Mark Cuban isn’t ready to launch a formal campaign to challenge President Donald Trump. Yet Cuban, an outspoken Texas billionaire who describes himself as “fiercely independent” politically, sees an opportunity for someone to take down the Republican president, who is increasingly viewed as divisive and incompetent even within his own party. “His base won’t turn…
read morePresident Donald Trump spared former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio the prospect of serving jail time in granting the first pardon of his turbulent tenure, wiping away the lawman’s recent federal conviction stemming from his immigration patrols that focused on Latinos. The White House said 85-year-old Arpaio was a “worthy candidate” for the pardon, citing his…
read moreThe Republican National Committee on Friday denounced white supremacist groups but made no mention of President Donald Trump’s statements about the Charlottesville, Virginia, violence earlier this month. Meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, the RNC approved a host of resolutions, including one that says, “Nazis, the KKK, white supremacists and others are repulsive, evil and have no…
read moreU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that he believes Congress will raise the government’s debt ceiling in September, ahead of a deadline for default. Mnuchin told reporters at the White House that he’d had talks with House and Senate congressional leaders from both parties and said everyone was “on the same page.” “The government…
read moreThe leader of a right-wing group scheduled to hold a “free speech” rally in San Francisco on Saturday now says he has canceled the rally and will hold a news conference instead. Joey Gibson, founder of the group Patriot Prayer, announced Friday that the speakers initially scheduled to speak at Crissy Field in the city’s…
read moreSebastian Gorka, a national security aide whose hardline views on immigration and terrorism caused discord inside and outside the White House, is the latest official to exit President Donald Trump’s administration. Gorka told The Associated Press Friday that he had resigned from his position. A White House official, however, said Gorka did not resign but…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is likely to rescind an Obama-era policy that protects nearly 600,000 immigrants who entered the country illegally as children and are known as “Dreamers,” according to media reports Friday. Trump’s decision on whether to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, policy could be announced as early as next…
read moreThe head of the U.S. central bank says the financial system is safer now than it was before the recession, and urges Washington to make some adjustments in financial regulations, rather than trash them. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the recession of 2008 cost nine million American jobs and meant millions of people lost…
read moreSouth Korea this week pushed back against the United States’ demand to renegotiate the free trade agreement (FTA) between the close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the five-year-old Korea-U.S. (KORUS) FTA as a horrible deal that created a $27 billion U.S. trade deficit with South Korea last year, and has said his…
read moreSouth Korea this week pushed back against the United States’ demand to renegotiate the free trade agreement (FTA) between the close allies. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the five-year-old Korea-U.S. (KORUS) FTA as a horrible deal that created a $27 billion U.S. trade deficit with South Korea last year, and has said his…
read moreWhen Ha Tran of Ho Chi Minh City shops for food, clothes or electronics, she avoids merchandise she can tell comes from Vietnam’s giant neighbor, China. It might not work, she said, and China is no friend of Vietnam anyway. “China exports many low-quality products to Vietnam, but we know they don’t export products to…
read moreThe billionaire head of South Korea’s Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, was jailed for five years for bribery on Friday after a six-month trial over a scandal that brought down the president. Lee had paid bribes in anticipation of favors from then president Park Geun-hye, according to a landmark ruling by a Seoul court, which…
read moreDuring last year’s U.S. presidential campaign, Donald Trump often promised to be a uniter, not a divider. But the president’s performance during the past week and some new public opinion polls suggest the president is falling short in his efforts to bring the country together. Trump has projected sharply different tones and rhetoric in recent…
read moreAs a candidate for president last year, Donald Trump vowed to be a uniter, not a divider. But in his seven months in office, keeping that promise has proved elusive. Trump’s controversial comments blaming both sides for the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, has brought renewed focus on the question of whether the president is…
read morePresident Trump’s border wall proposal is not an abstract political debate for the voters of Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, who live on the Mexican border. Rep. Will Hurd, an African-American faces a tough 2018 midterm fight, defying his own party as he discourages Trump’s border wall and paves his own way through the immigration debate.…
read moreTexas’ voter ID law is shelved again after a judge who once compared the requirements to a “poll tax” on minorities also rejected a newly weakened version that was backed by the Trump administration. That was followed by a separate federal court on Thursday ordering Texas to partially redraw its Statehouse maps after finding racial…
read moreEnvironmentalists are condemning a decree by Brazilian President Michel Temer allowing mining in the heart of the Amazon. The measure strips protection from a national reserve between the northern states of Para and Amapa and clears the way for the private mining sector to explore the forest. The gold-rich area is larger than the Netherlands,…
read moreStonehenge is dry and has been for too long — seven years too long. You can taste the dust well before you cross the cattle grids that cut the only road into town. More than 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) northwest of Sydney, Australia’s Stonehenge could not be more different from its famous namesake, the World…
read moreExperts at credit rating agencies are watching Washington’s political squabbling over budgets and spending closely, and they might make another cut in the U.S. credit rating if the Republican-controlled White House, Senate and House cannot reach an agreement. President Donald Trump has promised to build a massive wall along the southern U.S. border in a…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has accused congressional leaders in his Republican party of creating a political “mess” for not attaching debt ceiling legislation to a recently-signed bill that aims to assist veterans. Trump directed his remarks at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan on Twitter. “I requested that Mitch M…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall will likely trigger a budget showdown when Congress returns in September, as Democrats and some Republicans debate whether it’s worth $1.6 billion. The wall is 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) from Capitol Hill in the varied terrain of Del Rio, Texas, yet law enforcement and residents alike say the…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s comments at a Phoenix rally that he will probably end up terminating the North American Free Trade Agreement brought cheers from the crowd but groans from the state’s top business group. Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Glenn Hamer posted a video calling any termination a “terrible mistake” within hours of…
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