure everyone is treated fairly, a remark that drew strong applause, one of the officials said.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday defended his direct interventions with companies, including making statements on Twitter, saying businesses will benefit from his actions and his upcoming term in office. One day after criticizing one of Boeing Co’s high-profile projects in a tweet, Trump told NBC that he anticipated “tremendous” economic growth under his administration but reiterated his warning that companies shifting U.S. jobs overseas would have to pay. Still, markets and companies should not worry, he said. “I don’t know ... how people are unnerved,” Trump told NBC’s “Today” program. “It’s just the opposite. Frankly, I think we’re going to go up.” The New York businessman, who has never held public office, begins his term on Jan. 20. Trump also said he had sold his stocks in June to avoid any conflict-of-interest with the presidency. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to be owning stocks when I’m making deals for this country that maybe will affect one company positively and one company negatively,” he said. His comments followed a series of actions targeting specific companies, including a deal to keep some Carrier jobs in the United States. On Tuesday, he criticized Boeing in a tweet that dented its shares, and he won pledges from two of Asia’s biggest technology companies to expand their U.S. investments. [L1N1E11W9] On Boeing, Trump complained about costs for its revamped Air Force One plane, a prominent symbol of the U.S. presidency, and urged the government to cancel its order. [L1N1E110N] The move was the latest example of Trump’s using his podium, often via Twitter, to rattle companies and foreign countries. Trump told NBC that he and Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg spoke on Tuesday. “We’re going to work it out,” Trump said. “That’s what I’m here for. I’m going to negotiate prices.” He also cautioned U.S. businesses against offshoring jobs. “If they want to fire their workers, move to Mexico or some other country, and sell their product into our country, they’re going to be paying a tax,” he told NBC. Earlier this month, Trump lauded a deal with United Technologies Corp’s Carrier to keep some U.S. positions in exchange for $7 million in tax breaks following a Thanksgiving Day tweet on the negotiations. Trump also defended his Twitter posts, telling NBC he used the social media platform to “talk about important things” and that it conveyed his message “much faster than a press release.”

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SANTIAGO (Reuters) - International researchers investigating the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda raised doubts on Friday as to whether he died of cancer 44 years ago as previously presumed, and did not rule out foul play. Neruda, known for his passionate love poems and staunch communist views, died days after a coup in September 1973 that ushered in the brutal dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Neruda s chauffeur claimed Pinochet s agents took advantage of the poet s illness to inject poison into his stomach as he lay in hospital. Neruda s body was exhumed in 2013 and previous tests have found no evidence of poison but are ongoing. Spanish forensic specialist Aurelio Luna from the University of Murcia told journalists that his team discovered something that could possibly be a laboratory-cultivated bacteria. It will be analyzed, with results expected in six months to a year. Luna also said that tests indicated that death from prostrate cancer was not likely at the moment when Neruda died. From analysis of the data we cannot accept that the poet had been in an imminent situation of death at the moment of entering the hospital, he said. We cannot confirm if the nature of Pablo Neruda s death was natural or violent, he added. Pinochet died in 2006. Neruda s family and supporters have been divided over whether the case should be closed and his remains returned to his grave near his coastal home of Isla Negra, or whether researchers should continue carrying out tests.

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STRASBOURG (Reuters) - Transylvania may not seem everyone s idea of a fun weekend away to get over a painful break-up but that is Jean-Claude Juncker s prescription for EU leaders to cope with the blues on the day Britain walks out. Sibiu, the picturesque historic home of Romania s ethnic Germans, will be just the place for the other 27 national leaders to make a public show of unity on Saturday, March 30, 2019, the European Commission president told EU lawmakers on Wednesday in his annual State of the European Union address. His proposals for a more united bloc without Britain face scepticism from many governments. But the EU s chief executive has, officials said, calculated that expanding the euro zone and deepening its cooperation can win support from Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, leaders of the founding powers France and Germany, and heal rifts with newer, poorer members in the east. His mention of Brexit brought cheers from UK Independence Party members in Strasbourg. They scoffed at Juncker s warning that Britons would soon regret leaving and said UKIP would look forward to that weekend 18 months hence to celebrate Britain s liberation from what they call EU diktat from Brussels. But aides say Juncker believes many of the 440 million other Europeans will only truly wake up to the fact the second-ranked economy is leaving pretty much around when it actually happens. And to reassure them at what Juncker said would be a very sad and tragic moment , their leaders should plan a get-together in Romania, one of the newest, and poorest member states, which just happens to be the rotating chair of the EU in early 2019. A rich cultural heritage Juncker noted that German-speakers like himself know it as Hermannstadt, capital of Transylvania s centuries-old Saxon community makes Sibiu a good spot to celebrate the Union of Europe s diverse peoples. The whole idea on that day is to focus on...matters to come for the Union, not on the ones who are leaving, one senior EU official said of the Sibiu summit, which was welcomed by Romanian President Klaus Ioannis, a former mayor of the city. And if hostile British commentators might be tempted to link the Transylvanian venue to a view of the EU as a bloodsucking vampire on the British taxpayer, Romanian locals insist their town has little to do with the region s Dracula legend. Aside from altering the atmospherics of what will certainly be a historic weekend for the European Union, the success of Juncker s vision for Sibiu in 2019 will depend on how national leaders respond to the proposals he sketched out on Wednesday. Most strikingly, the former Luxembourg premier who will step down in autumn 2019, wants to use the departure of the Union s opter-out-in-chief, Britain, to end a culture of states picking and choosing which bits of integration they want - for themselves and others - and to bring all 27 or more nations in to the euro currency zone, Schengen travel area and bank union. In a speech that carefully balanced indirect criticisms and praise for different leaders across the bloc, he slapped down Macron s embryonic proposals for a separate euro zone budget and plans to push ahead with deeper integration that could leave non-euro countries, especially in the east, on the EU s fringes. The German government, preparing for an election in two weeks that should hand Merkel a fourth term, is skeptical of Macron s plans but is also likely to be wary of the ambition of Juncker s proposals. Its initial reaction was restrained. EU officials, however, play down the idea that Juncker is making for a head-on confrontation with Merkel and Macron when he sets his face against a multispeed Europe that the veteran EU dealmaker believes bears the seeds of the EU s unraveling. Rather, Juncker sees his idea of a euro zone covering the whole EU, with its budget part of the overall EU budget and run from the existing Commission, as a practical application of the kind of suggestions Macron and Merkel seem to support but on which their administrations have offered little concrete detail. At the same time, EU officials argue, past attempts by Paris and Berlin to force a lead on integration, such as by Merkel and then president Nicolas Sarkozy at the height of the euro zone crisis in 2011, failed to gain traction. Juncker, they say, will try to persuade them that his broader approach is more viable. Nonetheless, his suggestion that the likes of Poland and Hungary, run by deeply eurosceptic governments, should join the strictures of the euro zone is unlikely to win rapid support in Warsaw or Budapest. Juncker s argument is, however, that if they refuse offers and pressure to join, they cannot then complain about being treated as second class members of the Union. Juncker, 62, said he had despaired of the EU at times but wants Sibiu to offer EU voters something other than Brexit to wake up to, two months before a European Parliament election. The biggest challenge to achieving his long list of ambitions by then will be overcoming entrenched national interests: Democracy is about compromise, he said in a blunt warning to the squabbling leaders he wants to come together in Transylvania. Europe cannot function without compromise.

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(Reuters) - Highlights for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday: Trump promises a big announcement about tax reform next week and orders an administration review of Obama-era tax rules written to discourage U.S. companies from relocating overseas to cut their tax bills. Trump tells the Treasury Department to examine two powers given to regulators to police large financial companies following the 2008 financial crisis. South Korea says it is on heightened alert ahead of another important anniversary in North Korea, with a large concentration of military hardware amassed on both sides of the border amid concerns about a new nuclear test by Pyongyang. Trump, striving to make good on a top campaign promise, is pushing fellow Republicans who control Congress to pass revamped healthcare legislation but the same intraparty squabbling that torpedoed it last month could do it again. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says Syria has dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retains chemical weapons, an issue he says will have to be taken up diplomatically. The Department of Justice threatens to cut off funding to California as well as eight cities and counties across the United States, escalating a Trump administration crackdown on so-called “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The United States will not make an exception for American companies, including oil major Exxon Mobil Corp, seeking to drill in areas prohibited by U.S. sanctions on Russia, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says. Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress face their first major budget test next week, with the threat of a government shutdown potentially hinging on his proposed Mexican border wall as well as Obamacare funding. The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee says it has invited FBI, National Security Agency and Obama administration officials to testify as it restarts its investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meets with Trump at the White House for the first time since both took office earlier this year and amid a U.S. push to cut funding to the world body and its agencies. The United States has offered to help fund Mexico’s efforts to eradicate opium poppies, a U.S. official says, as Mexican heroin output increased again last year.

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(Reuters) - Highlights of the day for U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday: Trump says he wants to build up the U.S. nuclear arsenal to ensure it is at the “top of the pack,” saying the United States has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity. [nL1N1G82CF] Mexico expresses “worry and irritation” about U.S. policies to two of Trump’s top officials, giving a chilly reply to the new administration’s hard line on immigration, trade and security. One of California’s most populous counties asks a judge to suspend Trump’s executive order that seeks to withhold federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities for immigrants, saying the directive has thrown its budget process into “disarray.” Trump speaks favorably about an export-boosting border adjustment tax proposal being pushed by Republicans in the U.S. Congress, but does not specifically endorse it. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin lays out an ambitious schedule to enact tax relief for the middle class and businesses by August, but says the Trump administration is still studying a proposed new border tax on imports. Trump declares China the “grand champions” of currency manipulation, just hours after his new Treasury secretary pledged a more methodical approach to analyzing Beijing’s foreign exchange practices. Trump tells chief executives of major U.S. companies he plans to bring millions of jobs back to the United States, but offers no specific plan on how to reverse a decades-long decline in factory jobs. Trump’s chief strategist, Steve Bannon, known as a forceful influence in the White House, makes a rare public appearance to appeal to conservatives to unite behind the Republican president as he presses his agenda. U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos criticizes as “overreach” former President Barack Obama’s guidelines to public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms of their choice, one day after Trump revoked the guidance. U.S. companies led by tech firms Yahoo Inc YHOO.O, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) criticize the Trump administration’s decision to revoke Obama administration guidance that allowed transgender public school students to use the bathroom of their choice. [nL1N1G81XV] Trump’s administration expects to see greater federal enforcement of laws against the use of marijuana for recreational purposes, White House spokesman Sean Spicer says.

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BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker on Friday signed a bill raising the tax on retail sales of recreational marijuana to 20 percent, up from the 12 percent rate proposed in a successful 2016 ballot initiative. The state is one of eight in the United States to have legalized use of the drug by adults 21 and older. Marijuana possession was legalized on Dec. 15, 2016, but retail sales of the drug remain illegal until Jan. 1, 2018, a delay intended to give state and local authorities time to decide how to regulate the trade. Baker, a Republican, opposed legalization as did several senior state officials, and he voiced concern about the future after signing the law. “I don’t support this. I worry terribly about what the consequences will be,” Baker told reporters. “We appreciate the careful consideration the legislature took to balance input from lawmakers, educators, public safety officials and public health professionals, while honoring the will of the voters regarding the adult use of marijuana.” The law also allows cities and towns to ban or limit marijuana sales and creates a five-member Cannabis Control Commission with responsibility for overseeing the sale of recreational and medical marijuana. The measure approved by voters called for legal retail sales of the drug to begin on July 1, but state legislators pushed that date back by six months to allow time to develop regulations. Legalization backers, who had protested the delay, called on state officials to move quickly in appointing the new control commission. “The state will benefit greatly from the tax revenues and jobs created by the new industry, and we are confident lawmakers will secure appropriate funding to get the regulatory system up and running on the current timeline,” said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for Regulate Mass, which supported the ballot initiative.

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ROME (Reuters) - Italy s anti-establishment 5-Star Movement supports the European Union and wants significant law-making powers transferred from governments to the European Parliament, its leader Luigi Di Maio told Reuters. 5-Star, which leads opinion polls ahead of an election to be held by May, is trying to reassure Italy s partners and financial markets that it can be trusted in government, and distance itself from its previously eurosceptic positions. We are pro-EU and we intend to contribute to creating the future of Europe, the 31-year-old lower house deputy, who was elected in September as 5-Star s leader and prime minister candidate, said in an interview. He said if 5-Star wins power it will negotiate with Italy s partners to try to set up EU-wide welfare policies to tackle growing poverty and inequality in many countries in the bloc, including Italy, the EU s fourth largest economy. If it reforms, the EU can be a solution to many of our problems, Di Maio said, calling for more law-making powers for the European Parliament as the only directly elected EU body. He said 5-Star s stance on Europe and the euro had shifted since 2014, when it lobbied for a referendum to take Italy out of the common currency zone and joined the eurosceptic group of Britain s United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) in the European Parliament. He said the defeat of traditional parties in France and the difficulties in forming stable, majority governments in Germany, Spain and Portugal meant there is no longer the wide EU support for austerity policies that 5-Star has opposed. It has not totally withdrawn the idea of a referendum on the euro, but it now calls it a last resort to be employed only if Italy wins no concessions on EU governance from its partners. We set out with strong opposition to the euro because back then there was too much difference between our positions and the monolithic, pro-austerity position promoted by Germany which dominated in Europe, he said. But now things have changed. 5-Star tried this year to leave the UKIP group in the European Parliament to join the pro-Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), but the switch fell through due to resistance from some ALDE members. Di Maio said that after the next European elections in 2019 5-Star would avoid linking up with any extremist, populist, xenophobic or old-style leftist movements. Domestically, 5-Star bases its support on an anti-corruption drive and policies that bridge the traditional left-right divide such as clean energy, tax cuts for small businesses and more public investment in infrastructure and education. As part of a charm offensive as the election nears, last month Di Maio visited Washington to burnish 5-Star s image with the U.S. administration, and party officials met in Rome with representatives of large international banks and hedge funds. He spoke to Reuters on the sidelines of a conference organized by Italian media website EUnews. 5-Star, which shuns alliances with Italy s traditional parties, leads opinion polls with around 28 percent of the vote, some 3 points ahead of the ruling Democratic Party, but it seems sure to fall well short of a parliamentary majority. Di Maio said 5-Star s plan was to form a minority government and seek support from other parties for its policies on a case-by-case basis.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - Barring an upset, the main uncertainty surrounding Europe s most important election this year is not whether Angela Merkel will continue to lead Germany after this weekend s vote, but who with and how long they will take to get going. Although a surprise cannot be ruled out in the wake of any Russian interference, pollsters say they are confident about their surveys, which show Merkel s conservatives winning the most seats in the Bundestag lower house. The far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) is set to enter parliament for the first time, and some experts have said it may gain more support than the roughly 10 percent polls suggest, an alarming prospect for many at home and abroad. But all the other parties have ruled out joining it in a coalition - an inherent part of Germany s electoral system - and the most likely scenario is probably a repeat of Merkel s grand coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD). She will start sounding out partners right after the Sept. 24 vote, but coalition building is a protracted process, which could paralyze policy for months at a time when Brexit has shaken Europe s foundations. The process is especially complex this time as the number of parliamentary groups could rise to six from four. Informal soundings and then exploratory talks precede formal coalition negotiations and party leaders may also seek approval from their members before signing off on any deal. Depending on the shape of the coalition, the main issues at stake are the integration of the more than 1 million migrants who have arrived in Germany in the last two years, and investment in Europe s biggest economy as well as Merkel s leading role in talks on reform of the European Union and relations with Russia and Turkey. Here are the main scenarios: CONSERVATIVES, SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ( GRAND COALITION ) The most likely option, according to opinion polls. Merkel s parliamentary party, made up of her Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) has governed with the SPD for eight of the 12 years that Merkel has been chancellor, including the last four. WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: Merkel, who has steered the conservatives towards the political center ground, looks comfortable ruling with the SPD. Such a coalition would likely have a large majority, provide continuity and broadly agree on Europe, Turkey, foreign policy, migration and security issues. HURDLES: It is a last resort for both sides, especially the SPD, which fears it will lose out as junior partner. It wants more emphasis on investment, education, tackling inequality and fair pensions while conservatives are more focused on tax cuts. The SPD is also reluctant to back planned defense spending hikes. CONSERVATIVES, FREE DEMOCRATS ( BLACK-YELLOW ) The conservative block and pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) are traditional partners, especially on financial and economic policy, having ruled together for almost half of post-war Germany s seven decades. If they win sufficient votes, this is the most likely scenario. WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: The pro-business FDP has rebounded this year, winning enough votes in a vote in Germany s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in May to share power with the CDU there. A repeat at federal level would herald tax cuts and deregulation and possibly tighter laws on immigration, asylum seeking and security. HURDLES: The FDP was wiped out of parliament in 2013 after four chaotic years ruling with Merkel. It has more radical tax reduction and privatization plans, opposes deeper EU integration and wants EU countries to be able to quit the euro zone. Party leader Christian Lindner has also suggested Germany accept Russia s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, something Merkel has ruled out. CONSERVATIVES, FDP, GREENS ( JAMAICA - REFERENCE TO PARTIES COLORS: BLACK, YELLOW, GREEN) As yet untested at a federal level, this combination rules in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein. WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE - If Merkel s bloc can t form an alliance with the FDP or the Greens alone, it may try a three-way deal. Both smaller parties have played down this option but may be lured by the prospect of power. HURDLES - The Greens and FDP are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Policy clashes would be likely on tax, energy, the EU and migrants. CONSERVATIVES, GREENS ( BLACK-GREEN ) Untested at a federal level, this has been mooted as an option under Merkel, who has pushed renewable energy. The CDU and Greens have worked together at regional level, including in a Greens-led coalition in the rich southern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: The Greens leaders are pragmatic, worlds away from the eco-warriors who founded the party. The prospect of power may persuade them to compromise. Such a coalition would promote a strong Europe and focus on fighting climate change. The Greens would push for a phaseout of coal-fired power stations. HURDLES: Doubtful they would win a majority. Conservatives want lower taxes while Greens want to tax the super rich. Greens have a more liberal migrant policy which could pit them against the CSU, and they oppose plans to increase defense spending. Clashes are also likely on some aspects of energy policy and auto emissions regulation following the diesel scandal. A minority government would be a first and stability-craving Germans would not like it but may prefer it to new elections. WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: If Merkel fails to find a partner, she may feel she has a mandate to rule given her personal popularity. She would probably get support for individual policies from the FDP, SPD and Greens. HURDLES: Merkel s natural caution coupled with Germans fear of instability, a legacy of the fragmentation in the years that preceded the rise of Hitler s Nazi party. SPD, LEFT, GREENS ( RED-RED-GREEN or R2G ) Highly unlikely. Never tested at a federal level, a tie up between the SPD and Greens, preferred partners, and the radical Left party, could be the only way for the SPD to take the chancellery. It is being tested in the state of Berlin under SPD leadership and, with a Left premier, in the state of Thuringia. WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE: For the first time, the SPD has not excluded the possibility of joining the Left. Such a coalition would probably focus on boosting investment and tackling inequality and adopt a more Russia-friendly stance. HURDLES: The Left s links with Communists in former East Germany and painful SPD memories of an exodus to the Left over deep labor market reforms more than a decade ago. While the SPD and Greens could rule together relatively easily, the Left wants a top tax rate of 75 percent, a 30-hour week and to replace NATO with an alliance including Russia. For an interactive on German elections, click: tmsnrt.rs/2fv8Yqv

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that visa restrictions imposed on Gambia earlier this year will be lifted as of Dec. 12 after Banjul took steps to ensure its citizens ordered to leave the United States are re-admitted to the West African country.

