By July 9, 2018 3:36 am ET A Myanmar judge formally charged two Reuters journalists who investigated a military massacre of the country’s Rohingya ethnic minority with violating state-secrecy laws, adding to concerns about press freedom as the nation’s democratic transition stumbles. Lawyers for the two journalists argued that the judge should dismiss charges against them, as the state had failed to present compelling evidence of wrongdoing during months of pretrial hearings. Instead, the judge decided Monday that there was enough evidence to formally... To Read the Full Story Subscribe Sign In

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A long-awaited U.S. Justice Department internal watchdog report on former FBI chief James Comey’s public disclosures on Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state and whether FBI employees leaked information to try to hurt her 2016 presidential bid is expected to be issued next month. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the annual Hillary Rodham Clinton awards ceremony at Georgetown University in Washington, U.S., February 5, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein The report from Michael Horowitz, the department’s inspector general, arises from an investigation he launched about a week before Republican President Donald Trump, who defeated Democrat Clinton in the election, took office in January 2017. In a letter last week to Republican Representative Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Horowitz said his office was “working diligently” to complete the report and expected to release it in May. Horowitz’s letter did not offer details of what will be in the report. In a Jan. 12, 2017 letter to five congressional committees, he enumerated 2016 election-related issues his office would look into. Clinton has called the FBI investigation into her emails and Comey’s public disclosures about it significant factors in her loss to Trump, who fired Comey as FBI director in May 2017. The investigation will examine Comey’s statements in August 2016 that no charges would be brought against Clinton and in October about the re-opening of the FBI investigation into her use of a private email server rather than a government server, potentially jeopardizing classified information. The report also is expected to address whether active and retired FBI agents in New York leaked information about investigations of the Clinton Foundation charitable organization and the discovery of a trove of Clinton-related emails. Law enforcement officials previously told Reuters the information was leaked to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, an adviser to the Trump campaign who subsequently discussed the contents on Fox News. Horowitz’s office also has sought to determine whether such leaks influenced Comey’s decision 11 days before the election to announce the reopening of the Clinton email investigation. Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at the time a fear of leaks from within his own agency helped prompt Comey to make that public disclosure. Comey did not respond to a request for comment. Trump and Comey have exchanged harsh criticism in the past week. Trump called Comey a “slime ball.” Comey called Trump an unethical liar who is morally unfit to be president. Reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by John Walcott and Will DunhamOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Donald Trump railed against the possibility he could be accused of obstruction of justice on Monday, saying he was merely “fighting back” against an investigation into a “phony crime that never existed”.On Sunday, the day after the New York Times reported that White House counsel Donald McGahn has spent 30 hours talking to Robert Mueller’s investigators, the president invoked in his defense the names of Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy, divisive figures from fraught periods in American history.On Sunday evening, the Times also reported that by the end of this month charges could be laid against Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who is being investigated regarding alleged fraud and his role in payments to women who claim to have had affairs with Trump.In interviews, Cohen has hinted that he may consider a deal involving cooperation with Mueller.In a fresh burst of angry tweets early on Monday, the president continued his attacks on the special counsel and his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, alleged collusion between Trump aides and Moscow and possible obstruction of justice.“Where’s the Collusion?” Trump wrote. “They made up a phony crime called Collusion, and when there was no Collusion they say there was Obstruction (of a phony crime that never existed).”Trump’s lawyer in the Russia investigation, Rudy Giuliani, has said collusion is not a crime.Trump added: “If you FIGHT BACK or say anything bad about the Rigged Witch Hunt, they scream Obstruction!”Mueller is reportedly scrutinizing Trump’s tweets for evidence of obstruction of justice, looking for example at whether attacks against fired FBI director James Comey and Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, are part of an effort to improperly influence the investigation.On Monday, repeating a spelling mistake made numerous times over the weekend, Trump thundered: “Disgraced and discredited Bob Mueller and his whole group of Angry Democrat Thugs spent over 30 hours with the White House Councel [sic], only with my approval, for purposes of transparency.”Trump frequently attacks Mueller, claiming he is discredited by supposed conflicts of interest and that his team is made up of Democrats. Mueller is a Republican; some of his investigators have donated to Democratic candidates.The president continued: “Anybody needing that much time when they know there is no Russian Collusion is just someone looking for trouble. They are enjoying ruining people’s lives and REFUSE to look at the real corruption on the Democrat side – the lies, the firings, the deleted Emails and soooo much more!“Mueller’s Angry Dems are looking to impact the election. They are a National Disgrace!”Trump and his surrogates have accused Mueller of seeking to influence the November midterm elections, in which Republicans will face a fight to hold on to the House of Representatives.The Times report about Cohen said that if charges are not prepared by the end of August, prosecutors in New York will likely bring them after the midterms, following justice department policy regarding politically sensitive cases.According to the New York Times, McGahn has spoken to Mueller about subjects including Trump’s attempts to fire the special counsel. The Times said McGahn is concerned that he could be made a scapegoat should attempts to obstruct justice be discovered. It also said the president’s lawyers have realized they do not know what McGahn told Mueller.In his Sunday tweets, Trump essentially confirmed the Times report but lashed out at the paper regardless, writing: “This is why the Fake News Media has become the Enemy of the People. So bad for America!”Later on Monday morning the president responded to remarks by John Brennan, the former CIA director, about potential legal action over Trump’s decision last week to strip his security clearance.Trump said he hoped “the worst CIA Director in our country’s history, brings a lawsuit. It will then be very easy to get all of his records, texts, emails and documents to show not only the poor job he did, but how he was involved with the Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt. He won’t sue!”He added: “Everybody wants to keep their Security Clearance, it’s worth great prestige and big dollars, even board seats, and that is why certain people are coming forward to protect Brennan. It certainly isn’t because of the good job he did! He is a political ‘hack’.” Topics Donald Trump Trump-Russia investigation Russia Europe Trump administration Jeff Sessions US politics news

