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The Al Duhail vs Al Rayyan match-up on Sunday, highlights the QNB Stars League’s Week 3 action. The kick-off is at 7:35pm at the Khalifa International Stadium. Duhail will be keen to continue from where they left off last season. The 2017-18 season QNB Stars League champions will have only victory in mind when they play host to Al Rayyan. It has to be seen whether Al Rayyan, the third-placed side last season, will stop Al Duhail, who had also annexed the Qatar Cup and Emir’s Cup last season, on their tracks. Al Duhail will also be keen to avenge their defeat in the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup, where they lost to Al Rayyan on penalties. Al Duhail have six points, but are currently second in the standings behind Al Sadd on goal difference. Al Rayyan stand third with four points. Al Duhail would not want to drop points at any stage if they are to retain the title, while Al Rayyan have already lost two points following their 1-1 draw with Umm Salal in Week 2. The Red Knights miss injured players Karim Boudiaf and Ismail Mohammed, who both are recovering from surgery. However, they have the likes of Moroccan striker Yousef El Arabi, the league’s top scorer in the last two seasons, South Korean attacking midfielder Nam Tae-Hee, new recruit Edmilson, Lucas Mendes, wily forward Almoez Ali and young Bassam al-Rawi. Al Rayyan are without their Moroccan spearhead Abderrazaq Hamdallah through injury. New recruit, Argentinian striker Jonathan Menendez, is a doubtful starter as he awaits his papers from former club Independiente. However, they have Rodrigo Tabata, Sebastian Soria, Khalfan Ibrahim, Abdulrahman al-Harazi, Daniel Goumou, Gonzalo Vieira and South Korean Koh Myong-Jin. Al Sadd, Al Gharafa set for thrilling clash Al Sadd, who had to be content with only the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup triumph last season, will definitely be hungry for more success, so their home encounter with Al Gharafa in Week 3 of the QNB Stars League is sure to be a thriller. The match will kick off at the Al Sadd Stadium at 5:25pm on Sunday. Al Sadd are the side with most Qatar League titles (13) and Al Gharafa, who managed to finish fourth last season, do not lag behind when it comes to history, tradition and performance. Al Sadd are in great form and top the QNB Stars League table ahead of Al Duhail on goal difference. They both have six points, but The Wolves enjoy a goal difference of +15 compared to The Red Knights’ +9. Both teams are coming off victories. Al Sadd defeated Al Arabi 10-1, while Al Gharafa beat Al Sailiya 2-1. The Cheetahs thus made up for their loss to Qatar SC in the first round and are placed seventh in the table. Al Sadd famously boast players such as Xavi Hernandez, Gabi, Baghdad Bounedjah, Akram Afif, Hassan al-Haydous and Ali Asad. Bounedjah is the 2018-19 QNB Stars League’s top scorer with 10 goals. The Algerian ace netted a hat-trick in their 6-0 win over Al Kharaitiyat and followed it up with a seven-goal effort against Al Arabi. Al Gharafa have the likes of Wesley Sneijder, a FIFA World Cup runner-up with the Netherlands, Mehdi Taremi, Vladimir Weiss, Diego Amado and Ahmed Alaaeldin.

The QNB Stars League match between high-flying Al Rayyan and a motivated Umm Salal tomorrow is expected to be fought fiercely. Al Rayyan have momentum on their side going into the match, which will kick off at 5:30pm at Al Sadd Stadium, having won the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup, defeating Al Duhail on penalties, and also their Week 1 game against Al Ahli with a 2-0 margin. On the other hand, Umm Salal suffered the heartbreak of conceding a goal right at the death and losing their league opener to Al Sailiya 1-2. Al Rayyan started their preparations for the game on Tuesday under their new Argentinian coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena. They have been without the services of Moroccan striker Abderrazaq Hamdallah since the end of last season. However, Argentinian striker Jonathan Menendez joined The Lions for one season from Club Atletico Independiente and trained along with his new teammates on Tuesday. He replaced Moroccan midfielder Mohsine Moutaouli, who switched to Al Ahli. Al Rayyan also have Rodrigo Tabata, Sebastian Soria, Koh Myong-Jin, Abdulrahman al-Harazi, Daniel Goumou, Khalfan Ibrahim and Gonzalo Vieira in their ranks. Similarly, Umm Salal will miss Nigerian striker Christian Osaguona as he is nursing a ligament injury he sustained during the Al Sailiya match. But they may get the services of three of their players — Bilal Mohamed, Mohamed al-Sayed and Adel Alawi — who missed their opener due to injuries, but were back in training. Laurent Banide’s side also includes Yannick Sagbo, Ismail Mahmoud, Mahmoud Mawas and Adel Rhaili. In the other match tomorrow, Qatar SC, under Abdulla Mubarak, will be highly motivated as they brace for Al Ahli. Qatar SC had scored an upset 3-1 victory over Al Gharafa. Qatar SC put up an outstanding performance and the players who shone the most were Osama Omari, Hussein Ali and Ali Awad.

