Tag Archives: United States

U.S. trade group hacked with Chinese software ahead of Xi summit

FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in front of the displayed cyber code in this illustration picture taken on March 1, 2017.REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration/File Photo

By Joseph Menn

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A sophisticated hacking group that pursues Chinese government interests broke into the website of a private U.S. trade group ahead of Thursday’s summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to researchers.

The hackers left a malicious link on web pages where members of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) register for upcoming meetings, according to researchers at Fidelis Cybersecurity and a person familiar with the trade group.

The nonprofit NFTC is a prominent advocate on international trade policy, with corporate members including Wal-Mart Stores Inc <WMT.N>, Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N>, Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, Ford Motor Co <F.N> and Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O>.

The malicious link deployed a spying tool called Scanbox, which would have recorded the type and versions of software running on the computers of those exposed to it, said Fidelis researcher John Bambenek. Such reconnaissance is typically followed by new attacks using known flaws in the detected software, especially older versions.

Scanbox has only been used by groups associated with the Chinese government, Fidelis said, and was recently seen on a political site aimed at Uyghurs, an ethnic minority under close government scrutiny in China.

The breach was detected about five weeks ago by a NFTC director who is a customer of Fidelis, the security company said. Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NFTC were notified and the malicious link removed, and Fidelis said it had no evidence of NFTC members being infected.

The FBI and the NFTC declined to comment. A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

Bambenek said he believed the attack was classic espionage related to international trade talks, rather than a violation of a 2015 agreement between former U.S. President Barack Obama and Xi to end spying for commercial motives.

The summit starting on Thursday is the first meeting between Xi and Trump, who blamed China on the campaign trail for the loss of many U.S. jobs and vowed to confront the country’s leaders on the matters of trade and currency manipulation.

“I think it’s traditional espionage that happens ahead of any summit,” said Bambenek. “They would like to know what we, the Americans, really care about and use that for leverage.”

Other security firms agreed that wholesale theft of U.S. intellectual property has not returned.

Instead, FireEye Inc <FEYE.O> and BAE Systems Plc <BAES.L> said that the hacking group identified by Fidelis, called APT10, has recently attacked government and commercial targets in Europe.

FireEye researcher John Hultquist said heavy industries in Nordic countries have been hacked more often as Beijing switches priorities.

“They are certainly taking those resources and pushing them to other places where they can still get away with this behavior,” Hultquist said.

(Reporting by Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Addtional reporting by Dustin Volz in Washington; Editing by Bill Rigby)

U.S. strikes not seen as gamechanger by Arab political analyists in complex Syrian conflict

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter conducts strike operations against Syria while in the Mediterranean Sea.

By Katie Paul and Asma Alsharif

RIYADH/CAIRO (Reuters) – U.S. strikes on Syria in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack marked a sharp escalation in the country’s civil war but were not viewed in the Arab world as a gamechanger in a six-year conflict that has divided the region.

Two U.S. warships fired cruise missiles at a Syrian air base controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces early on Friday in response to the poison gas attack which killed at least 70 people in a rebel-held area.

U.S. officials said the strike was a “one-off” intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks, and not part of a wider expansion of the U.S. role in the war.

The reactions were predictable from Damascus’ ally Iran and foe Saudi Arabia, two regional powers waging proxy wars in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries.

Saudi Arabia hailed the strike as a “courageous decision” by President Donald Trump, and Saudi ally the UAE, a member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamist militants in Syria, also expressed its support.

Iran denounced the “unilateral strikes”.

“Such measures will strengthen terrorists in Syria … and will complicate the situation in Syria and the region,” the Students News Agency ISNA quoted foreign ministry spokesman Bahrem Qasemi as saying.

It was the toughest direct U.S. action yet in Syria, but Arab political analysts were skeptical it would make much difference in the direction of the conflict in Syria or in efforts to find a political solution.

It did, however, indicate how far Trump was willing to go, possibly with his domestic audience in mind, even if it risked contradicting previous positions as well as confrontation with Assad’s other main military backer, Russia.

Trump had repeatedly said he wanted better relations with Moscow, including to cooperate with Russia to fight Islamic State, and has so far focused his Syria policy almost exclusively on that effort.

