Republicans on a pivotal House committee scored an initial triumph in their effort to scuttle former President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, using a predawn vote Thursday to abolish the tax penalty his statute imposes on people who don’t purchase insurance and reshaping how millions of Americans buy medical care. Yet the Ways and…
read moreOn Pingtung jail’s sunlit roof, prisoner No. 24 has a view of a brighter future. Ex-cop Chen, serving time for bribery, is learning how to install solar panels in a program that’s part of Taiwan’s shimmering vision of a future without nuclear power. The 48-year-old is working on a project that has seen the southern…
read moreMany women and some men participated in rallies in cities across the U.S. Wednesday in what’s been called “A Day Without a Woman.” Some businesses allowed their employees to participate in this “strike” to show support for women. The motivations behind why some people participated are different. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee explains. …
read morePresident Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law are renting a house from a foreign billionaire who is fighting the U.S. government over a proposed mine in Minnesota. The Wall Street Journal reports that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are renting a $5.5 million house in Washington’s Kalorama neighborhood from Andrónico Luksic. One of the Chilean billionaire’s…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s administration is weighing a deployment of up to 1,000 American soldiers to Kuwait to serve as a reserve force in the fight against Islamic State as U.S.-backed fighters accelerate the offensive in Syria and Iraq, U.S. officials told Reuters. Proponents of the option, which has not been previously reported, said it would…
read moreMichael Flynn, who was fired last month as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, has registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department for $530,000 worth of lobbying work that may have aided the Turkish government. A lawyer for the former U.S. Army lieutenant general and intelligence chief said in paperwork filed Tuesday with…
read moreThe state of Hawaii can sue over President Donald Trump’s new executive order temporarily banning the entry of refugees and travelers from six Muslim-majority countries, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii said the state could revise its initial lawsuit, which had challenged Trump’s original ban signed in…
read moreU.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Wednesday that substantial negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement likely will not get started until the latter part of this year and could take a year to complete. Ross, speaking to Bloomberg Television, said U.S. legal notification requirements with partners Mexico and Canada create some…
read moreWednesday March 8 marks International Women’s Day, with festivals, concerts and exhibitions among the numerous events planned around the world to celebrate the achievements of women in society. The annual event has been held since the early 1900s and traditionally promotes a different theme each year, with this year’s edition calling on people to #BeBoldForChange…
read moreWednesday March 8 marks International Women’s Day, with festivals, concerts and exhibitions among the numerous events planned around the world to celebrate the achievements of women in society. Reuters photographers have been speaking with women in a range of professions around the world about their experiences of gender inequality. …
read moreA day after President Donald Trump signed a revised travel ban, attorneys for Hawaii said the state plans to challenge that order as well. The state wants to amend its existing lawsuit challenging Trump’s previous order to contest the revised one, according to a motion filed Tuesday in federal court in Honolulu. The new order…
read moreBrazil’s President Michel Temer launched an infrastructure concessions program on Tuesday that he said should raise 45 billion reais ($14.43 billion) in investment in building and operating roads, port terminals, railways and power transmission lines. Temer said the program was key to restoring an attractive business environment as Brazil struggles to emerge from its worst-ever…
read moreThe latest alleged bombshell meant to send shockwaves through the U.S. intelligence community is stoking renewed fears about the ability to secure classified information. But former intelligence officials say, at least for now, it is unlikely the apparent leak will do significant damage to U.S. cyber capabilities. The online whistleblower organization WikiLeaks Tuesday published thousands…
read moreThe Trump administration is moving to roll back federal fuel-economy requirements that would have forced automakers to increase significantly the efficiency of new cars and trucks, a key part of former President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency is close to an announcement reversing a decision made in the waning…
read moreThe U.S. State Department held its first, much-anticipated briefing Tuesday since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, and faced a lot of reporters’ pent-up questions about the forging of American foreign policy in the new administration. Journalists and other long-time observers of the State Department have been asking when daily news briefings would resume, why…
read moreUkrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin says U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has assured him that Washington will continue to support Kyiv in its standoff with Russia. Klimkin spoke to reporters after meeting at the State Department Tuesday with Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil CEO who now serves as President Donald Trump’s top diplomat. Their meeting…
read moreLongtime federal prosecutor Rod Rosenstein is expected to face questions about a federal investigation into Russian interference in the presidential election as he appears before Congress Tuesday for a confirmation hearing for the role of deputy attorney general. That No. 2 person at the Justice Department handles day-to-day oversight of the department and its…
read moreRepublican ranks in Congress are thick with hard-right lawmakers elected to thwart former President Barack Obama and light on nuts-and-bolts legislators, especially those experienced in working with a GOP president. That could prove to be a formidable challenge as Republicans transition from an opposition party to a governing one. Tea party lawmakers who are used…
read morePresident Donald Trump has offered to maintain federal funding for Planned Parenthood if the group stops providing abortions. Its president spurned the proposal and noted that federal money already is not allowed to be used for abortion. Trump confirmed Monday there had been discussions after The New York Times inquired about what it described as…
read moreA new U.S. executive order, temporarily halting the issuance of new visas for travelers from six countries, is to go into effect March 16, replacing an earlier controversial order in which visitors from the same countries and a seventh one — Iraq — were barred from entry to the U.S. VOA White House Bureau Chief…
read moreU.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday defended his conduct at a January confirmation hearing where he denied having contacts with Russian officials during the course of the presidential campaign when he was an adviser to Donald Trump. “My answer was correct,” Sessions, who last week said he would stay out of any probe into…
read moreMore developing countries urgently need insurance to cushion their farmers against weather extremes that can worsen poverty, but it is no magic bullet to ward off the escalating impacts of climate change, experts say. The burning question of how to stop drought becoming a major crisis — especially in Africa — has caused many to…
read more