WASHINGTON (AP) — A fallen soldier’s widow criticized President Donald Trump on Monday over his condolence call last week, prompting a fresh Trump Twitter rebuttal as the emotional conflict case showed no sign of abating.

Myeshia Johnson, La David Johnson’s widow, spoke for the first time on ABC’s “Good Morning America. In the somber interview, she supported a congresswoman’s statements that Trump had said her husband “knew what he signed up for” and at one point could not remember her husband’s name.

“Yes, the president said that ‘he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway.’ And it made me cry ’cause I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said he couldn’t remember my husband’s name,” Johnson said. “The only way he remembered my husband’s name is because he told me he had my husband’s report in front of him and that’s when he actually said La David.”

The president answered back on Twitter soon after the interview aired, saying: “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!”

Monday’s pointed exchange was the latest in an ongoing dispute over how Trump responded to the deaths of four service members Oct. 4 in the African nation of Niger. The clash over the call began last week when Democratic Rep. Frederica Johnson accused Trump of being callous in the conversation and Trump retorted that Wilson’s account was fabricated.

But Johnson backed Wilson’s account, saying that the congresswoman was a longtime friend who was with the family in the car when Trump called Tuesday and that Wilson listened on a speakerphone. Johnson said she had asked for the call to be put on speakerphone so relatives with her could hear.

Said Johnson on Monday: “I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why can’t you remember his name. And that’s what made me upset and cry even more because my husband was an awesome soldier.”

The back-and-forth drew criticism from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who said on “The View” Monday: “We should not be fighting about a brave American who lost his life.”

Johnson also said she has received little information about her husband’s death and complained she has not been able to see his body.

“I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband. I don’t know nothing, they won’t show me a finger, a hand.”

The four U.S. soldiers were killed Oct. 4 in Niger when they were attacked by militants tied to the Islamic State group. Confusion over what happened has dogged Trump, who was silent about the deaths for more than a week.

Asked last Monday about his silence, Trump credited himself with doing more to honor the military dead and console their families than any of his predecessors. His subsequent boast that he reaches out personally to all families of the fallen was contradicted by interviews with family members, some of whom had not heard from him.

Rep. Wilson criticized the condolence call beginning last Tuesday. She continued to assail Trump, and he fired off insulting tweets, calling her “wacky” and accusing her of secretly listening to the phone call.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly entered the fray Thursday. The retired Marine general asserted that the congresswoman also had delivered a 2015 speech at an FBI field office dedication in which she “talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building,” rather than keeping the focus on the fallen agents for which it was named.

Video of the speech contradicted his recollection, however. And Sunday Wilson said on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” that Kelly was a “puppet of the president” and accused him of character assassination.

Johnson, the widow, said Monday, “Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated. What she said was 100 percent correct.”

Asked if she had a message for the president, Johnson replied: “No. I don’t have nothing to say to him.”

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Angry soldier's widow says Trump didn't know husband's name
Angry soldier's widow says Trump didn't know husband's name
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump shot down a possible approach for raising revenue to finance tax cuts in politically must-do legislation for the Republicans, promising Monday the popular 401(k) retirement program will be untouched.

As Republicans hurtle toward producing a bill to overhaul the U.S. tax system, they’re scrambling to find new revenue sources to pay for anticipated tax cuts exceeding $1 trillion. A proposal to eliminate the widely-used federal deduction for state and local taxes has run into heavy opposition from GOP House members from high-tax states, threatening the enactment of tax legislation that Republicans deem essential to retaining their majority in next year’s elections.

Trump pledged in a tweet there will be “no change” to tax incentives for the 401(k) retirement programs.

The plan crafted by Trump and Republican leaders calls for steep tax cuts for corporations and potentially individuals, a doubling of the standard deduction used by most Americans, shrinking the number of tax brackets from seven to three or four, and the repeal of inheritance taxes on multimillion-dollar estates. The child tax credit would be increased and the tax system would be simplified; most Americans would be able to file their income taxes on a postcard, according to the plan.

Crucial details of the plan have yet to be worked out, notably what income levels would fit with each tax bracket.

With the possibility of the state and local deduction being at least partly preserved, some Republican lawmakers were considering limiting the amount workers could save in 401(k) retirement accounts.

“It was a trial balloon and it crashed,” said Brian Riedl, a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute. “They’re struggling to find legitimate offsets” for tax cuts.

“Everyone has been promised they are going to be better off with tax reform and that’s really hard to do in a fiscally responsible way,” Riedl said.