Donald Trump Jr has released private Twitter correspondence with anti-secrecy website Wikileaks after a US magazine revealed they had communicated shortly before his father's election.The Atlantic magazine revealed the organisation had asked Mr Trump Jr for co-operation and information.The group published leaks of Clinton campaign emails during the election.Mr Trump Jr's lawyers handed the Twitter direct messages to congressional investigators. The congressional inquiry is one of several looking into allegations of Russian collusion and meddling in the US election.The largely one-sided transcripts show the president's eldest son replied only a few times to a series of requests from Wikileaks. In a series of Monday night tweets, Mr Trump Jr played down his contact with the group, referring to his "whopping 3 responses" which he said one of the congressional committees "has chosen to selectively leak. How ironic!".Messages show Wikileaks appeared to have first contacted Mr Trump Jr on 20 September, asking if he knew the origin of an anti-Trump website.He replied the next day saying: "Off the record I don't know who that is, but I'll ask around. Thanks." The Atlantic alleges he then emailed senior officials including Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to tell them Wikileaks had made contact. The correspondence between September 2016 and July this year shows Wikileaks urging his father to share their Clinton files; asking him to supply his tax returns to Wikileaks and advising him to challenge the result if he lost the election. Julian Assange: campaigner or attention-seeker? 18 Revelations from Wikileaks' hacked Clinton emails Donald Trump backs Assange over Russia hacking claim The Atlantic piece points out that while Mr Trump Jr didn't reply to later messages, timestamps from tweets show instances where he and his father appear to have "acted on its requests" by mentioning or sharing Wikileaks stories shortly afterwards. Unanswered questions from Trump Jnr email saga Trump Jnr's habit of making headlines Russian 'cloud' over the White House Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has criticised The Atlantic's story. He accuses it of selecting messages that were "edited" and failing to show the full context of the conversations. Mr Assange also said the messages were part of the group's promotional efforts. "Wikileaks can be very effective at convincing even high-profile people that it is their interest to promote links to its publications," Mr Assange said in a tweet.Donald Trump Jr's lawyer Alan Futerfas told the magazine: "Over the last several months, we have worked co-operatively with each of the committees and have voluntarily turned over thousands of documents in response to their requests.""Putting aside the question as to why or by whom such documents, provided to Congress under promises of confidentiality, have been selectively leaked, we can say with confidence that we have no concerns about these documents and any questions raised about them have been easily answered in the appropriate forum."

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has undergone surgery to reverse a colostomy he had performed after being stabbed in the stomach on the campaign trail in September. He is expected to be on strict bed rest for two days after the operation, a presidential spokesman said. Vice-President Hamilton Mourao has taken over the president's duties for that length of time.Mr Bolsonaro took office as the country's new president on 1 January.Doctors in Sao Paulo said the surgery lasted nine hours; Mr Bolsonaro is expected to make a full recovery. He is expected to stay in the hospital for 10 days. A colostomy bag is a small pouch used to collect waste from the body when the digestive system is no longer functioning a result of an illness, injury or problem. Brazil's unlikely president 'A colostomy bag doesn't limit you' Crohn's sufferer: Get your colostomy bag out on holiday The 63-year-old president checked into São Paulo's Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein on Sunday to undergo tests before the surgery.The Brazilian leader posted a video of himself dressed in a hospital gown, discussing recent events, including his flight over the mining disaster site in the town of Brumadinho in Minas Gerais. A dam burst at a iron ore mine on Friday, releasing a torrent of mud that killed at least 58 people and left hundreds missing. A police investigation has concluded that Mr Bolsonaro's attacker, Adelio Bispo de Oliveira, was politically motivated.

Apple Watch 至今已经三代，外观设计始终没有太多变化。不过，Fast Company 得到内部消息称，第四代 Apple Watch 的外观会发生很大变化，以为更多传感器腾出空间。新一代 Apple Watch 将依然延续现在的按钮结构，在表的一侧有两个按键，但这两个都不会再是实体按键，而是当用户触摸时候，会用 Taptic Engine 震动机制来模拟按动和华东的感觉，这和 iPhone 7 之后的“固态 Home 键+压力感应”组合类似。之前，iPod 和 MacBook 的触摸板也用了类似的设计。消息人士称，这一设计可以提升 Apple Watch 的防水防尘性能，同时，可以节省出手表的内部空间，以方便容纳更大的电池。而且，苹果的终极目标是，消灭 Apple Watch 上的一切按键。同时，苹果也试图在 Apple Watch 中加入更多传感器，收集心率等健康信息。现在，Apple Watch 依靠与皮肤接触的传感器测量心率，但一些测量方式要求与使用者有更多的接触。直到现在，Apple Watch 依然只是 iPhone 的一个配件，不过 Apple Watch 3 加入蜂窝网络，watchOS 5 的一些特性也让人看到苹果希望 Apple Watch 能独力承担更多使用场景，作为目前世界上销量最好的穿戴智能设备，苹果也给予它更多期待。不过，我们未必能在秋天看到新的 Apple Watch，消息人士称，不排除新一代 Apple Watch 在明年春天上市的可能。