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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump began laying the groundwork on Friday to take office on Jan. 20, 2017, gathering the most loyal advisers from his insurgent campaign and three of his children to plot his transition strategy. Trump put Vice President-elect Mike Pence in charge of his White House transition team, while demoting his former transition chief, tarnished New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, to one of the six vice-chair posts. Daughter Ivanka and sons Eric and Donald Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner accounted for a fourth of the 16-member executive committee, which was filled with politicians and advisers who stuck with Trump during his rollercoaster first run for public office. Aides huddled in the real-estate mogul’s Trump Tower in New York City to begin prioritizing policy changes and considering Cabinet picks and other candidates for the 4,000 positions he will need to fill shortly after he takes the reins of the White House. A member of the Trump transition team told Reuters there were more than 100 people now involved in developing “white papers” on what regulations to roll back after Jan. 20. Some environmental measures and a rule requiring retirement advisers to act in their clients’ interests could be among the first on the chopping block, an industry lobbying source said. Trump promised during his campaign to cut taxes, clamp down on immigration and repeal President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. But in interviews with the Wall Street Journal and CBS “60 Minutes” on Friday, he said he was open to keeping some provisions of Obamacare. James Woolsey, a former CIA director who has advised Trump on foreign policy, said several of Trump’s campaign promises were “advocacy of a general direction” that may require compromise - including his signature pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico. Woolsey told CNN that border security could be achieved with a combination of fence and wall. “I don’t think we ought to fall on our sword about the difference between a wall and fence. Maybe this will be cheaper because it’s mainly fence, but it’s a good fence. I wouldn’t have any problem with that myself,” he said. Trump, a billionaire real estate magnate, also moved on Friday to extricate himself from his sprawling business empire, which will be overseen by his three grown children on the transition team. His company said it was vetting new business structures for the transfer of control to the three and the arrangement would not violate conflict-of-interest laws. But government ethics experts said the move would fall short of blind trust standards and was unlikely to prevent potential conflicts of interest. Trump said that Pence - who has strong ties to Republican leaders in Congress - will build on work done by Christie and has the mission of assembling “the most highly qualified group of successful leaders who will be able to implement our change agenda in Washington.” Christie, once viewed as a top candidate for attorney general, is dealing with political fallout from the ‘Bridgegate’ lane closure scandal. Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is now the leading contender for the top law enforcement job, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Trump’s campaign spent relatively little time on transition planning during the campaign, and even his Republican supporters had been bracing for a loss to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in Tuesday’s election. “I was on Romney’s transition team, and it was a well-oiled machine months before the election. Now there’s a scramble,” said one Republican source, referring to the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. Since Tuesday, dozens of possible cabinet appointees have been floated, from grassroots conservative heroes like Sarah Palin to seasoned Washington hands like David Malpass. During his campaign, many establishment Republicans condemned Trump’s racially inflammatory rhetoric as well as his attacks on trade deals and the NATO alliance, which could take many traditional names out of the running. But outgoing Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte - who had distanced herself from Trump at points in her unsuccessful reelection campaign in New Hampshire - was being floated as a potential defense secretary on Friday, the Washington Post reported. Trump’s relatively small cadre of steadfast supporters is expected to play a prominent role in his administration. Campaign sources say Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions could serve as Defense Secretary, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich might be named as Secretary of State and retired General Michael Flynn could serve as national security adviser. Those three, along with Giuliani and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, were named as vice chairs of the transition team. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus is a strong candidate for White House chief of staff, according to sources close to the campaign. Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon, a conservative provocateur, is also being considered for the job. As Trump mulled his team, demonstrators hit the streets in major cities for the third straight night to denounce his election and the inflammatory campaign rhetoric on immigrants, Muslims and women. Thousands marched through Miami, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco as night fell. Trump appears to be leaning toward seasoned Republicans for many economic positions. David Malpass, a former Treasury and State Department official, and Paul Atkins, a former Securities and Exchange Commission official, are guiding the transition team on economic issues. “This is one area where the most Republican orthodoxy will come out,” said Brandon Barford, a former Republican congressional staffer. The Trump transition website, www.greatagain.gov, picked up on the tone of legislation aimed at weakening Dodd-Frank financial regulations that was released this summer by Republican chair of the House Financial Services Committee, Jeb Hensarling. Trump’s victory is forcing President Barack Obama to scale back his ambitions for his final months in office. Obama, who is set to meet with key allies from Europe and Asia next week during his final foreign trip, is giving up on a last-ditch attempt to seek congressional approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal before leaving office. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a TPP partner, is slated to meet with Trump next week in New York, and the president-elect also fielded calls from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande on Friday. But EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had a blunter reaction to the Trump transition. “I think we will waste two years before Mr. Trump tours the world he does not know,” Juncker said on Friday.

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BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government is not considering sanctions against the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump sparked outrage around the world by deciding to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, a spokesman said. Asked what the German government thought about the idea of economic sanctions, spokesman Steffen Seibert said: “I think we can say that’s not part of the German government’s policy.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday “all options” were being considered over the possible discipline of House Democrats for protests they held on the House floor to call for action on gun-control measures. With Democrats already rejecting a Republican gun bill and warning of further protests, the Republican-controlled House appeared to be heading for renewed discord over gun restrictions following the June 12 mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Ryan, who was speaking at a news conference, had previously said the House would vote this week on a measure intended to keep guns out of the hands of people the government suspects of involvement in violent extremism. But it is no longer clear when a vote might be held. Democrats say the Republican-backed legislation is inadequate because authorities would have only three days to convince a judge that a gun sale should be blocked.

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - A vanquished challenger to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against the longtime Democratic leader, accusing him of using dirty tactics to beat him in a March primary election. Chicago Democrat Jason Gonzales accused Madigan of defaming him and crowding the primary with “phony” candidates to dilute his opposition. Gonzalez named the 45-year incumbent, the speaker’s political funds, a top aide and his two other opponents, among others, in a 39-count lawsuit over an alleged scheme to swing the four-way race in the speaker’s favor. “Madigan won because he engaged in dirty, illegal, fraudulent tactics,” Gonzales, who finished second in his bid to topple Madigan with 27 percent of the vote, said in a telephone interview. Madigan received slightly more than 65 percent. Madigan said in a statement that the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, was “without merit.” “Voters of my district soundly re-nominated me based on my strong record of service, giving me more than 65 percent of the vote, and they emphatically rejected Jason Gonzales because they knew he couldn’t be trusted,” said Madigan, who is Illinois’ longest-serving officeholder, representing Chicago’s southwest side since 1971. Neither Grasiela Rodriguez nor Joe Barboza, the two other candidates named in Gonzales’ lawsuit, could be reached for comment. Gonzales accused Madigan of falsely calling him a felon on television commercials and in political mailers based on several arrests and criminal convictions between 1991 and 1994, including the use of stolen credit cards as an 18-year-old. Gonzales alleged that Madigan improperly publicized those criminal records, which should not have been made public after former Democratic Governor Pat Quinn granted a pardon and expunged Gonzales’ criminal record in January 2015. “Madigan’s defamatory statement was one that harmed Gonzales’ reputation to the extent it lowered Gonzales in the eyes of the community and deterred the community from associating with him,” his lawsuit alleged. “As a direct and proximate result of the foregoing acts and/or omissions by Madigan, Gonzales suffered injuries of a personal and pecuniary nature, including emotional distress, damage to reputation and further punishment despite being granted full pardons,” the lawsuit said. Gonzales also accused Madigan and his aides of diluting the Hispanic vote in a legislative district that is about 70 percent Latino by planting two opponents with Hispanic surnames on the ballot. Neither of the candidates, who collectively received nearly 8 percent of the vote, actively campaigned. Gonzales’ case is being handled by Tony Peraica, a former Republican member of the Cook County board. “I couldn’t find a Democratic lawyer who was wiling to take the case,” Gonzalez told Reuters. “Everybody was scared of Madigan.”

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(Reuters) - A group holding more than $10 billion of Puerto Rican debt wants the island’s federally appointed financial oversight board to postpone a Wednesday deadline to approve a fiscal turnaround plan for Puerto Rico, saying the U.S. territory’s creditors should have input on the plan.  A bondholder group led by OppenheimerFunds and Franklin Advisers, which hold debt across a wide swath of Puerto Rican credits, made the request to the board in a letter made public on Monday morning, ahead of the board’s scheduled public meeting in New York. “An extension would ... allow Puerto Rico and the oversight board to work with Puerto Rico’s key stakeholders to develop a fiscal plan that makes sense to all the parties,” the group said. The turnaround plan, a requirement of the Puerto Rico rescue law known as PROMESA, must be submitted by Governor Ricardo Rossello and approved by the seven-member board in charge of managing the island’s finances. The plan is meant to serve as the basis for looming restructuring talks with holders of Puerto Rico’s $70 billion in debt.  So far, Rossello and the board have disagreed about what the blueprint should look like, with the board saying an initial draft by Rossello relied on overly optimistic revenue and growth projections. The draft increased 10-year cash flows by $33.8 billion, through spending cuts and new revenues, and contemplated $1.2 billion a year in debt service - only 30 percent of what it owes next fiscal year. The board on Monday is expected to take up a revised version of the plan from Rossello, and has said it wants to approve a final version by Wednesday. But the lingering disagreements between the board and Rossello call for an extension, the Oppenheimer group said in Monday’s letter, adding that more time might give the island’s creditors a seat at the table. Oppenheimer said Rossello’s draft plan was unfeasible, saying it ignored payment priorities, offered too weak an analysis on debt sustainability, and did not go far enough on tax reform measures.  Puerto Rico is trying to stem rampant out-migration, reduce a 45 percent poverty rate, and fix near-insolvent public healthcare and pension systems. Oppenheimer said it supported extending through Dec. 31 a stay on litigation arising from debt defaults, so sides can negotiate a debt restructuring without worrying about lawsuits. 

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egyptian premier Ahmed Shafik said on Sunday he was still considering his presidential bid and exploring the idea further now that he is in Egypt, according to a televised interview on Sunday in which he denied authorities had kidnapped him. Today I am here in the country, so I think I am free to deliberate further on the issue, to explore and go down and talk to people in the street ... so there s a chance now to investigate more and see exactly what is needed ... to feel out if this is the logical choice, Shafik said. The interview on private Dream TV channel was Shafik s first public appearance since leaving the United Arab Emirates on Saturday for Cairo. His family said he was kidnapped and sources said he had been picked up by Egyptian officials at Cairo airport.

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(Reuters) - Democratic Representative John Conyers, facing sexual misconduct allegations, has not thought about resigning, his lawyer said on Thursday after the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives called on the congressman to step down. “It is not up to Nancy Pelosi,” attorney Arnold Reed told reporters in Detroit, Michigan, referring to the House Democratic leader. “Nancy Pelosi did not elect the congressman, and she sure as hell won’t be the one that tells the congressman to leave. That decision will be completely up to the congressman. He’s not thought of that,” Reed said.

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WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Donald Trump has dismissed his vulgar sexual comments about women that surfaced on a video as “locker room talk,” but his explanation did little to soothe the queasiness of Esther Rosser, a 71-year-old grandmother from Virginia. “I know he apologized, and all you can do is apologize, but he could have said more,” said Rosser, who has voted Republican her whole life but decided this weekend that she would support Trump’s rival for president, Democrat Hillary Clinton. “He disrespected us,” she said of Trump, referring to women in general. Rosser’s misgivings echoed many of the sentiments expressed by more than two dozen women voters interviewed by Reuters who, as recently as September, had not decided whether they would support Trump or Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. election. In the informal survey conducted by phone the day after Sunday’s presidential debate, many women said they were appalled by the 2005 video in which Trump bragged of kissing and groping women without consent. The video surfaced on the Washington Post’s website on Friday afternoon. Several of the voters also said they disliked the Republican presidential candidate’s strategy of highlighting the infidelities of Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill Clinton, in an effort to defend his own conduct, or shift attention away from it. “I didn’t like the fact that he was attacking Hillary on things her husband did,” said Connie Sasso, a 66-year-old retiree from Missouri. “It’s wrong - it’s just wrong.” In the second presidential debate with Clinton on Sunday in St. Louis, Missouri, Trump said he was embarrassed by the video but dismissed his comments as “locker room talk.” He also accused Hillary Clinton of attacking women who had alleged sexual misconduct by her husband, who was president from 1993 to 2001. Trump’s criticism of Bill Clinton’s infidelities drew applause from supporters at a Monday rally he held in Pennsylvania. But Trump, whose core voters are overwhelmingly male, has struggled to appeal to women, who made up 53 percent of the U.S. electorate in the 2012 election. If Trump is unable to narrow the gender gap, he will be unable to overcome Clinton’s lead in the polls. “I can’t with good conscience vote for someone with that kind of mindset to the presidency,” said LeighAnn Chase, a 27-year-old nursing student from Lakeland, Florida. As a woman, she was “floored” by Trump’s comments, and disgusted that others would seek to justify them, said Chase, a registered Republican who said she is now backing Clinton. Patsy Bennewise, 58, of North Little Rock, Arkansas, never voted for Clinton’s husband during the nearly 10 years he was her state’s governor. But her streak of never voting for a Clinton is set to end in November when she said she will cast her ballot for the Democratic candidate. She said of Trump: “He’s turned the presidential election into a mockery.” Not all undecided women voters contacted by Reuters came out against Trump. Amy Fryzelka, a 37-year-old tutor from Kansas City, Missouri, said she thought Trump’s comments were “horrible” but she believed his personal life would not influence how he would govern. She said she is leaning toward the Republican candidate because she believes Clinton is too deceptive. “I’d prefer not to vote for either of them, really,” Fryzelka said. Jane Simmons, 78, of Sterling Heights, Michigan, also said she would rather not vote for either Clinton or Trump. Simmons, whose mail-in ballot arrived on Friday, hours before she and other Americans learned of Trump’s lewd comments, said the video led her to consider backing Clinton. “This is an indication of what the man is, although it was a decade ago, I don’t think he changed very much,” she said. “I don’t believe he’s got a conscience.” For Rosser, the Virginia grandmother, the decision to cast her vote for Clinton came when her 14-year-old granddaughter asked her to explain why Trump would say the things he said in the video. “He’s not a good role model for kids,” she said.

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BELGRADE (Reuters) - In a joint sting, Serbian and Croatian police have detained 17 people suspected of smuggling dozens of migrants into the European Union, Serbia s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. Serbia was at the center of the migrant crisis in 2015 and 2016 when hundreds of thousands of people fleeing wars and poverty in the Middle East and Asia journeyed up through the Balkans to reach the European Union. That route was effectively closed last year, but a steady trickle of migrants, arriving mainly from Turkey via neighboring Bulgaria, has continued. Many migrants use smugglers to reach the EU. In a statement, the Interior Ministry said the group detained in Belgrade and four northern towns comprised 12 Serbians and one Afghan man. The police in neighboring Croatia have detained four more suspects, it said. It is suspected that this criminal group facilitated the illegal crossing of the border and transit ... to a total of 82 migrants from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, from whom they took 1,500 euros ($1,800) per person, it said. Official data show there are up to 4,500 migrants stranded in government-operated camps in Serbia. Rights activists say hundreds more are scattered in the capital Belgrade and towns along the Croatian border. ($1 = 0.8442 euros)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives panel said on Tuesday that it has scheduled an Oct. 24 hearing to examine Puerto Rico’s hurricane recovery efforts and the role of a financial oversight board in those efforts. The House Committee on Natural Resources, which last year worked on legislation creating the board to help Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, manage its $72 billion debt load, will hold the hearing. Since Hurricane Maria pounded Puerto Rico in September causing widespread destruction, there have been calls for possibly revising some of the financial board’s work related to the island’s debt. Committee officials were not immediately available to comment on who might testify at the hearing.

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GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump risks driving Iran towards nuclear proliferation and worsening a standoff with North Korea if Washington ends a nuclear deal with Tehran, former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said late on Thursday. Kerry, who negotiated the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, was speaking a week after Trump refused to certify that Tehran was in compliance with it, amid growing tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. “If you want to negotiate with (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un, and your goal is to avoid war and try to be able to have a diplomatic resolution, the worst thing you can do is first threaten to destroy his country in the United Nations,” Kerry said. He was speaking in a private lecture delivered at Geneva’s Graduate Institute. “And secondly, screw around with the deal that has already been made because the message is, don’t make a deal with the United States, they won’t keep their word,” he said. The nuclear deal places Iran under tough restraints, including inspections, round-the-clock surveillance and tracking every ounce of uranium produced, Kerry said. “We would notice an uptick in their enrichment, like that,” he said, snapping his fingers. “And nobody that I know of with common sense can understand what the virtue is in accelerating a confrontation with the possibility that they might decide they want to break out and make it (a nuclear bomb) now instead of 10 or 15 or 25 years from now.” Kerry, a former Senator who headed the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Swiss media that Trump’s leaving the Iranian deal’s fate to Congress was “very dangerous” and opened the door to “party politics”. Congress cannot unilaterally renegotiate a multilateral accord, the Geneva daily Le Temps quoted him as saying. “It is possible that Congress would make an unreasonable decision that would put Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a very complicated political situation that could force him to retaliate. It’s a slippery slope.” Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would stick to its accord as long as the other signatories respected it, but would “shred” the deal if Washington pulled out, state TV reported. If Iran violated the accord, U.N. sanctions would snap back into place, Kerry told the audience. “Moreover, at that point in time folks, we have a year of break-up. We have all the time that we need in the world to be able to bomb their facilities into submission.” Ending the deal could lead to Iran hiding fissile production facilities “deep in a mountain where we have no insight”. “So the scenario that Trump opens up by saying ‘let’s get rid of the deal’ is actually proliferation, far more damaging and dangerous,” Kerry said.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are set to discuss new ideas for curbing climate change and expanding trade during an Oval Office meeting this week, White House officials said during a preview on Tuesday. Trudeau, who pledged to repair frayed ties with the United States when he took office in November, will meet with Obama on Thursday ahead of a star-studded state dinner. The White House, which sees a natural partner in Trudeau, hopes the two countries can commit to cut methane emissions from the energy sector by 40 percent to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025, and endorse an initiative to stop routine flaring from oil and gas fields, said Todd Stern, the U.S. climate envoy. “The commitment of both leaders to addressing this global challenge is clear and I expect under their leadership North America will make significant progress this year,” Stern told reporters. Stern said the two countries also are looking at ways to make carbon emissions from the aviation sector “neutral,” starting in 2020 through the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization. The United States also hopes to accelerate the timetable to phase out HFCs, industrial gases that have far more potential to trap the earth’s heat than carbon dioxide, through an amendment to the Montreal Protocol, Stern said. On trade, a hot-button issue for both Democrats and Republicans in the race to succeed Obama in the Nov. 8 presidential election, the leaders are likely to discuss two longstanding irritants, softwood lumber and meat labeling. A deal governing Canadian softwood lumber exports expired last year, and the two nations are talking about a new arrangement, said Mark Feierstein, the White House National Security Council’s senior director for the Western hemisphere. “We’re open to exploring all options with Canada at this point,” Feierstein said, declining to put timelines on when a deal may be reached. The White House also hopes Canada will formally end its World Trade Organization case against a U.S. labeling law that the WTO ruled hurt Canadian beef and pork exports, he said. The United States repealed the law in December.

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CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday authorized a new plan allowing protesters at next month’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland to demonstrate in an area that will be readily visible to convention goers. The new plan, approved by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, also cuts in half the size of an “event zone” where demonstrations and mobility will be limited and gives protesters more time to demonstrate. The agreement between the city of Cleveland and the American Civil Liberties Union resolves weeks of wrangling over the rules for what are expected to be lively protests when Donald Trump is due to become the Republican Party’s official nominee for president at the July 18-21 convention. Trump campaign events have drawn raucous demonstrations, with some resulting in clashes between his supporters and opponents. “This settlement is a significant improvement from what the city had previously offered,” Christine Link, executive director for the ACLU of Ohio, said in a statement. The ACLU sued on behalf of three groups planning to organize thousands of demonstrators, calling the rules too restrictive. Dan Williams, spokesman for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, described the changes as “minor” and said he did not believe there would be an increased security risk as a result. Cleveland originally planned to cordon off 3.3 square miles (8.5 square km) around the convention site as an event zone where free speech mobility would be limited. After another federal judge struck down the city’s original plan, the two sides settled the lawsuit on Friday and took several days to work out details before revealing the new plan. The event zone is now 1.7 square miles (4.4 square km). The new zone frees up parkland where demonstrators will be able to organize before their protests. It also removes the Port of Cleveland and a small public airport for corporate jets and air taxi services from the restricted area. The main parade route for demonstrators now extends deeper into central Cleveland and will be more visible from the sports arena where the main event will take place, and more within the view of delegates and the media. The previous route took demonstrators further away from the center of town and over a bridge where they would be seen primarily by themselves. In addition, groups were granted extra staging time between protests. The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Citizens for Trump, a Texas-based group that supports the businessman’s campaign; Organize Ohio, a liberal activist group; and Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, a charitable organization.

