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California officials demanded Monday that the Trump administration back off a plan to weaken national fuel economy standards aimed at reducing car emissions and saving people money at the pump, saying the proposed rollback would damage people’s health and exacerbate climate change.

Looming over the administration’s proposal is the possibility that the state, which has become a key leader on climate change as Trump has moved to dismantle Obama-era environmental rules, could set its own separate fuel standard that could roil the auto industry. That’s a change the federal government is trying to block.

“California will take whatever actions are needed to protect our people and follow the law,” Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, testified at a hearing with federal officials in a region of central California that has some of the nation’s worst air pollution.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra said California could not afford to retreat in the fight against climate change, citing wildfires and high asthma rates among children in the state’s San Joaquin Valley, where residents, environmentalists and state officials testified at the first of three nationwide hearings on the mileage plan.

“Stopping us from protecting our people, our jobs and economy or our planet is like trying to stop a mother from protecting her child,” he said.

The proposal announced in August by President Donald Trump’s administration would freeze U.S. mileage standards at levels mandated by former President Barack Obama for 2020. The standards regulate how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel.

Under the deal finalized under Obama, the standard would rise to 36 miles per gallon (15 kilometers per liter) by 2025, 10 miles per gallon (4 kilometers per liter) higher than the current requirement.

Trump administration officials say waiving the tougher fuel efficiency requirements would make vehicles more affordable, which would get safer cars into consumers’ hands more quickly. A major auto industry trade group says it supports annual increases in fuel efficiency but won’t say by how much.

Customers aren’t buying more efficient vehicles, Steve Douglas, senior director of energy and environment for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in testimony prepared for the hearing. The group represents General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen, BMW and other automakers.

“No one wins if our customers are not buying the new highly efficient products offered in our showrooms,” the written testimony said. “The standards must account for consumer willingness and ability to pay for newer technologies in order for all the benefits of new vehicles to be realized.”

Automakers are unanimous in favoring one standard for the whole country so they don’t have to design two vehicles, one for California and the states that follow its requirements and another for the rest of the nation.

Scores of people opposed to the Trump plan testified before representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including local residents who said it would worsen their asthma.

More than 130 people, including doctors and electric vehicle advocates, had signed up to speak before the hearing ended.

It was held in California’s San Joaquin Valley, the country’s most productive agricultural region but an area plagued by sooty air in part because of its bowl-shaped geography. The Sierra Nevada and two other mountain ranges wall in the 250-mile (400-kilometer) valley. Air pollution there is blamed for hundreds of deaths each year.

“We are asking the EPA to represent those of us who have asthma and respiratory disease,” said Janet DietzKamei, 73, a member of the Central Valley Clean Air Coalition.

DietzKamei said she is unable to leave her Fresno home on some days because the air is so polluted.

Environmentalists protested outside, hoisting signs reading, “Clean cars (equals) Clean air” and chanting, “Clean cars now.”

Paul Gipe, 67, and his wife, Nancy Nies, 69, drove from the city of Bakersfield to join the demonstration.

“It’s a step backward, and it’s a statement that air pollution is acceptable. Damn the people, full speed ahead,” said Gipe, who writes about renewable energy on his website.

An avid bicyclist, Gipe said there are days he can’t ride because the air quality is so bad in his hometown.

California and other states have sued to block any changes to Trump’s proposal. The administration also wants to revoke California’s authority to set its own mileage standards.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett said in a speech last week that his company is against any freeze of the standards and favors “keeping the standard, not a rollback.”

“We have plans to meet it,” he said.

The Obama administration had planned to keep toughening fuel requirements through 2026, saying the stricter standards would save lives.

Trump administration officials argued they would raise the price of vehicles by an average of more than $2,000. Transportation experts have challenged those arguments.

Hearings are also planned on Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan, and Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
…

California officials demanded Monday that the Trump administration back off a plan to weaken national fuel economy standards aimed at reducing car emissions and saving people money at the pump, saying the proposed rollback would damage people’s health and exacerbate climate change.

