British Lab Has Not Identified ‘Precise Source’ of Poison in Spy Case

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British Lab Has Not Identified ‘Precise Source’ of Poison in Spy Case Photo Investigators with the bench on which Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter were found unresponsive after being poisoned in Salisbury, England, last month. Credit Will Oliver/EPA, via Shutterstock Britain’s military laboratory has not established whether the nerve agent that poisoned a Russian former double agent and his daughter came from Russia, the laboratory’s chief executive said on Tuesday.
“We have not verified the precise source,” the executive, Gary Aitkenhead, told Sky News. Mr. Aitkenhead said his laboratory, the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, had confirmed that the poison was Novichok, or from its family of nerve agents, and that it was of military grade.
“We provided the scientific information to the government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions they have come to,” Mr. Aitkenhead said. He said it was “not our job to say where it actually was man..

White House Memo: On Foreign Policy, President Trump Reverts to Candidate Trump

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On Foreign Policy, President Trump Reverts to Candidate Trump Photo President Trump’s reversion to his campaign themes comes as he has reshuffled his national security team, ousting aides with more conventional views of American power in favor of more hawkish figures. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times WASHINGTON — President Trump has been commander in chief for 14 months, but to an uncanny degree, he still sounds like the armchair statesman who ran for the White House in 2016.
“I want to get out,” Mr. Trump said of the United States’ military engagement in Syria, at a news conference on Tuesday with leaders of the Baltic States. “I want to bring our troops back home.”
Mr. Trump’s words were at odds with the strategy his administration is pursuing in Syria. But they were almost verbatim what he said in pre-election tweets, as well as in debates two years ago against Republican challengers and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
Far from learning on the job or modifying his view..

White House Unveils Tariffs on 1,300 Chinese Products

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White House Unveils Tariffs on 1,300 Chinese Products Photo A steel factory in Dalian, China. The Trump administration has placed tariffs on a number of items, including electronic touch screens, iron and steel plates, medical devices, aircraft parts, batteries and other Chinese products. Credit China Network/Reuters WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Tuesday that it will place a 25 percent tariff on Chinese products like flat-screen televisions, medical devices, aircraft parts and batteries, outlining more than 1,300 imported goods that will soon face levies as part of a sweeping trade measure aimed at penalizing China for its trade practices.
The move, which stems from a White House investigation into China’s use of pressure, intimidation and theft to obtain American technologies, is likely to inflame an already-simmering trade war between the countries. On Monday, China said it would slap tariffs on 128 American products in response to a separate White House plan to tax stee..