World
Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor
C4
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
US House votes to sanction Russia, Iran, North Korea W ASHINGTON― The US House of Representatives votes Tuesday to slap new sanctions against Russia, a move that limits President Donald Trump’s ability to tinker with the penalties and has also triggered uproar in Moscow and Europe.
The legislation, which is the result of a congressional compromise reached at the weekend and is aimed at punishing the Kremlin for meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and Russia’s annexation of Crimea, could end up penalizing European firms that contribute to the development of Russia’s energy sector. New sanctions against Iran and North Korea for their actions on or testing of ballistic missiles are also included in the bill. Key among the provisions is one that handcuffs the US president by making it difficult for him to unilaterally ease the penalties against Moscow in the future―effectively placing him under Congress’s watch. Initially, Trump resisted the legislation. But faced with near-total consensus among Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the White House blinked. In mid-June, the Senate voted 98-2 in favor of tough sanctions on Moscow and Tehran, but the text stalled in the House. Now that an agreement was reached Saturday, the House vote could be similarly overwhelming. The measure would then return to the Senate for final passage, likely before the summer break in mid-August. The bill includes sanctions against Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which stands accused of supporting terrorism, and North Korea, for its missile tests. “I am pleased to see the Congress work as a whole to hold Iran, Russia, and North Korea accountable for their continued destabilizing activities across the world,” Democratic Senator Robert Menendez said in a statement. The bill also “sends a clear message to the president that Congress is prepared to act with a united voice,” he added. While the commander in chief has called for improved relations with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, the White House has said Trump backs sanctions on Russia. But it did not say directly that Trump would sign the bill. “He’s going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters Monday on Air Force One. US lawmakers, including Republican leaders, have remained wary of the intentions of the billionaire businessmanturned-president regarding a relaxation of pressure on Putin. Even if Trump ended up vetoing the legislation, Congress would likely be able to overcome such a blockage with a twothirds majority in each chamber. AFP
PREMIERE. Comedian Chelsea Handler, left, and Actress Aisha Tyler attend the premiere of Atomic Blonde at the Ace Theater in LA. AFP
Kushner denies Russia collusion WA S H I N G T O N ― D o n a l d Trump’s son-in-law and top White House adviser Jared Kushner denied colluding with Moscow to sway the 2016 election Monday, insisting a string of undisclosed meetings with Russian officials were “proper.” “Let me be very clear―I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so,” Kushner said after he testified before a congressional inquiry. The normally camera-shy presidential aide said the contacts with then Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a Russian financier and a Russian lawyer―who offered dirt on his father-in-law’s campaign rival Hillary Clinton―were all above board. “The record and documents I have voluntarily provided will show that all of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events of a very unique campaign.” Kushner spent more than two hours Monday appearing before Senate investigators probing Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Both houses of Congress and the Justice Department are investigating whether Trump campaign officials colluded in that effort―which the CIA says was approved by President Vladimir Putin. The sprawling probe has plagued and infuriated the White House since Trump took office, with many influential members of his team having failed to report their contacts with Russian officials. Speaking on his return to the White House―where he is a senior advisor to the president―Kushner said he has not “relied” on Russian funds for his business. He also went on the offensive, echoing Trump’s claim that the investigations are an effort by Democrats to explain away a shock election loss. “Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign, and that is why he won,” said Kushner, a former campaign aide. The statement was the first time the reticent Kushner― who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter Ivanka―publicly explained his contacts with Russian officials. Kushner is scheduled to appear before a House panel on Tuesday. AFP
Driver charged as more die in horror truck journey CHICAGO-A survivor of a horror truck journey in which 10 migrants suffocated to death has told how travelers took turns breathing through a tiny hole in a desperate bid to stay alive, US investigators said Monday. As charges were filed against the driver who was detained in Texas near the border with Mexico, one of President Donald Trump’s cabinet secretaries denounced the “brutality” of peoplesmuggling gangs. And two children were among a group of more than two dozen people still in hospital, suffering from heat stroke and dehydration, after an ordeal which ended in a parking lot. The migrants were discovered in the
back of the 18-wheel truck in the early hours of Sunday in San Antonio, Texas, a two-hour drive from the US-Mexico border, when one of them approached a Walmart store employee asking for water. The employee brought water and then called police, who found 38 people crammed in the trailer with a broken refrigeration system, parked in the baking Texas heat. Eight people were pronounced dead at the scene and two others died later at the hospital. The sweltering trailer may have held between 70 to 200 people, with some migrants fleeing in six SUVs that had been waiting when the truck stopped in the
parking lot, according to witness accounts given to authorities. The document recounted a harrowing journey, with migrants having trouble breathing and some passing out in the trailer which was being driven by James Mathew Bradley Jr, age 60. “People began hitting the trailer walls and making noise to get the driver’s attention. The driver never stopped,” according to one of the migrants interviewed, identified only as J.M.M-J. “People had a hole in the trailer wall to provide some ventilation and they started taking turns breathing from the hole.” J.M.M-J said he was a Mexican national and part of a group of 29 people being
smuggled into the United States. He said that after crossing the border they joined 70 migrants already in the truck’s trailer. US authorities have not released all the victims’ nationalities or names, pending notification of their families. Mexico’s foreign ministry said four of the dead were Mexican, out of a total of 25 Mexicans riding on the truck. The other 21 remain hospitalized. The Guatemalan foreign ministry said 20-year-old Frank Fuentes was among those killed, and his family had already been contacted to begin the process of repatriating his body. Two other Guatemalans, one of them a minor, were hospitalized and in stable condition, the ministry said. AFP
Backlash in HK over China rail link HONG KONG―A plan for mainland border staff to be stationed on Hong Kong soil as part of a new rail link to China sparked a backlash Tuesday as concern grows about Beijing’s reach into the city. It is illegal for mainland law enforcers to operate in semi-autonomous Hong Kong under the city’s miniconstitution, the Basic Law. But there are already concerns that Chinese operatives are working undercover after the alleged abductions of a city bookseller and a reclusive Chinese businessman. The rail link plan comes at a time when fears are worsening that Hong Kong’s freedoms are under threat from an ever more assertive Beijing. The high-speed connection out of the harbor front West Kowloon station is set
to open in 2018, linking to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou 130 km away and then onto China’s national rail network. A proposal backed by the Hong Kong government’s top advisory body Tuesday would see mainland border staff control a special immigration zone at the Hong Kong terminus. There are already numerous transport connections between Hong Kong and the mainland, but Chinese immigration checks are done on the other side of the border. City leader Carrie Lam insisted the new checkpoint arrangement was not a breach of the Basic Law and was designed to cut travel time. “The crux of the matter is really to find a means that is legal to support this conve-
nience for the people of Hong Kong,” Lam told reporters. Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung said such joint immigration areas were common around the world and that Hong Kong would be “leasing” the portion of land at the terminus to China. “Outside the zone both the officers and everyone else have to obey the laws in Hong Kong,” she told AFP. But opponents say the new plan is a clear breach of the Basic Law and another sign that Hong Kong is being swallowed up by China. Veteran lawyer and democracy advocate Martin Lee, who helped draft the Basic Law in the 1980s, said creating an exception within Hong Kong where mainland Chinese laws are enforced would set a “dangerous precedent”. AFP
FIRE APPROACHING. Mike Wright sits in a lawn chair at home in California as flames from the Detwiler fire approach. AFP