Tag Archives: United States

U.S. orders Venezuela embassy families out, crisis deepens

Demonstrators run away at a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

By Alexandra Ulmer and Fabian Cambero

CARACAS (Reuters) – The U.S. government ordered family members of employees at its embassy in Venezuela to leave on Thursday as a political crisis deepened ahead of a controversial vote critics contend will end democracy in the oil-rich country.

Violence continued to rage on the street, with another seven people killed during the latest opposition-led strike against President Nicolas Maduro’s planned election for a powerful new Constituent Assembly on Sunday.

Adding to Venezuela’s growing international isolation, Colombian airline Avianca suddenly stopped operations in the country on Thursday due to “operational and security limitations”.

Maduro’s critics were planning to pile more pressure on the unpopular leftist leader by holding roadblocks across the nation dubbed “The Takeover of Venezuela” on Friday.

“We’re going to keep fighting, we’re not leaving the streets,” said opposition lawmaker Jorge Millan.

The government banned protests from Friday to Tuesday, raising the likelihood of more violence in volatile Venezuela. Many people have been stocking up food and staying home.

As well as ordering relatives to leave, the U.S. State Department on Thursday also authorized the voluntary departure of any U.S. government employee at its compound-like hilltop embassy in Caracas.

President Donald Trump has warned his administration could impose economic sanctions on Venezuela if Maduro goes ahead with the vote to create the legislative superbody.

The Constituent Assembly would have power to rewrite the constitution and shut down the existing opposition-led legislature, which the opposition maintains would cement dictatorship in Venezuela.

Over 100 people have died in anti-government unrest convulsing Venezuela since April, when the opposition launched protests demanding conventional elections to end nearly two decades of socialist rule.

(For graphics on Venezuela’s economic crisis and anti-government protests see: http://tmsnrt.rs/2pPJdRb and http://tmsnrt.rs/2ujuylf)

ANTI-MADURO STRIKE

Many streets remained barricaded and deserted on Thursday during the second day of a nationwide work stoppage.

Plenty of rural areas and working-class urban neighborhoods were bustling, however, and the strike appeared less massively supported than a one-day shutdown last week.

With Venezuela already brimming with shuttered stores and factories, amid a blistering four-year recession, the effectiveness of any strike can be hard to gauge. Many Venezuelans live hand-to-mouth and say they must keep working.

In Barinas, home state of former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, only about a third of businesses were closed according to a Reuters witness, as opposed to the opposition’s formal estimate of 90 percent participation nationally.

“I am opposed to the government and I agree we must do everything we can to get out of this mess, but I depend on my work. If I don’t work, my family does not eat,” said Ramon Alvarez, a 45-year-old barber at his shop in Barinas.

There has been widespread international condemnation of Maduro’s Constituent Assembly plan. The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions against 13 current and former officials for corruption, undermining democracy, and participating in repression.

Government officials and candidates for the Constituent Assembly wrapped up campaigning on Thursday with a rally in Caracas with Maduro.

The former bus driver and union leader reiterated that the assembly was the only way to bring peace to Venezuela, blasted threats of further sanctions from “emperor Donald Trump,” and hit back at accusations that he is morphing into a tyrant.

“The usual suspects came out to say Maduro had become crazy,” he told cheering red-shirted supporters in Caracas.

“Of course, I was crazy! Crazy with passion, crazy with a desire for peace.”

Amid rumors of 11th-hour attempts to foster negotiations, Maduro reiterated an invitation to dialogue with the opposition, although such talks have flopped in the past.

DEATHS, ARRESTS

The state prosecutor’s office said four people died on Thursday amid the unrest: A 49-year-old man in Carabobo state, a 23 year-old in Lara state, a 29 year-old in Anzoategui state and a 16-year old in the middle class Caracas area of El Paraiso.

A 23-year-old man and a 30-year-old man were also killed in western Merida state and a 16-year-old boy was killed in the poor Caracas neighborhood of Petare during clashes on Wednesday.

This week’s death toll topped last week’s one-day strike, when five people were killed.