Looming over the administration’s proposal is the possibility that the state, which has become a key leader on climate change as Trump has moved to dismantle Obama-era environmental rules, could set its own separate fuel standard that could roil the auto industry. That’s a change the federal government is trying to block.

“California will take whatever actions are needed to protect our people and follow the law,” Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, testified at a hearing with federal officials in a region of central California that has some of the nation’s worst air pollution.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra said California could not afford to retreat in the fight against climate change, citing wildfires and high asthma rates among children in the state’s San Joaquin Valley, where residents, environmentalists and state officials testified at the first of three nationwide hearings on the mileage plan.

“Stopping us from protecting our people, our jobs and economy or our planet is like trying to stop a mother from protecting her child,” he said.

The proposal announced in August by President Donald Trump’s administration would freeze U.S. mileage standards at levels mandated by former President Barack Obama for 2020. The standards regulate how far vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel.

Under the deal finalized under Obama, the standard would rise to 36 miles per gallon (15 kilometers per liter) by 2025, 10 miles per gallon (4 kilometers per liter) higher than the current requirement.

Trump administration officials say waiving the tougher fuel efficiency requirements would make vehicles more affordable, which would get safer cars into consumers’ hands more quickly. A major auto industry trade group says it supports annual increases in fuel efficiency but won’t say by how much.

Customers aren’t buying more efficient vehicles, Steve Douglas, senior director of energy and environment for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said in testimony prepared for the hearing. The group represents General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen, BMW and other automakers.

“No one wins if our customers are not buying the new highly efficient products offered in our showrooms,” the written testimony said. “The standards must account for consumer willingness and ability to pay for newer technologies in order for all the benefits of new vehicles to be realized.”

Automakers are unanimous in favoring one standard for the whole country so they don’t have to design two vehicles, one for California and the states that follow its requirements and another for the rest of the nation.

Scores of people opposed to the Trump plan testified before representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including local residents who said it would worsen their asthma.

More than 130 people, including doctors and electric vehicle advocates, had signed up to speak before the hearing ended.

It was held in California’s San Joaquin Valley, the country’s most productive agricultural region but an area plagued by sooty air in part because of its bowl-shaped geography. The Sierra Nevada and two other mountain ranges wall in the 250-mile (400-kilometer) valley. Air pollution there is blamed for hundreds of deaths each year.

“We are asking the EPA to represent those of us who have asthma and respiratory disease,” said Janet DietzKamei, 73, a member of the Central Valley Clean Air Coalition.

DietzKamei said she is unable to leave her Fresno home on some days because the air is so polluted.

Environmentalists protested outside, hoisting signs reading, “Clean cars (equals) Clean air” and chanting, “Clean cars now.”

Paul Gipe, 67, and his wife, Nancy Nies, 69, drove from the city of Bakersfield to join the demonstration.

“It’s a step backward, and it’s a statement that air pollution is acceptable. Damn the people, full speed ahead,” said Gipe, who writes about renewable energy on his website.

An avid bicyclist, Gipe said there are days he can’t ride because the air quality is so bad in his hometown.

California and other states have sued to block any changes to Trump’s proposal. The administration also wants to revoke California’s authority to set its own mileage standards.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett said in a speech last week that his company is against any freeze of the standards and favors “keeping the standard, not a rollback.”

“We have plans to meet it,” he said.

The Obama administration had planned to keep toughening fuel requirements through 2026, saying the stricter standards would save lives.

Trump administration officials argued they would raise the price of vehicles by an average of more than $2,000. Transportation experts have challenged those arguments.

Hearings are also planned on Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan, and Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
…

A federal judge on Monday ordered Endangered Species Act protections restored to grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, halting plans for the first licensed trophy hunts of the region’s grizzlies in more than 40 years.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana, sided with environmentalists and native American groups by overruling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to strip the grizzlies of their status as a threatened species, the court order said.

