Here is a news article: Oxytocin, a hormone often referred to as the "cuddle chemical" for its role in helping to foster intimate relationships—particularly between mothers and their newborns—may help people with autism to read and react to social cues, according to the preliminary results of a small study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders often have trouble engaging and interacting in social situations, frequently avoiding eye contact, for example, and previous research has also shown that people who are autistic often have lower levels of the hormone oxytocin. In this recent study, researchers from France's Center of Cognitive Neuroscience used nasal inhalers to give oxytocin to 13 individuals with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome. Afterwards, the researchers examined the study participants' reactions to social stimuli. They found that, after the oxytocin, the subjects showed significant improvement on social tasks—including making more eye contact when shown pictures of faces, and responding to other players in a ball tossing game.

 Oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the "love hormone", is one powerful chemical: during physical intimacy, it increases for both men and women; it acts as a hormone to help induce labor and lactation in mothers; and it also serves as a nuerotransmitter in the brain—research suggests that it influences everything from our ability to fall in love, to our tendency toward monogamous relationships and ability to trust others. Should these initial findings be confirmed, they may suggest a potential therapeutic use of oxytocin for individuals with autism spectrum disorders. What's more, it could even increase opportunities for early intervention for children diagnosed with autism. As Angela Sirigu, lead author of the study, told the Washington Post, "It's possible it can become a cure, if it's given early when the problems are detected in the little kids... We can change the way these patients interact with people from childhood." ||||| A nasal spray containing a hormone that is known to make women more maternal and men less shy apparently can help those with autism make eye contact and interact better with others, according to a provocative study released Monday.

 The study, involving 13 adults with either a high-functioning form of autism or Asperger syndrome, a mild form of the disorder, found that when the subjects inhaled the hormone oxytocin, they scored significantly better on a test that involved recognizing faces and performed much better in a game that involved tossing a ball with others.

 Although more research is needed to confirm and explore the findings, the results are the latest in a growing body of evidence indicating that the hormone could lead to ways to help people with the often devastating brain disorder function better.

 "This is the first study that looked at whether oxytocin has an effect on social behavior, which is a major deficit in autism," said Angela Sirigu, who directs the National Center for Scientific Research in France and led the study, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It looks like it could be very helpful."

 Researchers who were not involved in the study praised the work, saying the findings were promising and could lead to the first effective treatment for the central problems affecting people with autism.

 "I think it's going to be a very exciting finding for a lot of people," said Alex Martin, chief of cognitive neuropsychology at the National Institute of Mental Health.

 Because oxytocin does not last long in the body and produces its effects for a relatively brief period, some experts said the findings were more likely to encourage drug companies to develop alternative substances that had the same benefits.

 "This paper suggests that's worth doing," said Thomas R. Insel, director of the institute. "It adds another brick in the wall that suggests there may be an opportunity to develop treatment for one of the core symptoms of autism. That's been the brass ring."

 But Sirigu was among those who said the finding should encourage more research on the potential benefits of oxytocin itself, especially for children. Administering the hormone soon after a child's autism is diagnosed might help him or her develop more normally, she said.

 "It's possible it can become a cure, if it's given early when the problems are detected in the little kids," Sirigu said. "We can change the way these patients interact with people from childhood."

 Because previous research has indicated that some people with autism might have abnormally low levels of oxytocin, conducting tests to identify those people and administering them the hormone might help as well, said Karen Parker, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine.

 "If you can find someone who appears to have deficits in oxytocin biology, giving them what you might argue would be replacement oxytocin may be helpful," Parker said.

 Autism is a baffling disorder that can cause a variety of symptoms, including speech and learning problems and profound, disabling difficulties understanding emotions and social cues when interacting with people. The number of children found to have autism has been increasing for reasons that remain mysterious.

 Oxytocin is produced naturally in the bodies of humans and animals. It plays a key role in social interaction, promoting maternal behavior and monogamy in animals. The hormone also heightens social sensitivity, social awareness, generosity and trust in people.

 Previous U.S. studies found that people with autism who received the hormone intravenously were less likely to engage in repetitive behavior that is another hallmark of autism and were more likely to be able to identify emotions in voices. Another study being published in the journal Biological Psychiatry found that 16 autistic males in Australia ages 12 to 19 who received the hormone through a nasal spray were better able to recognize other people's facial expressions.

 "All the data seem to suggest that manipulating the oxytocin system has a powerful effect on the core symptoms of autism," said Eric Hollander, director of the compulsive, impulsive and autism spectrum disorders program at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York.

 While cautioning that more research is needed on children and additional patients to make sure oxytocin is safe and effective, advocates for families with children with autism welcomed the findings. Oxytocin has been in use for several years as an "alternative" therapy for autism.

 "Many families are using it with success and reporting improvement," said Wendy Fournier, president of the National Autism Association. "Getting double-blind clinical studies like this one published helps to bring credibility to parental reports."

 "We need to be mindful of the fact that the majority of human studies of oxytocin have been conducted using adults, including this study, and only one paper has included individuals between the ages of 12 and 18. We have to be careful about the safety and efficacy of oxytocin on pediatric populations," said Clara Lajonchere, vice president of clinical programs for Autism Speaks. |||||
A summary of this is?

– The hormone oxytocin may improve the social skills of people with high-functioning autism. In a new study, patients who received doses of it in a nasal spray were better able to recognize faces and interact with others in a game. In short, the so-called "love chemical" seems to help those with autism and Asperger's syndrome better able to pick up on social cues, reports Time. The researchers hope oxytocin therapy could become a powerful treatment therapy and perhaps even correct social deficits before they form. "It's possible it can become a cure, if it's given early when the problems are detected in the little kids," the lead scientist tells the Washington Post. "We can change the way these patients interact with people from childhood."


Write an article based on this summary:

– The 26-year-old woman sought by French police as the widow and potential accomplice of Paris deli shooter Amedy Coulibaly is in Syria, Turkey's foreign minister confirmed today. The timeline that Mevlut Cavusoglu is offering up indicates that Hayat Boumeddiene crossed over into Syria after Wednesday's slaughter at Charlie Hebdo, but potentially before her husband's killing spree began: Citing "telephone recordings," Cavusoglu says that Boumeddiene flew from Madrid to Turkey on Jan. 2, then entered Syria on Thursday, reports NBC News—the day her common-law husband is accused of killing a French policewoman. "We provided [French authorities] with the information as soon as we got it, without them even asking," he says. Germany, at least, is unimpressed; its domestic spy chief said today that Turkey is a "key country" that needs to do more to stem the tide of radicals crossing through it into Syria, USA Today reports. It's estimated that north of 90% of extremists headed to Syria cross through Turkey. France confirmed today that it's still seeking at least one probable accomplice, with PM Manuel Valls saying that "the threat is still present" and "the hunt will go on." The AP has more on Boumeddiene's movements: She apparently stayed at an Istanbul hotel with an unnamed 23-year-old man before heading for Turkey's border with Syria. Her last cell transmission came from a border town on Thursday, and she apparently crossed over into ISIS-controlled territory. Meanwhile, video emerged yesterday of Coulibaly declaring his allegiance to ISIS.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told France's BFM TV on Monday that there was "without a doubt" at least one accomplice to the deadly attacks in Paris and vowed that "the hunt will go on." It was not clear whether he was talking about Boumeddiene or an additional suspect.