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HAVANA (Reuters) - Cubans said they were crestfallen to be returning to an era of frostier relations with the United States as the news spread that U.S. President Donald Trump was set to revert parts of the historic detente with Cuba. Trump will on Friday announce a plan to tighten rules on Americans traveling to Communist-run Cuba and significantly restrict U.S. firms from doing business with Cuban enterprises controlled by the military, White House officials said. “It hurts to be going backwards. To roll back the engagement will only manage to isolate us from the world,” said Havana resident Marta Deus, who will try to tune into Trump’s speech in Miami, the heartland of Cuban exiles. Deus recently set up an accountancy firm and courier service, to cater to a private sector that has flourished since a landmark agreement two and a half years ago between former U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro to normalize relations between the former Cold War foes. “We need clients, business, we need the economy to move and by isolating Cuba, they will only manage to hurt many Cuban families and force companies to close,” she said. The 2014 deal sparked widespread euphoria in Cuba and raised hopes for an improvement in its ailing economy.  An increased arrival of U.S. tourists thanks to eased restrictions fueled a boom in tourism, especially in Havana, creating demand for more BnBs, restaurants, taxis and tour guides in the fledgling private sector. But critics say the opening failed to improve rights on the island. Trump will justify his partial reversal of Obama’s measures to a large extent on those grounds, the White House officials said, and some Cuban dissidents back his tougher stance, saying repression has worsened since the detente. Cuban authorities have stepped up their detentions of activists, often confiscating their telephones and laptops, but they have also been coming down with a heavy hand on self- employed Cubans who appear to be empowering themselves. “When the Obama administration stopped condemning human rights violations in Cuba, the regime here said ‘look we can do this and nothing happens, so we can continue repressing more forcefully’,” said Jose Daniel Ferrer, who leads the Patriotic Union of Cuba, the country’s largest dissident group. Ferrer said his group had 53 activists currently imprisoned due to their political views. Other dissidents agree repression has worsened but say rolling back the detente, which will hurt ordinary Cubans, is not the solution. “It will probably not have any benefit in terms of human rights,” said Eliecer Avila, the leader of the opposition youth group Somos Mas. The Cuban government has withstood the U.S. trade embargo for more than a half century and will not make any political concessions to the United States due to economic pressure, said Carlos Alzugaray, a retired Cuban diplomat. “I am concerned it will affect the private sector quite a bit and much more than the Cuban government,” he said. Without doubt it will impact those in the tourism industry that have benefited from a threefold increase in U.S. visits in the last two years, although it is unclear just how much. “It’s going to really hurt me because the majority of my clients are from the United States,” said Enrique Montoto, 61, who rents rooms on U.S. online home-rental marketplace Airbnb, which expanded into Cuba in 2015. “With things going to pot, I’ll have to tighten my belt.” This new setback to the Cuban economy will come at a time when it is already wrestling with falling oil shipments from crisis-stricken ally Venezuela and a decline in exports. “This is another blow for Cubans and it will hurt our pockets obviously,” said Martha Garcia, 51. “With the United States, there is no tranquility.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama toasted Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland at a star-studded state dinner on Friday, lauding the nations for their global influence on civil rights, humanitarian issues and curbing climate change. The red carpet glamor followed a White House summit where Obama and the leaders of the five nations presented a united front against Moscow’s recent military aggression in Ukraine and the Baltic region. But the meeting was more about soft diplomacy than launching ambitious foreign policy endeavors, given that Obama’s second and final term ends in January. Americans will vote in presidential elections on Nov. 8. “I thought this was a very useful and important conversation, although there was probably too much agreement to make for as exciting a multilateral meeting as I sometimes participate in,” Obama said. More than 300 guests including rapper Common, comedian Will Farrell and actress Tracee Ellis Ross mingled with diplomats, tech and Fortune 500 CEOs, White House officials, and political donors in a glass-ceiling tent built around a tree on the South Lawn. Hand-rolled beeswax candles and strings of lights reflected off ten-foot pillars of ice, an homage to the northern lights. Pop star Demi Lovato, known for her support of liberal causes, was set to perform after a Nordic-inspired meal of ahi tuna, tomato tartare and red wine-braised beef short ribs. “It’s a great opportunity to drink wine and make progress on the most serious issues of our time,” Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters on her way into the dinner. The summit was aimed in part at sending a message to a nation not on the guest list: Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and has stepped up its military posture. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is planning its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to try to deter further Russian aggression, and Denmark and Norway said on Friday they would contribute to the “enhanced allied forward presence” with NATO. “We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia, but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong, and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations,” Obama said after the summit. Obama has long expressed admiration for the pragmatic and liberal-leaning politics of the Nordic nations. “There have been times where I’ve said, why don’t we just put all these small countries in charge for a while? And they could clean things up,” Obama said. (This version of the story corrects the title of Samantha Power in the eighth paragraph)

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India s main opposition Congress party on Monday elevated Rahul Gandhi, the scion of the country s most fabled political dynasty, as its president, preparing to challenge the dominance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of national polls in 2019. In a long-awaited move, Gandhi, the great-grandson of India s founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was elected unopposed to head the party. He will take the reins from his mother Sonia, the party s longest-serving president, since 1998. Calling it a historic occasion , the Congress party said Gandhi would take charge as president on Dec. 16. Television broadcast images of party supporters celebrating and distributing sweets outside Congress offices in the capital, New Delhi, and the financial hub of Mumbai. Gandhi s ascent coincides with state polls in Modi s western home state of Gujarat that are shaping as a test for the prime minister, who has been facing criticism for softening economic growth and poor implementation of a nationwide sales tax. The Congress hopes a round of state elections offers the party, and Gandhi, a shot at revival ahead of the next national elections, due in 2019. Modi s depiction of Gandhi as an undeserving prince has helped sideline Gandhi since the last national election, during which time Congress has suffered some of its worst results in local elections. The Nehru-Gandhi family has ruled the country for most of its 70 years since independence from Britain. Gandhi s father and grandmother were both prime ministers, and both assassinated. Following Congress defeat in the 2014 polls, Gandhi struggled to convince voters, as well as many within his party, of his leadership skills. But senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said Gandhi was now ready for the next challenge. The entire country has lots of expectations from Rahul Gandhi, Azad said. Much before he was elected he has shown his mettle. He knows his responsibility. Modi s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swiftly dismissed Gandhi s election, saying he had become president only on the basis of dynastic principle . The new India is loath to (accept) dynastic principle and the family character of the Congress further diminishes its appeal, BJP spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao told Reuters. Gandhi, until now a vice-president of Congress, is widely seen as a prime ministerial candidate if the party returns to power one day. The 47-year-old has increasingly gone public in slamming Modi s governance since the last national polls, as he looks to shed the reticent image that has for years been synonymous with his political dynasty. But he has also faced political backlash. In 2015, for example, he took nearly two months of leave, prompting Modi s party to accuse him of holidaying while parliament was in session. Modi still trumps Gandhi in popularity rankings, however. Nearly nine of 10 Indians have a favourable opinion of him and more than two-thirds are satisfied with the direction in which he is taking the country, a Pew survey found in November. Modi s favourable rating was 30 points more than Gandhi s, it showed.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the Chinese military will make all necessary preparations to protect national sovereignty and regional peace and stability, when asked about the risk of conflict on the Korean peninsula. Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian made the comments at a monthly briefing in Beijing when asked what preparations China was making in case a war breaks out. Wu also reiterated China s view that the issue should be resolved via talks, not military means, which he said were not an option to resolve tensions.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he plans to bring a compromise gun control measure to a vote, a day after competing proposals to tighten gun ownership rules failed to clear the chamber.”I am going to be working to make sure” the Senate votes on a compromise measure being worked on by Republican Senator Susan Collins, McConnell told reporters. Separately, Collins said at a news conference that a vote on her measure could come this week or next.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday which said Russia s armed forces numbered just over 1.9 million people, including over 1 million military servicemen. The TASS news agency said the new decree replaced an older one from 2016 which had put the total number of personnel in the armed forces at around 1.8 million.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed former Utah governor Jon Huntsman on Thursday to be President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Russia, sending an experienced diplomat to fill the crucial post in Moscow. The Senate confirmed Huntsman, who also served as ambassador to China under former Democratic President Barack Obama, by voice vote. Huntsman served as ambassador to Singapore under former Republican President George H.W. Bush. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had approved Huntsman unanimously earlier this week, as members from both parties praised his qualifications and experience. The Senate also confirmed three other diplomatic positions by voice vote: John Bass, currently the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, to be envoy to Afghanistan; career diplomat Justin Siberell to be ambassador to Bahrain and Wess Mitchell, a think-tank founder, to be Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Huntsman takes on the post in Moscow as congressional committees and special counsel Robert Mueller investigate allegations that Russia sought to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Trump’s behalf, as well as potential collusion with Moscow by Trump associates. Moscow denies such activity and Trump dismisses any talk of collusion. Huntsman said at his confirmation hearing that there was no question Russia interfered during the 2016 campaign.

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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said he stood ready to cooperate with Belgian justice authorities, adding he believed Spanish authorities had become politicized. I will not run from justice. I will go to the justice authorities, but the real justice authorities, Puigdemont told Belgian state broadcaster RTBF in an interview aired on Friday. I have told my lawyer to tell Belgian justice authorities that I am completely ready to cooperate, he said. Puigdemont added that it was very clear that the Spanish justice authorities had become politicized .

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump pushed back early on Saturday on assertions that the wall he wants built on the U.S. border with Mexico would cost more than anticipated and said he would reduce the price. Trump made his comments in two Twitter posts but did not say how he would bring down the cost of the wall. Reuters on Thursday published details of an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security that estimated the price of a wall along the entire border at $21.6 billion. During his presidential campaign Trump had cited a $12 billion figure. “I am reading that the great border WALL will cost more than the government originally thought, but I have not gotten involved in the ... design or negotiations yet,” Trump tweeted from his Florida resort, where he is hosting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “When I do, just like with the F-35 FighterJet or the Air Force One Program, price will come WAY DOWN!” Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, said in late January that his administration had been able to cut some $600 million from a deal to buy about 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters from Lockheed Martin. Defense analysts and sources downplayed news of those cuts, saying the discount hailed by Trump was in line with what had been flagged by Lockheed for months and would apply to other countries committed to the program. A border wall to stem illegal immigration was one of Trump’s main campaign promises. He has vowed to make Mexico reimburse the United States for its cost but Mexico has repeatedly said it will not do so. Trump also tweeted on Saturday about another aspect of his immigration policy - the legal battle over the presidential order banning entry to the United States by refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. “Our legal system is broken! ‘77% of refugees allowed into U.S. since travel reprieve hail from seven suspect countries.’ (WT) SO DANGEROUS!” he said. The tweet was in apparent reaction to a Washington Times story saying 77 percent of the 1,100 refugees who have entered the United States since Feb. 3 are from the countries covered by Trump’s ban. A federal judge in Seattle blocked Trump’s executive order on Feb. 3, lifting the ban while litigation proceeds. Trump has been steadily critical of the ruling from Seattle and a subsequent appeals court ruling upholding it.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted unanimously on Wednesday to require law enforcement authorities to get a search warrant before asking technology companies to hand over old emails. The bill’s prospects in the Senate remain unclear, though the 419-0 vote in the House was likely to put pressure on the upper chamber to approve it. Under the Email Privacy Act, which updates a decades-old law, authorities would have to get a warrant to access emails or other digital communications more than 180 days old. At present, agencies such as the U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission only need a subpoena to seek such data from a service provider. Supporters of the legislation say it is needed to update the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Technology companies and privacy advocates say that statute was written before the rise of the Internet and so is outdated. The issue of law enforcement access to private electronic communications has been at the center of an international debate. This was reflected in the Justice Department’s high-profile pursuit of a court order earlier this year to force Apple Inc (AAPL.O) to help unlock an encrypted iPhone linked to one of the San Bernardino, California, shooters. Separately, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) earlier this month filed lawsuit in federal court against the Justice Department, alleging the government is using ECPA in a way that violates the U.S. Constitution. The company argued ECPA is too often used to prevent the company from notifying its users, sometimes indefinitely, when investigators pry into emails and other data stored on remote servers. More than a quarter of senators have endorsed similar legislation in the upper chamber to the House bill, including No. 2 Republican John Cornyn. But it was unclear if Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who holds jurisdiction over the legislation, intends to move it forward during an election year. The Iowa Republican will review the House bill, consult with stakeholders and his committee “and decide where to go from there,” a spokeswoman told Reuters in an email. Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Lee, the Democratic and Republican authors of the Senate bill, praised the House vote in a statement as “an historic step toward updating our privacy laws for the digital age” and urged quick consideration.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary James Mattis stressed the United States’ commitment to NATO in a telephone call with Germany’s defense minister on Thursday, the Pentagon said. Mattis assured German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen of “the United States’ enduring commitment to the NATO alliance,” the Pentagon said in a statement. It said Mattis discussed the importance of NATO in a separate call with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. In a call with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Mattis underscored his “unwavering commitment to Israel’s security,” the Pentagon said.

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SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced high-level talks to ease tensions with Venezuela’s socialist government on Tuesday, just hours after he backed calls for a referendum that could force President Nicolas Maduro from office. Kerry said the talks would start immediately in Caracas and be led by Thomas Shannon, a veteran of U.S. diplomacy in the region. Attempts last year at dialogue between the ideological foes were stalled by Venezuela’s deepening crisis. The two countries have been embroiled in diplomatic hostilities since the administrations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and U.S. President George W. Bush. Kerry said the goal was to go beyond “the old rhetoric.” “I’ve committed to see if this can work so let’s see if we can improve the relationship,” he told reporters, after huddling with his Venezuelan counterpart on the sidelines of an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the Dominican Republic. The talks would also be aimed at fostering dialogue between Venezuela’s government and opposition, Kerry said. Maduro welcomed the proposed talks and repeated his suggestion that the two sides restore ambassadors in each other’s capitals after an eight-year hiatus that began when Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy to Venezuela. “I propose to John Kerry ‘let’s designate ambassadors’, I am ready. They have ambassadors in Beijing, Vietnam and Havana, and they don’t have one in Caracas,” he said in a speech to teachers. Maduro proposed an ambassador in 2014 but U.S. President Barack Obama has not yet accepted his credentials. Once one of Latin America’s most prosperous nations, Venezuela has plunged into unrest and a harsh economic slowdown. Long lines for food and medicines have led to protests and opposition calls for a recall referendum to remove Maduro. That measure is allowed under the constitution, a point made by Kerry to reporters after he met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Earlier in the day, in a speech to OAS delegates, Kerry gave his backing to the referendum push and called on Chavez’s political heirs to release political prisoners and respect fundamental rights. His comments to the 34 members of the main diplomatic body of the Americas marked the strongest show of support yet from the United States for the disputed referendum process. Venezuela’s opposition accuses the election council of stalling the recall at the behest of Maduro by arbitrarily changing criteria for requesting a recall vote. Maduro has said any recall against him would be in 2017 at the earliest, pushing back against opposition pressure. Several opposition politicians are in jail, notably hardline leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has a 14-year sentence for inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiraled into violence killing more than 40 people. The government denies it holds political prisoners. Kerry’s comments drew a furious response from Rodriguez, who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of “international bullying.” “Every day we have evidence of the secretary general’s bias in favor of sectors of the opposition who are seeking a coup in Venezuela,” she said. “I see now this is ordered by Washington. I know they are on Washington’s payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela,” she said, speaking through a translator. Kerry was more conciliatory after his first ever bilateral meeting with Rodriguez, saying the United States did not support a push by Almagro to suspend Venezuela from the OAS for alleged violations of the regional group’s “democratic charter.” “The United States is not taking that position, we are not pushing for a suspension. I don’t think that would be constructive,” he said. At Almagro’s behest, the OAS will hold a meeting later this month to initiate the process that could end in Venezuela’s suspension. But the former Uruguayan foreign minister appears isolated in the group, with even right-wing governments opposed to Maduro in the region balking at throwing Venezuela out. Venezuela and the United States have repeatedly gone through periods of diplomatic fighting followed by generally short-lived eras of reconciliation. Following Washington’s 2014 rapprochement with Cuba, Shannon met with a top Venezuelan Socialist Party official to improve ties with Caracas. The good mood soured within months when the United States criticized the sentence handed to opposition leader Lopez.

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Proposed Senate legislation to impose sanctions on Russia over allegations it tried to influence the U.S. presidential election are an attempt to prolong the harm already done to U.S.-Russian ties, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. “That’s the internal affair of the United States but we see continuing attempts to exclude any kind of dialogue between our two countries and attempts, blow-by-blow, to do further harm to the prospects for our bilateral relations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters when asked about the legislation. Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senators Ben Cardin and Robert Menendez said on Monday they would introduce legislation to impose “comprehensive” sanctions on Russia over its attempts to influence the 2016 U.S. election. Peskov said separate U.S. sanctions announced on Monday, on several Russian officials linked to the so-called Magnitsky Affair, were fresh steps towards the “degradation of relations” between Moscow and Washington.

