U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump will not attend an annual ceremony at Washington’s Kennedy Center honoring the lifetime achievements of select artists to avoid distraction, a White House statement said Saturday. “The president and first lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow the honorees to celebrate…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump acknowledged former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon Saturday, tweeting that working with Bannon was “great,” while once again disparaging former Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton. “I want to thank Steve Bannon for his service. He came to the campaign during my run against crooked Hillary Clinton — it was great! Thanks…
read moreIt’s pronounced AN-ti-fa — short for anti-fascists — and it is arguably either a violent far-left militia or a group of human rights activists so dedicated they will risk life and limb to protect democracy. Their participation in the Charlottesville protest last Saturday may have been behind President Donald Trump’s assertion that “many sides” contributed…
read moreThe news that White House chief strategist Steve Bannon was leaving the Trump administration was made public Friday afternoon. By evening, he was back at work at his old job. Bannon left the White House and went directly to the Breitbart News Network, the ultra-conservative online publication he led before joining Donald Trump’s presidential campaign…
read moreHow does a former stay-at-home mom become an employee of a tech company that could be worth more than $1 billion? For Ellein Cheng, mom to a 5½- and a 2½-year-old, the answer involved a “returnship.” So-called returnships are internships that target men and women who have been out of the workforce, either for childrearing…
read moreBillionaire investor Carl Icahn on Friday ended his role as a special adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump after facing criticism that his recommendations on policy could help his own investments. Some Democratic lawmakers and biofuels advocates had argued that Icahn’s policy recommendations to the Republican administration created a conflict of interest with his businesses,…
read moreFitch Ratings has upgraded Greece’s credit rating from CCC to B-, a one-notch improvement that still leaves the bonds issued by the crisis-battered country well below investment grade. The ratings agency said Friday that the outlook of the Greek economy was positive and that it expected talks with the country’s international creditors to be concluded…
read moreMore public backing for innovation, more idea exchanges to nurture global trade and more stability. That’s what two transnational entrepreneurs hope will result from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s travels this week to Latin America, where he has promoted prosperity, security and democracy for the Americas. Liliana “Lili” Gil Valletta, a Colombia native and naturalized…
read moreThe mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia, has called for the removal of Confederate monuments like the statue at the center of a white nationalist rally last week that turned violent. Mayor Mike Signer called for a special session of the Virginia General Assembly to let Virginia’s cities and towns decide the fate of their Confederate monuments.…
read moreBoston officials are planning road blockades and even banning food vendors from the historic Boston Common as they step up security around a “Free Speech” rally on Saturday featuring right-wing speakers, aiming to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s violence at a white supremacist rally in Virginia. Some 500 police officers will be on the…
read moreThe top U.S. general and his Japanese counterpart have agreed to work together to strengthen missile defenses for Japan, as Tokyo announced that they will introduce the land-based Aegis Ashore system for additional protection against the North Korean missile threat. General Joe Dunford, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a small group…
read moreU U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday told senior officials he has decided to dismiss his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, who from the beginning of the six-month-old tumultuous administration has been his most controversial adviser. Bannon, who is credited with helping Trump get elected, had clashed for months with other powerful West Wing figures. White…
read moreFormer U.S. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized President Donald Trump on Friday for his handling of last Saturday’s violent white supremacist rally in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia, that left three people dead and 19 others injured. Romney’s comments were in response to Trump’s comments Tuesday that “both sides” were to blame for the…
read moreSecretary of State Rex Tillerson is condemning hate speech and bigotry as un-American and antithetical to the values the U.S. was founded on and promotes abroad. In his most extensive comments on race and diversity since last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, Tillerson on Friday called racism “evil.” He said freedom of speech is sacrosanct…
read moreA state senator in the Midwest is refusing to resign after hoping for the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump, despite being roundly criticized by top members of her own party. On Thursday morning, Missouri State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal wrote on Facebook, “I hope Trump is assassinated!” She deleted the comment, but a screenshot of…
read moreLike all North Korean adults, Song Un Pyol wears the faces of leader Kim Jong Un’s father and grandfather pinned neatly to her left lapel, above her heart. But on her right glitters a diamond-and-gold brooch. Song is what a success story in Kim Jong Un’s North Korea is supposed to look like. Just…
read moreSteps away from this week’s NAFTA trade negotiations, business unified in hopes of sending a singular message: do no harm. Representatives from the United States, Canada and Mexico convened behind closed doors at a Washington hotel in an effort to strike a new North American Free Trade Agreement. And not far away, industry representatives from…
read moreAuto industry groups from Canada, Mexico and the United States are pushing back against the Trump administration’s demand for higher U.S. automotive content in a modernized North American Free Trade Agreement. At talks underway this week in Washington, automaker and parts groups from all three countries were urging negotiators against tighter rules of origin, said…
read moreA rift between the U.S. president and his own political party widened Thursday as Donald Trump publicly criticized two Republican senators, and another senator from the party questioned the president’s stability and competence. The latest targets of the president’s wrath are Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona. Graham, a former presidential…
read moreAs communities across the United States redouble efforts to remove Confederate monuments from public spaces after a far-right rally in Virginia turned deadly, city leaders now face another conundrum: what to do with the statues. President Donald Trump described them on Thursday as “beautiful statues and monuments,” part of the history and culture of the…
read moreU.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday that Washington wants more trade and investment with Latin America, pushing back against perceptions in the region that the Trump administration has an isolationist agenda. Speaking during a visit to the Panama Canal at the end of a Latin American tour, Pence said the United States was…
read moreAt CareerLink, the state job agency in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, custodial worker and former welder Glenn Hendrickson was looking to change careers. Hendrickson was just beginning his search for a new line of work and he did not yet know what would pique his interest. But he for sure wasn’t interested in farm work, except as…
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