Tradisional Sabah Borneo

The unenviable circumstances are far different from what he faced during his last report on Sept. 2, 2014, just after he had won passage of a series of energy, education and telecom reforms, a success he said would put Mexico on the path to greater growth.

At the time, Pena Nieto was delivering on his main pledge, which was to reduce Mexico's drug-war-era violence. But progress there seems to have stalled. Homicides in the first seven months of 2015 were running about 3 percent above figures for the same period last year.

Other numbers are depressing as well. The Mexican peso has fallen 29 percent against the U.S. dollar over the last year.

Pena Nieto's own approval ratings have fallen as well, from 55 percent in August 2014 to about 35 percent one year later, according to a Buendia&Laredo poll published Tuesday. It had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.And the administration suffered a major embarrassment on July 11, with the escape of Mexico's top drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, through a tunnel from Mexico's highest-security prison.

Pena Nieto announced changes in his cabinet last week in an apparent attempt to change direction.

But tough international market conditions may limit his maneuvering room, and officials have lowered this year's expectation for economic growth.

"This is the year that he has the least to show for," said Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst and professor at Mexico's Center for Economic Research and Teaching. "He hasn't had any achievements, just difficulties" this year, Crespo said.

If Pena Nieto tries to strike an upbeat tone Wednesday in his speech marking the written report, Crespo said, "nobody will believe any of it."

Officers searched an apartment in the southern city of Algeciras on Tuesday morning at the request of the French courts which are investigating the August 21 attack, a police source told AFP.

The apartment is home to the parents of Ayoub El Khazzani, who is accused of launching an attack on the train armed with a pistol, an assault rifle and 270 rounds of ammunition.

French prosecutors have brought terrorism charges against the 25-year-old Moroccan, accusing him of a "targeted and premeditated" attack on the Amsterdam to Paris train after he stepped out of a toilet cubicle with an assault rifle, 270 rounds of ammunition and a Luger pistol strapped to his chest.

He was quickly overpowered by a group of French, British and American passengers, who have since been awarded France's top honour, the Legion d'Honneur.The Spanish police source said that El Khazzani's parents had been to a police station to make a statement but had not been formally detained.

Their apartment is in the El Saladillo district of Algeciras, a southern port just a 90-minute ferry ride across the Mediterranean from Morocco.

El Khazzani was born in northern Morocco and moved in 2007 to Spain, where he was convicted at least once on drugs charges. Spanish authorities said they had flagged him as radicalised and potentially dangerous before last month's attack.

AFP

The so-called Cadillac tax was meant to discourage extravagant coverage. Critics say it's a tax on essentials, not luxuries. It's getting attention now because employers plan ahead for major costs like health care.

With time, an increasing number of companies will be exposed to the tax, according to a recent study. The risk is that middle-class workers could see their job-based benefits diminished.

First to go might be the "flexible spending accounts" offered by many companies. The accounts allow employees to set aside money tax-free for annual insurance deductibles and out-of-pocket health costs. That money comes out of employees' paychecks, and they're not able to use it for other expenses. Savvy consumers see it as a way to stretch their health care dollars.

The catch is that under the law those employee contributions count toward the thresholds for triggering the tax.

There are other wrinkles: Companies in areas with high medical costs, such as San Francisco, are  morelikely to be exposed to the Cadillac tax than those in lower-cost areas like Los Angeles. Ditto for employers with unionized workers who won better benefits through bargaining.

Republicans in Congress and a sizable contingent of Democrats are calling for repealing the tax. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner Democratic presidential candidate, says she's concerned and would re-examine the tax. Since it doesn't take effect right away, it's an issue for the next president.

"As currently structured, I worry that it may create an incentive to substantially lower the value of the benefits package and shift more and more costs to consumers," Clinton said in response to a candidate questionnaire from the American Federation of Teachers.

The Cadillac tax has two purposes: to act as a brake on health care spending and to raise money for covering the uninsured.

The value of employer-sponsored health insurance is tax-free to workers and tax-deductible for companies. It amounts to an income tax break worth $206 billion this year, according to the president's budget. Many economists call that an indirect subsidy that encourages wasteful spending. They argue that if not the Cadillac tax, some other kind of limit is needed. Major Republican health overhaul plans have also proposed curbs.A recent study from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that 26 percent of all employers would face the tax in at least one of their plans during its first year, 2018. Nearly half of larger companies would face the consequences of the tax that same year, because they tend to offer better benefits.