Employees’ earnings from defined-contribution retirement plans such as 401(k)s aren’t taxed until retirement; pay-ins by both employers and employees also receive tax-preferred status. That cost the government $82.7 billion in lost revenue in the recent budget year – a potentially juicy target for Republican tax-cutters.

With 55 million U.S. workers holding some $5 trillion in their 401(k) accounts, the plans have become a touchstone of retirement security for the middle class.

“This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works, and it stays!” Trump tweeted. “There will be NO change to your 401(k).”

Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said of the Trump-rejected proposal on retirement plans: “There are still some dials that do have to be turned. This is a major effort and when you dial one thing you have to look at another.”

House Republicans will be working to pass a budget this week so they can turn their attention to the tax overhaul. Trump warned Sunday that action on tax reform is crucial to avoiding political failure in 2018. He’ll work to rally support for the plan at the Capitol Tuesday at a lunch with Senate Republicans.

Trump personally implored House GOP members on a conference call to swiftly adopt the budget that was passed last week by the Senate, with the hope of clearing the way for what he described as historic tax cuts.

Trump told the lawmakers they were on the verge of doing something historic, according to one Republican official, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss publicly what was intended as a private update for members.

Another GOP aide familiar with the conversation said Trump told the members again and again that the party would pay a steep price in next year’s midterm elections if it failed to pass his plan.

The Senate last week passed a budget plan that includes rules that will allow Republicans to get tax legislation through the Senate without Democratic votes or fear of a Democratic filibuster. House Republicans signaled Friday they would simply accept the Senate plan to avoid any potential delay on the tax measure.

Republicans are desperate to rack up a legislative win after a series of embarrassing failures despite the party controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House. Topping the list: their stalled attempts to pass legislation repealing and replacing “Obamacare.” If tax overhaul legislation doesn’t pass, many in the party fear a complete rout in 2018.

On the conference call Sunday, House Speaker Paul Ryan told members he hoped to pass the Senate version of the budget bill this week to increase the chances that a tax overhaul can be enacted by year’s end.

—

AP Congressional Correspondent Erica Werner and writers Jill Colvin, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

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Trump shoots down retirement limit to pay for GOP tax cuts
Trump shoots down retirement limit to pay for GOP tax cuts
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Senate Democrat said there’s no time to waste as the Senate pressed ahead Monday on a $36.5 billion hurricane relief package that would give Puerto Rico a much-needed infusion of cash.

The measure also would replenish rapidly dwindling emergency disaster accounts and provide $16 billion to permit the financially troubled federal flood insurance program to pay an influx of Harvey-related claims.

But the bill rejects requests from the powerful Texas and Florida congressional delegations for additional money to rebuild after hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

The measure was certain to sail through Monday’s procedural vote and a final vote was expected no later than Tuesday. That would send the measure to President Donald Trump for his signature.

There is urgency to move the measure swiftly – rather than add more money to it at this time – because the government’s disaster response and flood insurance reserves are running out.

“If we do not act, disaster relief funds and the flood insurance program will run out of resources in a matter of days,” said top Appropriations Committee Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

Still, members of the Texas and Florida delegations in Congress are unhappy because the measure failed to address extensive requests for additional hurricane rebuilding funds. Texas, inundated by Harvey in August, requested $19 billion, while Florida sought $27 billion.

“I’m pretty disappointed with what the House sent over,” Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said last week. But later, after speaking to both Trump and White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, Cornyn said he was promised that the White House would issue another disaster aid measure next month that would provide much-needed help for Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. A fourth, and perhaps final, measure is likely to anchor a year-end spending bill.

“The victims of these hurricanes can continue to count on our support,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

The measure also contains almost $5 billion to assist Puerto Rico’s central government and various municipalities that are suffering unsustainable cash shortfalls as Maria has choked off revenues and strained resources. Another $150 million would help Puerto Rico with the 10 percent match required for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief.

More than one-fourth of the island’s residents don’t have potable running water and just 17 percent have electricity, according to FEMA. Just 392 miles of Puerto Rico’s 5,073 miles of roads are open. Conditions in the U.S. Virgin Islands are bad as well, with widespread power outages.

But Trump last week graded his response to the Puerto Rico disaster a 10 on a scale of 10.

“President Trump seems more concerned about claiming credit for a job well done than the actual situation on the ground deserves, particularly in Puerto Rico,” Leahy said. “This is the hard part of governing. This is where we roll up our sleeves, we dig in for the long haul, we stop patting ourselves on the back.”

The measure currently before the Senate contains $577 million for wildfires out West that forced agencies to tap other reserves for firefighting accounts and FEMA money for the disastrous fires in northern California.

