| Iran says new tensions between Revolutionary Guards and U.S. Navy Posted: 29 Jul 2017 01:43 PM PDT  The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that U.S. Navy ships came close to their vessels in the Gulf and shot flares. The USS Nimitz and an accompanying battleship drew close to a rocket-bearing Iranian vessel on Friday and sent out a helicopter near a number of Guards vessels close to the Resalat oil and gas platform, the Guards said in a statement published by their official news site Sepah News. "Islam's warriors, without paying attention to this unconventional and unusual behavior from the American vessels, continued their mission in the area and the aircraft carrier and accompanying battleship left the area." There was no immediate official comment from Washington on the Revolutionary Guards' statement.
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| Iran rules out halt to missile tests as tension with US rises Posted: 29 Jul 2017 01:09 PM PDT  A defiant Iran vowed on Saturday to press ahead with its missile programme and condemned new US sanctions, as tensions rise after the West hardened its tone against the Islamic republic. In the latest incident, Tehran and Washington accused each other's naval forces of provocative manoeuvres in the Gulf that culminated in a US helicopter firing warning flares. The US Navy said it had reacted to unresponsive vessels belonging to the Revolutionary Guards closing in on American ships at high speed, a charge denied by Iran which described the American move as unprovoked.
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| Steve Bannon 'pushes plan for 44pc tax on Americans earning over $5m' Posted: 28 Jul 2017 08:03 PM PDT  Americans earning more than $5 million (£3.8m) a year could face a new 44 per cent tax rate, under a proposal reportedly being promoted by influential White House adviser Steve Bannon. Mr Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs banker who is now the chief strategist for President Donald Trump, is said to be pressing for the higher tax rate in a bid to provide tax cuts for lower earners. Three White House sources told online news site The Intercept that Mr Bannon was behind the plan, which would increase the top rate from a current 39.6 per cent. Steve Bannon and Donald Trump Mr Trump has made tax reform one of his priorities, campaigning on a promise to simplify America's byzantine system. A previous plan he floated reduced the number of tax brackets from seven to three, and reduced the top tax rate to 35 per cent. A 44 per cent level, however, is close to that proposed by Mr Trump's presidential rival, Hillary Clinton. It is something Mr Trump could well be considering. "I have wealthy friends that say to me, 'I don't mind paying more tax,'" he said on Tuesday, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "The truth is the people I care most about are the middle-income people in this country who have gotten screwed. And if there's upward revision it's going to be on high-income people." Sarah Huckerbee Sanders, the White House spokesman, said a day later that further details would be released shortly. "We're focused on the three big priorities of the tax reform: a simple, fair tax code, middle class relief, and creating jobs," she said. "I think the president is looking and prioritising middle-class tax relief. He's made no secret about that. That's one of the biggest priorities of the three things that he's focused on when it comes to tax reform." That the plan comes from Mr Bannon, a self-described "economic nationalist" who headed the populist conservative website Breitbart, is no surprise. When the broad outline of the tax hike was reported earlier, Breitbart covered it favourably. Profile | Steve Bannon But the increase of tax on the rich would face stiff opposition from congressional Republicans. Just over 43,000 people filed tax returns for the year 2014 claiming income of at least $5 million, according to the IRS. Their payments accounted for $600 billion in taxes, or 8.8 per cent of the total taxes paid. The new rate would only apply to about a third of that money, as the 44 per cent applies at the $5 million level. The Intercept estimated it would bring in around $18 billion per year.
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| Republican senators threaten to bolt from Obamacare repeal effort Posted: 28 Jul 2017 07:48 PM PDT  By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. Senate Republican leaders feverishly tried to pass a slimmed-down Obamacare repeal, some senators threatened to bring the entire effort to a halt unless there were guarantees that the bill would be significantly changed during negotiations with the House of Representatives. With the Senate digging in for what could be a rare all-night session to debate amendments to a Republican healthcare plan that would roll back parts of the seven-year-old Affordable Care Act, Republican senators challenged their leaders and expressed frustration with the entire process. "I'd rather get of out of the way and have it collapse, than have a half-assed approach where it is now our problem," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.
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| Trump administration reportedly threatens Alaska over senator’s health care vote Posted: 28 Jul 2017 07:32 PM PDT  Sen. Lisa Murkowsk confirmed that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke contacted her after her vote against a health care bill earlier this week. The conversation reportedly involved threats of administrative retribution against her home state.
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| Anthony Scaramucci Tries to Clarify Expletive-Laden Interview: 'I Sometimes Use Colorful Language' Posted: 28 Jul 2017 07:01 PM PDT  The Mooch, 53, is a native of Long Island, N.Y., and has had a friendship with Trump over the years.
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| Electric-car battery progress: incremental improvements, not revolutionary leaps Posted: 28 Jul 2017 05:07 PM PDT  The report that Toyota is planning an electric car with a solid-state battery for 2022 has led some fans and advocates to suggest huge new leaps in electric cars are imminent.