Mr. Sisi convened an emergency meeting of top security officials, including the interior minister, spy chief and defense minister. “The military and the police will take revenge,” he said in a televised speech.Until a spate of attacks on Christian churches this year, Egyptian militants had avoided large-scale assaults on Egyptian civilians, perhaps because such attacks tend to backfire. After a massacre in Luxor that killed 62 people, mostly tourists, in 1997, President Hosni Mubarak began a sweeping crackdown that crushed an Islamist insurgency centered in southern Egypt.When a new insurgency flared in north Sinai after the military takeover in 2013, its leaders were careful to focus their attacks on uniformed security forces. But as those militants embraced the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, they have gradually set aside that lesson.An Islamist militia in Sinai, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014 and has since proved to be one of its most effective local affiliates. The group’s deadliest attack targeted a Russian jetliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from Sharm el Sheikh in 2015, killing all 224 people on board.In an interview published in an Islamic State magazine last January, a commander in Sinai outlined the group’s hatred for Sufis and their practices, including the veneration of tombs, the sacrificial slaughter of animals and what he termed “sorcery and soothsaying.”The interview, in English, identifies Rawda, the district where Friday’s attack occurred, as one of three areas where Sufis live in Sinai that the group intended to “eradicate.”

On Dec. 13, the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company released data for 2017 on how customers in its fastest-growing market like to use its services. They shed light on an array of consumer habits in India.🕒 6 o’ clock is Uber o’ clock: Most rides were summoned at 6pm, Uber noted. This time of day “means a lot of things to different people in India: post-work movies, gym sessions, date night shenanigans—the works,” the company said. It is also probably because office-goers tend to leave work around this time, it suggested.🕺 The weekend party: Fridays, the start of the weekend for many, are among Uber’s most hectic days. This year, the most Uber bookings on a single day came on Aug. 11—the Friday before Independence Day. And Oct. 30, a Monday, was “India’s least popular day to Uber,” the company said.🍔 Food at the doorstep: UberEats, the food delivery service it launched in India in mid-2017, has found that the most ordered dish was samosa chole (an Indian snack consisting of vegetables, spices, and sometimes meat, wrapped in pastry and fried, served with a chickpea curry). The highest number of orders was placed on June 18, though it wasn’t a holiday or festival. “Guess we all ordered in for the India vs. Pakistan ICC Champions Final?” Uber said.✈️ International jet-setters: “Wanderlust runs through India’s veins, with Uber being used in 566 cities in 80 countries,” Uber noted. The country other than India where Indians ordered the most number of rides was the US. Other destinations were Singapore, the UK, Malaysia, and the UAE.🚕 Driving ahead: On May 20, Uber clocked it’s five billionth ride globally—in fact, they were 156 simultaneous trips, with India hosting 19 of them.

LONDON — The soprano Danielle de Niese arrived at the Victoria and Albert Museum here on a recent afternoon for an early glimpse of the new exhibition “Opera: Passion, Power and Politics.”ImageThe soprano Danielle de Niese got an early glimpse of the exhibition. “Where most exhibitions take you through something that’s finished, this is taking you through something that is still a living being,” she said.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York TimesMaking her way through galleries full of maps, costumes and sheet music, she stepped inside a salon-like space dedicated to a work she has often performed: Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.” Perched on a raised platform was a gleaming mahogany piano that Mozart played in 1787. All around were mementos: a poster from the “Figaro” premiere, a letter to a lover (featuring Mozart’s sketch of bare breasts), and the last portrait ever painted of him.“It’s amazing how intimate this is, considering we’re in the V&A,” she said, as melodies from “Figaro” rippled from the exhibition-provided headset hanging around her neck. “Where most exhibitions take you through something that’s finished, this is taking you through something that is still a living being.”ImageA piano played by Mozart in 1787 is the centerpiece of the section on Vienna and “The Marriage of Figaro.”CreditAndrew Testa for The New York TimesThe V&A extravaganza offers a journey through four centuries of opera, complete with letters, maps, instruments, paintings, musical manuscripts, and set and costume designs. To tell the story of seven cities and premieres that illustrate how composers reflected the political and social realities of their time, the curators often had to look no further than the museum’s own collections.“Opera combines all the other art forms, and those are all art forms that you see represented in the V&A,” said Robert Carsen, an acclaimed stage director who acted as artistic adviser to the project. “The V&A has a fantastic theater department, this extensive and remarkable museum of clothing and costume, a wonderful collection of musical instruments, books: all the elements.”Image“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” which was attacked by Stalin, is included in the exhibition as example of political censorship.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York TimesOpening in Venice with Claudio Monteverdi’s 17th-century “L’Incoronazione di Poppea,” the show winds up in Leningrad, for the tumultuous 1934 premiere of Shostakovich’s “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.”In between, visitors wander through London (Handel’s “Rinaldo,” 1711), Vienna (“Figaro,” 1786), Milan (Verdi’s “Nabucco,” 1842), Paris (Wagner’s revised “Tannhäuser,” 1861), and Dresden (Strauss’s “Salome,” 1905). Punctuating the trip are musical excerpts, beamed automatically into high-tech headsets like the one Ms. de Niese was sporting.ImageParis is represented with a section devoted to Wagner’s revised “Tannhäuser,” which premiered in the city in 1861.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York TimesAmong the show’s gems are the crossed-out notes on Handel’s original score for “Rinaldo,” Salvador Dalí’s costume designs for Peter Brook’s 1949 production of “Salome,” and Manet’s large painting “Music in the Tuileries Gardens,” which evokes the atmosphere of 19th-century Paris. The exhibition also includes a sound installation featuring a Verdi recording by the Royal Opera chorus, and a closing section where scenes from 20th-century operas (“Porgy and Bess,” “Einstein on the Beach,” “Dialogues of the Carmelites”) are projected on screens.“We’re avoiding the clichés,” said the show’s curator, Kate Bailey, regarding the absence (except on the soundtrack) of legends like Maria Callas, and of diva tiaras and gowns. Large inscriptions on blackboard-like walls list the various historical milestones that lead up to each of the operas in focus. Buzzwords — “sexuality,” “spirituality,” “murder,” “passion” — are used to spell things out as plainly as possible.ImageA set inspired by the original stage directions for the premiere of Handel’s “Rinaldo” in London in 1711.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York TimesMs. Bailey said she and her team wanted to reach those who had never attended an opera, connecting each of the seven works to a broader theme. “Nabucco,” for instance, was selected for epitomizing Italian nationalism, and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” which was attacked by Stalin, as an example of political censorship.“The biggest threat to opera is the prejudice that people have about the art form: that it’s superficial, that it’s only for rich people, that it’s difficult to understand, and that you have to be a member of a club to get in,” said Kasper Holten, the former director of the Royal Opera. “The art form continues to occupy and preoccupy us because it has something to say.”ImageThe exhibition puts Strauss’s “Salome” in the context of psychoanalysis and Expressionism.CreditAndrew Testa for The New York TimesThe idea for the show, the first to be staged inside the V&A’s large new underground exhibition space, came up in a 2011 conversation between Martin Roth, who had just been named the director of the V&A (and who died earlier this year), and Mr. Holten, then newly appointed to the Royal Opera (and now an independent stage director).“What we felt quite keenly was that opera was essentially a European art form: the art form which has been, in a way, the soundtrack to the history of Europe,” said Mr. Holten. “So we chose early on to say, ‘Let’s pick seven world premieres in seven important European cities and try to see the interaction between the work, the opera house, the city around it and the continent around it.’”There was also an underlying political purpose. Opera has always been “an art form where all of Europe came together,” Mr. Holten said. The desire to make that point became more pressing, he added, after Britain’s 2016 vote to leave the European Union and the “growing confusion in Europe about who we are.”“Cultural exchange is more important than ever before,” he said. “We must preserve it and fight for it.”