Republicans dragged their feet last year on modest requests by former President Barack Obama to combat the Zika virus and help Flint, Michigan, repair its lead-tainted water system. But they are moving quickly to take care of this year’s alarming series of disasters, quickly passing a $15.3 billion relief measure last month and signaling that another installment is coming next month.

Damage is still being assessed and final cost estimates for recovering and rebuilding from this year’s hurricane season are not in yet. Some House conservatives are becoming restive at the high price tag for the spate of disasters, which come as the deficit is growing.

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Senate presses ahead on .5B disaster relief package
Senate presses ahead on .5B disaster relief package
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain declined to label President Donald Trump a “draft dodger” Monday even as he renewed his veiled criticism of medical deferments that kept Trump from serving in the Vietnam War.

“I don’t consider him so much a draft dodger as I feel that the system was so wrong that certain Americans could evade their responsibilities to serve the country,” McCain said on ABC’s “The View.” McCain, a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war, was being pressed about comments in a C-SPAN interview aired Sunday where he lamented that the military “drafted the lowest income level of America and the highest income level found a doctor that would say they had a bone spur.”

One of Trump’s five draft deferments came as a result of a physician’s letter stating he suffered from bone spurs in his feet. Trump’s presidential campaign described the issue as a temporary problem.

McCain, meanwhile, spent 5� years as a prisoner of war after his plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967. Yet during last year’s presidential campaign Trump said McCain was not a war hero because “I like people who weren’t captured.”

McCain left little doubt during Monday’s interview that he had been referring to Trump in his C-SPAN comments. When one of the hosts remarked that people thought he was talking about Trump because the president had sought a medical deferment, McCain interjected, “More than once, yes.”

McCain was asked to describe his relationship with the president. “Almost none” he simply said.

The six-term Arizona lawmaker, battling brain cancer at age 81, made his appearance on The View in honor of his daughter Meghan McCain’s birthday. She recently joined the daytime talk show as one of its panel of co-hosts.

The White House has declined to comment on McCain’s remarks on C-SPAN.

The tacit criticism from McCain reflected the ongoing tension between Trump and McCain, which began during last year’s campaign and has flared on and off. Trump responded furiously when McCain’s “no” vote sunk Senate efforts to repeal and replace “Obamacare” earlier this year.

And last week, in a speech in Philadelphia, McCain questioned “half-baked, spurious nationalism” in America’s foreign policy. Trump lashed out, insisting he would fight back and “it won’t be pretty.”

That prompted McCain to retort: “I have faced tougher adversaries.”

The senator burst into sustained laughter on Monday when one of the hosts mentioned Trump’s threats and asked McCain, “Are you scared?”

After he stopped laughing, McCain said, “I mentioned that I have faced greater challenges.”

“Let’s stop insulting each other. Let’s start respecting each other,” McCain recommended.

The back-and-forth between the president and McCain stands as the latest skirmish between the two Republican Party heavyweights and another example of Trump tangling with GOP senators who could make or break his agenda in Congress.

Trump in recent weeks has feuded with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, although the president joined with the Kentucky senator at the White House last week to publicly declare they were on the same page. Both Corker and McCain could be critical to the success or failure pf the president’s push to overhaul the tax system.

During Trump’s presidency, McCain has questioned the president’s immigration policies and warned him against cozying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The senator also criticized Trump in August for saying that both white nationalists and counter protesters were responsible for violent clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia.

McCain insisted in a tweet at the time that “there’s no moral equivalency between racists & Americans standing up to defy hate and bigotry” and the president should say so.

The senator underwent surgery in mid-July to remove a 2-inch (51-millimeter) blood clot in his brain after being diagnosed with an aggressive tumor called a glioblastoma. It’s the same type of tumor that killed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy at age 77 in 2009 and Beau Biden, son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, at 46 in 2015.

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Sen. McCain declines to label Trump as a draft dodger
Sen. McCain declines to label Trump as a draft dodger
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Source: AP HEADLINES

WASHINGTON (AP) — The widow of a fallen soldier criticized President Donald Trump Monday over his condolence call last week, saying she was angered by his tone and that he couldn’t remember her husband’s name. Trump quickly responded on Twitter that he’d been “very respectful” and spoke the name “without hesitation.”

Monday’s harsh exchange was the latest in an ongoing dispute over how Trump responded to the deaths of four service members in the African nation of Niger.

Myeshia Johnson, La David Johnson’s widow, spoke on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” It was her first interview after a Democratic congresswoman accused Trump of being callous in the call by telling the widow that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”

Johnson confirmed Wilson’s account, saying the congresswoman was a longtime friend who was with the family in the car when Trump called Tuesday and listened on speakerphone. She said she had asked for the call to be put on speakerphone so relatives with her could hear.