The Trump administration’s decision in June of last year to “de-list” the grizzly, formally proposed in 2016 during the Obama era, was based on agency findings that the bears’ numbers had rebounded enough in recent decades that federal safeguards were no longer necessary.

The de-listing, welcomed by big-game hunters and ranchers, had applied to about 700 Yellowstone-area grizzlies in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Environmentalists countered that treating those bears separately from other grizzly populations in Montana and elsewhere in the lower 48 states was biologically unsound and illegal under the Endangered Species Act.

The judge’s ruling, if upheld, would make permanent a court order barring Wyoming and Idaho from going ahead with plans to open grizzly hunting seasons allowing as many as 23 bears in the two states to be shot and killed for sport.
…

A federal judge on Monday ordered Endangered Species Act protections restored to grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park, halting plans for the first licensed trophy hunts of the region’s grizzlies in more than 40 years.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana, sided with environmentalists and native American groups by overruling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to strip the grizzlies of their status as a threatened species, the court order said.

The Trump administration’s decision in June of last year to “de-list” the grizzly, formally proposed in 2016 during the Obama era, was based on agency findings that the bears’ numbers had rebounded enough in recent decades that federal safeguards were no longer necessary.

The de-listing, welcomed by big-game hunters and ranchers, had applied to about 700 Yellowstone-area grizzlies in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.

Environmentalists countered that treating those bears separately from other grizzly populations in Montana and elsewhere in the lower 48 states was biologically unsound and illegal under the Endangered Species Act.

The judge’s ruling, if upheld, would make permanent a court order barring Wyoming and Idaho from going ahead with plans to open grizzly hunting seasons allowing as many as 23 bears in the two states to be shot and killed for sport.
…

A U.S. government investigation has found that Myanmar’s military targeted Rohingya civilians indiscriminately and often with “extreme brutality” in a coordinated campaign to drive the minority Muslims out of the country.

The hard-hitting State Department report released Monday is based on a survey this spring of more than 1,000 refugees among the hundreds of thousands who have fled the crackdown to neighboring Bangladesh in the past two years. 

The 20-page report does not say whether the abuses constitute genocide and crimes against humanity, as U.N. investigators have surmised.

But the U.S. findings make grim reading and are likely to reinforce calls for the Trump administration to make that determination and strengthen sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation.

Most of those interviewed had witnessed a killing, and half had witnessed sexual violence. Rohingya identified the military as the perpetrator in 84 percent of the killings or injuries they witnessed. 

“The survey reveals that the recent violence in northern Rakhine State was extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out the Rohingya residents,” the report says.

“The scope and scale of the military’s operations indicate they were well-planned and coordinated. In some areas, perpetrators used tactics that resulted in mass casualties, for example, locking people in houses to burn them, fencing off entire villages before shooting into the crowd, or sinking boats full of hundreds of fleeing Rohingya.”

​The bloodshed has catapulted Myanmar, also known as Burma, back into the ranks of renegade nations where it languished for years when it was ruled by a military junta. The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor also announced last week she is launching a preliminary investigation into the deportations of Rohingya from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

Amnesty International USA said the State Department had missed an opportunity to make a legal determination of crimes against humanity, sending a worrying message about Washington’s willingness to seek justice for atrocities just under international law.

“The United States’ words mean nothing if it fails to pursue genuine accountability for victims and their families,” advocacy manager Francisco Bencosme said. 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt hosted a meeting Monday of more than one dozen foreign ministers on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the Rohingya crisis.

He said in a statement that Myanmar’s military leaders “must face full accountability for any atrocities committed” and that if conditions haven’t improved for the 1 million people affected by the crackdown in Rakhine State in a year’s time, “then we have failed as an international community.”

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced $185 million in new humanitarian assistance, mostly for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. She called on the Myanmar government “to do more to hold those who have engaged in ethnic cleansing accountable for their atrocities?.”

Myanmar, a majority Buddhist nation which is now formally under civilian rule, has denied abuses by its military. 