Mr. Trump eventually relented on the family separations, and a federal judge in California halted them in June. But in January, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services reported that thousands more families might have been separated than previously reported.While Mr. Trump has been hampered by the law in his efforts to impose some new enforcement policies, there are certain things he can do without congressional approval.Those include shutting down ports of entries along the southwestern border and slowing down the process for both illegal and legal immigration.Last month, he closed American field offices abroad that had helped facilitate immigration applications. Mr. Trump has also limited the number of people who can request asylum each day through a process known as “metering,” and he has threatened to shut down traffic lanes and tariff trucks at the ports of entry.Jonathan Meyer, a former deputy general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, said the Trump administration will continue to pursue hard-line immigration policies because they are important to the president’s political supporters, who helped fuel Mr. Trump’s success in the 2016 presidential campaign.“It appears that at times it’s less important in this administration, whether they lose or win in court, than to just say they’ve been able to have done it and have it as a talking point,” Mr. Meyer said. “And have an opportunity to criticize the courts if they lose.”Mr. Meyer said installing a new secretary at the department will further embolden Mr. Trump.“He’s willing to move forward and do things even when he knows he’s going to be sued for it and when the legality is in question,” Mr. Meyer said. “If that’s the position you take and if you have people willing to implement that strategy, there’s a lot of things you can do. But eventually you’re going to be hit with a temporary restraining order.”

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s embassy to Britain said on Monday it would regard the Amesbury poisoning incident which has left one woman, Dawn Sturgess dead, as an anti-Russian provocation in the absence of access to the investigation. Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer has said Sturgess died after being poisoned with a nerve agent that also struck a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, in March. “Without access to the investigation files and to our two citizens (the Skripals), we will consider the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury as an irresponsible anti-Russian provocation by official London,” the embassy said in a statement. The Kremlin said earlier on Monday it was sorry to hear about the death of Sturgess. Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Polina Nikolskaya; Editing by Andrew OsbornOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Ms. Pence’s book is more sober children’s fare. It is not known if it identifies Marlon Bundo’s sexual orientation at all.Charlotte Pence seemed to take the John Oliver parody in stride. “His book is contributing to charities that I think we can all get behind,” she said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Tuesday. “We have two books giving to charities that are about bunnies, so I’m all for it really.”Some of the proceeds from her book will be donated to A21, an organization that fights human trafficking. Mr. Oliver said all of his book’s profits would be donated to The Trevor Project, a charity for L.G.B.T. youth, and AIDS United.That was a pointed jab at Mr. Pence, who is a longtime opponent of L.G.B.T. rights, which he opposed as both governor of Indiana and a member of Congress.Last year, Mr. Pence described James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family, which teaches that people can vanquish same-sex attraction if they “cooperate with God in the process of becoming more like Jesus,” as “a friend and a mentor.”Mr. Pence has also long been dogged by claims that he supports anti-gay conversion therapy due in part to language contained on the website of his 2000 campaign for Congress. A spokesman for Mr. Pence said in 2016 that he does not support the practice, which has been denounced by the medical community.The success of Mr. Oliver’s book marks the second time in recent months that criticism of Mr. Pence’s record on L.G.B.T. rights has turned into a pop culture moment.In January, the figure skater Adam Rippon, the first openly gay American man to qualify to compete in the Winter Games, attracted wide media attention and became an overnight gay icon when he denounced Mr. Pence’s gay rights record and refused to meet with him during the Games. The vice president’s staff said Mr. Rippon had misrepresented Mr. Pence’s views.