“The president said that he knew what he signed up for but it hurts anyway,” Johnson said. She added: “The only way he could remember my husband’s name was he told me he had my husband’s report in front of him and that’s when he actually said La David.”

Trump, who had accused Rep. Frederica Wilson of fabricating the statement, fired back on Twitter, saying: “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!”

But Johnson offered a different version.

“I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name and that’s what hurt me the most, because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why can’t you remember his name,” she said. “And that’s what made me upset and cry even more because my husband was an awesome soldier.”

The conflict drew criticism from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who said on “The View” Monday: “we should not be fighting about a brave American who lost his life.”

Johnson also said she has received little information about her husband’s death and complained she has not been able to see his body.

“I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband. I don’t know nothing they won’t show me a finger, a hand,” she said. “I know my husband’s body from head to toe.”

The four U.S. soldiers were killed Oct. 4 in Niger when they were attacked by militants tied to the Islamic State. Confusion over what happened has dogged Trump, who was silent about the deaths for more than a week.

Asked last Monday about his silence, Trump credited himself with doing more to honor the dead and console their families than any of his predecessors. His subsequent boast that he reaches out personally to all families of the fallen was contradicted by interviews with family members, some of whom had not heard from Trump at all.

The conflict continued Tuesday with Wilson criticizing the condolence call to Johnson. It escalated as she continued to attack the administration and Trump fired off insulting tweets, calling her “wacky” and accusing her of “SECRETLY” listening to the phone call.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly entered the fray Thursday. The retired Marine general asserted that the congresswoman had delivered a 2015 speech at an FBI field office dedication in which she “talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building,” rather than keeping the focus on the fallen agents for which it was named.

Video of the speech contradicted his recollection, however. And on Sunday Wilson asked Kelly to apologize. Speaking on MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” she called Kelly a “puppet of the president” and accused him of character assassination.

Johnson said Monday that Wilson’s account was accurate.

“Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated,” she said. “What she said was 100 percent correct. It was Master Sgt. Neil, me, my aunt, my uncle and the driver and Ms. Wilson in the car, the phone was on speaker phone. Why would we fabricate something like that?”

Asked if she had a message for the president, Johnson replied: “No. I don’t have nothing to say to him.”

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Soldier's widow angry Trump didn't know her husband's name
Soldier's widow angry Trump didn't know her husband's name
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Source: AP HEADLINES

MIAMI (AP) — The pregnant widow of a fallen U.S. soldier on Monday contradicted President Donald Trump’s account of his phone call about her husband’s death and said what he told her “made me cry even worse.”

Myeshia Johnson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview that Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson was practically a member of their family and was among a group of people listening to Trump’s call on a speaker phone as they drove to receive Sgt. La David Johnson’s body.

“The president said that he knew what he signed up for but it hurts anyway,” Johnson said. “And it made me cry because I was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. He couldn’t remember my husband’s name. The only way he could remember my husband’s name was he told me he had my husband’s report in front of him and that’s when he actually said La David.”

“Whatever Ms. Wilson said was not fabricated,” Johnson said in her first interview since her husband’s death. “What she said was 100 percent correct.”

Sgt. Johnson and three comrades died Oct. 4 in Africa when militants tied to the Islamic State attacked them.

She said she also wants to know why she hasn’t been allowed to see her husband’s body. He was buried on Saturday.

“I need to see him so I will know that that is my husband,” she said. “They won’t show me a finger, a hand. I know my husband’s body from head to toe. And they won’t let me see anything. I don’t know what’s in that box. It could be empty for all I know. But I need to see my husband. I haven’t seen him since he came home.”

Trump tweeted that Wilson “fabricated” his statement and the fight escalated through the week. Trump in other tweets called her “wacky” and accused her of “SECRETLY” listening to the phone call.

Johnson said everyone in the car was listening to Trump’s call. “The phone was on speaker phone. Why would we fabricate something like that?”

Asked if she had anything to say to Trump now, Johnson said, “No, I don’t have nothing to say to him.”

The war of words between the president and Wilson began Tuesday when the Florida congresswoman recounted Trump’s conversation.

Wilson has been a friend of the Johnson family for years and Sgt. Johnson was in her 5000 Role Models program that pairs African-American boys with mentors who prepare them for college, vocational school or the military.

Johnson said she had known her husband since they were about 6 years old.

Johnson said she wants the world to know “how great of a soldier my husband was.” She also said he was “a loving and caring father and husband.”

