Author: Himalaya Post

WASHINGTON – Tuesday’s special congressional election in Ohio is the final direct face-off between Republicans and Democrats before the November mid-terms, and President Donald Trump’s party is holding its breath. The seat was supposed to remain safely in Republican hands. But Democrats who anticipate their grassroots activism propelling a “blue wave” this year see a genuine shot at flipping a district long held by the GOP, and sending a message that Trump’s brand of attack politics is in trouble. Republicans control both the Senate and House of Representatives, but in a time of swirling frustration with the commander-in-chief, including from within his party, Trump is worried that any dent in the GOP hold on Congress could hurt its ability to push through his agenda, and expose him to Democratic efforts to oust him from power. In recent weeks he has made several campaign appearances ahead of state primaries, endorsing candidates for Congress and governor and imploring his supporters, as he did in Ohio on Saturday night, to get out and vote. Pollsters rate the Ohio race between Republican state senator Troy Balderson and 31-year-old Democratic lawyer Danny O’Connor as a toss-up. In a swing state that Trump won by eight points in 2016, Balderson’s 10-point lead from June has evaporated. “Ohio, vote today for Troy Balderson for Congress,” the president tweeted Tuesday morning, saying that O’Connor “is weak on...

FRANKFURT AM MAIN – German automaker Daimler on Tuesday said it was halting its business activities in Iran after the United States re-imposed sanctions on Tehran. “We have suspended our already limited activities in Iran in accordance with the applicable sanctions,” a spokeswoman told AFP, adding that Daimler was closely monitoring the political...

MOSCOW – Russia on Tuesday said it was “deeply disappointed” by US President Donald Trump’s decision to re-impose unilateral sanctions on Iran. “We are deeply disappointed by US steps to reimpose its national sanctions against Iran,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, adding it will do “everything necessary” to save the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal and protect its shared economic interests with...

ATHENS – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday vowed to end decades of illegal building “chaos” which he blamed for contributing to devastating fires last month that claimed scores of lives. Tsipras’ government has been severely criticised over its response to the July 23 wildfire in the coastal resort of Mati that claimed 91 lives, making it the deadliest fire disaster in Greek history. “Illegal building chaos that threatens human lives can no longer be tolerated,” Tsipras said after a meeting with ministers and regional administrators. “Whatever destroys forests and beaches, whatever represents a danger will be torn down,” he said. “It is our duty to our dead, but more so towards the living.” Four senior officials including the minister responsible for the police and the heads of the police and fire brigade have been removed, days after claiming that the state’s response to the emergency had been well-managed. The government had insisted that with winds blowing at speeds of up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) an hour, there was little time to mount an effective evacuation. It later emerged that the police had failed to properly seal away the area because the fire brigade had not alerted them to the location and size of the fire. As a result, many drivers were inadvertently diverted into Mati’s narrow streets and trapped. Residents fleeing the flames with just the...

TEHRAN – Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met with his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho on Tuesday, on the same day the US reimposed nuclear-related sanctions on the Islamic republic. Zarif welcomed Ri and a team of officials at the foreign ministry in Tehran, but no statement was made to reporters. Ri is on a two-day visit to Tehran, and is due to meet with President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday. Fars news agency said the two sides discussed “bilateral relations and regional issues in the Middle East”, without giving further details. The visit coincided with the United States reimposing sanctions on Iran after President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 multilateral nuclear deal in May. The US is currently also pushing Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear capabilities after Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un agreed a vague commitment to “denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula” at their landmark summit in June. A UN panel of experts has expressed concern over military collaboration between Iran and North Korea in the past. In a 2017 report, it noted the presence of designated North Korean weapons traffickers living in Tehran and the similarity between missile designs in the two countries. Ri was present alongside a high-level Iranian delegation at a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Baku, Azerbaijan in April, according to Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency. A North Korean...