But the U.S. report, coming on the heels of an extensive U.N. fact-finding mission that recommended military leaders be prosecuted for genocide, will make it increasingly difficult for the government to rebut international criticism. 

The report found that in the two months following August 2017 – when attacks by Rohingya militants on security forces triggered massive retaliation – satellite imagery show that more than 38,000 buildings were destroyed by fire in Rakhine state. In many areas, refugees said security forces used flamethrowers or incendiary devices to burn down houses and to kill and injure Rohingya. Sexual violence is also reported as having been widespread.

“Two police from my village raped me,” the report quotes an unnamed 23-year-old woman as saying. “I know these men by sight, but not their names. After they were done, they told me to leave the country, this is not your country.” 

Among the litany of abuses that refugees said they witnessed: 

Soldiers burning or urinating on Qurans. 
Victims of violence being decapitated or dismembered.
Infants and children being beaten or killed
Soldiers attacking women, and their infants, during or just after childbirth.
…

A U.S. government investigation has found that Myanmar’s military targeted Rohingya civilians indiscriminately and often with “extreme brutality” in a coordinated campaign to drive the minority Muslims out of the country.

The hard-hitting State Department report released Monday is based on a survey this spring of more than 1,000 refugees among the hundreds of thousands who have fled the crackdown to neighboring Bangladesh in the past two years. 

The 20-page report does not say whether the abuses constitute genocide and crimes against humanity, as U.N. investigators have surmised.

But the U.S. findings make grim reading and are likely to reinforce calls for the Trump administration to make that determination and strengthen sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation.

Most of those interviewed had witnessed a killing, and half had witnessed sexual violence. Rohingya identified the military as the perpetrator in 84 percent of the killings or injuries they witnessed. 

“The survey reveals that the recent violence in northern Rakhine State was extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out the Rohingya residents,” the report says.

“The scope and scale of the military’s operations indicate they were well-planned and coordinated. In some areas, perpetrators used tactics that resulted in mass casualties, for example, locking people in houses to burn them, fencing off entire villages before shooting into the crowd, or sinking boats full of hundreds of fleeing Rohingya.”

​The bloodshed has catapulted Myanmar, also known as Burma, back into the ranks of renegade nations where it languished for years when it was ruled by a military junta. The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor also announced last week she is launching a preliminary investigation into the deportations of Rohingya from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

Amnesty International USA said the State Department had missed an opportunity to make a legal determination of crimes against humanity, sending a worrying message about Washington’s willingness to seek justice for atrocities just under international law.

“The United States’ words mean nothing if it fails to pursue genuine accountability for victims and their families,” advocacy manager Francisco Bencosme said. 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt hosted a meeting Monday of more than one dozen foreign ministers on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the Rohingya crisis.

He said in a statement that Myanmar’s military leaders “must face full accountability for any atrocities committed” and that if conditions haven’t improved for the 1 million people affected by the crackdown in Rakhine State in a year’s time, “then we have failed as an international community.”

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced $185 million in new humanitarian assistance, mostly for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. She called on the Myanmar government “to do more to hold those who have engaged in ethnic cleansing accountable for their atrocities?.”

Myanmar, a majority Buddhist nation which is now formally under civilian rule, has denied abuses by its military. 

But the U.S. report, coming on the heels of an extensive U.N. fact-finding mission that recommended military leaders be prosecuted for genocide, will make it increasingly difficult for the government to rebut international criticism. 

The report found that in the two months following August 2017 – when attacks by Rohingya militants on security forces triggered massive retaliation – satellite imagery show that more than 38,000 buildings were destroyed by fire in Rakhine state. In many areas, refugees said security forces used flamethrowers or incendiary devices to burn down houses and to kill and injure Rohingya. Sexual violence is also reported as having been widespread.

“Two police from my village raped me,” the report quotes an unnamed 23-year-old woman as saying. “I know these men by sight, but not their names. After they were done, they told me to leave the country, this is not your country.” 

