Top Dems pull out of Trump meeting after his Twitter attack
WASHINGTON — Congress’ top Democrats abruptly pulled out of a planned meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday after he declared he didn’t “see a deal” ahead with them on taxes and federal spending, casting doubt on prospects for averting a government shutdown at the end of next week.
On Twitter just hours before the scheduled meeting at the White House, Trump also accused Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California of being soft on crime, taxes and illegal immigration.
Schumer and Pelosi rebuffed Trump’s invitation and asked instead for immediate talks at the Capitol with top Republican leaders in Congress.
“Given that the president doesn’t see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead,” Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement. “Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon.”
That invitation was swiftly rejected by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Libyan cleared of most serious charges in Benghazi attack
WASHINGTON — A Libyan militant was convicted Tuesday of terrorism charges stemming from the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. But a federal jury found him not guilty of murder, the most serious charge associated with the rampage he was accused of orchestrating.
The attack became instant political fodder in the 2012 presidential campaign, with Republicans accusing the Obama administration of intentionally misleading the public and stonewalling congressional investigators, though officials denied any wrongdoing. Some were particularly critical of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of the conflict, which dogged her during her presidential campaign.
But the seven-week trial of Ahmed Abu Khattala was largely free of political intrigue.
Jurors convicted Khattala on four counts, including providing material support for terrorism and destroying property and placing lives in jeopardy at the U.S. compound, but acquitted him on 14 others. The mixed verdict spares him a life sentence, but it could still result in the 46-year-old Khattala spending up to 60 years in prison.
Prosecutors accused Khattala of directing the attack aimed at killing personnel and plundering maps, documents and other property from the U.S. mission in Benghazi. But defense attorneys said their evidence against him was shoddy.
Aspiring actress details allegations against Weinstein
NEW YORK — An aspiring actress who met Harvey Weinstein by chance in 2014 detailed in tears Tuesday how she said the media mogul made her stand in front of a mirror in his hotel room in Cannes, France, while he stood behind her, groping her and forcing her to perform a sex act after pretending to be interested in her career.
Kadian Noble, 31, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan a day earlier. Her attorney Jeff Herman said he sued under a criminal sex trafficking statute of engaging in commercial sex act overseas because Weinstein is a U.S. citizen who coerced Noble under the guise of helping with her career.
“By offering Kadian help with her career, and then getting her to comply with his advances — that’s the quid pro quo,” Herman said. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
A spokeswoman for Weinstein said he “denies allegations of non-consensual sex” and “has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”
Noble detailed the incident to reporters, saying that she met Weinstein by chance in 2014 at an after-party for the British Academy Film Awards, where he introduced her to Oprah Winfrey and Naomi Campbell, and she felt dazzled and lucky when he said he was interested in her.
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Trump gets blowback for his ‘Pocahontas’ jab at Navajo event
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Families of Native American war veterans and politicians of both major parties are criticizing President Donald Trump for using a White House event honoring Navajo Code Talkers to take a political jab at a Democratic senator he has nicknamed “Pocahontas.”
The Republican president on Monday turned to a nickname he often deployed for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren during the 2016 presidential campaign to mock her claims about being part Native American. He told the three Navajo Code Talkers on stage that he had affection for them that he doesn’t have for her.
“It was uncalled for,” said Marty Thompson, whose great-uncle was a Navajo Code Talker. “He can say what he wants when he’s out doing his presidential business among his people, but when it comes to honoring veterans or any kind of people, he needs to grow up and quit saying things like that.”
Pocahontas is a well-known historical figure who bridged her own Pamunkey Tribe in present-day Virginia with the British in the 1600s. But the National Congress of American Indians says Trump wrongly has flipped the name into a derogatory term, and the comment drew swift criticism from American Indians and politicians.
“Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Navajo Code Talkers, whose bravery, skill & tenacity helped secure our decisive victory over tyranny & oppression during WWII,” Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, tweeted Tuesday. “Politicizing these genuine American heroes is an insult to their sacrifice.”
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Spring wedding at Windsor Castle for Prince Harry and Markle
LONDON — It will be a spring wedding on the glorious grounds of Windsor Castle for love-struck Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Royal officials — thrilled with the international response to news of the couple’s engagement, and the positive reaction to their first ever TV appearance — revealed a few key details Tuesday but kept mum on others, such as who will be Harry’s best man?
The wedding will be in May, but the date has not been chosen, Harry’s communications secretary, Jason Knauf, told a packed briefing at Buckingham Palace.
“In a happy moment in their lives, it means a great deal to them that so many people throughout the UK, the Commonwealth and around the world are celebrating with them,” he said before fielding questions about things like how many of Markle’s rescue dogs would move to Britain with her.
Knauf said Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, had given permission for the couple to wed at St. George’s Chapel, the historic church on the Windsor Castle grounds that has long been a touchstone for royal rites of passage. He said the 91-year-old monarch will attend the wedding.
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UN: About 11 percent of drugs in poor countries are fake
LONDON — About 11 percent of medicines in developing countries are counterfeit and likely responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of children from diseases like malaria and pneumonia every year, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
It’s the first attempt by the U.N. health agency to assess the problem. Experts reviewed 100 studies involving more than 48,000 medicines. Drugs for treating malaria and bacterial infections accounted for nearly 65 percent of fake medicines.
WHO’s director-general said the problem mostly affects poor countries. Between 72,000 and 169,000 children may be dying from pneumonia every year after receiving bad drugs. Counterfeit medications might be responsible for an additional 116,000 deaths from malaria mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, according to scientists at the University of Edinburgh and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine commissioned by the WHO.
“Imagine a mother who gives up food or other basic needs to pay for her child’s treatment, unaware that the medicines are substandard or falsified, and then that treatment causes her child to die,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. “This is unacceptable.”
Counterfeit drugs include products that have not been approved by regulators, fail to meet quality standards or deliberately misrepresent an ingredient, according to WHO, which published the two reports.
By wire sources