To find marriage partners for their sons and daughters, parents across India are hoping for an I’less PQ T’tot, preferably W’stld at a PSU.They’re speaking the language of “matrimonials,” the abbreviation-stuffed marriage ads that are still a Sunday staple in papers read by hundreds of millions in India, where family elders commonly take the lead in the search for suitable spouses. The...

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Chaos engulfed the U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, as Democrats on Tuesday complained bitterly about Republicans withholding documents about the nominee’s past White House service and shouting protesters were arrested in droves. More than seven hours went by during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing before Kavanaugh, the conservative federal appeals court judge Trump selected for a lifetime job on the top U.S. judicial body, got to deliver his opening statement. Kavanaugh, nominated by a president who has often criticized the federal judiciary, told the senators that “a judge must be independent, not swayed by public pressure. Our independent judiciary is the crown jewel of our constitutional republic.” With Democratic senators repeatedly interrupting the committee’s Republican chairman Chuck Grassley at the outset of the hearing, the session quickly became a ruckus. U.S. Capitol police said 61 protesters were removed from the room and charged with disorderly conduct, along with nine more outside the hearing. Democrats decried the withholding of the documents and sought to have the proceedings adjourned, as Grassley struggled to maintain order. “This is the first confirmation for a Supreme Court justice I’ve seen, basically, according to mob rule,” Republican Senator John Cornyn said, a characterization Democrats rejected. “What we’ve heard is the noise of democracy,” Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said. Protesters, mostly women, took turns yelling as senators spoke, shouting, “This is a travesty of justice,” “Our democracy is broken” and “Vote no on Kavanaugh.” Demonstrators voiced concern about what they saw as the threat posed by Kavanaugh to abortion rights, healthcare access and gun control. Democratic Senator Cory Booker appealed to Grassley’s “sense of decency and integrity” and said the withholding of the documents by Republicans and the White House left lawmakers unable to properly vet Kavanaugh. “We cannot possibly move forward. We have not had an opportunity to have a meaningful hearing,” Democratic Senator Kamala Harris said. Grassley deemed the Democrats’ request to halt the hearing “out of order” and accused them of obstruction. Republicans hold a slim Senate majority and can confirm Kavanaugh if they stay united. There were no signs of Republican defections. Trump blasted the Democrats on Twitter, saying the hearing was “truly a display of how mean, angry and despicable the other side is” and accusing them of “looking to inflict pain and embarrassment” on Kavanaugh. If confirmed, Kavanaugh, 53, is expected to move the court - which already had a conservative majority - further to the right. Senate Democratic leaders have vowed a fierce fight to try to block his confirmation. Democrats signaled they would press Kavanaugh on abortion, gun rights and presidential power when they get to question him starting on Wednesday in a hearing due to run through Friday. Democrats have demanded in vain to see documents relating Kavanaugh’s time as staff secretary to Republican former President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2006. That job involved managing paper flow from advisers to Bush. Republicans also have released some, but not all, documents concerning Kavanaugh’s two prior years as a lawyer in Bush’s White House Counsel’s Office. U.S. Supreme Court nominee judge Brett Kavanaugh speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 4, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua RobertsRepublicans have said Democrats have more than enough documents to assess Kavanaugh’s record, including his 12 years of judicial opinions as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Kavanaugh sat, fingers intertwined, quietly staring ahead at committee members as protesters in the audience screamed while being dragged out of the room. He occasionally jotted notes on paper. When he finally got to speak, Kavanaugh called the Supreme Court “the last line of defense for the separation of powers (in the U.S. government), and the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.” “The Supreme Court must never be viewed as a partisan institution,” added Kavanaugh, who also paid tribute to his family and the justice he is nominated to replace, the retiring Anthony Kennedy. Republican Orrin Hatch accused Democratic senators of political opportunism, noting, “We have folks who want to run for president,” though he did not mention any by name. There has been speculation Booker and Harris might consider 2020 presidential runs. Hatch grew visibly irritated as protesters interrupted him. “I think we ought to have this loudmouth removed,” Hatch said. As the hearing paused for a lunch break, Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter who was killed in the Parkland, Florida high school mass shooting in February, tried to talk to Kavanaugh but the nominee turned away. Video of the encounter was shared widely on social media. “I guess he did not want to deal with the reality of gun violence,” Guttenberg wrote on Twitter afterward. White House spokesman Raj Shah said security intervened before Kavanaugh could shake Guttenberg’s hand. The Democratic frustrations that boiled over on Tuesday had been simmering for more than two years. Democrats have accused Senate Republican leaders of stealing a Supreme Court seat by refusing to consider Democratic former President Barack Obama’s nominee to the high court Merrick Garland in 2016, allowing Trump to fill a Supreme Court vacancy instead. Republicans also last year reduced the margin for advancing Supreme Court nominations from 60 votes in the 100-seat Senate to a simple majority in order to force through the confirmation of Trump’s first high court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The Senate is likely to vote on confirmation by the end of September. The court begins its next term in October. Slideshow (23 Images)The hearing gave Democrats a platform to make their case against Kavanaugh ahead of November’s congressional elections in which they are seeking to seize control of Congress from Republicans. Liberals are concerned Kavanaugh could provide a decisive fifth vote on the nine-justice court to overturn or weaken the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion nationwide. Kavanaugh is likely to be questioned about his views on investigating sitting presidents and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and Trump’s campaign. Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung, Amanda Becker, Lisa Lambert; Editing by Will DunhamOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