Argentinian striker Jonathan Menendez, who joined Al Rayyan for one season, hit the straps immediately as he joined The Lions’ preparations for their upcoming QNB Stars League Week 2 match against Umm Salal. The game will start at the Al Sadd Stadium at 5:30pm tomorrow.  Jonathan, who came to Al Rayyan from Argentina’s Club Atletico Independiente, trained along with his new teammates on Tuesday. He is replacement for Moroccan midfielder Mohsine Moutaouli, who moved to Al Ahli. Al Rayyan, who beat Al Ahli 2-0 in the first round, started their preparations for Umm Salal game on Tuesday under the watchful eyes of Argentinian coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena. The training session also saw goalkeeper Fahd Younis go through his paces after recovering from an injury. Al Sadd, Al Arabi gear up for Qatar Derby  QNB Stars League leaders Al Sadd are gearing up for their much-awaited Week 2 home encounter with Al Arabi, dubbed Qatar Derby, on Sunday. After their 6-0 win over Al Kharaitiyat last Sunday, Al Sadd resumed their preparations for the Al Arabi match on Tuesday. The coaching staff under Portuguese Jesualdo Ferreira gave enough recovery time to those who started against Al Kharaitiyat, while other players went through their paces at the training session. Al Sadd are above holders Al Duhail on goal difference in the QNB Stars League standings. Having started their 2018-campaign on a winning note, Al Arabi are leaving no stone unturned as they prepared for the big clash. Arabi had defeated Al Khor in Week 1 of the QNB Stars League, with Colombian striker Franco Arizala scoring the all-important goal. The win has boosted the confidence of Luka Bonacic’s team that stands sixth in the standings. And they are keen on maintaining the momentum as the players underwent training sessions in the morning and evening yesterday. Coach Gourcuff plots Gharafa’s revival Al Gharafa’s French coach Christian Gourcuff is preparing his players for the QNB Stars League Week 2 fixture against Al Sailiya, to be played at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday.  Al Gharafa badly want to compensate for their 1-3 loss to Qatar SC, while Al Sailiya are on a high after securing a last-gasp win over Umm Salal. Gourcuff and his assistants are trying hard to correct the mistakes they made against Qatar SC. The Cheetahs are seeking to build on their creditable fourth-place finish in last season’s QNB Stars League that earned them a berth in the Qatar Cup.

Doha: Top QNB Stars League side Al Rayyan yesterday signed a one-season contract with Argentinian striker Jonathan Menendez.  Al Rayyan team manager and Media Officer Omar al-Azani said Jonathan would replace Moroccan attacking Mohsine Moutaouli, who switched to Al Ahli. The signing came as a big boost for The Lions whose Moroccan striker Abderrazaq Hamdallah, their top scorer last season with 18 goals, is undergoing an intensive recovery programme for an ankle injury he suffered towards the end of last season.  Al Rayyan won the season-opening Sheikh Jassim Cup and also their QNB Stars League opener against Al Ahli. Al Duhail loan Ahmed Yasser to Vissel Kobe QNB Stars League title holders Al Duhail agreed the loan deal of defender Ahmed Yasser to Japan’s Vissel Kobe. Ahmed was loaned out to Al Rayyan in last season’s January transfer window after he completed another loan spell at Spanish club Cultural Leonesa. The 24-year-old had displayed a high level in the AFC Champions League as well and that caught the attention of top J1 League club Vissel Kobe, who sought him on loan to assist the likes of Spanish star Andres Iniesta. Meanwhile, Al Duhail forward Ismail Mohammed successfully underwent an operation after he sustained a double fracture on his right leg during their 3-0 QNB Stars League Week 1 win over promoted team Al Shahania on Sunday. He will be out of action at least for six to seven months. Ismail was fouled in the 52nd minute of their match by Al Shahania’s Nadir Awadh.

HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah met the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Raytheon International, Dr Thomas Kennedy, and Vice-President of Business Development John D Harris. Discussions during the meeting dealt with the joint projects and ways of developing them. The meeting was attended by the Military Attache of Qatar to the US Brigadier General Yusuf Mohamed al-Kuwari. HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah met the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lockheed Martin Defence Equipment, in Washington, DC, yesterday. A number of projects of common interest were discussed during the meeting. The meeting was attended by the Military Attache of Qatar to the US Brigadier General Yusuf Mohamed al-Kuwari. HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Affairs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah met US senators from New Jersey,  Rhode Island, West Virginia and Tennessee - Robert Menendez, Jack Reed, Shelley Moore Capito and Bob Corker, respectively, in Washington, DC, yesterday. The meetings discussed  means of enhancing  relations between Qatar and the US, the latest developments related to the Gulf and Syrian crises and the Palestinian issue.

Russia’s political and business leaders were quick to chalk up the recent summit with US President Donald Trump as a victory for Vladimir Putin. Now some fear Putin may have overplayed a winning hand and are bracing for a US sanctions backlash. The rouble fell 1.2 % last Tuesday after two US senators said in a statement they had begun working on new sanctions that would, among other things, take aim at Russian sovereign debt. It later recovered most of its losses. While the sanctions proposed by Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Bob Menendez were seen by most political risk analysts as unlikely in the near term, new curbs contemplated by other US lawmakers targeting the energy and metals sectors are more realistic, they say. “There was hope that dialogue would start after the talks between Putin and Trump. But the reaction inside the United States is blocking any dialogue,” said one billionaire included in January on a US Treasury list of people deemed too close to the Kremlin, some of whom were later hit with sanctions. “The threat of wider sanctions has grown,” the businessman told Reuters, declining to be named because of the subject’s sensitivity. Russian business people had hoped the Helsinki meeting, the first between the two presidents, would pave the way for a possible thaw in relations and delay, if not stop, the preparation of more sanctions which have followed thick and fast since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea. Instead, anger about what some US lawmakers saw as a too-deferential performance by Trump in Helsinki and his failure to publicly confront Putin over Moscow’s alleged meddling in US politics may have made things worse. In a country where state media portrays Putin as a seemingly infallible leader, even some of his supporters were fretting that he may have made an error by appearing to demonstrably take Trump’s side. In Helsinki, Putin said for the first time that he had wanted Trump to win the 2016 US presidential election and after the summit complained about political forces in the United States trying to undermine the meeting’s outcome. Sergei Markov, a longtime Putin supporter and former lawmaker for the ruling United Russia party, wrote on social media after the summit that the Russian president had outplayed Trump in Helsinki “by a big margin”, but added: “...In doing so he created a problem because he exposed his partner to fierce criticism in the United States.” Putin should have given Trump the chance to tell US media that he had extracted concessions from him in a “giveaway game”, staying focused on the longer-term goal of stabilising ties between Moscow and Washington, Markov said on his Facebook page. Instead, Putin appeared dominant while Trump was deemed by US critics as overly friendly to Russia and possibly even treasonous when he gave credence to Putin’s denials of meddling in the 2016 election despite US intelligence findings to the contrary. Many Republicans joined Democrats in criticising Trump’s performance. With an eye on US mid-term elections in November, a bipartisan group of senators is pushing the “DETER Act” legislation putting Putin on notice that his country would be hit with more US sanctions if Russia interferes in future polls. It was unclear how quickly that and other proposals could advance with US Congress’ summer recess looming. But the business and financial community in Russia is still worried. “The only outcome of this so far is that people are selling Russia,” said one state banker. “All liquid (Russian) securities are now hostage to geopolitics, which strongly depend on what goes on in the United States.”

HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met Senator Richard Burr, Chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Senator Mark Warner, Vice Chairman of the Committee, in Washington on Thursday. During the meeting, they discussed the strategic relations between the two friendly countries, and ways of boosting them, in addition to issues of mutual interest, especially in the field of enhancing co-operation in the fight against terrorism. The Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister earlier met Senator Bob Crocker, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the US Senate and Vice Chairman Senator Bob Menendez. HE also met separately with a number of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives and representatives of various committees in the US Congress. During the meetings, the strategic relations between Qatar and the United States and ways of developing them were discussed, in addition to a number of issues of common concern. Members of the US Congress held a working lunch for the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, during which they discussed bilateral ties. They also discussed a number of regional and international issues of common concern.

The US Supreme Court yesterday handed Donald Trump one of the biggest victories of his presidency, upholding his travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries and rejecting the argument that it represented unconstitutional religious discrimination. The 5-4 ruling, with the court’s five conservatives in the majority, ended a fierce fight in the courts over whether the policy amounted to an unlawful Muslim ban. Trump quickly claimed “profound vindication” after lower courts had blocked his travel ban announced in September, as well as two prior versions, in legal challenges brought by the state of Hawaii and others. The court held that the challengers had failed to show that the ban violates either US immigration law or the US Constitution’s First Amendment prohibition on the government favouring one religion over another. Trump, who has called the travel ban necessary to protect the country against attacks by Islamic militants, reacted on Twitter, writing: “Wow!” In a statement issued by the White House, Trump labelled the ruling “a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution” that upheld presidential authority on national security issues. “In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country,” Trump said. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said that Trump’s administration “has set forth a sufficient national security justification” to prevail. “We express no view on the soundness of the policy,” Roberts added. The ruling affirmed broad presidential discretion over who is allowed to enter the United States. It means that the current ban can remain in effect and that Trump could potentially add more countries. The current ban, announced in September, prohibits entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The Supreme Court allowed it to go largely into effect in December while the legal challenge continued. Roberts said the actions taken by Trump to suspend entry of certain classes of people were “well within executive authority and could have been taken by any other president — the only question is evaluating the actions of this particular president in promulgating an otherwise valid proclamation.” The challengers have argued the policy was motivated by Trump’s enmity toward Muslims and urged courts to take into account his inflammatory comments during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump as a candidate called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” In a strident dissent that she read from in court, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said there were “stark parallels” with the court’s now discredited 1944 decision that upheld US internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Sotomayor described at length various statements Trump made on the campaign trail. “Taking all the evidence together, a reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was driven primarily by anti-Muslim animus,” Sotomayor added. As part of yesterday’s ruling, Roberts officially repudiated the 1944 internment ruling and he rejected the comparison, saying that the war-era practice was “objectively unlawful and outside the scope of presidential authority.” Roberts said it was “wholly inapt to liken that morally repugnant order to a facial neutral policy denying certain foreign nationals the privilege of admission.” The travel ban was one of Trump’s signature hardline immigration policies that have been a central part of his presidency and “America First” approach. Trump issued his first version just a week after taking office, though it was quickly halted by the courts. Chad initially was on the list of countries targeted by Trump that was announced in September, but he removed it on April 10. Iraq and Sudan were on earlier versions of the ban. Venezuela and North Korea also were targeted in the current policy. Those restrictions were not challenged in court. Civil rights groups and Democrats denounced the ruling. “The ruling will go down in history as one of the Supreme Court’s great failures,” said