US Senate Confirms Nikki Haley For US Ambassador To The UN With Huge Margin

January 25, 2017

Washington, Jan 25: The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's pick for US ambassador to the United Nations by a decisive margin on Tuesday as Republican-led committees paved the way for three more of his Cabinet nominees to be approved just days into the new administration. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley won strong support for the UN post despite her lack of foreign policy experience. Senators voted 96-4 on Ms Haley's nomination. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Ms Haley is a proven leader who will be a "fierce advocate" at the UN for American interests.

nikkihaley

But not everyone was sold. Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., said Ms Haley didn't convince him that she'll serve effectively. The US ambassador to the international body should be an expert on international affairs, Mr Coons said, "not someone who will be learning on the job."

A Senate vote is expected soon on Mr Trump's choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson. The Foreign Relations Committee narrowly approved his nomination Monday, 11-10. No Democrats on the panel voted for Mr Tillerson.

Mr Tillerson's bid got a key boost when Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, announced his support Tuesday. Mr Manchin, who faces re-election in 2018 in a state that backed Mr Trump heavily in the presidential election, said Mr Tillerson's extensive business career "will bring a unique perspective to the State Department."

The vote on Ms Haley capped a day when the GOP-led panels endorsed Mr Trump's choices to lead the Transportation, Housing, and Commerce departments. Yet congressional Republicans criticized Democrats for not moving quickly enough on all of the president's selections.

Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, forced a one-week delay - until January 31 - of the committee's vote on Mr Trump's attorney general nominee, Senator Jeff Sessions.

Ms Feinstein said senators "owe it" to the more than 1 million women who marched in Washington and other locations on Saturday to be careful in considering Sessions' nomination and his willingness to protect equal rights. She also said the committee received 188 pages of new material that needs to be reviewed. Committee rules allow any member of the panel to delay a vote.

Deliberations over two of Mr Trump's picks turned testy as both nominees faced questions from Democrats over their personal finances. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the president's choice for health secretary, defended his decision to invest in health care companies as he testified before the Senate Finance Committee.

Panel staffers found Mr Price undervalued around 400,000 shares of stock in Australian drug company Innate Immunotherapeutics that he purchased last August. He reported the shares were valued at $50,000 to $100,000, but those shares were worth up to $250,000. Mr Price blamed a "clerical error" and answered "no" when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked if he'd used poor judgment.

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Mr Trump's nominee for budget director, South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, should be disqualified because he failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a babysitter more than a decade ago. Mr Mulvaney said he discovered the unpaid taxes while preparing for the nominating process. He has since paid the taxes.

Mr Trump's choice for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, is also being scrutinised by Democrats about her qualifications, political donations and longtime work advocating for charter schools and school choice in her home state of Michigan.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., delivered a withering critique of DeVos on Tuesday, saying he has no confidence she will fully support traditional public schools and students.

The Senate Commerce Committee approved by voice votes Mr Trump's choices of conservative billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to run the Commerce Department and Elaine Chao to lead the Transportation Department.

Mr Ross has specialized in buying distressed companies that still have a potential for delivering profits. He has known Mr Trump for more than 20 years, was an early supporter of his presidential campaign and served as an economic policy adviser to Mr Trump's team.

Ms Chao, an experienced Washington hand, was labor secretary in President George W Bush's administration and deputy transportation secretary under President George HW Bush. She is also the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Ms Chao is expected to play a major role in Mr Trump's effort to fulfill his campaign promise to generate $1 trillion in infrastructure investment.

Ben Carson, nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, won unanimous approval from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The former Republican presidential candidate and celebrated neurosurgeon would lead a sprawling agency with 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion.

Senator Michael Crapo of Idaho, the committee's Republican chairman, praised Carson and said the department "will benefit from having a secretary with a different perspective and a diverse background." Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the panel's top Democrat, said he had reservations but welcomed Carson's promises to address lead hazards in public housing.

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News Network
May 2,2020

Balochistan, May 1: Sajid Hussain, Editor-in-Chief of Balochistan Times, has been found dead in a Swedish town, the police have confirmed.

The Swedish police informed his family on Thursday night that they discovered his body from a river in Uppsala, The Times reported.
The Baloch journalist had been missing from the Swedish city since March 2 this year.