But he also criticized his predecessor Barack Obama for setting a “red line” threatening force against Assad if he used chemical weapons, only to pull back from ordering air strikes in 2013 when Assad agreed to give up his chemical arsenal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned the missile strikes as an illegal move that would hurt U.S.-Russia ties.

“This kind of strike will not bring down the Syrian regime,” said Abdulaziz al-Sager, a Saudi academic and chairman of the Jeddah-based Gulf Research Center.

“But it shows a new attitude from the U.S. administration in the region which is to take initiatives individually if needed.”

Over the past few months, many Western countries have been backing away from long-standing demands that Assad leave power, accepting that rebels no longer had the power to remove him by force. After the chemical weapons attack on Tuesday, however, several countries said Assad must go.

Among the countries strongly backing the strikes and calling for Assad to be removed from power was Turkey. Long one of Assad’s principal foes, Turkey had in recent months reached a rapprochement with Russia and had been co-sponsoring Syrian peace talks with Moscow.

Mustapha Kamel Al-Sayyid, professor of political science at Cairo University, doubted that the attacks would undermine these kinds of efforts.

“I don’t consider this a change in the United States policy toward Syria but rather a limited strike, which Trump probably aimed to use in order to strengthen his position inside the United States,” he said.

Iraq has been put in the difficult position of balancing its interests between its two key allies, the United States and Iran. Officials have so far maintained silence on the strikes.

“The Iraqi side will not rush into a reaction that could backfire,” said Baghdad-based analyst Fadhel Abu Ragheef.

On the streets of the Iraqi capital, Trump’s actions were seen as just another sign that the United States wants to dominate the Middle East.

“He (Trump) wants to isolate Iran and build American military bases in Iraq,” said Qassim, a shopkeeper, giving only his first name.

(Additional reporting by Sami Aboudi and Aziz El Yaakoubi in Dubai, Maher Chmaytelli in Erbil, Maher Nazeh in Baghdad, Daren Butler and Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

U.S. lawmakers back Syria strikes, ask for broader strategy

Sen. Marco Rubio introduces Alex Acosta, President Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of Labor, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S. March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers from both parties on Friday backed President Donald Trump’s cruise missile strikes on Syria, while urging him to spell out a broader strategy for dealing with the conflict.

In the biggest foreign policy decision of his presidency thus far, Trump ordered the firing of cruise missiles at a Syrian air base that U.S. officials said was the launching point for a deadly chemical weapons attack against Syrian civilians earlier in the week.

“I am hopeful these strikes will convince the Assad regime that such actions should never be repeated,” said Senator Mark Warner, West Virginia Democrat, referring to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But Warner, who said he had been briefed on the strikes by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, urged Trump, a Republican, to lay out his plans for the multi-sided Syria conflict.

“President Trump has said repeatedly that his objective in Syria is to defeat (Islamic State militants). Last night’s strike was aimed at a different objective,” he said in a statement. ​”President Trump needs to articulate a coherent strategy for dealing with this complex conflict, because the consequences of a misstep are grave.”

Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator John McCain, who has long called for more aggressive action against Assad, said “the signal I think that was sent last night … was a very, very important one.”

But the Arizona Republican, speaking on MSNBC, said “despite all the enthusiasm we see this morning, if I might quote Churchill, it’s the end of the beginning not the beginning of the end.”

Trump, he said, should be “prepared to take other action,” including establishing safe zones within Syria and further arming and training of anti-Assad rebels.

Several lawmakers said Trump should seek Congress’ approval if he decides to take additional military action in Syria.

Senator Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, said the strikes in Syria could send a message to other U.S. adversaries such as North Korea.

“I think the time has come for some of these countries to be worried about us a little bit, not us always worried about what they might do,” Rubio told Fox News.

(Reporting by David Alexander, Eric Walsh and Warren Strobel; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

U.S. fires missiles at Assad airbase; Russia denounces ‘aggression’

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter conducts strike operations against Syria in the Mediterranean Sea. Ford Williams/Courtesy U.S. Navy

By Steve Holland, Andrew Osborn and Tom Perry

PALM BEACH, Fla./MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) – The United States fired cruise missiles on Friday at a Syrian airbase from which President Donald Trump said a deadly chemical weapons attack had been launched, the first direct U.S. assault on the government of Bashar al-Assad in six years of civil war.