Omar Jadwat, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the ban. The court’s decision “swallows wholesale government lawyers’ flimsy national security excuse for the ban instead of taking seriously the president’s own explanation for his actions,” Jadwat added. “Not since key decisions on slavery, segregation in schools, and Japanese American incarceration have we seen a decision that so clearly fails to protect those most vulnerable to government-led discrimination,” added Farhana Khera, executive director of the group Muslim Advocates. “Despite today’s ruling, turning away those fleeing horrific violence and persecution or to discriminate against people based on nationality and religion continues to be as un-American as ever,” said Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Trump also has moved to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children, acted against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, ended protected status for certain immigrants in the country for decades, intensified deportation efforts and pursued limits on legal immigration. Trump last week retreated on his administration’s practice of separating the children of immigrants from their parents when families were detained illegally entering the United States. The high court in June and December 2017 allowed two versions of the ban to take effect while court challenges ran their course but had not resolved the legal merits of the challenges until now. His lawyers said that only Trump’s actions since he became president in January 2017 should be relevant to the case. During the April 25 arguments before the justices, Solicitor General Noel Francisco said it was “crystal clear” that the travel restrictions were not a manifestation of Trump’s call for a Muslim ban.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday handed Donald Trump one of the biggest victories of his presidency, upholding his travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries and rejecting the argument that it represented unconstitutional religious discrimination. The 5-4 ruling, with the conservative justices in the majority and the liberal justices dissenting, ended a fierce fight in the courts over whether the policy amounted to an unlawful Muslim ban, while also confirming broad presidential powers over immigration and national security policy. Trump quickly claimed "profound vindication" after lower courts had blocked his travel ban announced in September, as well as two prior versions, in legal challenges brought by the state of Hawaii and others. Trump has called the travel ban necessary to protect the United States against attacks by militants. The ruling, denounced by civil rights groups and Democrats as well as protesters outside the courthouse, empowered Trump at the time when he is embroiled in controversy over his approach toward illegal immigration along the US-Mexican border. Trump last week retreated on his administration's practice of separating the children of immigrants from their parents when families were detained illegally entering the United States. The court held that the challengers had failed to show that the travel ban violated either US immigration law or the US Constitution's First Amendment prohibition on the government favouring one religion over another. People protest against the travel ban outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC. In remarks at the White House, Trump hailed "a tremendous victory for the American people and for our Constitution." "We have to be tough, and we have to be safe, and we have to be secure. At a minimum, we have to make sure that we vet people coming into the country," the Republican president said, referring in a statement to "this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians." The ban prohibits entry into the United States of most people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. The Supreme Court allowed it to go largely into effect in December while the legal challenge continued. Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, "Despite today's ruling, turning away those fleeing horrific violence and persecution or to discriminate against people based on nationality and religion continues to be as un-American as ever." Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said that Trump's administration "has set forth a sufficient national security justification" to prevail. "We express no view on the soundness of the policy," Roberts added. The ruling affirmed broad presidential discretion over who is allowed to enter the United States. Trump could potentially add more countries to the ban. Roberts said Trump's actions suspending entry of certain classes of people were "well within executive authority and could have been taken by any other president - the only question is evaluating the actions of this particular president in promulgating an otherwise valid proclamation." The challengers had argued that the policy was motivated by Trump's enmity toward Muslims and urged courts to take into account his inflammatory comments during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump as a candidate called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States." 