"It is a pretty broad-based tax that has a powerful effect on controlling the growth of premiums," said Larry Levitt, a co-author of the study. "The downside is workers may see an increase in their out-of-pocket costs."

Since the tax is indexed to general inflation, which rises more slowly than health insurance premiums, over time it would affect a growing share of health plans.

The Obama administration says such studies overstate the potential impact. The Treasury Department said in a statement that only "a small fraction of workers" would be affected. Regulations to implement the tax could soften some feared consequences, but proposed rules aren't expected until late this year or early next.

The Cadillac tax is 40 percent of the value of employer-sponsored plans that exceeds certain thresholds: $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage. The tax is levied on insurers and plan administrators, who are expected to pass it back to employers. The 40 percent rate is well above the income tax rates that most workers face.Joe Kra of the benefits consultancy Mercer said he believes many employers will be required to make fundamental changes in their health plans to mitigate the tax's impact. Measures such as ditching flexible spending accounts may not be enough. That would accelerate a shift to high-deductible plans that require workers to pay a bigger share of health costs before insurance kicks in.

Here are some other potential twists:

— The Treasury Department says it is considering an exemption for flexible spending account contributions for dental and vision care, which are two popular uses.

The health care law already limited FSA contributions and without such accommodations, the Cadillac tax could lead to their demise.

"A benefit that you are offering your employees so they can save money on taxes is going to wind up costing you money," said economist Paul Fronstin of nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute.

— Treasury is also trying to figure what do about a different kind of workplace arrangement called a "health savings account."

A growing number of workers have high-deductible health insurance that comes with tax-sheltered health savings accounts, or HSAs, that they and their employer can contribute to.But if an employee has his or her contribution deducted from their paycheck, it could potentially trigger the tax.

Officials say they're considering options.

Chaos enveloped the city's Keleti station. Forced into the midday sun, scores of migrants protested for hours, waving newly purchased train tickets angrily in the air. The official U-turn surprised observers, given that Hungary over the weekend had started to allow migrants to travel by train to the west without going through asylum procedures.

Janos Lazar, chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, told lawmakers that Hungary disagreed with Germany's openness to taking refugees from war-torn Syria. He blamed Germany and what he called other "left-wing governments" in Europe for encouraging the rush of migrants that has staggered Hungary both on its borders at in its capital city.

"The defense of our borders is important, not opening the borders," he said.But human rights watchdogs called Hungary's actions incoherent and indefensible. They said Hungary's open residential centers for asylum seekers already were too overcrowded to cope, and blocking migrants from using cross-border public transport forces them to cross the border dangerously hidden in smugglers' vehicles.

Hungary rail shutdown came less than a week after Austrian police found 71 migrants dead in a smuggler's abandoned truck, the apparent victims of suffocation.

"If you deny them — although they have a paid ticket — and you don't let them get on board, you push them right into the hands of smugglers," William Lacy Swing, director general of the International Organization for Migration, told The Associated Press. "So they get into vans and into trucks and they die."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected Hungary's criticism of German asylum policy, saying her country was offering the same welcome to people fleeing war in Syria that all members of the 28-nation EU, including Hungary, should provide.Speaking in Berlin, Merkel said Germany shouldn't be expected to take the lion's share of Syrian refugees and appealed to EU partners to volunteer to take more. Germany expects to take in 800,000 asylum seekers this year, compared to under 3,000 for fellow EU member Spain.

Merkel said Germany typically did give refugee protection to Syrian citizens fleeing the country's 4-year-old war. "That should come as no surprise. Actually, it should be the same in every European country," she said.

European nations say more than 332,000 migrants have arrived already this year. The front-line border nations of Greece, Italy and Hungary as well as non-EU members Serbia and Macedonia have been overwhelmed by the thousands surging across their border. More than 2,600 migrants have also drowned this year as they cross the Mediterranean in smugglers' often-unseaworthy boats.