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PARIS (Reuters) - A grenade thrown at French soldiers wounded three civilians in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou shortly before the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, Radio France International reported on Tuesday. The grenade was thrown late on Monday, just hours before Macron was due to speak before a university audience at Ouagadougou, the radio station, citing security sources, said. Two hooded individuals threw the grenade from a motorbike before fleeing the scene, the radio said. There was no immediate comment of the incident at Macron s office. Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are due to address an EU-Africa summit in Abidjan this week, focusing on education, investment in youth and economic development to prevent refugees and economic migrants from attempting the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell led a chorus of establishment Republicans on Monday urging Roy Moore, the party’s Senate candidate in Alabama, to quit the race as a fifth woman came forward with allegations Moore had sexual contact with teenage girls decades ago. Beverly Young Nelson said Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16 and he was a prosecuting attorney in his 30s. At a New York news conference, the tearful Nelson said Moore groped her, tried to pull her shirt off and shove her head in his lap, then warned that “no one will believe you” if she told anyone. “I was twisting and struggling and begging him to stop,” said Nelson, a waitress at an Alabama restaurant where Moore often ate when the incident occurred. “I had tears running down my face.” Moore, a Christian conservative and former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, has refused to withdraw from the race. His campaign released a statement denying “any sexual misconduct with anyone” and saying the new allegations were part of a “witch hunt.” At a news conference in Gallant, Alabama on Monday night, Moore told reporters that Nelson’s accusations are “absolutely false,” the Birmingham News reported. “I never did what she said I did,” the newspaper quoted Moore as saying. “I don’t even know the woman. I don’t know anything about her.” McConnell told reporters in his home state of Kentucky that party officials were considering whether a Republican write-in candidate could be found to challenge Moore in the Dec. 12 special election. “I think he should step aside,” said McConnell, who previously said Moore should leave the race if the allegations were true. “I believe the women.” Republican Senators Orrin Hatch, Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Todd Young and Cory Gardner joined McConnell in calling for Moore to drop out - a move that could open the door for Democrats to cut into Republicans’ narrow two-seat Senate majority. Gardner, the head of the Senate Republican campaign arm, said Moore was unfit to serve in the Senate. “If he refuses to withdraw and wins, the Senate should vote to expel him, because he does not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the United States Senate,” Gardner said in a statement. Senator John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, withdrew his endorsement but said Alabama voters should make the final judgment on Moore. Another prominent conservative who had endorsed Moore, Senator Ted Cruz, said Moore should either clearly refute the allegations or if they are true, drop out. “I am not able to urge the people of Alabama to support his candidacy so long as these allegations remain unrefuted,” Cruz told reporters in the Capitol. Moore, 70, had been a heavy favorite to win the election against Democrat Doug Jones. He has denied the allegations first raised in a Washington Post story about his relationships with four women when they were teenagers, including a charge he initiated sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s. He said on Twitter that McConnell was the person who should step down. “He has failed conservatives and must be replaced,” Moore said. The state party and many other Alabama Republicans have not wavered in their support of Moore, who scored a decisive Republican primary victory in September over Luther Strange. Strange, who drew the support of President Donald Trump in the primary, had been appointed to fill the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became U.S. attorney general earlier this year. The growing furor over Moore sets up a confrontation between establishment Republicans and Moore’s supporters in the party’s populist movement led by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. A Democratic win in Alabama would be a blow to Trump’s agenda and shift the political outlook for next year’s congressional elections, giving Democrats a stronger shot at recapturing control of the Senate. It is too late to remove Moore’s name from the ballot, but McConnell told reporters he was “looking at” potential write-in candidates who could mount a successful campaign. Asked if Strange might be a candidate again, he said: “We’ll see.” But Strange told reporters it was “highly unlikely” he would mount a write-in campaign. “Now it’s going to really be up to the people of our state to sort this out,” he said. A special-election victory had been a long shot for Democrats in Alabama, which has not elected a Democratic senator in a quarter century. Jones, a former federal prosecutor, was trailing by double digits in some opinion polls. Moore, who is prone to incendiary comments on social and cultural issues, has survived controversy before. He was twice forced out of his position as chief justice, once for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse and once for defying the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. He threatened over the weekend to sue the Post and said the allegations were a smear campaign by his political opponents. Reuters has been unable to independently confirm any of the allegations. While making the new allegations, Nelson showed reporters Moore’s signature in her high school yearbook. She said he had offered to give her a ride home one night, then pulled the car behind the restaurant and assaulted her. “I was terrified,” she said. “I thought he was going to rape me.” Nelson said she told her sister about the attack two years afterward, and eventually told her mother and husband. She said she backed Trump for president and was not coming forward because of politics but because she was inspired by the women who talked to the Post.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China urged France on Monday to take more effective measures to ensure the safety of its nationals visiting the country, after a group of 40 Chinese tourists was tear-gassed and robbed in Paris. Attacks on Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists are relatively frequent in the French capital, as robbers believe they carry large sums in cash and their luggage is stuffed with expensive products. Four men targeted the Chinese travelers in the parking lot of their hotel in the Val-de-Marne suburb southeast of Paris on Thursday, on their return from a city tour, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing French media. The assailants stole nine bags thought to be filled with luxury goods, it said on Sunday. China s embassy in France had contacted police and told them to crack the case , Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news briefing, adding that Chinese visitors should be alert to the security situation. We will urge French police to crack this case as soon as they can and bring the criminals to justice, and take even more effective measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in France, Hua said. She said the tour group had already returned to China, and the case was still being investigated. In August 2016, 27 Chinese tourists were assaulted by six men who boarded a bus that was to take them to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Paris is on track this year to welcome more tourists than ever before, the city s tourist board said in August, a recovery from a lull following Islamist attacks in November 2015 that killed 130 people. Chinese travelers spent $261 billion overseas last year, making them a key demographic for retailers and hotel chains around the world. But growth in Chinese outbound tourism is slowing, with attacks in Europe, instability on the Korean peninsula and political uncertainty in the United States prompting some Chinese to opt instead for domestic trips.

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CAIRO (Reuters) - Jordan said on Friday a U.S. air strike on a Syrian air base was a “necessary and appropriate response” to a chemical weapons attack this week which the United States and its allies blamed on Syria’s government. The chemical incident was “an inhuman act ... which drew wide-ranging international reactions, the latest of which was the U.S. military strike. “Jordan considers this a necessary and appropriate response to the continued targeting of civilians”, government spokesman Mohammed al-Momeni said, quoted by state news agency Petra. Syria’s government denies using chemical weapons.

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THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The organization that identified tens of thousands of victims from the Balkan wars of the 1990s opened a new global headquarters in the Netherlands on Tuesday from where it will take on new cases around the world. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), established after the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, will use the latest DNA technology to identify bodies and give families of the missing closure. There are millions of reported cases of missing persons worldwide, with as many as a million in Iraq, tens of thousands in Syria and Lebanon and many more from Colombia to the Philippines. The numbers are staggering, said ICMP head Kathyrne Bomberger. Moving here increases the perception that we are a global organization and understand that the issue of missing persons itself is a huge global problem that isn t just in the western Balkans. The ICMP, which has identified 20,000 remains and provided evidence in 30 criminal trials, will continue to work with war crimes courts in The Hague, including the genocide trial of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who will hear a verdict next month. The advanced application of DNA technology, which has now made it possible to use samples from distant family members to create comparable DNA profiles, could also be used to help identify undocumented migrants. We are now on the brink of a new level of being able to roll out this possibility to missing migrants, including the 10,000 children missing in Europe, she said. Normally when people go missing from conflict or human rights abuses they are never found. The ICMP has been asked by Italy to help identify around 8,000 bodies of migrants who drowned trying to get to Europe, but it does not yet have the funding. One family member the organization has helped find closure is Ingrid Gudmundsson. The 72-year-old grandmother lost her pregnant daughter Linda and 1-year-old granddaughter Mira when the 2005 Indian Ocean Tsunami hit the Khao Lak resort in Thailand. Everything changed in my life, she said in an interview ahead of the opening. What does a mother do when her family is missing on the other side of the earth? Her granddaughter Mira was too young to have dental records, so she provided the laboratory with a toy from which a DNA profile was compiled. It was very important to get them identified, all of them, she said, recalling the agony of weeks when they were missing. Now I have them together in the same place.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Thursday said reports in the U.S. media about his administration’s relationship with Russia may make it difficult for him to strike a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to ease tensions between Washington and Moscow. “Putin probably assumes that he can’t make a deal with me any more because politically it would be unpopular for a politician to make a deal,” Trump said at a press conference.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin supervised his intelligence agencies’ hacking of the U.S. presidential election and turned it from a general attempt to discredit American democracy to an effort to help Donald Trump, three U.S. officials said on Thursday. U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusion that Russia tried to influence the election by hacking people and institutions, including Democratic Party bodies, has angered President-elect Trump, who says he won the Nov. 8 vote fairly. Russian officials have denied accusations of interference in the U.S. election. Separately, a senior White House official said on Thursday that Putin was likely to have been aware of the cyber attacks but he fell short of accusing the Russian president. “I don’t think things happen in the Russian government of this consequence without Vladimir Putin knowing about it,” Ben Rhodes, the White House’s deputy national security adviser, told MSNBC. “When you’re talking about a significant cyber intrusion like this, we’re talking about the highest levels of government.” The U.S. officials - who have knowledge of intelligence information on the matter - said on the condition of anonymity that the hacking of U.S. political groups and figures had a more general focus at first. “This began merely as an effort to show that American democracy is no more credible than Putin’s version is,” one of the officials said. “It gradually evolved from that to publicizing (Hillary) Clinton’s shortcomings and ignoring the products of hacking Republican institutions, which the Russians also did,” the official said. By the fall, the official said, it became an effort to help Trump’s campaign because “Putin believed he would be much friendlier to Russia, especially on the matter of economic sanctions” than Democratic rival Clinton. Democratic President Barack Obama said in an interview with National Public Radio that the United States will take action against Russia. “I think there is no doubt that when any foreign government tries to impact the integrity of our elections ... we need to take action and we will,” he said according to excerpts of the Thursday interview released by NPR. “At a time and a place of our own choosing. Some of it may be ... explicit and publicized; some of it may not be. ... Mr. Putin is well aware of my feelings about this, because I spoke to him directly about it,” Obama said. NBC reported earlier that U.S. intelligence officials have “a high level of confidence” Putin was personally involved in the Russian cyber campaign against the United States. Hacked emails of Democratic operatives and Clinton aides were leaked during the presidential campaign, and at times dominated the news agenda. The U.S. officials said Russia also hacked Republicans but did little to nothing with the information they found. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state TV channel Rossiya-24 that he was “dumbstruck” by the NBC report of Putin’s alleged involvement. “I think this is just silly, and the futility of the attempt to convince somebody of this is absolutely obvious,” he said. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has brushed off reports of Russian hacking of U.S. political institutions. “If Russia, or some other entity, was hacking, why did the White House wait so long to act? Why did they only complain after Hillary lost?” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter on Thursday. In fact, the U.S. government did formally accuse Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against U.S. political organizations in October - one month ahead of the election. Obama last week ordered a review by the U.S. intelligence agencies about foreign interference in the 2016 election. Asked on Thursday about the hacks, Secretary of State John Kerry described how Obama had been considering the evidence ahead of the October announcement. “The president made the decision based on the input that was carefully, carefully vetted by the intelligence community ... that he did have an obligation to go out to the country and give a warning. And he did so,” Kerry said at a news briefing. The three U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters said the fact that Putin oversaw a hacking operation was not surprising and is standard operating procedure in Russia. “If anything, given his background as a KGB officer, Putin has a much tighter grip on all Russian intelligence operations, civilian and military, foreign and domestic, than any democratic leader does,” one official said. The reports of Russian hacking have raised concerns among both political parties in Congress, with top Republicans breaking with Trump to call for closer scrutiny. Some Republican lawmakers have also questioned Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Rex Tillerson, who has close business ties to the Russian government.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Wednesday the North Korean nuclear issue should be resolved through dialogue, and that military means were not an option, after U.S. President Donald Trump warned North Korea that any U.S. military option would be devastating . Bellicose statements by Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks have created fears that a miscalculation could lead to action with untold ramifications, particularly since Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3. Speaking at a daily news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang reiterated that China has all along upheld the aim of the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and protecting the international nuclear non-proliferation system. At the same we are resolute in working for the protection of the peninsula s peace and stability and uphold a peaceful resolution for the nuclear issue via dialogue and consultation, Lu said. We have always believed that military means should not be an option to resolve the nuclear issue on the peninsula. Because arms cannot resolve the differences and can only cause a bigger disaster. No side can accept this, he added. We hope all sides can avoid words and actions that intensify the problem and may cause the situation to continue to escalate. North Korea will be high on the agenda when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits China later this week. While China has been angered by North Korea s repeated nuclear and missile tests and has signed up for increasingly tough United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang, it has also said efforts must be stepped up to resume talks. During a White House news conference on Tuesday, Trump also said the use of force was not Washington s preferred option for dealiong with the North Korea s ballistic and nuclear weapons program. Despite the increased tension, the United States has not detected any change in North Korea s military posture reflecting an increased threat, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho on Monday accused Trump of declaring war on the North and threatened that Pyongyang would shoot down U.S. warplanes flying near the Korean Peninsula after American bombers flew close to it last Saturday. Ri was reacting to Trump s Twitter comments that Kim and Ri won t be around much longer if they acted on their threats toward the United States.

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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - North Korea has granted a soccer loving Malaysian prince access to its airspace anytime he wants, his palace said on Tuesday, as Pyongyang prepares finally to host an Asian Cup tie that became a casualty of the assassination in Malaysia of the North Korean leader s estranged half brother in February. Having been delayed twice due to Malaysia s fears for the safety of its players, the match between North Korea and Malaysia is now set to be played on Oct. 5. The game had originally been scheduled for March 28, but the two formerly friendly governments suffered a diplomatic meltdown as North Korea reacted angrily to Malaysian police investigating the role North Korean officials allegedly played in the murder of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The president of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, the crown prince of the southern state of Johor, met with North Korea s senior-most diplomat in Malaysia on Tuesday to discuss the match, according to a statement from the Johor palace. Amongst issues discussed were foreign relations and current affairs as well as the upcoming Group B match of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 qualifying final round, in which both teams will ensure the safety of players and team officials, the statement said. North Korea also granted the prince full access to its airspace anytime he wants to visit North Korea from Malaysia, the palace statement said. It is the highest honor as any other world leader will need to stop by in Beijing beforehand, it said. The trial of two women, an Indonesian and a Vietnamese, charged for the murder of Kim, is set to begin in Kuala Lumpur on Oct.2, but the North Koreans sought by police were believed to have fled Malaysia soon after the murder. The meeting took place on the same day as the opening of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where U.S. President Donald Trump delivered a stern warning to North Korea over its ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests.

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MUMBAI (Reuters) - Symantec Corp, a digital security company, says it has identified a sustained cyber spying campaign, likely state-sponsored, against Indian and Pakistani entities involved in regional security issues. In a threat intelligence report that was sent to clients in July, Symantec said the online espionage effort dated back to October 2016. The campaign appeared to be the work of several groups, but tactics and techniques used suggest that the groups were operating with similar goals or under the same sponsor , probably a nation state, according to the threat report, which was reviewed by Reuters. It did not name a state. The detailed report on the cyber spying comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region. India s military has raised operational readiness along its border with China following a face-off in Bhutan near their disputed frontier, while Indo-Pakistan tensions are also simmering over the disputed Kashmir region. A spokesman for Symantec said the company does not comment publicly on the malware analysis, investigations and incident response services it provides clients. Symantec did not identify the likely sponsor of the attack. But it said that governments and militaries with operations in South Asia and interests in regional security issues would likely be at risk from the malware. The malware utilizes the so-called Ehdoor backdoor to access files on computers. There was a similar campaign that targeted Qatar using programs called Spynote and Revokery, said a security expert, who requested anonymity. They were backdoors just like Ehdoor, which is a targeted effort for South Asia. To install the malware, Symantec found, the attackers used decoy documents related to security issues in South Asia. The documents included reports from Reuters, Zee News, and the Hindu, and were related to military issues, Kashmir, and an Indian secessionist movement. The malware allows spies to upload and download files, carry out processes, log keystrokes, identify the target s location, steal personal data, and take screenshots, Symantec said, adding that the malware was also being used to target Android devices. In response to frequent cyber-security incidents, India in February established a center to help companies and individuals detect and remove malware. The center is operated by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). Gulshan Rai, the director general of CERT-In, declined to comment specifically on the attack cited in the Symantec report, but added: We took prompt action when we discovered a backdoor last October after a group in Singapore alerted us. He did not elaborate. Symantec s report said an investigation into the backdoor showed that it was constantly being modified to provide additional capabilities for spying operations. A senior official with Pakistan s Federal Investigation Agency said it had not received any reports of malware incidents from government information technology departments. He asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. A spokesman for FireEye, another cybersecurity company, said that based on an initial review of the malware, it had concluded that an internet protocol address in Pakistan had submitted the malware to a testing service. The spokesman requested anonymity, citing company policy. Another FireEye official said the attack reported by Symantec was not surprising. South Asia is a hotbed of geopolitical tensions, and wherever we find heightened tensions we expect to see elevated levels of cyber espionage activity, said Tim Wellsmore, FireEye s director of threat intelligence for the Asia Pacific region. The Symantec report said the Ehdoor backdoor was initially used in late 2016 to target government, military and military-affiliated targets in the Middle East and elsewhere.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said he will inquire further into whether former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey can represent a Turkish gold trader charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman said at a hearing on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court that he will hold another hearing, likely later this month, into whether conflicts of interest prevent the two men from effectively representing the trader, Reza Zarrab. Giuliani and Mukasey will not appear in court or help prepare for Zarrab’s trial, Benjamin Brafman, another of Zarrab’s lawyers, said at the hearing. Instead, he said, they are seeking a “diplomatic solution” to the case. The two men traveled to Turkey shortly after Feb. 24 to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Giuliani, an ally of President Donald Trump, discussed the trip in advance with then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who brought the charges against Zarrab, Brafman said, while Mukasey conferred with Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “No one was trying to hide their involvement,” Brafman said. Zarrab is accused of conspiring to conduct illegal transactions through U.S. banks on behalf of Iran’s government and other Iranian entities. Prosecutors said in a court filing last week that eight of those banks were clients of Giuliani or Mukasey’s firms, and that Giuliani’s firm is a registered agent of Turkey, raising potential conflicts. Brafman said in a response the issue “quite frankly is none of the Government’s business.” But Berman said at Tuesday’s hearing that it was “unquestionably the business of the court.” At the hearing, Brafman argued that Zarrab had an “absolute right” to meet with anyone he chose. If he had chosen to meet with another lawyer without telling anyone, there would be no issue, Brafman said. “He’s interviewed half the lawyers in America, so that’s not so much of a hypothetical,” Brafman joked, alluding to Zarrab’s hiring of more than a dozen lawyers at major firms. The dispute highlights the politically charged nature of the case, which expanded in scope last week with the arrest of an executive at a Turkish state-owned bank accused of conspiring with Zarrab. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticized that arrest as “political.” Zarrab, a dual national of Iran and Turkey, had previously been arrested in 2013 in a corruption probe of people tied to Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey.

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - A fiscal 2018 budget unveiled on Friday by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) depends on nearly $570 million in new money from the state and city that may not materialize or has not been identified. The $5.7 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1 includes $300 million the state of Illinois would send the district under education funding legislation. But Republican Governor Bruce Rauner used an amendatory veto to substantially rewrite the bill to remove what he called a CPS bailout. It was unclear how much the district would receive under Rauner’s revisions. The Democratic-controlled legislature, which passed the funding formula bill in May without a veto-proof majority, is scheduled to meet next week. A failure by the Illinois House and Senate to muster a required three-fifths majority vote to override or accept changes Rauner made to the bill would kill the measure. “The budget we released today is more of an outline than a traditional budget as we wait for the resolution of the education funding stalemate in Springfield,” CPS CEO Forrest Claypool told reporters, referring to the state capital. Escalating pension payments have led to drained reserves, debt dependency and junk bond ratings for the nation’s third-largest public school system. The CPS budget also assumes a $269 million boost in local funding that the district said it is working with the city to identify. Matt McGrath, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who controls the school system, said there is no answer yet on a local source. “What I can tell you is that any local solution will not come at the expense of the city’s long-term financial stability,” he said, adding that the mayor promises CPS students will have a full school year. Moody’s Investors Service put Chicago’s Ba1 junk credit rating under review last month for a possible downgrade, citing the potential the city could extend financial help to its cash-strapped schools. The amount of CPS cash-flow borrowing in fiscal 2018 would be about the same as fiscal 2017’s $1.55 billion, according to budget documents. Claypool said the district has no immediate plans for selling bonds for capital needs. CPS, which projects an 8,000 enrollment drop this school year, has set an Aug. 28 budget vote by its board. The district said the spending plan can be revised once the state puts a school funding formula in place.

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((This Sept. 19 story corrects paragraph 9 to say the estimated amounts to be raised are annual figures, not totals for the decade)) By Amanda Becker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration may abandon its promise to repeal the U.S. estate tax on inherited assets in an effort to make a still-evolving Republican tax cut framework more politically feasible, according to sources familiar with the deliberations. A so-called Big Six team of Republican tax package negotiators, including senior lawmakers and top Trump advisers, has been tight-lipped about the details that will be part of their plan, expected to be unveiled next week. Republicans have long criticized the estate tax, saying it taxes hard-earned income a second time and hurts family-owned businesses and farms. Democrats say repealing it would be a windfall for only the wealthiest of taxpayers. After months of debate about how to make good on a 2016 campaign promise to overhaul the tax code, Republican tax negotiators are in a bind. They have largely given up on a comprehensive revamp of the code and are now focused on a package of tax cuts for individuals and businesses. To offset the revenue losses that would result from such cuts, they need new revenues and need to hold onto existing revenues to avoid expanding the federal deficit too much. To that end, Trump administration officials have considered keeping the revenue-raising estate tax, which is levied on estate assets worth more than $5.49 million, or $10.98 million for married couples, according to those familiar with the talks, but not authorized to speak about them. “There have been high-level discussions in the White House about giving up on repealing the estate tax,” said a congressional aide. The 40 percent estate tax currently affects just 0.2 percent of estates, or approximately 5,460 estates this year, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute, a think tank. But the tax will raise between $25 billion and $34 billion annually over the next decade, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment on “rumors about internal deliberations,” but said President Donald Trump “has made it clear that his priority is ensuring American workers get a pay raise” by making the tax code more competitive. In a recent meeting between Trump, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, the president sought to make the case that his tax plan would not favor the rich. The Democrats pointed to the estate tax repeal, which was then included in the president’s plan, as one benefit for the wealthy, those familiar with the meeting said. Though analysts had expected an estate tax repeal to take a back seat in the Republican tax push to other priorities, they cautioned that if the White House decides to abandon it, the plan would meet resistance from Trump’s own party in Congress. The Big Six team consists of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the National Economic Council’s Gary Cohn, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan, and Senator Orrin Hatch and Representative Kevin Brady, who head the tax committees in their respective chambers. Abandoning estate tax repeal would please many Democrats, but make it more difficult to push the tax package through the House of Representatives, where conservative Republicans are already wary of the hush-hush negotiations. “I do think reform will include, if not outright repeal, then a substantial relaxation and modification of the estate tax rules,” Deloitte’s Jonathan Traub told Reuters. Republicans could tweak the estate tax by creating a higher exemption amount, lowering the rate, or a combination thereof. Or they could pursue a temporary repeal to preserve revenue without endangering the package’s prospects, said analysts and a former committee staffer now in the private sector. “There is this menu of items they want to pay for, the estate tax being one of them,” said Cowen & Co’s Chris Krueger, a Washington analyst. “It’s the candy, not the broccoli.”