 Turkish foreign minister told Anadoluthe country's intelligence services tracked Boumedienne from her arrival in the country on Jan. 2.

 French officials also alerted the Turkish government that Boumedienne had traveled to Turkey with a companion named as Mehdi Sabri Belhoucine, an official close to the investigation and a member of the police told NBC News on Monday.

 Turkish intelligence then tracked Boumedienne via her cellphone and listened to her conversations, discovering that she had arrived in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen International Airport stayed on the Asian side of the city, the sources said. CCTV video from the airport emerged on Monday that officials say shows the duo at the airport's passport control office.

 Boumedienne and Belhoucine stayed at Bade Otel, a small and relatively cheap hotel in a middle-class neighborhood,the Turkish police source said. During their time in Istanbul, the two moved around the city like tourists and did nothing to arouse officials’ suspicions, the Turkish sources added.

 Intelligence officials followed her telephone signals until she and Belhoucine went to the Turkish city of Sanliurfa near the border with Syria on Thursday, after which they lost track of the pair, they added. The discrepancy between the foreign minister's comments and the sources account could not immediately be explained.

 Boumedienne's common-law husband Amedy Coulibaly is believed to have killed a French policewoman on Thursday, the day before he killed four hostages at a kosher supermarket. Police have described her as an accomplice in the officer's killing.

 Video emerged Sunday purporting to show Coulibaly pledging allegiance to ISIS and defending the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. A man who looks like Coulibaly is shown exercising, with a gun and giving speeches with an ISIS banner. The SITE Intelligence Group said it had verified the video.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report. ||||| PARIS (AP) — France on Monday ordered 10,000 troops into the streets to protect sensitive sites after three days of bloodshed and terror, amid the hunt for accomplices to the attacks that left 17 people and the three gunmen dead.

 People wave national flags and hold placards that read "I am Charlie" at the Place de la Nation in Paris, France, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. More than 40 world leaders, their arms linked, marched through... (Associated Press)

 A man holds up a placard that reads "I am Charlie" at the Place de la Nation in Paris Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. More than 40 world leaders, their arms linked, marched through Paris Sunday to rally for unity... (Associated Press)

 A girl holds up a placard that reads "I am Charlie" in several languages at the Place de la Nation in Paris Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015. More than 40 world leaders, their arms linked, marched through Paris... (Associated Press)

 FILE - This photo provided by the Paris Police Prefecture Friday, Jan. 9, 2015 shows Hayat Boumedienne the suspect in the kosher market attack. Turkey's foreign minister said Monday Jan.12, 2015 that... (Associated Press)

 Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the search is urgent because "the threat is still present" after the attacks that began Wednesday with a massacre on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and ended when the three attackers were killed Friday in nearly simultaneous raids by security forces.

 Meanwhile, France's defense minister said Monday the country is mobilizing 10,000 troops to protect the population. Jean-Yves Le Drian said the deployment will be fully in place by Tuesday, and will focus on the most sensitive locations.

 Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 4,700 security forces would be assigned to protect France's 717 Jewish schools.

 The common-law wife of one of the attackers crossed into Syria on Thursday, the day after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, and the same day her husband shot a policewoman to death on the outskirts of Paris, according to Turkey's foreign minister.

 Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday that Hayat Boumedienne arrived in Turkey from Madrid on Jan. 2, ahead of the attacks and stayed at a hotel in Istanbul with another person before crossing into Syria on Thursday.

 Video emerged on Sunday of her husband, Amedy Coulibaly, explaining how the attacks would unfold. Police want to find the person who shot and posted the video which was edited after the attacks were over.

 "The work on these attacks, on these terrorist and barbaric acts continues ... because we consider that there are most probably some possible accomplices," Valls told BFM television.

 Turkish intelligence tracked Boumeddiene from her arrival on Jan. 2. She and her traveling companion, a 23-year-old man, toured Istanbul, then left Jan. 4 for a town near the Turkish border, according to a Turkish intelligence official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.

 Her last phone signal was on Jan. 8 from the border town of Akcakale, where she crossed over apparently into Islamic State-controlled territory. Their Jan. 9 return tickets to Madrid went unused

 Survivors say the Charlie Hebdo attackers, brothers from Paris, claimed they were from al-Qaida in Yemen, the group the U.S. considers the most dangerous offshoot of that network. In the video, Coulibaly pledges allegiance to the Islamic State group.

 Ties among the men date back to at least 2005, when Coulibaly and Cherif Kouachi were jailed together. It later emerged that Cherif's older brother, Said, fought with or was trained by al-Qaida in Yemen; Cherif, was convicted in 2008 along with several others in a network that sent jihadis to fight American forces in Iraq.

 ___

 Associated Press writers John-Thor Dahlburg in Paris; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; and Desmond O. Butler in Istanbul contributed. ||||| CLOSE USA TODAY'S Editor at Large/Media Columnist Rem Rieder discusses Charie Hebdo's new magazine cover that came out today and the mag to come out on Wednesday. USA TODAY

 A handout released on January 12, 2015, in Paris by French newspaper Charlie Hebdo shows the frontpage of the upcoming "survivors" edition of the French satirical weekly with a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed holding up a "Je suis Charlie" ('I am Charlie') sign under the words: "Tout est pardonne" ('All is forgiven'). (Photo: HO, AFP/Getty Images)

 The latest issue of French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, published by survivors of last week's deadly terror attack, features a cover cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed holding a sign that says "Je suis Charlie,'' an echo of the slogan of support for freedom of speech that spread across the globe after the tragedy.

 The news agency Agence France-Presse on Monday distributed a copy of the new cover, which carries a caption that reads "Tout est pardonne,'' which translates into English as all is forgiven.

 USA TODAY traditionally does not show images of Mohammed to avoid offending Muslim readers. But the magazine cover has enough news value to warrant its publication in this case.

 Remaining Charlie Hebdo staff on Tuesday said an unprecedented run of 3 million copies of the next issue Wednesday were planned. "Three million people will have Mohammed's, the prophet's drawing, at home," Zineb El Rhazoui, a columnist for the newspaper, told the BBC. The remaining staff previously said that a million copied would be published.