Scuffles broke out Tuesday morning at Budapest's Keleti station as hundreds of migrants pushed toward the metal gates where a train was scheduled to leave for Vienna and Munich, only to be blocked by police.Authorities announced over loudspeakers that all trains would be stopped indefinitely from leaving. Migrants' papers were checked, and those with train tickets but no EU visas were ushered out of the station.

Outside, hundreds who had spent heavily on the tickets chanted "Germany!" and "U.N.!" But Hungary's national rail company, Mav, said it no longer would sell train tickets to customers who could not present proper ID and, where required, visas. It said customers would be allowed to buy only tickets for themselves, not multiple purchases.

Mohammed, a 24-year-old economist from the Syrian city of Aleppo, said the chaos was the worst he has seen since leaving Syria. He had bought a ticket to Munich for 200 euros ($225) after Hungarian police told him Monday night they would be allowed to leave.

Despite showing a valid Syrian passport Tuesday to police guarding the train platform, he was told he could not get on board because he did not have a visa for Germany. He refused to give his last name to an AP reporter citing security concerns about his family still in Aleppo.

"This is crazy," said Baba Mujhse, a Egyptian-Hungarian volunteer inside the train station. He carried a small boy separated from his family in the uproar. He called the decision to block migrants from boarding trains "not a solution to anything."

Hours later, train service was restored for passengers with valid travel documents.

By evening rush hour, the train station was unusually quiet as most commuters found other ways home. The train leaving for Vienna shortly after 6 p.m. was less than one-quarter full.

Outside, more than 300 people continued to protest. One man held a placard made from a pizza box on which he had drawn a picture of a train, a crying child and the plaintive word "Germany!"a placard made from a pizza box on which he had drawn a picture of a train, a crying child and the plaintive word "Germany!"

Hungary's train crackdown appeared prompted in part by pressure from other European Union nations trying to cope with their own influx of migrants. Austrian police in Vienna said 3,650 migrants arrived Monday from Hungary at the city's Westbahnhof station. Most were heading for Germany.

Orban plans to discuss the migrant crisis Thursday in Brussels with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Council President Donald Tusk and European Parliament President Martin Schulz.

The train tensions were matched by highway delays as Austrian authorities reimposed border controls at main crossings from Hungary. Vehicles at the Hegyeshalom crossing on the main highway from Budapest to Vienna faced 6-kilometer (4-mile) traffic jams at one point Tuesday because of the Austrian inspections.

Tensions flared again Tuesday at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, where about 1,500 migrants are waiting to cross. Fights and scuffles broke out near the Greek village of Idomeni after migrants, mainly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, attempted to rush past Macedonian border police.Greece's coast guard said it had rescued nearly 1,200 migrants, significantly more than usual, from the sea off its eastern Aegean islands in the past 24 hours.

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Chris Coons of Delaware on Tuesday became the 32nd and 33rd senators to announce support for the deal, just one shy of the 34 votes needed to uphold an Obama veto of GOP legislation aimed at blocking it.

"This agreement will substantially constrain the Iranian nuclear program for its duration, and compared with all realistic alternatives, it is the best option available to us at this time," Casey said in a statement. In remarks at the University of Delaware, Coons said: "I will support this agreement despite its flaws because it is the better strategy for the United States to lead a coalesced global community in containing the spread of nuclear weapons."

Earlier Tuesday Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, predicted that Obama would get to 34 votes by week's end.

Republicans unanimously oppose the deal, which aims to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions, and the Israeli government is vehemently opposed. But critics have failed to use Congress' summer recess to turn the tide against the deal. Only two Democratic senators have come out against it.

With 34 votes looking to be within reach, supporters have begun aiming to get 41 votes, which would block the disapproval resolution from passing in the first place, and would spare Obama from having to use his veto pen. Cardin, who said he remains undecided, didn't address that possibility.

In a session with students at Johns Hopkins University, Cardin discussed the pros and cons and said his decision will be made on which approach is likeliest to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state. Either decision carries risks, he said.

"I think it's a tough call and I sort of bristle when people say this is such an easy decision, why haven't you made it," Cardin said. "I don't think it is an easy judgment call. I think there are high risks either way."

