Solemn Trump in Vegas: ‘America truly a nation in mourning’
Solemn Trump in Vegas: ‘America truly a nation in mourning’
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Solemn in the face of tragedy, President Donald Trump visited hospital bedsides and a vital police base in stricken Las Vegas on Wednesday, offering prayers and condolences to the victims of Sunday night’s shooting massacre, along with the nation’s thanks to first responders and doctors who rushed to save lives.
“America is truly a nation in mourning,” the president declared, days after a gunman on the 32nd floor of a hotel and casino opened fire on the crowd at an outdoor country music festival below. The rampage killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500, many from gunfire, others from chaotic efforts to escape.
In Las Vegas, Trump spoke of the families who “tonight will go to bed in a world that is suddenly empty.”
“Our souls are stricken with grief for every American who lost a husband or a wife, a mother or a father, a son or a daughter,” he told them. “We know that your sorrow feels endless. We stand together to help you carry your pain. “
It was a somber address from a provocateur president who prides himself on commanding strength but sometimes has struggled to project empathy at times of tragedy.
NKorean workers prep seafood going to US stores, restaurants
HUNCHUN, China (AP) — The workers wake up each morning on metal bunk beds in fluorescent-lit Chinese dormitories, North Koreans outsourced by their government to process seafood that ends up in American stores and homes.
Privacy is forbidden. They cannot leave their compounds without permission. They must take the few steps to the factories in pairs or groups, with North Korean minders ensuring no one strays. They have no access to telephones or email. And they are paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest — as much as 70 percent — is taken by North Korea’s government.
This means Americans buying salmon for dinner at Walmart or ALDI may inadvertently have subsidized the North Korean government as it builds its nuclear weapons program, an AP investigation has found. Their purchases may also have supported what the United States calls “modern day slavery” — even if the jobs are highly coveted by North Koreans.
At a time when North Korea faces sanctions on many exports, the government is sending tens of thousands of workers worldwide, bringing in revenue estimated at anywhere from $200 million to $500 million a year. That could account for a sizable portion of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, which South Korea says have cost more than $1 billion.
While the presence of North Korean workers overseas has been documented, the AP investigation reveals for the first time that some products they make go to the United States, which is now a federal crime. AP also tracked the products made by North Korean workers to Canada, Germany and elsewhere in the European Union.
Tillerson denies he weighed resigning or called boss ‘moron’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared Wednesday he never considered resigning as President Donald Trump’s top diplomat, disputing what he called “erroneous” reports that he wanted to step down earlier this year. After pointedly refusing to answer if he called the president a “moron,” Tillerson had a spokeswoman deny he used such language.
Thrust into the spotlight under uncomfortable circumstances, the normally camera-shy Tillerson sought to rebut a widely disseminated NBC News story that claimed Vice President Mike Pence had to talk the former oil man out of resigning over the summer, and that Tillerson had questioned Trump’s intelligence. The explosive claims followed several instances in which Trump and Tillerson’s policy pronouncements have appeared to clash.
“There has never been a consideration in my mind to leave,” Tillerson told reporters in an unusually personal address from the State Department’s staid 7th-floor Treaty Room outside of his office.
From Las Vegas, where he traveled to meet with medical personnel and others affected by the mass shooting there, Trump told reporters he has “total confidence” in Tillerson. Earlier, Trump denounced the report as “fake news” on Twitter.
Trump’s administration already had seen an unprecedented wave of departures, including a chief of staff, a national security adviser and a Cabinet secretary. However, his core national security team — Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and his second national security adviser, H.R. McMaster — has been viewed by Republicans and even many Democrats as a pillar of stability in an otherwise chaotic government.
3 US Army special operations commandos killed in Niger
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said three U.S. Army special operations commandos were killed Wednesday and two others were wounded when they came under fire in southwest Niger.
The officials said the two wounded were taken to Niamey, the capital, and are in stable condition. The officials were not authorized to discuss the incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the commandos, who were Green Berets, were likely attacked by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb militants.
In a statement, U.S. Africa Command said the forces were with a joint U.S. and Nigerien patrol north of Niamey, near the Mali border, when they came under hostile fire.
Africa Command said the U.S. forces are in Niger to provide training and security assistance to the Nigerien Armed Forces in their efforts against violent extremists.
GOP Rep. Tim Murphy to retire after reports of affair
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday that he would not run for a ninth term, amid tawdry revelations of an extramarital affair in which the anti-abortion lawmaker urged his mistress to get an abortion when he thought she was pregnant.
Murphy said in a brief statement through his office that he will “take personal time to seek help as my family and I continue to work through our personal difficulties.”
Murphy’s decision came a day after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published text messages between Murphy and Shannon Edwards.
A Jan. 25 text message from Edwards told the congressman he had “zero issue posting your pro-life stance all over the place when you had no issue asking me to abort our unborn child just last week when we thought that was one of the options,” according to the newspaper.
A text message from Murphy’s number in response said his staff was responsible for his anti-abortion messages: “I’ve never written them. Staff does them. I read them and winced. I told staff don’t write any more.”
Parties fight over funding children’s health insurance
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans pushed a bill extending financing for a popular health insurance program for children through a House committee Wednesday, but partisan divisions over how to pay for it suggest that congressional approval will take time despite growing pressure on lawmakers to act.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the measure on a party-line 28-23 vote. The program covers 8.9 million low-income children, and a renewal of funds for it seems virtually inevitable.
But four days after the program’s federal funding expired, the bill’s problems were underscored as Democrats opposed GOP plans for financing the extension and a related community health center bill.
The GOP cuts include trimming a public health fund established under former President Barack Obama’s health care law and making it harder for people buying individual health coverage to avoid paying premiums. They would also raise Medicare premiums on seniors earning more than $500,000 annually, make it harder for lottery winners to qualify for Medicaid and strengthen how the government gets reimbursements from private insurers.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the committee’s top Democrat, said the dispute could delay congressional action until the end of the year and accused the GOP of trying to “continue their ongoing sabotage of the Affordable Care Act,” Obama’s 2010 law.
Mental health concerns in aftermath of Puerto Rico hurricane
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Locked out of his home and with nowhere else to go, Wilfredo Ortiz Marrero rode out Hurricane Maria inside a Jeep, which was lifted off its wheels by floodwaters in the parking lot. He then endured days without enough food or running water.
The lights are back on at his residence for low-income elderly people in the San Juan suburb of Trujillo Alta, and food has started arriving, but he still waits as long as he can each night to leave the company of others in the lobby. Alone in his room, he sometimes starts to shake.
“You get really depressed,” he said Wednesday.
The hurricane that pummeled Puerto Rico two weeks ago and the scarcity-marked aftermath are taking a toll on islanders’ equilibrium. The U.S. territory’s government counted two suicides among the death toll, which now stands at 34, and with many communities still waiting for power and clean water, there is concern about others reaching a breaking point.
Students and staff at Ponce Health Sciences University are visiting shelters and people in the hardest-hit communities to provide psychological help, among other services, said Alex Ruiz, special assistant to the university’s president.