She said she learned her husband was missing in action when military members came to her house.

“They told me there was a massive gunfire and that my husband, as of Oct. 4 was missing,” she said. “They didn’t know his whereabouts or they didn’t know where he was or where to find him. A couple of days later is when they told me he went from missing to killed in action.”

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Fallen soldier's widow: 'Nothing to say' to Trump
Fallen soldier's widow: 'Nothing to say' to Trump
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — When Leticia Miranda had a job selling newspapers on the streets, she earned about $160 a month, just enough to pay for a tiny apartment she shared with her 8-year-old son in a poor neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

When she lost her job about six months ago amid Brazil’s worst economic crisis in decades, Miranda had no choice but to move to an abandoned building where several hundred people were already living. All of her possessions – a bed, a fridge, a stove and some clothes – have been jammed into a small room that like all the others in the building has windows with no glass. Residents bathe in large garbage cans filled with water and do their best to live with the stench of mountains of trash and rummaging pigs in the center of the building.

“I want to leave here, but there is nowhere to go,” said Miranda, 28, dressed in a bikini top, shorts and sandals to deal with the heat. “I’m applying for jobs and did two interviews. So far, nothing.”

Between 2004 and 2014, tens of millions of Brazilians emerged from poverty and the country was often cited as an example for the world. High prices for the country’s raw materials and newly developed oil resources helped finance social welfare programs that put money into the pockets of the poorest.

But that trend has been reversed over the last two years due to the deepest recession in Brazil’s history and cuts to the subsidy programs, raising the specter that this continent-sized nation has lost its way in addressing wide inequalities that go back to colonial times.

“Many people who had risen out of poverty, and even those who had risen into the middle class, have fallen back,” said Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics.

The World Bank estimates about 28.6 million Brazilians moved out of poverty between 2004 and 2014. But the bank estimates that from the start of 2016 to the end of this year, 2.5 million to 3.6 million will have fallen back below the poverty line of 140 Brazilian reais per month, about $44 at current exchange rates.

Those figures are likely underestimates, de Bolle said, and they don’t capture the fact that many lower-middle class Brazilians who gained ground during the boom years have since slid back closer to poverty.

Economists say high unemployment and cuts to key social welfare programs could exacerbate the problems. In July, the last month for which data is available, unemployment was close to 13 percent, a huge increase from 4 percent at the end of 2004.

Lines of job-seekers stretching several blocks have become commonplace whenever any business announces openings. When a university in Rio this month offered low-skilled jobs paying $400 a month, thousands showed up, including many who stood outside in the rain a day before the process began.

Meanwhile, budgetary pressures and the conservative policies of President Michel Temer are translating into cuts in social services. Among those hit is the Bolsa Familia – Family Allowance – program that gives small subsidies each month to qualifying low-income people. It’s credited with much of the poverty reduction during Brazil’s boom decade.

Non-labor income, including social programs like Bolsa Familia, accounted for nearly 60 percent of the reduction in the number of people living in extreme poverty during the boom decade, said Emmanuel Skoufias, a World Bank economist and one of the authors of the report on Brazil’s “new poor.”

Now, even as job losses have been pushing more people toward the program, fewer are being covered.

“Every day is a struggle to survive,” 40-year-old Simone Batista said, tears streaming down her face as she recounted being cut from Bolsa Familia after her now 1-year-old was born. She wants to appeal, but doesn’t have enough money to take buses to the administrative office downtown. Batista lives in Jardim Gramacho, a slum in northern Rio where she and hundreds of other destitute residents find food by rummaging through garbage illegally dumped in the area.

An Associated Press review of Bolsa Familia data found coverage declined 4 percentage points between May 2016, when Temer became acting president, and May of this year. Part of that may be due to a crackdown on alleged fraud that started late last year. Temer’s administration announced it had found “irregularities” in the records of 1.1 million recipients – about 8 percent of the 14 million people who receive the benefit. The infractions ranged from fraud to families that were earning above $150 a month, the cutoff to receive the benefit.

“The government shouldn’t lose focus on the priority” of keeping people out of poverty, said Skoufias, adding that Bolsa Familia represented only about 0.5 percent of Brazil’s gross domestic product and the government should be looking to allocate more, not fewer, resources to it.

Still, any discussion of increased spending is likely doomed in Congress, where a spending cap was passed earlier this year and Temer is pushing to make large cuts to the pension system. The fiscal situation is even worse for many states, including Rio.

A year after hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio is so broke that thousands of public workers are not being paid, or are being paid late in installments. Many budget items, from garbage collection to a community policing program, have been sharply reduced.