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RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Wednesday to seek joint action on security threats including Iran and Islamic State - and to talk through tensions between the two allies that have been laid bare in recent weeks. Obama’s fourth and likely last visit to the world’s top oil exporter has been overshadowed by Gulf Arab exasperation with his approach to the region, and doubts about Washington’s commitment to their security. Most of the Gulf Arab monarchies have in private been sorely disappointed by Obama’s presidency, regarding it as a period in which the United States has pulled back from the region, giving more space to their arch rival Iran to expand its influence. Obama met for two hours with Salman and a group of top princes and officials at the opulent Erga palace, a meeting that had been forecast to be awkward. Obama was recently quoted in a U.S. magazine interview commenting on the “complicated” nature of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, and describing some some Gulf and European states as “free riders” who called for U.S. action without doing enough themselves. The White House said the leaders exchanged views on a series of regional conflicts where the allies disagree, and also explored U.S. concerns about Saudi human rights issues. “The two leaders reaffirmed the historic friendship and deep strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” the White House said in a statement. Obama has spoken of his desire to persuade Gulf states to arrive at a “cold peace” with Iran that would douse sectarian tensions and allow all sides to focus on what he sees as a greater threat emanating from Islamic State. “More broadly, the president and King discussed the challenges posed by Iran’s provocative activities in the region, agreeing on the importance of an inclusive approach to de-escalating regional conflicts,” the White House said. Obama praised the king’s pledge of humanitarian aid to Yemen after a Saudi-led military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi group - and talked about the need to help parts of Iraq hit hard by Islamic State fighting. They also talked about the need to reinforce a cessation of hostilities between Syrian government and opposition forces, and their support for a political transition in the war-torn country, the White House said. The White House did not say whether the leaders had discussed a bill proposed in the U.S. Congress that, if passed, could hold the kingdom responsible for any role in al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The attack was mounted by al Qaeda, then based in Afghanistan. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals, although no U.S. investigation to date has reported finding evidence of Saudi government support for the attacks. Obama has said he opposes the bill because it could expose the United States to lawsuits from citizens of other countries. LOW-KEY ARRIVAL Obama arrived too late for the pomp of a televised official welcome for Gulf rulers at the airport, making a low-key entrance before being whisked off by helicopter to the palace. He later met privately at his hotel with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan and discussed the need to find a political settlement for the Yemen conflict, and to head off the “actions of potential spoilers” for Libya’s nascent government. Earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter had talks with his Gulf Arab counterparts on ways of countering Iranian influence and fighting the Islamic State group. They agreed on joint cooperation towards improving Gulf missile defense, special forces and maritime security, but no new deals were announced. The GCC secretary general said the bloc and the United States would stage joint maritime patrols to stop weapons smuggling to Iran. American officials said these were already taking place and did not represent a new step. On Thursday, Obama will attend a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a group of monarchies comprising Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Apart from Oman, they are ruled by Sunni Muslim dynasties who see revolutionary, Shi’ite Iran as a threat to their security and say its involvement in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen has fueled conflict and deepened sectarian divisions. That tension surfaced again on Wednesday when Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei attacked Riyadh’s attempts to isolate its ally, Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, in a series of fiery Tweets. “Hezbollah is shining in the Muslim world. It doesn’t matter if a corrupt, dependent and hollow government with the use of petrodollars condemns it in a statement. To hell with it,” he wrote. The White House shares the view of Gulf Arab states that Tehran plays a destabilizing role, but its push for the nuclear deal Iran agreed with world powers last year caused fears in Riyadh that Washington was not listening to their concerns.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration, in line with its tough immigration policy, is keeping red tape in place that could make it harder for immigrants in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey to find jobs with contractors, a decision critics say is likely to slow the Gulf Coast’s recovery. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Republican President George W. Bush temporarily exempted employers hiring Katrina victims from verifying that new employees were authorized to work in the United States. The 45-day suspension allowed survivors whose identification documents had been lost during the storm to work while awaiting new ones, but it also allowed undocumented immigrants to quickly find jobs with contractors. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a statement on Wednesday that while it will expedite the replacement of lost documents for storm victims, employment verification requirements will remain in place, a move that drew both praise and scorn from politicians and others. “With so much rebuilding needed, we should make it easier for folks to get back to work,” said Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Democrat whose constituency includes parts of southeast Texas. “Unfortunately, always overflowing with anti-immigrant hysteria, the Trump administration is choosing red tape and bureaucracy instead of learning lessons from past disasters.” President Donald Trump, a Republican, built a base of support in the 2016 election campaign by vowing to stop people immigrating to the United States illegally and is pushing for a wall to be built along the U.S. border with Mexico. But business leaders say immigrants make important contributions and that any effort to limit their employment will hurt economic growth and tax revenue. Representative Marc Veasey, another Texas Democrat, said the government should not penalize Harvey victims. “Providing employers with temporary leeway will allow Texans to focus on rebuilding their lives and not on pressuring potential employees to provide documents that may have been lost during Hurricane Harvey,” Veasey said. Representative Lamar Smith, a Republican congressman for south-central Texas, was critical of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) decision in 2005 and thinks it should not be repeated now. Harvey came ashore last Friday as the most powerful storm to hit Texas in 50 years, flooding Houston and driving tens of thousands from their homes before moving to Louisiana. On Thursday, he said Harvey’s destruction “does not mean federal immigration laws should be ignored.” “Nor should regulations that require federal contractors to verify legal work authorization of their employees,” he said in a statement to Reuters. “These policies were put in place to protect American workers and taxpayers.” USCIS referred questions on the decision to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the division under the DHS that enforces federal immigration policy. ICE spokeswoman Dani Bennett declined to speculate about future policy changes, but said it was not ICE’s intent to conduct immigration enforcement in areas affected by Harvey. Waiving verification requirements after Katrina was aimed at citizens and legal residents who had lost documents in the storm, since employers must verify the identity of all new hires through documents, such as passports, permanent residence cards, or driver’s licenses. But several immigration attorneys said the DHS’ 2005 decision was also a tacit acknowledgment that undocumented immigrants were needed to help the rebuilding. The Pew Research Center estimated last year that 28 percent of Texas’s construction workforce is undocumented, while other studies have put the number as high as 50 percent. “In certain circumstances those are the people you desperately need to help you do things,” said William J. Manning, an immigration attorney in New York. “This is not the time to get precious about their documentation.” In the days and weeks after Katrina, contractors from inside and outside New Orleans moved to rebuild and take advantage of government reconstruction funds. But the number of workers in construction and related industries in the New Orleans area plummeted just after the hurricane, according to a 2006 Brookings Institution study. The DHS decision, and a separate decision by the Department of Labor to temporarily lift wage restrictions, were part of an effort by the Bush administration to address the labor shortage. Some worry that the Trump administration’s decision will slow down the post-Harvey rebuilding, because employers will struggle to meet the federal documentation requirements in the storm’s aftermath. “Damage is damage, and there are repairs that need to be done,” said Jorge Lopez, an immigration attorney in Florida. “Local folks are trying to hire right away because even with their existing crew they’re not going to have enough people to do all the work that needs to be done.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives probe of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election said on Tuesday their investigation was continuing, they were working to obtain documents and they planned more public hearings. Representative Mike Conaway, who is leading the probe, and Representative Adam Schiff, the panel’s top Democrat, made a joint media appearance about the ongoing investigation days after a dispute between Republicans and Democrats over Republican calls to investigate actions by U.S. officials under former Democratic President Barack Obama. “There are questions all of us want answered,” Conaway told reporters. Democrats accused President Donald Trump, and the committee’s chairman, Republican Representative Devin Nunes, of using concerns related to the Obama administration to divert attention from allegations of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russians attempting to interfere in the 2016 election. Nunes, a close Trump ally, recused himself from the Russia investigation following a secret visit he paid to White House officials. Schiff said the panel would like Jeh Johnson, who was homeland security secretary under Obama, to testify in a public hearing and then in a classified session. Schiff said he thought Johnson “would have insight” into a statement by the intelligence community on Oct. 7, 2016, about Russia’s conduct as well as interactions he had with state and local officials about the dangers to the U.S. election system of Russian activities. Schiff said he had not yet been in touch with Johnson on the matter. Schiff said the committee was following up requests for information made to witnesses. “At least a couple” had declined to comply voluntarily, so the committee issued subpoenas last week, he said. The panel is putting together a schedule for interviewing witnesses, after it receives the documents it has requested, Schiff added. Schiff and Conaway declined to take any questions from reporters.

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GENEVA (Reuters) - Australia should stop rejecting refugees and change its migration laws to come into line with international standards, the U.N. Human Rights Committee said in a report on Thursday. The committee, which comprises 18 independent experts and monitors countries compliance with a global human rights treaty, said Australia should come back in a year to explain what action it had taken to meet its concerns. Australia has been widely criticized by the United Nations and rights groups for detaining asylum seekers who try to reach its shores by boat, even if they are found to be refugees, and keeping them on offshore processing centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis in the Manus island center in Papua New Guinea. It was closed on Oct. 31 but 600 asylum seekers have refused to leave, fearing violent reprisals from islanders if they move to transit centers, pending possible resettlement to the United States. The committee s vice-chair Yuval Shany said although the recommendations were non-binding it did not appear Australia was treating its obligations seriously. We do not disagree with Australia s right to adopt a tough policy, for instance on resettlement, he said. What they cannot do is treat asylum seekers as criminals and detain them, and they cannot absolve themselves of their duty not to send them back to danger. He said it was exceptional to have such a situation in a developed country with a strong human rights record, and for a country to publicly reject the committee s recommendations one after the other, as Australia had. The government could not be immediately reached for comment. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton earlier told 2GB radio he stood by the detention policy that the government says is necessary to deter asylum seekers from attempting perilous sea voyages to Australia, and that it would not back down from its evictions from Manus. The offshore detention policies are backed by the center-right government and the Labor opposition. The U.N. committee said Australia should cut the period of initial mandatory detention and limit detention overall, and ensure that children were not detained except as a measure of last resort and for the shortest time possible. It urged Australia to ensure the international principle of not sending refugees back to danger was secured in law and adhered to. The committee was concerned about conditions in Manus and in Nauru, citing serious safety concerns and instances of assault, sexual abuse, self-harm and suspicious deaths. Australia should also consider closing the Christmas Island detention center, which was too remote to ensure protection of people held there, it said.

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis will meet the head of Myanmar s army and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, both late additions to a tour of the two countries next week. Human rights monitors and U.N. officials have accused Myanmar s military of atrocities, including mass rape, against the stateless Rohingya during operations that followed insurgent attacks on 30 police posts and an army base. Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said on Wednesday that the pope would meet army head Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Nov. 30 in a church residence in Yangon. Myanmar Cardinal Charles Maung Bo had talks with the pope in Rome on Saturday and suggested that he add a meeting with the general to the schedule for a trip that is proving to be one of the most politically sensitive since Francis was elected in 2013. Both the pope and the general agreed. Some 600,000 Rohingya refugees, most of them Muslim and from Myanmar s northern Rakhine state, have fled to Bangladesh. Burke said a small group of Rohingya refugees would be present at an inter-religious meeting for peace in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka on Dec 1. Myanmar s government has denied most of the claims of atrocities against the Rohingya, and the army last week said its own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing by troops. The pope will separately meet the country s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the capital Naypyitaw, on Nov. 28 in an encounter that was already on the schedule. Briefing reporters on the trip, Burke gave no details of how the Rohingya who will meet the pope would be chosen. A source in Dhaka said the refugees would be able to tell the pope about their experiences. Both events were not on the original schedule of the Nov. 26-Dec. 2 trip. Bo, the cardinal from Myanmar, has advised the pope not to use the word Rohingya while in Myanmar because it is incendiary in the country where they are not recognized as an ethnic group. Burke said the pope took the advice seriously but added: We will find out together during the trip ... it is not a forbidden word .

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and 10 other Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for significant changes to a Republican-crafted bill in the House of Representatives aimed at helping Puerto Rico overcome its debt crisis. “Senate Democrats are united in our belief that any legislation to solve this crisis must include an effective restructuring process that allows Puerto Rico to adjust all of its debt,” the group said in a statement. They said an oversight board proposed in the legislation would be too powerful and that the bill did not include “appropriate safeguards for pension holders and retirees.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Technology companies could face civil penalties for refusing to comply with court orders to help investigators access encrypted data under draft legislation nearing completion in the U.S. Senate, sources familiar with continuing discussions told Reuters on Wednesday. The long-awaited legislation from Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein, the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, may be introduced as soon as next week, one of the sources said. It would expose companies like Apple Inc, which is fighting a magistrate judge’s order to unlock an iPhone connected to the mass-shooting in San Bernardino, California, to contempt of court proceedings and related penalties, the source said. Senators are expected to circulate the draft bill among interested parties next week and hope to introduce it soon after, though a timetable is not final, the source said. The Senators’ proposal would not seek criminal penalties, as some media reports have stated, the sources said. The controversial proposal faces an uphill climb in a gridlocked Congress during an election year and would likely be opposed by Silicon Valley. Tech companies have largely supported Apple in its legal fight against the Justice Department, which is seeking access to a phone used by Rizwan Farook, one of two shooters in the San Bernardino attack last December in which 14 were killed and 22 wounded. It is particularly unlikely the proposal will gain traction in the U.S. House of Representatives, which staked out positions strongly supporting digital privacy in the wake of revelations about government-sanctioned surveillance of communications by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Last year, amid stiff private sector opposition, the White House backed away from pushing for legislation to require U.S. technology firms to provide investigators with mechanisms to overcome encryption protections. But the issue found renewed life after the shootings in San Bernardino and Paris. An August email from Robert Litt, the top U.S. intelligence community lawyer, obtained by the Washington Post, noted that momentum on the issue “could turn in the event of a terrorist attack or criminal event where strong encryption can be shown to have hindered law enforcement.” Separately, Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Representative Michael McCaul last week introduced legislation to create a national commission to further explore solutions to the so-called “going dark” problem, where strong encryption has made it more difficult for law enforcement to access communications belonging to criminal suspects.

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MANILA (Reuters) - Pro-Islamic State militants killed six soldiers and wounded four others on a southern Philippine island, the military spokesman said on Friday, as the army focused on the remaining rebel groups after regaining control of Marawi City. The army shifted its operations on Basilan island after ending the five-month combat operations in Marawi last month after killing the militants top leaders, including Isnilon Hapilon, the emir of pro-Islamic State groups in Southeast Asia. We were going after the Abu Sayyaf elements who continue to exist in Basilan and up to this time, there have been skirmishes reported to us, specifically this morning, military spokesman Major-General Restituto Padilla told news channel ANC. Ten soldiers were wounded, but six died on the way to a medical facility on Wednesday evening after troops, searching for Abu Sayyaf sub-commander Furiji Indama, clashed with militant groups in Sumisip town, he added. Militants from the Abu Sayyaf, notorious for bombings, beheadings, extortion and kidnap-for-ransom in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, took part in the attack on Marawi in May which led to the bloody five-month battle. Two army battalions were sent to reinforce soldiers who were taking heavy gunfire from well-entrenched militants, spokeswoman Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay told reporters, adding two attack helicopters also provided close air support. An undetermined number of militants were killed or wounded in the four-hour battle, Petinglay said. We will continue to chase the Abu Sayyaf and finish them off, she added. The presence of pro-Islamic State militants is among the top internal security threats for the Philippines. The Marawi siege raised alarms that southern Philippines is fast becoming an Asian hub for the ultra-radical group.

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(Reuters) - One person was shot at an anti-Trump demonstration in Portland on Saturday as protesters crossed the Morrison Bridge, police said. “Everyone needs to leave the area immediately,” police said on Twitter, and they asked witnesses to come forward.

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BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand is putting the finishing touches this month to a lavish five-day funeral ceremony in a final goodbye to its late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who helped shape the Southeast Asian nation for decades after World War Two. Many of the hundreds of thousands of black-clad mourners are expected to camp for days near Bangkok s Grand Palace to capture a good view of the ceremonies, which will be guarded by 78,000 police officers and culminate in the cremation on Oct. 26. October is a sad period, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who announced plans for a national election next year, told reporters in the capital on Tuesday. I ask that politicians and political parties be peaceful and orderly. Artisans have worked for ten months in Bangkok s ancient quarter to build an elaborate cremation site fashioned after a vision of heaven, where Thais believe dead royals return to live above Mount Meru, a golden mountain in Hindu mythology. The funeral of King Bhumibol, who died on Oct. 13 last year after seven decades on the throne, is also a time of uncertainty for some Thais, said a Thailand-based analyst, who declined to be identified because of sensitivities around the monarchy. In many ways the king was Thailand and his death has left a huge vacuum in the Thai psyche, said the analyst, pointing to social and political upheavals in recent decades. What happens after his funeral? Where will Thailand head next? These are profound questions that must be answered. The late king was succeeded by his son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, or Rama X, who has overseen sweeping changes to the royal household, including the running of palace finances. Though steeped in ancient traditions, the funeral of King Bhumibol will permit more public participation than those of previous kings, said Thai monarchy expert Tongthong Chandransu. A strong bond has been formed between the people and the monarchy the strongest compared to past reigns, Tongthong told Reuters. So we can see more people participation in the royal funeral of this king. Among the many royal objects restored for the funeral is a golden chariot that will carry the king s body in a giant ornate urn to the cremation site. The urn will move to the Royal Crematorium before the cremation on the night of Oct. 26, which has been declared a national holiday. More than 3,000 performers will join in a nightlong final tribute of music and puppet shows to end a year of mourning. Thais devoted to the memory of the king have folded paper flowers for his cremation, making 10 million in Bangkok alone, city authorities said. This is our Mandela , or our Princess Diana , moment, said graphic designer and self-proclaimed royalist Apichai Klapiput. What the world will see is rivers of tears that show how much Thais love King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He was the people s king.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump opposed opening the door to grandparents from six Muslim-majority countries on Monday, arguing in a court filing that the government’s interpretation of how to implement its temporary travel ban is based on U.S. immigration law. The U.S. Supreme Court in a ruling last Monday revived parts of Trump’s March 6 executive order that banned people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, which had been blocked by lower courts. The highest court let the ban go forward with a limited scope, saying that it cannot apply to anyone with credible “bona fide relationship” with a U.S. person or entity. Trump said the measure was necessary to prevent terrorist attacks. But opponents, including states and refugee advocacy groups, sued to stop it, disputing its security rationale and saying it discriminates against Muslims. After the Supreme Court ruling, the government said that a “bona fide relationship” means close family members only: parents, spouses, siblings and children. Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins from the six countries would still be banned. The government’s definition, “hews closely to the categorical determinations articulated by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act,” Department of Justice lawyers argued in court papers on Monday. The government’s filing came after the State of Hawaii last week went to U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu, who originally ruled to block the ban, to seek clarification of the Supreme Court’s ruling, arguing the government’s definition of “bona fide relationship” was too narrow. The government said Hawaii, and refugee organizations that filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the state, were seeking to apply “broader, free-hand rules.” The refugee organizations had argued that their work to resettle refugees, a process that can take years of work in coordination with the U.S. government, qualifies as a “bona fide” relationship with a U.S. entity. Any refugees with such a relationship should be exempt from the three-month ban on refugees included in the executive order, according to the Supreme Court ruling. But the government said workers with offers of employment with a U.S. company and international students are fundamentally different than refugees receiving help from U.S. resettlement agencies. “A refugee’s relationship with the agency flows from the government, not from an independent relationship between the refugee and the resettlement agency,” the government said in its brief. “Indeed, resettlement agencies typically do not have any direct contact with the refugees they assure before their arrival in the United States.” Using the organization’s interpretation would make the refugee provisions in the executive order “largely meaningless,” the government said. U.S. refugee resettlement is continuing as normal until July 6, the State Department has said, around when the 50,000 cap for the fiscal year set by Trump’s executive order is likely to be reached. Late on Thursday, before the ban went into effect, the government reversed its position on fiancés, saying they could also qualify for exceptions. The court filing described a 72-hour scramble to “coordinate among multiple government agencies, and issue detailed guidance” on how to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling. The roll out of the narrowed version of the ban was more subdued on Friday compared to in January when Trump first signed a more expansive version of the order, sparking protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world.