In just the last one month, Amazon has made several seemingly small moves in India that could go a long way in helping the Seattle-headquartered company sink its teeth deeper into the country.From investing in offline retail to introducing its global flagship products, and even strengthening its distribution network, the Jeff Bezos-led company is using a multi-pronged approach instead of focusing only on discounting to attract customers.“Amazon has demonstrated time and again that it is here for the long haul and to fulfill the growing aspirations (of Indian consumers),” Sandeep Murthy, co-founder of Mumbai-based Lightbox VC, told Quartz. All these smaller milestones are a build up to “be in a position to ride the next wave of e-commerce customers,” he added.Launched in 2012, Amazon India is already the second-largest e-commerce company in the country, and fiercely competes with home-grown Flipkart, which started out in 2008.Here are some of the announcements made by Amazon in the last month that signal the company’s bullishness for India:Making more money: Earlier this month, Amazon India said it will increase the subscription fee for its Prime membership to Rs999 a year from Rs499 now. Amazon Prime was launched in India in 2016 and offers one- and two-day delivery and exclusive discounts for members, as well as access to hundreds of movies and TV shows through Prime Video. The price is being increased because of the “tremendous response received from customers that has led to Prime sign-ups more than doubling since our launch,” an Amazon India spokesperson told Quartz, without disclosing the total number of Prime customers. As per estimates, Amazon India has as many as 6 million Prime members.“They are creating a sense of urgency in getting people to sign up,” Murthy said. “It’s a clever marketing tactic at exactly the right time, when content consumption is growing by leaps.” Amazon’s first Indian original programme, the sports-drama Inside Edge, became the most watched title on Prime Video within the first week of its launch, and it bagged the title of highest completion rate of any show on the platform.Building up Amazon Pay is in line “with a long-term perspective to make e-commerce a habit for Indian customers and to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to grow the entire ecosystem,” the company told Quartz.A product play: Amazon has launched Echo, a hands-free speaker that can be controlled by voice, in India. Google Assistant-based Home and Apple’s HomePod, which compete with Echo, are still far from an India entry. Amazon’s speakers are currently selling on an invite-only basis, and will be shipped by the end of October. Along with Echo, Amazon’s cloud-based voice assistant Alexa will also debut in India. Alexa can comprehend English spoken with an Indian accent and understand proper nouns—names of places, people, songs, movies—in local languages, an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC.“Voice is the new battlefront and India is a key battle-ground for Amazon. (It can help to) further decimate local Indian competitors like Flipkart and tap into a rapidly expanding market,” Anindya Ghose, director of New York University’s Center for Business Analytics, told Quartz.Separately, earlier this week, Amazon filed a patent application in India to deploy drones that can deliver packages by tracking certain markers.Content USP: On Oct. 04, Amazon said it is planning to launch Prime Music in India, complete with Bollywood and regional songs. Amazon has been investing heavily to create local video content for its Indian audience, and now has a repertoire of original shows and comedy content, as well as movies, thanks to partnerships with leading production houses.Even as Amazon India seems to have armed itself for a battle with local competitors, there could be several pitfalls ahead.For starters, India is a highly price-sensitive market where consumers can easily be lured by discounting. So selling at lower prices than competition will continue to remain a key decider to who wins the online retail battle in India.Also, the country’s expensive and inefficient internet connectivity is posing a challenge for e-commerce companies in India, and Amazon is likely to struggle with it, too, especially as it banks on products like Amazon Music and Amazon Pay.