For many who live in Rio’s hundreds of favelas, or slums, an already hardscrabble existence feels increasingly precarious.

Maria de Pena Souza, 59, lives with her 24-year-old son in a small house with a zinc roof in the Lins favela in western Rio. They want to move because the home sits on a steep hill that is prone to deadly mudslides. But her son hasn’t been able to find work since finishing his military service a few years ago.

“I would leave if there was a way, but there isn’t,” said de Pena Souza, who added: “When it rains, I can’t sleep.”

The economic doldrums are clearly fueling the political comeback of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who from 2003 to 2010 presided over much of the boom. After leaving office with approval ratings over 80 percent, da Silva’s popularity plunged as he and his party were ensnared in corruption investigations. Da Silva is appealing a conviction and nearly 10-year sentence for corruption. But he still consistently leads preference polls for next year’s presidential election.

On the campaign trail, da Silva promises both a return to better economic times and refocusing on the poor.

“Lula is not just Lula,” da Silva said at a recent rally in Rio, using the name most Brazilians call him. “It’s an idea represented by millions of men and women. Prepare yourselves because the working class will return to govern this country.”

—

Associated Press writer Peter Prengaman reported this story in Rio de Janeiro, AP writer Sarah DiLorenzo reported from Sao Paulo and AP writer Daniel Trielli reported from Washington. AP video journalist Diarlei Rodrigues in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.

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Millions return to poverty in Brazil, eroding 'boom' decade
Millions return to poverty in Brazil, eroding 'boom' decade
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Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Bullit Marquez

CLARK, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government declared the end Monday to the militant siege of a southern city that lasted five months, left more than 1,100 people dead and sparked fears of the Islamic State group gaining a foothold in Southeast Asia.

Speaking at an annual meeting of the region’s defense ministers, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters that combat operations in Marawi were ending after troops recovered 42 bodies of the last group of militants.

“Those are the last group of stragglers of Mautes and they were caught in one building so there was a firefight, so they were finished,” he said. “There are no more militants inside Marawi City.”

The siege had sparked fears the Islamic State group would influence, fund and strengthen local militancies as it was losing ground in Syria and Iraq. The defeat of the IS-linked uprising and the deaths of its leaders have been a relief to the region.

“The Philippine security forces, aided by its government and the massive support of the Filipino people, have nipped the budding infrastructure and defeated terrorism in the Philippines,” Lorenzana said.

He said the achievement shows how regional cooperation can contain the spread of terrorism. “In crushing thus far the most serious attempt to export violent extremism and radicalism in the Philippines and the region, we have contributed to preventing its spread in Asia.”

Fighting terrorism is high on the agenda of the Southeast Asian defense ministers’ meeting at the Clark freeport north of Manila. As the meetings opened, the head of the Brunei delegation expressed condolences for the loss of lives in Marawi but congratulated the Philippines for being able to liberate the city.

Malaysia’s minister said the siege was a wakeup call for the region. “We have to be very careful. What happened in Marawi can happen anywhere,” Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

Hundreds of militants, many waving Islamic State group-style black flags, launched the siege on May 23 in Marawi, a bastion of Islamic faith in the south of the largely Roman Catholic Philippines, by seizing the lakeside city’s central business district and outlying communities. They ransacked banks and shops, including gun stores, looted houses and smashed statues in a Roman Catholic cathedral, according to the military.

The fighting has left at least 1,131 people dead, including 919 militants and 165 soldiers and police. At least 1,780 of the hostages seized by the militants, including a Roman Catholic priest, were rescued. The final group of 20 captives were freed overnight, Army Col. Romeo Brawner said at a news conference Sunday. That left the gunmen with none of the hostages they had used as human shields to slow the military advance for months.

The disastrous uprising, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of Marawi residents, erupted as the Philippines was hosting annual summit meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, along with the 10-nation bloc’s Asian and Western counterparts, including the United States and Australia. The two governments have deployed surveillance aircraft and drones to help Filipino troops rout the Marawi militants.

Last week, troops killed the final two surviving leaders of the siege, including Isnilon Hapilon, who is listed among the FBI’s most-wanted terror suspects in the world, and Omarkhayam Maute. Following their deaths, President Rodrigo Duterte traveled near the main scene of battle and declared Marawi had been essentially liberated.

DNA tests done in the United States requested by the Philippine military have confirmed the death of Hapilon, according to the U.S. Embassy in Manila. Washington has offered a bounty of up to $5 million for Hapilon, who had been blamed for kidnappings for ransom of American nationals and other terrorist attacks.

