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China halts nuclear arms talks with US over Taiwan support

China halts nuclear arms talks with US over Taiwan support

Beijing said the US’s weapons sales to Taiwan has ‘compromised the political atmosphere’ for continued talks on nuclear non-proliferation. China has suspended negotiations on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control with the United States in protest against Washington’s arms sales to the self-ruled island of Taiwan. The US called Beijing’s decision on Wednesday “unfortunate”, while analysts said the move deals a potentially serious setback to global arms-control efforts. China and the US began nuclear weapons discussions in November as part of a bid to ease mistrust ahead of a summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden. Further dialogue had not been publicly announced since, with a White House official in January urging Beijing to respond “to some of our more substantive ideas on risk reduction”. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said the US’s arms sales to Taiwan, a territory that it claims, had “seriously compromised the political atmosphere for continuing the arms-control consultations”. “Consequently, the Chinese side has decided to hold off discussion with the US on a new round of consultations on arms control and non-proliferation,” Lin Jian, the spokesperson, told a regular news briefing in Beijing. “The responsibility fully lies with the US,” he said. Lin added that China was willing to maintain communication on international arms control, but said the US “must respect China’s core interests and create necessary conditions for dialogue and exchange”. The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but has remained Taiwan’s most important partner and biggest arms supplier, sparking repeated condemnations from China. Taiwan has protested for the past four years about stepped-up Chinese military activity near the island, including almost daily missions by Chinese warplanes and warships. Washington in June approved two military sales to Taiwan worth approximately $300m in total, mostly of spare and repair parts for the island’s F-16 fighter jets. Arms-race risks US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller slammed China’s move, saying Beijing has chosen to follow Russia’s lead by asserting that arms-control engagement cannot proceed while there are other challenges in the bilateral relationship. “We think this approach undermines strategic stability. It increases the risk of arms-race dynamics,” Miller told reporters. “Unfortunately, by suspending these consultations, China has chosen not to pursue efforts that would manage strategic risks and prevent costly arms races, but we, the United States, will remain open to developing and implementing concrete risk-reduction measures with China,” he said. The Biden administration advocates a policy of “compartmentalization”, in which nuclear arms control talks are segregated from other contentious Sino-US issues. The Chinese decision comes just over a month after the Biden administration said the US may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons to deter growing threats from Chinese and Russian arsenals. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group, told the Reuters news agency that the US, Russia and China are legally bound as signatories of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty – the cornerstone of global arms control – to “engage in talks to prevent the arms race”. “The only way they can accomplish that is through serious dialogue and Russia’s refusal to do so and China’s decision to do so are very serious setbacks,” he said. The US has a stockpile of about 3,700 nuclear warheads, of which roughly 1,419 strategic nuclear warheads were deployed. Russia has about 1,550 nuclear weapons deployed and according to the Federation of American Scientists, a stockpile of 4,489 nuclear warheads. Washington meanwhile estimates that China has 500 operational nuclear warheads and will probably have more than 1,000 by 2030. US officials have expressed frustration that Beijing has shown little interest in discussing steps to reduce nuclear weapons risks. But Beijing has long argued that the US already has a much larger arsenal. Adblock test (Why?)