 "We will not give in. The spirit of 'I am Charlie' means the right to blaspheme," lawyer Richard Malka told France Info radio.

 The press run is a huge jump from the normal circulation of 60,000 copies and reflects the strong outpouring of support from the public, including a show of solidarity by 1.5 million people in central Paris on Sunday.

 Meanwhile, as many as six terror-cell members may still be at large after the Paris terrorism attacks, French police say.

 Two French police officials, who were not identified by name, said one of the at-large cell members has been spotted driving a car registered to the widow of one of the slain attackers, Associated Press reported from Paris.

 Paris police are searching for a Mini Cooper car registered to the widow, Hayat Boumeddiene, who Turkish officials say is now in Syria.

 The two gunmen who attacked the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris last week, killing 12 people, had shouted that their mission was to avenge the newspaper's publication of what they said were denigrating cartoons about Islam.

 The bloody attack triggered three days of terror in France, climaxing Friday in the fatal shooting of the Chérif Kouachi, 32, and his brother, Said, 34, by security forces in a town north of Paris, and the killing of an associate, Amedy Coulibaly, 32, who had taken over a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four people.

 Some 10,000 security forces are being mobilized to protect the population against other possible terrorist attacks.

 "The threat is still present," said Prime Minister Manuel Valls. He told BFM television on Monday that France is at war against "terrorism, against jihadism, against radical Islam."

 The unity rally Sunday featured a procession led by French President Francois Hollande, who was joined by other world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas.

 Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, is wanted in connection with the attacks in France. (Photo: Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire)

 The security forces will be deployed beginning Tuesday at the country's most vulnerable locations, including Jewish schools, said Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's defense minister.

 On Friday morning, only hours before his death, Coulibaly told BFM television that he had coordinated his attacks with the Kouachi brothers. He claimed to be a member of Islamic State, the extremist organization that has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq. Chérif Kouachi, in a separate interview, said the attacks were planned and financed by Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

 Authorities initially believed that Coulibaly's common-law wife, Hayat Boumediene, 26, was involved in a policewoman's death and the supermarket takeover.

 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Monday, however, that Boumediene arrived in Turkey from Madrid on Jan. 2, ahead of the attacks, and stayed at a hotel in Istanbul before crossing into Syria on Thursday.

 In another development, a Yemeni reporter told the Associated Press on Monday that in 2010 he met Said Kouachi who claimed to have lived with the Nigerian who tried to carry out the failed al-Qaeda "underwear bomb" plot five years ago.

 Yemeni journalist and researcher Mohammed al-Kibsi said he first met Kouachi in the capital, Sanaa, while the gunman was studying Arabic.

 Al-Kibsi told the AP on Monday: "He was very polite and had a sense of humor so for me I could not expect that a few years later he would be the suspect of a terror attack."

 The journalist said that Kouachi said that he had lived with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, convicted of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner.

 In addition, a senior French police officer investigating the attack on Charlie Hebdo killed himself only hours after the bloody terrorist act, France 3 reports.

 Commissioner Helric Fredou, 45, shot himself in his police office in Limoges last Wednesday night, the radio station reported.

 "On this particular day of national mourning, police commissioners are hit hard by the tragic death of one of their own," said a spokesman for The Union of Commissioners of the National Police, The Daily Mirror reports.

 Colleagues told France 3 that Fredou was overworked and "depressed," The Mirror said.

 Contributing: William M. Welch, USA TODAY; Associated Press

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1BST4rK |||||


Write an article based on this summary:

– On Thanksgiving Day, Paige Warner and her family flew to Honolulu for the 11-year-old's first trip to Hawaii. She "was so excited," recounts mom Karin Carpenter, who explains that after a holiday dinner of white rice and soy sauce—Paige had "extensive" food allergies—her daughter got into the pool with her sister. Fewer than 15 minutes later, she was out of the pool, complaining of a stinging nose. Her condition quickly snowballed into something much more serious, involving difficulty breathing, and she was taken to the ER. On Dec. 4, after a week in a coma, the girl from Roseville, Calif., was taken off life support; it's still unclear what triggered the reaction, reports KTLA. As Carpenter writes on a GoFundMe page, she speculates about possible contributing factors: the plane, entering an environment full of allergens that were new to her, the area's large feral cat population, pesticide runoff in the pool from an adjacent golf course, or a bronchial spasm caused by the pool's temperature. The family is "devastated," but sister Violet is bringing healing, insisting that the family hang its Christmas decorations because Paige "loves Christmas." The GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $30,000 to date. The most heart-tugging line on the page, from Carpenter's description of the events immediately after Paige got out of the pool: "She looked into my eyes and screamed, and said, 'Mom, I'm dying. I know I am because I can see it in your eyes.'" (A teen's allergic reaction recently caused her to "burn from the inside out.")

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

 A Northern California couple was mourning the death of their 11-year-old daughter after a mysterious allergic reaction turned fatal during a family Thanksgiving trip to Hawaii.

 Paige Warner of Roseville had always had food allergies and was sensitive to environmental conditions, her mother Karin Carpenter said. Typically, Carpenter said she was able to get her daughter’s responses under control.

 In Honolulu, Paige was “lit up,” she was so excited to be in Hawaii.

 But about 10 to 15 minutes after swimming in a pool along with her younger sister Violet and a friend, Paige left the water to complain that her nose was burning. Then her throat started to swell up.

 “This time, I just knew that something was wrong,” Carpenter told KTLA sister station KTXL in Sacramento.

 A call to 911 was made.

 “She looked at me and said, ‘I’m dying. I know I’m going to die because I can see the look on your face,'” Paige’s mother recalled.

 It’s not clear what caused the allergic reaction, Carpenter told KTXL.

 According to a GoFundMe fundraising page that has brought in more than $28,000 for the family, Paige’s lungs closed up and her heart stopped. She received CPR for about an hour before her heart started again.

 Paige was hospitalized and was in a coma but later died, KTXL reported.

 On the GoFundMe page, Paige’s teachers and friends of the family remembered her, especially for her drawings.

 In a post on Dec. 8, Carpenter thanked those who had donated for their generosity, messages and prayers.

 "This has devastated and shocked my family in the deepest way imaginable, but we are reminded of the beautiful and giving hearts of our friends, both close to us and friends who we have never met,” she wrote.

 While the family grieves for Paige, Violet has helped her parents heal, insisting that Christmas decorations go up.

 “She loves Christmas,” Violet said of her sister.

 A funeral for Paige was expected in January, Carpenter said.