Among the foreign militants believed to be with the remaining gunmen in Marawi were Malaysian militant Amin Baco and an Indonesian known only as Qayyim. Both have plotted attacks and provided combat training to local militants for years but have eluded capture in the south.

Lorenzana said Monday the identities of the final 42 bodies had not been determined and some were beyond recognition.

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Philippines declares end to 5-month militant siege in Marawi
Philippines declares end to 5-month militant siege in Marawi
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the Trump administration’s case for isolating and containing Iran in the Middle East and beyond to two Gulf Arab nations on Sunday, pushing for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite to counter growing Iranian assertiveness. He also called for a quick resolution to the ongoing crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors, which he said was unintentionally bolstering Iran.

In Saudi Arabia and later Qatar, Tillerson denounced Iran’s “malign behavior” and urged nations of the region and elsewhere, notably Europe, to join the administration to halt any business they do with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also demanded that Iranian and Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq either return to their homes, integrate into the Iraqi army or leave the country.

“Those fighters need to go home,” Tillerson said. “Any foreign fighters need to go home.”

In Riyadh for the inaugural meeting of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq Coordination Council – a vehicle that U.S. officials believe can wean Iraq from Iran – Tillerson told Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the nascent partnership between their countries held great promise for Iraq’s reconstruction after devastating battles to wrest territory from the Islamic State group and its independence from foreign influence.

“We believe this will in some ways counter some of the unproductive influences of Iran inside of Iraq,” he said at a news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir after the council meeting.

Tillerson said countries outside of the region could also play a role, primarily by shunning the Revolutionary Guards, which play a major role in Iran’s economy and were added to a U.S. terrorism blacklist earlier this month. Companies and countries that do business with the guards “really do so at great risk,” he said.

“We are hoping that European companies, countries and others around the world will join the U.S. as we put in place a sanctions structure to prohibit certain activities of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that foment instability in the region and create destruction in the region,” Tillerson said.

At the council meeting, Tillerson praised the Saudi king and Abadi for the August reopening of a major border crossing and the resumption of direct flights between Riyadh and Baghdad last week.

“Both represent the beginning of what we hope will be a series of even more tangible actions to improve relations and strengthen cooperation on a host of issues,” he said. “Your growing relationship between the kingdom and Iraq is vital to bolstering our collective security and prosperity and we take great interest in it.”

His participation in the meeting comes as U.S. officials step up encouragement of a new axis that unites Saudi Arabia and Iraq as a bulwark against Iran’s growing influence from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Amid the push for that alliance, the Iraqi government is struggling to rebuild recently liberated Islamic State strongholds and confronts a newly assertive Kurdish independence movement.

History, religion and lots of politics stand in Tillerson’s way, but both the Saudi king and the Iraqi prime minister appeared optimistic about the prospects.

“We are facing in our region serious challenges in the form of extremism, terrorism as well as attempts to destabilize our countries,” Salman said. “These attempts require our full attention. … We reaffirm our support for the unity and stability of our brother country of Iraq.”

Abadi expressed pleasure with “the thriving relations between our two brotherly countries.”

“We are open and we want to move away from the past,” he said. “The region cannot tolerate any further divisions. Interference in the internal affairs of other state should stop.”

Shiite-majority Iraq and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia, estranged for decades after Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, have tried in recent years to bridge their differences. Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Baghdad in 2015 after a quarter century. The first visit by a Saudi foreign minister to Baghdad came in February this year, followed by the border crossing reopening in August and resumption of direct flights between the capitals suspended during the Gulf War.

Over the weekend, the Saudi oil minister, Khalid al-Falih, made a high-profile appearance at Baghdad’s International Fair, and held talks with his Iraqi counterpart, Jabar al-Luabi.

Nevertheless, the relationship is plagued by suspicion. Iran’s reported intervention in Iraq’s semiautonomous northern Kurdish region, after last month’s much criticized vote for independence in a referendum, has deepened the unease.;After his talks in Riyadh, Tillerson flew to the Qatari capital of Doha, a direct route that has been closed to commercial airlines since June when the now-five-month old crisis between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates erupted, ostensibly over terrorism financing. Qatar and Bahrain are home to the largest U.S. military bases in the Middle East.

Tillerson has attempted to facilitate a dialogue through talks with the feuding parties as well as supporting a Kuwaiti mediation effort but has thus far been unsuccessful. He renewed those calls but allowed that progress seemed unlikely. “We cannot force talks between parties who are not ready to talk,” he said.