Over 190 people were arrested during the stoppage on Wednesday and nearly 50 on Thursday, said local rights group Penal Forum. Since April, authorities have rounded up nearly 4,800 people, of whom 1,325 remain behind bars, the group said.

Wuilly Arteaga, a violinist who has become one of the best-known faces of the protests, was among those detained by the National Guard, Penal Forum added.

(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Brian Ellsworth, Alexandra Ulmer, Anggy Polanco, Andrew Cawthorne, Diego Ore, Corina Pons, and Girish Gupta in Caracas, Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo, Francisco Aguilar in Barinas, Maria Ramirez in Bolivar, Eric Beech in Washington D.C., and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Andrew Cawthorne and Michael Perry)

In New York, Trump to use gang violence to press for deportations

A makeshift memorial stands outside a park, where bodies of four men were found on April 13, in Central Islip, New York, U.S., April 28, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

By Roberta Rampton and Mica Rosenberg

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – President Donald Trump will travel on Friday to a New York community shocked by a recent spate of graphic gang murders to highlight his efforts to stop illegal immigration and boost deportations.

Trump’s trip to Long Island gives the president an opportunity to showcase some progress on his agenda even as other legislative efforts flounder – and some respite from the chaos of a nasty power struggle among his senior staff that blew up on Thursday.

On Friday, Trump will highlight his administration’s push to deport members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, better known as MS-13, the existence of which his White House blames on lax enforcement of illegal immigration from Central America.

“It’s going to be a very forceful message about just how menacing this threat is, and just how much pain is inflicted on American communities,” a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the trip.

Trump’s visit comes as his Attorney General Jeff Sessions traveled to El Salvador to highlight progress on the gang crack-down.

The gang took root in Los Angeles in the 1980s in neighborhoods populated with immigrants from El Salvador who had fled civil war. The Justice Department has said MS-13 now has more than 10,000 members across the United States.

On Long Island – not far from the New York City borough of Queens, where Trump grew up – MS-13 was behind the murders of two teenage girls in a suburban neighborhood last September, and four young men in a park in April.

There have been 17 murders on Long Island tied to the gang since January 2016, the Suffolk County Police Department has said.

Under Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has targeted the gang, deporting more than 2,700 criminal gang members in fiscal 2017, up from 2,057 in the whole of the previous fiscal year, the White House has said.

“We are throwing MS-13 the hell out of here so fast,” Trump said earlier this week at a rally in Ohio.

Trump made concerns about illegal immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. One of his first actions in office was to scrap Obama-era guidelines that prioritized convicted criminals for deportations.

His administration is now taking a harder line on Central American youth who have crossed the border illegally without guardians – a group that law enforcement has said has been targeted for recruitment by MS-13.

Immigration agents plan to target teenagers who are suspected gang members, even if they are not charged with any crime, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

But civil rights groups say police and immigration agents have unfairly targeted some teenagers.

“We received complaints in recent weeks from terrified parents on Long Island that teens have already been detained on the thinnest of rationales, such as wearing a basketball jersey,” said Sebastian Krueger from the New York Civil Liberties Union.

There have been at least two lawsuits filed by people claiming they were mistakenly included in gang databases and then targeted for deportation, said Paromita Shah, from the National Immigration Project at the National Lawyers Guild.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

U.S. coal exports soar, in boost to Trump energy agenda, data shows

FILE PHOTO: Dump trucks haul coal and sediment at the Black Butte coal mine outside Rock Springs, Wyoming, United States, April 4, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File Photo

By Timothy Gardner and Nina Chestney

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – U.S. coal exports have jumped more than 60 percent this year due to soaring demand from Europe and Asia, according to a Reuters review of government data, allowing President Donald Trump’s administration to claim that efforts to revive the battered industry are working.

The increased shipments came as the European Union and other U.S. allies heaped criticism on the Trump administration for its rejection of the Paris Climate Accord, a deal agreed by nearly 200 countries to cut carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels like coal.

The previously unpublished figures provided to Reuters by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed exports of the fuel from January through May totaled 36.79 million tons, up 60.3 percent from 22.94 million tons in the same period in 2016. While reflecting a bounce from 2016, the shipments remained well-below volumes recorded in equivalent periods the previous five years.