Enlarge this image Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh laughs as closing remarks are made Wednesday evening after the second day of his confirmation hearings before a Senate panel on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Jacquelyn Martin/AP hide caption toggle caption Jacquelyn Martin/AP Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh laughs as closing remarks are made Wednesday evening after the second day of his confirmation hearings before a Senate panel on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to replace retired Justice Anthony Kennedy. Jacquelyn Martin/AP Having watched Capitol Hill for more than 30 years, I have now seen Senate confirmation hearings for an even dozen nominees to the Supreme Court. Some have had moments of high drama. All have had an air of meaning and consequence.Until this week.The current judiciary committee hearings on Brett Kavanaugh, the latest choice from President Trump, have featured more disruption and distraction and less substantial value than any such proceedings in memory.The daily events include the systematic and almost ritual removal of shouting protesters who continue to infiltrate the hearing room in an effort to disrupt the process. While opposed to the nominee, the protesters were anything but helpful to committee Democrats straining to provide some scrutiny. Politics Day 3: Kavanaugh Defends Judicial Record As Dems Focus On Hot-Button Issues In fact, as Democratic committee member Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told NPR, the protesters were not only distracting but counterproductive."I think that the average independent voter, the labor family that voted for Trump last time but is now reconsidering, people like that don't think screaming in a hearing room is a particularly effective strategy or a signal of a party they want to belong to," Whitehouse said.The next striking element from the outset was the attitude of committee Republicans toward the wholesale withholding of documents the committee as a whole had sought to examine.It was remarkable enough that more than 40,000 pages of requested documents were not delivered until the day before the hearing began. But beyond that, the Trump administration had declared off-limits the records of Kavanaugh's time as White House staff secretary in three years of President George W. Bush's first term. Politics Kavanaugh Hearings, Day 2: More Protests As Senators Press On Precedent The committee's chairman, Iowa Republican Charles Grassley, said the White House material "did not pertain to Kavanaugh as a judge." He dismissed the nominee's own statement that his White House stint had been "formative" for him.That stint was at a time when the White House responded to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and made decisions about the treatment (and even torture) of suspected terrorists. The years in question also included presidential decisions regarding such topics as stem cell research, same-sex marriage and abortion. But of course, the lack of the documents in question makes it impossible to know what Kavanaugh may have thought, written or said about these topics, or whether they were even part of his purview at the time.Without the relevant paper trail, Democrats had no chance of finding vulnerabilities in Kavanaugh's candidacy. Like Neil Gorsuch, who was last year's successful Supreme Court nominee, Kavanaugh was more than ready for his close-up. As a member of the conservative Federalist Society, Kavanaugh had decades of grooming for this moment. He had been preparing, in many ways, all his adult life. Politics White House Rejects NYT Column Attributed To Anonymous Official That Criticizes Trump Did you want to know his views on abortion, or issuing a subpoena to a sitting president, or a president's power to pardon himself? Of course you did. And of course you are not going to get them. Kavanaugh slipped into the armor of precedent, the refusal of previous nominees to discuss issues that might well come before the high court.Kavanaugh called this the "Ginsburg rule," although in fact Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993 was willing to say she thought a "woman should decide" — implying support for abortion rights.And if that made Kavanaugh seem evasive — if unfailingly charming — he had only to remind his interrogators that all eight of the current members of the Supreme Court had adopted more or less the same posture in their confirmation hearings.So Kavanaugh was respectful but utterly unresponsive when California Democrat Dianne Feinstein tried to bore in on the questions of presidential privilege and executive pardoning power. Ditto when Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois tried to pin him down on the role of "dark money" contributions in promoting his nomination — or the role of the Federalist Society in elevating his career."President Trump chose me," Kavanaugh said, relying on a bottom line that was hard to dispute.Durbin tried to shame Kavanaugh over the withholding of his papers from the White House."Do you want to have a cloud over you?" Durbin asked. Politics What You Need To Know About The 25th Amendment But Kavanaugh skated away by noting how little control he had over the disposition of those records. Durbin noted that the man tasked with much of the relevant document review this summer had been William Burck, a Republican attorney who once worked for Kavanaugh. (Burck's clients now include Don McGahn, the White House counsel, who sat just behind Kavanaugh throughout the first two days of hearings.)And so it went, through one Democrat's list of questions after another. For the Democrats, this is not an exercise in shaping the Supreme Court. It is a series of appeals to their supporters to sympathize with the futility of their predicament.When it was the Republicans' turn, they used their time to give the nominee lots of space in which to shine. "What makes for a good judge?" asked Ted Cruz, the Texas senator and 2016 presidential candidate who is better known for tougher lines of inquiry.Mike Lee of Utah, who ousted a less conservative Republican in a primary in 2010, referred to The Federalist Papers (essays written by Alexander Hamilton and others urging ratification of the Constitution) and asked which was Kavanaugh's favorite.No, seriously, he asked that. And Kavanaugh had half a dozen possible picks he was ready to discuss, likening the challenge to naming a favorite among his children.This is not to slight the insight of the Founding Fathers, mind you. Some of us might well delight in disquisitions on the separation of powers or the danger of factions. There is real educational value in all this, and it's great to have it discussed for a national audience.But we know it's not everyone's idea of great television.Suffice it to say, neither the Democrats' line of questioning nor the Republicans' was likely to make a lot of headlines or get much screen time around the country. That is discouraging news for the former and quite gratifying news for the latter.Nothing that President Trump has done to date has been more popular among Republicans than his choices for the Supreme Court. The tax cuts may come close, at least for some, but they have not been the political ten-strike the GOP had hoped. Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, by contrast, are a one-two punch of near perfection for the Trump-voting coalition.The two former clerks for now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy are more consistently conservative than their mentor, more agile in debate and a generation younger. They could be a force on the court for the next 30 years.But there is one other factor affecting the way these two nominations have been processed. Until last year, nominees for the Supreme Court were at least nominally vulnerable to a filibuster. NPR via YouTube So even when a president's party had a majority in the Senate, he knew he needed at least a few votes from the other party — and perhaps a substantial number — to defeat a potential filibuster. That meant nailing down 60 votes, an imperative that served to moderate the selections of justices by presidents in both parties.But in 2017, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky decided the supermajority should no longer be mandatory. His party backed him to the hilt in this rule change.The Democrats, when last in the majority themselves, had lowered the bar for confirming all other presidential appointments to a simple majority — 51 of the 100 votes in the Senate. McConnell simply pushed this to the max by including the Supreme Court. Politics Senate Pulls 'Nuclear' Trigger To Ease Gorsuch Confirmation That shift has drained much of the life from the confirmation process in general, including the hearings before the judiciary committee. At this point, there is no indication that any Republicans are in play on the Kavanaugh vote. It is more likely that several Democrats who are running for re-election this fall in states that voted for Trump will join in supporting the nomination — as they did for Gorsuch.So the tension that crackled around confirmation hearings for past nominees, including President Barack Obama's Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Bush's Samuel Alito in 2005, has largely dissipated. We are not likely to see another nominee get battered beyond confirmation the way President Reagan's Robert Bork was in 1987. So, even with the unsettling cries of protesters being hustled out by Capitol Police, the current hearings seem tame by comparison.Interest groups on both sides continue to buy the airtime and pour on the press releases to rail against Kavanaugh or praise him. But the urgency in all their pleading seems lost when you watch this creaky Senate mechanism working its will in its deliberate way.Kavanaugh's ascent to the nation's highest court will matter a great deal. These hearings, sadly, do not.