 Correction: The spelling of Karin Carpenter's last name is given incorrectly in the embedded video above. The correct spelling is within the text of this post. ||||| A message from Paige's mom, Karin Carpenter:

 I know that you wanted some details about Paige, and the event that took her life. We do not know the exact cause of Paige's reaction and the doctor's and I can only speculate. My thoughts are that it is a combination of many things: 1. the flight, 2. a total change of environment with new allergens that she has never experienced, 3. the huge feral cat population where we were in Hawaii Kai, 4. the pool possibly had pesticide and chemical runoff from the golf course that surrounded the house, 5. One doctor thought she had a bronchial spasm that was similar to drowning due to the temperature of the pool.

 On Thanksgiving day, Thursday, November 27th, Paige, Hank, Violet and I flew to Oahu to spend the holiday with Hank's cousin Simone Perez, along with her husband Henry, son Nico, and mother Maradee. We arrived around 1 p.m. and Paige was so excited to visit Hawaii for the first time. We got our rental car and drove directly to Simone's house in Hawaii Kai to drop off our luggage and get situated in our rooms before heading over to their friends home for a Thanksgiving meal.

 We arrived at Scott and Jen's home (who we just met) for a Thanksgiving dinner. They had many friends, neighbors, and family present and were very welcoming to us. Paige was not able to eat much of what they had prepared due to her extensive food allergies, so she had a big plate of rice and soy sauce. This did not affect her allergies, and she was having a great time. She made friends with one of the girls at the house and they got in the pool/hotub with Violet. Paige seemed okay at first, but then she got out of the water and complained to me that after diving into the water, the nose was stinging really bad. She asked to use her inhaler, which I got for her and after doing a few puffs she said that it didn't work. I told her to wait a moment, to see if it helps and to go towel dry and get dressed. After she did this, she was still wheezy and not breathing clearly so she did a few more puffs. Another guest, who happened to be an EMT was nearby and she got benedryl for Paige, but she was having a hard time taking it. I knew something was not right so I asked our host to call 9-1-1. Paige started to panic because she has never seen me so concerned before and we have never needed to call an ambulance. She looked into my eyes and screamed, and said, "Mom, I'm dying. I know I am because I can see it in your eyes." The ambulance arrived within 7 minutes and they administered a spot of epinephrine and benedryl. I rode in the front seat and we were off to the Kapiolani Children's hospital. It took 27 minutes to get there and at one point I didn't think that Paige survived. The ER doctor was giving the ambulance personnel instructions to care for Paige while in-route, and they were waiting for her outside when we pulled in. Paige was breathing and responsive when we arrived and even complained that the nurse hurt her when she felt a needle. Paige's airways were so tight that they doctor had a hard time putting the breathing tube in, and she suffered cardiac arrest. It took 20+ minutes of CPR before they got Paige's heart started again, and were able to put in the breathing tube. About one hour later, she was ready to go upstairs to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Paige was on life support, and in a coma because of the trauma that her body suffered. The doctors put Paige on a cooling blanket to lower her body temperature to 34 degrees, as studies have indicated that the cold temperatures help to preserve the brain. For the next 72 hours she was kept at that temperature and had a nurse at her bedside at all times.

 My mom flew in on Saturday to be with us and between Hank, my mom Marcha, and myself, there was almost always someone by her side. We only got 1-2 hours of sleep per day, if that and we talked to Paige, prayed, played music, read her messages from friends, read her book, massaged her body, and told her how proud we were of her and how much we loved her. Her biological father, Josh flew in on Sunday and spent a couple hours per day with her until Wednesday. He is so full of guilt for neglecting her for years, that he was not able to stay until the end and say goodbye.

 Paige had her first MRI on Dec 1st and the results showed that most of the areas of her brain had sustained damage, except for the brain stem which was in good shape, and the portion of the brain that affects the memory. The doctor said that the full extent of the damage would be revealed over the next several months, and as Paige came out of her coma. Hank and I were steadfast in the belief that Paige would heal and whatever affliction was caused by this, we would care for her in any way necessary. My main concern and prayer was that whatever handicap that she had, I wanted her to still be able to express herself, have vision, and be able to create art. Because that is what drove Paige, what made her happy and was her absolute talent. The next day, Paige was not doing well. Her vitals were all over the place, she couldn't maintain a body temperature, her blood pressure was inconsistent, and an EEG showed that her brain waves were not very strong. They did an emergency MRI and the findings were shocking. In 24 hours, the damage to Paige's brain was tremendous. She showed major damage to all parts of the brain, including the brain stem which controls basic functions such as breathing, swallowing, and regulating body temperature. On Dec 3rd, Paige's doctors ran the first series of tests to see if her brain was completely dead. Sadly, Paige didn't respond to any of the tests. They stopped her ventilator to test if she would try to breathe on her own, she didn't. On Dec 4th, the doctors ran her final tests, and she was medically pronounced dead at 9:25 a.m. Hank, Violet, my mom and I were able to say goodbye and spent the next 7 hours with her. We were able to hug, hold and touch her without the tubes, ventilator, and IV lines hooked up.

 Help spread the word! Share Tweet 1.4k total shares total shares |||||


Article:
Almost 100 House Republicans have signed a letter opposing Susan Rice’s possible nomination to be secretary of state.

 Led by South Carolina Rep. Jeff Duncan, 97 GOP members wrote a letter to Obama on Monday announcing their opposition to Rice’s potential appointment to State.

 Text Size -

 +

 reset McCain to Rice: Admit wrong

 “Though Ambassador Rice has been our Representative to the U.N., we believe her misleading statements over the days and weeks following the attack on our embassy in Libya that led to the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans caused irreparable damage to her credibility both at home and around the world,” the letter reads, later adding: “Ambassador Rice is widely viewed as having either willfully or incompetently misled the American public in the Benghazi affair.”

 While Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have indicated they will seek to block any Rice nomination, other Senate Republicans have not yet joined a filibuster pledge. Both Obama and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein have defended Rice, arguing she was using the best intelligence supplied to her at the time.

 Under the Constitution, only the Senate has the power to give advice and consent to the administration on nominees.

 Besides Rice, Obama is said to be considering Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as Hillary Clinton’s successor at State. ||||| Rep. Clyburn: Criticism of Amb. Rice includes “code words”

 Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) says he is frustrated by those criticizing Ambassador Susan Rice as being incompetent for her handling of the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

 Rep. Clyburn says, “These are code words. We heard them during the campaign. During this recent campaign, we heard Sununu calling our President ‘lazy,’ ‘incompetent.’ These kinds of terms that those of us – especially those of us who were born and raised in the South – we’ve been hearing these little words and phrases all of our lives and we get insulted by them. Susan Rice is as competent as anybody that you will find…. It certainly caused a big problem with me. I don’t like those words. Say that she was wrong for doing it, but don’t call her incompetent. That is something totally different. A lot of very competent people sometimes make errors, and to say that she erroneously did it, I don’t have a problem with it. But to call her incompetent, a PHD Rhodes Scholar, being called incompetent by someone who can’t hold a candle to her intellectually. By someone who said, and Senator McCain called her incompetent as well. But he told us that Sarah Palin was a very competent person to be Vice President of the United States. That ought to tell you a little bit about his judgment.”

 Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN. |||||Summary:

– Nearly one-quarter of the House of Representatives is opposed to Susan Rice replacing Hillary Clinton as the secretary of state. In a letter to President Obama yesterday, 97 House Republicans said Rice's "misleading statements" in the wake of the Benghazi attack "caused irreparable damage to her credibility," Politico reports. The letter goes on to claim that Rice "is widely viewed as having either willfully or incompetently misled the American public." But only the Senate has the power to block administration nominees, and so far only Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have announced any plans to block Rice. Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn sees a race flap in the words being thrown around to describe Rice. "These are code words," he tells CNN. "We heard them during the campaign. During this recent campaign, we heard Sununu calling our president 'lazy,' 'incompetent.' These kinds of terms that those of us—especially those of us who were born and raised in the South—we’ve been hearing these little words and phrases all of our lives and we get insulted by them. ... Say that she was wrong, but don’t call her incompetent."


– During a White House meeting on Oct. 2, a day into the shutdown, John Boehner slipped out for a smoke. Barack Obama followed him, demanding a private explanation for the shutdown. "John, what happened?" he asked. "I got overrun, that's what happened," Boehner replied. That anecdote kicks off Politico's behind-the-scenes look at the crisis. The Wall Street Journal has one too—with different bits of insider gossip. Here are the most interesting tidbits from both: Obama and Harry Reid decided on their no-negotiation strategy over the summer, believing that Boehner could never unite his fractured caucus behind anything. Republicans never believed the pair would stick to it. Boehner and Reid initially struck a deal in which Boehner would pass a sequester-level budget with an ObamaCare-defunding rider that the Senate could simply strip out. Boehner assumed—incorrectly—that his caucus only wanted a show vote. Boehner's former chief of staff was feeding the White House intelligence, telling it that Boehner would have to fight up until the debt ceiling deadline. Reid also took to monitoring Twitter for hints on the GOP's next move—a sign of how badly communication was flowing. Many Republicans turned to Joe Biden, hoping he would intervene. Biden told them he'd been "sidelined … at the direction of the president," one rep says. Reid, bitter about the fiscal cliff deal Biden negotiated, had wanted him out. At one point, Boehner brought up the idea of a "grand bargain" at a White House meeting; Reid laughed in his face. When Paul Ryan joined the fray at an Oct. 10 meeting, he told Obama that he would "miss his moment" and derail his whole term if he didn't strike a deal. But he also made what White House aides called a "Freudian slip," saying, "We’re going to have six weeks to negotiate the debt limit." That night, aides to Boehner, Cantor, and Obama began talking about a broader budget deal, and agreed to talk more in the morning. The White House never called. When Mitch McConnell finally decided he had to broker the deal, he partnered with Lamar Alexander—angering Susan Collins, who had worked far harder on the process, only to see her own deal torpedoed. McConnell picked Alexander because he had better conservative credentials, and was pals with Reid confidante Chuck Schumer. Alexander and Schumer brokered the deal behind the scenes, then passed it off to Reid and McConnell. McConnell tells the Washington Post that he saw himself as a backup quarterback thrown into the game. "I felt like I was on the two-yard line, I had a pretty weak offensive line, and the best I could hope for was to try to punt." Boehner made one last-ditch attempt to pass an alternative. "We're running out of time," he told his caucus. "Your 'no' vote has consequences." But as Reid and Obama had predicted, he couldn't convince them. With the ball back in McConnell and Reid's court, McConnell made a few last-minute demands. Reid rejected them. It took all of 15 minutes for McConnell to call back and accept Reid's terms.

Expand this summary.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell closed the deal to avert a fiscal crisis. But will his work with Democrats mean his re-election bid will take a hit? (The Washington Post)

 Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell closed the deal to avert a fiscal crisis. But will his work with Democrats mean his re-election bid will take a hit? (The Washington Post)

 By Tuesday night, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) realized he had run out of luck. House Republicans had failed once again to pass critical legislation out of their chamber, so the Democrats who control the Senate had all the leverage.

 McConnell was cornered, “caught in a cul-de-sac,” he said, with the “worst hand” he had ever been dealt.

 All of Washington was scrambling to put the pieces of a deal in place to reopen the federal government, avert a federal debt default and deliver Republicans from the political disaster that had been haunting them for two weeks.

 After the House failed, it was up to the Senate to broker a solution to the problem. So over the final 24 hours of the drama, McConnell, perhaps the most accomplished congressional dealmaker of his time, scrambled to pick up the pieces.

 Thursday, he settled on an extended football metaphor to describe his predicament: He was a backup quarterback thrust into the game after the starter got knocked out with a concussion, and he was backed up against his own end zone with little protection.

 Post reporter David Fahrenthold joins host Reid Wilson to discuss the unexpected things inserted in lawmakers’ resolution to reopen the government. (The Washington Post)

 “I felt like I was on the two-yard line, I had a pretty weak offensive line, and the best I could hope for was to try to punt,” McConnell said.

 For the fourth time in less than three years, McConnell has emerged as the key Republican in deals with Democrats over fiscal matters. He’s now negotiated two tax deals and two debt-limit measures that averted potential financial meltdowns.

 The latest effort defied the skeptics who asserted that McConnell’s political problems at home in Kentucky during a reelection campaign would sideline him. From his right, he faces a GOP primary challenger who accuses him of selling out conservative principles in his bipartisan deals; on his left is a fresh-faced Democratic challenger who depicts McConnell as part of the “disease of dysfunction” in Washington.

 McConnell’s muted involvement in the early rounds of the government shutdown fight lent some credence to the theories.

 But McConnell swears he is not running from his role as the indispensable Washington Republican and, in fact, plans to make it the hallmark of both his primary and general election campaign next year. “When the country’s in crisis and when a bipartisan agreement is needed, I’ve demonstrated on no fewer than four occasions that I can step into the breach and get an outcome that’s good for the country,” he said.

 It will be a a tricky line to walk. In his primary fight against a first-time candidate, Matt Bevin, McConnell says he is going to trumpet some of those deals.

 In 2011, the GOP leader and Vice President Biden finalized a pact that lifted the debt ceiling but was also accompanied by a complex set of more than $2 trillion in spending cuts. Then last New Year’s Eve, McConnell and Biden signed a deal that permanently extended the Bush-era tax cuts for more than 98 percent of workers and granted a permanent estate tax exemption up to $5 million.

 “With the $5 million estate tax exemption, virtually every family farm and small business in my state can be gotten down to the next generation,” he said.