In the biggest foreign policy decision of his presidency so far, Trump ordered the step his predecessor Barack Obama never took: directly targeting the Syrian military for its suspected role in a poison gas attack that killed at least 70 people

That catapulted Washington into confrontation with Russia, which has military advisers on the ground aiding its ally, President Assad. The Kremlin called the U.S. strikes illegal aggression.

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically,” Trump said as he announced the attack from his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, where he was meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack,” he said of Tuesday’s chemical weapons strike, which Western countries blame on Assad’s forces. “No child of God should ever suffer such horror.”

U.S. officials said that the strike was a “one-off” intended to deter future chemical weapons attacks, and not part of a wider expansion of the U.S. role in the Syria war.

But the swift action is likely to be interpreted as a signal to Russia, as well as to other countries such as North Korea, China and Iran where Trump has faced foreign policy tests early in his presidency, that he is willing to use force.

“This clearly indicates the president is willing to take decisive action when called for,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters. “I would not in any way attempt to extrapolate that to a change in our policy or our posture relative to our military activities in Syria today. There has been no change in that status.”

Even without any promise of more U.S. action, the strikes could embolden Assad’s enemies, after months when Western powers appeared to grow increasingly resigned to him staying in power.

The Syrian government and Moscow have denied that Syrian forces were behind the gas attack, but Western countries have dismissed their explanation – that chemicals leaked from a rebel weapons depot after an air strike – as beyond credibility.

The Syrian army said the U.S. attack killed six people at its air base near the city of Homs. It called the strike “blatant aggression” and said it made the United States a “partner” of “terrorist groups” including Islamic State. Homs Governor Talal Barazi told Reuters the death toll was seven.

Syrian state television later said nine civilians were killed in villages near the base. There was no independent confirmation of civilian casualties.

RAISING STAKES IN THE SKIES

“President Putin views the U.S. strikes on Syria as aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law and on a made-up up pretext,” said a Kremlin statement. “This step by Washington will inflict major damage on U.S.-Russia ties.”

Russian television showed craters and rubble at the site of the airbase and said nine aircraft had been destroyed.

Moscow suspended communication with U.S. forces designed to stop planes colliding over Syria, one of the few direct forms of cooperation since the two rivals began flying combat missions in the same air space for the first time since the Cold War.

A Russian frigate carrying cruise missiles sailed through the Bosphorus Strait into the Mediterranean Sea, a sign of Moscow’s military presence in the area although there was no indication it was directly in response to U.S. action.

Western allies of the United States backed the decision to launch the strikes, with several countries describing it as a proportionate response to Assad’s suspected use of poison gas.

Several countries said they were notified in advance, but none had been asked to take part.

Iran, Assad’s other main ally, denounced it.

U.S. officials said they had taken pains to ensure Russian troops were not killed, warning Russian forces in advance and avoiding striking parts of the base where Russians were present.

Syrian officials and their allies also said they did not expect the attack to lead to an expansion of the conflict.

“No doubt this will leave great tension on the political level, but I do not expect a military escalation,” a senior, non-Syrian official in the alliance fighting in support of Assad who declined to be identified told Reuters. “Currently I do not believe that we are going toward a big war in the region.”

Washington has long backed rebels fighting against Assad in a multi-sided civil war under way since 2011 that has killed more than 400,000 people. The war has driven half of Syrians from their homes, creating the world’s worst refugee crisis.

The United States has been conducting air strikes against Islamic State militants who control territory in eastern and northern Syria, and a small number of U.S. troops are on the ground assisting anti-Islamic State militias. But until now, Washington had avoided direct confrontation with Assad.

Russia, meanwhile, joined the war on Assad’s behalf in 2015, action that decisively turned the momentum of the conflict in the Syrian government’s favor. Although they support opposing sides in the war between Assad and rebels, Washington and Moscow both say they share a single main enemy, Islamic State.

Trump’s decision to strike Syrian government forces is a particularly notable shift for a leader who in the past had repeatedly said he wanted better relations with Moscow, including to cooperate with Russia to fight Islamic State.

However, Trump had also criticized Obama for setting a “red line” threatening force against Assad if he used chemical weapons, only to pull back from ordering air strikes in 2013 when Assad agreed to give up his chemical arsenal.

Russian media long portrayed Trump as a figure who would promote closer relations with Moscow. At home, Trump’s opponents have accused him of being too supportive of Putin. Tillerson is due in Russia next week, and Russian officials said they hoped to patch over the differences over Syria.