At RNC, Trump’s VP pick JD Vance hails boss as fighter who cares

At RNC, Trump’s VP pick JD Vance hails boss as fighter who cares

Donald Trump’s running mate JD Vance has hailed the former president’s defiant response to his attempted assassination in a rousing speech to the Republican National Convention, casting his boss as a tough fighter who also cares deeply about the United States and its people. Accepting the nomination for vice president at the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, the Ohio senator largely eschewed aggressive rhetoric in favour of an upbeat message, pointing to Trump’s reaction in the moments after he was shot during a campaign rally on Saturday as proof of his leadership and love of country. “What did he call for us to do with our country? To fight, to fight for America. Even in his most perilous moment, we were on his mind,” Vance said. “His instinct was for us, for our country, to call us to something higher, to something greater, to once again be citizens who ask what our country needs from us.” Vance, who described Trump as an “idiot” and “reprehensible” in the leadup to the 2016 election, said the tycoon-turned-politician had endured “abuse, slander and persecution” to serve his country. “Now, consider what they said: They said he was a tyrant, they said he must be stopped at all costs,” Vance said. “But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life.” Seeking to portray a softer side to Trump, who is known for his acerbic rhetoric and vitriolic attacks against critics, Vance said that the Republican was also a devoted father and grandfather as well as a successful businessman and politician. “He’s the man who is feared by America’s adversaries but two nights ago – and I’ll share a moment – said goodnight to his two boys, told them he loved them and made sure to give each of them a kiss on the cheek,” Vance said. “And I will say, Don and Eric squirmed the same way my four-year-old does when his daddy tries to give him a kiss on the cheek.” Vance, who rose to national fame with the 2016 publication of his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, repeatedly appealed to working-class voters in the key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, recalling growing up in a “small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God”. “I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” he said. The three “Rust Belt” states flipped from Trump to Biden in 2020 and are considered crucial to the outcome of the election in November. Vance said President Joe Biden had for half a century been a champion of “every single policy initiative to make America weaker and poorer”, including the free trade deal, NAFTA, and the war in Iraq. Once a harsh critic of Trump, Vance transformed into one of the former president’s staunchest defenders during his successful run for a Senate seat in Ohio in 2022. The former US marine, who at 39 is the first millennial vice presidential candidate, is widely seen as a potential future leader of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, which has reshaped the Republican Party along populist and nationalist lines. During his short political career, Vance has embraced much of Trump’s agenda, including calling for the deportation of undocumented migrants and expressing scepticism about military intervention and foreign alliances. Earlier on Wednesday, Donald Trump Jr, Donald Trump’s eldest son, also invoked the attempt on his father’s life, saying his response embodied the “true spirit of America”. “What was my father’s instinct as his life was on the line? Not to cower, not to surrender, but to show for all the world to see that the next American president has the heart of a lion,” he said. Other speakers on the third day of the convention included Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Florida House Representative Matt Gaetz and former Trump adviser, Peter Navarro, who was released from prison hours earlier after serving a four-month sentence for refusing to cooperate with a congressional probe into the January 6 riot at the Capitol. Invoking the familiar theme of political persecution, Navarro, without evidence, accused Biden and “his department of injustice” of putting him in prison. “I’ve got a very simple message for you: If they can come for me – and if they can come for Donald Trump – careful, they will come for you,” Navarro said. The evening also featured a number of speakers from outside politics, including relatives of US personnel killed during Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the parents of Omer Neutra, a US citizen who is believed to be held in Hamas captivity in Gaza. “He turned 22 on October 14, 2023, and instead of celebrating with us and with his friends, he spent his birthday as a hostage of Hamas terrorists,” Omer’s mother, Orna Neutra, told the crowd. “Imagine, over nine months, not knowing whether your son is alive, waking up every morning, praying that he, too, is waking up every morning, that he is strong and he is surviving.” As he did on the first two days of the convention, Trump, who will give his keynote speech on Thursday, received rapturous applause as he entered the Fiserv Forum as a version of the song, It’s A Man’s World, played. Trump has signalled unity will be a key theme of his address, saying his close brush with death inspired him to rewrite the speech he had originally planned. Adblock test (Why?)

Schumer, Pelosi ramp up pressure on Biden over 2024 election bid: Reports

Schumer, Pelosi ramp up pressure on Biden over 2024 election bid: Reports

Reports come as the US president announced contracting COVID-19 and went into self-isolation at his Delaware home. Top Democratic leaders in the United States including Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and Nancy Pelosi have expressed concerns to President Joe Biden over his ability to win the presidential election in November, according to media reports. Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, and Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, told Biden, who is 81 years old, in separate meetings to drop out of the presidential race, the ABC News broadcaster reported on Wednesday. Schumer made the appeal during a “blunt conversation” with the president in Delaware on Saturday, “making the case it would be best if Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race”, ABC said, citing a knowledgeable source close to both men. Hakeem has also expressed similar views directly to Biden, suggesting he should drop out of the race, ABC said, citing a source familiar with the matter. Pelosi, the former House speaker, was meanwhile reported to have told Biden in a recent telephone call that polling indicates he cannot defeat his challenger, Donald Trump and could even destroy the Democrats’ chance of winning the House in November if he continues seeking a second term, according to the CNN broadcaster. The network cited four sources briefed on the call. But it said none of the sources indicated if Pelosi told Biden she believes the president should drop out, CNN said. The reports came as California Representative Adam Schiff became the highest-profile Democrat to publicly urge Biden to drop his re-election bid and new polling from AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed nearly two-thirds of Democrats nationwide want the president to step aside and nominate a different candidate. Schumer’s office responded to the report about his meeting with the president with a statement calling it “idle speculation” and said the Democratic Senate leader “conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden on Saturday”. A Pelosi spokesperson told CNN that the former speaker has not spoken to Biden since Friday. White House spokesman Andrew Bates said Biden told Schumer, as well as Jeffries, that “he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families”. Biden, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, has repeatedly rejected calls from Democrats to drop out of the race after his halting performance in a debate last month against Trump. He told one interviewer recently that only the “Lord Almighty” could persuade him to quit the race. The president is currently self-isolating in Delaware, but will “continue to carry out his duties fully,” according to the White House. Biden has “mild symptoms” and was suffering from “general malaise” because of the infection, the White House said. Adblock test (Why?)