'Stark parallels' In a dissent she read in the courtroom, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited "stark parallels" with the court's now-discredited 1944 decision that upheld US internment of Japanese-Americans during World War Two. Sotomayor also described various statements Trump made on the campaign trail. "Taking all the evidence together, a reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was driven primarily by anti-Muslim animus," Sotomayor added. In the ruling, Roberts officially repudiated the 1944 internment decision and rejected any comparison between the cases, saying that the war-era practice was "objectively unlawful and outside the scope of presidential authority." Roberts said it was "wholly inapt to liken that morally repugnant order to a facial neutral policy denying certain foreign nationals the privilege of admission." Chad initially was on the list of countries targeted by Trump that was announced in September, but he removed it on April 10. Iraq and Sudan were on earlier versions of the ban. Venezuela and North Korea also were targeted in the current policy. Those restrictions were not challenged in court. "The ruling will go down in history as one of the Supreme Court's great failures," said Omar Jadwat, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the ban. The travel ban was one of Trump's signature hardline immigration policies that have been a central part of his presidency and "America First" approach. Trump issued his first version just a week after taking office, though it was quickly halted by the courts. Trump also has moved to rescind protections for young immigrants sometimes called Dreamers brought into the United States illegally as children, acted against states and cities that protect illegal immigrants, ended protected status for certain immigrants in the country for decades, intensified deportation efforts and pursued limits on legal immigration. The ruling means that most people seeking to enter the United States from the affected countries will need to navigate an opaque waiver process. "If they are allowed to have this ban, what will they try next?" asked Mohamad Mashta, a Syrian who joined one of the lawsuits challenging the ban. Mashta is a permanent US resident working as an engineer in Ohio whose wife, also Syrian, was able to obtain a visa after the ban was initially blocked. With the policy in place, the number of people from the affected countries able to obtain visas has plummeted.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in the Argentine capital Friday to protest talks between the government and the IMF amid fresh public anger over a hike in utility prices. Even as demonstrators gathered on Plaza de Mayo to bring political heat to bear on President Mauricio Macri for vetoing curbs on electricity, gas and water costs on Thursday, his finance minister was announcing painful new measures designed to reassure the markets. Nicolas Dujovne announced $780mn worth of public spending cuts at a press conference at the government’s Casa Rosada palace. Among the targets of the cuts were technical assistance agreements with universities, labour agreements, and perks such as the use of state cars, travel and bonuses, the finance minister said. The march had begun on May 28 from across the South American country’s 23 provinces, culminating in the mass protest in Plaza de Mayo. Demonstrators carried banners declaring “Bread and Work” and “Out with the IMF.” “There should already be a general strike. They cannot distract us with the World Cup or with Messi,” said Pablo Moyano, one of the leaders of the main CGT union. The march was called by the Confederation of Workers of the Popular Economy (CTEP) which groups half a million people without registered employment. The leadership is close to the Catholic hierarchy and Pope Francis, a former archbishop of Buenos Aires. Its leader Juan Grabois said that given a widening gap between the middle class and the poor, “Argentina is unviable and the people will rebel.” Another leader, Daniel Menendez, said Macri’s decision this week to veto curbs on utility prices approved by Congress only gave added impetus to the protest. In tandem with other measures, the aim of the cuts announced by Dujovne is to reduce the fiscal deficit from 3.9% of GDP to 2.7% this year. Critics meanwhile point to a cost of living increase of almost 10% between January and April alone, and that a Central Bank survey that puts inflation expectations at 22%, well above its 15% target. Macri on Thursday used his veto to scrap a law placing curbs on utility prices, citing the need for fiscal discipline. The opposition-sponsored law, approved hours earlier by the Senate after heated debate, would have rolled back prices for public utilities to November levels, and linked future hikes to salary increases. It was the fifth time since Macri became president in December 2015 that he exercised his veto, a move that will likely deepen his unpopularity and which comes after a damaging currency run saw the Argentine peso lose 20% against the dollar and a decision to go to the IMF. Opinion polls say as many as 75% of Argentinians oppose any agreement with the IMF, which many link to painful memories of past economic and social crises, including a 2001 sovereign debt default blamed on the lender.