They included a surge to several European countries during the 2017 period, including a 175 percent increase in shipments to the United Kingdom, and a doubling to France – which had suffered a series of nuclear power plant outages that required it and regional neighbors to rely more heavily on coal.

“If Europe wants to lecture Trump on climate then EU member states need transition plans to phase out polluting coal,” said Laurence Watson, a data scientist working on coal at independent think tank Carbon Tracker Initiative in London.

Nicole Bockstaller, a spokeswoman at the EU Commission’s Energy and Climate Action department, said that the EU’s coal imports have generally been on a downward trend since 2006, albeit with seasonable variations like high demand during cold snaps in the winter.

Overall exports to European nations totaled 16 million tons in the first five months of this year, up from 10.5 million in the same period last year, according to the figures. Exports to Asia meanwhile, totaled 12.3 million tons, compared to 6.2 million tons in the year-earlier period.

For a graphic on U.S. coal exports, click http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/USA-COAL-EXPORTS/010050650E9/index.html

Trump had campaigned on a promise to “cancel” the Paris deal and sweep away Obama-era environmental regulations to help coal miners, whose output last year sank to the lowest level since 1978. The industry has been battered for years by surging supplies of cheaper natural gas, brought on by better drilling technologies, and increased use of natural gas to fuel power plants.

His administration has since sought to kill scores of pending regulations he said threatened industries like coal mining, and reversed a ban on new coal leasing on federal lands.

TAKING CREDIT

Both the coal industry and the Trump administration said the rising exports of both steam coal, used to generate electricity, and metallurgical coal, used in heavy industry, were evidence that Trump’s agenda was having a positive impact.

“Simply to know that coal no longer has to fight the government – that has to have some effect on investment decisions and in the outlook by companies, producers and utilities that use coal,” said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association.

Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Energy Department, said: “These numbers clearly show that the Trump Administration’s policies are helping to revive an industry that was the target of costly and job killing overregulation from Washington for far too long.”

Efforts to obtain comment from exporters Arch Coal and privately held Murray Energy Corp were unsuccessful. Contura Energy, which emerged as part of Alpha Natural Resource’s bankruptcy and restructuring, and filed for public offering in May, declined to comment.

A spokesman for Peabody Energy, the largest coal producer, though without a major export profile, said the United States was generally a “swing supplier of seaborne coal.”

U.S. Energy Information Administration analyst Elias Johnson said the U.S. coal industry may now be better positioned to meet foreign demand because U.S. miners have learned to produce at lower cost, after coming through a series of recent bankruptcies.

“There’s the possibility that the U.S. will become more of a primary player in the global coal trade market,” he said.

But he added there are also plenty of reasons the spike in demand could be temporary. For one thing, U.S. coal production and transportation costs are much higher than for other producers such as Indonesia and Australia.

Because coal can often be transhipped from European ports before it is consumed, it is also hard to determine where shipments ultimately end up.

Johnson pointed out that some of the fuel shipped into Western Europe, for example, could be making its way to other places like Ukraine, which is having trouble securing coal from its separatist-held regions.

Trump said last month that his administration is offering more coal to Ukraine, but it was unclear how, given deals are typically worked out between companies.

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Alden Bentley)

Hypothetically speaking, U.S. Admiral says ready for nuclear strike on China if Trump so ordered

FILE PHOTO: Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift sits in front of a large poster of an Australian Navy frigate as he speaks during a media conference at the 2015 Pacific International Maratime Exposition in Sydney, Australia, October 6, 2015. To match Special Report USA-TRUMP/CARRIERS REUTERS/David Gray/File Photo

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, addressing a security conference in Australia, said in answer to a question on Thursday that he would be prepared to launch a nuclear strike on China if President Donald Trump so ordered.

The fleet spokesman later said the question was asked as an “outrageous hypothetical”.

Admiral Scott Swift was speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra when he was asked whether he would be prepared to launch a nuclear attack on China if ordered to do so by Trump.

“The answer would be yes,” he said.