For a graphic on attack location, click http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/MIDEAST-CRISIS-SYRIA/010031Y84ET/MIDEAST-CRISIS-SYRIA.jpg

For a graphic on cruise missiles, click http://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/rngs/MIDEAST-CRISIS-SYRIA/010040JP16Q/MIDEAST-CRISIS-SYRIA-MISSILES.jpg

LIMP CORPSES, CHOKING CHILDREN

Tuesday’s attack was the first time since 2013 that Syria has been accused of using sarin, a banned nerve agent it was meant to give up under the Russian-brokered, U.N.-enforced deal that persuaded Obama to call off air strikes four years ago.

Video and pictures of the aftermath were shown around the world this week, depicting limp bodies and children choking while rescue workers hosed them down to try to wash off the poison gas. In Russia, state television blamed rebels and did not show footage of victims.

Tomahawk missiles were fired from the USS Porter and USS Ross around 0040 GMT, striking multiple targets – including the airstrip, aircraft and fuel stations – on the Shayrat Air Base, which the Pentagon says was used to store chemical weapons.

Over the previous few months, many Western countries had been quietly backing away from long-standing demands that Assad leave power, accepting that rebels no longer had the power to remove him by force. But after the chemical weapons attack on Tuesday, several countries renewed calls for Assad to go.

Among them was Turkey, long one of Assad’s principal foes, which had in recent months reached a rapprochement with Russia and had been co-sponsoring Syrian peace talks with Moscow. Ankara’s change of tone could make it harder for Russia to put forward a peace plan that would keep Assad.

The attacks spurred a flight to safety in global financial markets, sending yields on safe-haven U.S. Treasury securities to their lowest since November. Stocks weakened in Asia and U.S. equity index futures slid, indicating Wall Street would open lower on Friday. Prices for oil and gold both rose, and the dollar slipped against the Japanese yen.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Yara Bayoumy, Jonathan Landay, John Walcott, Lesley Wroughton, Patricia Zengerle, Roberta Rampton, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington, Megan Davies in New York and Jack Stubbs in Moscow; Writing by Peter Graff, editing by Peter Millership)

Oil prices jump 2 percent after U.S. launches missile strike in Syria

Crude oil storage tanks are seen from above at the Cushing oil hub, appearing to run out of space to contain a historic supply glut that hammered prices, in Cushing, Oklahoma,

By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices surged more than 2 percent on Friday after the United States launched dozens of cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria.

U.S President Donald Trump said he had ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched earlier this week, declaring he acted in America’s “national security interest” against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

After tepid trading before the news, Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, jumped to $56.08 per barrel before easing to be up 1.6 percent at $55.75 per barrel at 0310 GMT.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also climbed by over 2 percent, to a high of $52.94 a barrel before receding to be up 1.8 percent at $52.61.

Both benchmarks hit their highest levels since early March.

The strikes rattled global markets. While oil prices surged as traders priced in what has in the past been called a Middle East risk premium, and safe-haven products like gold jumped, stock markets and the U.S. dollar slumped.

“The U.S cruise missile strikes have seen crude oil jump over two percent in a straight line,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at futures brokerage OANDA in Singapore.

Halley said the strikes had potentially big implications for oil markets.

“What will be the response of Iran and Russia, two of the world’s largest oil producers and staunch allies of the Assad regime?… We will have to wait for these answers as the day moves on,” he said.

U.S. officials said the military had fired 59 cruise missiles against a Syrian airbase controlled by Assad’s forces, in response to a poison gas attack on Tuesday in a rebel-held area.

Officials said the United States had informed Russia ahead of the strikes. The strikes did not target sections of the Syrian base where Russian forces were believed to be present.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Richard Pullin)

Trump orders military strikes against Assad airbase in Syria

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea

By Phil Stewart and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) – U.S President Donald Trump said on Thursday he ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched, declaring he acted in America’s “national security interest” against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

U.S. officials said the military fired dozens of cruise missiles against the airbase controlled by Assad’s forces in response to the poison gas attack on Tuesday in a rebel-held area.

Facing his biggest foreign policy crisis since taking office in January, Trump took the toughest direct U.S. action yet in Syria’s six-year-old civil war, raising the risk of confrontation with Russia and Iran, Assad’s two main military backers.