* Remark about Pence was ‘last straw’ * Trump cites ‘missed opportunity’ * North Korea blows up nuclear test tunnel US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un scheduled for next month, even after North Korea followed through on a pledge to blow up tunnels at its nuclear test site. Trump announced his abrupt withdrawal from what would have been a first-ever meeting between a serving US president and a North Korean leader in Singapore on June 12 in a letter to Kim. A White House official said a North Korean official's condemnation of US Vice President Mike Pence as a ‘political dummy’ was ‘the last straw’ that led to cancelling the summit. ‘Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it would be inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,’ Trump wrote to Kim. ‘Please let this letter serve to represent that the Singapore summit, for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world, will not take place.’ Trump called it ‘a missed opportunity’ and said he still hoped to meet Kim someday. However, the chances for a quick rescheduling appear remote and cancellation of the summit will renew fears of a return to conflict on the Korean peninsula. The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s cancellation of the summit. US stocks dropped sharply on the news, with the benchmark S&P 500 Index falling more than half a percent in about 10 minutes. Investors turned to US Treasury debt as a safe alternative, driving the yield on the 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, down to a 10-day low and back below the psychologically important 3 percent level. The US dollar also weakened broadly, particularly against the Japanese yen, which climbed to a two-week high against the greenback. ‘You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God that they will never have to be used,’ he said. Earlier on Thursday, North Korea had repeated a threat to pull out of the summit with Trump next month and warned it was prepared for a nuclear showdown with Washington if necessary. DECADES OF TENSION North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons has been a source of tension on the Korean peninsula for decades, as well as antagonism with Washington, but escalated into fears of war last year after North Korea said it had tested an H-bomb and developed a missile capable of hitting the United States. The rhetoric reached war-like heights under Trump as he mocked Kim as ‘little rocket man’ and in address at the United Nations threatened to ‘totally destroy’ North Korea if necessary. Kim had called Trump mentally deranged and threatened to ‘tame’ him with fire. Kim rarely leaves North Korea and his willingness to meet and Trump's acceptance sparked hope but it had faded in recent days. Trump's letter to Kim also referred to the possibility of war. ‘You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God that they will never have to be used,’ he said. The reference to Pence that offended the White House came in a statement released by North Korean media and citing Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. She had called Pence a ‘political dummy’ for comparing North Korea - a ‘nuclear weapons state’ - to Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear development programme, only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters. ‘Whether the US will meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown is entirely dependent upon the decision and behavior of the United States,’ Choe said. US national security adviser John Bolton first advocated a Libya as a model of disarmament. That incensed North Korea, which said the reason it had its nuclear arms was to ensure it did not end up like Libya and its then-leader. Gaddafi gave up his unfinished nuclear program only to be later killed by NATO-backed fighters. The White House official said back channels for discussions with North Korea remained open and there still was hope for peace but Pyongyang must first change its rhetoric. SOUTH KOREA SURPRISED South Korea's presidential Blue House appeared taken off guard by Trump's letter and an official said it was ‘trying to figure out what President Trump exactly meant.’ South Korean President Moon Jae-in had met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to urge him to follow through on the summit and not let a rare opportunity with reclusive North Korea slip away. A few hours before Trump announced the cancellation, a small group of international media selected by North Korea witnessed the demolition of tunnels at the Punggye-ri site on Thursday, which Pyongyang said was proof of its commitment to end nuclear testing. The apparent destruction of what North Korea said was its only nuclear test site has been widely welcomed as a positive, if largely symbolic, step toward resolving tension over its weapons. Kim has declared his nuclear force complete, amid speculation the site was obsolete anyway. Cancellation of the summit denies Trump what supporters hoped could have been the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency, and one worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize. Senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he had not had a sense that the administration had engaged in the detailed preparations necessary for a successful summit with Kim. He also suggested that recent rhetoric from top administration officials might not have been appropriate ahead of the meeting. ‘I'm not sure that constantly quoting the Libya model is the diplomatic way to try to get to the results that we try to seek in North Korea,’ Menendez said at the start of a committee hearing with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The outlook for the Trump-Kim meeting had suffered a setback this month after North Korea angrily rejected the notion that would agree to unilateral nuclear disarmament as the United States has demanded. Trump responded by raising his own doubts as to whether the summit would go forward but seeking to placate Kim by pledging that on Thursday that Kim’s security would be guaranteed in any deal. At the same time, Trump insisted on concrete steps before any easing of sanctions and warned that failure to reach a denuclearization agreement could lead to ‘decimation’ of Kim's rule. Defense stocks got a lift from Trump's announcement, and the NYSE Arca Defense Index rose nearly 1 percent to near a record high. The advance was led by a 3 percent gain in military drone maker AeroVironment Inc, and major US defense contractors such as Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin Corp , General Dynamics Corp and Northrop Grumman Corp all moved higher.