The family alleges in legal claims that a Bureau of Land Management ranger left his loaded service weapon in a backpack in plain view in his car before the weapon was stolen in June.

The semi-automatic pistol was later used in the July 1 killing of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle.

BLM spokeswoman Martha Maciel said the agency is cooperating with investigation of the shooting but she declined further comment.

The family and their attorneys filed three separate legal claims seeking unspecified damages from the BLM, San Francisco Sheriff's Department and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The family said it would file lawsuits if the claims are denied.

The parents said they were filing the legal claims to prevent a similar tragedy.We're here not only for Kate, we're here for every citizen of this country who comes to San Francisco," Jim Steinle, the father of the victim, said at a news conference at City Hall. "If you think this can't happen to you, think again."

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 45, has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. He told police he fired the fatal shot accidentally while examining the ranger's gun after finding it under a bench on Pier 14.

The shooting triggered a national debate over immigration after it was revealed that the Sheriff's Department had released Lopez-Sanchez despite a federal request to detain him for possible deportation. Lopez-Sanchez was previously deported five times to his native Mexico.

Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi said his department was following city law when it released Lopez-Sanchez in April after prosecutors dropped old marijuana possession charges against him.

San Francisco and other cities and counties across the state have enacted policies of ignoring so-called detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold jail inmate thoughtto be in the country illegally for deportation proceedings.

The Steinle family claimed the sheriff violated federal laws when he issued a memo in March barring jail staff from communicating with federal immigration officials about detainer requests.

Mirkarimi has said his department requires federal officials to obtain a warrant or some other judicial notice in order for his jail to hold an inmate facing possible deportation.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Kenya Briggs said Mirkarimi can't comment on potential litigation but continues to extend his sympathy to the Steinle family for their loss.

The family also accused ICE, an agency within Homeland Security, of failing to obtain a warrant or judicial notice required by San Francisco to detain and deport Lopez-Sanchez.

ICE didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

AP

Rumours of her expulsion spread after a letter signed by Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor emerged on social media earlier today; however, the letter was dated September 2, which raised doubts as to its veracity.

“Yes, she was sacked,” Tengku Adnan told Malay Mail Online in a text message.

However, he did not elaborate on the reason for her termination.

The letter to Anina only stated that Umno headquarters had decided to terminate her membership with immediate effect under Article 20.7 of the party constitution for taking a party matter to court.

Umno executive secretary Datuk Ab Rauf Yusoh also confirmed the termination with Malay Mail Online when contacted.

“Her membership has been terminated because she violated the party’s rule by filing a lawsuit against Datuk Seri Najib… she cannot do that according to the party’s constitution,” he said, when asked the reason for Anina’s ejection.

Malay Mail Online was unable to reach Anina for comment at the time of writing.

Anina was the Langkawi Wanita Umno chief who first shot into the spotlight after a video of her tirade against Najib was uploaded online and went viral.

Anina gained prominence following widespread circulation of a 2.52-minute video clip last month in which she harshly criticised Najib as “urinating” on Umno’s three million members in a public storm over RM2.6 billion deposits into his personal account, which the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has said was a donation from a Middle Eastern donor.

Last Friday, she filed a lawsuit against Najib at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, seeking to claim a US$650 million (RM2.7 billion) portion of the US$681 million said to have been donated to Umno by a friendly Middle Eastern nation to help the Malay ruling party in its 2013 election campaign.

According to the filing, Anina is claiming that Najib had violated his duties as a trustee, alleging that the US$650 million was transferred out of an AmPrivate Banking account in Malaysia on August 30, 2013 into a Singapore account that “did not belong to Umno.”

She had also named Ab Rauf as a defendant in her suit.

Anina also sought an injunction order to prohibit Umno from “removing, suspending and/or taking any disciplinary action” against her pending the disposal of the lawsuit.

Umno legal adviser Datuk Hafarizam Harun had previously told Malay Mail Online that Umno members who sue fellow members or who go to court over party decisions risk expulsion as the party constitution prohibits them from doing so.

Citing the Societies Act 1966, Hafarizam also said only a “public officer” appointed by the Umno supreme council can file a lawsuit on behalf of Umno, which in this case is Umno executive secretary Ab Rauf. 

MALAY MAIL ONLINE