“Years of previous attempts at changing Assad’s behavior have all failed and failed very dramatically,” Trump said from his resort in Mar-a-Lago where he was attending a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Some 50 Tomahawk missiles were launched from U.S. Navy warships, the USS Porter and USS Ross, in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, striking multiple targets – including the airstrip, aircraft and fuel stations – on the Shayrat Air Base, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Damage estimates from the strikes, which were conducted at 8:45 p.m. EDT, were not immediately known.

Syrian state TV said that “American aggression” had targeted a Syrian military base with “a number of missiles and cited a Syrian military source as saying the strike had “led to losses.”

Trump said: “Tonight I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched.

“It is in the vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons,” Trump said.

“There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the U.N. Security Council,” he added.

Trump ordered the strikes just a day after he pointed the finger at Assad for this week’s chemical attack, which killed at least 70 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Syrian government has denied it was behind the attack.

Trump appeared to have opted for measured and targeted air attacks instead of a full-blown assault on Assad’s forces and installations.

The relatively quick response to the chemical attack came as Trump faced a growing list of global problems, from North Korea to China to Iran and Islamic State, and may have been intended to send a message to friends and foes alike of his resolve to use military force if deemed necessary.

Shayrat Airfield in Homs, Syria is seen in this DigitalGlobe satellite image released by the U.S. Defense Department on April 6, 2017 after announcing U.S. forces conducted a cruise missile strike against the Syrian Air Force airfield.

Shayrat Airfield in Homs, Syria is seen in this DigitalGlobe satellite image released by the U.S. Defense Department on April 6, 2017 after announcing U.S. forces conducted a cruise missile strike against the Syrian Air Force airfield. DigitalGlobe/Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS

‘SOMETHING SHOULD HAPPEN’

Trump said earlier on Thursday that “something should happen” with Assad but did not specifically call for his ouster.

Officials from the Pentagon and State Department met all day to discuss plans for the missile strikes.

U.S. military action put the new president at odds with Russia, which has air and ground forces in Syria after intervening there on Assad’s side in 2015 and turning the tide against mostly Sunni Muslim rebel groups.

Trump has until now focused his Syria policy almost exclusively on defeating Islamic State militants in northern Syria, where U.S. special forces are supporting Arab and Kurdish armed groups.

The risks have grown worse since 2013, when Barack Obama, Trump’s predecessor, considered and then rejected ordering a cruise missile strike in response to the use of chemical weapons by Assad’s loyalists.

Only last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the U.S. diplomatic policy on Syria for now was no longer focused on making Assad leave power, one of Obama’s aims.

But Trump said on Wednesday the gas attack in Idlib province, which sparked outrage around the world, had caused him to think again about Assad.

Speaking just before the strikes were announced, Russia’s deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, warned of “negative consequences” if the United States went ahead with military action, saying the blame would be on shoulders of those who initiated such doubtful and tragic enterprise.

A combination image released by the U.S. Department of Defense which they say shows the impact crater associated with April 4, 2017 Chemical Weapons Allegation released after U.S. cruise missile strike against Syria on April 7, 2017. Courtesy U.S.

A combination image released by the U.S. Department of Defense which they say shows the impact crater associated with April 4, 2017 Chemical Weapons Allegation released after U.S. cruise missile strike against Syria on April 7, 2017. Courtesy U.S. DoD/Handout via REUTERS

The deployment of military force against Assad marked a major reversal for Trump.

Obama’s set a red line in 2012 against Assad’s use of chemical weapons. When Obama then threatened military action after a 2013 chemical attack, Trump issued a series of tweets opposing the idea, including ,Do NOT attack Syria, fix U.S.A.

Obama backtracked on the air strikes, and after the latest attack, Trump was quick to blame his Democratic predecessor for weakness and irresolution that emboldened Assad.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart, Yara Bayoumy, Jonathan Landay, John Walcott, Idrees Ali, David Brunstromm and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Jeff Mason; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Peter Cooney)

Florida legislature poised to bolster ‘Stand Your Ground’ law

FILE PHOTO: A truck with a sticker indicating the number of weapons and hand guns is pictured in Port Saint Lucie, Florida, U.S. June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

By Letitia Stein and Bernie Woodall

(Reuters) – Florida lawmakers advanced a measure on Wednesday that could make it easier to avoid prosecution in deadly shootings and other use-of-force cases by seeking immunity on self-defense grounds under the state’s pioneering “stand your ground” law.