Swift said that all members of the U.S. military had sworn an oath to obey officers and the U.S. president as commander in chief to defend the constitution.

“This is core to the American democracy,” he said, in a recording of the event obtained by Reuters.

“Any time you have a military that is moving away from a focus, and an allegiance, to civilian control, then we really have significant problems.”

Swift’s answer reaffirmed the principle of civilian control over the military and was based on an “outrageous hypothetical” in the question, Pacific Fleet spokesman Captain Charlie Brown told Reuters.

“Frankly, the premise of the question was ridiculous,” he said. “It was posed as an outrageous hypothetical, but the admiral simply took it as an opportunity to say the fact is that we have civilian control of the military and we abide by that principle.”

Speaking in Beijing on Friday, a spokesman of China’s Foreign Ministry also downplayed the remark.

“Many people have paid attention to this but the spokesman for the Pacific Fleet has pointed out the ridiculousness of this report,” Lu Kang told a daily news briefing.

The United States and China enjoy a generally friendly relationship, with strong economic ties, albeit with frequent barbs about trade, jobs, currencies, human rights, Tibet, the South China Sea and North Korea.

Trump has held high hopes for greater cooperation from China to exert influence over North Korea, leaning heavily on Chinese President Xi Jinping for his assistance. The two leaders had a high-profile summit in Florida in April and Trump has frequently praised Xi.

(Reporting by Colin Packham in SYDNEY and Melanie Burton in MELBOURNE; Additional reporting by Philip Wen in BEIJING; Editing by Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez)

Senate poised for healthcare showdown

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, accompanied by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), speaks with reporters following the successful vote to open debate on a health care bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

By Amanda Becker and Yasmeen Abutaleb

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senate Republicans begin their final push on Thursday to unravel Obamacare, seeking to wrap up their seven-year offensive against former Democratic President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law that extended insurance coverage to millions.

Republicans leaders hope a pared-down “skinny” bill that repeals several key Obamacare provisions can gain enough support to pass after several attempts at broader legislation failed to win approval earlier this week.

The skinny bill’s details will be released at some point on Thursday, before the Senate embarks on a marathon voting session that could extend into Friday morning. The legislation is expected to eliminate mandates requiring individuals and employers to obtain or provide health insurance, and abolish a tax on medical device manufacturers.

The effort comes after a chaotic two-month push by Senate Republicans to pass their version of legislation that made it out of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in May.

Members of the party, including President Donald Trump, campaigned on a pledge to repeal and replace what they say is a failing law that allows the government to intrude in people’s healthcare decisions.

Republicans were optimistic about the skinny bill’s chances of receiving at least 50 votes in the Senate where they hold a 52-48 majority.

Senator John Cornyn, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, said the bill, once approved, would go to a special negotiating committee of lawmakers from both chambers that would reconcile the House and Senate versions into a single piece of legislation.

Republican leaders had tapped a group to craft legislation largely behind closed doors, exposing rifts within the party. While conservatives said the group’s proposals did not go far enough, moderates said they could not support measures estimated to deprive tens of millions of health insurance.

The Senate voted 55-45 on Wednesday against a simple repeal of Obamacare, which would have provided a two-year delay so Congress could work out a replacement. Seven Republicans opposed the bill. On Tuesday, senators rejected the repeal-and-replace plan Republicans had been working on since May.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can lose only two Republican votes to pass healthcare legislation. Even then, he would have to call on Vice President Mike Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote as head of the Senate. Democrats are united in opposition.

GOVERNORS SEEK INVOLVEMENT

A bipartisan group of 10 governors urged senators in a letter on Wednesday to start over and use a drafting process that includes governors from both parties. Governors of Nevada, Ohio, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Colorado were among those who signed the letter, all of whose states have Republican senators.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan research agency, estimated on Wednesday that a combination of provisions that might go into the skinny bill would lead to 16 million people losing their health coverage by 2026.

It had earlier estimated that the two other bills rejected by the Senate this week would have led to 22 million to 32 million people losing their health insurance by 2026.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republican leaders for crafting a “yet-to-be-disclosed final bill” in secret.

