Eni US could begin work on oil exploration in federal waters off Alaska as soon as next month after the Trump administration on Tuesday approved permits for leases the company has held for a decade, the Interior Department said. The department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, issued Eni US, a unit of Italy’s Eni,…
read moreVenezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday evening held a ceremony to swear in a military officer as the new head of state oil company PDVSA in the presence of the military’s top brass and cheering red-shirted oil workers. In a surprise move, the unpopular Maduro on Sunday tapped Major General Manuel Quevedo to lead…
read moreThe chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, accused social media company Twitter of being politically biased Tuesday as he defended his plan to roll back rules intended to ensure a free and open internet. Pai, a Republican named by President Donald Trump to head up the FCC, unveiled plans last week to scrap…
read moreA U.S. District Court judge in Washington ruled Tuesday in favor of President Donald Trump in his bid to install White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Judge Timothy Kelly declined to stop, on an emergency basis, the president from making Mulvaney the acting director of…
read moreAs India starts to use blockchain technology for land deals, it must protect the rights of the most vulnerable with policies for the responsible use of big data, analysts said. At least two Indian states are testing blockchain — a ledger system tracking digital information — to record land deals and bring transparency to a…
read moreThe state of Hawaii on Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to allow President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban, partly blocked by lower courts, to go into full effect. The ban would bar U.S. entry to people from six Muslim-majority countries. Lawyers for the Democratic-governed state, which filed a legal challenge to the ban,…
read moreThe top U.S. general in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that he had not seen a change in Pakistan’s support for militants so far, despite President Donald Trump taking a tougher line against Islamabad. U.S. officials have long been frustrated by what they see as Pakistan’s reluctance to act against groups such as the Afghan Taliban…
read moreSecretary of State Rex Tillerson says he is “offended” by a growing number of harshly critical reports about his leadership of the State Department. He denies he’s “hollowing out” the ranks of U.S. diplomats by forcing people out. Tillerson’s comments Tuesday came amid a crescendo of criticism from former diplomats, lawmakers, academics and others that…
read moreChobani, the company that helped kick-start the Greek yogurt craze, is shrinking those words on its label as it may expand beyond that food in an increasingly crowded yogurt market. The new look, which will show up in supermarkets this week, removes “Greek Yogurt” from underneath the Chobani name. The yogurt inside will stay the…
read moreThe coal industry and environmentalists squared off Tuesday at a public hearing over the Trump administration’s planned repeal of an Obama-era plan to limit planet-warming carbon emissions. The Environmental Protection Agency was holding the only scheduled hearing on the reversal in Charleston, West Virginia, capital of a state heavily dependent on coal mining. The hearing…
read moreSen. Al Franken apologized Monday to “everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women” as the Minnesota Democrat fought to bolster his support with his first Capitol public appearance since being drawn into a wave of sexual harassment accusations buffeting Congress. Franken spoke as lawmakers began returning from an extraordinary weeklong…
read moreAlec Baldwin mixed his Emmy-winning impression of President Donald Trump and the advocacy of a serious Democratic activist Monday, headlining a state party banquet in Des Moines. The actor known lately for his recurring role on Saturday Night Live wowed more than 2,000 party faithful, at times slipping into the Trump spoof but urging them…
read moreJerome Powell says that if confirmed as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, he expects the Fed to continue raising interest rates gradually to support its twin goals of maximum employment and stable prices. Under his leadership, Powell also says, the Fed would consider ways to ease the regulatory burdens on banks while…
read moreThe FBI deviated from its own policy on notifying victims of computer hacking when it left many U.S. officials and other Americans in the dark about Kremlin-aligned attempts to break into their personal Gmail accounts, The Associated Press has learned. FBI policy calls for notifying victims, whether individuals or groups, to help thwart both ongoing…
read moreIvanka Trump described the hurdles faced by women during a speech Tuesday at a business conference in India, which is treating her trip like a royal visit. But her solo outing also highlighted questions about whether her message of empowering poor women matches her actions. Trump’s speech at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in…
read moreThe world economy is growing faster than it has in seven years and more and more people are working — but the high growth isn’t expected to last long, and wages remain stubbornly stagnant. That’s according to forecasts Tuesday from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which urged governments to do more to ensure…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has gone to Capitol Hill to meet Tuesday with Republican senators as he rallies support for a tax reform bill set to come to a vote later this week. After talks with the president on Monday, Senate leaders confirmed their intention to vote on the massive plan that would permanently cut…
read moreThe U.S. consumer watchdog agency, enmeshed in partisan politics since its creation after the 2008 financial crisis, is now at the center of a tug-of-war over who will lead it. Both the departing director — an Obama appointee often criticized as being too aggressive by banks and Congressional Republicans — and the White House have…
read moreThe White House is denying President Donald Trump uttered a racial slur during an Oval Office event Monday honoring some Native American military veterans. “I don’t think that it is and that certainly not was the president’s intent,” replied Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders when asked about Trump again referring to Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren…
read moreOn Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that is widely seen as a test of just how far the government can go to pry personal data generated by cell phones and other digital devices. The case, known as Carpenter v. United States, pits law enforcement interests against the privacy rights…
read moreU.S. Senator Al Franken said he knows that he has let a lot of people down over allegations of sexual misconduct, but vowed to regain the public’s trust saying “this will not happen again.” Franken, a Democratic senator from Minnesota, returned to work Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, refusing to give in to calls for…
read moreA battle over who is in charge of a government office erupted in Washington Monday, involving dueling emails, lawsuits, and free doughnuts. White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney and Obama administration holdover Leandra English both say they are acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency — and both showed up for work Monday morning…
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