Sajid, 39, left Pakistan in 2012 and had been living as a refugee in Sweden since 2017. He wrote extensively on the suffering of the Balochis at the hands of the Pakistani military establishment.

His work often got him into trouble as the authorities did not like his reporting of Balochistan's forbidden stories, the reason he had to leave and live in exile.

The Baloch journalist was found dead two months after he went missing in Sweden.
Sajid left Pakistan because of security threats from Pakistan Army and its intelligence service ISI.

The spokesperson of the Baloch National Movement, Hammal Haider told news agency: "We are deeply saddened by the demise of prominent Baloch intellectual and writer Sajid Hussain."
"His death is indeed a loss of a great mind for the people of Balochistan. Due to his straightforwardness, he was loved among all journalistic, literary and political circles," added Haider.

"After this incident, we have serious concerns about our members and other Baloch refugees living in the West," he said.

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Agencies
July 24,2020

The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 15.4 million, while the deaths have increased to over 631,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Friday morning, the total number of cases stood at 15,439,456, while the fatalities rose to 631,926, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 4,034,831 and 144,242, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 2,287,475 infections and 84,082 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (1,238,798), and is followed by Russia (793,720), South Africa (408,052), Peru (371,096), Mexico (370,712), Chile (334,683), the UK (298,721), Iran (284,034), Spain (270,166), Pakistan (269,191), Saudi Arabia (260,394), Italy (245,338), Turkey (223,315), Colombia (218,428), France (216,667), Bangladesh (216,110), Germany (204,881), Argentina (148,027), Canada (114,398), Qatar (108,244) and Iraq (102,226), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the UK (45,639), Mexico (41,908), Italy (35,092), France (30,185), India (29,861), Spain (28,429), Iran (15,074), Peru (17,654) and Russia (12,873).

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News Network
April 27,2020

Seoul/South Korea, Apr 27: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is "alive and well", a top security adviser to the South's President Moon Jae-in said, downplaying rumours over Kim's health following his absence from a key anniversary.
"Our government position is firm," said Moon's special adviser on national security Moon Chung-in, in an interview with CNN on Sunday. "Kim Jong Un is alive and well."

The adviser said that Kim had been staying in Wonsan -- a resort town in the country's east -- since April 13, adding: "No suspicious movements have so far been detected."

Conjecture about Kim's health has grown since his conspicuous absence from the April 15 celebrations for the birthday of his grandfather Kim Il Sung, the North's founder -- the most important day in the country's political calendar.

Kim has not made a public appearance since presiding over a Workers' Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported him inspecting fighter jets at an air defence unit.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not gravely ill, two South Korean government sources said on Tuesday, following reports he had undergone a cardiovascular procedure and was now in "grave danger."

His absence unleashed a series of unconfirmed media reports over his condition, which officials in Seoul previously poured cold water on.

"We have nothing to confirm and no special movement has been detected inside North Korea as of now," the South's presidential office said in a statement last week.

South Korea's unification minister Kim Yeon-chul reiterated Monday that remained the case, adding the "confident" conclusion was drawn from "a complex process of intelligence gathering and assessment".

'Grave danger'

Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, has reported Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure earlier this month.

Citing an unidentified source inside the country, it said Kim, who is in his mid-30s, had needed urgent treatment due to heavy smoking, obesity and fatigue.

Soon afterwards, CNN reported that Washington was "monitoring intelligence" that Kim was in "grave danger" after undergoing surgery, quoting what it said was an anonymous US official.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday rejected reports that Kim was ailing but declined to state when he was last in touch with him.

On Monday, the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that Kim had sent a message of thanks to workers on the giant Wonsan Kalma coastal tourism project.

It was the latest in a series of reports in recent days of statements issued or actions taken in Kim's name, although none has carried any pictures of him.

Satellite images reviewed by 38North, a US-based think tank, showed a train probably belonging to Kim at a station in Wonsan last week.

It cautioned that the train's presence did not "indicate anything about his health" but did "lend weight" to reports he was staying on the country's eastern coast.

Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously difficult, especially regarding anything to do with its leadership, which is among its most closely guarded secrets.

Previous absences from the public eye on Kim's part have prompted speculation about his health.

In 2014 he dropped out of sight for nearly six weeks before reappearing with a cane. Days later, the South's spy agency said he had undergone surgery to remove a cyst from his ankle.

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