Among the litany of abuses that refugees said they witnessed: 

Soldiers burning or urinating on Qurans. 
Victims of violence being decapitated or dismembered.
Infants and children being beaten or killed
Soldiers attacking women, and their infants, during or just after childbirth.
…

1. 2ND KAVANAUGH ACCUSER COMES FORWARD

Deborah Ramirez describes to The New Yorker magazine of an unwanted sexual encounter during the Supreme Court nominee’s first year at Yale.

2. BILL COSBY FACES SENTENCING FOR 2004 SEXUAL ASSAULT

A judge will decide whether to give the 81-year-old comedian as much as 30 years in prison or send him home on probation.

3. TRUMP BEGINS SEQUEL TO STORMY UN DEBUT

The president will again confront the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear threat, though its shadow may appear somewhat less ominous than a year ago.

4. SEVERE FLOODING FEARED NEAR SOUTH CAROLINA COAST

Authorities in Georgetown County say they have put as many as 8,000 people on alert for possible evacuations in expectation of up to 10 feet floodwaters this week.

5. IRAN ALLOWING MORE PUBLIC DISSENT

But limits still clearly exist in Iran’s Shiite theocracy and the frustration people feel may not be satiated by complaining alone, AP learns.

6. WHAT IS AN UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF TRAFFICKING LAW

Recent crackdowns targeting the sex-for-hire industry on the internet are landing women and girls back on the streets, where dangers also lurk, AP finds.

7. TRUMP TARGETS VENEZUELA’S FOOD CORRUPTION

U.S. officials distributed a list of suspected companies they believe Caracas has used to siphon off millions of dollars in foreign food imports amid widespread starvation.

8. US, CHINA TRADE ROW INTENSIFIES

Responding to U.S. tariff hikes, Beijing begins to collect taxes of 5 or 10 percent on a $60 billion list of 5,207 American goods, from honey to industrial chemicals.

9. SCRABBLE DICTIONARY ADDS WORDS TO OFFICIAL PLAY

It’s time to rethink your game because 300 new words are coming your way, including long-awaited gems like “OK” and “ew.”

10. NEW LIONS COACH BEATS MENTOR

Former Patriots assistant Matt Patricia beats former boss Bill Belichick to get his first win as an NFL head coach in Detroit’s 26-10 win over New England.

 
…

1. 2ND KAVANAUGH ACCUSER COMES FORWARD

Deborah Ramirez describes to The New Yorker magazine of an unwanted sexual encounter during the Supreme Court nominee’s first year at Yale.

2. BILL COSBY FACES SENTENCING FOR 2004 SEXUAL ASSAULT

A judge will decide whether to give the 81-year-old comedian as much as 30 years in prison or send him home on probation.

3. TRUMP BEGINS SEQUEL TO STORMY UN DEBUT

The president will again confront the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear threat, though its shadow may appear somewhat less ominous than a year ago.

4. SEVERE FLOODING FEARED NEAR SOUTH CAROLINA COAST

Authorities in Georgetown County say they have put as many as 8,000 people on alert for possible evacuations in expectation of up to 10 feet floodwaters this week.

5. IRAN ALLOWING MORE PUBLIC DISSENT

But limits still clearly exist in Iran’s Shiite theocracy and the frustration people feel may not be satiated by complaining alone, AP learns.

6. WHAT IS AN UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE OF TRAFFICKING LAW

Recent crackdowns targeting the sex-for-hire industry on the internet are landing women and girls back on the streets, where dangers also lurk, AP finds.

7. TRUMP TARGETS VENEZUELA’S FOOD CORRUPTION

U.S. officials distributed a list of suspected companies they believe Caracas has used to siphon off millions of dollars in foreign food imports amid widespread starvation.

8. US, CHINA TRADE ROW INTENSIFIES

Responding to U.S. tariff hikes, Beijing begins to collect taxes of 5 or 10 percent on a $60 billion list of 5,207 American goods, from honey to industrial chemicals.