In a 74-39 vote, the state’s House of Representatives passed legislation that shifts the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors when the law is invoked to avoid trial.

The measure now returns to the state Senate, which last month approved its own version of the bill. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans.

Florida’s “stand your ground” law, passed in 2005, received wide scrutiny and inspired similar laws in other states. It removed the legal responsibility to retreat from a dangerous situation and allowed use deadly force when a person felt greatly threatened.

Opponents say the measures will embolden gun owners to shoot first, citing the 2012 death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, which spurred national protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. The neighborhood watchman who killed him, George Zimmerman, was acquitted of murder after the law was included in jury instructions.

Wednesday’s House vote on changing the law followed party lines.

Supporters, including the National Rifle Association, the powerful U.S. gun lobby, see the legislation as bolstering a civilian’s right to quell an apparent threat.

“This bill is trying to put the burden of proof where it belongs, on the state, because all people are innocent before being proven guilty,” said the Republican sponsor of the bill, Representative Bobby Payne.

Florida’s law did not specify the process for applying “stand your ground” immunity. State courts established the current protocol, which calls for a pre-trial hearing before a judge and puts the burden of proof on the defendant.

Most of those speaking in the House debate were Democrats who said the bill would lead to more violence.

“Who will speak for the voiceless victims, silenced by an aggressor who claims he wasn’t an aggressor but is protected by a flawed law?” said Democrat Representative Bobby Dubose.

While public defenders support the changes to the law, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association and gun control advocates oppose them.

“Every battery case, every domestic violence case, every use of force case, as a matter of routine, defense attorneys will now request hearings,” said Phil Archer, a state attorney.

Archer, a lifetime NRA member who teachers gun owners about “stand your ground,” said of the changes: “This is just going too far.”

(Reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida, and Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Trott)

Little progress reining in North Korea, U.S. commander says before Trump-Xi summit

An underwater test-firing of a strategic submarine ballistic missile. KCNA via REUTERS

By Tim Kelly and Ju-min Park

TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Diplomatic and economic measures taken to rein in North Korea’s missile program have not had the desired effect, a senior U.S. military commander said on Thursday after the North’s latest test triggered a flurry of calls among world leaders.

U.S President Donald Trump led calls with leaders and senior officials from Japan and South Korea on Thursday to discuss the latest provocation from Pyongyang, hours before Trump begins a much-anticipated summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

“Up to this point I think it is fair to say … that economic and diplomatic efforts have not supported the progress people have been anticipating and looking forward to,” U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift said in Tokyo, where he was meeting Japanese Self Defence Force commanders and foreign ministry officials.

North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs will be high on the agenda when Trump and Xi meet at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida later on Thursday, with anger in Beijing simmering over the deployment of an advanced U.S. anti-missile system in South Korea.

Analysts have said Wednesday’s launch of a ballistic missile from North Korea’s east coast probably took place with the Trump-Xi summit in mind as the reclusive state presses ahead in defiance of United Nations resolutions and sanctions.

In a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, Trump again said that all options were on the table when it came to North Korea’s continued missile tests.

Swift said a military response remained among those options.

“That decision would be up to the president,” he told reporters. “The military was always an option.”

Tensions on the Korean peninsula and the Trump-Xi summit began to worry markets on Thursday, with the dollar and Wall Street shares slipping.

“The market is only starting to factor in recent developments regarding North Korea, and it now wants to figure out the geopolitical implications of the U.S.-China summit,” said Shusuke Yamada, a senior strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo.

“DANGEROUS PROVOCATION”

Abe said the two leaders had agreed that North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch was “a dangerous provocation and a serious threat”.

He told reporters at his Tokyo residence he was watching to see how China would respond to Pyongyang after Xi meets Trump.

The White House said in a statement after the Abe call Trump “made clear that the United States would continue to strengthen its ability to deter and defend itself and its allies with the full range of its military capabilities”.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants China to do more to exert its economic influence over its unpredictable ally in Pyongyang to restrain its nuclear and missile programs, but China denies it has any overriding influence on North Korea.

On Sunday, Trump held out the possibility of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation, while suggesting Washington might deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs on its own if need be.

