Year: 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump is proposing major changes in the way Washington’s $4.1 trillion budget is spent, with more money for the military, border security, and veterans. The just-published budget for next year also slashes money for programs that benefit the poor. Trump’s top budget official Mick Mulvaney says for the first time the budget…

U.S. President Donald Trump asked two of the country’s top intelligence chiefs to publicly disavow possible Russian collusion with his election campaign, but the officials considered the request to be inappropriate and refused, U.S. media reports say. Trump made separate appeals in March to Daniel Coats, the national intelligence director, and to Admiral Michael Rogers,…

U.S. President Donald Trump responded to the bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, Tuesday, calling the attackers and other terrorists “evil losers.” “So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers,” he said while standing in Bethlehem next to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. “I won’t call…

Developments over the weekend concerning President Donald Trump include his visit to Israel and the Western Wall in Jerusalem; his upcoming trip to the Vatican; planned program cuts to balance the federal budget; the approval of his ambassador to China, also, fired National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is refusing to hand over documents pertaining to a…

President Donald Trump is proposing to balance the federal budget within 10 years by slashing many social programs, including some that help the poor pay for food and medical care, called food stamps and Medicaid. Officials have outlined some new details of the president’s first spending plan. A president’s budget has to be approved by…

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as the next ambassador to China. The confirmation came by a bipartisan vote of 82 to 13 Monday, with all 13 of the votes against the Republican president’s nominee coming from Democrats. Washington has been trying to persuade China to agree to new sanctions on Pyongyang,…

Most visitors to the United States depart when they are supposed to at the end of their vacation or school year or business trip. But hundreds of thousands of people failed to leave by the time their stay legally expired during the last fiscal year, according to government data released Monday. The Department of Homeland…

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that North Carolina placed too much of an emphasis on race when two congressional districts were created in 2011. The move upholds a lower court decision from February. In its decision, the high court said too many African-Americans were placed in those two Democratic districts in an improper effort…

Iran’s newly re-elected President Hassan Rouhani said Monday that Iran’s relationship with the U.S. is a “curvy road,” and called President Donald Trump’s summit in Saudi Arabia this past weekend “just a show.” Rouhani also said that stability could not be achieved in the Middle East without his country’s help. “The Americans do not know…

U.S. President Donald Trump touched the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Monday, the first visit at the Jewish holy site by a serving American leader, and one that is steeped in the centuries-old conflicts of the Middle East. Trump, a Christian wearing a black yarmulke, walked alone to the massive stone wall after hearing a…

Developments over the weekend concerning President Donald Trump include his speech to Arab and Muslim leaders, which called for unity in fighting terrorism, his schedule for visiting Israel on Monday, his firing of FBI Director James Comey continues to draw fire in Washington, and some students at Notre Dame University walk out on a commencement…

U.S. President Donald Trump focused Sunday on a major address to Muslim leaders at a summit in Riyadh, but back home the day’s news shows were dominated by talk of his firing of FBI chief James Comey and investigations into the Trump campaign’s links to Russia. Two key Trump officials, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson…

In the United States, the 2016 presidential election revealed deep societal divisions that threaten the nation’s future. Several nonprofit groups have targeted this problem. As VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Washington, one of these new efforts involves people from different backgrounds and ideological positions working together on projects that benefit the needy. …

When Donald Trump visited Montana last year ahead of the state’s Republican presidential primary, technology entrepreneur Greg Gianforte was running on the GOP ticket for governor and made it a point to avoid his party’s likely presidential nominee. Gianforte later reluctantly pledged support for Trump, but tried to distance himself from him during an unsuccessful…

President Donald Trump is proposing drastic cuts in many education programs but expansion of programs that favor charter schools, according to The Washington Post, which published a story earlier this week based on a leaked document. The document is similar, however, to a preliminary budget outline, referred to as “the skinny budget,” that the Trump…