9. SCRABBLE DICTIONARY ADDS WORDS TO OFFICIAL PLAY

It’s time to rethink your game because 300 new words are coming your way, including long-awaited gems like “OK” and “ew.”

10. NEW LIONS COACH BEATS MENTOR

Former Patriots assistant Matt Patricia beats former boss Bill Belichick to get his first win as an NFL head coach in Detroit’s 26-10 win over New England.

 
…

As he begins the sequel to his stormy U.N. debut, President Donald Trump will again confront the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear threat, though its shadow may appear somewhat less ominous than a year ago.

Twelve months after Trump stood at the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly and derided North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man,” the push to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is a work in progress, although fears of war have given way to dreams of rapprochement.

The president, whose bellicose denunciations of Pyongyang have largely given way to hopeful notes, plans to sit down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who comes bearing a personal message to Trump from North Korea’s Kim after their inter-Korean talks last week.

Trump and Moon were expected to sign a new version of the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, one of Trump’s first successes in his effort to renegotiate trade deals on more favorable terms for the U.S. Even so, some U.S. officials worry that South Korea’s eagerness to restore relations with the North could reduce sanctions pressure on Kim’s government, hampering efforts to negotiate a nuclear accord.

The nuclear threat was on the agenda at Trump’s first meeting, a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan on Sunday night.

Abe stands first among world leaders in cultivating a close relationship with the president through displays of flattery that he has used to advance his efforts to influence the unpredictable American leader.

“We have our eyes wide open,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There is a long ways to go to get Chairman Kim to live up to the commitment that he made to President Trump and, indeed, to the demands of the world in the U.N. Security Council resolutions to get him to fully denuclearize.”

Redoubling his commitment to “America First” on the most global of stages, Trump will stress his dedication to the primacy of U.S. interests while competing with Western allies for an advantage on trade and shining a spotlight on the threat that he says Iran poses to the Middle East and beyond.

Scores of world leaders, even those representing America’s closest friends, remain wary of Trump. In the 12 months since his last visit to the U.N., the president has jolted the global status quo by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, starting trade conflicts with China and the West and embracing Russia’s Vladimir Putin even as the investigation into the U.S. president’s ties to Moscow moves closer to the Oval Office.

Long critical of the United Nations, Trump delivered a warning shot ahead of his arrival by declaring that the world body had “not lived up to” its potential.

“It’s always been surprising to me that more things aren’t resolved,” Trump said in a weekend video message, “because you have all of these countries getting together in one location but it doesn’t seem to get there. I think it will.”

If there is a through line to the still-evolving Trump doctrine on foreign policy, it is that the president will not subordinate American interests on the world stage, whether for economic, military or political gain.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in a preview of Trump’s visit, that the president’s focus “will be very much on the United States,” its role and the relations it wants to build.

“He is looking forward to talking about foreign policy successes the United States has had over the past year and where we’re going to go from here,” she said. “He wants to talk about protecting U.S. sovereignty,” while building relationships with nations that “share those values.”

In his four-day visit to New York, Trump will deliver major speeches and meet with representatives of a world order that he has so often upended in the past year. On Monday he is also set to participate in a Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem and then, in addition to Moon, meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump’s address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The subject initially was to have been Iran, but that could have allowed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend, creating a potentially awkward situation for the U.S. leader.

Aides say the president will also use the session to discuss North Korea and other proliferation issues. While Trump is not seeking a meeting with Rouhani, he is open to talking with the Iranian leader if Rouhani requests one, administration officials said.

In meetings with European leaders as well as during the Security Council session, Trump plans to try to make the case that global companies are cutting ties with Iran ahead of the reimposition in five weeks of tough sanctions against Tehran. The penalties are a result of Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Trump at the time cited Iran’s role as a malign force in the region, particularly its support of terrorist groups, but also its involvement in Syria. U.S. officials say their priority for the region now is removing Iranian forces from Syria.

Trump is also expected to deliver a fresh warning to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the major rebel stronghold of Idlib would have serious repercussions. Britain and France are actively planning a military response should Assad use chemical weapons again, according to U.S. officials.