Any launch of objects using ballistic missile technology is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The North has defied the ban, saying it infringes on its sovereign rights to self-defense and the pursuit of space exploration.

In another call on Thursday, Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster told his South Korean counterpart that Washington remained committed to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea.

South Korea and the United States say the sole purpose of the THAAD system is to defend against missile launches from North Korea but China says the system’s powerful radar could penetrate into its territory.

The United States began deploying the first elements of the THAAD system in South Korea last month, despite angry opposition from China.

South Korean officials said McMaster discussed the North’s latest missile launch and the Trump-Xi summit in a call with his counterpart in Seoul, Kim Kwan-jin.

“Both sides agreed to pursue … plans in order to substantially strengthen the international community’s sanctions and pressure on North Korea,” South Korea’s presidential Blue House said in a statement.

” … both agreed to push forward the deployment of THAAD by U.S. forces in Korea,” it said.

U.S. officials said the missile launched on Wednesday appeared to be a liquid-fueled, extended-range Scud missile that only traveled a fraction of its range before spinning out of control.

They said it flew about 60 km (40 miles) from its launch site near Sinpo, a port city on the North’s east coast where a submarine base is located.

As well as a growing list of ballistic missile launches, North Korea has also conducted two nuclear weapons tests since January 2016. (For a graphic on North Korea’s missile launches, see: http://tmsnrt.rs/2m9l4oj)

(This story has been refiled to correct spelling of Bank of America Merrill Lynch strategist’s first name to Shusuke in paragraph 10)

(Additional reporting by William Mallard, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Shinichi Saoshiro in TOKYO Eric Beech in WASHINGTON; Editing by Paul Tait)

Trade, North Korea pose challenges as Trump prepares to meet China’s Xi

Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/Aly Song

By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump holds his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday facing pressure to deliver trade concessions for some of his most fervent supporters and prevent a crisis with North Korea from spiraling out of control.

The leaders of the world’s two biggest economies are to greet each other at the president’s Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, late in the afternoon and dine together with their wives, kicking off a summit that will conclude with a working lunch on Friday.

Trump promised during the 2016 campaign to stop what he called the theft of American jobs by China and rebuild the country’s manufacturing base. Many blue-collar workers helped propel him to his unexpected election victory on Nov. 8 and Trump wants to deliver for them.

The Republican president tweeted last week that the United States could no longer tolerate massive trade deficits and job losses and that his meeting with Xi “will be a very difficult one.”

Trump, a former real estate magnate is still finding his footing in the White House and has yet to spell out a strategy for what his advisers called a trade relationship based on “the principal of reciprocity.”

White House officials have set low expectations for the meeting, saying it will set the foundation for future dealings.

U.S. labor leaders say Trump needs to take a direct, unambiguous tone in his talks with Xi.

“President Trump needs to come away from the meeting with concrete deliverables that will restore production and employment here in the U.S. in those sectors that have been ravaged by China’s predatory and protectionist practices,” said Holly Hart, legislative director for the United Steelworkers union.

International Association of Machinists President Robert Martinez said the United States continued to lose manufacturing jobs to the Chinese, saying: “It’s time to bring our jobs home now.”

Some Democratic lawmakers were eager to pounce on Trump on trade.

“We are eager to understand your plans to correct our current China trade policies and steer a new course,” said Democratic U.S. Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.

DIFFERING PERSONALITIES

The summit will bring together two leaders who could not seem more different: the often stormy Trump, prone to angry tweets, and Xi, outwardly calm, measured and tightly scripted, with no known social media presence.

What worries the protocol-conscious Chinese more than policy clashes is the risk that the unpredictable Trump could publicly embarrass Xi, after several foreign leaders experienced awkward moments with the new U.S. president.

“Ensuring President Xi does not lose face is a top priority for China,” a Chinese official said.

The most urgent problem facing Trump and Xi is how to persuade nuclear-armed North Korea to halt unpredictable behavior like missile test launches that have heightened tensions in South Korea and Japan.

North Korea is working to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States.

Trump has threatened to use trade to try to force China to exert influence over Pyongyang. Beijing says its influence is limited and that it is doing all it can but that it is up to the United States to find a way back to talks with North Korea.

A senior White House official said North Korea was a test for the U.S.-Chinese relationship.