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DHAKA (Reuters) - Hard-pressed to find space for a massive influx of Rohingya Muslim refugees, Bangladesh plans to chop down forest trees to extend a tent city sheltering destitute families fleeing ethnic violence in neighboring Myanmar. More than half a million Rohingya have arrived from Myanmar s western state of Rakhine since the end of August in what the United Nations has called the world s fastest-developing refugee emergency. The exodus began after Myanmar security forces responded to Rohingya militants attacks on Aug. 25 by launching a brutal crackdown that the United Nations has denounced as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar has rejected that accusation, insisting that the military action was needed to combat terrorists who had killed civilians and burnt villages. But it has left Bangladesh and international humanitarian organizations counting the cost as they race to provide life-saving food, water and medical care for the displaced Rohingya. Simply finding enough empty ground to accommodate the refugees is a huge problem. The government allocated 2,000 acres when the number of refugees was nearly 400,000, Mohammad Shah Kamal, Bangladesh s secretary of disaster management and relief, told Reuters on Thursday. Now that the numbers have gone up by more than 100,000 and people are still coming. So, the government has to allocate 1,000 acres (400 hectares) of forest land. Once all the trees are felled, aid workers plan to put up 150,000 tarpaulin shelters in their place. Swamped by refugees, poor Bangladeshi villagers are faced with mounting hardships and worries, including the trafficking of illegal drugs, particularly methamphetamines, from Myanmar. The situation is very bad, said Kazi Abdur Rahman, a senior official in the Bangladesh border district of Cox s Bazar, where most of the Rohingya are settled. People in Cox s Bazar are concerned, we are also concerned, but there s nothing we can do but accommodate them. The pressure on the land is creating another conflict, this time environmental rather than ethnic. Last month, wild elephants trampled two refugees to death and Rahman said more such encounters appeared inevitable as more forest is destroyed. U.N. agencies coordinating aid appealed on Wednesday for $434 million to help up to 1.2 million people, most of them children, for six months. Their figure includes the 515,000 who have arrived since August, more than 300,000 Rohingya who were already in Bangladesh, having fled earlier suppression, a contingency for another 91,000 and 300,000 Bangladesh villagers in so-called host communities who also need help. The Save the Children aid group warned of a malnutrition crisis with some 281,000 people in need of urgent nutrition support, including 145,000 children under five and more than 50,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women. In over 20 years as a humanitarian worker, I ve never seen a situation like this, where people are so desperate for basic assistance and conditions so dire, Unni Krishnan, director of Save the Children s Emergency Health Unit, said in a statement. U.N. agencies are wary of planning beyond six months for fear or creating a self-perpetuating crisis. Myanmar has promised to take back anyone verified as a refugee but there s little hope for speedy repatriation. There is long-simmering communal tension and animosity toward the Rohingya in Myanmar, most of whom are stateless and derided as illegal immigrants. This crisis isn t going to end soon, said a Bangladeshi interior ministry official who declined to be identified.

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(Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned under pressure from President Donald Trump on Friday in an uproar over Price’s use of costly private charter planes for government business. The following is a partial list of officials who have been fired or have left the administration since Trump took office on Jan. 20, as well as people who were nominated by Trump for a position, but did not take the job: * Stephen Bannon - Trump’s chief strategist, who had been a driving force behind the president’s anti-globalization and pro-nationalist agenda that helped propel him to election victory, was fired by Trump in mid-August. He had repeatedly clashed with more moderate factions in the White House. * Philip Bilden - a private equity executive and former military intelligence officer picked by Trump for secretary of the Navy, withdrew from consideration in February because of government conflict-of-interest rules. * James Comey - the Federal Bureau of Investigation director leading a probe into possible collusion between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russia to influence the election outcome, was fired by Trump in May. * James Donovan - a Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker who was nominated by Trump as deputy Treasury secretary, withdrew his name in May. * Michael Dubke - founder of Crossroads Media, resigned as White House communications director in May. * Michael Flynn - resigned in February as Trump’s national security adviser after disclosures that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office and misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations. * Mark Green - Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, who had served in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, withdrew his name from consideration in May. * Gerrit Lansing - White House chief digital officer, stepped down in February after failing to pass an FBI background check, according to Politico. * Jason Miller - communications director for Trump’s transition team who was named by the president-elect in December as White House communications director, said days later that he would not take the job. * Reince Priebus - the former chairman of the Republican National Committee was replaced by John Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff in July. A confidant of the president said Trump had lost confidence in Priebus after major legislative items failed to pass the U.S. Congress. * Todd Ricketts - a co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team and Trump’s choice for deputy secretary of commerce, withdrew from consideration in April. * Anthony Scaramucci - the White House communications director was fired by Trump in July after just 10 days on the job after profanity-laced comments to The New Yorker magazine were published. * Walter Shaub - the head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who clashed with Trump and his administration, stepped down in July before his five-year term was to end. * Michael Short - senior White House assistant press secretary, resigned in July. * Sean Spicer - resigned as White House press secretary in July, ending a turbulent tenure after Trump named Scaramucci as White House communications director. * Robin Townley - an aide to national security adviser Flynn, was rejected in February after he was denied security clearance to serve on the U.S. National Security Council, according to Politico. * Vincent Viola - an Army veteran and a former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange, nominated by Trump to be secretary of the Army, withdrew his name from consideration in February. * Katie Walsh - deputy White House chief of staff, was transferred to the outside pro-Trump group America First Policies in March, according to Politico. * Caroline Wiles - Trump’s director of scheduling, resigned in February after failing a background check, according to Politico. * Sally Yates - acting U.S. attorney general, was fired by Trump in January after she ordered Justice Department lawyers not to enforce Trump’s immigration ban.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government might not have enough money to pay all its bills on Oct. 2 if Washington does not raise a cap on federal borrowing, a respected think tank said in a report on Thursday. The Treasury might not have enough money on that day to make a roughly $80 billion payment that will be due to a military retirement fund, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Coming up short on cash on Oct. 2 could also lead the government to delay payments due that day on social security benefits and military pay, the BPC said. The report highlights the urgency facing the Trump administration to work with Congress to raise the federal government’s $19.8 trillion cap on borrowing. Missing payments could trigger financial turmoil and hit the U.S. economy, possibly triggering a recession. A credit agency has warned that America’s credit rating is at risk. “October 2 is a particularly difficult day for federal finances,” said the Bipartisan Policy Center, which is considered an expert in projecting fiscal deadlines. Losing the ability to borrow any more on Oct. 2 would mean approximately 23 percent of funds owed by the government that month would go unpaid, dealing an immediate blow to the U.S. economy, the BPC said. Washington has been scraping against its debt ceiling since March, putting off payments into a few government funds so it can keep borrowing from investors and making debt payments. The BPC noted there was “substantial uncertainty” in knowing just when Washington could stop being able to pay all its bills. It projects that date could fall between Oct. 2 and the middle of the month. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin told lawmakers in July they needed to raise the debt limit by Sept 29. President Donald Trump on Thursday described efforts to raise the limit as a “mess.” Republicans control the White House and both houses of the U.S. Congress. Washington has put itself through debt-limit crises several times in recent decades. In the run-up to a 2011 crisis, the Treasury looked at a range of options, including prioritizing payments, which would mean making debt securities payments at the expense of other obligations. Former Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said in 2013 that attempting to prioritize might trigger chaos. Mnuchin told lawmakers on July 27 he had no intent to prioritize payments and that doing so “doesn’t make sense.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he will schedule a vote on whether to open debate on a healthcare overhaul in a “couple of hours.” “Today’s vote to begin debate is the first step, and we should take it,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you’re just fine with the Obamcare nightmare.”

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SHANGHAI (Reuters) - It is strategically important for China s economy that the country enhances protection of intellectual property rights, the state news agency Xinhua quoted Premier Li Keqiang as saying, as the cabinet promised to improve regulations. Inadequate protection of intellectual property had contributed to the decline in private investment, he added. Companies and foreign business lobbies have often accused China of doing too little to rein in risks related to intellectual property rights, despite having anti-piracy laws. To protect these rights better, the State Council, or cabinet, said the government would look into punitive fines for infringements. The cabinet plans to increase costs for those caught infringing on intellectual property rights, and will make rights protection more affordable, Xinhua said. Private businesses will enjoy equal rights similar to public sector companies, it quoted a statement following a cabinet meeting chaired by Li as saying. Enhancing the protection of intellectual property rights is a matter of overall strategic significance, and it is vital for the development of the socialist market economy, Li said. Deficiency in (property rights protection) is a main cause for the slide in private investment... The wider opening up of the country calls for enhancing IPR protection. The cabinet vowed to clear, revise or abolish regulations or documents that were contradictory to the 2007 Property Rights Law and 2016 guidelines on improving property rights protection. Wayward and arbitrary law enforcement would be strictly prevented, it added.IPR law enforcement will be channeled towards cases related to the internet, exports and imports, as well as rural and urban areas, where counterfeiting is rampant.

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JUBA (Reuters) - The United States has lost trust in South Sudan s government for fueling the country s civil war and it must bring peace or risk losing support from Washington, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the nation s President Salva Kiir. Haley was the first senior member of President Donald Trump s administration to visit South Sudan, which spiraled into civil war in 2013, just two years after gaining independence from Sudan. She met one on one with Kiir for some 45 minutes. I let him know that the United States was at a crossroads and that every decision going forward was going to be based on his actions, Haley told reporters after the meeting in the capital Juba. The United Nations has warned that the violence in South Sudan, which has forced some 4 million people to flee their homes, was providing fertile ground for a genocide. Kiir s government has denied U.N. allegations of ethnic cleansing. Haley had to cut short a visit to a camp for South Sudanese displaced by the violence amid rowdy anti-Kiir protests. He understood that Americans were disappointed in his leadership in South Sudan, I made that very clear. And he understood that all the aid or help that he hopes will go forward is not a given, she said. Haley did not elaborate on what further action Washington could take, but said that Kiir got what I was trying to say. On Monday she said Washington was considering how to pressure Kiir into peace, though noted that withdrawing aid may not work. The Trump administration last month imposed sanctions on two senior South Sudanese officials and the former army chief. We have lost trust in the government and we now need to regain that trust and the only way to regain that trust is through the actions of taking care of all of the people, Haley told South Sudan s Eye Radio. She demanded that Kiir allow full and consistent humanitarian aid access and bring peace and stability to the country. She said she pushed a timeline for Kiir to act, but declined to elaborate. Nhial Deng Nihal, a senior adviser to Kiir, said the president told Haley his government and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in South Sudan had established mechanisms that work jointly to improve and address the humanitarian problems. He also told reporters that Kiir said government troops will also be observing a cessation of hostilities in order to create an atmosphere for dialogue. The civil war was sparked by a feud between Kiir, a Dinka, and his former deputy Riek Machar, a Nuer. It has plunged parts of the world s youngest nation into famine. A fragile peace deal broke down last year and Machar fled the country. He is being held in South Africa to stop him stirring up trouble, sources told Reuters in December. Haley had to cut short a visit to a camp in Juba, where U.N. peacekeepers are protecting some 30,000 displaced people, after hundreds of rowdy pro-Machar protesters blocked nearby roads, yelling Salva Kiir is a killer and Welcome USA. Protesters held a large sign that read South Sudan IDPs (internally displaced people) and refugees love President Trump, the peacemaker and supporter of human rights. A spokeswoman for the U.N. mission said the protest started to gain momentum after (Haley) left, IDPs became upset that she was not able to meet with them. Haley was meeting with a displaced family when she had to leave early due to security concerns. The previous U.S. administrations of President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama were heavily involved in the birth of South Sudan, which signed a peace accord with Sudan in 2005 and gained independence in 2011.

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela s sacked former chief prosecutor on Thursday asked the International Criminal Court to capture and try President Nicolas Maduro and other top officials for crimes against humanity over murders by police and military officers. Luisa Ortega, who broke with Maduro this year after working closely with the ruling Socialist Party for a decade, was fired in August after she opposed Maduro s plan to create an all-powerful legislature called the Constituent Assembly. She fled the country and has traveled the world denouncing alleged acts of corruption and violations of human rights. Ortega said her complaint, filed on Wednesday with the Hague-based tribunal, was prompted by some 8,290 deaths between 2015 and 2017 at the hands of officials who received instructions the government. (They happened) under the orders of the executive branch, as part of a social cleansing plan carried out by the government, she told reporters in the Hague. The government did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. The accusation refers to incidents of torture, extrajudicial killings and arbitrary arrest. Some of them took place during a crackdown on anti-government protests that rocked the country between April and July and left at least 125 people dead, some of them at the hands of military and police officers. The Maduro government accused Ortega of turning a blind eye to violence by opposition supporters, and has also leveled a raft of corruption charges at her. Ortega s request also makes reference to killings that took place during police raids known as Operations to Free the People, which have been heavily criticized by human rights groups since they began in 2015. Nicolas Maduro and his government must pay for this, she said. The complaint also accuses top officials such as Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and intelligence chief Gustavo Gonzalez of involvement in the alleged abuses. Ortega s critics say she was closely allied with Maduro s efforts to crack down on dissent and, before her break with him, had helped jail opposition leaders on trumped-up charges. Maduro s government insists it respects human rights and says opposition demonstrations were Washington-backed efforts to violently overthrow him. Despite their bitter differences, Venezuela s government and opposition agreed on Wednesday to a new round of foreign-mediated talks in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 1.

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LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May refused to say whether she would vote for Brexit if there was another referendum, repeatedly avoiding giving an answer on an issue that will define Britain s fate for generations to come. Although May has talked up the promise of Brexit since gaining power last year, she had, in the run-up to the June 2016 referendum, quietly backed staying in the European Union. She won the top job after David Cameron, who had also campaigned to remain, resigned in the chaos following the shock result of the vote. She has ruled out holding a second referendum on the final deal of the terms of Brexit, despite calls for one from some pro-EU lawmakers. Asked three times in an interview if she had changed her mind since then, she did not answer directly, saying she wouldn t engage with hypothetical questions and said her job was now to deliver what the people had voted for. I voted remain for good reasons at the time, but circumstances move on and I think the important thing now is that I think we should all be focused on delivering Brexit and delivering the best deal, she said on British radio station LBC on Tuesday. The United Kingdom remains deeply divided over Brexit which most senior politicians view as the most important decision Britain has taken since World War Two. In the June 23, 2016 referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent of votes cast, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million voters, or 48.1 percent of votes cast, backed staying. Britain has just over one year to negotiate the terms of the divorce and the outlines of the future relationship before it is due to leave in late March 2019. Both sides need an agreement to keep trade flowing between the world s biggest trading bloc and the fifth largest global economy. But the other 27 members of the EU combined have about five times the economic might of Britain. They also have a strong incentive to deny the UK a deal so attractive it might encourage others to follow the British example. May, who said she voted to remain, called a general election earlier this year in a bid to unite the country around her vision for Brexit. However, she lost her parliamentary majority, jeopardizing her premiership. Pressed on whether she would now vote leave, she said she would look at everything and come to a judgment, but stressed that there would not be another referendum. Minister Damian Green, who is effectively May s deputy, was asked on BBC Newsnight the same question. He said that it would have been better had the public voted to remain, but there would not be another referendum and it was his job as a democrat to work towards making Brexit a success. Under the headline Theresa Maybe , The Sun, Britain s most read newspaper, said Brexiteers were offended by May s response.

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TUNIS (Reuters) - The United Nations migration agency is stepping up the rate at which it flies migrants home from Libya, aiming to evacuate up to 15,000 in the final month of the year. The acceleration of returns is an attempt to ease severe overcrowding in detention centers, where numbers swelled after boat departures for Italy from the smuggling hub of Sabratha were largely blocked this year. It also followed a CNN report showing migrants being sold for slave labor in Libya, sparking an international outcry and calls for migrants to be given safe passage from the country. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has already flown back more than 14,500 migrants to their countries of origin so far this year as part of its voluntary returns program. Nigeria, Guinea, Gambia, Mali and Senegal have seen the highest numbers of returns. Migrant flows through Libya surged from 2014. More than 600,000 crossing the central Mediterranean to Italy over the past three years, but departures from Libya s coast dropped sharply in July when armed groups in Sabratha began preventing boats from leaving. After clashes in the western city in September, thousands of migrants who had been held near the coast surfaced and were transferred to detention centers under the nominal control of the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. Numbers in about 16 centers rose to nearly 20,000, from 5,000-7,000 previously, leading to a worsening of already poor conditions. We are seeing an increasing number of migrants wishing to return home especially after what happened in Sabratha, it s all linked to Sabratha, said Ashraf Hassan, head of the IOM returns program. In the aftermath of the CNN report and an African Union visit to Libya, some countries of origin have begun accepting charter flights returning migrants from Libya for the first time. The IOM has shortened procedures for screening migrants Libya, collecting less statistical data and focusing on trying to ensure that migrants will not be put at risk by returning, Hassan said. The agency hopes to have three charter flights leaving per day by Dec. 11, increasing that to five flights by Dec. 15. On Tuesday nearly 400 migrants were flown back to Nigeria on two flights from Tripoli, the capital, and from the western city of Misrata. (This story has been refiled to fix typo in 9th paragraph.)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has neither a clear White House tax plan nor adequate staff yet to see through a planned tax reform, according to interviews with people in the administration, in Congress and among U.S. tax experts. In an echo of its attempt to roll back Obamacare that ended in an embarrassing collapse in Congress, the Trump administration has vowed quick action on taxes. But it has yet to appoint people with the skills to evaluate complex tax laws, draft legislation and sell it to deeply divided lawmakers. Burned by last week’s failed healthcare measure largely authored by House of Representatives Republicans, Trump is determined not to count on Congress so much this time for handling the details on taxes, his second major legislative initiative. But that only underscores his need for a strong White House tax team, which the administration still lacks. Many policy options are still being studied, from deficit-funded tax cuts to a European-style value-added tax. “They’re still sorting out who’s in charge, who’s going to take the lead,” said William Hoagland, a longtime Senate Republican aide who worked on the last successful comprehensive tax reform effort in 1986. “You need someone who has the ear and support of the president who can sell a tax plan, and you need the technical support for that person,” said Hoagland, now senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank. Financial markets have been reassessing expectations of fast action on taxes that have helped fuel a Trump stocks rally. Members of Trump’s tax team are known, but not their exact duties. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn are senior team leaders. Others include White House advisers Steve Bannon, Jared Kushner, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Trump huddled with Mnuchin on Thursday to discuss taxes. “We are at the first stages of this process, beginning to engage with members of Congress, policy groups, business leaders, industry, constituents from around the country, and other stakeholders,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters on Thursday, Trump’s 69th day in office. When Trump was elected in November, Republican lawmakers enthusiastically joined his call to rewrite the tax code and dismantle Obamacare in the first 100 days of his presidency. In early February, Trump promised a “phenomenal” tax plan by early March that never appeared. Mnuchin spoke on Feb. 23 of enacting tax reform by August. Spicer acknowledged this week that the timetable could be slipping. Another senior White House official said the administration had assumed it would still be working on healthcare at this point, not tax reform yet. The official, not authorized to speak publicly, spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. So far, Trump’s tax campaign is a far cry from President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 effort, in which Don Regan, as Treasury secretary and then White House chief of staff, spent many months developing legislation that won bipartisan support in Congress. “The process under Reagan was much more developed, elaborate and long, and there was a strong bench of top-rate technicians putting things together,” said Steven Rosenthal, senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a think tank. Under Trump, he said, “None of that is happening.” During the 2016 election campaign, Trump issued a tax plan that partly resembled one developed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, but Trump does not now appear wedded to either. It is a safe bet he will not lean heavily on the plan from Ryan, who drafted and championed the ill-fated plan to gut Obamacare. “Trump now desperately needs a policy victory ... I would expect the president to play a much more activist role,” said Stephen Moore, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a think tank. Moore helped write the Trump campaign tax plan. Mnuchin last week talked about a middle-class tax cut. He also said tax reform in many ways would be “a lot simpler” than healthcare, dismaying tax experts who said that is not so. Comprehensive tax reform is so complex that it has defied Congresses and presidents since Reagan. Tax law is riddled with loopholes embedded in the economy and defended by beneficiaries. Some fundamental questions remain unanswered within the Trump team. For instance, it is unclear if Trump would support a plan that adds to the budget deficit. Past tax reform efforts have tried to be “revenue neutral.” Trump also has sent mixed messages on Ryan’s proposed “border adjustment tax” that would end the corporate deduction for import costs and make export income tax-free, aiming to boost exports and raise new tax revenues. The Trump team is heavy on Wall Street experience, but short on tax expertise. At Treasury, Mnuchin is the only Senate-confirmed political appointee in place. The job of Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy is unfilled. A person familiar with the hiring process for the job said: “Treasury needs more capable tax expertise ASAP, or the White House will yank total control for tax reform from the department for the rest of the year, maybe beyond.” Mark Mazur, who held the Treasury tax job under former Democratic President Barack Obama, said Mnuchin has too much on his plate to concentrate fully on taxes. Mnuchin has praised Treasury’s 100 tax policy career staff, but they can only offer options to Trump appointees, said Mazur, now director of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. “The political appointees are the ones who need to turn the crank on the sausage-making machine,” Mazur said.

