Latest news with #U.S.Congress
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Seattle Socialist Kshama Sawant announces bid against WA Rep. Adam Smith
The Brief Kshama Sawant, former Seattle City Councilmember, announced her run for U.S. Congress against 30-year incumbent Adam Smith in Washington's 9th District. Sawant criticizes Smith's support for military actions, labeling him a "warmonger," and highlights her advocacy for progressive policies like Seattle's $15 minimum wage. The election is scheduled for November 3, 2026. SEATTLE - Former socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant announced Monday she is running for U.S. Congress against 30-year incumbent Adam Smith. Sawant held a press conference Monday announcing her bid for Washington's 9th Congressional District, looking to unseat Adam Smith, who has represented the district in Congress since 1997. Smith has comfortably beaten every challenger in his last 15 elections, often by close to 100,000 votes. Kshama Sawant is a socialist and served on the Seattle City Council from 2013 to 2023. Before that, she unsuccessfully ran for the Washington State House of Representatives in 2012 against Frank Chopp. Sawant helped push through Seattle's minimum wage hike, which went up to $15 an hour in 2015. She also pushed for rent control, a "millionaires tax" and expanding public transit. After announcing she would not seek reelection in 2023, Sawant turned her attention to the labor group Workers Strike Back, which she co-founded, with the goal of turning it into a national labor movement. Adam Smith is the incumbent representative for Washington's 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before then, Smith won two terms as a Washington State Senator in 1990 and 1994. Smith is a Democrat and is a ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. Sawant is running against Smith, characterizing him as a "warmonger," and claims he "has never met a war that he didn't like." Sawant points to his vote in favor of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well as military operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine, and his enthusiastic support for Israel's multi-year retaliatory bombing campaign in Gaza after Hamas' 2023 invasion. What they're saying "We should not be surprised. Both Democrats and Republicans have been purveyors of endless brutal wars throughout their history," said Sawant at her press conference Monday. "The Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress spent more than $14 trillion on war since 9/11. A third to one half of this money is pocketed by military contractors, who in turn fund the campaigns of their favorite Democrats and Republicans." The next election will be held on Nov. 3, 2026. The Source Information in this story comes from Kshama Sawant's office and previous coverage from FOX 13 Seattle. Homicide investigation underway after 5-year-old dies in Federal Way, WA Alaska man pinned by 700-pound boulder for 3 hours walks away unharmed Why hasn't anyone been charged in Seattle clash arrests? What we know Mandatory driver's education to expand under new Washington law To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.
The Hindu
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Pakistan too sends all-party teams to present its case abroad
In what appears to be a move to copy India's outreach to countries after the four-day conflict and May 10 ceasefire after Operation Sindoor, Pakistan on Monday (June 2, 2025) sent parliamentary delegations to various capitals to discuss its version of events, call for an international 'role' in the region, and plead its case for the restoration of the Indus Waters Treaty, suspended by India after the Pahalgam terror attack. Unlike the seven Indian delegations, comprising 59 MPs and former diplomats that are visiting a total of 33 countries, the two Pakistani delegations will visit only five capitals, with a nine-member delegation led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto going to New York, Washington DC, London, and Brussels, where the European Union headquarters is located. Another delegation led by Special Assistant to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Syed Tariq Fatemi travelled to Moscow on Monday, indicating a special emphasis by Pakistan on engaging Russia. At the same time in U.S. Significantly, both the Indian delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, and the Pakistani delegation led by Mr. Bhutto will be in Washington at the same time, and are expected to meet members of the U.S. Congress, which will be in session this week. While Indian MPs will return to New Delhi this week, the Pakistani delegation that includes former Ministers Sherry Rehman, Hina Rabbani Khar and Khurram Dastgir Khan, is travelling from June 2-18 to the Western countries. Two former Foreign Secretaries will accompany them. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the delegations had been directed by Prime Minister Sharif to 'present Pakistan's perspective on recent Indian aggression and Pakistan's measured and responsible conduct', referring to India's strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan on May 7 and the military escalation that followed. 'The delegations will underscore the imperative for the international community to play its due role in promoting a lasting peace in South Asia', said an MFA statement issued in Islamabad. 'The need for immediate resumption of the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty will also be a key theme of the delegations' outreach,' it added. On April 23, a day after the Pahalgam attack in which 26 men, mostly Indian tourists, were shot dead by terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba front TRF group, India announced it was holding the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in abeyance 'until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism', amongst a number of other diplomatic measures. At an international conference in Tajikistan, Mr. Sharif accused India of holding 'millions of lives…hostage to narrow political gains'. Speaking in Colombia at a press briefing where Indian MPs were asked about the decision, Mr. Tharoor said: 'The Indus Waters Treaty was offered by India to Pakistan in the early 1960s in a spirit of goodwill and harmony…But the time for acting on the basis of goodwill unilaterally is frankly no longer with us,' a stance he is expected to stress during the visit to Washington by the Indian delegation that begins on Tuesday.
