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First lady Melania Trump chats with U.S. President Donald Trump during their return from Germany at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
Washington President Donald Trump backtracked on his push for a cyber security unit with Russia hours after his proposal was immediately scorned by several of Trump's fellow Republicans, who questioned why the United States would work with Russia after Moscow's alleged meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. "This is like the guy who robbed your house proposing a working group on burglary," former U.S. defense secretary Ash Carter told CNN. "The fact that President Putin and I discussed a Cyber Security unit doesn't mean I think it can happen. It can't," Trump said on Twitter. Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., agreed to meet with a Kremlin-linked lawyer during the 2016 election campaign after being promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton, the New York Times reported on Sunday, citing three advisers to the White House. Trump's then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also attended the meeting at Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, two weeks after Trump won the Republican nomination, the Times reported.
Commentary: Steve Bannon is right on Afghanistan Republicans expressed increasing pessimism about the prospects for the healthcare bill in the U.S. Senate aimed at rolling back Obamacare as lawmakers prepared to return from a week-long recess. "My view is that it's probably going to be dead," Republican Senator John McCain said on the CBS program "Face the Nation," adding that Republicans, who narrowly control the chamber, would likely need to work with Democrats on a healthcare bill.
Two senior Republican U.S. senators criticized Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for saying that Russia may have the "right approach" on Syria and for what they called his lack of focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan. "His statements about Syria really disturb me. No, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin does not have it right when it comes to Syria," Senator Lindsey Graham said. McCain told CBS' "Face the Nation" that he "sometimes" regretted backing Tillerson's nomination and that his comments on Russia being "right" on Syria made him emotional and upset.
UK Britain's Theresa May will promise to fight on as prime minister in a speech this week relaunching her leadership after 12 tumultuous months in power. As her minority government prepares to start the difficult task of passing Brexit through parliament, May will remind Britons of her promise to build a fairer society, seeking to repair a reputation damaged by an ill-judged snap election.
Ukraine
Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will begin discussions about a road map for Ukraine to join NATO, and Kiev has pledged to implement reforms to bring the country up to NATO standards by 2020, President Petro Poroshenko said.
A holy river succumbs to pollution
A Hindu devotee holds up his clothes after taking a dip in the river Ganges in Devprayag, India, March 29, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
Oil Total is well placed to take a lead role in helping Qatar expand output from the world's largest gas field, largely thanks to its involvement in the Iranian side of the shared deposit, two sources familiar with Doha's thinking said. That puts the French oil major ahead of rivals like Exxon and Shell in the early running for developing the expansion, which the tiny Gulf state announced as it seeks to counter growing isolation caused by a regional diplomatic rift. The world might be heading for an oil supply shortage following a steep drop in investments and a lack of fresh conventional discoveries, Saudi Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser said. Unconventional shale oil and alternative energy resources are an important factor to help meet future demand but it is premature to assume that they can be developed quickly to replace oil and gas, Nasser told a conference in Istanbul.
Business Jawbone had more than enough money to take on Fitbit and other health-tracking devices in the "wearables" market. But its fall after raising more than $900 million provides a stark example of how the flood of cash pouring into Silicon Valley can have the perverse effect of sustaining companies that have no future, technology executives and financiers say. Swiss bank UBS is weighing whether to move banking jobs in London to Frankfurt, Madrid or Amsterdam to cope with Britain's planned departure from the European Union, Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said in an interview with CNBC.
U.S. Illinois' first budget after two years is filled with partial outlines to address its debt-ridden pension system and unpaid bill backlog – signs that political fighting and the fiscal mess in the nation's fifth-largest state are far from over. Ready or not, New York commuters to get taste of 'summer of hell' Two gunmen killed a woman at an Ohio baby shower and wounded eight others, including children and a pregnant woman who lost her fetus in the melee, local media reported on Sunday. | 