“I think he’s got a couple major possibilities really to help illuminate for the American people what America’s place in the world,” national security adviser John Bolton told Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures, previewing Trump’s U.N. appearance.

Bolton, like Pompeo, is part of a far more hawkish national security team than the one that surrounded Trump a year ago.

Meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly often come in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team. Trump has a robust schedule during his stay in New York, including meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

But while some world leaders are still reeling from Trump’s deference to Putin in their summer Helsinki summit, there will not be an encore in New York: The Russian president is not expected to attend the proceedings.
…

As he begins the sequel to his stormy U.N. debut, President Donald Trump will again confront the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear threat, though its shadow may appear somewhat less ominous than a year ago.

Twelve months after Trump stood at the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly and derided North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man,” the push to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula is a work in progress, although fears of war have given way to dreams of rapprochement.

The president, whose bellicose denunciations of Pyongyang have largely given way to hopeful notes, plans to sit down with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who comes bearing a personal message to Trump from North Korea’s Kim after their inter-Korean talks last week.

Trump and Moon were expected to sign a new version of the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, one of Trump’s first successes in his effort to renegotiate trade deals on more favorable terms for the U.S. Even so, some U.S. officials worry that South Korea’s eagerness to restore relations with the North could reduce sanctions pressure on Kim’s government, hampering efforts to negotiate a nuclear accord.

The nuclear threat was on the agenda at Trump’s first meeting, a dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Manhattan on Sunday night.

Abe stands first among world leaders in cultivating a close relationship with the president through displays of flattery that he has used to advance his efforts to influence the unpredictable American leader.

“We have our eyes wide open,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “There is a long ways to go to get Chairman Kim to live up to the commitment that he made to President Trump and, indeed, to the demands of the world in the U.N. Security Council resolutions to get him to fully denuclearize.”

Redoubling his commitment to “America First” on the most global of stages, Trump will stress his dedication to the primacy of U.S. interests while competing with Western allies for an advantage on trade and shining a spotlight on the threat that he says Iran poses to the Middle East and beyond.

Scores of world leaders, even those representing America’s closest friends, remain wary of Trump. In the 12 months since his last visit to the U.N., the president has jolted the global status quo by pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, starting trade conflicts with China and the West and embracing Russia’s Vladimir Putin even as the investigation into the U.S. president’s ties to Moscow moves closer to the Oval Office.

Long critical of the United Nations, Trump delivered a warning shot ahead of his arrival by declaring that the world body had “not lived up to” its potential.

“It’s always been surprising to me that more things aren’t resolved,” Trump said in a weekend video message, “because you have all of these countries getting together in one location but it doesn’t seem to get there. I think it will.”

If there is a through line to the still-evolving Trump doctrine on foreign policy, it is that the president will not subordinate American interests on the world stage, whether for economic, military or political gain.

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in a preview of Trump’s visit, that the president’s focus “will be very much on the United States,” its role and the relations it wants to build.

“He is looking forward to talking about foreign policy successes the United States has had over the past year and where we’re going to go from here,” she said. “He wants to talk about protecting U.S. sovereignty,” while building relationships with nations that “share those values.”

In his four-day visit to New York, Trump will deliver major speeches and meet with representatives of a world order that he has so often upended in the past year. On Monday he is also set to participate in a Global Call to Action on the World Drug Problem and then, in addition to Moon, meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Trump’s address to the General Assembly comes Tuesday, and on Wednesday he will for the first time chair the Security Council, with the stated topic of non-proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The subject initially was to have been Iran, but that could have allowed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to attend, creating a potentially awkward situation for the U.S. leader.

Aides say the president will also use the session to discuss North Korea and other proliferation issues. While Trump is not seeking a meeting with Rouhani, he is open to talking with the Iranian leader if Rouhani requests one, administration officials said.