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq’s foreign affairs committee on Sunday said the U.S. travel curbs imposed on Iraqis were “unfair,” and asked the government in Baghdad to “reciprocate” to the American decision. The committee made its call after a meeting in Baghdad. “We ask the Iraqi government to reciprocate to the decision taken by the U.S administration,” said the committee in a statement read to Reuters by one its members, Hassan Shwerid. “Iraq is in the frontline of the war of terrorism (..) and it is unfair that the Iraqis are treated in this way.”

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KINSHASA (Reuters) - About 30 people were killed and more than two dozen injured when a train derailed then caught fire in Democratic Republic of Congo, a provincial governor said on Monday. The freight train was traveling from the southern copper and cobalt mining hub of Lubumbashi to Luena, in Lualaba province, on Sunday when it left the tracks and tumbled into a ravine near the town of Buyofwe. There s major damage because the tanker cars caught fire, Lualaba s governor Richard Muyej told Reuters. Around 30 dead and 26 wounded were transferred to the hospital in Lubudi, 25 km (16 miles) from the scene of the accident. The train had taken on a number of passengers before the accident, and Muyej said the death toll could rise further. Eleven of the train s 13 cars caught fire following the derailment. Officials from Congo s national railway company, the SNCC, were investigating the cause of the crash, which was not immediately known. Rail accidents are relatively common in Congo due to aging, poorly maintained infrastructure and lax enforcement of safety standards. (This version of the story corrects spelling of governor s name in paragraphs 3 and 4)

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia s Defence Ministry on Sunday rejected allegations it had bombed U.S.-backed militias in Syria, saying its planes only targeted Islamic State militants and that it had warned the United States well in advance of its operational plans. U.S.-backed militias said they came under attack on Saturday from Russian jets and Syrian government forces in Deir al-Zor province, a flashpoint in an increasingly complex battlefield. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias fighting with the U.S.-led coalition, said six of its fighters had been wounded in the strike. But Major-General Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry, dismissed the allegations in a statement on Sunday. Konashenkov said Russian planes had only carried out carefully targeted strikes in the area based upon information that had been confirmed from multiple sources. The strikes had only hit targets in areas under the control of Islamic State, he said. To avoid unnecessary escalation, the commanders of Russian forces in Syria used an existing communications channel to inform our American partners in good time about the borders of our military operation in Deir al-Zor, Konashenkov said. In the last few days, Russian surveillance and reconnaissance did not detect a single clash between Islamic State and armed representatives of any third force on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, he added. Separately, Franz Klintsevich, a member of the upper house of parliament s security committee, said there was no proof to underpin the accusations against Moscow.

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WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima in Japan later this month, but he will not apologize for the United States’ dropping of an atomic bomb on the city at the end of World War Two, the White House said on Tuesday. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency in 2009 in part for making nuclear nonproliferation a centerpiece of his agenda, Obama on May 27 will tour the site of the world’s first nuclear bombing with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. With the end of his last term in office approaching in January, Obama will “highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons,” the White House said in a statement. “He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future,” Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, wrote in a separate blog. The visit comes as part of a May 21-28 swing through Asia, which will include a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam. The Asia trip seeks to reinforce his geopolitical “pivot” toward the region, though friends and allies there have sometimes questioned Washington’s commitment. The Hiroshima tour will symbolize a new level of reconciliation between former wartime enemies who are now close allies. It will also underscore Obama’s efforts to improve U.S.-Japan ties, marked by an Asia-Pacific trade pact as well as cooperation against China’s pursuit of maritime claims and the nuclear threat from North Korea. On the final day of the summit in Japan, Obama and Abe will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park near the spot where a U.S. warplane dropped an atomic bomb 71 years ago. The decision to go to Hiroshima was hotly debated within the White House. There were concerns a U.S. presidential visit would be heavily criticized in the United States if it were seen as an apology. The bomb dropped on Aug. 6, 1945 killed thousands of people instantly and about 140,000 by the end of that year. Another was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, and Japan surrendered six days later. The majority of Americans view the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as justified to end the war and save U.S lives. Most Japanese see it as unjustified. Obama’s press secretary Josh Earnest said it was “an entirely legitimate line of inquiry for historians” when asked why the White House had decided not to use his Hiroshima visit to issue an apology. He told reporters that while Obama understands the United States “bears a special responsibility” as the only country to use nuclear weapons in wartime, the president will emphasize Washington’s responsibility “to lead the world in an effort to eliminate them.” Abe, speaking to reporters in Tokyo, said he hoped “to turn this into an opportunity for the U.S. and Japan to together pay tribute to the memories of the victims” of the nuclear bombing. “President Obama visiting Hiroshima and expressing toward the world the reality of the impact of nuclear radiation will contribute greatly to establishing a world without nuclear arms,” Abe added. Obama’s visit will be a symbolic capstone for the nuclear disarmament agenda he laid out in a landmark speech in Prague in 2009. His aides tout last year’s Iran nuclear deal as a major piece of his foreign policy legacy. But Obama has made only modest progress toward securing the world’s loose nuclear materials, and there is no guarantee his White House successor will keep the issue a high priority. Lisbeth Gronlund, co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program, said Obama must “do more than give another beautiful speech” and should announce concrete action on nuclear disarmament when he visits Hiroshima. After U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Hiroshima last month, survivors of the bombing and other residents said that if Obama visits, they hope for progress in ridding the world of nuclear weapons, rather than an apology.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, responding to reports President Barack Obama called on Democrats to rally around Hillary Clinton as the likely nominee, said on Thursday it was “absurd” to suggest he drop out of the race. Obama privately told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that Sanders was nearing the point at which his campaign against Clinton would end, and that the party must soon come together to back her, the New York Times reported. Sanders, a Vermont senator and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, while saying he did not want to comment directly on Obama’s reported remarks, pushed back on the idea that his campaign had run its course and he should throw in the towel. “The bottom line is that when only half of the American people have participated in the political process ... I think it is absurd for anybody to suggest that those people not have a right to cast a vote,” Sanders told MSNBC in an interview. The White House on Thursday said Obama did not indicate which candidate he preferred in his remarks to the donors. Clinton, a former secretary of state in the Obama administration, has a large lead in the race for the Democratic nomination and she won all five states that were contested on Tuesday. Sanders said he will do better in upcoming contests in western states, after losing to Clinton in a number of southeastern states. “To suggest we don’t fight this out to the end would be, I think, a very bad mistake. People want to become engaged in the political process by having vigorous primary and caucus process. I think we open up the possibility of having a large voter turnout in November. That is exactly what we need,” Sanders said. “A low voter turnout, somebody like a Trump can win. High voter turnout, the Democratic candidate will win,” he said, referring to Donald Trump, the front-runner in the race to pick the Republican nominee for the November presidential election.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A onetime business partner of former U.S. Representative Michael Grimm is preparing to plead guilty to a tax charge in a case related to the prosecution that led to the congressman’s imprisonment, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Prosecutors in a filing in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday said they intend to file charges against Bennett Orfaly, Grimm’s former partner in Healthalicious, a restaurant at the center of the Republican politician’s criminal case. James DiPietro, Orfaly’s lawyer, in an interview said his client is “hoping to reach a quick resolution with a plea to a tax count.” The filing on Monday said the case would relate to the one against Grimm, who represented a district in the New York City borough of Staten Island. Grimm was sentenced in July to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud. DiPietro said that while the case stemmed from the investigation of Grimm, Orfaly will be charged in connection with other restaurants he owned. A deal could come as soon as next week or the following, he said. A spokeswoman for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers and a lawyer for Grimm both declined comment. The expected plea was first reported by the New York Daily News. Grimm, a former Marine who subsequently worked as an FBI agent, was elected in 2010 with a wave of conservative “Tea Party” Republicans advocating low taxes and government spending, but built a moderate voting record. From 2007 to 2010, Grimm oversaw the day-to-day operations of Healthalicious, which he co-founded with Orfaly, according to authorities. At a court hearing in 2012, a prosecutor, Anthony Capozzolo, said Orfaly had ties to a member of the Gambino family, Anthony Morelli, who was sentenced in 1996 to 20 years in prison in connection with a gas tax fraud. That statement came during a bail hearing for a former campaign fundraiser for Grimm, Ofer Biton, who later pleaded guilty to visa fraud in 2013. Grimm was subsequently indicted in April 2014 on tax charges related to Healthalicious and pleaded guilty that December to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return. Prosecutors said Grimm under-reported wages paid to workers, many of whom did not have legal status in the United States, and concealed over $900,000 in Healthalicious’ gross receipts from an accountant who prepared the restaurant’s tax returns.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton broke government rules by using a private email server without approval for her work as U.S. secretary of state, an internal government watchdog said on Wednesday. The long-awaited report by the State Department inspector general was the first official audit of the controversial arrangement to be made public. It was highly critical of Clinton’s use of a server in her home, and immediately fueled Republican attacks on Clinton, the Democratic front-runner in an already acrimonious presidential race. The report, which also found problems in department record-keeping practices before Clinton’s tenure, undermined Clinton’s earlier defenses of her emails, likely adding to Democratic anxieties about public perceptions of the candidate. A majority of voters say Clinton is dishonest, according to multiple polls. The report concluded that Clinton would not have been allowed to use the server in her home had she asked the department officials in charge of information security. The report said that staff who later raised concerns were told to keep quiet. Several suspected hacking attempts in 2011 were never reported to department information security officials, in breach of department rules, it said. “She’s as crooked as they come,” Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, said of Clinton at a campaign rally in Anaheim, California, adding that the report’s findings were “not good” for her. Clinton’s campaign disagreed, saying the report rebutted Republican’s criticism. The inspector general’s office examined email record-keeping under five secretaries state, both Democratic and Republican. John Kerry, the current officeholder, and predecessors Madeline Albright, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice all agreed to speak to the inspector general’s investigators. Clinton was the only one who declined to be interviewed, as did her aides. The report contradicted Clinton’s repeated assertion that her server was allowed and that no permission was needed. Several other inquiries continue, including a U.S. Justice Department investigation into whether the arrangement broke laws. The inspector general’s report cited “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” with State Department records that predated Clinton’s tenure, and found problems with the email record-keeping of some of her predecessors, particularly Powell, that failed to comply with the Federal Records Act. But it singled out Clinton for her decision to use a private server in her home in Chappaqua, New York, for government business. “OIG found no evidence that the Secretary requested or obtained guidance or approval to conduct official business via a personal email account on her private server,” the report said, using an abbreviation for the office of inspector general. The report said Clinton should have discussed the arrangement with the department’s security and technology officials. Officials told investigators that they “did not - and would not - approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business.” The reason, those officials said, is because it breached department rules and presented “security risks.” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he would not “challenge” those findings. He told reporters the department was aware of hacking attempts on Clinton’s server, but had no evidence that any were successful. When two lower-level information technology officials tried to raise concerns about Clinton’s email arrangement in late 2010, their supervisor in Clinton’s office instructed them “never to speak of the Secretary’s personal email system again,” the report said. Their supervisor told them that department lawyers had approved of the system, but the inspector general’s office said it found no evidence this was true. Brian Fallon, a Clinton spokesman, said the report rebutted criticisms of Clinton made by her political opponents. “The report shows that problems with the State Department’s electronic recordkeeping systems were longstanding and that there was no precedent of someone in her position having a State Department email account until after the arrival of her successor,” he said in a statement. He did not address the report’s criticism of Clinton’s use of a private server, something no other secretary of state has done. Democrats, including fundraisers for Clinton’s campaign, said the report revealed nothing new. “It’s digging and digging and digging,” Amy Rao, the chief executive of data company Integrated Archive Systems and a Clinton fundraiser, said in an interview, comparing the investigation to probes the Clintons faced in the 1990s. “Trust me: There’s no there there. It’s Whitewater.” Current Secretary of State Kerry asked Steve Linick, the State Department inspector general, to investigate after Clinton’s email arrangement came to light last year. President Barack Obama appointed Linick to the role in 2013. Republicans have used Clinton’s email practice to suggest she was trying to hide government records from scrutiny under public-access laws. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that the findings “are just the latest chapter in the long saga of Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment that broke federal rules and endangered our national security.”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is leaning on new sources of cash as he prepares for a long primary fight against front-runner Donald Trump, with new campaign finance filings showing the expense of competing against a billionaire adept at grabbing headlines. Cruz’s more traditional campaign has struggled to compete with Trump. The U.S. senator from Texas poured money into advertising, staff and calls to voters, spending $5.6 million more in February than he raised as he tried to outmaneuver Trump, according to campaign finance records made public on Sunday. But the effort had a limited impact as Trump took a commanding lead in the delegate count for the Republican nomination while spending a little more than half what Cruz did. The real estate mogul has loaned his campaign more than $24 million since he entered the race for the White House. Now, with establishment Republican rivals Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio out of the race, Cruz is trying to win votes and rake in money by arguing the party should unite behind him if it hopes to defeat Trump. It’s a tough proposition for a conservative candidate who has long rankled the establishment wing of his party, including by leading a fight over President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law that led to a 16-day shutdown of the federal government. Cruz now hopes to convince his party that he, not Ohio Governor John Kasich, the other Republican remaining in the race, is best poised to defeat Trump and go on to the Nov. 8 presidential election. In a sign of Cruz’s warming ties with establishment Republicans, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been a vocal critic of Cruz, plans on Monday to hold a fundraiser for the senator from Texas. Charles Foster, a Houston immigration attorney who backed Bush until he left the race in February, said Friday he is urging establishment Republicans to line up behind Cruz. “My pitch to them simplistically is that Trump is an existential threat. He’d be a total disaster,” Foster said. “The only person that has a real chance,” he added, “particularly within the Republican primary base, which is conservative, far more conservative than Kasich, is Ted.” Trump has a substantial lead in the Republican White House race, though he remains far short of the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. It is unclear whether he will hit that number before the July convention in Cleveland, but it would also be difficult for either Cruz or Kasich to catch him. Cruz could pick up delegates in Utah, which holds its caucus on Tuesday, and all of the candidates are expected to compete hard in Wisconsin on April 5. But so far, efforts to stop the Trump juggernaut have made little impression on voters. In February, Cruz raised $11.9 million and spent $17.5 million, leaving his campaign with $8 million when he woke up on Super Tuesday. And despite the heavy spending, Cruz won just one state that voted in February and three on the March 1 Super Tuesday primaries. In addition to self-funding his campaign, Trump has the advantage of running an operation that leans heavily on free media exposure. In February, Trump, raised $9.2 million, including a $6.9 million loan he gave his own campaign, and spent $9.5 million. Kasich raised $3.4 million in February and spent $3.6 million. About half of Cruz’s spending, or more than $8.7 million, was on advertising. Cruz also allotted $2.6 million to traditional campaign tactics like printing mailers, postage stamps and phone calls to voters. Cruz did spend a bit less than Trump on staff, recording $342,525 in payroll costs in February to Trump’s $370,973. Jeff Roe, Cruz’s campaign manager, said on Twitter on Sunday the campaign has enough cash to continue competing through June 7, the last Republican primary day when hundreds of delegates are up for grabs.

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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic religious order which fell into disgrace after the discovery that its founder was a sexual abuser with a secret family, has been hit by fresh scandal with revelations that the head of its Rome seminary fathered two children. The order said in a statement late on Friday that Father Oscar Turrion would leave the priesthood. It also released a letter by Turrion in which he asks forgiveness for the scandal ... forgiveness for my bad example and the negative witness I have given . The Legionaries is a conservative order of Roman Catholic priests. Turrion was rector of the Pontifical International College Maria Mater Ecclesiae, a seminary for men in the order studying for the priesthood in pontifical universities in Rome. The Legionaries said Turrion, a 49-year-old Spaniard, told his superiors in March that he had just had a daughter. A new rector was appointed and Turrion was ordered not to practice his ministry publicly. On Thursday Turrion acknowledged that he had previously had a son with the same woman several years ago, the order said. This meant he had a secret family while he was head of the seminary. In his letter, Turrion said he did not come clean earlier out of weakness and shame and that he had not used any of the seminary s money, supporting his family with donations from friends. He said he had lost his grounding and fell in love with a woman during the period of turmoil that hit the order when revelations about its founder, Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, came to light between 2006 and 2014. Maciel founded the order in Mexico in 1941 and for decades the Vatican dismissed accusations by seminarians that he had abused them sexually, some when they were as young as 12. The order was run like a cult, former members said, with rules forbidding any criticism of the founder or questioning his motives. Maciel enjoyed the support of the late Pope John Paul and was spared official censure for years despite what critics say was overwhelming proof of his crimes. In 2006, a year after John Paul s death, a Vatican investigation concluded that the previously denied accusations of molestation were true. Pope Benedict ordered Maciel to retire to a life of prayer and penitence . After Maciel s death in 2008, Vatican investigations found that he had also fathered several children with at least two women, visited them regularly and sent them money. He also used drugs. The Vatican appointed a commissioner to run the order and phase in a new leadership, rejecting suggestions from critics that it be suppressed. New constitutions for the order were approved in 2014 but the Vatican still has a special representative in its leadership. Turrion s case was very similar to that of Thomas Williams, a former Legionaries member who left the priesthood in 2013 after it was discovered that he had fathered a child with the daughter of the former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Williams, an American moral theologian, kept his family secret while continuing to teach at the Legionaries university in Rome, appearing often on U.S. television.

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PARIS (Reuters) - France s foreign ministry said on Tuesday that it picked its former ambassador to Saudi Arabia as a special envoy to see how Paris could support mediation efforts in the rift between Qatar and several of its neighbors. Kuwait s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber has led mediation efforts to resolve the row, which began in early June when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut political and trade ties with Qatar. France, which has close ties with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates while also being a major arms supplier to Qatar and a key ally of Saudi Arabia, has been relatively discreet on the crisis, largely sticking to calls for calm. I confirm that Bertrand Besancenot, diplomatic advisor to the government, will soon go to the region to evaluate the situation and the best ways to support the mediation and appease tensions between Qatar and its neighbors, Foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters in a daily briefing. Qatar s neighbors accuse it of supporting regional foe Iran and Islamists across the region, a charge Doha denies.