“We don’t know if skinny repeal is going to be their final bill, but if it is, the CBO says it would cause costs to go up, and millions to lose insurance,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Richard Cowan and David Morgan; Writing by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Washington refocuses on tax; anti-tax activist sees bill in September

Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, speaks before the dedication of a statue of the late Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) in Statuary Hall on Capitol Hill in Washington February 11, 2015. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

By Ginger Gibson and David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional Republicans are ramping up discussions on overhauling the U.S. tax code that a prominent Republican anti-tax advocate said on Wednesday will produce a bill by September with a hefty corporate tax cut.

Grover Norquist, head of the anti-tax Americans for Tax Reform and a lobbyist close to Republican leaders, said a “Big Six” group of Republican tax decision-makers was targeting the end of this month for producing a basic framework for a bill to be introduced in September.

“The House, the White House and the Senate have been meeting for a couple months. They’ll have a package in September,” said Norquist, a conservative tax and small-government activist who has met with Big Six members.

The group met on Wednesday evening and two members who emerged 45 minutes later said they were united on tax principles but offered no comment on whether they had agreed to a framework.

“We’re all on one page, on one unified page,” White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said.

House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady also told reporters there was unity and to expect a statement in coming days.

Central to the discussion is the 35 percent corporate income tax rate, how much it can be cut and whether a cut can be made permanent. The White House wants to slash the rate to 15 percent for seven years, while congressional Republicans are trying to settle on a permanent rate that does not increase the deficit.

President Donald Trump and his representatives on the Big Six – Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin – are “really excited about the 15 percent rate” for corporations, Norquist said.

The congressional Big Six members are Brady, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch.

Norquist has played a key role in tax negotiations in Washington for years.

Trump is insisting on lowering the tax rate for pass-through businesses, now taxed at the top individual tax code rate, to 15 percent, Norquist said.

The Big Six agree that Trump’s 15 percent corporate rate cannot be achieved on a permanent basis without adding to the federal deficit, administration officials said.

Such a steep tax rate cut would mean a revenue loss of more than $2 trillion over a decade, independent analysts say.

To solve the deficit issue, the White House is open to making the 15 percent rate temporary, with an expiration in seven years, Norquist said. That would conflict with Republicans in Congress who want a permanent tax overhaul, but it would ensure rates would not have to be renewed during Trump’s presidency.

Mnuchin said on Wednesday morning that the administration would be “sensitive to increasing the debt.”

“We are very close to releasing a detailed plan and I can assure you that we believe that detailed plan will be responsible on the impact on the economy and the cost to the debt,” he said.

Under current law, companies adhere to complex depreciation schedules for how long it takes for equipment to wear out and lose value.

Business groups have called for “100 percent expensing,” a policy that would let companies write off the entire price of equipment in the year of purchase. Former President Barack Obama pushed for temporary 100 percent expensing as a economic stimulus to help reverse the recession when he took office.

The White House is considering a three-year window to allow 100 percent expensing, Norquist said. After the three years, the rate would return to 50 percent, which is the current law.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Dan Grebler and Bill Trott)

Kid Rock may run for Senate, says voter registration ‘critical cause’

FILE PHOTO: 2017 CMT Music Awards Show - Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., 07/06/2017 - Kid Rock presents the Video of the Year award. REUTERS/Harrison McClary/File Photo

(Note: Strong language in paragraph 5)

By Brendan O’Brien

(Reuters) – Kid Rock, an outspoken supporter of Republican President Donald Trump, said on Thursday that he will decide over the next few weeks on whether to run for the U.S. Senate and in the meantime will work on the “critical cause” of registering voters.

The singer-songwriter said in a statement that he plans to create a non-profit organization to promote voter registration so he can raise money for the cause and get people registered to vote at his shows as he explores his possible candidacy in 2018.

“The one thing I’ve seen over and over is that although people are unhappy with the government, too few are even registered to vote or do anything about it,” he said.

Rock said he will discuss his political plans at a press conference in about six weeks.

“If I decide to throw my hat in the ring for U.S. Senate, believe me … it’s game on mthr*****,” he said in the statement.