“The United States remains concerned that the dispute has had negative consequences economically and militarily; the U.S. has felt these effects as well,” he said. “None of us can afford to let this dispute linger. We ask that everyone ease the rhetoric and deescalate the tensions.”

Tillerson noted that the only country benefiting from the crisis is Iran, which is now Qatar’s lifeline as its neighbors have sealed their land, sea and air borders. He said Qatar’s new reliance on Iranian airspace is “the most immediate and obvious gain that Iran has.”

“Anytime there is conflict and destabilization among countries that are typically allies, someone will always come in to exploit those differences,” he added.

—

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

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Tillerson seeks Arab help in US effort to isolate Iran
Tillerson seeks Arab help in US effort to isolate Iran
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Source: AP HEADLINES

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The fate of Bowe Bergdahl – the Army sergeant who pleaded guilty to endangering his comrades by leaving his post in 2009 in Afghanistan – now rests in the hands of a judge.

A sentencing hearing for Bergdahl starts Monday at Fort Bragg and is expected to feature dramatic testimony about soldiers and a Navy SEAL badly hurt while they searched for the missing Bergdahl, who was held captive for five years by Taliban allies after leaving his post. Bergdahl faces up to life in prison on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy after pleading guilty to the charges last week.

Bergdahl made his plea without striking a deal with prosecutors for a lesser punishment, opting instead for a move known as a “naked plea,” in hopes of leniency from the judge. The plea, legal experts say, may be a sign that the evidence against Bergdahl was strong.

Eric Carpenter, a former Army lawyer who teaches law at Florida International University, said a naked plea can be advantageous by allowing the defense to refrain from agreeing to certain facts that it might otherwise have to concede to under a plea agreement.

Greg Rinckey, a former Army prosecutor and defense attorney now in private practice, said such a plea is risky.

“You don’t plead someone out naked without weighing those risks,” Rinckey said.

The judge, Army Col. Jeffery Nance, will also have to resolve last-minute arguments by defense attorneys that President Donald Trump has unfairly swayed the court-martial with new comments about the highly politicized case. During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly called Bergdahl a “traitor.” The defense argues that remarks made by Trump as late as last week show that he harbors the same view now that he is commander in chief. A White House statement on Friday said, while not mentioning Bergdahl by name, that all military personnel in the justice process should use their independent judgment and that any case should be “resolved on its own facts.”

Bergdahl’s lawyers are hoping that the five years that he spent as a Taliban captive will win him some leniency from the judge. Bergdahl, 31, has said he was caged, kept in darkness and beaten. He said he tried to escape more than a dozen times.

The plea came after several pretrial rulings against the defense. Perhaps most significant was the judge’s decision in June to allow evidence of the searchers’ wounds at sentencing. The judge ruled that a Navy SEAL and an Army National Guard sergeant wouldn’t have wound up in separate firefights that left them wounded if they hadn’t been searching for Bergdahl.

While calling the wounded men “heroes,” Bergdahl’s lawyers have argued their client can’t be blamed for a long chain of events that included decisions by others on the searches.

At his plea hearing, Bergahl himself said he now understands his disappearance triggered the missions, calling his actions “very inexcusable.”

President Barack Obama brought Bergdahl home in 2014 in a swap for five Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, leading to criticism by Republicans including Trump.

Bergdahl has said he walked away from his remote post with the intention of reaching other commanders and drawing attention to what he saw as problems with his unit.

One of the injured soldiers who could testify, former Army Cpl. Jonathan Morita, said in a phone interview after the plea hearing that he wasn’t sure whether to feel happy about Bergdahl’s admission of guilt.

“It’s good that he said it. But did he really mean it, or did the defense tell him to say it?” said Morita, who was injured after a rocket-propelled grenade struck his rifle. The grenade didn’t explode, but it shattered the bones in his hand.

Retired Senior Chief Petty Officer James Hatch is expected to testify about a leg wound on a search mission that ended his career as a Navy SEAL.

“Senior Chief Hatch has always said he wants him to have a fair trial and a fair sentence, with the understanding of all the suffering that he caused by trying to support his own agenda,” said Buddy Rake, Hatch’s lawyer. He declined to say what level of punishment Hatch thinks is appropriate.

But Rake, himself a Navy veteran, believes Bergdahl should at a minimum be deprived of an honorable discharge: “As you go through life you get all sorts of trophies and awards, but the most important that I’ve ever received is the one that says ‘honorable discharge.'”

—

Follow Drew at www.twitter.com/jonldrew

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Dramatic sentencing hearing expected in Bergdahl case
Dramatic sentencing hearing expected in Bergdahl case
{$excerpt:n}
Source: AP HEADLINES