Foreign Relations/Policy
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GOP-led Senate ignores pleas for underfunded election cybersecurity which is ‘strained to the breaking point’

As the U.S. government prepares to defend the 2020 presidential election from cyber threats, the federal agency charged with helping administer elections, the Election Assistance Commission, says it is “strained to the breaking point,†according to Chairwoman Christy McCormick.
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China rebuffs Trump claim U.S. tariffs are making firms leave

BEIJING (Reuters) – Foreign investors remained enthusiastic about China, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that his tariffs are causing companies to move production away from the world’s second largest economy. Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday that his tariffs on Chinese goods are causing companies to…
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U.S. Senate bill to mandate disclosure of nuclear power approvals involving other nations

By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators will introduce legislation on Wednesday mandating that the executive branch disclose details about authorizations it gives companies on sharing sensitive nuclear energy information with countries looking to build reactors. Lawmakers have criticized the Trump administration for issuing seven so-called Part 810 authorizations to…
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Iran decries ‘illegal’ U.S. designation of Guards, retaliates with terrorism listing: state TV

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran warned on Monday that Washington’s designation of its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization could endanger peace and stability in the Middle East and beyond, state TV reported. Tehran also took retaliatory action by naming the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization and the U.S….
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Trump threatens to close U.S. border with Mexico next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to close the U.S. border with Mexico next week, or at least large sections of the frontier, if Mexico “doesn’t immediately stop all illegal immigration coming into the United States” from the region. Trump has repeatedly vowed to close the U.S. border with Mexico in the…
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Republicans and Democrats blast Trump’s cuts to diplomacy and foreign aid as dangerous for national security

By Lesley Wroughton and Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress rejected President Donald Trump‘s proposed cuts to diplomacy and foreign aid budgets as dangerous to national security on Wednesday, setting the stage for a budget battle with the White House. The ranking Republican on the House of Representatives subcommittee…
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Trump says all Islamic State land lost in Syria, but SDF says fight continues

PALM BEACH, Fl./BAGHOUZ, Syria (Reuters) – Islamic State militants in eastern Syria still held out late on Friday, the U.S.-backed militia besieging them said, after U.S. President Donald Trump said the jihadist group had lost its last scrap of territory. “Heavy fighting continues around mount Baghouz right now to finish off whatever remains of ISIS…
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Acting Pentagon chief reassures Iraqis after anger over Trump remarks

By Idrees Ali BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Acting U.S. defense chief Patrick Shanahan told Iraqi leaders that Washington understood its forces were in Iraq at Baghdad’s invitation, aiming to steady relations after President Donald Trump said U.S. troops were needed to keep an eye on Iran. Shanahan met Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi during an unannounced…
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‘Death to America’ aimed at Trump, not American nation, Iran leader says

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranians will chant “Death to America” as long as Washington continues its hostile policies, but the slogan is directed at President Donald Trump and U.S. leaders, not the American nation, Iran’s supreme leader said on Friday. “As long as America continues its wickedness, the Iranian nation will not abandon ‘Death to America’,”…
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China urges U.S. not to withdraw from nuclear treaty with Russia

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The United States should resolve its differences with Russia through dialogue instead of threatening to withdraw from an important nuclear arms control agreement between the two nations, China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. The United States’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that Washington would withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-Range…
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Trump slams U.S. intel chiefs after they disagreed with him re Russia, China and Iran

By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Wednesday called U.S. intelligence chiefs “extremely passive and naive” on Iran and dismissed their assessments of the threat posed by North Korea a day after they contradicted his views during congressional testimony. Leaders of the U.S. intelligence community told a Senate committee on Tuesday that…
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North Korea unlikely to give up nuclear weapons: U.S. spy chief Coats

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons capabilities despite recent moves indicating it was open to such actions, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said on Tuesday. Coats’ assessment, in testimony before a Senate panel, clashed with President Donald Trump’s periodic upbeat assessments of North Korea’s commitment to…
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Bolton’s notes reading ‘5,000 troops to Colombia’ raise concerns about US intentions

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House national security adviser John Bolton raised questions about the United States’ intentions in Venezuela after he appeared at a briefing on Monday with a notepad containing the words “5,000 troops to Colombia,” which neighbors Venezuela. It was not immediately clear what Bolton’s notes meant and whether President Donald Trump’s administration…
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Exclusive: U.N. expert to lead international inquiry into Khashoggi murder

By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions told Reuters on Thursday she will travel to Turkey next week to head an “independent international inquiry” into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post and a critic of Crown Prince…
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Trump threatens Turkey with economic devastation if it attacks Syrian Kurd militia

By Daren Butler and Lesley Wroughton ISTANBUL/RIYADH (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Turkey with economic devastation if it attacks a U.S.-allied Kurdish militia in Syria, drawing a sharp rebuke from Ankara on Monday and reviving fears of another downturn in ties between the NATO allies. Relations between the United States and Turkey have…
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Chinese state media urges Canada to defy U.S., free Huawei executive

SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Canada should distance itself from U.S. “hegemonism” and grant unconditional freedom to Meng Wanzhou, a top executive of China’s Huawei detained in Vancouver on Washington‘s request, state-owned tabloid Global Times said in a Thursday editorial. Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL], has been accused by U.S. prosecutors of misleading…
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Second Canadian missing in China after detention of former diplomat

BEIJING/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, is missing in China, a Canadian official said, days after Chinese authorities detained a former Canadian diplomat amid an escalating diplomatic row. His disappearance follows the detention in Beijing on Monday of former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who works for the International Crisis Group….
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Republican senators, after CIA briefing, say clear Saudi crown prince culpable in Khashoggi’s death

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two Republican senators said on Tuesday they were more certain than ever that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was culpable in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi after receiving a CIA briefing on the matter. “You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated…
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U.S. says confident North Korean promises will be fulfilled, despite weapons test

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States remains confident that promises made by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their Singapore summit will be fulfilled, a U.S. State Department spokesman said on Thursday, after North Korea said it successfully tested a new tactical weapon. “We remain confident that the promises made…
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German foreign minister: U.S. should consider consequences of leaving nuclear treaty

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the United States should consider the consequences, both for Europe and for future disarmament efforts, of pulling out of an international treaty aimed at eliminating a class of nuclear weapons. President Donald Trump justified his decision, announced on Saturday, to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces…
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin withdraws from Saudi conference

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday said he would no longer attend next week’s investment conference in Saudi Arabia. “Just met with @realDonaldTrump and @SecPompeo and we have decided, I will not be participating in the Future Investment Initiative summit in Saudi Arabia,” Mnuchin wrote on Twitter. (Reporting by Susan Heavey;…
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With opinion split, tariffs are a tough sell in America’s Rust Belt: Reuters/Ipsos poll

By Megan Davies NEW YORK (Reuters) – Politicians in America’s Rust Belt will likely struggle to capitalize on U.S. President Donald Trump‘s trade war in November’s congressional elections, with a September poll showing voters in the region are cool on the effect of tariffs. A Reuters/Ipsos/UVA Center for Politics Poll found that a plurality of…

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