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ABUJA (Reuters) - President Muhammadu Buhari is to visit southeast Nigeria this week, his spokesman said on Monday, his first trip since taking office to a region formerly known as Biafra. Calls for secession have become increasingly loud in the last few months in parts of the southeast, where the president is deeply unpopular, prompting Buhari to say he will not allow Nigeria to be divided by separatist groups. A million people died in a 1967-70 civil war over the short-lived Republic of Biafra. Buhari, a 74-year-old former military ruler who took office in May 2015, fought in the war as a young soldier on the government side. The spokesman, Garba Shehu, said the president would, as part of his trip, visit the campaign run by his All Progressive Congress party in the state of Anambra ahead of gubernatorial elections in the next few days. Mr President will be visiting two southeast states of Ebonyi and Anambra, said Shehu. He said Buhari would leave the capital, Abuja, on Tuesday morning and return the following day. Tensions in the region rose following the release on bail of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the region s best known secessionist group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). The government designated the group as a terrorist organization in September, and deployed troops to the region to crack down on secessionists. Kanu, who was on bail after being charged with treason, has not been seen since Sept. 14, when IPOB says his home was raided by soldiers. The military has denied raiding Kanu s home and has said it is not holding him. We are yet to know our leader s whereabouts or that of his parents. (Buhari) is not the type of person any governor should be welcoming to their land, said an IPOB spokesman in a statement that urged the president to stay away . A Nigerian minister in September said secessionists in the southeast were sponsored by the government s political opponents. The government has repeatedly rejected the accusation that Buhari, a Muslim northerner, is opposed to the development of the mostly Christian southeast, where people are mainly from the Igbo ethnic group. Nigeria s 180 million inhabitants are split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims, and around 250 ethnic groups mostly live peacefully side by side.

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PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama s President Juan Carlos Varela will travel to China to meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, the first official visit by a Panamanian leader to the Asian country coming five months after the nations established diplomatic relations. The bilateral meeting will serve to establish a new economic, trade, tourist and diplomatic outlook for the country, leading to more than a dozen agreements that will be signed between nations, Panama s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In June, Panama upgraded its commercial ties with China and established full diplomatic links with the second most important customer of its key shipping canal, giving Beijing a major victory as it broke formal relations with Taiwan. The Foreign Ministry said the agreements will provide the basis for attracting investments and Chinese innovation to Panama, and help boost Panamanian exports, tourism and the use of the Panama canal. Varela will inaugurate Panama s first embassy in China.

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(Story corrects date of Netanyahu s U.N. address in first paragraph) By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would meet U.S. President Donald Trump later this month during a visit to New York, where he will address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 19. Netanyahu spoke to reporters accompanying him on a trip to Latin America before his plane left Tel Aviv for Argentina on Sunday night. He will also visit Colombia and Mexico before heading to New York. In Washington, the White House did not initially respond to a request for a comment on a meeting between the two leaders. From Mexico I will go to New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly and there I will meet my friend, President Donald Trump, Netanyahu said. He added best wishes to all our friends in the U.S. to overcome these difficult hours (during Hurricane Irma). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is also set to address at the U.N. General Assembly but there has been no word of a possible meeting between him and Netanyahu. Netanyahu said he was the first incumbent Israeli prime minister to visit South America and termed his visit as historic . The trip comes as Netanyahu is under investigation in two corruption cases. One of those, known as Case 1000, involves gifts that the prime minister and his family may have received from businessmen, while Case 2000 deals with alleged efforts by him to secure better coverage from an Israeli newspaper publisher. Netanyahu, who has been prime minister for 11 years over four terms, has denied any wrongdoing. Netanyahu leads a relatively stable coalition government and presides over a buoyant economy. His conservative Likud party has rallied behind him in the absence of clear rivals for the leadership, rebuffing calls for his departure from the center-left opposition. On Friday, Netanyahu s wife, Sara, who is accompanying him on the trip was notified that Israel s attorney general is considering indicting her on suspicion of using state funds for personal dining and catering services totaling some $100,000. A post on the prime minister s Facebook page published last week said the claims against her were absurd and will be proven to be unfounded . Sara Netanyahu also spoke before departure and thanked the many, many, many thousands of Israeli citizens and people around the world who support and help me.

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TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) - Donald Trump flew all night from New York to Scotland to talk about his renovated Turnberry golf course and, given the chance to open up on the topic, he was rhapsodic. At a news conference, the Republican’s opening ode to Turnberry was what greeted American cable TV viewers as they woke to the news that Britain had voted to part ways with the European Union. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee talked plenty about the “Brexit” vote. But since his event was to mark the reopening of a resort where the Open Championship has been staged four times, he first reviewed the improvements at holes 9, 10 and 11, the sprinkler system, the lighthouse, the resort hotel, and he name-checked golf legends Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Price. “This hole is an example,” said Trump, standing on the 9th tee. “From approximately this area, you would hit over there ... Now you’re hitting out over the ocean. And just to the right of the lighthouse, you have a green, and a lot of people think this will be the greatest par 3 anywhere in the world. And then 10 becomes a par 5,” he said. Trump quickly dispensed with a protester who emerged from the audience to hold up a package of red golf balls emblazoned with Nazi swastikas. “Get him out of here,” Trump said, a refrain that he frequently uses when protesters are escorted by security from his rallies back home. More appreciated by Trump were the two bagpipers in kilts who accompanied him. Everyone at his event knew he was about to arrive because they could hear the skirling of the pipes before he appeared from behind a grassy hill. “We’re just waiting on Donald Trump. His arrival is imminent. We can see the bagpipers,” said one TV broadcaster. Having never held public office, Trump does not have a list of political victories to tout on the campaign trail. With his business skills, Trump says, he can work to improve America’s rundown roads and bridges and negotiate better deals on issues as diverse as trade and Iran’s nuclear program. Trump delights in talking about his projects. His makeover of Washington’s Old Post Office into a luxury Trump hotel, for example, is way ahead of schedule. He is less enthusiastic about raising money for his campaign and the Republican National Committee. “I don’t like doing it,” he said. But true to his nature, Trump averred he was good at it. “You know, I sit with 20 people, and we talk, and they all hand you checks, bing, bing, bing,” he said.

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MIAMI (Reuters) - Latinos angered by Donald Trump’s tough stance on immigration could have been the Republican candidate’s biggest obstacle on the road to the White House. As it turned out, the brash New York businessman won enough Hispanic votes in Tuesday’s election to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton, with some Hispanics who supported him citing everything from ambivalence on immigration to conservative values and job growth. Reuters/Ipsos Election Day polling showed 28 percent of America’s Hispanic voters cast ballots for Trump, compared to 66 percent for Clinton, putting him on a par with Republican Mitt Romney’s performance with the group in 2012. That outcome helped Trump upset Clinton in the critical battleground state of Florida, where he won 31 percent of Latino voters, while fending off challenges in border states such as Texas and Arizona. Trump’s win on Tuesday came as a blow to pro-immigrant advocates who had been hoping that his calls for mass deportations of undocumented foreigners, as well as a massive border wall with Mexico, would drive Latinos to the polls against him in a showcase of rising Hispanic political power. “In our point of view, Latinos did their part to stop Trump,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of immigrants’ rights group America’s Voice. But he added: “There’s going to be a lot of finger pointing.” On the streets of Miami overnight Tuesday, celebrations by Latino Trump supporters offered a glimpse of his appeal. “He supports my values,” said Humberto Quintero, 55, a Venezuelan-American who was among a large crowd celebrating outside Versailles Restaurant in a Cuban neighborhood in Miami, as cars passed honking their horns. He said Trump’s promise to restore American manufacturing jobs was also an important issue for him. “When I was young, everything was made in America,” Quintero said. “Now everything is made in China.” He said he also backed Trump’s plan for a wall. “In your house you don’t let everybody come inside without your permission,” he said. Hispanics made up 17.6 of the U.S. population in 2015, up 12 percent from 2012, according to the U.S. Census, making them the country’s largest ethnic minority. By 2060, more than one-in-four people in America will be Latino. President Barack Obama won 70 percent of the Latino vote during his 2012 re-election bid while his challenger Romney took 28 percent, the same as Trump this time around. Trump’s relationship with Hispanic voters started on an awkward footing when he began his campaign in June 2015, calling for tighter borders and accusing Mexico of sending rapists and drug dealers into the United States. He insisted he would force Mexico to pay for a multi-billion-dollar wall along the border to keep unwanted foreigners out of the United States, and vowed to round up and deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the country. Those positions, which became a cornerstone of his campaign, resonated badly on Tuesday with many voters along the U.S. side of the Mexican border. “When he said the Mexicans were rapists and all this, drug dealers and stuff, it did kind of hit a chord,” said Jazmin Gonzalez, 31, a Mexican-American from the Barrio Logan neighborhood in San Diego who voted for Clinton. “We know our people.” Miguel Perez, 49, a maintenance engineer in Southern California who came to the United States from Mexico when he was 10, said he also voted for Clinton on Tuesday - mainly just to stop Trump. “I would have voted for Donald Duck if I had to,” he said after casting his ballot at San Ysidro High School near the border with Mexico. Clinton had sought to contrast her campaign with Trump’s by advocating for a path to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants living in the country. She also hired immigrant activists for her campaign and featured undocumented immigrants at rallies. But she and the Democratic Party had at times raised the ire of Latino activists by focusing too heavily on bashing Trump while putting forward less-than-substantive efforts to appeal directly to Latinos, and rejecting pressure to name an Hispanic running mate. Clinton’s socially progressive platform, including her support of abortion rights, also may have rankled some religious conservatives within the Hispanic community. Lilian Enriquez, 45, a pastor who voted in Tucson, Arizona, on Tuesday, declined to say who she supported. But she said her vote was based largely on her sense of morality. “The United States is a country that has been cheapened morally, and I do not want to see ... people living a way that goes against the way of God,” she said. Activist groups wanted to boost turnout among Latinos this year but figures are not yet in. In 2008, less than half of Latinos who were eligible to cast ballots actually did – and the rate dipped in 2012, according to the census. In contrast, the voting rates for white and black voters were both well over 60 percent.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump said on Friday that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called him on Friday to congratulate him on his election win. Trump’s conversation with Tsai was the first such contact with Taiwan by a president-elect or president since President Jimmy Carter adopted a one-China policy in 1979 and is likely to infuriate Beijing. “The President of Taiwan CALLED ME today to wish me congratulations on winning the Presidency. Thank you!” Trump said in a Twitter message.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Weak recent inflation readings are a worry and suggest the Federal Reserve will make only “uneven” and slow progress toward its 2-percent goal, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said on Wednesday. Speaking with reporters, he added however that “price pressures are likely building” given U.S. unemployment has fallen, and noted that price data for April suggested a “return to trend” for inflation.

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(Reuters) - Mexico’s wealthiest man Carlos Slim on Friday said Donald Trump was a negotiator, “not Terminator,” as he tried to calm his country’s fears that the U.S. president’s polices will wreck the economy. In a rare news conference, Slim said he expected Trump’s “hyperactivity” to cool down with time, and that he was ready to help the country in any way possible, when asked if he would be willing to mediate between the two countries.

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PARIS (Reuters) - Air France said on Saturday it had reopened U.S.-bound flights to passengers affected by President Donald Trump’s travel ban on nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, after the executive order was temporarily suspended by a federal court. “Starting today we are implementing this court decision,” Air France spokesman Herve Erschler said. “Nationals from the countries concerned are being authorized to fly once again to the United States, providing their papers and visas are in order.” Erschler said American government representatives in Paris had advised local airlines they could resume U.S.-bound services for citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. A federal judge in Seattle on Friday suspended Trump’s week-old executive order barring their travel.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, who made a fortune in real estate before running for political office, has decided to donate his first-quarter salary of $78,333 to the National Park Service, the White House announced on Monday. During the presidential campaign, Trump said he would donate his $400,000 annual salary if he were elected. “That’s no big deal for me,” he told a town-hall style meeting in September 2015. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, whose agency oversees the 100-year-old protector of 417 national parks, monuments and other sites, said he was “thrilled” at Trump’s decision. “We are going to dedicate and put it against the infrastructure on our nation’s battlefields,” Zinke said, appearing alongside White House spokesman Sean Spicer at a daily briefing. “We are about $229 million behind in deferred maintenance on our battlefields alone,” Zinke said.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will postpone a campaign rally planned for Monday evening in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, because of Sunday’s Orlando shooting, his campaign said. But Trump will go ahead with a major speech at St. Anselm’s College in Portsmouth scheduled for Monday afternoon, the campaign said in a statement, adding that he would hold a rally in the city in the near future. “He looks forward to returning to New Hampshire and discussing the serious threats facing all Americans and his solutions for making this country safe again,” the statement said.  

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price resigned under pressure from President Donald Trump on Friday in an uproar over Price’s use of costly private charter planes for government business. His abrupt departure was announced an hour after Trump told reporters he was disappointed in Price’s use of private aircraft and did not like the way it reflected on his administration. “Secretary of Health and Human Services Thomas Price offered his resignation earlier today and the president accepted,” the White House said in a statement. Trump named Don Wright to serve as acting secretary. Wright is currently the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the office of disease prevention and health promotion. “I’m not happy. OK? I’m not happy,” Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn. Candidates to succeed Price included Seema Verma, who is administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and who is close to Vice President Mike Pence, and Scott Gottlieb, a physician who serves as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, according to industry analysts. Several sources saw Gottlieb as a clear front runner. They said he got along well with the White House and is viewed favorably there. Price’s resignation leaves Trump with a second Cabinet position to fill. He has yet to pick a secretary for homeland security after hiring former Secretary John Kelly as his White House chief of staff. It was the latest blow to the Trump White House, which has struggled to get major legislative achievements passed by Congress and has been embroiled in one controversy after another since Trump took office in January. Price, a former congressman, was instrumental in the Trump administration’s policies aimed at undercutting Obamacare, as well as working with governors across the country to slowly begin unraveling parts of the law. In a resignation letter, Price offered little in the way of contrition. He said he had been working to reform the U.S. healthcare system and reduce regulatory burdens, among other goals. “I have spent forty years both as a doctor and public servant putting people first. I regret that the recent events have created a distraction from these important objectives,” he said. Trump, currently trying to sell his tax cut plan and oversee the federal response to devastation wreaked by three hurricanes, saw the Price drama as an unnecessary distraction and behind the scenes was telling aides “what was he thinking?,” a source close to the president said. Price promised on Thursday to repay the nearly $52,000 cost of his seats on private charter flights. “The taxpayers won’t pay a dime for my seat on those planes,” Price said. But that was not enough to satisfy Trump. Trump told reporters that the “optics” of Price’s travel were not good, since, as president he was trying to renegotiate U.S. contracts to get a better deal for taxpayers. “Look, I think he’s a very fine person. I certainly don’t like the optics,” Trump said. Price had also been seen in the White House as having been ineffective in getting Congress to pass healthcare reform legislation, an effort that has fizzled on Capitol Hill. Price was one of a handful of senior officials in Trump’s administration put on the defensive over reports about their use of charter flights and government aircraft, sometimes for personal travel, when they could have flown commercial for less money. The White House issued an order late on Friday saying use of private planes required approval from White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and that the commercial air system was appropriate even for very senior officials with few exceptions. The Washington Post on Friday reported that Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin attended a Wimbledon tennis match, toured Westminster Abbey and took a cruise on the Thames this summer during a 10-day trip to discuss veterans’ health issues in Britain and Denmark. Shulkin, who traveled on a commercial airline, was accompanied on the trip by his wife, whose airfare was paid for by the government and who received a per diem for meals, the Post said, noting that the Department of Veterans Affairs said she was traveling on “approved invitational orders.” His six-person traveling party included an acting undersecretary of health and her husband as well as two aides. They were accompanied by a security detail of as many as six people, the Post said. Washington news media outlet Politico has reported that Price had taken at least two dozen private charter flights since May at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of more than $400,000. Politico also reported he took approved military flights to Africa and Europe costing $500,000. Senior U.S. government officials travel frequently, but are generally expected to keep costs down by taking commercial flights or the train when possible. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have also been in the spotlight for their travel habits.

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SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia meets the military conditions needed to take the next step toward its eventual goal of NATO membership but it remains unclear whether it can satisfy the political requirements, the head of the alliance s military committee said on Tuesday. Bosnia wants to activate its Membership Action Plan (MAP), a formal step toward joining NATO, but must first complete full registration of all military assets in its two constituent, ethnically-based regions, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic. Complicating Bosnia s membership drive is the stance of the Serb Republic, which remains wary of a military alliance that bombed Serbs in Bosnia and Kosovo in 1995 and 1999. The Serb Republic has said it would hold a referendum on joining NATO. The Bosnian Serbs have opposed registering their region s military assets to the country s weak central government in Sarajevo. However, the head of NATO s military committee praised Bosnia s progress at the military level. Our recommendation when it comes to the level of interoperability, the level of effort your armed forces are putting into reform, will be positive, said Petr Pavel, a Czech army general. But he stressed that the decision to give Bosnia the green light on activating MAP would be a political one. Dragan Covic, the chairman of Bosnia s tripartite presidency, has voiced optimism that NATO foreign ministers could decide to activate the country s MAP at a meeting in Brussels on Dec. 5-6. Participation in MAP is not in itself a guarantee of eventual NATO membership. Pavel said NATO had a strong interest in Balkan stability and cited various threats he said faced all of Europe, including a resurgent Russia, illegal migration and terrorism. Bosnia s inter-ethnic presidency, its central government in Sarajevo and the Bosniak-Croat Federation have long said joining NATO and the European Union are strategic priorities. But the Bosnian Serbs lean toward closer ties with Russia, aligning their policy with that of wartime patron and ally Serbia where NATO remains hugely unpopular after its 1999 bombing campaign to drive Serbian forces out of Kosovo and after 1995 NATO air strikes against rebel Serbs in Bosnia.

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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hundreds of Singaporeans, most dressed in black, held a silent protest on Saturday against an uncontested presidential election this week in which applications from four candidates were rejected. Political protests are rare in the wealthy city-state but the election of Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, as the country s first woman president had led to some dismay over how other prospective candidates were rejected. ROBBED OF AN ELECTION #NotMyPresident , read a banner at the entrance to the park where the protest was held, a venue called Speakers Corner, which has been designated as the site in the city for people to air their views. We care about the country and where it s heading toward, said 22-year-old Anna, who declined to give her last name. This is an issue that I feel especially strongly about, she said, adding that the power of authorities had gone unchecked . She said it was the first time she had attended a protest. If the election had been held, all citizens above the age of 21 would have been eligible to vote. Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity, multicultural Singapore had decreed the presidency, a largely ceremonial six-year post, would be reserved for candidates from the minority Malay community this time. Of the four other applicants for the presidency, two were not Malays and two were not qualified to contest, the elections department said on Monday. Halimah had automatically qualified because she held a senior public post for over three years and was declared elected after nominations closed on Wednesday. The stringent eligibility rules include a stipulation that a candidate from the private sector should have headed a company with paid-up capital of at least S$500 million ($370 million). Organizers of Saturday s protest said it was silent as speeches that touched on race and religion would have needed a police permit. Gilbert Goh, one of the main organizers, said an estimated 2,000 people participated. Tan Cheng Bock, who lost the previous presidential election in 2011, said in a Facebook post: It is not President Halimah as a person that Singaporeans are unhappy about. It is about the way our government has conducted this whole walkover presidential election. Displays of dissent are unusual in Singapore, one of the richest and most politically stable countries in the world. It has been ruled by the People s Action Party (PAP) since independence in 1965 and the current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, is the son of the country s founding father Lee Kuan Yew. In the 2015 general election held months after the death of Lee Kuan Yew the PAP won almost 70 per cent of the popular vote and swept all but six of parliament s 89 seats. It was the third gathering of so many people at the Speakers Corner since the beginning of July. The annual Pink Dot gay pride rally drew thousands of people to the site on July 1. And in mid-July, a protest was held at the venue calling for an independent inquiry into whether Lee abused his power in a battle with his siblings over what to do with their late father s house.

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