The last few weeks have seen massive floods drench several corners of the world, upending the lives of tens of millions of people.The photos below, shot around the world between late August and early September, reveal a disturbingly common reality that may affect even more people in the future. Experts predict that some storms are likely to become even more fearsome, frequent and destructive with climate change.

WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - The United States on Monday announced sanctions on three Venezuelans and 20 companies with ties to socialist President Nicolas Maduro for narcotics trafficking, with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence calling for more nations to increase pressure on Caracas. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence addresses the Organization of American States at the OAS headquarters in Washington, U.S. May 7, 2018 REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueThe new sanctions continue a pattern of stepped-up U.S. measures on individuals connected to Maduro, who is blamed by President Donald Trump’s administration for a deep recession and hyperinflation that have caused food shortages in Venezuela and sent a exodus of migrants into neighboring countries. The individuals sanctioned on Monday are fairly low-profile and the move is unlikely to create major economic hardship. Trump has been considering but has so far opted not to impose sanctions on a Venezuelan oil services company and on insurance coverage for tankers carrying Venezuelan oil. Those measures are still under consideration, though, one administration official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. Pence told the 35-nation Organization of American States - which includes Venezuela as a member - that they needed to take greater steps to isolate Maduro. “We believe it is time to do more, much more,” Pence said in an address to the OAS in Washington. “Every free nation gathered here must take stronger action to stand with the Venezuelan people and stand up to their oppressors.” Pence said the OAS should suspend Venezuela’s membership, and urged other members to cut off the nation’s leaders from financial systems and restrict their travel visas. He also called on Maduro to suspend elections scheduled for May 20, saying he expected voter intimidation and manipulation of data. “There will be no real election in Venezuela on May 20, and the world knows it,” Pence said. The suggestion was immediately rejected by Caracas. “There is zero possibility that elections will be suspended,” said Samuel Moncada, Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations, condemning Pence’s speech. Maduro, himself subject to sanctions last year, regularly laughs off Washington’s disapproval and blames the U.S. “empire” for his country’s economic woes, saying it is trying to undermine his administration. Of the newly sanctioned companies, 16 are based in Venezuela and four in Panama. They are owned or controlled by the three individuals, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement. The measures are aimed at having a “chilling effect” on other drug traffickers in Venezuela and are one in a series of many steps, said Carlos Trujillo, U.S. ambassador to the OAS. “I think the (Trump) administration is willing to do anything, whatever it takes, to make sure that Venezuelan people get to enjoy democracy and the liberties that come with it,” Trujillo said in an interview. Trujillo said he thinks Venezuela could leave the OAS by the end of 2018 - something he said was needed for the group to “be taken seriously.” “Venezuela has said in the past that they want to leave, but it seems they don’t find their way to the door,” he said. Reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington and Alexandra Ulmer in Caracas; additional reporting by David Alexander in Washington; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Cyril Ramaphosa, who was elected leader of South Africa’s ANC on Monday, faces many challenges. As he will almost certainly become president of South Africa after polls scheduled in 2019, the problems extend well beyond the rehabilitation of a divided and increasingly unpopular party.Twenty-three years after the end of the racist, repressive apartheid regime, South Africa remains a country with enormous resources and great wealth but also massive inequality and deep poverty.Though successive ANC governments have made huge efforts to build homes and supply basic services to millions of people, they have been unable to meet expectations. Many people live without electricity or sanitation. Schooling and healthcare are often rudimentary. Levels of violent crime are among the highest in the world, with the poor suffering most.Perhaps the most significant problem is unemployment, particularly among young people. Economic growth has been limited in recent years, with a technical recession this year, and job creation is slow. Investors have been scared away by political instability.Then there is corruption – from the police officer demanding cash to ignore a minor driving offence, to the massive sums mentioned in investigations into allegations of graft involving senior public figures. Corruption has not just undermined public finances but also public confidence in the state. South Africa still has many strong institutions, particularly the judiciary, but there is limited faith in public prosecutors or the police.The ANC cannot rely on its extraordinary history and the reputations of the giants who led the anti-apartheid struggle for much longer. A younger generation of politicians is pushing through, and they cannot counter accusations of incompetence or wrongdoing by appealing to the efforts made by their forebears to build a multiracial democracy against such odds.There is impatience and anger. But the first task for Ramaphosa will be to unite the ANC after a bruising, acrimonious leadership campaign and prepare the party to fight the 2019 elections. The aim will be to limit losses and avoid being forced into a coalition government.Analysts have repeatedly described the ANC’s choice as a turning point for the country, not just the party. That choice has been made. Now 54 million South Africans will be watching Ramaphosa’s every pronouncement to know whether the future will bring new hope or disappointment. Topics South Africa ANC (African National Congress) Africa Cyril Ramaphosa analysis