In meetings with European leaders as well as during the Security Council session, Trump plans to try to make the case that global companies are cutting ties with Iran ahead of the reimposition in five weeks of tough sanctions against Tehran. The penalties are a result of Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Trump at the time cited Iran’s role as a malign force in the region, particularly its support of terrorist groups, but also its involvement in Syria. U.S. officials say their priority for the region now is removing Iranian forces from Syria.

Trump is also expected to deliver a fresh warning to Syria’s Bashar al-Assad that the use of chemical weapons against civilians in the major rebel stronghold of Idlib would have serious repercussions. Britain and France are actively planning a military response should Assad use chemical weapons again, according to U.S. officials.

“I think he’s got a couple major possibilities really to help illuminate for the American people what America’s place in the world,” national security adviser John Bolton told Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures, previewing Trump’s U.N. appearance.

Bolton, like Pompeo, is part of a far more hawkish national security team than the one that surrounded Trump a year ago.

Meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly often come in rapid succession, a wearying test for even the most experienced foreign policy team. Trump has a robust schedule during his stay in New York, including meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

But while some world leaders are still reeling from Trump’s deference to Putin in their summer Helsinki summit, there will not be an encore in New York: The Russian president is not expected to attend the proceedings.
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Bill Cosby faced the start of a sentencing hearing Monday at which a judge will decide how to punish the 81-year-old comedian who blazed the trail for other black entertainers and donated millions to black causes but preyed on at least one young woman and perhaps many more.

Cosby was the first celebrity to go to trial in the (hash)MeToo era and could be the first to go to prison — perhaps for the rest of his days — after being convicted in April of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

Judges can’t help being influenced a little by the “optics” of a case — that it, how it is going to look to the public, said Daniel Filler, dean of Drexel University’s Kline School of Law.

In this instance, “the judge is going to get flak,” he said. “The judge is going to get less flak if they see Bill Cosby walk out in cuffs.”

At the end of the potentially two-day hearing, Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill could sentence Cosby to as many as 30 years in prison or send him home on probation. The state guidelines for someone like Cosby, with no prior convictions, call for about one to four years behind bars.

“Obviously, the allegations are serious, and, except for his age and poor health, would normally warrant some jail time,” said Samuel Stretton, a veteran defense lawyer not connected to the case.

Cosby is legally blind and uses a cane, something his lawyers are certain to point out along with his achievements and philanthropy. Prosecutors hoped to call some of his other accusers to paint Cosby as a sexual predator deserving of prison.

Whatever the sentence, Cosby is likely to be deemed a sexually violent predator and will have to undergo monthly counseling the rest of his life, in prison or out. Neighbors and schools will be warned he is living nearby.

In the years since Constand first went to police in 2005, more than 60 women have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, though none of those claims have led to criminal charges.

Two of those women, Lise-Lotte Lublin and Chelan Lasha, said Sunday at a Philadelphia news conference that they want prison for him and hope they get to make impact statements at the sentencing.

“I really think it’s important that he spend some time behind bars,” said Lublin, who said Cosby assaulted her when she was 23 in 1989. “At some point, he should acknowledge what he’s done, and do the time for the crime.”

Monday morning, just a few hours before the sentencing hearing was to begin, Constand tweeted Ephesians 4:26, a Bible verse about letting go of anger: “Be wrathful, but do not sin; do not let the sun set while you are still angry; do not give the Devil an opportunity.”

Cosby, who grew up in public housing in Philadelphia, became the first black actor to star in a prime-time TV show, “I Spy,” in 1965. He remained a Hollywood A-lister for much of the next half-century, hitting his peak in the 1980s with the top-rated “Cosby Show” as the warm, wisecracking dad, Dr. Cliff Huxtable.

But behind the scenes, according to testimony, the married star sought out sexual encounters with young women, including actresses he offered to mentor, models seeking a part on his shows, and flight attendants he met in his travels. He also acknowledged obtaining quaaludes in the 1970s to give to women before sex.

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, which Lublin, Lasha and Constand have done.

 
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