Business Recorder
3 days ago
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Ukraine keeps Russia guessing over participation in June 2 peace talks
KYIV: Ukraine on Friday resisted pressure from Moscow and Washington to commit itself to attending another round of peace talks with Russia on June 2, saying it first needed to see the proposals Russian negotiators plan to bring. U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a further round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul. Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals. 'For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X after hosting Turkey's foreign minister for talks in Kyiv. Trump says Russia, Ukraine agree to immediate ceasefire talks, Kremlin offers no timeframe 'Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,' he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia. Some Republicans in the U.S. Congress and White House advisers have urged Trump to finally embrace new sanctions on Russia to put pressure Moscow. Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv on Friday the Republican-led U.S. Senate is expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week. Graham, who met Zelenskiy in Kyiv, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the U.S. president expects concrete actions now from Moscow. Graham accused Putin of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubts the Istanbul meeting will amount to more than a 'Russian charade.' The war, the biggest on the European continent since World War Two, began when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Expectations for the talks are modest because the positions staked out so far by the two sides are far apart and work between them has yet to begin in earnest on narrowing the gap. Nevertheless, both Kyiv and Moscow are keen to demonstrate to Trump that they are on board with his efforts to end the conflict. Kyiv is seeking more U.S. military aid, while Moscow hopes he will ease economic sanctions on Russia. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning. 'At the moment, everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed,' Peskov told reporters. No more nato enlargement? Reuters reported earlier this week that Putin's conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards. Trump's envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said earlier on Friday that Russia's concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance. Commenting on Kellogg's statement, Peskov said: 'We are pleased that these explanations by the president are understood, including in Washington.' Turkey's government hosted a previous round of Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul on May 16 - which ended with no breakthrough - and has again offered its services as a mediator. Trump to speak to Putin on end to war in Ukraine as Europeans demand ceasefire Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters in Kyiv: 'As long as (the sides) remain at the negotiating table, progress can surely be seen.' If the talks go ahead in Istanbul, the next step would be to try to host a meeting between Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukraine's Zelenskiy, he added. But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who appeared alongside Fidan at a news conference, said Kyiv needed to see the Russian proposals in advance for the talks to be 'substantive and meaningful.' Sybiha did not spell out what Kyiv would do if it did not receive the Russian document, or set out a deadline for receiving it. 'We want to end this war this year, and we are interested in establishing a truce, whether it is for 30 days, or for 50 days, or for 100 days,' he said. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that Moscow was ready to consider a ceasefire provided that Western states stopped arming Ukraine and that Kyiv stopped mobilising troops. Moscow has said its delegation at the Istanbul talks will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide who led the Russian team at the previous round of talks.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US court blocks Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs
By Dietrich Knauth and Daniel Wiessner NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from nations that sell more to the United States than they buy. The Manhattan-based Court of International Trade said the U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Congress exclusive powers to regulate commerce with other countries that are not trumped by the president's emergency powers to safeguard the U.S. economy. The lawsuit, filed by the nonpartisan Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the duties, was the first major legal challenge to Trump's tariffs. The companies - which range from a New York wine and spirits importer to a Virginia-based maker of educational kits and musical instruments - have said the tariffs will hurt their ability to do business. The lawsuit is one of seven court challenges to Trump's tariff policies, along with challenges from 13 U.S. states and other groups of small businesses.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
US court blocks Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs
By Dietrich Knauth and Daniel Wiessner NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs from going into effect, ruling that the president overstepped his authority by imposing across-the-board duties on imports from nations that sell more to the United States than they buy. The Manhattan-based Court of International Trade said the U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. Congress exclusive powers to regulate commerce with other countries that are not trumped by the president's emergency powers to safeguard the U.S. economy. The lawsuit, filed by the nonpartisan Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. businesses that import goods from countries targeted by the duties, was the first major legal challenge to Trump's tariffs. The companies - which range from a New York wine and spirits importer to a Virginia-based maker of educational kits and musical instruments - have said the tariffs will hurt their ability to do business. The lawsuit is one of seven court challenges to Trump's tariff policies, along with challenges from 13 U.S. states and other groups of small businesses. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