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| White House at war: Now Reince Priebus prepares his next move Posted: 28 Jul 2017 04:14 PM PDT  Reince Priebus, the embattled White House chief of staff, has begun calling allies for advice on how to fight back against a campaign of private lobbying that this week erupted into a civil war at the heart of Donald Trump's administration. Factional fighting behind the scenes exploded into public view on Thursday when Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trump's new communications director, launched a foul-mouthed tirade against Mr Priebus. As a Republican Party stalwart, he finds himself increasingly isolated among the political newcomers and New York millionaires that staff Mr Trump's unconventional White House. Anthony Scaramucci talking to reporters at the White House Credit: AP Insiders say he is well aware of his position and is debating whether to jump before he is pushed. "He figured he would do the job for a year and now is trying to work out if that is possible – and if that is what he wants," said a Republican insider, speaking on condition of anonymity. Other reports suggested he was sounding out allies as part of an effort to fight back. He had opposed the hiring of Mr Scaramucci and saw one of his allies, Sean Spicer, resign in protest. In a further snub, the new director of communications has made clear that he answers only to the president rather than the chief of staff. .@Scaramucci on WH Chief of Staff Priebus: "If Reince wants to explain that he's not a leaker, let him do that." https://t.co/H7s5SzqeOa— CNN (@CNN) July 27, 2017 He appeared on CNN on Thursday morning and all but accused Mr Priebus of being the source of damaging leaks. Hours later, a New Yorker reporter published details of a telephone conversation during which Mr Scaramucci threatened to fire his own communications team as he searched for White House moles. He also delivered a profanity-laden description of Mr Preibus as a "paranoid schizophrenic" and said he would soon be asked to resign. I made a mistake in trusting in a reporter. It won't happen again.— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) July 28, 2017 Observers pointed out that Mr Scaramucci, nicknamed the Mooch, had been channelling his boss. "The Mooch is a New Yorker like me," Rudolph Giuliani, the city's former mayor and an adviser to Mr Trump told the New York Times. "He's a purebred New Yorker. He's lit a firecracker in that place. What you're seeing in Scaramucci is the president's style." Anthony Scaramucci stands on the tarmac after arriving at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, New York Credit: AP In true Trumpian fashion, the ugly outburst also served as a distraction from more bad news for Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare. In the early hours of Friday morning, the Senate once again failed to pass a bill that would have undone key elements of Barack Obama's signature policy. John McCain leaves the Senate chamber after voting against the "skinny" repeal bill Credit: Getty images John McCain, who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour, and two other Republican senators voted against it, enough to deny Republican leaders the simple majority they needed. The "skinny" repeal bill, as it is known, marks the third failed attempt to pass a healthcare overhaul. Analysis by the Congressional Budget Office estimates it would have meant an extra 16 million people going with insurance cover during the next decade and an increase of 20 per cent on premiums. The failure is a reminder that Mr Trump is struggling to make any progress with his legislative agenda. Scaramucci: leakers would have been hanged 150 years ago 00:44 In a White House filled with family members, retired generals and populist outsiders who lack a Republican background, it is Mr Priebus and his small band of party apparatchiks who must bear the blame for failures in Congress. But Rich Galen, a Republican strategist, said Mr Priebus's biggest weakness was that his surname was not Trump or Kushner. Reince Priebus walks to boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base to travel with Donald Trump to Brentwood, New York Credit: AP "Without that, I think he is always one eyebrow raise from Trump away from having his stuff in cardboard boxes on the front of the White House lawn," he said. He added that chief of staff was always a demanding job – at the centre of a web connecting the Pentagon, State Department, other agencies and Congress among many others – even without the additional chaos of Mr Trump's management style. "I think it's going to be a rotating job. I don't think anyone can last six or seven months in that role because you can't control the work flow or the paper flow," he said.
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| MS-13: a ruthless Latino gang that preys on its own Posted: 28 Jul 2017 03:16 PM PDT  The ultra-violent Latino street gang MS-13, which President Trump vowed to wipe out in a speech in suburban New York on Friday, is estimated to have some 10,000 members in the United States. Each of these units is loyal to the broader gang but has its own leader and functions differently, says Hector Silva of Insight Crime, a Washington-based center that studies organized crime in Latin America. Many were born in the United States.
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| In gang-plagued New York town, some are wary of Trump visit Posted: 28 Jul 2017 02:37 PM PDT  President Donald Trump on Friday will visit a New York suburb traumatized by the violent street gang MS-13, which he has pledged to wipe out, but many in the Long Island community of Brentwood are wary of his motives. The gang, which is largely Salvadoran, has killed 17 people here over the past year and a half. Around 70 percent of the 60,000 people in Brentwood are Latinos, mainly from Central America, and many are living in the US illegally, without residency papers.
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