ONE WORD

WASHINGTON — As President Trump has struggled to explain the difficulty of negotiating a trade agreement with China, he has embraced a side argument: A Democratic president would only agree to a worse deal. But not just any Democratic president. “China is DREAMING that Sleepy Joe Biden, or any of the others, gets elected in 2020,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday. “They LOVE ripping off America!” Sign Up For the Morning Briefing Newsletter By Monday afternoon, Mr. Biden, making his first trip to New Hampshire since entering the 2020 race, was happily returning fire, criticizing the Twitter-borne blur of threats and flattery Mr. Trump had aimed at Beijing. “He’s going about it all the wrong way, a lot of bravado, no action,” the former vice president told reporters. It is just the sort of fight Mr. Biden has been spoiling for: a head-to-head contest with the incumbent on an issue that elevates Mr. Biden into a statesmanlike role, well above the Democratic primary fray and

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Senate approved a measure on Tuesday that would outlaw almost all abortions in the state, setting up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the case that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to end a pregnancy. The legislation bans abortions at every stage of pregnancy and criminalizes the procedure for doctors, who could be charged with felonies and face up to 99 years in prison. It includes an exception for cases when the mother’s life is at serious risk, but not for cases of rape or incest — a subject of fierce debate among lawmakers in recent days. The House approved the measure — the most far-reaching effort in the nation this year to curb abortion rights — last month. It now moves to the desk of Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican. Although the governor has not publicly committed to signing the legislation, many Republican lawmakers expect her support. In an email on Tuesday night, a spokeswoman for the governor, Lori Davis Jhons, said Ms. Ivey wo

Femi Gbajabiamila, majority leader of the house of representatives, has a “comfortable lead” to become speaker of the 9th assembly, according to Abdulmumin Jibrin, his campaign spokesman. Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Jibrin said the support Gbajabiamila currently enjoys cuts across party lines. The All Progressives Congress (APC) which is expected to produce the next speaker had endorsed Gbajabiamila as its choice for the position. He was also endorsed for the position in 2015 but was eventually beaten to it by Yakubu Dogara. Gbajabiamila said he is also consulting with his colleagues in the APC who are in the race with the hope to win them over before the election. He said: “Now we have the numbers to win the election on June 10. We have applied different kind of modules to weigh our numbers. In all the instances we have applied, we have arrived at a very comfortable number that will win us the eleciton. We have gotten all the numbers we require. “We also

A  29-year-old woman, Omolara Busari has called off her wedding after her husband-to-be, Adelekan Adelufosi, beat the hell out of her during a quarrel in Oyo state. In an interview with Punch, Omolara, who hails from Iseyin, Oyo State, said she endured her relationship with 32-year-old Adelufosi for four years. They had planned to finally get married in August 2019, but their wedding has now been cancelled after Adelufosi beat his fiancée to a pulp last Thursday at Iwere-Ile, Iwajowa, Oyo State. Omolara, who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone, said she had only challenged Adelufosi for asking her not to ever relate with a woman who lives in their area. By the time she knew what was happening, she had been admitted to hospital. She said, “There is a woman who lives in my area, close to my apartment. We were just discussing and greeting each other when he (Adelufosi) showed up. “Later, he went to the woman’s shop and warned her not to ever see her around me again.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed says the spate of fake news has assumed frightening proportion and has affected the nation’s image globally. The minister made this known during the inauguration of the Aso Television (TV) Station and Aso Radio ultra modern studio in Abuja on Tuesday. He called on media practitioners to rise up to the challenge and place national interest above any primordial ones. “We want to challenge our journalists to know that the spread of fake news today that is aimed generally at the public, is undermining our international image. “You cannot paint your country as having incompetent leadership and expect the country to be respected internationally. “We are not asking that the freedom of information should be breached or that we will censor the media. “We are appealing to the media to self-regulate or it will self destroy itself “The reputation of this industry is going down because of fake news and this is a real d

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Tuesday dissociated the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) from the circulation of document, calling for the overthrow of the democratically elected government led by President Muhammadu Buhari. In a statement issued by Navy Capt. Muhammed Wabi, Deputy Director of Defence Information, the DHQ accused a group, “Nigerian Continuity and Progress (NCP)’’ as being behind the document. Wabi alleged that the document called for the setting up of an “interim government’’ in place of the elected government. “The Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) wishes to dissociate itself from the rascality and intentions as espoused in a document being circulated by a faceless group named Nigerian Continuity and Progress (NCP) calling for support of a revolution to oust the current democratically elected government and in its place establish an illegitimate interim government. “The AFN outrightly condemns the undemocratic and demonic actions of the author of the document

Muhammadu Buhari * Says level of poverty in Nigeria upsets him Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari Monday night in Abuja disclosed how he warned Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo against being mobbed by ‘hefty’ traders while distributing ‘trader moni’ in the market. The president, who made this disclosure while hosting the vice-president and other prominent government officials when breaking fast in the State House, said when he saw some of the market women confronting him, he had to warn him to be careful because he didn’t want anything to happen to him. Buhari, who described the ‘trader moni’ initiative by Osinbajo as very good, also disclosed that he was first reluctant to buy the idea but had to succumb later when the vice-president insisted. However, the president said he later found that Osinbajo was ahead of him in thinking when he saw the success of the programme, which he said attracted many people to the government and consequently made him to be pleased