 The spending cuts in the 2011 Budget Control Act — also know as the sequester cuts — represent real reductions in government funding that McConnell mentions every chance he gets.

 When it came to the negotiations for reopening the government and avoiding default, McConnell’s main goal was to protect his winnings from the two previous deals.

 With the government funding stream set to expire Sept. 30, all the senior GOP leaders on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), wanted to avoid the strategy of shutting down the federal government in an effort to thwart President Obama’s health-care law.

 But outside conservative advocacy groups such as Heritage Action had spent the August break scaring Republicans, particularly younger members in the House, into pushing the shutdown strategy. Despite reports that only 20 or 30 House Republicans were willing to shut down the government, the number was far higher — 80 or more — and Boehner’s leadership team got steamrolled in trying to avoid the shutdown.

 Even as Senate Republicans privately castigated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) for meeting with the House renegades and pushing the strategy, they couldn’t steer the effort away from shutdown.

 “It certainly wasn’t anybody’s intention to have the shutdown, and hopefully we’ve all learned some important lessons,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), McConnell’s second in command, said.

 Still, the ball remained in Boehner’s hands for the first 10 days of the shutdown. Finally, the GOP’s poll numbers cratered just as the deadline for the debt ceiling grew within a week, and the potential for default took over. McConnell began meeting with Republicans such as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, whom he sent out to discuss options with moderate Democrats.

 As bad as his hand was, McConnell thought he could secure a couple of conservative concessions in a deal, such as the repeal of an unpopular tax on medical devices that helps fund the Affordable Care Act.

 Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who led the talks this time and who reveled in having the leverage over his rival, outfoxed McConnell. When the bipartisan group appeared to be gaining momentum, he shut it down and forced the talks into just a negotiation between the two Senate leaders.

 When McConnell issued a statement Sunday announcing support for the “bipartisan” Collins plan, Reid summoned the Democrats working on the plan into his office. While still sitting in Reid’s office, a statement under their name was issued saying the Democrats had pulled back.

 “Democrats who said they would support certain things disappeared. It would best be described as a pretty weak hand,” McConnell said.

 The final deal pretty much gave Reid everything he wanted but set up new fights, in January over government funding and later next year over the next debt-ceiling increase.

 “When you’re on the two-yard line and your offensive line is shaky, you’re trying to get a better position on the field,” McConnell said. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| House Speaker John Boehner just wanted to sneak out of the White House for a smoke.

 But President Barack Obama pulled him aside for a grilling. Obama wanted to know why they were in the second day of a government shutdown that the speaker had repeatedly and publicly pledged to avoid.

 Text Size -

 +

 reset What Obama said, why it matters POLITICO analysis: Assessing shutdown damage Shutdown: Flashback to 1995

 “John, what happened?” Obama asked, according to people briefed on the Oct. 2 conversation.

 “I got overrun, that’s what happened,” Boehner said.

 (WATCH: Who won the shutdown? Top 5 quotes)

 It may be the most concise explanation of a chaotic, 16-day standoff that prompted the first government shutdown in nearly two decades and ended only hours before the world’s largest economy nearly exhausted its ability to pay the bills. The fiscal drama turned on a series of complicated relationships, internecine Republican warfare and rare Democratic unity.

 The House Republican conference ran roughshod over Boehner, a 22-year veteran of Washington who started the fight demanding to strip funds for Obamacare but settled in the end for the reaffirmation of a minor provision already in the law.

 (PHOTOS: The government reopens)

 He was overtaken by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who swept in near the end to forge a bipartisan agreement, part of an attempt to shield Republicans from further damage and salvage his party’s chances of winning back the Senate next year.

 A particular low point came Oct. 1 when Democrats released private emails to POLITICO aimed at making Boehner look like a hypocrite. The emails showed that Boehner had actually been deeply engaged in fixing an Obamacare glitch that would have cost lawmakers and their staff thousands of extra dollars. Hill veterans weren’t quite as shocked by the flip-flop as the utter breakdown of decorum between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Boehner.

 (Also on POLITICO: Obama’s latest push features a familiar strategy)

 Above all, Republicans never believed Obama would hold firm on his refusal to negotiate and Democrats would maintain an unusual level of cohesion — united by a visceral desire to put the tea party in its place and an almost mama grizzly instinct to protect Obamacare.

 “It was not a smart play,” McConnell said Thursday of the GOP’s Obamacare strategy. “It had no chance of success.”

 Obama and Reid stuck together, emerging as the political victors. Their hard-ball tactics were designed to “break the fever” brought on by the tea party, but it also helped drive the country to the edge of default.

 Republicans cycled through every option possible during the three-week standoff to save face. Their Obamacare demands devolved from repeal and defund to a delay of the individual mandate. They revived the idea of a “grand bargain” on taxes and government spending but Reid openly laughed when Boehner raised it during a White House meeting. They offered a more narrow proposal to replace the sequester cuts for two years. Then, they went back to Obamacare.

 (PHOTOS: Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid’s friendship)

 Nothing worked.

 When things were at their worst, some Republican senators urged Vice President Joe Biden to get more involved. But he told each of them it wasn’t his call. Biden participated in meetings at the White House but Reid, still angry about the vice president’s concessions during the fiscal cliff talks last December, had shut him out of direct negotiations with lawmakers this time around.

 By Wednesday, Republicans just needed a way out, agreeing to a bill that looked almost identical to what they rejected three weeks earlier: a debt-limit increase until Feb. 7, an extension of federal funding through Jan. 15 and no binding strings attached.

 (Also on POLTICO: Shutdown aftermath: John Harris, Todd Purdum assess damage)

 This account of the behind-the-scenes drama was drawn from dozens of interviews with key players in Congress and at the White House. The look back reveals how Republicans waged a fight on Obamacare that their leaders knew they would probably lose but pushed anyways because many in their ranks truly believed that Democrats, like they’ve done so often before, would fold — especially under the threat of an historic default on U.S. debt.

 McConnell told his colleagues this week that his party should “never” be put in the same political position again.

 “We fought the good fight,” Boehner told WLW radio on Wednesday. “We just didn’t win.”

 (PHOTOS: John Boehner’s life and career)

 The buildup to shutdown

 Any hope of an easy debt limit extension was dashed in late August when Boehner promised a “whale of a fight.”

 Obama and Reid got on the same page early on, agreeing during strategy sessions over the summer that they wouldn’t give up anything until Republicans renewed the debt limit and government funding.

 Democrats never believed that Boehner could deliver the 217 House votes he needed to cut a deal. He could shut down the government and risk default, but because of hard-line conservatives, Boehner couldn’t pass anything. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Obama and Reid this privately, and she repeated it publicly. This belief drove the Democrats throughout the crisis: stand firm and Boehner will be forced to fold.