Earlier this month, Rock drew attention on Twitter and his Facebook page to a “Kid Rock ’18 for U.S. Senate” website, stoking speculation that the 46-year-old Michigan native was considering a run next year.

“I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bull****,” he said.

Born Robert James Ritchie in the Detroit suburb of Romeo, he rose to fame in 1998 as his debut album “Devil Without a Cause” sold some 14 million copies. He gained additional celebrity through his courtship of actress Pamela Anderson and their brief marriage in the 2000s.

The Capitol Hill-based newspaper Roll Call reported that Rock’s name surfaced as a possible candidate earlier this month during a state Republican Party convention in Michigan, which Trump carried in the 2016 presidential race, though no official decisions were announced.

Rock presumably would seek to challenge Michigan’s Democratic incumbent senator, Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election in 2018.

According to Roll Call, Rock endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president in 2012 and initially supported Ben Carson for the Republican nomination in 2016 but switched to Trump when the former reality-TV star became the party’s nominee.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Catherine Evans)

First editing of human embryos carried out in United States

(Reuters) – Technology that allows alteration of genes in a human embryo has been used for the first time in the United States, according to Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) in Portland, which carried out the research.

The OHSU research is believed to have broken new ground both in the number of embryos experimented upon and by demonstrating it is possible to safely and efficiently correct defective genes that cause inherited diseases, according to Technology Review, which first reported the news.

None of the embryos were allowed to develop for more than a few days, according to the report.

Some countries have signed a convention prohibiting the practice on concerns it could be used to create so-called designer babies.

Results of the peer-reviewed study are expected to be published soon in a scientific journal, according to OHSU spokesman Eric Robinson.

The research, led by Shoukhrat Mitalipov, head of OHSU’s Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy, involves a technology known as CRISPR that has opened up new frontiers in genetic medicine because of its ability to modify genes quickly and efficiently.

CRISPR works as a type of molecular scissors that can selectively trim away unwanted parts of the genome, and replace it with new stretches of DNA.

Scientists in China have published similar studies with mixed results.

In December 2015, scientists and ethicists at an international meeting held at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington said it would be “irresponsible” to use gene editing technology in human embryos for therapeutic purposes, such as to correct genetic diseases, until safety and efficacy issues are resolved.

But earlier this year, NAS and the National Academy of Medicine said scientific advances make gene editing in human reproductive cells “a realistic possibility that deserves serious consideration.”

(Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Michael Perry)

U.S. lawmakers reach deal for Senate Russia sanctions vote

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) arrives for a health care vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

By Patricia Zengerle, Andrew Osborn and Philip Blenkinsop

WASHINGTON/MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers reached an agreement on Wednesday paving the way for the U.S. Senate to pass a bill as soon as this week to impose new sanctions on Russia and bar President Donald Trump from easing sanctions on Moscow without Congress’ approval.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia warned it was edging closer to retaliation against Washington after the House of Representatives backed new U.S. sanctions on Moscow, while the European Union said the move might affect its energy security and it stood ready to act too.

“I am glad to announce that we have reached an agreement that will allow us to send sanctions legislation to the president’s desk,” Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement on Wednesday evening.

He said the Senate would move to approve sanctions on Russia and Iran that it originally passed in mid-June, as well as sanctions on North Korea developed by the House of Representatives and included in a bill the House passed overwhelmingly on Wednesday.

Before the latest agreement, some senators had objected to the North Korea measures and it had looked like the sanctions bill, already delayed since mid-June, could languish into September.

If the bill passes the Senate as expected, it would be sent to the White House for Trump to sign into law or veto. It is, however, expected to garner enough support to override a Trump veto.

The House voted 419-3 on Tuesday to impose new sanctions on Moscow and force Trump to obtain lawmakers’ approval before easing any punitive measures on Russia.

“This is rather sad news from the point of view of Russia-U.S. ties,” said Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman. “We are talking about an extremely unfriendly act.”

He said President Vladimir Putin would decide if and how Moscow would retaliate once the sanctions became law. Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned the move was taking bilateral relations into uncharted waters, killing off hopes of improving them in the near future.

