Trump contradicts his own statements over Russian interference in 2016 elections and China gets its own ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
How a Russian spy operated in the US
American officials say Maria Butina, an alleged Kremlin agent, offered sex for a job with an American special interest organisation that she targeted, the BBC reports.
The 29-year-old spy has been co-operating with the American government for several months now. She will be held in custody until her trial as her ties with Russian intelligence make her a flight risk, a federal judge ruled.
“She is facing charges of failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring against the US government. She is not charged with espionage,” the report adds. The case is not part of the inquiry into the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
“On Wednesday, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Ms Butina’s arrest was designed to undermine the ‘positive results’ of a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday,” the report states.
Afghan Taliban is not attacking civilians
“Taliban insurgents are refraining from attacking Afghan civilians for the first time in many years, according to Afghan officials and the insurgents themselves,” The New York Times reports.
A Taliban spokesperson confirmed insurgents had stopped suicide attacks that might cause civilian casualties.
“Since the (Ramzan) ceasefire, we have not had any martyrdom attacks in Kabul,” he said, using the Taliban term for suicide bombings. “On the martyrdom attacks in the cities, our superiors cautioned us against them, and we are going to obey their orders.”
This moratorium has, however, not affected the activities of the so-called Islamic State, which has continued suicide bombings against nonmilitary targets in Afghanistan.
China tells US Vice President to read a history book
A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rebuked US Vice President Mike Pence for making incorrect statements on China’s trade practices, Global Times reports.
“Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!” Hua Chunying told a press briefing in Beijing, and suggested that he should read a history book by UK historian Joseph Needham about China’s technological development, in response to his comment on China stealing US intellectual property.
“In a speech at the US Department of Commerce on Monday, Pence claimed that China’s average tariffs on US goods are three times higher than US tariffs on Chinese goods, across every industry, according to transcript of his speech posted on the White House website.”
Hua refuted all claims. “China has always been promoting fair trade,” she said, noting that the US should not judge fairness with its own set of standards. “China is opening its door and the US is closing. Who is right and who is wrong should be very clear.”
Trump says he ‘laid down the law’ with Putin
After a series of conflicting statements about Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections, President Trump has insisted that he “laid down the law” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The New York Times reports.
“I let him know we can’t have this,” Trump said in an interview. “We’re not going to have it, and that’s the way it’s going to be.”
This latest statement is in complete contradiction of what Trump said at a news conference with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Monday — that he did not believe Russia had interfered with the elections. The White House sought to clarify that Trump had said “no” to answering more questions on the issue, and not to the prospect of Russian interference.
“It was the second day of reversals and semantic hairsplitting in Mr Trump’s statements about Russia — on Tuesday, he said that he had meant to say at a news conference in Helsinki that he disagreed with a statement by Mr Putin, not that he agreed with it — and it only deepened the mystery of what exactly Mr Trump and Mr Putin had talked about during a two-and-a-half-hour session in Finland when only their interpreters were in the room with them,” the report adds.
A grammatical analysis of Donald Trump’s language
“Few grammatical issues in history can have been quite as consequential,” writes The Economist, referring to US President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth on his Helsinki summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Asked whether Russia had interfered with the election, Trump said he didn’t “see any reason why it would be”. The next day, he said he meant he didn’t see any reason why it “wouldn’t” be.
His exact statement was this: “My people came to me. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.”
“But was it a mistake? Could the President have plausibly said the exact opposite of what he meant at such a critical moment? This is a pretty straightforward piece of grammar,” The Economist explains.
A deeper analysis of the syntax and the wider context of Trump’s statement shows that he announced his statement. “Mr Trump said ‘I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.’ ‘I will say this’ is kind of a pre-announcement. Strictly, nobody needs to say this ever.”
“This was not a throwaway sentence where Mr Trump’s own attention might have wandered. He announced its importance,” the report adds.
“In other words, it’s possible — but highly unlikely — that Mr Trump really misspoke. Add in the painful body language and laboured reading of a prepared statement announcing that he had, and it is hard to escape the conclusion that someone convinced him to eat his words from Helsinki upon his return home. The damage done remains.”
A Chinese Robinson Crusoe
Chinese man Xiao Junqing completed a 299-day drift on July 7, covering over 6,500 km of Chinese coastline. The stunt has been widely hailed as the Chinese-version of Robinson Crusoe by admiring netizens. https://t.co/8aS45Z1iIM pic.twitter.com/MoPdbhwj2m
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) July 18, 2018
The People’s Daily reports that a man, Xiao Junqing, has completed a 299-day drift, covering over 6,000 km of the Chinese coastline. Xiao started his trip in September 2017 in his handmade kayak, which is equipped with a solar energy charging system, GPS and a “ship collision avoidance system”. He is being hailed as the ‘Chinese Robinson Crusoe’ online.