Trump blasts Russia sanctions bill — but signs it anyway ADVERTISING Trump blasts Russia sanctions bill — but signs it anyway WASHINGTON (AP) — Dealt a striking congressional rebuke, President Donald Trump grudgingly signed what he called a “seriously flawed”
Trump blasts Russia sanctions bill — but signs it anyway
WASHINGTON (AP) — Dealt a striking congressional rebuke, President Donald Trump grudgingly signed what he called a “seriously flawed” package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday.
Trump signed the most significant piece of legislation of his presidency with no public event. And he coupled it with a written statement, resentful in tone, that accused Congress of overstepping its constitutional bounds, impeding his ability to negotiate with foreign countries and lacking any ability to strike deals.
“Congress could not even negotiate a health care bill after seven years of talking,” he said scornfully about lawmakers’ recent failure to repeal Obamacare. “As president, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress.”
Still, he said, “despite its problems, I am signing this bill for the sake of national unity.”
Vote tampering claims jolt Venezuela on eve of new assembly
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Revelations on Wednesday that turnout figures were apparently manipulated in a crucial vote for an all-powerful constituent assembly in Venezuela cast an even longer shadow over the controversial body hours before it was to convene.
The official count of voters in Sunday’s election was off by at least 1 million, according to the head of the voting technology firm Smartmatic — a finding certain to sow further discord over a body that has been granted vast authority to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution and override every branch of government.
Results recorded by Smartmatic’s systems and those reported by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council show “without any doubt” that the official turnout figure of more than 8 million voters was tampered with, company CEO Antonio Mugica told reports in London. The international software company has provided voting technology in Venezuela since 2004.
He did not, however, specify whether his company’s figures showed 1 million fewer, or 1 million more, voters participated in the election.
“Even in moments of deep political conflict and division we have been satisfied with the voting process and the count has been completely accurate,” Mugica said. “It is, therefore, with the deepest regret that we have to report that the turnout figures on Sunday, 30 July, for the constituent assembly in Venezuela were tampered with.”
Pentagon: 2 US service members killed in Afghanistan blast
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bombing attack on a NATO convoy in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday left two American service members dead, a Pentagon spokesman said, despite repeated refusals by the U.S. military in Afghanistan to say whether there were any deaths in the assault claimed by the Taliban.
Navy Capt. Jeff Davis confirmed the casualties in the attack near Kandahar city. The Pentagon’s decision to release the figures seemed to contradict orders issued two months ago by Army Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, barring information about U.S. combat deaths until days after the incident.
There was no information on the number of troops wounded.
U.S. military officials in Afghanistan refused to give any information about casualties, even after the Pentagon released the casualty figures.
Nicholson’s orders stifling information from the U.S. military in Afghanistan was met with opposition from within the Pentagon, where officials reportedly tried to resolve the impasse. However, the decision by the Pentagon to release Wednesday’s casualty figures would seem to indicate that the issue has gone unresolved two months into the order.
Boy Scouts: Top leaders didn’t call Trump to praise speech
NEW YORK (AP) — Faced with a firm denial from the Boy Scouts, the White House on Wednesday corrected President Donald Trump’s claim in an interview that the head of the youth group called him to heap praise on a politically aggressive speech Trump delivered at the Scouts’ national jamboree.
After the Boy Scouts issued a statement saying no such call happened, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed their take but said “multiple members of the Boy Scout leadership” approached Trump in person after the speech and “offered quite powerful compliments.”
Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Wednesday, “I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them.”
“We are unaware of any such call,” the Boy Scouts responded in a statement. It specified that neither Boy Scout President Randall Stephenson nor Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh placed such a call.
Sanders explained the discrepancy Wednesday by saying Trump misspoke when he described the conversations as calls.
First embryo gene-repair holds promise for inherited disease
WASHINGTON (AP) — Altering human heredity? In a first, researchers safely repaired a disease-causing gene in human embryos, targeting a heart defect best known for killing young athletes — a big step toward one day preventing a list of inherited diseases.
In a surprising discovery, a research team led by Oregon Health and &Science University reported Wednesday that embryos can help fix themselves if scientists jump-start the process early enough.
It’s laboratory research only, nowhere near ready to be tried in a pregnancy. But it suggests that scientists might alter DNA in a way that protects not just one baby from a disease that runs in the family, but his or her offspring as well. And that raises ethical questions.
“I for one believe, and this paper supports the view, that ultimately gene editing of human embryos can be made safe. Then the question truly becomes, if we can do it, should we do it?” said Dr. George Daley, a stem cell scientist and dean of Harvard Medical School. He wasn’t involved in the new research and praised it as “quite remarkable.”
“This is definitely a leap forward,” agreed developmental geneticist Robin Lovell-Badge of Britain’s Francis Crick Institute.
Hundreds show up for jobs at Amazon warehouses in US cities
FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Hundreds of people showed up Wednesday for a chance to pack and ship products to Amazon customers, as the e-commerce company held a giant job fair at nearly a dozen U.S. warehouses.
Although the wages offered will make it hard for some to make ends meet, many of the candidates were excited by the prospect of health insurance and other benefits, as well as advancement opportunities.
It’s common for Amazon to ramp up its shipping center staff in August to prepare for holiday shopping. But the magnitude of its current hiring spree underscores Amazon’s growth when traditional retailers are closing stores — and blaming Amazon for a shift to buying goods online.
Amazon planned to hire thousands of people on the spot. Nearly 40,000 of the 50,000 packing, sorting and shipping jobs at Amazon will be full time. Most of them will count toward Amazon’s previously announced goal of adding 100,000 full-time workers by the middle of next year.
The bad news is that more people are likely to lose jobs in stores than get jobs in warehouses, said Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.
Netanyahu steps in to stop brawl of Israeli, Jordanian MP
JERUSALEM (AP) — It had all the ingredients of a political brawl: a Jordanian and an Israeli lawmaker, both known for attention-seeking bluster, challenged each other to a showdown Wednesday on the border between their two countries.
Everyone expected a fist fight — or at least a shouting match.
Israel’s Oren Hazan and Jordan’s Yehiya al-Saoud were each already on their way to the border crossing on Allenby Bridge on the River Jordan when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli lawmaker to stand down.
The showdown was averted but the hyperbole from both sides reflects heightened diplomatic tensions between Israel and Jordan over the escalation around a contested Jerusalem shrine and over last month’s deadly shooting at the Israeli Embassy in Amman.
Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994, but ties are often strained over Israeli-Palestinian flare-ups. There has also been widespread anger in Jordan over last month’s deadly shooting in which an Israeli Embassy guard killed two Jordanians, including a 16-year-old. Authorities said the guard opened fire after the teen attacked him with a screwdriver during a furniture delivery.