DOGGED BY RUSSIA ALLEGATIONS

Trump, whose presidency has been embroiled in a distracting dispute over his associates’ alleged ties to Moscow, is on the defensive over accusations Russia helped elect him last year. He has said he wants to mend relations with Russia that are languishing at a post-Cold War low.

Trump had denied that there was any collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Most White House watchers believe Trump will reluctantly sign off on the new sanctions, given deep support for them among U.S. lawmakers and his desire to avoid being accused of being soft on Moscow.

Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Trump would have little choice. The Senate passed a version of the legislation, without the North Korea sanctions, on June 15 by 98-2.

“I think the president will sign it,” Royce said on NBC’s Meet the Press Daily on Wednesday.

The issue has rattled Russia, which fears that its economy, weakened by 2014 Western sanctions imposed over its role in the Ukraine crisis, will now find it harder to recover and grow. Foreign investors could be scared off.

The European Union frets that new U.S. restrictions could pose obstacles to its companies doing business with Russia and threaten the bloc’s energy supply lines.

The Kremlin’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is one reason lawmakers have pushed for the new sanctions.

HOPES FADE FOR DETENTE

Peskov said Moscow would wait until the sanctions became law before fully analyzing them and deciding how to respond.

Moscow had hoped that Trump, who made upbeat statements about Putin before winning the White House, would work to repair the U.S.-Russia relationship. But it has watched with frustration as the vote-meddling allegations killed off hopes of any detente.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said this month that too many American spies were operating in Russia under diplomatic cover and it might expel some to retaliate for the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats last year by then-President Barack Obama’s administration.

Many Russian politicians increasingly believe Trump’s political foes and Congress have left the U.S. president with little room for maneuver on Russia and they have nothing to lose by retaliating.

In Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU was ready to act “within a matter of days” if it felt the new U.S. sanctions undermined the bloc’s energy security.

Brussels fears the new sanctions will damage European firms and oil and gas projects on which the EU is dependent.

The Russia section of the bill includes sanctions on a range of industries.

Several provisions target Russian energy, with new limits on U.S. investment in Russian companies. U.S. firms also would be barred from participating in energy exploration projects where Russian firms have a stake of 33 percent or higher.

The bill includes sanctions on foreign firms investing in or helping Russian energy exploration, although the president could waive those sanctions.

The bill would give the Trump administration the option of imposing sanctions on firms helping develop Russian export pipelines, such as the Nord Stream 2 pipeline carrying natural gas to Europe, in which German companies are involved.

In a concession to allies, those sanctions are optional, not mandatory.

The European Commission said a number of EU concerns had been taken into account in the most recent version of the bill, but said it could lead to sanctions on any company, including European, that worked on Russian energy export pipelines.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov and Katya Golubkova in Moscow, Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Yara Bayoumy, James Dalgleish, Toni Reinhold)

U.S. sanctions Venezuelan officials, one killed in anti-Maduro strike

Demonstrators use a tire on fire to block a street at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Andres Martinez Casares

By Matt Spetalnick and Alexandra Ulmer

WASHINGTON/CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) – The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials as the country’s opposition launched a two-day strike on Wednesday, heaping pressure on unpopular President Nicolas Maduro to scrap plans for a controversial new congress.

With clashes breaking out in some areas, a 30-year-old man was killed during a protest in the mountainous state of Merida, authorities said.

Venezuela’s long-time ideological foe the United States opted to sanction the country’s army and police chiefs, the national director of elections, and a vice president of the state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) for alleged corruption and rights abuses.

U.S. President Donald Trump spared Venezuela for now from broader sanctions against its vital oil industry, but such actions were still under consideration.

U.S. officials said the individual sanctions aimed to show Maduro that Washington would make good on a threat of “strong and swift economic actions” if he goes ahead with a vote on Sunday that critics have said would cement dictatorship in the OPEC country.

The leftist leader was also feeling the heat at home, where protesters backing the 48-hour national strike blocked roads with makeshift barricades and many stores remained shut for the day.