When New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez announced that he will oppose Mike Pompeo’s nomination to US Secretary of State, he explained that he would do so because Pompeo, currently Director of the CIA, had failed to disclose that he had travelled to North Korea over Easter weekend as President Donald Trump’s envoy. For Menendez, the audacity and secrecy of the Trump administration’s preparations for a planned summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was unacceptable. “Now I don’t expect diplomacy to be negotiated out in the open,” Menendez said in a recent speech, “but I do expect for someone who is the nominee to be Secretary of State, when he speaks with committee leadership and is asked specific questions about North Korea, to share some insights about such a visit. I believe our nation’s top diplomat must be forthright.” The US constitution assigns senators the responsibility to confirm, by majority vote, the president’s cabinet nominees. America’s founders sought to ensure that individuals serving in high positions of public trust would be well qualified, not just in the judgment of a single individual, but after thoughtful review by an independently elected Senate. In exercising their constitutional duty, senators should consider carefully their criteria for providing what the constitution calls “advice and consent.” There are many good reasons why senators may decide to support or oppose Pompeo’s nomination. But Pompeo’s withholding of the fact that he was engaged in secret diplomacy is not one of them. To be sure, despite being a mainstay of US foreign policy, secret diplomacy has always had its critics. Some argue that it is a type of deception that undermines the transparency and accountability on which American democracy is based. Others do not oppose secret diplomacy per se, but they believe that maintaining a reasonable degree of democratic accountability requires that a small subset of congressional leaders be informed. In criticising Pompeo for failing to be “forthright” even with the “committee leadership,” Menendez expressed both of these concerns. Yet the history of secret diplomacy, under Republican and Democratic administrations alike, clearly illustrates its benefits. The most important diplomatic breakthrough of the Cold War, the opening to China, began with secret negotiations between Henry Kissinger, then President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser, and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. Kissinger’s top-secret trip to Beijing in 1971 laid the groundwork for Nixon’s historic visit the following year. And the warming of Sino-US relations helped widen divisions between China and America’s Cold War adversary, the Soviet Union. Likewise, President Barack Obama’s signature diplomatic achievement, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, could not have been achieved without secret talks. In March 2013, Obama sent two senior State Department officials, William J Burns and Jake Sullivan, to begin secret conversations with the Iranians in Oman. Given that diplomatic relations between the two countries had been severed for more than 30 years, and that each country was radioactive in the domestic politics of the other, holding preliminary negotiations in public would have been a non-starter. Soon enough, the secret conversations led US officials to conclude that the Iranians were serious about entering into formal talks. In secret, US and Iranian negotiators worked on an outline of what would ultimately become the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The JCPOA blocked all of Iran’s major pathways to becoming a nuclear power, by preventing the country from reprocessing plutonium or enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels. It also eliminated two-thirds of Iran’s centrifuges and 98% of its stockpile of enriched uranium; and it established the most intrusive verification and inspection regime ever negotiated. But as difficult as the talks with Iran were, negotiating with Kim’s Hermit Kingdom will be harder still. The United States and North Korea are technically still at war, because a formal peace treaty has not been concluded since the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended with a ceasefire and an armistice. Moreover, every past denuclearisation agreement between the two countries has collapsed, and, since Trump took office, he and Kim have been lobbing insults and threats at each other. In this context, sending a secret envoy to Pyongyang to lay the groundwork for productive negotiations is precisely what the US should be doing. Even so, there is still the question of why that envoy would not inform Senate foreign-policy leaders of his work, especially when he is seeking to become America’s chief diplomat. One answer is that the Trump administration probably believes that informing Congress would make the secret negotiations no longer a secret. During the past year’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, Congress has leaked like a sieve, and many congressional Democrats have made it clear that they will “resist” Trump at every turn. Thus, it was reasonable for Pompeo to fear that knowledge of his secret talks would be leaked in an effort to undermine the summit and deny the administration a potential political victory. Transparency and accountability are still important American norms. But the history of US diplomacy has shown that secrecy often is essential for success. And besides, the constitution gives the president wide latitude in foreign policy. That is why even some of Menendez’s Democratic colleagues, who may oppose Pompeo on policy grounds, cheered the news of his visit to North Korea. As Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy put it, “I’ll just be honest with you, I’m glad there is someone at a high level in the Trump administration talking to the North Koreans about what may be the parameters of this meeting.” Murphy is right. There are valid reasons to oppose a nominee for Secretary of State. But a failure to disclose secret preparatory talks for the most important presidential summit of the century is not one of them. – Project Syndicate *Graham Allison is professor of Government and former Director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is the author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?