 (WATCH: Nancy Pelosi blasts GOP for budget saga)

 But they had to keep each other in check.

 Reid nixed an idea in mid-September to invite the congressional leaders over to the White House for a talk. It sends the wrong message, Reid argued to Obama in a call. We shouldn’t even create the appearance of a negotiation, Reid said.

 The meeting never happened.

 In the House, Boehner and his leadership team ran through a spate of options — none of which his conference would accept. First, the Ohio Republican proposed keeping the debt limit and government-funding discussions separate, which Democrats were privately hoping would happen. He suggested passing a budget bill that completely funded the Affordable Care Act. A resolution would be passed alongside that defunded the law, but it could’ve been stripped out by the Senate and sent to Obama’s desk.

 The proposal was dubbed the “Cantor plan,” after House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who came up with the idea. Then, Boehner would’ve had Republicans fight hard on the debt ceiling, using the sequester as a bargaining chip against Obama.

 (Also on POLITICO: Mitch McConnell defends deal, slams Obamacare tactics)

 But that’s where Boehner miscalculated: he assumed House Republicans only wanted a show vote. Instead, they wanted so much more, determined to nullify the health care law and use a government shutdown and threat of a debt-limit default to get there.

 Boehner’s rank-and-file were being egged on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a populist freshman who was quickly gaining followers in the House as quickly as he was alienating his fellow Republicans senators.

 In the run-up to the shutdown, Obama was weak politically; his Syria strategy was panned by both parties; Obamacare was suffering poor poll numbers; and Republicans thought they had him on the ropes.

 (WATCH: Timeline of Ted Cruz’s Obamacare crusade)

 Yet Cruz’s anti-Obamacare drive played right into Democratic hands.

 “The president gets up every day and reads the newspaper and thanks God that Ted Cruz is in the United States Senate,” a Republican senator pointedly told Cruz at a closed-door meeting.

 Even amiable and soft-spoken Republicans like John Boozman of Arkansas tore apart Cruz in a private GOP meeting, saying he was making GOP senators seem like they were for Obamacare when they had fought so hard to torpedo it. Boozman pointedly told Cruz he hadn’t been bullied since middle school, and he wouldn’t be bullied now.

 Follow @politico |||||


– The war games may be back on. Just two months after President Trump announced he had "indefinitely suspended" the "very provocative" military drills by the US and South Korea in a move meant to soothe North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday there are "no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," per BuzzFeed. Reuters reports the comments come in the midst of a "breakdown in diplomacy" with North Korea over denuclearization, though Mattis denied any act of bad faith on North Korea's part. Referring to the decision "to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit," Mattis said "we did what we did at the time for that purpose." He added there's been no decision on the next large-scale military exercise, previously set for next spring. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley was more pointed in her remarks on North Korea Tuesday. "Are [the North Koreans] wishing or maybe changing their minds on denuclearization? It's possible … but we're not changing our minds," she said, per CBS News.

Expand this summary.

Trump announced that the US would halt the “very expensive” annual military exercises with South Korea after his June 12 meeting with Kim Jong Un. He even adopted North Korea’s description of the exercises as “very provocative.”

 The next military exercise with South Korea had been set for next spring, though the status of that operation, codenamed Foal Eagle, is uncertain, since the US had announced shortly after the June 12 summit that all exercises had been canceled indefinitely. On Tuesday, Mattis declined to say whether Foal Eagle or any of the other previously set exercises were being rescheduled, and referred questions to the State Department, which is handling negotiations with North Korea. The State Department did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

 “As you know, we took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” he told reporters at the Pentagon. “We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.”

 In another sign that the Trump administration’s negotiations with North Korea are faltering, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday said large-scale military exercises with South Korea are back on the table — less than three months after the summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

 “It will be a total denuclearization, which is already starting taking place.” —President Trump on June 21

 “Under the circumstances that we’re negotiating ... I think it’s inappropriate to be having war games,” Trump said, in a concession that reportedly blindsided many US allies as well as some in his own military.

 The Pentagon formally announced that the US had “indefinitely suspended” the long-planned military exercises in South Korea on June 22, including Ulchi Freedom Guardian and two others that were scheduled to take place over the summer. The annual exercises are seen as the focal point of the “ironclad” US–South Korea alliance to defend against North Korean aggression.

 Further decisions would depend on North Korea “continuing to have productive negotiations in good faith,” the Pentagon said at the time.

 Asked on Tuesday whether the decision to resume war game operations suggested that North Korea was “acting in bad faith,” Mattis hedged, countering “not at all, but we did what we did at the time for that purpose.”

 He refused to answer whether turning the military exercises “back on” would be seen as a provocation given the president’s characterization.

 “We're not turning them back (…) on. They've never been turned off,” Mattis said, explaining that only specific exercises had been suspended. “We are going to see how the negotiations go, and then we'll calculate the future, how we go forward.”

 It was not immediately clear what this would mean in practice, and the Pentagon did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for further details.

 The US military opening the door to resuming the massive military exercises is the latest in a series of decisions by the Trump administration in recent weeks indicating that little progress has been made since the summit, which the president prematurely touted as a “tremendous success.”

 “It will be a total denuclearization, which is already starting taking place,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting on June 21, adding that it was beginning “immediately” — contradicting Mattis, who was sitting next to him at the same table.

 Last week, just a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a new special representative to take charge of negotiations with Kim’s regime and said they would both be traveling to North Korea, Trump canceled the visit in a tweet.

 “I have asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not to go to North Korea, at this time, because I feel we are not making sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” the president said in a series of tweets.

 It seemed to be a reversal of Trump’s high-spirited declaration after the summit in June that “there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea.”

 Asked whether he agreed with the president’s assessment on Tuesday, Mattis did not answer directly.

 “You're asking for a straightforward answer on a complex subject,” he said. “The bottom line is, there was progress made. The whole world saw that progress when the two leaders sat down. We also knew very clearly this was going to be a long and challenging effort to negotiate this away.”

 He deferred all questions on the status of North Korea’s denuclearization to Pompeo, saying the Pentagon was only playing a “supporting role.” ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has no plans yet to suspend any more major military exercises with South Korea, the defense secretary said on Tuesday, in the middle of a breakdown in diplomacy with North Korea over its nuclear weapons.

 Defense Secretary James Mattis told a Pentagon news conference that no decisions had been made about major exercises for next year but noted that the suspension of drills this summer as a good-faith gesture to North Korea was not open-ended.

 U.S. President Donald Trump’s June decision to unilaterally suspend the drills caught many American military planners off guard and was broadly criticized as a premature concession to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who Trump wants to give up his nuclear weapons.

 “We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” Mattis told reporters, referring to the June 12 meeting between Trump and Kim.

 “We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises,” he said, adding that no decisions had yet been made on major exercises for next year.