“It’s the only way to show we are not with Maduro. They are few, but they have the weapons and the money,” said decorator Cletsi Xavier, 45, helping block the entrance to a freeway in upscale east Caracas with rope and iron metal sheets.

The opposition estimated that some 92 percent of businesses and workers adhered to the strike, although it offered no evidence for the figure. Overall, fewer people appeared to be heeding the shutdown than the millions who participated in a 24-hour strike last week when five people died in clashes.

State enterprises, including PDVSA [PDVSA.UL], stayed open and some working-class neighborhoods buzzed with activity. But hooded youths clashed with soldiers firing tear gas in various places including Caracas.

In western Merida state, Rafael Vergara was shot dead when troops and armed civilians confronted protesters, local opposition lawmaker Lawrence Castro told Reuters.

Local rights group Penal Forum said 50 people had been arrested and opposition lawmakers said at least 4 protesters had been shot.

A demonstrator wears a Venezuelan flag during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

A demonstrator wears a Venezuelan flag during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello

‘IMPERIALIST SANCTIONS’

Maduro has vowed to push ahead with Sunday’s vote for a Constituent Assembly, which will have power to rewrite the constitution and override the current opposition-led legislature.

The successor to late socialist leader Hugo Chavez says it will bring peace to Venezuela after four months of anti-government protests in which more than 100 people have been killed.

One of the U.S. officials warned the sanctions were just an initial round and the administration was readying tougher measures. The most serious option is financial sanctions that would halt dollar payments for the country’s oil or a total ban on oil imports to the United States, a top cash-paying client.

But policy makers continue to weigh the potential risks of such sanctions, which include inflicting further suffering on Venezuelans and raising U.S. domestic gasoline prices.

Even some of Maduro’s opponents have cautioned that he could rally his supporters under a nationalist banner if the United States goes too far on sanctions as Venezuelans endure a brutal economic crisis with shortages of food and medicine.

At a campaign-style rally for Sunday’s vote, broadcast on state TV late on Wednesday, a defiant Maduro presented some of those sanctioned with replicas of a sword belonging to Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

“Congratulations for these imperialist sanctions,” he said, before handing out the symbolic swords. “What makes the imperialists of the United States think they are the world government?”

Among those sanctioned were national elections director Tibisay Lucena, PDVSA finance vice president Simon Zerpa, former PDVSA executive Erik Malpica, and prominent former minister Iris Varela.

Varela tweeted a picture of herself grinning and extending a middle finger toward the camera with a message that read: “This is my response to the gringos, like Chavez told them, ‘Go to hell, you piece of shit Yankees.'”

Elections boss Lucena is scorned by opposition activists, who have said that she has delayed regional elections and blocked a recall referendum against Maduro at the behest of an autocratic government. The opposition has also long accused PDVSA of being a nest of corruption.

A demonstrator gestures while clashing with riot security force at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

A demonstrator gestures while clashing with riot security force at a rally during a strike called to protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas, Venezuela July 26, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins

‘BAD ACTORS’

The U.S. officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the individuals targeted for sanctions were accused of supporting Maduro’s crackdown, harming democratic institutions or victimizing Venezuelans through corruption, and that additional “bad actors” could be sanctioned later.

Punitive measures include freezing U.S. assets, banning travel to the United States and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them.

Sanctions were imposed on the chief judge and seven other members of Venezuela’s pro-Maduro Supreme Court in May in response to their decision to annul the opposition-led Congress earlier this year.

That followed similar U.S. sanctions in February against Venezuela’s influential Vice President Tareck El Aissami for alleged links to drug trafficking.

Assets in the United States and elsewhere tied to El Aissami and an alleged associate and frozen by U.S. order now total hundreds of millions of dollars, far more than was expected, one of the U.S. officials told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Cawthorne, Corina Pons, Andreina Aponte, Anggy Polanco, Girish Gupta, and Fabian Cambero in Caracas, Francisco Aguilar in Barinas, Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz, Mircely Guanipa in Punto Fijo, Isaac Urrutia in Maracaibo, Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Tom Brown, Toni Reinhold)