Senators confront Secret Service chief at Republican convention: ‘You owe President Trump answers’

Senators confront Secret Service chief at Republican convention: ‘You owe President Trump answers’

Republican senators confronted Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday over the attempted assassination of former President Trump on Saturday, telling her that they owe the people and the president “answers.” Video shows Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., confronting Cheatle in Milwaukee. Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., were also involved. “Stonewalling,” Barrasso can be heard yelling at Cheatle as she moves through the convention center. HOUSE GOP LEADERS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY ON TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: ‘SO MANY QUESTIONS’  “This was an assassination attempt, you owe the people answers, you owe President Trump answers,” Blackburn said. In a separate longer video, the senators can be seen questioning Cheatle. In response to their questions, she says that it isn’t an appropriate place to have the discussion, but says she is happy to answer questions, before leaving the suite. It is at that point she is yelled at by the lawmakers. It comes amid furious criticism of the agency by Republicans and some Democrats over the circumstances surrounding the attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The shooter has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, and the FBI is investigating his specific motive. Trump was shot in the ear, but one attendee was killed and two others injured. Lawmakers have questioned how the gunman was able to get so close and fire off multiple shots, as details have emerged of people seeing him climb up the building. DISCORD REVEALS DETAILS OF WOULD-BE TRUMP ASSASSIN’S ACCOUNT ON PLATFORM FBI Director Christopher Wray held member-wide briefings with both the House and Senate on Wednesday to discuss lawmakers’ questions and concerns. Barrasso told Fox News earlier that the meeting was a “100% cover-your-a—briefing.” Cheatle has agreed to comply with a subpoena from House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer. She has called the shooting “unacceptable” and “something that shouldn’t happen again.” “The buck stops with me,” she told ABC News. “I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.” But she has come under criticism for comments she made talking about a “sloped roof” that caused a safety issue. TRUMP RALLY SHOOTING: HEART-STOPPING FOOTAGE SHOWS AUDIENCE MEMBERS NOTICING GUNMAN BEFORE SHOTS FIRED “That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point. And so, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” she said. Her answers have so far failed to satisfy many Republican lawmakers, including Barrasso and Blackburn. “It is appalling that the Secret Service Director refused to answer our questions. This is one of the greatest security failures in the history of the agency. She can run but she cannot hide. She is a failed leader and she needs to immediately step down from her position,” Blackburn said in a statement. Fox News’ Liz Elkind and Aishah Hasnie contributed to this report. 

Kai Trump, Trump’s eldest grandchild, applauds ‘caring and loving’ grandfather at RNC: ‘He will fight’

Kai Trump, Trump’s eldest grandchild, applauds ‘caring and loving’ grandfather at RNC: ‘He will fight’

Kai Trump, the eldest grandchild of former President Donald Trump, spoke on day three of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she shared the side of her grandpa that “people don’t often see.” “To me, he’s just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking, he always wants to know how we’re doing in school,” she said. “When I made the high honor roll, he printed it out to show his friends how proud he was of me,” she added. “He calls me during the middle of the school day to ask how my golf game is going, and tells me all about his. But then I have to remind him that I’m in school and I’ll have to call him back later.” Kai, 17, also reflected on the attempted assassination of her grandfather last Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania, saying she was “shocked” and found it to be “heartbreaking.” WHO IS KAI TRUMP? DONALD TRUMP’S ELDEST GRANDCHILD WHO SPOKE AT 2024 RNC “On Saturday, I was shocked when I heard that he had been shot, and I just wanted to know if he was okay. It was heartbreaking that someone would do that to another person,” she said. Kai – who was welcomed to the stage by her father, Donald Trump Jr. – noted that “a lot of people have put my grandfather through hell,” but that “he’s still standing.” “Grandpa, you are such an inspiration and I love you,” she said. “The media makes my grandpa seem like a different person, but I know him for who he is. He’s very caring and loving. He truly wants the best for this country, and he will fight every single day to make America great again.” “Even when he’s going through all these court cases, he always asks me how I’m doing. He always encourages me to push myself to be the most successful person I can be. Obviously, he sets the bar pretty high, but who knows, maybe one day I’ll catch him,” she added. Kai, the daughter of Don Jr. and Vanessa Trump, now divorced, was recently a regaled guest of Dana White’s at the UFC 303 fight, which she attended opposite her dad. The Florida teen posed for photographs with White, the president of the UFC, former NFL superstar Aaron Rodgers and country music star Jelly Roll, among other A-listers. Kai, born May 12, 2007, is an enthusiastic golfer. She is active on social media and regularly posts about her golf skills. HOUSE GOP LEADERS DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY ON TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: ‘SO MANY QUESTIONS’ Kai also reflected during her speech on instances when she played golf with her grandfather, times when she had to remind him that she’s a “Trump, too.” “When we play golf together, if I’m not his team, he’ll try to get inside of my head. And he’s always surprised that I don’t let him get to me. But I have to remind him I’m a Trump, too,” she said. Last year, the Florida native started a YouTube channel. She kickstarted the outreach social media page with a video titled, “Get to know Kai Trump!” “It should overall be a fun channel,” Kai said in the clip. As Kai scampers around a golf course, her friend asks questions, and she gives viewers insight into some of her favorite things, which includes pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, proscuitto meat and ricotta cheese, and playing pickleball and tennis. In March, Kai won the ladies’ club championship at the private Trump Golf Club in West Palm Beach. She has posted photographs and clips in the past playing with golf professional and PGA player Bryson DeChambeau. Mixed into her fitness reels, Kai reminds social media users that she is an undoubted supporter of her grandpa. Fox News’ Gabriele Regalbuto contributed to this report.