 Mattis also said smaller exercises deemed to be exempt from the suspension were ongoing.

 Mattis’ comments on the drills come at a delicate time for negotiations between the United States and North Korea after Trump scrapped plans for a meeting between top officials from both countries.

 At the June summit, the first meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader, Kim agreed in broad terms to work toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. But North Korea has given no indication it is willing to give up its weapons unilaterally as the Trump administration has demanded.

 Since then, diplomats have failed to advance the process.

 North Korean officials even warned in a letter to U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week that denuclearization talks risked falling apart, U.S. officials told Reuters.

 In particular, the North wants steps toward a peace treaty. The 1950-1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving U.S.-led U.N. forces technically still at war with North Korea.

 U.S. officials fear North Korea might turn its attention to cutting a separate deal with South Korea and driving a wedge between the U.S.-South Korea alliance.

 STALEMATE

 A South Korea presidential spokesman acknowledged that talks between Washington and Pyongyang were at a stalemate.

 “With North Korea and the U.S. remaining stalemated, there is an even bigger need for an inter-Korea summit,” Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House, told a briefing.

 South Korean President Moon Jae-in said this month his planned third summit with North Korea’s Kim next month would be another step toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and an end to the Korean War.

 FILE PHOTO: Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps travel during a military exercise as a part of the annual joint military training called Foal Eagle between South Korea and the United States in Pohang, South Korea, April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File Photo

 “Secretary Mattis’ comment appears to be an extension of the previous U.S.-South Korea agreement concerning the postponement of joint drills, and there has been no other agreement,” South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

 Trump abruptly canceled his top diplomat’s planned trip to North Korea on Friday, publicly acknowledging for the first time that his effort to get Pyongyang to denuclearize had stalled since his summit with the North’s leader.

 Trump partly blamed China for the lack of progress with North Korea and suggested that talks with Pyongyang, led so far by Pompeo, could be on hold until after Washington resolved its bitter trade dispute with Beijing.

 North Korea’s state media accused the United States of “double-dealing” and “hatching a criminal plot” on Sunday but did not mention Pompeo’s canceled visit.

 U.S. intelligence and defense officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about North Korea’s willingness to give up its nuclear weapons and they had not expected Pompeo’s trip to yield positive results.

 Mattis declined to comment on the broader diplomatic efforts, deferring to Pompeo’s State Department.

 “We will work very closely, as I said, with the secretary of state and what he needs done we will certainly do to reinforce his effort. But at this time, there is no discussion about further suspensions,” Mattis said.

 The traditional U.S. calendar for other major drills does not pick up again until next spring, officials say, which could give diplomats and military planners time.

 The U.S.-South Korean exercise calendar hits a high point every spring with the Foal Eagle and Max Thunder drills, which take months to plan.

 U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis attends the swearing in ceremony for new Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 30, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

 One U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said preliminary planning for next year’s drills was already taking place. Still, the official acknowledged that would not be indicative of whether the drills will go forward.

 Max Thunder’s air combat exercises so unnerved North Korea this year that it issued threatening statements that nearly scuttled the June summit between Trump and Kim.

 Foal Eagle is designed to simulate war scenarios and involves ground, air, naval and special operations forces. ||||| There are no future plans to halt joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises in the Korean Peninsula, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Tuesday. This is a departure from the announcement in June that he had "indefinitely suspended" military exercises with South Korea after President Trump said at his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that the U.S. would stop its "war games" with South Korea.

 Facing a standstill in diplomatic efforts with the North Koreans, this is the latest indication that the Trump administration is not willing to give concessions to Kim without tangible steps on denuclearization.

 "We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises," Mattis told reporters Tuesday.

 As a result of the president's decision, the U.S.-South Korea August exercise, Freedom Guardian, did not take place. On Wednesday Mattis put out a statement clarifying that the US military posture had not changed since the Singapore summit. But what appears to have changed is the appetite from the US to massage relations with North Korea – sometimes using military tools – to draw them into negotiations. Mr. Trump himself indicated in June that the stoppage was an overture from the U.S. to keep the North Koreans at the negotiating table as the two sides worked together productively.

 "We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money, unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should," Trump said in June, at the Singapore summit. "But we'll be saving a tremendous amount of money. Plus, I think it's very provocative."

 Mattis explained that the exercise had been halted in good faith, to grease the wheels for U.S.-North Korea negotiations. He reiterated that sentiment on Tuesday and left open the possibility that future exercises could be halted if it would enable negotiations.

 "I do not have a crystal ball right, now. Let's see how the negotiations go," Mattis said. "Let's let the diplomats go forward. We all know the gravity of the issue they are dealing with, and we will deal with supporting the diplomats as I have said repeatedly."

 The United States has about 28,500 troops in South Korea. Mattis avoided characterizing future U.S.-South Korean exercises as provocative or not.

 The resumption of regular U.S.-South Korea military exercises may be one of a few signs that the Trump administration is growing impatient about having made the concession while North Korea wins itself time and space.

 On the same day as Mattis' announcement, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said that "it's possible" that North Korea is rethinking its promise to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.

 "Are [the North Koreans] wishing or maybe changing their minds on denuclearization? It's possible," Haley said at an event at the Foundation for Defending Democracy, adding, "but we're not changing our minds on the sanctions. We're not changing our mind on the denuclearization."

 She also said, however, that the good news is that there has been no missile testing in months and there is a dialogue between the world and North Korea.

 Last week, Mr. Trump declared that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would be cancelling his trip to North Korea. The visit, which would have been Pompeo's fourth time travelling to North Korea this year, had only just been announced a day before it was cancelled. The State Department said that there had been progress in the U.S.-North Korea talks broadly because there were ongoing discussions. But Mr. Trump insisted in a tweet that there had not been "sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

 Earlier in June, after meeting with top North Korean negotiator Kim Yong Chol, Mr. Trump said that the U.S. was holding off on "hundreds" of sanctions while talks were going "nicely."

 "We have very significant sanctions on right now but we have hundreds that are ready to go. But i said I'm not going to put -- why would I do that when we're talking so nicely?" Trump said.

 In August the U.S. rolled out three rounds of sanctions targeting North Korea. The administration says that additional sanctions are likely, as the administration shifts back towards a harsher North Korea stance.

 Plans to continue U.S.-South Korean games, implement additional sanctions, and interrupt talks all come as the U.S. has yet to cite any progress from North Korea on efforts to denuclearize.

 Even progress in other realms, like efforts to build trust between the two parties, has been slow. North Korea did return remains said to be of American prisoners of the Korean War. Department of Defense officials, however, said it could take years to verify that the bodies are actually Americans. They also described the remains as being in moderate-to-poor condition.

 Eleanor Watson contributed to this report. |||||