Nebraska regulators opened a final hearing on TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Monday, a week-long proceeding that marks the last big hurdle for the long-delayed project after President Donald Trump approved it in March. The proposed 1,179-mile (1,897-km) pipeline linking Canada’s Alberta oil sands to U.S. refineries has been a lightning rod of…
read moreThe Balkans have become embroiled in a trade war over agricultural health checks after Croatia raised import fees on some farm products by around 220 percent, triggering countermeasures by Serbia and threats from others. Last month European Union-member Croatia raised its fees for phytosanitary controls — agricultural checks for pests and viruses — on fruits…
read moreThe Interior Department on Monday scrapped an Obama-era rule on coal royalties that mining companies had criticized as burdensome and costly. The Trump administration put the royalty valuation rule on hold in February after mining companies challenged it in federal court. Officials later announced plans to repeal the rule entirely. The final repeal notice was…
read morePresident Donald Trump received his intelligence briefing at his golf club in New Jersey Monday and held an hour-long telephone call to discuss North Korea with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and get an update on his trip to Southeast Asia. White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters provided details on Trump’s “working vacation.” The president’s chief…
read moreThe city of Chicago has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice over new regulations for a public safety grant Monday. “These new conditions … fly in the face of longstanding city policy that promotes cooperation between local law enforcement and immigrant communities,” the 46-page lawsuit read. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel announced Sunday…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump claimed Monday that his political base of Republican support is “far bigger & stronger than ever before,” despite new polling that shows it eroding. Trump tapped out a string of Twitter comments from his working vacation at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, deriding the surveys as “phony Fake News…
read moreA Trump Organization company has applied for four new trademarks in the Asian gambling hub of Macau, including one for casinos, public records show. The new applications highlight the ethical complexity of maintaining the family branding empire while Donald Trump serves as president, and are likely to stoke speculation about the organization’s future business intentions…
read moreU.S. Vice President Mike Pence is pushing back on suggestions that he is already plotting a run for the presidency in 2020 if President Donald Trump does not seek a second term in the White House. Pence said he found “disgraceful and offensive” a report in The New York Times Sunday that he is forming…
read moreThe city of Chicago will sue the Trump administration over its threat to cut off certain federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities that provide asylum to illegal immigrants. Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the city will file its suit Monday. “Chicago will not let our police officers become political pawns in a debate,” Emanuel said…
read moreDays after Special Counsel Robert Mueller reportedly impaneled a grand jury in the probe into Russian election interference , the White House on Sunday brushed off questions about whether President Donald Trump intends to fire Mueller. “The president has not even discussed that. The president is not discussing firing Bob Mueller,” presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway…
read moreU.S. lawmakers as well as President Donald Trump have left Washington for several weeks, but the probe into Russian interference in the U.S. election grinds on. Before the Senate adjourned last week, a bipartisan bill was introduced to protect the special counsel in the Russia probe, Robert Mueller, in the event the president moves to…
read moreA week after an attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’d consider a bipartisan effort to continue payments to insurers to avert a costly rattling of health insurance markets. McConnell told reporters Saturday there is “still a chance” the Senate could revive the measure to repeal…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is defending his efforts to redesign the State Department, but the process has left many of its 36,000 employees in Washington and around the world feeling anxious about their mission. Tillerson was welcomed warmly to the State Department six months ago. But some current and former ambassadors and foreign…
read moreDevelopments in Washington, D.C., in recent days include the U.N. Security Council voting for stricter sanctions against North Korea, special counsel Robert Mueller looks at whether former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was paid by Turkey, top U.S. intelligence officials are as wary of Russia as ever, and President Donald Trump begins a 17-day stay…
read moreCuban authorities have ordered the closure of one of the island’s fastest-growing cooperatives, days after announcing that they would stop issuing new permits for some private enterprise. Scenius, which provides accounting and business consulting services, will have until December 31 to liquidate, the cooperative’s founder and director, Luis Duenas, told The Associated Press on Saturday.…
read moreThe White House may appoint a senior policy adviser with hard-line views on immigration, who recently sparred with reporters in a televised briefing, as its new communications director, a senior administration official said Saturday. Stephen Miller, a top aide and speechwriter for President Donald Trump, is a candidate to lead the White House’s communications team…
read moreBritain is prepared to pay up to 40 billion euros ($47 billion) as part of a deal to leave the European Union, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported, citing three unnamed sources familiar with Britain’s negotiating strategy. The European Union has floated a figure of 60 billion euros and wants significant progress on settling Britain’s liabilities…
read moreThere is apparent discord within the U.S. Democratic Party over how vigorously it should emphasize allegations of collusion between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, according to Politico. Democratic candidates and political operatives expressed concern to Politico that maintaining the Russia controversy as a primary issue, instead of health care and other pocketbook issues, could…
read moreThe betting was that law-and-order Attorney General Jeff Sessions would come out against the legalized marijuana industry with guns blazing. But the task force Sessions assembled to find the best legal strategy is giving him no ammunition, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. The Task Force on Crime Reduction and Public Safety, a…
read moreSupporters of the United Auto Workers say they’re not giving up their fight to unionize a Nissan auto assembly plant in Mississippi after a stinging defeat, even as UAW opponents say Friday’s loss proves workers don’t want the union. More than 62 percent of workers voting in a two-day election at Nissan Motor Co.’s Canton…
read moreThe U.S. job market exceeded expectations last month adding 209,000 new workers to the economy in July and lowering the national unemployment rate to 4.3 percent. But wages continue to underperform, as did the nation’s labor participation rate. Economists say that’s because millions of working-age Americans are choosing to remain on the sidelines, some going…
read morePresident Donald Trump is rallying his base supporters even as the probe into possible collusion between his presidential campaign and Russia heats up. Trump held a campaign-style rally in West Virginia this week. The president is battling low poll numbers and a stalled congressional agenda, and often turns to his core supporters for a boost.…
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