“The clock is very, very quickly running out,” the official said. “All options are on the table for us.”

Trump consulted on Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said he and the president agreed by phone that North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch was “a dangerous provocation and a serious threat.”

A White House strategy review is focusing on options for pressuring Pyongyang economically and militarily. Among measures under consideration are “secondary sanctions” against Chinese banks and firms that do the most business with Pyongyang.

A long-standing option of pre-emptive strikes remains on the table, but despite the tougher recent U.S. talk, the internal review “de-emphasizes direct military action,” the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Analysts believe any military action would likely provoke severe North Korean retaliation and massive casualties in South Korea and Japan and among U.S. troops stationed there.

(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington, Gui Qing Koh in New York, Ben Blanchard in Beijing and William Mallard in Tokyo; Editing by Caren Bohan and Peter Cooney)

Trump drops Steve Bannon from National Security Council

White House Senior Advisor Steve Bannon. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Steve Holland and John Walcott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump removed his chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council on Wednesday, reversing his controversial decision early this year to give a political adviser an unprecedented role in security discussions.

Trump’s overhaul of the NSC, confirmed by a White House official, also elevated General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence who heads all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies. The official said the change moves the NSC “back to its core function of what it’s supposed to do.”

It also appears to mark a victory for national security adviser H.R. McMaster, who had told some national security experts he felt he was in a “battle to the death” with Bannon and others on the White House staff.

Vice President Mike Pence said Bannon would continue to play an important role in policy and played down the shake-up as routine.

“This is just a natural evolution to ensure the National Security Council is organized in a way that best serves the president in resolving and making those difficult decisions,” Pence said on Fox News.

Bannon said in a statement he had succeeded in returning the NSC back to its traditional role of coordinating foreign policy rather than running it. He cited President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, for why he advocated a change.

“Susan Rice operationalized the NSC during the last administration so I was put on NSC to ensure it was ‘de-operationalized.’ General McMaster has NSC back to its proper function,” he said.

Trump’s White House team has grappled with infighting and intrigue that has hobbled his young presidency. In recent days, several other senior U.S. foreign policy and national security officials have said the mechanisms for shaping the Trump administration’s response to pressing challenges such as Syria, North Korea and Iran still were not in place.

Critics of Bannon’s role on the NSC said it gave too much weight in decision-making to someone who lacked foreign policy expertise.

Bannon, who was chief executive of Trump’s presidential campaign in the months leading to his election in November, in some respects represents Trump’s “America First” nationalistic voice, helping fuel his anti-Washington fervor and pushing for the president to part ways at times with mainstream Republicans.

Before joining the Trump administration, Bannon headed Breitbart News, a right-wing website.

U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, called the shift in the NSC a positive step that will help McMaster “gain control over a body that was being politicized by Bannon’s involvement.”

“As the administration’s policy over North Korea, China, Russia and Syria continues to drift, we can only hope this shake-up brings some level of strategic vision to the body,” he said.

SOURCE: STILL INFLUENTIAL

Bannon’s removal from the NSC was a potential setback for his sphere of influence in the Trump White House, where he has a voice in most major decisions. But a Trump confidant said Bannon remained as influential as ever.

“He is still involved in everything and still has the full confidence of the president but to be fair he can only do so much stuff,” the confidant said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The White House official said Bannon was no longer needed on the NSC after the departure of Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Flynn was forced to resign on Feb. 13 over his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, prior to Trump taking office on Jan. 20.

The official said Bannon had been placed on the NSC originally as a check on Flynn and had only attended one of the NSC’s regular meetings.

The official dismissed questions about a power struggle between Bannon and McMaster, saying they shared the same world view.

However, two current national security officials rejected the White House explanation, noting that two months have passed since Flynn’s departure.

McMaster, they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, also has dueled with Bannon and others over direct access to Trump; the future of deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland, a former Fox News commentator; intelligence director Ezra Cohen-Watnick, a Flynn appointee; and other staffing decisions.

Trump is preparing for his first face-to-face meeting on Thursday and Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping with the threat of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs a key component of their talks.

Bannon’s seat on the NSC’s “principals’ committee,” a group that includes the secretaries of state, defense and other ranking aides, was taken by Rick Perry, who as energy secretary is charged with overseeing the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal.

(Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Tom Brown, Bill Trott and Michael Perry)